Top Ten Speculative Fiction Novels of All Time. Compiled by ARWZ Editors

In our first Top Ten List Project undertaken since the founding of ARWZ Magazine, the results were unprecendented. ARWZ readers and associates nominated nearly two hundred of their favorite novels and trilogies. Speculative Fiction fans from all over the world placed their votes for the most innovative, intriguing, memorable and ground-breaking novels, voicing their opinions toward this final list of the Best Speculative Fiction Novels of All Time. Participating voters were drawn both from ARWZ readership and from the membership of our Associate Pages. Our thanks to all participants.

Each voter submitted a list of no more than ten novels. Ranked votes were weighted according to the numerical rank assigned to each novel or trilogy (1. got 10 points, 2. got 9 points, etc.). Some voters preferred not to rank their lists, refusing to assign strict numerical value to artistic media; the novels of their lists were attributed five points each. Some participants voiced concern over the accuracy and fruitfulness of such an enterprise. To some measure, ARWZ Editors agree. We make no pretensions of the authority of these lists. Participants contribute voluntarily at our invitation, not as part of a measured sample. Nor do we decide these lists as the result of debates in a hand-picked commitee of editors. The list is determined strictly by open voting. Our methods may not be scientific, but their results are intriguing. Some may even find them controversial. And it is in controversy that ARWZ Editors consider our aim accomplished. We do these ranked Top Ten lists in large part because they are controversial. Controversy gets people talking, thinking and debating. And isn't that what speculative fiction is ultimately about?

Voters were also invited to provide commentary on the novels included in their lists. As much as possible, that commentary has been included for the Top Ten. But the discussion doesn't end there. If you would like to comment on this list, please feel free to join the discussion on our forums, or to send us a Letter to the Editor with your comments. If you would like to participate in our latest Top Ten List, to be published on ARWZ Literary Zine in a future feature article, please visit the official ARWZ Top 10 page to see what we're woking on next.

Top Ten Speculative Fiction Novels of All Time

1. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

"Whether blatant copies, or brilliantly inspired, nearly every fantasy novel written in the past 60 years owes a debt to this series." - Brennil

"What else? This is where it all started." - Zodac

"Unfortunately many people have come to judge this novel - and it is a novel, not a trilogy - by its fans. But a thousand years from now, the wearers of plastic pointy ears will all be dead; the book itself will still be one of the wisest, cleverest, funniest and most original imaginative achievements in all human history." - Vefantur

"These books just blow me away, the detail in the characters and land that Tolkien creates is beyond comparison." - Spudy1

Stranger in a Strange Land

2. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

"A blueprint for social revolution disguised as a book about a Martian visiting Earth." - ljim2000

"When Charles Manson was finally arrested, this book was in his backpack. Despite that, it is an excellent novel, and one of which you must have knowledge to understand Heinlein�s future works." - Decagon

"This is probably his most influential, best-loved novel." - Custer1

"It was for me the weirdest book I ever liked." - Captainkalaa1

"Arguably Heinlein's strongest book, it certainly is the most representative of his abiding belief in human potential." - Brennil

1984

3. 1984 by George Orwell

"The definitive dystopia. A book we should all keep in mind when we look at current political developments." - pecooper

"Made going to school worthwhile." - Golophin

"This is a book everyone should read. I've heard it described as 'the ultimate post-apocalyptic anti-Utopia.' I simply believe it affected all literature written since this book was published." - Captainkalaa1

Dune

4. Dune by Frank Herbert

"Dune is a compelling, brilliantly told, attention gripping, prophetic, philosophical look at culture, religion, metaphysics, ecology and messianic/hero worship. It has everything from knife fights to nuclear warfare, monsters to mind powers." - weapons are available

"Colossal religious science fiction epic. Dense, rich, intensely political and thought provoking." - Brennil

Foundation Trilogy

5. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

"The space-age equivalent of the fall of the Roman Empire and an amazing tale in its own right." - Tobias Timepiece

"The individual stories were at the heart of the golden age of magazine sf; the trilogy in book form was immensely successful and influential, and the later additions aren't bad either." - Custer1

The Book of New Sun

6. The Book of New Sun by Gene Wolfe

"Fantasy? SF? Complex, devious parable or ridiculously convoluted adventure yarn? This four-volume sequence is all these things and more. A measure of writerly ambition in the speculative field that has rarely been surpassed." - criminalenglish

"Rich, thought-provoking, sublime." - Infinite Chun

"It's original, thoughtful and multi-layered, and written by a man who truly understands the English language and what you can do with it if you know how." - Vefantur

Fahrenheit 451

6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

"What would happen if books were totally banned? A new meaning to the job of Fireman." - Sekhmet McFeerson

At the Mountains of Madness

8. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

"No living horror author has ever achieved what H.P. Lovecraft achieved. The blending of fact and fantasy is so artful, he makes you want to believe everything in his stories. And this novella is no exception." - Tobias Timepiece

"Magnificent story of a truly alien race and alien time." - Bravo1102

"He may get filed in the horror section, but this story is speculative fiction of the finest sort. The science he uses for his SF is archeology and biology and with it he creates a very believable and terrifying prehistory for our planet." - ljim2000

"Perfectly formed SF Horror." - Infinite Chun

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

9. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

"This book got me into reading and writing, and is just so hilarious that it keeps bringing me back to it again. Everyone who hasn't read it, should read it. It is a classic in Speculative Fiction and will remain to be so until it is publicly burned or becomes unfashionable." - False Dawn GAW

"42 is all you need know." - Sekhmet McFeerson

The Man in the High Castle

10. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

"Dick brought an edge to sf, and this strange novel of an alternate America, divided after World War II by the victorious Axis powers, is particularly memorable." - Custer1

And by popular demand, we have decided to print further results of the vote for the sake of reader interest: