“All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed.
For after all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog.”
― Charles M. Schulz

Whether they are dogs, dragons or otherwise, the animal companions of science fiction display admirable dedication to and enviable bonds with their people. You nominated dozens such furry and not so furry friends; you've voted for your favorites and now, based on your votes here and in our facebook group, we've arrived at our top 10! 

As always, these top ten lists are not meant to be all-inclusive or definitive, but give a great finger on the pulse of our communities interests and favorites. Want to see who missed out? Here's the original nomination list from the blog.

Without further ado, based on the combined nominations and votes here on the Discover Sci-Fi blog and the in Facebook group, here are your top choices for the best furry friends of science fiction.

10. Sergeant Stumpy, the heroic dog from Earthrise by Daniel Arenson

Sergeant Stumpy is a heroic dog who helps the heroes of Earthrise fight the scum, the evil aliens from deep space.

A Boston terrier, Stumpy is discovered in the mines of a distant world, the lone survivor of an alien assault. When marines arrive to clear the mines of aliens, they find Stumpy hiding in the dark. He joins the team and helps them throughout the battle. The soldiers name him stumpy because his tail was bitten off, leaving only a stump.

Fans of the series will be interested to know that Sergeant Stumpy was inspired by Sergeant Stubby, a heroic war dog from WW1, who fought in seventeen battles with the American army. Very cool. 

Marco Emery was born into the war. After his mother is killed, he joins the Human Defense Force, Earth's ragtag army. Emery must survive basic training, become a soldier, and finally face the aliens in battle.

Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win.

Start Earth Alone, the first book in the epic Earthrise Series, here on Amazon

9. Speaker-to-Animals from Larry Niven's Known Space Universe

"You are going to be in such deep s#!t when the Kzin find out you have listed them as 'pets.'"

While we didn't exactly say "pets," we see what this Discover Sci-Fi reader is saying!

The Kzinti (singular Kzin) are a fictional, very warlike and bloodthirsty race of cat-like aliens in Larry Niven's Known Space series. Introduced in 1966 in Niven's story The Warriors (originally in Worlds of If ), a Kzin character, Speaker-to-Animals (later known as Chmeee), subsequently played a major role in Niven's Hugo and Nebula award-winning Ringworld  and Ringworld Engineers, giving considerably more background of the Kzinti and their interactions with human civilizations.

Ringworld is no stranger to these polls, having landed on many of our previous top 10 lists, so we know many of you have already picked up this award winning classic. If you haven't though, you should definitely add it to your TBR! 

Louis Wu, accompanied by a young woman with genes for luck, and a captured kzin—a warlike species resembling 8-foot-tall cats—are taken on a space ship run by a brilliant 2-headed alien called Nessus. Their destination is the Ringworld, an artificially constructed ring with high walls that hold 3 million times the area of Earth. Its origins are shrouded in mystery.

The adventures of Louis and his companions on the Ringworld are unforgettable . . .

Read the Hugo and Nebula winning classic, Ringworld,  here on Amazon.

8. Miles, the Siberian Husky sidekick in Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

In eighth place, we have the absolute loyalist of friends: Miles, from Nicholas Sansbury Smith's bestselling and utterly binge-worthy Hell Divers series.

Hell Diver Xavier "X" Rodriguez is stranded on the poisoned surface when he stumbles upon an old ITC facility. Inside the bunker he discovers cryo chambers with thousands of animals. Alone, and scared, X decides to unfreeze a Siberian Husky that he names Miles. From that day on Miles treks across the surface with X by his side and helps on the quest to find the airship X once called home. With countless threats facing them, Miles uses his keen sense of smell and instinct to help guide X across the country to a new home, proving there is nothing better than the friendship between man and a loyal dog.

Have you had a chance to "dive" into the series yet? Hell Divers has got to be one of the most original and exciting post apocalyptic series going these days. If you haven't read it, you absolutely need to check it out!

More than two centuries after World War III poisoned the planet, the final bastion of humanity lives on massive airships circling the globe in search of a habitable area to call home. Aging and outdated, most of the ships plummeted back to Earth long ago. The only thing keeping the two surviving lifeboats in the sky are Hell Divers - men and women who risk their lives by skydiving to the surface to scavenge for parts the ships desperately need.

When one of the remaining airships is damaged in an electrical storm, a Hell Diver team is deployed to a hostile zone called Hades. But there's something down there far worse than the mutated creatures discovered on dives in the past - something that threatens the fragile future of humanity.

Get your copy of Hell Divers, the first book in the Hell Divers series,  here on Amazon.

7. Blood, from A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison

Our seventh place entry has such a wholesome sounding title! Ahhh... A Boy and His Dog. Based on the title, you would be forgiven for thinking A Boy and His Dog is a heartwarming adventure tale, something akin to Farley Mowat's The Dog Who Wouldn't Be, but it is not. While not wholesome in the least, it might warm your heart, and regardless, is a GREAT book. If you haven't already read this thought provoking and unforgettable Nebula award winner it's about time you get it!

A Boy and His Dog, by author Harlan Ellison, tells the story of an amoral 15 year old boy, Vic, and his telepathic dog, Blood, who work together as a team to survive in the post-apocalyptic world after a nuclear war.

Vic was born in and scavenges throughout the wasteland of the former southwestern United States. Vic is most concerned with food and fornication; having lost both of his parents, he has no formal education and does not understand ethics or morality. He is accompanied by a well-read, misanthropic, telepathic dog named Blood, who helps him locate women, in return for food. Blood cannot forage for himself, due to the same genetic engineering that granted him telepathy. The two steal for a living, evading roverpaks and mutants.

A piece of shocking, dystopic science fiction, A Boy and His Dog questions the boundaries and nature of love while crafting a vision of a dark future guaranteed to leave chills.

Get A Boy and His Dog here on Amazon.

6. Einstein, the golden retriever from Watchers by Dean R. Koontz

If you have read Dean R. Koontz's novels, you will know he often features dogs as significant characters. Given the popularity of his work, it was no surprise to see at least one of the furry friends he's written over the years make its way into our top 10. Our sixth place entry is Einstein, the genetically altered golden retriever from (and featured prominently on the cover of) Koontz's Watchers. Crafted in 1987, Watchers one of the books credited with establishing Koontz as a bestselling author. Have you read this one?

From a top secret government laboratory come two genetically altered life forms. One is a magnificent dog of astonishing intelligence. The other, a hybrid monster of a brutally violent nature. And both are on the loose…Bestselling author Dean Koontz presents his most terrifying, dramatic and moving novel: The explosive story of a man and a woman, caught in a relentless storm of mankind’s darkest creation.

Grab Watchers here on Amazon.

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5. Pip, the flying, empathic snake from Humanx Commonwealth by Alan Dean Foster

We have arrived at the top five! In fifth place is Pip, the flying empathic snake from Alan Dean Foster's wildly expansive Humanx Commonwealth. For the Love of Mother-Not is not the first book published in the series, but it is the first chronologically and so an excellent place to start for those new to the universe. 

They called him Flinx...

He was just a freckle-faced, redheaded kid with green eyes and a strangely compelling stare when Mother Mastiff first saw him on the auctioneer's block. One hundred credits and he was hers.

For years the old woman was his only family. She loved him, fed him, taught him everything she knew - even let him keep the deadly flying snake he called Pip.

Then Mother Mastiff mysteriously disappeared and Flinx took Pip to tail her kidnappers. Across the forests and swamps of the winged world called Moth, their only weapons were Pip's venom...and Flinx's unusual Talents.

Get your copy of For the Love of Mother-Not
here on Amazon.

4. Little fuzzy, from Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

In forth place, we have Little Fuzzy from... Little Fuzzy! Little Fuzzy is named—as noted—for one of the book's main characters, Little Fuzzy, a tiny, golden-furred humanoid discovered by Jack Holloway, the human protagonist of the story. The book is a true sci-fi classic, written in 1962 by H. Beam Piper, and nominated for the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The story revolves around determining whether a small furry species discovered on the planet Zarathustra is sapient, and features a mild libertarianism that emphasizes sincerity and honesty.  

The chartered Zarathustra Company had it all their way. Their charter was for a Class III uninhabited planet, which Zarathustra was, and it meant they owned the planet lock stock and barrel. They exploited it, developed it and reaped the huge profits from it without interference from the Colonial Government. Then Jack Holloway, a sunstone prospector, appeared on the scene with his family of Fuzzies and the passionate conviction that they were not cute animals but little people.

Get your copy of Little Fuzzy 
here on Amazon.

3. Pixel, the cat from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein

In a solid third place showing, we have Pixel, the cat with "cattitude for days," (as pointed out by one DSF facebook group member) from Robert A. Heinlein's
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. As you might have guessed, the title of the book refers directly to Pixel, who has an inexplicable tendency to be wherever the narrator happens to be. In one scene Pixel does, in fact, walk through a wall, and it is explained that Pixel is too young to know that such behavior is impossible. The book features a few recurring characters, favorites from other Heinlein books, such as Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw, among others.

Dr. Richard Ames is an ex-military man, a sometime writer, and unfortunate victim of mistaken identity. When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike could change the direction of all human history.

Get your copy of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls 
here on Amazon.

2. Pern Dragons, from the Dragonriders of Pern series, by Anne McCaffrey

Anne McCaffery's
Dragonriders of Pern is frequently nominated and consistently places near the top of our top 10 lists, and it was no surprise to see the dragons of the series take second place in this poll because the series is amazing and—come on—who doesn't love dragons!

The Dragons of Pern are a fictional race created by Anne McCaffrey as an integral part of the science fiction world depicted in her Dragonriders of Pern novels. Pernese dragons are similar to traditional European dragons in the fact that they can breathe fire and resemble great lizards or dinosaurs with wings, but the resemblance ends there. Unlike most dragons in previous Western literature, Pernese dragons are entirely friendly to humanity.

This unforgettable and award winning series is beloved by readers and critics alike. If somehow you’ve missed it, consider this your invitation to dive in!

The first book, Dragonflight, introduces Lessa, a young woman recruited to establish a telepathic bond with a queen dragon at its hatching, thus becoming a dragonrider, and the leader of a Weyr community on the fictional planet Pern.

On a beautiful world called Pern, an ancient way of life is about to come under attack from a myth that is all too real. Lessa is an outcast survivor—her parents murdered, her birthright stolen—a strong young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge. But when an ancient threat to Pern reemerges, Lessa will rise—upon the back of a great dragon with whom she shares a telepathic bond more intimate than any human connection. Together, dragon and rider will fly . . . and Pern will be changed forever.

Start the series with Dragonflight, here on Amazon.

1. Nimitz, Treecat in Honor Harrington Series by David Weber

Treecats, from David Weber’s Honorverse, are empaths who are able form intense bonds with humans, which are usually only broken in death. Fan favorite, Nimitz, who landed first in our poll, is one such Treecat. Nimitz bonded to Weber’s heroine, Honor Harrington when she was 12 T-years old.

For the uninitiated, The Honorverse is a NYT best-selling military science fiction series centered on the space navy career of the principal protagonist Honor Harrington. You can see Nimitz perched on Harrington's shoulder on the cover of On Basilisk Station, the first book in the series, which follows Commander Honor Harrington and Her Majesty’s light cruiser Fearless during their assignment to the Basilisk system. 

When their duty leads them to discover events that would lead to an invasion of Medusa, they have no choice but to act.

Read On Basilisk Station 
here on Amazon.

Anyone itching to bring home a new animal companion after reading that?

Maybe not a Kzin, but a Siberian Husky or a good 'ole rescue mutt might be nice. Alas, not all of us can bring home animals, no matter how loyal or empathic, and no matter how much we long to do so. For us, reading and dreaming about one of these will have to do, and we are forever grateful to the authors who bring these characters to life, allowing us to do just that.

Did your favorite make our list? Did it get the place it deserved? We love hearing your thoughts on who did and didn't make the list, so if you are compelled, feel free to join us here in our Facebook group to chime in and be sure to check out our most recent poll while you're there. Don't have Facebook? Feel free to add to the comments below.

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

“A book cover is a distillation, a haiku, if you will, of the story." —Chip Kidd

Book covers are important. One that does its job effectively "gives the first impression of what you are about to get into" (Chip Kidd, 2012 Ted Talk). Further, it makes you actually want to get into it; to go beyond the cover. These ten compelling covers do just that. Which one did our community chose as being the best? Read on to find out!

As always, these top ten lists are not meant to be all-inclusive or definitive, but give a great finger on the pulse of our communities interests and favorites. Want to see who missed out? Here's the original nomination list from the blog.

Without further ado, based on the combined nominations and votes here on the Discover Sci-Fi blog and the Facebook group, here are your top choices for the sci-fi books with the best cover art of all time!

10. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt edition

“I voted The Handmaid's Tale. The artwork tells an entire story by itself.” - DSF Reader, Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group

When we think of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale, the first the first cover that springs to mind is Fred Marcellino’s iconic 1986 illustration for Houghton Mifflin. It was said of Marcellino that he could "in one image, translate the whole feeling and style of a book.” As noted by the Discover Sci-Fi reader quoted above, that is exactly what he has done with his cover of Atwood’s classic.

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now . . .

Read The Handmaid's Tale here on Amazon

9. Shockwave by Lindsay Buroker

When Lindsay Buroker needed a cover for her book Shockwave, she turned to artist Jeff Brown. His goal? Turn out a "cool cover of a not-too-slick spaceship" as Buroker's heros are flying around in a hundred-year-old freighter with more than a few dents and dings! A challenge perhaps, but clearly he was up to the task!

We asked Buroker if she could tell us a bit about Brown's process and what their collaboration looks like and she had this to share:

"Since the same spaceship is a part of each book in the series, Jeff makes a model that he can position in different ways for the different art on each cover. If you check out the entire series, it’s doing everything from investigating an ice moon to flying low past an enemy base on a planet to participating in a big battle at a space station. 

I usually give a few details from an actual scene from the book, but I also give Jeff a lot of leeway. I’ve found that it’s better to say things like 'ice moon' and 'whatever you think looks cool' than worry too much about nitty gritty accuracy or some vision in my head. These guys are all way better at design than I am." 

Twice nominated for the Goodreads Readers’ Choice awards, Lindsay Buroker has made a career of delighting fantasy and science fiction fans with fun, fast-paced adventures filled with characters you wish could come to your weekend barbecues. If you haven't yet checked out her books, Shockwave is a rollickingly good time, and a great place to start! 

Forced to flee the work he loves and the only home he’s ever known, Casmir catches the first ship into space, where he hopes to buy time to figure out who wants him dead and why. If he can’t, he’ll never be able to return home.

But he soon finds himself entangled with bounty hunters, mercenaries, and pirates, including the most feared criminal in the Star Kingdom: Captain Tenebris Rache.

Rache could snap his spine with one cybernetically enhanced finger, but he may be the only person with the answer Casmir desperately needs:

What in his genes is worth killing for?

Read Shockwave, Book One in the Star Kingdom Series here on Amazon.

8. Nightfall One by Isaac Asimov, 1974 Panther Edition

This intriguing cover for the 1974 edition of Isaac Asimov's collection of short stories was designed by Ken Sequin, a designer who created covers for many sci-fi heavyweights through the years. 

Nightfall One is the first half of a collection of Isaac Asimov's science fiction, short stories. Each story has been selected by the author himself, and each has an introduction specifically written for this collection by Dr. Asimov.

Regular blog readers will know that Asimov's books are no stranger to these polls; but more often than not, it's his Foundation books that are being featured, so it was nice to see this one make the cut, even if it is for the cover and not the (equally worthy) content. If you're a fan of his work but have missed this volume, we'd bet you'll find it worth picking up!  

Get your copy of Nightfall One here on Amazon.

7. Descent Into Darkness by Jay Allan, 2020 release

"My most recent series, Blood on the Stars, has covers by Tom Edwards, and the most recent one, Descent into Darkness, is one of the best ones he has done. I really like the cover, as I do the other ones he has done for the series." —Jay Allan

Jay Allan has been working with the wildly talented Tom Edwards for a few years now, and his covers are so beloved among fans, that in his facebook reader group, readers have been known to request that the covers be turned into posters so that they can be proudly displayed in their homes. We can't say we blame them! 

Descent Into Darkness is the penultimate book of the Blood on the Stars series, leading up to the smashing conclusion, Empire Reborn. This is definitely a series you want to read in order, so if you are new to the series, you're going to want to start with book 1, Duel in the Dark.  If you start now, you might catch up before the final book comes out! But if you're all caught up and ready to read on... 

Continue the adventure with Descent Into Darkness here on Amazon.

6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 50th Anniversary edition illustrated by Ralph Steadman

Landing just outside the top 5, we are a little surprised this special cover didn’t get a little more love, but with Frazetta and Whelan in the game, the competition was pretty stiff.

In 2005, British Cartoonist Ralph Steadman illustrated a 50th anniversary edition of Ray Bradbury's dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451. Only 451 copies were printed and each of them was signed by both Steadman and Bradbury. A gorgeous and very special edition, indeed! If you happened to miss picking one up, you can occasionally find a copy secondhand for around $450 USD!

For the rest of us, while we can appreciate the beauty of the edition, the kindle version or even the classic paperback will do just fine. Whatever your format preference, this is not a book you will want to miss.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.

Grab the dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451 here on Amazon.

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ll also get recommendations for new releases and discounted ebooks from our expert editorial team, from bestsellers to hidden gems.

5. Alien: The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster

Why mess with a good thing?

When a cover was needed for Alan Dean Foster's Novelization of Alien, publishers turned to Phillip Gips, who had created the poster for the movie that inspired the work. It was striking, memorable and fans already loved it. 

Alan Dean Foster has done many movie tie-ins, and like his others, this one, based on the screenplay by Dan O’Bannon, did not disappoint. Whether or not you’ve seen the movie, this book is worth a read.

The crew of the spaceship Nostromo wake from cryogenic sleep to distress signals from an unknown planet. One is attacked when they investigate a derelict alien craft. Safely on their way back to Sol, none foresee the real horror about to begin.

Get your copy of Alien 
here on Amazon.

4. Marines by Jay Allan, 2020 re-release

Though better known for his Blood on the Stars series, it was almost eight years ago, Jay Allan published his first book, Marines. The original publication didn't have the cover you see here. Seven years and several books later, Allan decided that while he liked the original cover, his first book—and those that followed in the series—deserved some TLC and commissioned Tom Edwards, the designer he'd been collaborating with for his Blood on the Stars series, to rework all nine covers of the original series. I think we can all agree, the result is outstanding. Are you a fan of Allan's BotS series? Have you read Crimson Worlds? If not, we highly recommend you check it out!

Erik Cain joined the marines to get off death row. The deal was simple; enlist to fight in space and he would be pardoned for all his crimes.

In the 23rd Century, assault troops go to war wearing AI-assisted, nuclear-powered armor, but it is still men and blood that win battles. From one brutal campaign to the next, Erik and his comrades fight an increasingly desperate war over the resource rich colony worlds that have become vital to the economies of Earth's exhausted and despotic Superpowers.

As Erik rises through the ranks he finally finds a home, first with the marines who fight at his side and later among the colonists - men and women who have dared to leave everything behind to build a new society on the frontier, one where the freedoms and rights lost long ago on Earth are preserved.

Amidst the blood and death and sacrifice, Erik begins to wonder. Is he fighting the right war? Who is the real enemy?

Start the Crimson Worlds series with Marines  here on Amazon.

3. Dune by Frank Herbert, 2018 edition

Some readers mentioned in the comments of the poll in our Facebook group that they favored the original cover of Frank Herbert's classic Dune. Understandable, but we can’t deny the appeal of the nominated version, designed by Jim Tierney. Tierney has done updated covers for the series from Dune  through Chapterhouse and if you like this one, you may want to check the rest out. They are all equally stunning!

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction. If you haven’t read it yet, now is the time! It is about to be brought to the big screen—yet again—and you’ll definitely want to read it before checking out Hollywood’s newest attempt to do justice to Herbert’s vision. (Fingers crossed!) 

Get your copy of Dune 
here on Amazon.

2. Ace Books edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs' with Frank Frazetta covers

Frank Frazetta is one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. His style is distinctive—truly iconic. His legacy is not just in the illustrations he penned, but in the influence he has had over the illustrators who have come after him. A fascinating character, he was also the subject of a 2003 documentary called "Painting with Fire.” 

With such an incredible body of work, it is hard to pick just one of his covers to represent. Here we’ve chosen to highlight the cover for A Princess of Mars, the first in Burroughs' Barsoom Series. We chose this as the series leans more sci-fi than some of this other notable series, and is credited with inspiring of sci-fi giants such as Jack Vance, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and John Norman.

Have you read it? A Princess of Mars tells the story of John Carter, a Civil War veteran who inexplicably finds himself held prisoner on the planet Mars by the Green Men of Thark. With Dejah Thoris, the princess of another clan on Mars, John Carter must fight for their freedom and save the entire planet from destruction as the life-sustaining Atmosphere Factory slowly grinds to a halt. 

Start reading A Princess of Mars
here on Amazon.

1. The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey, cover art by Michael Whelan

With almost twice as many votes as the next runner up, The White Dragon took the number one spot by a landslide! Though Science Fiction Hall of Famer Michael Whelan, the illustrator behind this cover of Anne McCaffrey's The White Dragon has illustrated covers for some of the most famous sci-fi and fiction writers The White Dragon has the distinction of being the first book featuring one of Whelan’s covers to make the NYT Best Sellers list.

Written seven years after the second book, The White Dragon completes the original Dragonriders trilogy in the Dragonriders of Pern series. If you are new to the series, you should definitely start with the first book, Dragonflight, but for those of you who have read the series and are up for a re-read, The White Dragon is as good a place as any to dive back in!

Jaxom, a rebellious young aristocrat, and Ruth, his white dragon, fly into another time to retrieve the queen's stolen egg, thereby averting a dragonrider war, and find their planet threatened once again by a Threadfall.

Continue the adventure with The White Dragon 
here on Amazon.

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

“The writer of it is, we understand, a female; this is an aggravation of that which is the prevailing fault of the novel; but if our authoress can forget the gentleness of her sex, it is no reason why we should; and we shall therefore dismiss the novel without further comment.”
―The British Critic, New Series, Volume 9, April 1818

The above quote is taken from one of the earliest reviews of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a book commonly regarded as the first ever work of science fiction. Not even the very best books can be expected to transcend criticism, so that a critic might find flaw with a book shouldn't come as a shock; what might, is that the flaw this anonymous critic found with Frankenstein was in the gender of the writer rather than in the content of the work. This is something women writing in science fiction have been up against for the better part of forever, and it's a sentiment we can no longer abide. The good news? Times have definitely changed and they continue to do so.

Starting around the 1950’s women began to gain some real traction in publishing in science fiction, writing award-winning novels alongside the men who traditionally dominated the genre; and while women writers are still under-represented, readers and critics alike are increasingly embracing their work and their often unique perspectives. So let’s celebrate some of the best, shall we? Here are the top 10 science fiction titles written by women as chosen by you, the Discover Sci-Fi community!

As always, these top ten lists are not meant to be all-inclusive or definitive, but give a great finger on the pulse of our communities interests and favorites. Want to see who missed out? Here's the original nomination list from the blog.

As always the results below are based on the combined nominations and votes here on the Discover Sci-Fi blog and the Facebook group.  

10. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin is an American literary treasure, or as Stephen King has said, "...a literary icon." Over her almost 60 year literary career she wrote more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories, in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books, though her most famous and popular works are undoubtedly the works of science fiction she wrote set in the Hainish Universe along with the high fantasy Earthsea Cycle series. Two of the books from Hainish Universe made our top 10. Let's take a look at how they did!

In tenth spot, we have The Dispossessed  which, as mentioned, is set in the Hainish Universe. The book has won multiple awards, including a Nebula for best novel, and both Hugo and Locus awards. The book plays with themes that, at the time, were not often explored in science fiction; things such as anarchism and revolutionary societies, capitalism, and individualism and collectivism. While it is the 6th book in the Hainish Cycle, it can be read as a standalone.

A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to reunite the two planets, which have been divided by centuries of distrust. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart.

Read The Dispossessed  here on Amazon.

9. Beast Master by Andre Norton

We were as surprised as many of you in Discover Sci-Fi community to see that none of Andre Norton's books made the cut for our last top 10 list for Young Adult Fiction, so it's good to see her getting the recognition she deserves here with not one, but two nominated titles! The first, coming in ninth place, is The Beast Master.

Left homeless by the war that reduced Terra to a radioactive cinder, Hosteen Storm Navaho commando and master of beasts is drawn to the planet Arzor, to kill a man he has never met.

On that dangerous frontier world, aliens and human colonists share the land in an uneasy truce. But something is upsetting the balance, and Storm is caught in the middle. He had thought the war was over but was it?

Get your copy of The Beast Master here on Amazon.

8. Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh

The 77 year old novelist C.J. Cherryh has published more than 80 books since she began writing in the 70’s. Her remarkable capacity for world building has earned her not only a loyal fanbase, but Hugo Awards for two of her works, both of which were nominated for this poll and landed in the top ten, the first—Cyteen—appearing in eighth spot! Cyteen is set in Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe, the same universe as her award-winning Downbelow Station. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1989.

A brilliant young scientist rises to power on Cyteen, haunted by the knowledge that her predecessor and genetic duplicate died at the hands of one of her trusted advisors. Murder, politics, and genetic manipulation provide the framework for the latest Union-Alliance novel.

Get your copy of Cyteen, books 1-3 in one volume, Here on Amazon

7. Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh

Can you imagine having an asteroid named after you? C.J. Cherryh was honored in just such a way, the asteroid’s discoverer saying of the author: “She has challenged us to be worthy of the stars by imagining how mankind might grow to live among them." Who better to make our list then!

The science fiction classic Downbelow Station was published in 1981 and has the distinction of having won the 1982 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book was nominated and shortlisted for a Locus Award for Best Science Fiction the same year, an award which it didn’t win, but it was later named one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all-time by Locus Magazine. Not too shabby! Throughout our poll it remained neck and neck with C.J. Cherryh's other nominated work, beating it by one vote to it finish in seventh place! 

The book is set in Cherryh's Alliance–Union universe during the Company Wars period, specifically late 2352 and early 2353. The book details events centering on a space station in orbit around Pell's World (also known as "Downbelow") in the Tau Ceti star system. The station serves as the transit point for ships moving between the Earth and Union sectors of the galaxy.

Read Cherryh's Hugo Award winning Downbelow Station  here on Amazon.

6. The Time Traders by Andre Norton

The remarkable Andre Norton published her first novel in 1934, and was the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master Award from the World Science Fiction Society in 1977, and won the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) association in 1983.

Often called the Grande Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy by biographers such as J. M. Cornwell and organizations such as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Publishers Weekly, and Time, Andre Norton wrote novels for over 70 years. She had a profound influence on the entire genre, having over 300 published titles read by at least four generations of science fiction and fantasy readers and writers.

The Time Traders is the second book of Norton's to make our list, and missed the top five by a margin of only one vote! The book was first published in 1958, and has been printed in several editions. It was updated by Norton in 2000 to account for real world changes. It is part of Norton's Forerunner universe.

The never-ending tension between Russia and the United States has been escalated by a stunning new variable: time travel. While the Americans can roughly utilize the technology, the Russians have learned the secret of space travel—and that makes the US vulnerable. What they need is someone expendable to send through time to obtain the same secret.

Get your copy of The Time Traders here on Amazon.

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5. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

We have reached the top five with Madeleine L'Engle's  classic, A Wrinkle in Time. L'Engle began writing at five years of age and almost gave up at 40 when she received yet another rejection letter. We are fortunate that she found she couldn't give it up, and was finally able to publish one of the most beloved books of our time, the multi-award winning, A Wrinkle in Time. 

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.  

And so begins the adventure as Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe, embark on a journey through space and time, from universe to universe, as they endeavor to save the Murrys' father and the world. The novel offers a glimpse into the war between light and darkness, and goodness and evil, as the young characters mature into adolescents on their journey.

Start the adventure with book one in the Quintet, A Wrinkle in Time 
here on Amazon.

4. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

In fourth place, we have the mother of all science fiction, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein! Mary Shelley is a fascinating and tragic figure. She lost her mother in infancy, and in the course of her relationship with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, three of four children. She was widowed at 25 and succumbed to a brain tumor at 53 after years of illness. Despite a life fraught from the start with challenge and heartbreak, she persisted, and at the young age of 18 wrote what many consider the first work of science fiction ever.

Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece Frankenstein is a tale for the ages; a timeless classic with a fascinating origin story: 18 year old Shelley, on holiday with her lover and their friends challenge each other to see who could write the most terrifying horror story. Initially stymied, after thinking for days, Shelley dreamt about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made, inspiring the novel and introducing one of the most icon monsters of all time. 

Find the gothic classic Frankenstein, here on Amazon

3. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Left Hand of Darkness—set in the author's Hainish universe—won Le Guin both the Hugo AND Nebula awards for best novel, making her the first woman to do so. The Left Hand of Darkness was among the first books in the genre now known as feminist science fiction and is the most famous examination of androgyny in science fiction. Given that distinction, it is no surprise to find it near the top of our list! 

The Left Hand of Darkness takes place many centuries in the future—no date is given in the book itself. Reviewers have suggested the year 4870 AD, based on extrapolation of events in other works, and commentary on her writing by Le Guin. The protagonist of the novel, the envoy Genly Ai, is on a planet called Winter ("Gethen" in the language of its own people) to convince the citizens to join the Ekumen. Winter is, as its name indicates, a planet that is always cold.

Pick up Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking The Left Hand of Darkness here on Amazon

2. The Vorkosigan Saga

Lois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. Bujold is one of the most acclaimed writers in science fiction. Last year the Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 36th SFWA Grand Master; she has won the Hugo Award for best novel four times—more times than any of the other authors on this list, so perhaps the only surprise here is that her acclaimed epic, the Vorkosiagan Saga landed in second place rather than first.

The Vorkosiagan Saga, perhaps her best known work, is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe. At present there are sixteen books plus six short works in the series. There is a little bit of debate about the best order in which to read them, however the author recommends reading the books in order of the internal chronology so we'd suggest that is what you do, too!

When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual admiration and even stronger feelings emerge. A science fiction romance by a Hugo and Nebula Award winning master. Bujold's Shards of Honor is the first book in her SF universe to feature the Vorkosigan clan.

Get your copy of Shards of Honor, the first book in the internal chronology, here on Amazon.

1. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

We've reached the top! In first place by a landslide, we have The Dragonriders of Pern, a series by the indomitable Anne McCaffrey. McCaffrey is a remarkable writer and one of a handful of women (some of whom also appear on our esteemed top 10 list) awarded the Grand Masters award, a prestigious lifetime achievement award won by a small number of other sci-fi luminaries—some of the biggest of the genre—such as Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke. Select individual works written by McCaffrey have won Hugos and Nebulas and in 2005, she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. In addition to all the wonderful industry accolades, McCaffrey is a beloved and oft celebrated author among our Discover Sci-fi community as well, so we were not surprised to see her top the list. In fact, the nominated series—The Dragonriders of Pern—has been KILLING it in these polls of late, taking the top spot in the most recent poll for best young adult science fiction, and a respectable fourth place in the best multi-book science fiction series of all time.

If you haven’t read the series, you are seriously missing out!  McCaffrey made history as the first woman to win a Hugo or Nebula Award with the first novel in the series, Dragonflight.  In Dragonflight, we meet a young woman named Lessa who is being recruited to establish a telepathic bond with a queen dragon at its hatching, thus becoming a dragonrider, and the leader of a Weyr community on the fictional planet Pern.

 Discover the book that started it all, Dragonflight, here on Amazon

"We've come a long way, baby..."

"...From now on, lover-boy, it's fifty-fifty, all the way. Up to now I've been an object made for pleasin' you. Times have changed and I'm demanding satisfaction too." —Loretta Lynn.  

Here's to the women of sci-fi: not just to the ones who grace the artwork on the covers, but especially to those who put themselves out there, writing rich and layered science fiction that, more often than not, gives us something to think about while keeping us wildly entertained. Who knows what this list will look like next year, or ten years from now.

Thanks to these trailblazers, more women are coming up in science fiction than ever before. Yes, we've come a long way, baby, but perhaps the best is yet to come.  

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” – Ray Bradbury

We agree! No matter what section of the library or bookstore books come from, let's just keep reading them, okay? Okay!

Who knew that the world of young adult fiction could be so filled with contention? As with many of our polls, there was plenty of debate around the selections, but this time, the debate had more to do with whether or not individual titles actually qualify as young adult fiction, rather than the merit of the titles themselves as being masterful works, worthy of recognition. For the most part, there seemed no doubt as to the caliber of each of the nominated books or series, but perhaps because the lines have blurred so much between adult and young adult fiction over the last decade, we couldn't reach a consensus on what objective criteria a book requires to fit this particular category. Nevertheless, we posted the second poll based on the results of the first, and thanks to the hundreds of you who voted, we have now arrived at our top ten.

As always, these top ten lists are not meant to be all-inclusive or definitive, but give a great finger on the pulse of our communities interests and favorites. Want to see who missed out? Here's the original nomination list from the blog.

Without further ado, based on the combined nominations and votes here on the Discover Sci-Fi blog and the Facebook group, here are your top choices for the best multi-book sci-fi series of all time.

10. Star Kingdom by David Weber

One of the indisputably YA submissions to our poll is David Weber’s Star Kingdom Series. The Star Kingdom series is set in the Honorverse and the books are technically prequels to the main series, starring Stephanie Harrington, a distant ancestor of Honor Harrington. 

Stephanie Harrington absolutely hates being confined inside her family's compound on the pioneer planet of Sphinx, a frontier wilderness world populated by dangerous native animals that could easily tear a human to bits and pieces. Yet Stephanie is a young woman determined to make discoveries—and the biggest discovery of all awaits her: an intelligent alien species.

Read the first book A Beautiful Friendship  here on Amazon.

9. The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison

In ninth place on our list is The Stainless Steel Rat written by Harry Harrison who is also the author of Deathworld, Make Room! Make Room! (filmed as Soylent Green), and many other famous works of Science Fiction. Harrison wrote the first Stainless Steel Rat book in 1985 and continued through 2010; he died in 2012.

James Bolivar diGriz goes by many aliases, including "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat," and is "one of science fiction’s most beloved rogues." He is a futuristic con man, thief and all-round rascal. He is charming and quick-witted. He is also a master of disguise and martial arts, an accomplished bank robber, a criminal mastermind, an expert on breaking and entering, and (perhaps most usefully) a skilled liar. Master of self-rationalization, the Rat frequently justifies his crimes by arguing that he is providing society with entertainment; and besides which, he only steals from institutions that have insurance coverage. He displays a strong sense of morality, albeit in a much more restricted sense than is traditional. For example, diGriz will steal without compunction, but deplores killing.

A fine example for youth, indeed!  

Read The Stainless Steel Rat  here on Amazon.

8. Ringworld by Larry Niven

The submission of Larry Niven’s award winning Ringworld was yet another that had some people in our community vexed, those members conveying they felt that it was written with an adult audience in mind. Many seemed to acknowledge that while it is true that many science fiction lovers cut their teeth on Niven’s beloved work, it is also true that just because a book is appropriate for some young adult readers doesn’t mean that the book was written for them.  Regardless, the work made it through to the second round of voting where it wound up in eighth spot on our list. 

Ringworld follows the unforgettable adventures of Louis Wu, accompanied by a young woman with genes for luck, and a captured kzin – a warlike species resembling 8-foot-tall cats -- are taken on a space ship run by a brilliant 2-headed alien called Nessus. Their destination is the Ringworld, an artificially constructed ring with high walls that hold 3 million times the area of Earth. Its origins are shrouded in mystery.

Get your copy of Ringworld  here on Amazon.

7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The first Hunger Games book came out just over 10 years after the first Harry Potter, and held huge appeal to a young adult audience looking for something to fill the void left behind by their beloved Potterverse. Collins gruesome epic did not disappoint these readers, nor the millions of adult readers who picked up the series as well.  In August 2012, the series ranked second, exceeded only by the Harry Potter series in NPR's poll of the top 100 teen novels, which asked voters to choose their favorite young adult books. On August 17, 2012, Amazon announced The Hunger Games trilogy as its top seller, surpassing the record previously held by the Harry Potter series

The Hunger Games universe is a dystopia set in Panem, a North American country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and 12 districts in varying states of poverty. Every year, children from the districts are selected via lottery to participate in a compulsory televised battle royale death match called The Hunger Games.  A prequel novel, titled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, about the early days of Panem and The Hunger Games is written and will be released on May 19, 2020

Get your copy of The Hunger Games the first book in the Hunger Games Trilogy, Here on Amazon

6. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

Though considered a coming of age novel, the inclusion of Heinlein’s best-selling Starship Troopers into this poll had some fans scratching their heads. Perhaps fitting as this Hugo award winning book is no stranger to controversy!  

Starship Troopers was submitted to Scribner's for publication as part of Heinlein's juvenile collection and it's rejection brought to an end to that series of novels. It was later published by Putnam and became enormously controversial because of the political views it seemed to support.

The novel opens with Rico aboard the corvette transport Rodger Young serving with the platoon known as "Rasczak's Roughnecks". The platoon carries out a raid against a planetary colony held by Skinnies. The raid is relatively brief: the platoon lands on the planet, destroys its targets, and retreats, suffering two casualties in the process. One of them, Dizzy Flores, dies while returning to orbit.... 

Starship Troopers has been referred to as a coming of age story for Rico, as he matures through his tenure in the infantry. His training, both at boot camp and at officer candidate school, involves learning the value of militarism thus inviting the reader to learn it as well.

Get your copy of Starship Troopers here on Amazon.

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5. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

It is no surprise the beloved multi-award winning classic A Wrinkle in Time made our final list and further, it is no surprise it managed to rise to the top five, as it was one of the few selections on the list whose eligibility for consideration as a YA novel was not one of contention.

Aside from being a multi-award winning science fiction book written by a woman and featuring a female protagonist, the book is notable because it was rejected by at least 26 publishers before it was picked up by Random House.  

A Wrinkle in Time is the first novel in the Time Quintet, a series of five young adult novels written by Madeleine L'Engle. The series follows the adventures of Meg Murry, her youngest brother Charles Wallace Murry, their friend Calvin O'Keefe, and her twin siblings Sandy and Dennys Murry. Throughout the series, the friends band together to travel through space and time as they attempt to save the world from the grasps of evil.

Get your copy of A Wrinkle in Time here on Amazon.

4. Heinlein's Juveniles by Robert Heinlein

Robert Heinlein's Heinlein’s Juveniles stole the show in the first poll, so much so that we felt the need to combine the individual entries and the entry for ‘Heinlein’s Juveniles’ into one in order to allow for more diversity in the final poll. Between the entries, in the opening poll they won over 170 votes—almost four times as many as the next runner up.  Amazing! Given that show of support in the opening round, it is surprising, to say the least, that it didn’t fare better in the deciding poll. Were we betting people, we might have bet the collection would have easily taken the top spot. To see that it didn't make it into the top three in the final round is a bit of a mind-bender.

The twelve novels that comprise the collection were published by Scribner's between 1947 and 1958, and together tell a single story of space exploration. A thirteenth—Starship Troopers, which landed in sixth spot on our list—was submitted to Scribner's but rejected and instead published by Putnam.      

Careful and exciting science, witty, smart dialog, its lessons of responsibility and the transition from “boys” to “men” have made Rocket Ship Galileo one of Heinlein’s most influential books since its first publication in 1947. The importance of this classic in attracting young people to careers in science and technology, as well as developing abiding interests among all its readers in spaceflight, has been widely noted.

Get your copy book 1 in Heinlein's Juveniles collection, Rocket Ship Galileo, 
here on Amazon.

3. Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card's wildly popular and award winning books Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow  were submitted together and turned out to be a selection of great contention for this particular poll. Like so many of the other selections on this list, many in the DSF community felt that while the books are a favourite among young adult readers—and while each story does centre on a young boy—the stories themselves were perhaps too mature to be classified as young adult. Regardless, the books advanced to round two of voting and eked their way into the top three.

Set at an unspecified date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperilled humankind after two conflicts with the Formics, an insectoid alien species they dub the "buggers." In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, children, including the novel's protagonist, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin are trained from a very young age by putting them through increasingly difficult games, including some in zero gravity where Ender's tactical genius is revealed. Is Ender the general Earth needs?

Is Ender the general Earth needs? Pick up the award winning Ender's Game here on Amazon

2. Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Here in second place, we have Asimov’s
Foundation, which was yet another controversial entry! Many of you acknowledged that you'd read the foundational Foundation as young adults, some even crediting the award-winning work as being what made you fall in love with reading in general and with science fiction, specifically. Maybe so, folks argue, but that doesn't mean it is a young adult novel. Be that as it may, it struck a chord with so many of you as young readers that it based on your votes, it rocketed to second spot in our poll. 

Called forth to stand trial on Trantor for allegations of treason (for foreshadowing the decline of the Galactic Empire), Seldon explains that his science of psychohistory foresees many alternatives, all of which result in the Galactic Empire eventually falling. If humanity follows its current path, the Empire will fall and 30,000 years of turmoil will overcome humanity before a second Empire arises. However, an alternative path allows for the intervening years to be only one thousand, if Seldon is allowed to collect the most intelligent minds and create a compendium of all human knowledge, entitled Encyclopedia Galactica. The board is still wary but allows Seldon to assemble whomever he needs, provided he and the "Encyclopedists" be exiled to a remote planet, Terminus. Seldon agrees to these terms – and also secretly establishes a second Foundation of which almost nothing is known, which he says is at the "opposite end" of the galaxy.

Get your copy of Foundation, here on Amazon

1. Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

Handily taking top place in this poll is Anne McCaffrey's award-winning series Dragonriders of Pern. This series has long been a staple among young adult readers with a love of adventure and, of course, of science fiction. While the larger series may not have been written specifically for young adult readers, within the series there is a trilogy that indisputably was. The Harper Hall Trilogy is a series of three novels, targeted at young adults, set within Anne McCaffrey’s beloved and bestselling Dragonriders of Pern series, it is a seminal work and a must-have for any fantasy or science fiction fan of any age. 

Here we meet Menolly as she navigates her way as the first journeywoman Harper in the history of Pern; and fellow student Piemur whom is secretly asked to leave Harper Hall, drafted by Masterharper Robinton to embark on a dangerous mission to the Southern Hold.

Get started with the first book in the Harper Hall Trilogy, Dragonsong, here on Amazon

And so, we have more to think about...

We opened our inquiry with the idea that well written young adult novels have broad appeal and the capacity to capture the hearts of adult readers; where we have landed as a result of submissions, which were reflective of the experience of our readers as young adults, is the idea that—go figure—literature aimed at adult audiences can also provide immense value and hold everlasting meaning to a younger demographic. Octavia Butler was right and her words bear repeating: "Good stories are good no matter how they're categorized." Whether or not we can agree on what constitutes young adult fiction (could the categorization have as much to do with trends and marketing than anything else?), it seems we CAN agree on what constitutes a good story. The books and series that made the top ten are worthy classics likely to appeal to readers from age 12-112 and we hope that if you haven't read them yet, you'll make a point of picking them up.

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.