I would suggest adding Robert J. Sawyer's Terminal Experiment to the immortality subject.
I just became aware that the "universe" I had in mind for my series of short stories has already been done. To about the 4th decimal place. And I am really bummed out about it. It's already been done in a book by Travis Taylor, titled "The Quantum Connection". Even his MC's girlfriend is from Russia, just like in my story.WTF! I swear that I have never even heard of this novel when I started writing my short story about a month and a half ago. Is this some kind of manifestation of the Jungian collective unconscious or what? I have been reading SF since 1968, 30-40 titles a year. I've been reading Analog since 1972. Like myself, Travis Taylor seems to be a major fan of Robert A Heinlein. Maybe that has something to do with it. Go figure.
Thanks so much for this! Not only is it good to get a better idea of foundation stories for certain tropes and subgenres, but it's also nice because now I have a better understanding what I write and where my work falls.
What about supernatural-themed stories? I always assume those fall into the urban fantasy/contemporary fantasy/paranormal romance area. Angels, demons, ghosts, etc.: Those are the books I tend to read - and find - in the UF/CF area. I just wanted to know if other genres/books tapped into this as well that I might be missing.
What a great list! I have never heard of some of these. Adding more books to my tbr pile
There are a few I would like to see added. I might have missed it, but I didn't see Piers Anthony on the list. He is one of my faves, and writes both SF and Fantasy. He has several series though, not sure where you would put him. His Xanth series is magical fantasy and has almost every major fantastical creature you know of. His Mode series focuses on multiverses. And his Adept series (my favorite) has magic and fantasy, but also SF as the MC travels between two very different worlds. There is also a little bit of AI in them.
Robert J Sawyers Hominid trilogy would be a good book to include in the Human Evolution part - a different evolution on a parallel Earth.
Also, not a big selection in the UF, CF, PR section. Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, Vicki Pettersson, Patricia Briggs, and Kelley Armstrong are much better to represent UF than LKH lately. As for PR, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Christine Feehan are two big authors.
Dystopian/End of the world:
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Came before The Stand and might be better (depending on the person, )
I know that Futurama is listed under the "Great Examples" list, but I think its episode "Godfellas" should be under the Religion category: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfellas
Of course, it isn't the first to address that issue, but it's a fairly original approach and I think it's one of the better ones out there.
I think under 'contemporary' or 'urban' fantasy you really need the works of Charles de Lint -- the Newford Story collections were some of the first to put Fairy in the cityscape and do it well.
He's a lot less 'gritty' then the Anita Blake books, and a lot less rooted in geek culture then the Dresden Files, but they both owe him a lot to their work.
You could also include Terri Windling's 'Borderland' anthologies.
reading through here it makes me think we chould have a list of sterotype endi , plot divices and the like
a small sheperd boy discovers he is the one true king
And they where adam and eve
thier are others im sure off that are like that i just can thtink of more this is probbly the worng thred however when a novel it is good to know if it is supper clishe like but some of thise things transend sub genres a little or am i worng thier