The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1970s

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What started as a review of American Science Fiction: The Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, has put me on a quest to organize my memories of the great science fiction books, decade by decade, and year by year.  Back in the mid-90s I created The Classics of Science Fiction website.  Then I wrote The Greatest Science Fiction Novels of the 20th Century about the science fiction books that people who don’t read science fiction might know.  I’m preoccupied with how people remember science fiction, well at least the literary form.  Recently I wrote The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1960s which is getting more hits than usual for my blog, so that makes me think other people are like me – looking back, trying to remember all their favorite science fiction books from childhood.

For those science fiction fans who really love reading about the great books of science fiction, I highly recommend reading Anatomy of Wonder edited by Neil Barron, now in it’s 5th edition.  It’s a very expensive book, designed for library reference, so it’s cheaper to get used copies of the older editions.  Go to the Amazon link I provided with the title and click on Look Inside to see what it’s like.  Neil Barron and his contributors are doing what I’m doing here, but exhaustively, scholarly, and providing a summary description for each book.  If you really love science fiction and want to read about the best books from the past, this book is for you.   You can get used copies of older editions for less than $5 at Abebooks.com.  Editions were 1976, 1981, 1987, 1995, 2004.  Aim for the latest edition you can afford.  I hope a 6th edition comes out soon.

Doing the research for these essays has been great fun.  A test of my memory.  It’s also shown me how science fiction has aged, and changed over time.  The science fiction of the 1970s seems more grownup than the 1960s and 1950s, less about space adventure and more about people and their problems.  Part of that change came about because of Terry Carr and his Ace Science Fiction Specials (1968-1990), and the impact of The New Wave on science fiction.  Science fiction also seemed to be polarizing over politics of the 1970s – see “New Maps of Science Fiction” by William Sims Bainbridge and Murray M. Dalziel from the Analog Yearbook, 1977.  For the article they polled 130 readers to get a list of the popular SF writers of the 1970s.

It you study this list and then look at my long list below you’ll notice that there are many new authors breaking out in the 1970s, especially women writers.  Of the 27 writers making their popularity poll, only two are women, Ursula K. Le Guin and Anne McCaffrey.  My 1970s long list adds Octavia Butler, Suzy McKee Charnas, C. J. Cherryh, Vonda N. McIntyre, Marge Piercy, Joanna Russ, Alice Sheldon (James Tiptree, Jr.), and Kate Wilhelm.

I create two lists for these remembrances of science fictional past.  The first is a short list of the most famous titles, the science fiction books probably most remembered today, especially by current fans, and maybe famous enough to be known by people outside of the genre.  The second, the long list, are the books that hardcore science fiction fans should fondly remember.

The Best Remembered Science Fiction Books of the 1970s

• Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970)
• Time and Again by Jack Finney (1970)
• The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (1971)
• The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1972)
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1973)
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
• The Mote In God’s Eye by Niven and Pournelle (1974)
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1975)
• A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick (1977)
• Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1978)
• Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)

I believe these 1970s science fiction books are more often reprinted, more often talked about by young readers I meet, more often discussed in the book club, and more often written about, but I can’t prove it – just my intuition.  I expect every science fiction fan who lived through the 1970s will want to argue with me.  None of the books I picked for the short or long list are my top favorite SF books of all time.  I like them, but none of my all-time favorite science fiction books came out in the 1970s.  I’ve read many of the books from the long list, and most are entertaining, but none of them have stuck in my heart.  For some reason, since the turn of the century, I’ve been experiencing a reading renaissance, and I’ve been discovering new books again that I love like I did when I was a teen – but that’s another essay.  They do say getting old leads to a second childhood.

Like I said in the original essay about the 1950s, it’s the books we read starting at age 12, and following few years, that imprint on our souls.  The 1970s represents my twenties, and I was branching away from science fiction by then.  I’m quite sure there are fans who were teens in the the 1970s that found many of these books wonderful and are lifetime favorites for them.  But also remember, the 1970s was when Star Trek fans started swarming into the genre, and then Star Wars hit.  After that science fiction conventions were more about media science fiction than literary science fiction.

The Best Science Fiction Books of the 1970s for Hardcore Fans

1970
	A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick After Things Fell Apart by Ron Goulart And Chaos Died by Joanna Russ Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg I Will Fear No Evil by Robert A. Heinlein Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R. A. Lafferty Ringworld by Larry Niven Tau Zero by Poul Anderson The Atrocity Exhibition by J. G. Ballard The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, edited by Robert Silverberg The Steel Crocodile/The Electric Crocodile by D. G. Compton The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker Time and Again by Jack Finney Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg Whipping Star by Frank Herbert
1971
	A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg Alone Against Tomorrow by Harlan Ellison Chronopolis and Other Stories by J. G. Ballard Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer Dragonquest Anne McCaffrey Driftglass by Samuel R. Delany Furthest by Suzette Haden Elgin Half Past Human by T. J. Bass Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny Moderan by David Bunch Son of Man by Robert Silverberg Starlight by Hal Clement The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories by Roger Zelazny The Hugo Award Winners, Volume Two edited by Isaac Asimov The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin The World Inside by Robert Silverberg To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer Vermillion Sands by J. G. Ballard
1972
	334 by Thomas M. Disch A Choice of Gods by Clifford Simak Again, Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad The Listeners by James Gunn The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner What Entropy Means to Me by George Alec Effinger When Harlie Was One by David Gerrold
1973
	Frankenstein Unbound by Brian W. Aldiss Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem Protector by Larry Niven Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke Ten Thousand Light-Years From Home by James Tiptree, Jr. The Embedding by Ian Watson The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 2a & 2b edited by Ben Bova Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
1974
	Before the Golden Age edited  by Isaac Asimov Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe/The Unsleeping Eye by D. G. Compton The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin The Godwhale by T. J. Bass The Mote in God’s Eye by Niven & Pournelle Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
1975
	Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach Norstrillia by Cordwainer Smith The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester The Deep by John Crowley The Female Man by Joanna Russ The Forever War by Joe Haldeman The Infinity Box by Kate Wilhelm The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner The Wind’s Twelve Quarters by Ursula K. Le Guin Women of Wonder edited by Pamela Sargent
1976
	Man Plus by Frederik Pohl Science Fiction of the Thirties edited by Damon Knight The Clewiston Test by Kate Wilhelm The Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin Triton by Samuel R. Delany Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
1977
	A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick All My Sins Remembered by Joe Haldeman Gateway by Frederik Pohl In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan Lucifer’s Hammer by Niven and Pournelle Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley The Road To Science Fiction edited by James Gunn
1978
	Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre The Faded Sun: Kesrith by C. J. Cherryh The Persistence of Vision by John Varley
1979
	Engine Summer by John Crowley Kindred by Octavia Butler Juniper Time by Kate Wilhelm On the Wings of Song by Thomas Disch Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Stanislaw Lem The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams The Instrumentality of Mankind by Cordwainer Smith Titan by John Varley

JWH – 4/9/13 –  Table of Contents