Modern science fiction writers and their works. The most famous science fiction writers

For some reason, we generally believe that science fiction as a genre remained in the 20th century, unable to withstand competition at the beginning of the century with the fantasy genre that had rapidly soared to the top. This is probably what happened within the post-Soviet space. And other branches of science fiction have gained a lot of momentum in the new millennium - urban fantasy, teenage dystopias and zombie romance novels have concentrated the majority of reader attention. But thanks to new authors (Vernor Vinge, Alastair Reynolds, Peter Watts) abroad, SF is alive and well and even becoming more intelligent, artsy and deep than ever. Fortunately, domestic publishing houses are gradually beginning to translate new foreign classics of science fiction. This top will introduce you to the best SF novels already translated and published in Ukraine.

For some reason, we generally believe that science fiction as a genre remained in the 20th century, unable to withstand competition at the beginning of the century with the fantasy genre that had soared to the top. This is probably what happened within the post-Soviet space. And other branches of science fiction have gained a lot of momentum in the new millennium - urban fantasy, teenage dystopias and zombie romance novels have concentrated the majority of reader attention. But thanks to new authors (Vernor Vinge, Alastair Reynolds, Peter Watts) abroad, SF is alive and well and even becoming more intelligent, artsy and deep than ever. Fortunately, domestic publishing houses are gradually beginning to translate new foreign classics of science fiction. This top will introduce you to the best SF novels already translated and published in Ukraine.

Robert Ibatullin “Rose and Worm” (2015)

The year of publishing: 2016
Publisher: Celado
Who will like it: for fans of Robert Wilson's Spin trilogy and fans of Asimov's Foundation
Why you should read: meticulous scientific accuracy of what is happening and the realistically possible, thoughtful future of humanity

The Earth was attacked by an alien race called the Aquilians. After long and fierce battles, humanity managed to recapture their homeland, but the planet is becoming uninhabitable. Meanwhile, the Cosmoflot, created by people on Venus, is successfully mastering the solar system, and the military is preparing the superweapon “Swarm of Fireflies”, which repelled enemy attacks, for war with the already independent earthly colonies. In a brief civil brawl, the Cosmoflot loses, and the former colonies of Earth gain official independence. While people are fighting by hook or by crook for the remnants of power, humanity begins to face a danger a hundred times worse than the attack of the Aquilians and the civil war.

The author of the novel, Robert Ibatullin, is a physicist by training. As he himself admits, beautiful rendering of words is not his strong point, but as far as scientific reliability is concerned, in this book all the assumptions and facts are proven by the writer’s calculations. Yes, critics criticize the work for its poor language in places, but this deficiency is compensated by the author’s meticulousness in scientific details, as well as by the real, bright and living world of the possible future of the Earth. This is the same classic “hard” science fiction that modern readers have inexplicably buried and refuse to believe in its existence. Read for all non-believers in living and living SF. Take in small portions to avoid scientific overdose.

Peter Watts "False Blindness"

The year of publishing: 2006
Translation: 2009
Publisher: AST
Who will like it: fans of Stanislaw Lem, in particular the work "Fiasco"
Why you should read: deep, thoughtful plot, an ideal fantasy world that you want to visit

On one day in 2082, thousands of millions of lights lit up in the sky of our planet. People nicknamed them fireflies, and later discovered alien activity on the edge of the solar system. To reconnaissance of the situation and possible first contact with aliens, people send the Theseus spaceship. Only a completely unusual crew dared to make such a trip - the crew list includes a complete schizophrenic linguist, a vampire and, for some unknown reason, a person without emotions who is here.

The name of Peter Watts has long been thundering among foreign fans of space science fiction. The novel “False Blindness” was published in the West back in 2006. A translation into Russian was published in 2009, and last year the book was republished and the novel found a new life. And yes, Watts writes complexly, twistedly and as deeply as possible. But at the same time, the author chews on his extensive knowledge of the exact sciences and puts into the reader’s mouth the quintessence of an ideal science fiction book, which you want to read to the end even if it’s already dawn outside.

Chris Beckett "In the Darkness of Eden"

The year of publishing: 2012
Translation: 2016
Publisher: AST
Who will like it: those who like “The Village” by Kir Bulychev and “Stepchildren of the Universe” by Robert Heinlein
Why you should read: indescribable and cozy atmosphere of old and “Golden” science fiction,

John Krasnosvet is fifteen years old. He and his relatives live on the unknown planet Eden. The fact is that John and his relatives are long-standing descendants of earthlings who were once in this system, founded a base here, left the settlers and never returned. And the heirs of these people are still waiting for the return of their ancestors and, with varying degrees of success, are mastering the unfriendly world called Eden.

Despite the fact that the main character of the book is a teenager, this is a classic sci-fi work that has received many awards, including the Arthur C. Clarke Award. "In the Darkness of Eden" takes the reader back to the time of the "Golden Age" of science fiction, when aliens were always scary six-eyed creatures with teeth on their hands, and telepathic monkeys lurked on unknown planets with acidic vegetation. Despite the seeming banality, Chris Beckett created, based on hundreds of genre clichés, a bright and surprisingly detailed world that you definitely want to visit. And it seems that behind the nearest tree you will definitely meet Alisa Selezneva and her famous team. Recommended for everyone who misses good old science fiction.

Adam Roberts "Glass Jack"

The year of publishing: 2006
Translation: 2015
Publisher: AST
Who will like it: for fans of Alfred Bester's works “Tiger! Tiger!" And
Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Sign of Four"
Why you should read: strong philosophical overtones, an intricate detective story, an ambiguous and charismatic protagonist

Seven notorious criminals are sent to a distant asteroid - they will serve their sentences and mine ore for eleven years. The prisoners know that as soon as they are left alone, a brutal and bloody power struggle will begin. Six of them look like natural-born killers and dominant males, and the seventh is frail, downtrodden, and also legless. The convicts think that he will die first, but they have no idea that the disabled goner will turn out to be the most dangerous person on this damned asteroid.

British writer Adam Roberts is known abroad as a researcher of the history of science fiction, and his collection of articles on this topic received the British Science Fiction Association Award in 2016. And Mr. Roberts is a professor of philology at the University of Cambridge and a lecturer at the University of London.

Therefore, despite the apparent simplicity of the plot with convicts, his novel “Glass Jack” is a complex and often philosophical work, filled with references to the classics of world literature - Shakespeare, Kipling, Dickens, Salinger and others. In addition, this novel, like the collection of articles, also brought Professor Roberst the British Science Fiction Association Prize and the John Campbell Memorial Prize. The novel "Glass Jack" is most likely not suitable for easy and comfortable reading. The book touches on many ethical, philosophical and scientific issues, and also has a detective component. Tell me, isn’t this what an ideal example of a real, intellectual SF novel should be like?

Daniel Suarez "Flow"

The year of publishing: 2015
Translation: 2015
Publisher: AST
Who will like it: those who liked “A Billion Years Before the End of the World” by the Strugatsky Brothers
Why you should read: vigorous space action, with cyber-punk elements, the technologies in the book are created on the basis of real-life inventions

John Grady physicist. He and his team came up with a device that bends gravity. It would seem that scientists are waiting for fame, success, money and entry into the annals of history. But on Earth there is a Bureau of Technical Control, which is designed to hide from humanity the truth about the actual technical progress of people. They close Grady's laboratory, and he is offered to work for them and become one of the many chosen ones who control the history of the planet. And when John refuses, he is sent to the highest-class secret prison “Hibernity”, where all the scientists who at one time made incredible discoveries are kept. Now the forced prisoner and his new genius friends must find out the truth about the Technical Control Bureau and tell the world the real state of affairs.

Writer Daniel Suarez is a relative newcomer to the sci-fi scene. However, his third work, Flux, won the Prometheus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2015. This is not "hard" sci-fi, rather it is cyberpunk sf. And this is a dizzying action against the backdrop of large-scale conspiracy theories, organically woven into the technologies of the future. And yet, the author thinks through every detail of a realistic continuation of human history, and the technologies in the book are invented on the basis of already existing developments, which makes reading “Flow” interesting for any modern gadget addict and fan of serious science fiction.

Alastair Reynolds "Doomed World"

The year of publishing: 2010
Translation: 2016
Publisher: ABC-Atticus
Who will like it: fans of Jan Weiss and the novel “The House of a Thousand Storeys” and fans of Vernor Vinge’s book “Flame on the Deep”
Why you should read: the perfect combination of sci-fi, thriller and space opera

In the distant future, at the end of Earth's history, there is a huge skyscraper called the Blade that stretches through the layers of the atmosphere. Inside, the building is divided into areas, which, in addition to hostility with each other, differ in the level of technological development - somewhere people have access to the latest modern biotechnologies, and in some areas residents use steam engines. On the upper floors, which almost touch space, live angels - posthumans who want to subjugate the entire skyscraper. Quillon works in a morgue in one of the lower districts. Part-time, he is a secret agent of these inhabitants of the Heavenly Floors, and one day he finds out that his owners want to eliminate him, for the unusual information he received and transferred to the “top” turns out to be secret information. He understands that if he does not leave the Blade, the angels will get to him, so Quillon decides to go on a crazy journey across the already dying and deadly planet Earth.

The name Alastair Reynolds is familiar to fans of science fiction and space opera. In addition to his incredible writing talent, Mr. Reynolds has a couple more aces up his sleeve - he is an astrophysicist by training and at one time worked for the European Space Research Center. Therefore, Alastair knows how and what to write about. However, the novel “The Doomed World” is the author’s most unusual work. It's more of a planetary fantasy with elements of action, thriller and space opera. However, the hand of the master reigns here too, so we have before us a novel that can be recommended to absolutely all science fiction lovers. The way and what Alastair Reynolds writes about cannot but please a sensible reader. The book is definitely worth reading.

John Love "Faith"

The year of publishing: 2012
Translation: 2015
Publisher: Fiction Book Club
Who will like it: those who like Herman Melville's Moby Dick and the White Whale and Scott Westerfeld's Sequence series
Why you should read: SF with elements of a classical parable and philosophical overtones, the main characters are spaceships

"Vera" is an alien spaceship that helped the human Commonwealth destroy the warlike Shahran Empire. After three hundred years of oblivion, the wonderful alien ship returns, but only now it confronts people. To respond to the super-powerful “Vera”, people create new and super-strong space cruisers of the “outsider” class - their crews are the most dangerous criminals and scumbags in the system, who now need to destroy “Vera” and its masters and prevent humanity from dying again. One of these ships, called the Charles Manson, engages in battle with aliens. He even has a slim chance of winning, but what the cruiser will face next makes Vera’s attack child’s play.

The debut novel by British science fiction writer John Love caused a lot of noise in the circles of fans of the genre. And although the work did not receive any awards, critics and readers noted the first creation of the Englishman and even put him on a par with the modern classics of the genre Reynolds, Watts and Hamilton. The novel “Vera” is a space opera with elements of a parable, where the main characters are not people, but two warring and extraordinary ships “Vera” and “Charles Manson”.

Naturally, these are not all the books of modern science fiction that we would like to talk about. There are still a lot of novels that are already being translated or have been translated into Russian (there is still a lot of trouble with Ukrainian SF book publishing). Most likely, we will talk about them in the following articles, but for now, share your impressions, books you have read and further wishes. What SF caught your attention that we didn't talk about?

Everyone who respects himself book lover must have your own personal list "Best Science Fiction Writers". If you don’t have one yet, then we suggest you pay attention to the following authors who are loved, appreciated, and their works are read all over the world.

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992) - American science fiction writer. Author of about 500 books, both fiction and popular science. Multiple winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards. Some terms from his works, for example, robotics, robotics, positronic, have entered English and other languages.

Best books:“The Gods Themselves,” “Foundation,” “The End of Eternity,” “Bicentennial Man,” the “I, Robot” series of books, “Foundation,” “Lucky Starr” and others.

Alexander Belyaev

Alexander Romanovich Belyaev (1884 - 1942) - Russian science fiction writer, one of the founders of Soviet science fiction literature, wrote more than 70 science fiction works, including 13 novels. He is called the Russian Jules Verne.

Best books: “The Head of Professor Dowell”, “The Island of Lost Ships”, “Amphibian Man”, “Ariel”, “KEC Star”, “The Man Who Found His Face”, “Heavenly Guest” and others.

Ray Bradbury

Ray Douglas Bradbury (1920 – 2012) is an American science fiction writer who wrote more than eight hundred works throughout his life. His stories formed the basis of several film adaptations and theatrical productions.

Best books: “Fahrenheit 451”, “The Martian Chronicles”, “The Illustrated Man”, “Trouble Is Coming”, “Dandelion Wine”, “A Sound of Thunder”, “Dark Carnival”, “Farewell Summer!” and others.

William Gibson

William Gibson (1948-...) - American science fiction writer. Many consider him the father of cyberpunk. After all, it was he who introduced the term “cyberspace” into science fiction, and also because of his novel Neuromancer, which was published in 1984 and sold more than 6 million copies.

Best books: The “Cyberspace” trilogy, “The Bridge Trilogy”, “The Bigend Trilogy”, “The Difference Machine”, the collection of short stories “The Burning of Chrome” and others.

Sergei Lukyanenko

Sergei Vasilyevich Lukyanenko (1968-...) is one of the most widely read Russian science fiction writers. The writer himself defines the genre in which he writes his novels as “Fiction of Hard Action” or “Fiction of the Path”

Best books: series of novels “Watches”, “Borderlands”, “Island of Rus'”, “Seekers of the Sky”, “Line of Dreams”, “Genome”, “Labyrinth of Reflections”, “Lord from Planet Earth” and others.

Larry Niven

Lawrence van Cott Niven (1938 – ...) - American science fiction writer. Repeated winner of the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar and Nebula awards. His work is fantasy, which combines serious science and theoretical speculation. His works often contain elements of detective and adventure.

Best books: series “Ring World”, “Integral Trees”, “Make a Wish”, “Defender”, “Gift from Earth”, Calm in Hell and others.

Clifford Simak

Clifford Donald Simak (1894-1988) is rightfully considered one of the founders of modern American science fiction. At various times he was awarded the Hugo and Nebula, Jupiter, Locus, Bram Stoker awards, as well as the title of Grand Master.

The best books: “The City”, “A Ring Around the Sun”, “The Goblin Reserve”, “The Werewolf Principle”, “All Flesh is Grass”, “What could be simpler than time?”, “Almost like people” and others.

Robert Heinlein

Robert Anson Heinlein (1907-1988) is an American science fiction writer who made an invaluable contribution to the development of the science fiction genre. He is the only one to receive five Hugo Awards and a multiple Nebula winner.

Best books: cycle “The History of the Future”, “Stranger in a Strange Land”, “Starship Troopers”, “Farmer in the Sky”, “The Man Who Sold the Moon”, “Red Planet”, “Double Star”, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” and others .

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are a famous tandem of writers. Their books are known not only in the CIS, but also far abroad. They also worked individually. The novels of the Strugatsky brothers have rightfully entered the world classics of modern science fiction. Each book by these authors is distinguished by depth and philosophy, which is sometimes lacking in novels of this genre.

Best books:“Roadside Picnic”, “Snail on the Slope”, “Lame Fate”, “Doomed City”, “It’s Hard to Be a God”, “Monday Begins on Saturday”, “A Billion Years Before the End of the World”, “Waves Quench the Wind” and other.

Arthur Clarke

Arthur Charles Clarke (1917 - 2008) - English writer, scientist, futurist and inventor, and, of course, a cult science fiction writer. His work includes 22 novels, 3 cycles of novels, stories and film adaptations of his books.

Best books:“Prelude to Space”, “Sands of Mars”, “End of Childhood”, “Songs of a Distant Earth”, “2001: A Space Odyssey” Cycle, “Rama” Cycle, “Odyssey of Time” Cycle and others.

Henry Kuttner

American writer of science fiction and humorous fiction, Henry Kuttner (1915-1958), created works that are now classics. Henry's co-author was his wife Catherine Lucille Moore. Kuttner's books were published under the pseudonyms Lawrence O'Donnell, Lewis Paget, Keith Hammond and Will Hart.

Best books: series of stories “Hogbens”, novel “Dark World”, “Fury. World of darkness. Stories”, “Sim Verifies”, “Five Stories about Gallegher”, “Housing Question”, “Mutant”, “Cerce’s Mask” and others.

William Tenn

Science fiction writer Philip Klass published under the pseudonym William Tenn (1920-2010). The world learned about the writer’s talent after the publication of his first story, “Alexander the Bait,” in 1946. During his long writing career, Tenn wrote only 2 novels, preferring short stories. For his services to science fiction, William Tenn has repeatedly received awards, including the prestigious Nebula, Locus and Hugo Awards.

Best books: collections of stories “The Baldezhny Criterion”, “Star Carousel”, “Invasion” and others.

Vladimir Mikhailov

Mikhailov Vladimir Dmitrievich (1929-2008) - author of numerous works in the science fiction genre. Vladimir Mikhailov began writing humorous stories, but achieved popularity and recognition thanks to science fiction books. The author himself, dreaming all his life of becoming a great poet, considered science fiction a happy accident.

Best books:“My Brother’s Keeper”, “People of the Land”, “The Constant Krata”, “Option I”, “Special Necessity” and others.

Frank Herbert

American science fiction writer Frank Herbert (1920-1986) is known to the world mainly thanks to the chronicles of Dune. The series of these books brought the author awards in the form of the Hugo and Nebula literary awards. The author's first story was “Looking for Something?”, published in Startling Stories magazine.

Best books:“Dune”, “Dragon at Sea”, “God Makers”, “The Annoyance Experiment”, “Under Pressure”, “Hallstrom’s Hive” and others.

Ivan Efremov

Ivan Antonovich Efremov (1908-1972) - Soviet science fiction writer, paleontologist and thinker. Thanks to his creative potential, Ivan’s knowledge resulted in wonderful works of literature. The minor planet Efremian and the mineral Efremovite are named after the author.

Best books:“Andromeda Nebula”, “The Razor’s Edge”, “Starships”, “Thais of Athens”, “Hour of the Ox” and others.

Paul Anderson

Paul William Anderson (1926-2001) became interested in science fiction as a student. Anderson is one of the few writers to have received the title of "Grand Master of Fantasy" Hugo and has been awarded this Award 7 times. The author's debut took place in 1947 with the story "Children of Tomorrow."

Best books:“Time Patrol”, “Space Crusaders”, “Operation Another World”, “The Long Road Home”, “Queen of Winds and Darkness” and others.

Ursula Le Guin

The work of Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (1929-2018) is not limited to the science fiction genre. The writer created many children's works, poems and novels, and was the author of fantasy books and a literary critic. Le Guin wrote her first science fiction story at the age of 11 and continued to delight fans with new works, for many of which Ursula received prestigious awards.

Best books:“A Wizard of Earthsea”, “Trilogy”, “The Left Hand of Darkness”, “The Tomb of Atuan”, “The Dispossessed”, “Planet of Exile” and others.

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Global discoveries and changes in the science fiction genre do not happen often. However, in each period there are works that mark a certain stage in the development of the genre, either attract close attention from critics, or simply win reader recognition. Or both, and the other, and the third combined.

We present the ten most striking and sensational SF novels that appeared in the 21st century - according to the World of Fantasy.

Robert Charles Wilson "Spin" (Spin, 2005)

The main character lives on the Earth of the future, which some super-civilization has surrounded with a barrier known as “Spin”. Moreover, behind the barrier, the course of time has changed: hours pass for earthlings, but millions of years pass in the Universe. And, since the life of the Sun is limited, the current generation of people may be the last. Therefore, humanity is looking for a way to salvation... This is both a large-scale sci-fi epic and a history of human relationships, Arthur Clarke and Robert Heinlein in one bottle. At the same time, the “scientific” nature of the book seems rather dubious at times, but Wilson is a good stylist and psychologist.

Max Brooks "World War Z" (World War Z, 2006)

A novel about the war between humanity and zombies that appeared on the planet due to an unknown virus. This is the story of an absolutely merciless war, when the enemy can become the closest person who turns into a brainless cannibal. And in order to survive, you have to kill without any pity - even small children... A very dark, cruel and frighteningly believable book, a hybrid of a science fiction disaster and a military chronicle.

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Peter Watts "False Blindness" (Blindsight, 2006)

In 2082, humanity collided with aliens. To establish contact, the Theseus ship was sent to the Oort cloud, beyond the orbit of Pluto. However, contact with strangers turned out to be completely different from what people imagined... Peter Watts discarded all the First Contact schemes developed by science fiction writers and created his own version with an emphasis on the achievements of modern science. The novel is valuable precisely as science fiction: inventing the world and plot, the author skillfully and knowledgeably uses ideas, concepts and terms from various scientific disciplines - from psychology and linguistics to biochemistry and cybernetics. The result is an inventive “gymnastics for the mind,” although the book lacks literary qualities, so not everyone will like it.

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Andy Weir "The Martian" (2011)

A short-range sci-fi masterpiece about space Robinson Mark Watney, an American astronaut who was forgotten by his comrades on Mars. Written in a realistic style, and even with humor, the book became a worldwide bestseller and the basis for a popular film by Ridley Scott.

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China Miéville "Embassytown" (Embassytown, 2011)

In the distant future, humanity has colonized the planet Arieka, whose natives speak a unique language - only some specially “changed” human ambassadors understand it... The leader of the “new strange” has composed a novel in the spirit of Ursula Le Guin and with a special “linguistic” flavor. The result is one of the most striking books of modern “humanitarian” SF.

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Neal Stephenson "Anathem" (Anathem, 2008)

The action takes place in a parallel universe on the planet Arb, where scientists, united in a religious order, are isolated in a monastery and protect knowledge from secular authorities. However, due to an alien threat, a group of monks leaves the monastery and sets off on a dangerous journey to save the world... Stevenson wrote a multi-layered work with a lot of references to world philosophy, incorporating themes and motifs from almost all SF of the last half century. In terms of scale and significance, it is somewhere on the level of Hyperion and Solaris.

Paolo Bacigalupi “The Windup Girl” (2009)

An excellently written dystopia in the style of cyberpunk. The paths of the main characters intersect in Thailand, which in the 24th century became one of the most prosperous countries. The author managed to create a living, vibrant world populated by realistic and carefully crafted characters. A world obsessed with ecology and virtually abandoned progress. A world where resources are limited. The world of genetic engineering and total domination of food corporations. In terms of ideas and atmosphere, it’s a kind of “Neuromancer” inside out.

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Ernest Cline Ready Player One (2011)

The year is 2044, an uncomfortable future, whose inhabitants are hiding from real problems in the virtual world of OASIS. Somewhere in the depths of a virtual utopia, its creator hid the key to his gigantic fortune, the search for which is being sought by both individuals and entire corporations. And only connoisseurs of fantastic literature, cinema and video games of the 20th century will be able to find the “treasure”... A fascinating post-cyberpunk - a bestseller written by a geek for geeks. Anne Leckie “Servants of Justice” (Ancillary Justice, 2013)

A heroine named Brek is a fragment of the “collective mind” of a deceased military starship, living in a human body. She accuses the immortal empress of betrayal and dreams of revenge... The author created an original world, populating it with colorful characters and inventing an inventive plot intrigue with many mysteries.

Adventure novels, detective/action novels (since today there is practically no difference between them), fiction of various genres, from the previously very popular science fiction to modern fantasy, alternative or LitRPG - these are the “big three” of fiction that men of all ages read. For women, everything is a little different, but fantasy, albeit with other main characters (GG) both by gender and by actions, characters and goals in life, is also in the first positions, sharing the palm with romance and melodramatic novels. So, who today can be included in the conditional list of “The best science fiction writers both in the world and in our country,” especially since in recent years the interest in them has been enormous.

Science fiction and more

Today, few young people will read “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, “From the Earth to the Moon”, “Around the Moon” by Jules Verne, “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells, “Amphibian Man”, “The Head of Professor Dowell” by Alexander Belyaev, “Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin”, “Aelita” by Alexei Tolstoy, “Sannikov’s Land” by Vladimir Obruchev, “The Secret of Two Oceans” by Grigory Adamov, “Andromeda Nebula”, “Hour of the Ox”, “Thais of Athens” by Ivan Efremov.

But these, by today’s standards, rather naive in scientific and technical terms, overly romantic, often stuffed with ideology, important books have raised more than one generation of men, who, largely thanks to them, chose the profession of a sailor, submariner, pilot, cosmonaut, and design engineer , archaeologist, historian, physicist, biologist. However, this is not surprising for several reasons:

The ideals of most people had little in common with the standards of today's consumer society. In their minds and souls there was a thirst for knowledge, dreams of exploring near-Earth space, flying to the stars, meeting other intelligent people on alien planets.
A fiction book, almost any book, and even more so an interesting, rare one, which can safely be said about all Soviet and foreign translated fiction, was really the best gift back then. This is not a joke or an anecdote, but a harsh everyday reality, stemming from a terrible shortage of good, popular books without page-by-page references to party and Komsomol congresses, shock construction projects and five-year plans, factory plans, battles for the harvest and high milk yields in rural areas in the “most reading country in the world."
Many science fiction writers earned their living not only from literary work, but also have long established themselves as specialists in various fields of science and technology. It is enough to recall the magnificent writer whose books I want to re-read today, the famous paleontologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, holder of two orders of the Red Banner of Labor and the Badge of Honor, Ivan Antonovich Efremov.

Books by foreign authors who were able to pass through the sieve of vigilant communist censorship were extremely popular. I must say that there was an undoubted benefit to this. This was clearly demonstrated during the years of perestroika by the turbid wave of low-grade fiction from foreign graphomaniacs, which swept over a country hungry for interesting reading. However, then this applied to all genres of fiction.

Ray Bradbury from the USA. His “Dandelion Wine”, “A Sound of Thunder”, “The Door to Summer”, “The Martian Chronicles” and, of course, beloved by communist censors, ideologically consistent, “Fahrenheit 451” were published quite a lot and often in the USSR. The writer was recognized as one of the most widely read American authors, which did not make these smart books any worse. Although he is a recognized classic of science fiction, many of his good books are more like tales and parables, closer to the fantasy genre.
Arthur Clarke from Great Britain. Known not only as a brilliant science fiction writer, author of the famous “Space Odyssey”, “Moon Dust”, “Sands of Mars”, “Fountains of Paradise”, “Songs of a Distant Earth”, but also as an inventor and futurist. His generally recognized and realized contribution to the development of humanity is the idea of creating communication satellites in geostationary orbits, used today for the World Wide Web, mobile communications, and weather forecasting. Another great idea that appealed not only to readers, but also to scientists, designers, even financiers and economists - a space elevator for inexpensive delivery of cargo into Earth's orbit, is still awaiting its implementation, although many do not doubt the reality of this event in the near future .
Isaac Asimov, born in the Smolensk region, is a writer from the USA, biochemist and popularizer of science. The “Three Laws of Robotics” invented by him are still used by everyone to this day when describing any artificial intelligence. “I, Robot”, “Caves of Steel”, “Bicentennial Man”, “Foundation” gained him fame not only as a science fiction writer, but also as a famous scientist who foresaw the future of humanity, its future history associated with the use of robots.
Robert Heinlein from the USA is one of the most famous writers in this genre. He was even nicknamed “the dean of science fiction writers.” His “I have a spacesuit - ready to travel”, the famous “Starship Troopers”, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, “Farnham Freehold”, “Stepchildren of the Universe” have been read by many science fiction lovers.
Clifford Simak (USA) is also one of the founders of American science fiction. The most famous books are “The Goblin Sanctuary”, “The Transfer Station”, “Reconciliation on Ganymede”. Like previous authors, he is the winner of many significant awards in literature, in particular in the genre of science fiction, and is an officially recognized Master.
Stanislaw Lem from Poland. Probably the most famous and titled writer who does not belong to the English-language school of science fiction. “Solaris”, “The Diaries of John the Quiet”, “Return from the Stars”, “The Magellanic Cloud”, “Invasion from Aldebaran” are only a small part of his literary heritage.
Andrzej Sapkowski (Poland) with a series of world-famous cult novels included in the fantasy saga about the Witcher.

Authors from Russia

There is no doubt that each reader has his own best science fiction writers. It depends on a lot - age, education, worldview, habits, desires, everything cannot be listed or explained to any psychologist or sociologist. The main thing is that people read fiction and popular science books published on paper or any other media, watch interesting films, and not just engage in half-meaningful, mind-numbing correspondence on social networks. By the way, this applies not only to the younger generation.

Such a literary genre as fantasy is attracting more and more fans - after all, where else can a writer embody his most incredible ideas, reflect on the unknown and immerse the reader in a world of magic! Russian writers of this genre are also popular, and we will tell you further which of them are the most famous and what of their works can be read.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

We will start, of course, with the brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - these are the most famous Soviet and Russian writers in the science fiction genre. During their lives, they wrote many works in which they presented bold, unusual ideas, atypical for their contemporaries and colleagues in the genre - they created some kind of different world.

The works of the Strugatskys are full of humor, but at the same time they are written in a beautiful, highly artistic language, and in addition to the fantastic surroundings, all of their books have philosophical overtones. It can be said without exaggeration that the Strugatsky brothers and their works are already a separate era of Russian fantastic prose.

Famous works by the Strugatsky brothers include “Monday Begins on Saturday”, “Roadside Picnic”, “It’s Hard to Be a God”, “A Billion Years Before the End of the World” and others.

Sergei Lukyanenko

Sergei Lukyanenko writes books in the genres of fantasy and science fiction. He is the most popular Russian science fiction writer of the 21st century, and quite prolific: he publishes one or two books a year, and also writes short stories.

Some of his works were used as the basis for several modern Russian films - these are the books “Night Watch”, “Day Watch” and “Today, Mom!”. He wrote the scripts for the film adaptations himself.

Other popular works by Lukyanenko are “Labyrinth of Reflections”, “Dancing in the Snow”, “Line of Dreams”.

Vasily Golovachev

Among Russian science fiction writers of our time, Vasily Golovachev, laureate and winner of many literary awards, also stands out. He is the author of such books as “The Black Man”, “The Messenger”, “The Break of Evil”, “The Scourge of Times” and others. Golovachev is already considered a classic of Russian science fiction.

Most of the science fiction writer’s works belong to some kind of cycle, of which Golovachev has as many as seventeen, and the total number of books has already exceeded forty. Golovachev’s books are distinguished by ease of storytelling and originality of plots, although fans were not so pleased with the works of the most recent years.

Dmitry Yemets

Interesting Russian science fiction writers can also be found among authors aimed at children's audiences. One of them is Dmitry Yemets, who became widely known thanks to a series of fourteen books for children and teenagers called “Tanya Grotter”, created based on the books by JK Rowling about the well-known boy wizard.

In parallel with this series, Yemets began writing a series of books about the teenage magician Methodius Buslaev, in which there were fewer borrowings from Harry Potter. The cycle consists of eighteen books and is also quite popular among young people. And the last, nineteenth book of the series should be published in May-June 2016.

Kir Bulychev

The Soviet and Russian writer of the 20th century, Kir Bulychev, closes our rating of science fiction writers. Like many Russian writers of the science fiction genre, he was inclined to create entire cycles of works featuring the same characters. His most famous work was a series of stories for children and teenagers about a girl, Alisa Selezneva, who travels through outer space and ends up in different stories. The series is called "Alice's Adventures" and contains more than fifty books.

However, other cycles of Bulychev’s books are also known, aimed at an adult audience, for example, “Doctor Pavlysh” and “The Chronos River”.

Bulychev’s work may be somewhat familiar to our viewers from the previously popular Soviet children’s cartoon “The Secret of the Third Planet” and from the cult five-part film “Guest from the Future.”

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