Best fantasy/science fiction titles part III

[nontacitare]

11. I, Robot, Isaac Asimov. An amazing, and sympathetic, portrayal of robots and artificial intelligence. I read this in elementary school and the story "Liar" still haunts me.

12. Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury. Scientifically impossible for Mars, this is nonetheless a lyrical and beautiful account of humans settling on another planet.

13.

Comments

[nicosomething]

Rama has long been on my list to read, but I've never gotten around to it. That's an interesting observation about the lack of villains, I never thought about that before. I've read, or heard, short sci-fi stories without villains, but you're right, it's very rare in novels. How intriguing.

[nontacitare]

That's an interesting observation about the lack of villains, I never thought about that before.

There is an episode of DS9 where the only two characters are Benjamin and Jake Sisko on a space equivalent of a fishing trip. Jake has to tell his father that he's decided to become a reporter rather than join Starfleet as Benjamin expects. (Side note - this is why Jake was one of my favorite Star Trek characters.) After it was over, I remember thinking there was something missing in the episode, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then it came to me - there were no bad guys. In a Star Trek episode, that stood out.

Don't get me wrong - there are life and death situations in Rendezvous at Rama; these are space explorers we're talking about after all. And there are a few significant character conflicts. But no one acts out of malice. Everyone without exception is trying to do the right thing for all involved. It's rather refreshing.

[nicosomething]

My favorite Jake and Benjamin story was the one where Ben is trapped in time and we see him appearing to Jake over the years. Heck of an episode.