SF Bookworm: Collecting Science Fiction Books

What makes an author collectible? It’s all too easy to judge an authors value to the collector by popularity, number of works reprinted or high sales. But as Gary Lovisi says in his Instant Expert: Collecting Science Fiction and Fantasy,

“…perhaps the best indication is the strength of the author’s vision and the quality of the writing … If the themes are timeless, or very important or new and ground-breaking, then it’s a good bet the work will be highly influential.”

I’ve selected twenty authors who I consider to be “highly influential” and therefore worthy of collecting. The list crosses the three genres of Science Fiction , Fantasy and Horror and is in no way meant to be conclusive. However all the authors listed here are considered giants in the field whose work will continue to be collected and read in the years to come.

I may do other such lists in the future. In fact I probably will, they are fun to do and give me an opportunity to do a little exploring and reminiscing. Of the authors here you know, it may be time to go back and take another look at them, of those you don’t, it may serve as an excuse to look them up.

Here are the first ten. I’ll post the remainder tomorrow.

• Isaac Asimov
  Asimov is considered by many to be one of the greatest science fiction writers and continues to be one of the most popular. He is probably best known for his famous Foundation series and the Robot stories featuring the Three Laws of Robotics. For a more in depth look at Asimov you can take a look at my article, Focus on Isaac Asimov.

• Robert Bloch
  A contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft, Bloch wrote a large body of work that first appeared in Weird Tales magazine. He is probably most popularly known as the author of Psycho† and is considered to be one of the most distinguished writers in the horror and mystery field.

• John Brunner
  Brunner’s best known works are his novels The Sheep Look Up†, Stand on Zanzibar†, and The Shockwave Rider†. The later was one of the first SF novels to describe the information technology revolution and is credited by some to have predicted the Internet and computer viruses with the term “data worm”.

• Edgar Rice Burroughs
  Creator of the world famous character of Tarzan, Burroughs is also well known for his science fiction series Barsoom (John Carter of Mars), the lost island stories of The Land Time Forgot series and his hollow earth stories in the Pellucidar series. He continues to be extremely popular and highly collectible.

• C.J. Cherryh
  Though most popularly known for her hard SF novels Downbelow Station† and Cyteen†, Cherryh’s work spans a number of science fiction and fantasy subgenres. She is one of today’s best-selling and most critically acclaimed writers of fantasy and science fiction with a steadfast and growing readership.

• Glen Cook
  Best known for his fantasy series, The Black Company, Cook’s fiction is often labeled “gritty”. Blending dark fantasy with sharp, realistic dialogue and film-noir sensibilities his protagonists are most often soldiers, cops or private detectives caught in a conflict which highlight their failings as well as their virtues. His work is particularly popular with military personnel.

• Philip K. Dick
  Though hailed during his lifetime by his peers Dick received little public recognition until after several of his works were adapted to film. These include Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)†, Minority Report†, Total Recall (based on the short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale), and most recently A Scanner Darkly†. Much of his early work explored sociological and political themes while his later work tackled drugs and theology. The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States

• Harlan Ellison
  The “enfant terrible” of science fiction, Ellison is undoubtedly one of the most talented and celebrated writers in speculative fiction today. Though preferring not to have his work classified in any particular genre, Ellison’s most famous stories fit easily into the science fiction and fantasy categories. He is hugely popular and extremely collectible. Many of his works are released in limited and special printings in addition to the trade editions.

• Robert Heinlein
  Like Asimov, Heinlein is considered one of the “greats” in science fiction. He was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of “hard” science fiction in his day and is considered the first SF writer to break into mainstream magazines. The novel Variable Star†, written by Spider Robinson from Heinlein’s outline and notes, published this year, may stimulate a revival of his work.

• William Gibson
  Gibson is credited with creating the Cyberpunk subgenre with his first novel Neuromancer† as well as coining the term “cyberspace”. Many of his tropes have infiltrated the modern electronic culture. His work has given rise to other subgenres such as Steampunk and Biopunk (aka Ribofunk). He continues to write significant books and his body of work will remain important for it’s influence on the culture of the 1990s and early 21st Century.

That’s it for the first ten. Look for the rest tomorrow.

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