Jeremy Stomberg's Top Ten Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels

1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
   Bradbury says this isn't a science fiction book. I'd take him at his word, but it DOES take place in the future. A wonderful story and an alarming look at a possible end to the extreme right- and left-wing agendas in this country.

2. When the Sleeper Wakes by H.G. Wells
   One of Wells' lesser-known books, in which a man falls into a coma for a hundred years and wakes up in the 1980s to find a religion based on him. I like the futurist view of the '80s, with the flying balloon machines in their "utopian" society, with a very Metropolis-esque feel to it.

3. The Tripods Trilogy by John Christopher
   A "young adult" - aimed series, but great for all ages. Hundreds of years in the future, Earth is back in a pre-industrial age with many strange "artifacts" of our time remaining. The Tripods rule. Are they gods...or something else? L.Ron Hubbard unabashedly swiped the outline of this story for Battlefield Earth.

4. Star Wars "by George Lucas" (really Alan Dean Foster)
   Lucas wisely got a good writer to work his script into a novel. More than an adaptation, it offers a look into the creative process. This book came out in the winter of 1976, six full months before the film made it to theaters, and has an expanded, space-opera feel to it. I don't normally enjoy newer books, but Star Wars has the feel of an older, more fanciful book.

5. Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove
   Another great time-travel story, where white supremacists return to the Civil War to give machine guns to the Confederates. An interesting hypothesis as to what would happen if the South had won.

   and rounding out the top ten...

6. Beowulf
7. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
8. Metropolis by Thea von Harbou
9. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
10. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess