Science fiction is books about imaginary worlds. This genre forces writers and readers to go beyond their own universe and most often deals with questions of morality, war, or family values.
The best science fiction works also provide insight into the consequences of innovation, showing the endless possibilities of what can happen when we push the boundaries of science. We bring to your attention a list of the best such books from the Reddit website. Do you agree with the opinion of site users? You can leave your answers in the comments.
Rise from the dust
The novel Rise from the Ashes describes a fairly simple idea: what will happen if everyone who has ever lived on Earth is resurrected? Farmer's masterpiece, which opens the World of the River series, tells the story of the interactions and adventures of both fictional characters and important historical figures.
Torture Master
The Master of Torture is the first novel in Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series, featuring Severian, an apprentice of the Executioner's Guild. Severyan is sent into exile for the betrayal he committed when he helped his beloved woman commit suicide. Thus begins his journey, in which he seeks answers to questions about reality and common sense.
Anathem
Author - Neil Stevenson
Stevenson's novel Anathem is about a society that drives intellectuals into special monasteries to focus solely on research in the name of science. However, the boundaries between monasteries and secular society are gradually blurring in the course of an unforeseen crisis that can affect everyone.
Space Apocalypse
When wealthy archaeologist and scientist Dan Sylvest discovers in 2251 that ancient civilization on the planet Resurgem was mysteriously destroyed, he begins to fear that humanity will suffer the same fate.
Cosmic Apocalypse runs several storylines in parallel, some taking place years or even decades before others.
Left hand of darkness
Considered one of the first major novels of the so-called female science fiction, « Left hand Darkness tells about human attempts to convince a race of asexual aliens to join an intergalactic alliance.
The Gethenians described by Le Guin and their constantly cold planet Gethen (Gethen), which means "Winter" in translation, is a view of the world, devoid of the usual human duality.
I am a robot
Perhaps fans of Will Smith will be interested to know about the original source: it was Asimov who wrote ten short stories about the futuristic relationship between robots and people.
The central place in the novel "I, Robot" is occupied by Asimov's formulated three laws of robotics - a set of rules for ensuring safety in his fictional reality, which the writer repeatedly uses in his other novels.
Sirens of Titan
Possibly Vonnegut's most famous work is Slaughterhouse 5, but in second place is Titan's Sirens: there is an alien on Titan who, by chance, decides everything that happens on planet Earth, from war to the establishment of moral principles, and becoming, in the end, almost the goal of the existence of mankind.
Contact
Years after his appearance on American TV screens on the PBS program Cosmos, Sagan published the novel Contact, in which the Earth receives several messages from extraterrestrial beings.
Many of the messages are written in the international language of mathematics, which allows people to communicate and, ultimately, interact with representatives of alien life.
Red Mars
In the first novel from the Mars cycle, humanity is just beginning to explore the Red Planet - Mars is subject to terraforming for subsequent colonization.
The entire trilogy spans a period of several centuries. The focus is on several dozen deeply developed characters. The book attempts to answer questions about the scientific, sociological, and possibly ethical implications of human exploration of Mars.
Pandora's Star
In a world where hundreds of planets are connected by a series of wormholes, astronomer Dudley Bowes discovers the disappearance of a pair of stars at a distance of a thousand light-years from Earth. The study of this phenomenon begins.
The book also describes some "guardians of individuality" - a cult that sabotaged Bowes' mission and manipulated an entity called Starflyer.
Midge in the apple of the Lord
In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems. This was made possible thanks to the invention of Alderson Drive technology, which makes it possible to overcome gigantic distances at speeds exceeding the speed of light. So far, mankind has never encountered a race of other intelligent beings.
And suddenly, an alien race was discovered near the distant star Mot. People welcome the so-called Moties, but the Moties hide a dark secret that has weighed on their civilization for millions of years.
Passion for Leibovitz
It has been 600 years since the nuclear disaster. A monk from the Order of St. Leibovitz discovers the technology of a great saint, which may be the key to saving humanity - the rejection of bomb shelters and the basis for an atomic bomb.
The book tells about how humanity is re-selected from the dark ages, but then again faces the horrors of nuclear war.
Excession
Two millennia ago, a black star called Excession mysteriously appeared at the edge of space. The star was older than the universe and mysteriously disappeared.
Now she's back, and the diplomat Bir Genar-Hofen must solve the mystery of the lost sun while his race is at war with a dangerous alien civilization.
Starship Troopers
Author - Robert Heinlein
Starship Troopers tells the story of Juan Rico, who decides to join the military forces of the Earth to fight against an alien enemy. The book tells about the rigorous training of soldiers in a military camp, as well as the psychological state of conscripts and fleet commanders.
One of the first great science fiction novels, Starship Troopers inspired many other writers to create military science fiction novels. For example, Heinlein's motives can be traced in Joe Haldeman's novel Infinity War.
Do androids dream of electric sheep?
Author - Philip Dick
Based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? filmed the cult film "Blade Runner". In 2021, after millions of people died during the world war, entire species of living beings were doomed to extinction. So all that is left is to create artificial copies of endangered species: horses, birds, cats, sheep ... and humans.
Androids are so natural that it is almost impossible to distinguish them from real people. But bounty hunter Rich Deckards is trying to do just that - hunt down the androids and then kill them.
World-Ring
Ringworld is the story of 200-year-old Louis Wu, who goes on an expedition to explore an unfamiliar world with his 20-year-old colleague Teela Brown and two aliens.
The book tells about their adventures in the Ring World - a huge mysterious artifact with a length of about 966 million km, orbiting a star, about how people try to uncover the secrets of this world - and escape.
2001: Space Odyssey
Author - Arthur Clark
The best scientists of the Earth are collaborating in research with the cutting-edge HAL 9000 computer, but the machine, made in the image and likeness of the human brain, turns out to be capable of feelings of guilt, neurosis ... and even murder.
Infinity War
Written by a Vietnam War veteran as an allegory of the Vietnam War, Infinity War tells the story of a soldier, William Mandella, who is forced to join the military and leave Earth to fight the mysterious alien race of the Torans.
But due to time distortions, the journey of a soldier takes ten subjective years, while on Earth it takes as much as 700 years. And Mandella ends up returning to a completely different planet.
Avalanche
Hiro Protagonist may seem like nothing more than a pizza delivery man in futuristic Los Angeles, but in the Metaverse he is a famous hacker and samurai warrior.
When a new drug known as Avalanche starts killing his hacker friends in the Metaverse, Hiro must figure out where the dangerous drug came from.
Neuromancer
Case, a former hacker and cyber thief, has lost the ability to enter cyberspace. But one day, his abilities return to him as a result of a miraculous combination of circumstances. He is hired by a mysterious man named Armitage, but during the course of the mission, Case discovers that someone - or something - continues to pull the strings.
Neuromancer was the first novel to win three major science fiction awards: the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards.
Hyperion
The Hugo Award-winning novel is the first book in a series about seven travelers who travel to an alien planet to find a mysterious monster called the Shrike and save humanity from certain doom.
Rumor has it that if you stay alive after meeting with the Shrike, then one wish will be granted. The galaxy is on the brink of war and Armageddon, and the seven pilgrims are humanity's last hope.
Base
Foundation is set in a future so far away that humans have forgotten Earth and now live throughout the galaxy.
Everything seems to be fine, but scientist Harry Seldon predicts that the Empire is about to collapse, and humanity will roll back about 30 thousand years ago, into new dark ages. He comes up with a scheme to save the knowledge of the human race in an encyclopedia in order to re-create an empire.
over a number of generations.
Ender `s game
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin believes he was chosen to train to fight an alien race. He is trained to manage the fleet with the help of a computer game that simulates military operations. In fact, this boy is the military genius of the Earth, and it is he who will have to grapple with the "buggers".
In the first book in the Ender's Game series, Ender is only six years old, and we can learn about his first years of training.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
In the first book in the series, Arthur Dent learns from his friend Ford Prefect, a secret employee of the company behind the interstellar guidebook The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that the Earth is about to be destroyed.
Friends escape on an alien spaceship, and the book chronicles their strange journeys through the universe. Also, the novel is filled with quotes from the guide itself, for example, "A towel is perhaps the most valuable thing for a hitchhiker."
Dune
No such list would be complete without a mention of Frank Herbert's Dune, which is to science fiction what The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy.
Herbert created a story about the politics, history, religion and ecological systems of a feudal interstellar empire. Having fallen on the desert planet Arrakis, Paul Atreides turns into a mysterious religious figure - Muad'Dib. He intends to avenge the murder of his father, for which he unleashes a revolution, during which he rises to the imperial throne.
451 degrees Fahrenheit
The dystopian novel tells about the life of a firefighter whose job is not to extinguish the fire, but to kindle it. Guy Montag stands guard over the creation of an ideal world without reading matter, where, according to the state, unnecessary contradictory information is written for modern man. 
Burning books for evening reading, religious, textbooks turns into a kind of purification ritual. A person found behind a book is taken away by a jet of flame. Deprived of emotions, feelings and experiences, the population of this world hurries home to an interactive TV broadcasting empty TV shows. These people see the point only in buying another unnecessary thing.
The protagonist, as the story develops, meets more and more people who resort to various methods of opposing power. Gradually, Guy Montag himself begins to collect preserved precious books.
1984
The Ministry of Truth is one of the main oversight bodies that manages printed publications. Here, workers carefully work on falsification and distortion of real events. The newspapers write only what people would like to read. The main emphasis is on the correction of propaganda articles. Even children slander their own parents because of ideological inconsistency. 
The protagonist of the novel - Winston Smith - is engaged in fraud historical facts, rewriting old news, corrects the literature according to the current course. Now it is impossible to dispute that at some points in history it was somehow different - there is no evidence. Wintson himself only pretends to be a supporter of the Party, but deep down he hates and is skeptical of everything.
The protagonist begins to keep a diary in which he splashes out all the emotions, despite the fact that this can lead to hard labor or even death. Winston soon realizes that he is not the only employee in the ministry whose views are opposed to the current government, and who is also used to wearing the mask of a respectable citizen, satisfied with his position.
11/22/63
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy is the loudest, most mysterious and controversial event of the last century. It is still not known for certain who had a hand in this tragedy, and there are only theories that remain unproven.
The author of the book offers his own version of what happened and sends English teacher Jacob Epping on a journey into the world. The protagonist falls on a difficult mission - the rescue of the 35th President of the United States of America.
Al Templeton insists on meeting with Jake, in which he shares information about a hidden time portal in an underground room. Al offers the main character to complete this business, since he himself is dying. There are several time traveler limitations. The main condition remains that, regardless of being in the past, a couple of minutes pass in the present.
The protagonist of the novel receives as a "legacy" an armful of money from that time, false documents, as well as bookmakers' winning bets. Jacob needs to find out who really was behind the Kennedy assassination and how it was set up.
451° Fahrenheit. Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper ignites and burns. Bradbury's philosophical dystopia paints a picture of the development of a post-industrial society: this is the world of the future, in which all written publications are destroyed by a special detachment of firefighters, and the possession of books is prosecuted by law, interactive television successfully serves to fool everyone, punitive psychiatry deals with dissidents.
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Cloud Atlas. David Mitchell
"Cloud Atlas" is like a mirror maze in which six voices overlap each other: a mid-nineteenth-century notary returning to the US from Australia; a young composer forced to trade soul and body in Europe between the world wars; a female journalist in 1970s California uncovering a corporate conspiracy; a small publisher - our contemporary, who managed to break the bank on the bandit autobiography "Blow with brass knuckles".
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Roadside Picnic. Boris and Arkady Strugatsky
This volume includes one of the most famous works of the Strugatsky brothers - the novel Roadside Picnic, a fascinating story of stalkers - desperately brave people, at their own peril and risk again and again going to the alien landing site - an anomalous Zone full of dangers and deadly traps.
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Game of Thrones. Martin George R.R.
This is the majestic six-book A Song of Ice and Fire. Epic, chased saga about the world of the Seven Kingdoms. About the world of harsh lands of eternal cold and joyful lands of eternal summer. A world of lords and heroes, warriors and mages, warlocks and assassins - all who have been brought together by Fate in fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. About the world of dangerous adventures, great deeds and subtle political intrigues.
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Lord of the Rings. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel
The trilogy undoubtedly tops the list of "cult" books of the twentieth century. Its author, J.R.R. Tolkien, professor at Oxford University, specialist in ancient and medieval English language, created an amazing world - Middle-earth, which for almost fifty years has irresistibly attracted millions of readers. The film trilogy increased the ranks of fans of both Tolkien and the heroic fantasy genre itself.
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It's hard to be a god. Boris and Arkady Strugatsky
The daring and rich imagination of the authors peers through the centuries, creating a fantastic world. Who is he, the noble Don Rumata of Estor? How does the soul of Anton live in him, a boy from a distant Earth, an enthusiastic envoy from the Institute of Experimental History? Together with Rumata Estorsky, we are tormented by doubts: how to live in the face of human grief, in the face of death? How to remain God - the highest being who knows the laws of history and therefore does not draw his sword?
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Dune. Frank Herbert
In "Dune" Frank Herbert managed to do the impossible - to create a kind of "chronicle of the distant future." And in the entire history of world science fiction there has never been a brighter, more visible, more powerful and original picture of the future. The cycle "Dune" was and remains a unique phenomenon - the most grandiose, the most daring, the most large-scale creation in the entire history of world science fiction.
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Restaurant "At the end of the universe" ". Douglas Adams
Do you want to know how to make a Pangalactic Grizloder cocktail? Want to figure out how to survive on a measly thirty Altair dollars a day? Want to effortlessly ruin an interplanetary supercorporation? Oh no? So, maybe you are wondering WHAT God bequeathed to the world He created?! Read Douglas Adams' MASTERPIECE and you'll learn not only THIS, but SOMETHING ELSE!
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Invisible Man. H. G. Wells
"The Invisible Man" by HG Wells is one of the most filmed and most modern novels of the English science fiction writer, both in plot and philosophical terms, in which the adventures of the protagonist - a crazy and brilliant young physicist, who naively dreamed of supreme power over the world, but was hunted and crushed by society - only a frame for Wells's thought - the thought of the scientist's responsibility for his discoveries, capable of bringing both good and trouble to the world.
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Professor Dowell's Head. Alexander Belyaev
One of the most fascinating novels by Alexander Belyaev. The tragic story of a brilliant professor who became a victim of an extraordinary biological experiment still sounds surprisingly relevant and modern today.
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Aelita. Alexey Tolstoy
A fascinating fantasy novel by Alexei Tolstoy “Aelita” tells about an extraordinary space flight, about the exciting adventures of travelers on Mars, which turned out to be inhabited by the inhabitants of the lost Atlantis, about the meeting of earthlings with the beautiful Aelita and other inhabitants of the red planet.
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Under the dome. Stephen King
A story about a small town that was overtaken by BIG TROUBLE. One day, he, along with all the inhabitants, was covered with a mysterious invisible dome, which did not allow either to leave the city or get there from the outside. What will happen in the city now? What will happen to its inhabitants? After all, when neither law nor fear of punishment prevails over a person, a too thin line separates him from turning into a cruel beast. Who will cross this line, and who will not?
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Martian Chronicles. Ray Bradbury
Do you want to conquer Mars, this strange volatile world inhabited by mysterious, elusive inhabitants and not so kind to humans? Go ahead. But just get ready to fully drink the cup of regrets and longing - longing for the green planet Earth, on which your heart will forever remain. The cycle of amazing Martian stories by Ray Bradbury is a classic work that has entered the golden fund of world literature.
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Solaris. Stanislav Lem
"Solaris" is a popular science fiction work by a famous Polish writer, which touches upon important philosophical, social and moral problems that arise in the process of human penetration into the boundless cosmic ocean.
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Strangers live in your apartment...
Your place at work is occupied by someone else...
Neither your friends nor your girlfriend will recognize you...
You are being erased from this world.
Who?
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The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel
"There was a hole in the ground, and a hobbit lived in the hole." These words were written by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien on the back of a school exam paper he was checking one hot summer day. And who would have thought that it was from them, like from a magic seed, that one of the most famous works world literature. This is a fairy tale that captivated both children and adults, sends the reader on an incredible journey, gives an unforgettable feeling of pristine children's delight and kindness.
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Ender `s game. Orson Card
Ender's Game is an absolute masterpiece of modern science fiction and a rare case in the history of the genre when a novel wins two top science fiction awards in the same year - the Hugo and Nebula awards. That is, it receives both reader and writer recognition.
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Simple magical things. Max Fry
When life becomes like a cauldron with a wonderful potion, where the craftswoman-fate throws more and more spices: magical talismans and beautiful poems, beautiful girls and powerful sorcerers, carefree laughter and causeless sadness, one should probably assume that she was a success. And hurry to say thank you, even if you don’t know to whom. Especially if you don't know.
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Walking castle. Diana Jones
Sophie lives in a fantasy land where witches and mermaids, seven-league boots and talking dogs are commonplace. Therefore, when the terrible curse of the insidious Swamp Witch falls on her, Sophie has no choice but to seek help from the mysterious sorcerer Howl, who lives in a moving castle. However, in order to break free from the spell, Sophie will have to solve many mysteries and live in Howl's castle for much longer than she expected.
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Crouching in the shadows Alexey Pekhov
Are thief and hero incompatible concepts? No matter how! When faced with a choice between an executioner's ax and a Bounty for a short walk into the gloomy burial grounds of the elven forests, sober-minded people choose the executioner's ax, and the heroes decide to roll the dice and, hoping that sixes fall out, take a chance.After all, all you need to do is get into the abandoned tower of the Order, inflate a couple of demons, get rid of assassins, frame the thieves' guild, get out of a dozen bloody skirmishes.
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baptism by fire . Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski is a writer with a talent for creating absolutely original fantasy, completely free from outside influences, but connected to the classical mythological tradition.Sapkowski's books are not just brilliant in terms of literary form and depth of content. They are a picture of the world - the world of `sword and magic`, not only captivating the reader's attention, but also touching his soul.
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In the Mortal Instruments trilogy, Claire has created an exciting Twilight world in which the struggle between good and evil takes place. 15-year-old Clary Frey did not even suspect that she would witness the murder. The killers turned out to be strange people covered with tattoos, and the body of the murdered person evaporated! From that moment on, Clary's life was filled with mysterious events. Her mother was kidnapped, and the girl herself was attacked by demons.
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Dark side. Max Fry
The "Dark Side" is not a metaphor, but a very specific place, the wrong side of reality. Every city, village, forest, and even the sea has a dark side. The sages, however, argue that the "Dark Side" is a state of consciousness that allows a person to see the inside of things and interact with it. And even get an absolutely visible, material result on the "front side of reality", or "in reality" - in general, in the so-called "real life".
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Nowhere. Neil Gaiman
Beneath the streets of London, there is a world that most people are unaware of. In it, the word becomes a real power. You can get there only by opening the door. This world is full of dangers, inhabited by saints and monsters, murderers and angels.
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Children of Hurin: Narn and Hin Hurin. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel
The last work of the great John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. The story of King Hurin and his son, the accursed hero Turin Turambar, whose lot was to bring death to all whom he loved. The story of the dark days of the elven kingdoms of Middle-earth, one after another falling under the onslaught of the forces of the Dark Lord Morgoth ... The story of Turin's best friend - the elven warrior Beleg Cutalion - and his sister Nienor
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Compiling hundreds of the most important science fiction books required much more effort from our editors than similar lists of games, films and TV shows. No wonder, because books are the foundation of all world fiction. As before, the main criterion for us was the significance of this or that work for world and domestic science fiction. Our list includes only those books and cycles that have become universally recognized pillars of science fiction literature or have had a significant impact on the development of individual science fiction trends. At the same time, we did not give in to the temptation to attribute the main contribution to science fiction to English-speaking authors: almost a fifth of our list is occupied by books by Russian masters of the word. So, here are the 100 books that, according to MF, any self-respecting fan of science fiction must read!
Forerunners of fantasy
Mary Shelley "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus"
The book of an English lady, the wife of a famous poet, written "on a dare". Percy Shelley and his friend Byron failed, and the 20-year-old girl wrote one of the most famous "Gothic" novels. But the matter was not limited to one gothic! The story of the Swiss scientist Victor Frankenstein, who learned how to animate dead tissue with electricity, is considered the first truly science fiction work.
Lewis Carroll "Alice in Wonderland"
Jules Verne "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"
One of the most famous books of the founding father of NF. Of course, several more of his novels can be put side by side - "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "From the Earth to the Moon", "Robur the Conqueror", but it is "20 thousand ..." that combines scientific and technical predictions that have come true, a fascinating adventurous plot, cognition and a bright character, whose name has become a household name. Who doesn't know Captain Nemo and his Nautilus?
Robert Louis Stevenson "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
The story of two opposite halves of a single personality, at the same time - a moralizing parable about the duality of progress and the responsibility of science to society (later this topic was developed by G. Wells in The Invisible Man and The Island of Dr. Moreau). Stevenson cleverly combined elements of sci-fi, gothic horror and philosophical romance. The result is a book that spawned a lot of imitations and made the image of Jekyll Hyde a household name.
Mark Twain "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"
Another classic that combines satire on modern writer society and a brilliant embodiment of several fantastic ideas, later replicated by hundreds of authors. Time travel, alternative history, the idea of a clash of cultures, the dubiousness of progressorism as a way to change an "inert" society - everything fits under one cover.
Bram Stoker "Dracula"
A novel about vampires that spawned an ocean of imitations in literary and cinematic fiction. The Irish Stoker showed the world an example of a competent "black PR". He took the true figure of the Wallachian ruler - a person of little sympathy, but in historical terms quite ordinary - and created a monster with a capital letter from him, whose name in the mass consciousness is placed somewhere between Lucifer and Hitler.
Isaac Asimov, Future History series
The first monumental history of the future in the world science fiction, the most striking part of which is the Foundation trilogy (Hugo award as the best fantasy series of all time). Asimov tried to reduce the development of civilization to a set of laws similar to mathematical formulas. The saviors of mankind are not generals and politicians, but scientists - adherents of the science of "psychohistory". And the action of the entire series covers 20 thousand years!
Robert Heinlein "Starship Troopers"
The novel caused a serious scandal, because many liberals saw in it propaganda of militarism and even fascism. Heinlein was a staunch libertarian whose idea of responsibility to society coexisted with the rejection of the total restriction of personal freedom by the state. "Starship Troopers" is not just a reference "military war" about battles with strangers, but also a reflection of the writer's ideas about an ideal society, where duty is above all.
Alfred Elton Van Vogt "Slan"
The first significant work on biological mutations that threaten humanity with the transition to a new stage of evolution. Naturally, ordinary people are not ready to just go to the dustbin of history, so mutant slans have a hard time. The situation is complicated by the fact that slans are the fruit of genetic engineering. Will mankind itself give birth to its own gravedigger?
John Wyndham "Day of the Triffids"
The epitome of a sci-fi "disaster novel". As a result of a cosmic cataclysm, almost all earthlings became blind and turned into prey for predatory plants. End of civilization? No, the British science fiction novel is imbued with faith in the power of the human spirit. Say, "Let's join hands, friends, so as not to disappear one by one"! The book started a wave of similar (though often more pessimistic) stories.
Walter Miller "The Leibovitz Passion"
Classic post-apocalyptic epic. After a nuclear war, the only bulwark of knowledge and culture remains the church in the person of the Order of St. Leibovitz, founded by a physicist. The action of the book takes place over a thousand years: civilization is gradually reborn in order to perish again ... A sincere believer, Miller looks with deep pessimism at the ability of religion to bring true salvation to humanity.
Isaac Asimov, I, Robot
Asimov's stories about robots developed the theme raised by Karel Capek in the play R.U.R. - about the relationship between man and artificial intelligence. The Three Laws of Robotics are the ethical basis for the existence of artificial creatures, capable of suppressing the "Frankenstein complex" (an implicit desire to destroy one's Creator). These are not just stories about thinking pieces of iron, but a book about people, their moral throwing and spiritual experiments.
Philip K. Dick "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
The first example of genuine cyberpunk, which appeared long before the birth of the term itself and the fantastic phenomenon it designated. The acid-gloomy world of the future, whose inhabitants constantly question the meaning and even the reality of their own existence, are themes that are characteristic of this novel, and of Dick's entire work. And the book served as the basis for Ridley Scott's cult film Blade Runner.
William Gibson Neuromancer
The holy book of cyberpunk, where there are almost all of its iconic signs. Brilliantly depicted in a high-tech near future, in which predatory multinational corporations hold power and cybercrime flourishes. Gibson acted as a real prophet of the digital era that has come today, not only foreseeing the problems of information technology development, but also introducing specific computer jargon into wide circulation.
Arthur Clarke "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Based on an old story, Arthur C. Clarke wrote the screenplay for Stanley Kubrick's film - the first real sci-fi epic of world cinema. And novelization has become a symbol of serious space science fiction. No Star Wars, no superheroes with blasters. A realistic story about an expedition to Jupiter, during which the machine mind reaches its limit, but a person is able to go beyond any limits of the possible.
Michael Crichton "Jurassic Park"
Crichton is considered the father of the science fiction techno-thriller. "Jurassic Park" is not the first work of its kind, but one of the most famous, largely due to the adaptation of Steven Spielberg. Being essentially a skillful combination of themes and ideas repeatedly worked out in science fiction - genetic engineering, cloning, rebellion of artificial creatures - the novel has gained millions of fans and many imitations.
HG Wells "Time Machine"
One of the cornerstones of modern SF is the book that pioneered the exploitation of the theme of time travel. Wells also tried to continue his contemporary capitalism into the distant future, in which humanity was divided into two biological species. Even more than the strange society of Eloi and Morlocks, the "end of times" shakes, which marks the complete death of the mind.
Evgeny Zamyatin "We"
The first great dystopia that influenced other classics - Huxley and Orwell, not to mention the many science fiction writers who try to critically predict the development of society. The action of the story takes place in a pseudo-utopia, where the role of a person is reduced to the position of an insignificant cog. The result is an "ideal" anthill society in which "one is zero, one is nonsense."
Aldous Huxley "Brave New World"
One of the foundations of literary dystopia. Unlike his contemporaries, who exposed specific political models, Huxley's novel polemicized with idealistic views about the perfection of technocracy. The intellectuals who have seized power will build another version of the concentration camp - albeit a decent-looking one. Alas, our modern society confirms the correctness of Huxley.
George Orwell "1984"
Another classic dystopian novel inspired by the grim events of World War II. Perhaps now in all corners of the world they heard the terms “Big Brother” and “Newspeak” coined by Orwell. "1984" is a satirical depiction of absolute totalitarianism, no matter what ideology - socialist, capitalist or Nazi - it is covered.
Kurt Vonnegut "Slaughterhouse Five"
A masterpiece of anti-war fiction (and literature in general). The hero of the book is the author's alter ego Billy Pilgrim, a war veteran who survived the barbaric bombing of Dresden. Abducted by aliens, the hero only with their help will be able to recover from a nervous shock and find inner peace. The fantastic plot of the book is just a technique with which Vonnegut fights the inner demons of his generation.
Robert Heinlein "Stranger in a Strange Land"
First sf book to become a national bestseller in the United States. This is the story of "cosmic Mowgli" - the earthly child of Michael Valentine Smith, who was brought up by representatives of a fundamentally different mind and became the new Messiah. In addition to the obvious artistic merit and the discovery of many topics forbidden for science fiction, the significance of the novel is that it finally turned the public perception of SF as literature for immature minds.
Stanislav Lem "Solaris"
The flagship of philosophical science fiction. The book of a remarkable Polish writer tells about an unsuccessful contact with a civilization that is absolutely alien to us. Lem created one of the most unusual SF-worlds - a single mind of the planet-ocean Solaris. And you can take thousands of samples, put hundreds of experiments, put forward dozens of theories - the truth will remain "out there, beyond the horizon." Science simply cannot unravel all the mysteries of the universe - no matter how hard you try...
Ray Bradbury "The Martian Chronicles"
A multifaceted cycle about the conquest of Mars by man, where a strange and once great civilization is living its last days. This is a poetic story about the clash of two different cultures, and reflections on the eternal problems and values of our existence. "The Martian Chronicles" is one of the books that clearly demonstrates that science fiction is able to touch upon the most complex problems and can compete on equal terms with "big" literature.
Ursula Le Guin, Hein cycle
One of the brightest stories of the future, a masterpiece of "soft" SF. Unlike traditional space fantasy scenarios, Le Guin's relationship between civilizations is based on a special ethical code that excludes the use of violence. The works of the cycle tell about contacts between representatives of different psychologies, philosophies and cultures, as well as about their everyday life. The most significant part of the cycle is the novel The Left Hand of Darkness (1969).
Henry Lyon Oldie, The Abyss of Hungry Eyes
The first multi-layered philosophical and mythological work in modern Russian science fiction, The Abyss of Hungry Eyes includes various areas of science fiction and fantasy. Creating the universe, the co-authors use a variety of mythological schemes, combining a strong adventurous plot and well-developed characters with a philosophical understanding of current events.
space opera
Edgar Rice Burroughs "Princess of Mars"
The novel that opened the super-popular series about the adventures of earthling John Carter on Mars. In fact, the book and the cycle marked the beginning of adventurous fantasy about the adventures of "ours" in another world and became the forerunner of the space opera. And although Burroughs' literary gift was very frail, his incredible imagination and ability to build an exciting intrigue influenced several generations of science fiction writers.
Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith "Space Lark"
This book began the history of "space opera" as a separate direction of adventure fiction. The hero of the novel, the inventor Seton, on the spaceship "Space Lark" for the first time in the history of literary fiction goes flying to the stars. Subsequently, Smith cemented his position as "admiral" of the space opera with another famous Lensmen cycle.
Frank Herbert "Dune"
One of the most famous and multi-layered SF novels, showered with numerous awards. An example of a successful combination of political intrigues of the galactic level, a thorough display of a kind of pseudo-Islamic culture, a romanticized biography of a charismatic leader with a detailed description of the psychology of the characters. Herbert has taken space opera to a whole new level.
Caroline J. Cherry, Alliance and Union Series
This is not just another story of the future about the confrontation between two galactic forces - the trade Alliance and the militaristic Union. The main advantage of the series, which consists of several cycles, is an incredibly accurate description of life and inner world non-human civilizations. The heroes of Cherry's novels and stories are most often various "strangers" who are fundamentally different from us in thinking and behavior. Maybe the writer is an alien foundling?
Dan Simmons "Hyperion"
Like Herbert's Dune, this book is a Space Opera with a capital letter. Simmons has managed to create a superbly layered work about the world of the distant future, combining several of the main themes of science fiction - from time travel to the problem of artificial intelligence. The novel is full of references to world literature and mythology, full of philosophical reflections and at the same time extremely fascinating.
Satire and humor
Karel Capek "War with the Salamanders"
The novel by the Czech writer is a philosophical epic that explores the social phenomenon of the emergence of fascism and, at the same time, the standard of satirical fiction. Cute salamanders, possessing the rudiments of reason, are shamelessly exploited by cunning little people. They make cheap labor, uncomplaining soldiers and even canned food. And then there is a certain little man, the former sergeant major Andreas Schulze, who leads a successful salamander riot ...
Robert Sheckley short stories
Best Humorous Fiction Short Form (maybe add a few Henry Kuttner stuff). The subject matter is the most diverse - from parody of sci-fi genre clichés to outright satire of social phenomena. Brilliant ideas presented in a really funny way. In terms of literary style, the work of Robert Sheckley is closest to the work of O'Henry: soft humor, as well as a shock and often completely unexpected ending.
Piers Anthony "A spell for a chameleon"
Far from being a brilliant novel by a far from outstanding writer, he brought comic fiction to completely new frontiers. The audience for fantasy humor has long been limited. However, the first novel about Xanth became a sensational bestseller, after which humor became a welcome guest of Western publishers. The much brighter "MYTHIC" cycle of Robert Asprin consolidated the success, but Anthony still got the glory of the pioneer.
Douglas Adams "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
A cycle of radio plays remade by the author into a novel about a man who escaped from the destroyed Earth and embarked on a journey through the Galaxy. In the best traditions of English humor, the author ridicules the stereotypes of science fiction, as well as "life, the universe and everything else." In Britain, Adams' books sparked a "comic boom" without which we wouldn't have Discworld.
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky "Monday begins on Saturday", "The Tale of the Troika"
The brightest Soviet comic fiction. An organic fusion of fairy-tale folklore, ironic and satirical prose in the best traditions of Russian literature. “Monday starts on Saturday” is a rather humorous thing, imbued with the romance of scientific research, faith in technological progress. But the sharply satirical "The Tale of the Troika" confronts this romance with an inhuman bureaucratic machine. Two stories are like two sides of the Soviet sixties: light and dark.
Andrey Belyanin "The sword without a name"
Belyanin has played the same role for our modern science fiction as Anthony and Adams did for English-language fiction. The humorous adventures of his heroes are not exactly very good and witty, they just turned out to be just right for readers and gave rise to a legion of imitators. Partly the merit of popularizing fantasy humor belongs to Mikhail Uspensky's Adventures of Zhikhar, but, one way or another, Belyanin's books turned out to be much more popular.
Alexander Belyaev "Amphibian Man"
Belyaev is by far the most brilliant author of early Soviet science fiction. He has several excellent novels to his credit, the most famous of which is The Amphibian Man, which describes the tragic story of a young man who gained the ability to live in the ocean. One of the first books in the world science fiction, which shows the morally and ethically difficult relationship between ordinary people and artificially created "superhumans". Partly - the forerunner of the NF about genetic engineering.
Ivan Efremov "Andromeda Nebula"
A milestone book for Soviet science fiction, marking the rejection of the science fiction ideology of "close range". This is a large-scale utopia about the distant communist future, saturated with social and philosophical ideas. Efremov managed to create a vivid fictionalized treatise about the time when people became "like gods" primarily in the spiritual sense. However, the ponderous style did not allow the novel to retain its appeal to this day.
Sergey Snegov "People are like gods"
Another communist utopia that went down in the history of science fiction thanks to an affinity, unusual for Soviet literature, with the "capitalist" space opera. If Efremov and Strugatsky's conflicts were of an intra-systemic or moral-psychological nature, then Snegov draws the world of a comprehensive galactic war. The battles of star fleets shown by the author have no analogues in the Soviet science fiction in terms of scale.
Kir Bulychev, a cycle about the Great Guslar
An iconic series of science fiction literature "made in the USSR". Humorous stories about the unusual everyday life of the provincial town of Veliky Guslyar are a magnificent sketch of Soviet and post-Soviet life, where everyday life mixes with fantasy. The cycle continued successfully for many years, reflecting the changes taking place in our society. The result was a kind of fantastic chronicle of the mysterious Russian soul.
Alexander Volkov, cycle about the Emerald City
A free adaptation of L. Frank Baum's fairy tale series about Oz, which made Volkov a classic of children's literature and a forerunner of Russian children's fantasy. The initial story is only a "remake" of the American original, but with each volume, Volkov moved more and more away from Baum, building his own world. And if Baum's books suffered from strained moralizing, Volkov managed to combine unobtrusive edification with a dynamic plot and vivid characters.
Kir Bulychev, a cycle about Alisa Selezneva
Several generations in our country have grown up on books about the adventures of the “guest and the future”. The best of the stories about the brave, honest and noble Alisa Selezneva have become the standard of teenage fiction, which should not only entertain its readers, but teach them in a good way, without dull tediousness, implicitly encouraging self-improvement. Interest in Alice does not disappear to this day - a full-length cartoon coming out next year guarantees this.
Vladislav Krapivin, cycle about the Great Crystal
A cycle of conditionally related works included in the golden fund of national children's fiction. The plots are largely similar: a teenager or a young man finds himself in an extreme situation (transferred to another planet, encounters aliens, etc.). Fiction for Krapivin is nothing more than a technique for accentuating the growing up of a child, reflections on the boundaries between good and evil, lies and honesty, the problem of "fathers and children."
Philip Pullman's Dark Materials
Unlike Harry Potter, this cycle is closer to the traditional fantasy epic. The heroes embark on a journey that will determine the fate of the universe. But the main thing is the adventure of the spirit. Lyra and Will are ordinary teenagers who mature before the eyes of the reader, learning about the world around them and themselves. The cycle is accused of promoting atheism, but rather a story about the search for the true essence of God, which cannot be monopolized by a bunch of priests.
Joan Rowling Harry Potter series
You can have different attitudes to books about a young magician in round glasses, which put the whole world on the ears, but Rowling's merits to science fiction and literature are generally undeniable. The true magic of Harry Potter is that he returned the book to the hands of the younger generation, revived the interest in reading that had died out under the onslaught of multimedia entertainment. And multimillion-dollar circulations and fabulous profits are just a consequence.
Philip K. Dick "The Man in the High Castle"
An excellent example of a serious and dramatic alternative history - without trying to concoct a light entertainment adventure. Dick managed to create a very believable world where Germany and Japan won World War II. However, the author did not limit himself to AI - the novel also has a metaphysical background associated with Dick's favorite topic about the unreality of the reality surrounding a person. That's where the "Matrix" legs grow from!
Andrey Valentinov "Eye of Power"
The term "cryptohistory" itself appeared thanks to the work of Valentinov - specifically the cycle "Eye of Power" (however, in the West, the direction of "secret history" has existed for a long time). The cycle is a large-scale, albeit somewhat naive canvas, where our history has been considered from different angles for many decades. It turns out that the favorite leaders of the Soviet people were ... shhh ... who knows who! And in general, everything is not what it seems!
Vera Kamsha "Chronicles of Artia"
The first novels of the cycle are a cumbersome and clumsy imitation of Perumov. However, starting from the third volume, Kamsha changed her vector towards pseudo-historical fantasy, taking as a basis the period of the English Wars of the Roses and the work of George Martin. And the cycle healed anew, thanks to a gallery of brightly written characters. Today, Vera Kamsha is one of the few domestic authors who write books at the level of the best world samples.
epic fantasy
John R. R. Tolkien "The Lord of the Rings"
The "Bible" of modern fantasy, which combines an adventure novel, an allegorical parable, a linguistic and mythological epic, a philosophical and moralizing fantasy. At first, Tolkien wrote a fairy tale for his children, which he then published under the title The Hobbit (1937). Work on the sequel dragged on for almost 20 years, bringing a very unexpected result. Epigones still use Tolkien's work for numerous epics.
Ursula Le Guin, Earthsea Series
A series of novels and short stories united by the magical world of Earthsea, although the main part of the cycle's fame comes from the trilogy about the wizard Ged. Much attention has been paid inner experiences heroes. The magic carefully described by the author resembles an alternative science. Along with The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny, the Ged trilogy was among the top fantasy books of the new wave.
Terry Brooks "The Sword of Shannara"
The merit of this ordinary novel is in the mass popularization of fantasy. Prior to that, only Tolkien had been published in large numbers, and even then he was quoted as a specific author for "advanced" readers. The Sword of Shannara is the first fantasy novel by a contemporary author to make the New York Times bestseller list and stay there for about six months. Without the success of this book, there would be no fantasy boom in English-language fiction.
Andrzej Sapkowski "The Witcher"
The starter book of stories about the Witcher can be considered the founder of Slavic heroic fantasy. True, the Polish writer created his stories using the techniques of ironic postmodernism, which distinguished them from the same type of fantasy action movies. In subsequent books in the series, Sapkowski drew an amazingly authentic magical world populated by unconventional characters who take part in epic events.
Nick Perumov, cycle about Ordered
"The Ring of Darkness" - an imitation and at the same time a somewhat naive attempt at polemics with Tolkien - became the first fantasy epic in the history of Russian science fiction. Then Perumov created several more cycles, linking them together in a single universe of the Ordered, subject to the general laws of Equilibrium. Although Perumov's work is not free from serious shortcomings, his influence on the development of Russian fantasy is undeniable.
Roger Zelazny "Chronicles of Amber"
A combination of sci-fi adventure and mythological fantasy with a strong touch of philosophy and esotericism. The basic idea of the center of the universe, its countless Reflections and the family ruling there, entangled in a network of intrigues, Zelazny borrowed from Farmer's "Tiered World" cycle. But the references to mythology and literature, the creation of psychologically believable characters, turned The Chronicles of Amber into something much more than an exciting adventure.
Margaret Weis, Tracey Hickman "The Spear Saga"
Clear evidence that the book, based on board game, might well be worth reading. The Saga of the Spear won the love of numerous readers around the world, giving the fantasy image of one of the most charismatic magicians - Raistlin. Unfortunately, over time, the cycle has become mired in endless monotonous sequels, but the original trilogy still remains the standard of game novelization.
Maria Semyonova "Wolfhound"
The first domestic heroic on the Slavic theme was Yuri Nikitin's novel "Three from the Forest", but the initial book about the Wolfhound from the genus of Gray Dogs acquired the greatest resonance, mass popularity and cult status. Its main advantages are a high-quality literary language and deep ethnological character, for which the author generously used her considerable knowledge in the field of history and traditions of near-Slavic tribes and nationalities.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft short stories
At the beginning of the 20th century, official science claimed that life had existed on the planet for many billions of years, also suggesting that unknown outer spaces lie beyond the Earth. All these abysses of time and distance were frightening - and Lovecraft was able to express these fears. But, more importantly, the writer created a single mythological background for his works. His stories, in due proportion mixing the said and the hidden, to this day excite the imagination of readers.
Anne Rice "Interview with the Vampire"
A novel that opened a very popular series that has become the standard of "vampire" fiction. Rice took a completely new look at the familiar image of a bloodsucker-ghoul - a natural enemy of man. Vampires in her books are suffering creatures, they are only a mirror that reflects human virtues and shortcomings. The novel laid the foundation for an ocean of similarly thematic books about refined blood-sucking aesthetes.
Stephen King "Carrie"
King's debut novel is not his best book. He himself calls "Carrie" student nonsense, and in many ways he is right. However, it was this novel that: a) revealed to the world the future ruler of the horror genre, b) laid down many of the main themes of his work, c) turned out to be the first brick in the arena of provincial America, where the action of almost all King’s books takes place, and d) became in many ways innovative, making emphasis on the psychology of the heroes of "terrible" stories.
Stephen King "The Dark Tower"
King considers the cycle " The Dark Tower» the pinnacle and quintessence of his creativity. He not only managed to bring together the images and plots of many of his books, but also created a magnificent hybrid of horror and classic fantasy epic, full of numerous references to mythological and historical archetypes. In addition, always paying special attention to the development of characters, King simply outdid himself here.
Clive Barker "Books of Blood"
Splatterpunk is a lot of blood that splatters in picturesque fountains, and the violence is shown with cinematic precision and aesthetic sophistication. Barker is so talented that his most nightmarish notions look absolutely realistic. "Books of Blood" are brilliant, but it is not recommended to read them nervous, underage and pregnant. In short, if you want to keep your sanity, stay away from Grimpen's quagmire of Barker talent!
Lord Dunsany "Gods of Pegana"
Long before The Lord of the Rings appeared, Edward John Morton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, dreamed up the country of Pegana and populated it with people, magical creatures and gods. There were no obvious allegorical parallels or literary games in his short stories. These are magical stories in their purest form, little masterpieces that have influenced many of the founding fathers of the genre, from Lovecraft to Tolkien.
Terence Hanbury White "The Once and Future King"
The most famous "Arthuriana", one of the most significant books of early fantasy. The initial story "The Sword in the Stone" is written in the tradition of classical English literary fairy tale. However, then the author, using the book by Thomas Malory "The Death of Arthur" as a basis, significantly complicated his work, introducing elements of a philosophical novel into it. The book served as the basis for the famous musical "Camelot" and the Disney cartoon.
Marion Zimmer Bradley "The Mists of Avalon"
Although Bradley's novel was published in our country, it did not attract much attention. Meanwhile, this is in many ways a milestone book in which the mythology of Arthurian is combined with feminist ideas, and the realistically written action takes place against a broad historical background. The book became an international bestseller, second in popularity only to The Lord of the Rings in the West for a long time.
Roger Zelazny "Prince of Light"
An unusual reworking of classical mythology. The heroes are "like gods", in fact, colonists from the Earth, who, using high technology, play the characters of the Hindu pantheon. The novel is both a gripping thriller and a complex metaphor about a man who rethinks his life and rebels against the system. The book, by the way, can be used as a guide for the study of Hinduism.
Neil Gaiman "American Gods"
A gem of modern mythological fiction written using the techniques of psychological thriller, drama and mystery novel. The gods need a flock, without which they are only pale shadows of past centuries. And, no matter what anyone says, now people still believe - only their new deities have changed color ... The novel is a thoughtful parable about the nature of faith and the search for oneself.
Mervyn Peak "Gormenghast"
A whimsical trilogy, decisively breaking out of any framework and definitions. A mixture of Dickens and Kafka, phantasmagoria, grotesque, parable - and all this is written in an exquisite style. The story of the giant castle and one of its inhabitants has become a milestone in fantasy literature. Peak had no followers, because he simultaneously opened and closed the topic: you can borrow certain images from Gormenghast, but you can’t imitate the author’s style.
Philip José Farmer "The Lovers"
Paul Anderson "Time Patrol"
Anderson's series is an adventure fantasy, but adventure is not an end in itself, but only a means to think about serious problems. The concept of a special secret service that prevents unauthorized intervention in the course of history in order to avoid a global temporal catastrophe has spawned a legion of imitators. In fairness, let's clarify: the "time police" was not invented by Anderson, but by Beam Piper.
Michael Moorcock, The Multiverse Series
A super series that has no analogues in the world of science fiction. Moorcock developed the concept of the Multiverse, where many parallel worlds coexist. Megacycle books are written in different genres - science fiction, fantasy, alternative history, even realistic prose. The characters freely migrate from novel to novel, eventually forming an incredible polyphonic canvas. Moorcock's contribution to heroic fantasy is especially significant.
Mikhail Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"
A multifaceted philosophical novel, which was published many years after the death of the author, producing the effect of an exploding bomb. The book has long been considered the banner of the Soviet intelligentsia. The genre is difficult to define, but now it fits perfectly into the framework of modern "magical realism" - an artificial direction invented by critics to ennoble "low" fantasy.
Peter Beagle "The Last Unicorn"
The epic nature of The Lord of the Rings played a cruel joke on fantasy: numerous successors rushed to copy the "letter", completely forgetting about the "spirit". Beagle poured new wine into old wineskins: he created a chamber and fragile thing, in which the real magic is present. A lively and wise fairy tale strikes readers to the very heart for forty years in a row. Beagle recently wrote a short story-continuation of "Two Hearts" - and the magic is not dead!
Gene Wolfe, New Sun Cycle
An explosive mixture of fantasy, mysticism, sci-fi and another-Wolf-knows-which makes readers still argue about the meaning of certain events of the tetralogy. A book for intellectuals? No - Wolfe knows how and loves to build a dynamic plot. However, strong storytellers in science fiction are a dime a dozen, and there are only a few people with such a rich imagination - for which we appreciate Wolfe. True, the subsequent books of the Brian epic are inferior in order to the initial cycle.
Michael Swanwick "Daughter of the Iron Dragon"
The boundaries of genres exist in order to erase them. This thesis is not new, but few have made truly revolutionary and successful "escape attempts." In "Daughters ..." Swanwick managed to combine the seemingly incompatible: fantasy and futurological romance with elements of cyber and steampunk. More importantly, such a connection looks quite natural. Add to this a fascinating plot and exquisite style - and you get a real masterpiece.
Robert Shea, Robert A. Wilson "Illuminatus!"
Our cycle was lost in the wave of the last of the Da Vinci Code. Meanwhile, it is considered the most significant work of fantastic conspiracy theories - it is compared even with "Dune"! The authors managed to create a multidimensional world with a large number of skillfully intertwined storylines. The mysterious society of the Illuminati has been carrying out the main Conspiracy for many centuries - however, the authors are rather ironic in relation to mass hysteria on this topic.
Sergei Lukyanenko, Vladimir Vasilyev "Patrols"
A hybrid of urban fantasy and detective thriller, the most commercially successful series of modern domestic fiction. In the first novels, the authors introduced elements of psychological drama into the narrative, and there were also philosophical reflections on the topic of moral dualism. "Sentinel" stories and their film adaptation have contributed to the popularization of fantasy in our country, although the latest volumes are noticeably inferior to their predecessors.
Dan Brown "The Da Vinci Code"
The real value of Brown's novel is small. A strong thriller on a near-historical theme - the usual mass entertainment with a claim to "intellectuality". And before Brown, such books were written in abundance. But some ephemeral Miracle allowed this particular book to be at the right time and place to become a stone that set off an avalanche. The result is a legion of imitations and a general world fashion for opuses that expose the secrets of centuries (especially religious ones).