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Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The hapless Arthur Dent embarks on a wild ride when his friend reveals that the Earth is about to be demolished to make way for an interstellar bypass. First in a series.

Richard Adams, Watership Down.
A colony of rabbits flee the destruction of their warren by a land developer and search for a safe haven.

Isaac Asimov, Foundation.
Foreseeing a coming Dark Age, Hari Seldon hopes to preserve the knowledge of the Galactic Empire in an Encyclopedia Galactica—a project that will take generations to finish. First in a series.

Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination.
A Merchant Marine adrift in space in a disabled ship with no air vows revenge on the crew of a ship that passes him by without rescuing him.

Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles.
The people of Earth set out to colonize Mars, but they are instead conquered by it.

Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon.
The legend of King Arthur told from the point of view of the women behind the throne.

Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange.
A disturbing satire set in a dystopia about a juvenile delinquent who undergoes state-sponsored psychiatric rehabilitation for his aberrant behavior.

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game.
Ender Wiggin is sent to Battle School to learn to defend Earth against a race of insectlike aliens, but he soon realizes the training scenarios are more than just games. First in a series.

Arthur Clarke, Childhood’s End.
Earth is taken over by an alien race called the Overlords, who usher in a golden age of prosperity, but their purpose remains unclear.

Stephen Donaldson, Lord Foul’s Bane.
A man with leprosy awakes in an alternate world called the Land, where he is thought to be a savior and confronts the evil Lord Foul. First in a series.

Philip Jose Farmer, To Your Scattered Bodies Go.
After death, generations of humans of Earth find themselves on a strange Riverworld, and some of them set out to discover who brought them there. First in a series.

William Gibson, Neuromancer.
A hacker who could connect his consciousness to cyberspace double-crosses the wrong people and ends up trapped back in his body—but is given one chance to return.

Joe Haldeman, The Forever War.
A student drafted to wage war against the Taurans finds that when he returns home 27 years have passed on Earth, so he reenlists and finds himself fighting battle after battle as the centuries pass.

Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers.
A recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe and into battle with the against humankind’s most frightening enemy.

Frank Herbert, Dune.
During a power struggle on a desert planet, Paul Atreides is cast out into the harsh environment to die, but he meets a tribe of nomads who help him reclaim what is rightfully his. First in a series.

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World.
In a future utopia where people are genetically engineered and medicated into conformity, some begin to feel something is missing from their lives.

Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness.
A Terran ambassador travels to the frozen world of Gethen, where he encounters an androgynous race who challenge his concept of gender.

C. S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet.
A linguist is kidnapped by a former schoolmate and is taken to Mars as a human sacrifice but manages to escape and becomes acquainted with the native species. First in a trilogy.

H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness.
An expedition to Antarctica discovers fossils of strange creatures and a 10-million-year-old City of the Old Ones where terror lurks.

Julian May, The Many-Colored Land.
A group of exiles who don’t fit in a world where minds are psychically linked travel 6 million years into the past and are surprised by what they find. First in a series.

Anne McCaffrey, Dragonflight.
A kitchen drudge named Lessa becomes a Dragon Rider and tries to save her world from the approaching Red Star. First in a series.

Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz.
After a nuclear war plunges the world into a Dark Age, the shopping list of a 20th-century engineer is treated as a holy relic by an order of monks.

Michael Moorcock, The Elric Saga.
The albino Elric is the reluctant king of a declining nation, but must defend himself and his land against the machinations of a brutal kinsman.

Larry Niven, Ringworld.
Two humans and two aliens crash land on a mysterious artificial ring-shaped world created by superior technology. First in a series.

Andre Norton, Witch World.
An army officer falsely accused of wrongdoing sits on a seat of judgment and finds himself transported to a world where sword and sorcery rule. First in a series.

George Orwell, 1984.
In a totalitarian society overseen by Big Brother, a worker at the Ministry of Truth seeks the real truth but is arrested by the Thought Police.

Alexei Panshin, Rite of Passage.
In a future when humanity lives either on primitive worlds or technologically advanced spaceships, a girl undergoes a survival test that teaches her about herself and her society.

Mervyn Peake, The Gormenghast Novels.
Titus Groan stands to inherit the immense, rambling Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom, unless the conniving Steerpike, who is determined to rise above his menial position, has his way.

Dan Simmons, Hyperion.
On the eve of Armageddon, seven pilgrims set out for the Time Tombs of Hyperion to confront the mysterious creature called the Shrike and solve the riddles of their lives—and possibly humanity’s fate.

Bram Stoker, Dracula.
A naïve young Englishman travels to Transylvania to do business with Count Dracula—who turns out to be a vampire and comes to England seeking fresh blood.

Theodore Sturgeon, More Than Human.
A group of misfits who have different kinds of special powers join together to form one superior organism that may be the next step in human evolution.

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.
When a hobbit learns that he possesses a Ring infused with powerful evil, he embarks on a quest to destroy it before the Dark Lord can claim it and take over Middle-earth.

H. G. Wells, The Time Machine.
A man invents a time machine and travels far into the future to find the world populated by a gentle but decadent race called the Eloi and an underground race of savages called Morlocks.

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.
Verne’s fantastical stories—including this tale of a voyage to the bottom of the sea—have earned him the title “The Father of Science Fiction.”

Kate Wilhelm, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang.
When humankind becomes infertile due to the destruction of the environment, a society tries to preserve itself by cloning, but they lose their individuality and cannot function outside the group.

Tad Williams, The Dragonbone Chair.
Simon is a kitchen boy whose dreams of great deeds and heroic wars come true when the High King's death unleashes the evil power of the Storm King. First in a trilogy.

Gene Wolfe, The Shadow of the Torturer.
Severian, an apprentice torturer, is exiled for showing mercy to one of his “clients” and begins an adventure-filled journey across a wintry Urth circling a dying sun. First in a series.

Philip Wylie, When Worlds Collide.
As a rogue planet heads toward earth on a collision course, humankind tries to build an space-going ark that will allow them to save part of their race from extinction.

John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids.
A man and a woman are among the only inhabitants of Earth to retain their sight after a meteor shower, and they discover that the world is being taken over by giant plants called Triffids.

Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber.
A man who awakens in an Earth hospital with no memory discovers that he has been exiled to the Shadows from the real world of Amber, where he is heir to the throne.