Showing posts with label appendix n. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appendix n. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Appendix N for Sci Fi (Circa 1980s)

D&D had it's Appendix N--it's suggested reading for further inspiration--which was loaded with Sword & Sorcery classics from the pulp era and beyond. Grognardia has done a wonderful job of highlighting those books. I wondered if TSR's Star Frontiers had an equivalent a while back while I was flipping through the manuals I'd bought off eBay. Low and behold--it did! Though it wasn't an official appendix, it was listed under the title "READING FOR FUN AND IDEAS". The list is filled with great stuff, but its also dated.

Following are the titles listed on the back cover of the Expanded Game Rules, from the first printing of July 1982:

NON-FICTION:
  • Asimov, Isaac—Extraterrestrial Civilizations
  • Bylinsky, Gene—Life in Darwin's Universe
  • Dole, Robert—Habitable Planets for Man
  • Feinberg, Gerald and Robert Shapiro—Life Beyond Earth: An Intelligent Earthling's Guide to Life in the Universe
FICTION
  • Anthony, Piers—Macroscope
  • Anderson, Poul—Ensign Flandry series
  • Asimov, Isaac—Foundation trilogy: I, Robot; The Gods Themselves
  • Aspirin, Robert—The Cold-Cash War
  • Bester, Alfred—The Stars, My Destination
  • Blish, James—Cities in Flight
  • Bradbury, Ray—The Martian Chronicles
  • Brown, Frederick—What Mad Universe
  • Brunner, John—Stand on Zanzibar
  • Budrys, Algis—Rogue Moon
  • Chandler, Bertram A.—Commodore Grimes series
  • Clarke, Arthur C.—Rendezvous with Rama; The Fountains of Paradise
  • Clement, Hal—Mission of Gravity; Close to Critical; The Nitrogen Fix
  • de Camp, L. Sprague—Krishna series
  • Dick, Philip K.—Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  • Dickson, Gordon R.—Dorsai series
  • Drake, David—Hammer's Slammers
  • Farmer, Philip Jose—Riverworld series
  • Garrett, Randall—Starship Death
  • Goulart, Ron—many short novels
  • Haldeman, Joe—The Forever War
  • Hansen, Karl—War Games
  • Harrison, Harry—Bill, The Galactic Hero; The Stainless Steel Rat; Deathworld series
  • Heinlein, Robert—Starship Troopers; The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
  • Herbert, Frank—Dune series
  • Laumer, Keith—A Plague of Demons; Retief series; Bolo series
  • LeGuin, Ursula—The Left Hand of Darkness
  • Lem, Stanislaw—Solaris; The Cyberiad
  • Longyear, Barry—Circus World
  • Niven, Larry—Ringworld; Ringworld Engineers; Tales of Known Space
  • Niven, Larry and Jerry Pournelle—The Mote in God's Eye
  • Norton, Andre—Star Rangers
  • Pohl, Frederick—Gateway
  • Pournelle, Jerry—The Mercenary
  • Russel, Eric Frank—The Great Explosion
  • Saberhagen, Fred—Berserker series
  • Silverberg, Robert—The Man in the Maze
  • Simak, Clifford D.—City
  • Smith, E. E.—Triplanetary; Space Patrol; others in the Lensmen series
  • Stapleton, Olaf—Last and First Men
  • Vance, Jack—Big Planet; The Grey Prince; Tschai, Planet of Adventure series; Demon Princes series
  • Van Vogt, A. E.—The Weapons Shops of Isher; The Silkie; Voyage of the Space Beagle
  • Varley, John—The Persistence of Vision
  • Zelazny, Roger—Lord of Light
I can't say I've read even a fraction of these and I'm trying to track down several more for my collection. There's even more not on the list that I do own, that I'd probably consider "reference" when I think of sci-fi in general. So gentle reader, what's on your list of go-to science fiction? Anything new? How about long forgotten? Or off the beaten path?

Leave a few of your own in the comments. (Movies, comics, whatever--it's all acceptable!)