Best Science Fiction Writers by Decade?

[Brian G Turner]

Something I thought would be interesting is asking fellow chronners who they think the most outstanding science fiction writers were per decade - but, to make it really interesting, nominate any single writer for only one decade.

I've set up a list below and update it with recommendations from the the replies below:


Best Science Fiction Writer: 1950's:



Best Science Fiction Writer: 1960's:



Best Science Fiction Writer: 1970's:



Best Science Fiction Writer: 1980's:



Best Science Fiction Writer: 1990's:



Best Science Fiction Writer: 2000's:



Best Science Fiction Writer: 2010's:




I figure I'll leave it to other members as to what criteria to follow. For example, a writer might publish books over many decades, but put out their best during one - alternatively, a writer might have published one outstanding work, but gained little recognition for their other pieces. Where would such writers go? I'll leave it to you.

Additionally, shall we make it really interesting by restricting each decade to just 5 best writers?

 

[Brian G Turner]

I don't have a complete list to suggest, but I would make the following recommendations:

50s: Asimov,
60's: Arthur C Clarke, Frank Herbert, Robert Heinlein
70's: Poul Anderson, Joe Halderman, (though each because of a single work, rather than general output), Orson Scott Card
80's: William Gibson
90's: Iain M Banks, Vernor Vinge, (?)
00's:
10's: Andy Weir, Dennis E Taylor, Ralph Kern

(The last 2 suggested nominations may seem biased, but I enjoyed their books far more than most every other SF novels from this period, bar The Martian)

 

[Parson]

Oh wow, good thread ---- Hard question I'll have to give this a think. I am not going to limit myself to listing an author in only one decade, some were very important in two, some three? More thinking needed.

For now

50's .... Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, (not quite making the grade for me, Kurt Vonnegut, and P.K. Dick)

60's ... Frank Herbert, Robert A. Heinlein, Ursula K. Le Guin, Piers Anthony, (not quite making the grade for me P.K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut ... again)

70's ... Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Arthur C. Clarke, Ann McCaffery, Octavia Butler, (not quite making the grade for me, P.K. Dick again! ...)

80's ... Orson Scott Card, C.J. Cherryh, Isaac Asimov, David Weber, (not quite making the grade for me, William Gibson, Dan Simmons, Margret Atwood)

90's ... Lois McMaster Bujold, David Weber, (not quite making the grade, David Brin, Greg Bear, Ian Banks)

00's ... Elizabeth Moon, Alastair Reynolds, (not quite making the grade, John Scalzi, Suzanne Collins)

10's ... Andy Weir, Dennis E. Taylor, (It's really too soon to do this.)

 

[J-Sun]

"We think" or "we think they think"? For instance, Gibson was probably the most important author of the 80s in terms of reputation, influence, etc., but, when it comes to my favorites of the decade, he's not in the top 5, though he's likely in the top 10.

To take pressure off the 50s, I'm adding a 40s slot (and adding a 30s as well). I'm also shunting a lot of 80s authors who had strong 90s into that decade to help ease the pressure on the one and fill the other. I still ran over by one in a couple of cases where I couldn't make up my mind. This question oddly eliminates some answers where the author is, say, #6 over several decades without being #5 in any one of them, even after kind of cheating on some 40s/50s and 80s/90s and others.

Best Science Fiction Writer: 1930's:

John W. Campbell, Jr., Edmond Hamilton, E. E. "Doc" Smith, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Jack Williamson. (Hamilton got much better later but he wouldn't be top 5 in those decades and Williamson was great in the 30s but also wouldn't necessarily make the cut, for instance, with his very strong 40s.)

Best Science Fiction Writer: 1940's:

Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Fritz Leiber, Theodore Sturgeon, A. E. van Vogt. (Sturgeon was clearly stronger in the 50s and Asimov, Heinlein, and Leiber arguably were as well but the 40s and 50s are too packed.)

Best Science Fiction Writer: 1950's:

Alfred Bester, Algis Budrys, Hal Clement, Arthur C. Clarke, Frederik Pohl/C. M. Kornbluth (Budrys and Pohl had an especially strong 70s, too, and Clarke could go in the 60s or 70s, too.)

Best Science Fiction Writer: 1960's:

Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Ursula K. Le Guin, Norman Spinrad, Roger Zelazny (Dick and Ellison had strong surrounding decades or at least 50s; Le Guin had a mostly strong 70s; Spinrad probably had a stronger 70s and early 80s.)

Best Science Fiction Writer: 1970's:

Joe Haldeman, George R. R. Martin, Robert Silverberg, James Tiptree, Jr., John Varley (Haldeman certainly persisted, Silverberg could go in several decades, and a lot of people will say, "Huh?" about placing Martin here but 70s and 80s Martin is the Martin I've read and enjoyed.)

Best Science Fiction Writer: 1980's:

Greg Bear, C. J. Cherryh, Robert L. Forward, Rudy Rucker, Charles Sheffield, John Shirley (Cherryh also had strong decades around this one and Bear did tremendous stuff in the early 90s but this mostly works, I think.)

Best Science Fiction Writer: 1990's:

Pat Cadigan, Greg Egan, Bruce Sterling, Allen Steele, Vernor Vinge (Cadigan and Sterling, especially, were tops in the 80s and Vinge was, too, along with a strong 70s, but the 80s were too good.)

Best Science Fiction Writer: 2000's:

Neal Asher, Jack McDevitt, Alastair Reynolds, Robert Reed, Karl Schroeder (Feel like I'm kind of padding here but it's good stuff.)

Best Science Fiction Writer: 2010's:

Ashley Blooms, James L. Cambias, Alix E. Harrow, Rich Larson, Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Lina Rather (If you ask this again in a few years (or maybe next year), I doubt this would look at all the same. Most of them haven't published books yet and a couple may already be fading but they look good now, anyway.)

If I just picked one author per decade, it'd ironically be easier and result in some different decade placements. For example, 50s=Asimov; 80s=Sterling; 90s=Egan, easy.

Anyway - all this quibbling and I still don't stand by any of it. Just some mostly good names with mostly good decades.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Not sure about being limited to only one per decade -

50s - Heinlein, Bradbury and Daniel Keyes (for Flowers for Algernon)
60s - Herbert
70s - Clarke
80s - Orson Scott Card (yes, yes, I know, un-pc and all that there, but I still love his writing, especially his short stories), Margaret Atwood (more for the influence The Handmaid's Tale has had than sheer enjoyment of)
90s - Bujold all the way. Also a call out for Pat Cadigan.
00s - Ian McDonald - although I love his current Luna series, he wrote some really interesting early stuff.
10s - Jodi Taylor (yes, it's light and it's silly and it's time travel but lots of us really enjoy the characters), possibly Jon Wallace (he wrote a really great short story, but I liked his novel less but definitely one to watch), Chris Beckett (for Dark Eden; the sequels excited me less)

 

[Onyx]

No Stephenson, Watts or MacLeod fans, eh? Or is Stephenson not making lists because he's embedded in multiple decades?

 

[Randy M.]

Best Science Fiction Writer: 1940's:

Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Fritz Leiber, Theodore Sturgeon, A. E. van Vogt. (Sturgeon was clearly stronger in the 50s and Asimov, Heinlein, and Leiber arguably were as well but the 40s and 50s are too packed.)

I like Asimov and get a kick at times from van Vogt, but I'm not sure you can rally a stronger argument for them than you could for Kuttner/Moore. And I think you're right about Leiber and Sturgeon being stronger in the '50s. The editorial standards of The Magazine of F&SF and Galaxy were in sync with their work even than Campbell.

Other than that, I really can't argue your reasoning through the '70s. I dropped away from s.f. in the early '80s, so have no opinions from that point on.

Well, of course I have opinions, just few defensible ones on this subject.


Randy M.

 

[picklematrix]

1810s: Mary Shelley.
1910s: Frank Kafka.
Not a massive amount of competition for either of these in terms of the SF genre, but certainly important authors.