Which authors do you want to read from the 1950's and 1960's

[Jo]

As we will be shortly arriving at the 1950's and 1960's there are a lot of important Sci-fi authors. I would like to ensure key authors are included and as suggested by David I think it is a good idea to start a thread on which authors you would most like to read. The most popular can then be included in the group reads for this period. Can you suggest the 4/5 per decade that most interest you.

Nominated Authors
50s
Clarke - Votes 7 (50s/60s)
Heinlein - votes 5 (50s/60s)
Bester - votes 4
Bradbury - votes 3
Asimov - Votes 3 (50s/60s)
Wyndham - votes 2
Lieber - votes 1
Blish - votes 1
Del Rey - votes 1
Brown Fredric - Votes 1


60's
Zelazny - votes 5
Dick - votes 5
Ellison - votes 3
Herbert - Votes 3
Le Guin - votes 3
Delany - votes 2
Lafferty - votes 1

[Jim]

50's - Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke
60's - Zelazny & the above.

[Jo]

I agree with Jim plus I would like to read:

50's Ray Bradbury
60's Ursula le Guin + Philip K Dick

[Andreas]

50s: RAH, Alfred Bester, Fritz Leiber, James Blish are must reads

60s: Harlan Ellison revoluzionized SF with Dangerous Visions. There were PKD, Frank Herbert, Zelazny, John Brunner, Chip Delany, Vonnegut, Poul Anderson, Walter Miller jr, Clarke, Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Bloch, JG Ballard, Frederik Pohl. Oh my, there are so very many important authors! How could one not think of one of those as key authors? And I'm sure that I forgot several...

I'd locate Ursula le Guin more in the 70s, though her Earthsea Cycle started in 68 and the Hainish Cycle in 69. But most of the works were written at the beginning of the 70s, including The Dispossessed, The Word for World is Forest and The Lathe of Heaven.

[Jo]

Andreas wrote: "50s: RAH, Alfred Bester, Fritz Leiber, James Blish are must reads

60s: Harlan Ellison revoluzionized SF with Dangerous Visions. There were PKD, Frank Herbert, Zelazny, John Brunner, ..."

All good choices. For the 60's could you name a preferred 4/5? I want to keep track of the authors the group would most like to read. Then for the 50's/60's we will allow several months and some votes will be for a book by the most requested authors in this thread and some for books not covered by these. authors.

[Jim]

I think they would allow years.
;-)

[David]

Jeez,now that I made the suggestion, I'll have to come up with my list too. LOL I'm glad you liked the suggestion, though.

In no particular order:

50's- John Wyndham, Alfred Bester, Lester Del Rey, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke

60's- Harlan Ellison, Philip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny, R. A. Lafferty, Samuel R. Delany

I didn't realize how tough it would be to hold the 60's list to 5. I want to add about 10 more names to that list, but I'll restrain myself since I've hit some high points and some obscure points. Delany was tough. He did his best known works in the 60's, but probably his best written works in the 70's. I threw Lafferty in there because I didn't think anyone else would. I loved Fourth Mansions and Past Master.

[Theresa]

Bradbury

clarke (60s? His writing is not confined to the 50s of
course)


When we get to the 70s, I think it would be great to read a collection of short stories by Asimov published in 73 but covering 3 decades - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best...

[Theresa]

Hopefully this group will last longer than a year and then we can start back in the 19th century again.

[David]

Now that I'm seeing how the voting is playing out, it seems like the authors getting the most votes probably most or all of us have read before. I'm wondering if it might be more interesting to read the ones coming up with the least votes. Just a thought. But then again, maybe we've all read the ones with the least votes too. I'm curious. Has everyone read something by all the authors mentioned so far?

[Jo]

David wrote: "Now that I'm seeing how the voting is playing out, it seems like the authors getting the most votes probably most or all of us have read before. I'm wondering if it might be more interesting to rea..."

For the 50's I've read something by all except Del Rey and Lieber. For the 60's I think I've only read Philip K Dick.

I was thinking for the voting that we would do a mixture so maybe the top 2 popular authors from a decade and then choose 2 books by other authors to allow for something less known. So 4 books to read over 2 months and hopefully at least one each month will be of interest to everyone.

[Andreas]

Jo wrote: "For the 60's could you name a preferred 4/5?"

I'll put Arthur C. Clarke to the 50s (Childhood's End).

60s: Harlan Ellison, PKD, Frank Herbert, Zelazny, Chip Delany

[Theresa]

60s - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Knight of the Reading Table]

Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh mistress. PKD, Do androids dream of electric sheep.

[Andrea]

My vote goes to Fredric Brown, which can be counted as an author of the 50's as well as the 40's

[Buck]

I've read most of these author, but not all. A couple of don't know of. How can we not read them all, or at least most of them. I simply can't vote for just one, so I vote for them all. I know, that doesn't help.

My library has nothing by Bester, so I'll have to dig him up somewhere else. My 50's vote goes to Alfred Bester.

I used to love Harlan Ellison, but I haven't been able to find anything by him when I've searched lately, so that's my vote for the 60's.

Can we only vote for one in each decade?

[Jo]

Buck wrote: "I've read most of these author, but not all. A couple of don't know of. How can we not read them all, or at least most of them. I simply can't vote for just one, so I vote for them all. I know,..."

You can vote for up to 5 per decade. We will definitely read a book from the top 2 authors and another 2 books from the decade by other authors.

[David]

Buck wrote: "I've read most of these author, but not all. A couple of don't know of. How can we not read them all, or at least most of them. I simply can't vote for just one, so I vote for them all. I know,..."

In my mind Bester is a must read for the 50's and any Science Fiction reader who is interested in the history of SF. Even if he isn't chosen as a group read you'll probably want to track down his two best books, The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man, and read them.

[Pickle]

50's - clarke, wyndham & bester
60's Philip K Dick, Zelazny and Herbert

[Jan]

Most of these 'older' writers I read when I was much younger, teen and twenties, and also in my native language Dutch. I'm looking forward to reading some of my fav authors again, in English.
50's Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov
60's. Herbert, Le Guin

[Stacy]

I love Fredric Brown's short stories. It has been ages sines I've read him. (I am not normally a fan of short stories.)