"Science fiction is dead."

"Kids don't read science fiction."

"Science Fiction is a niche genre only read by a few boys who are outcasts in their social settings."

"Books like The Softwire can never be big sellers because most people won't read science fiction."

"Science fiction simply doesn't create good books."

These quotes are actual reactions science fiction author PJ Haarsma has received from the book industry regarding his effort to write in the genre he loves. These shocking comments come not only from his publisher, but even worse, from the children's book buyers of major book chain stores. The largest booksellers simply say they will not purchase science fiction for children. How can the nation's largest bookstores determine what genres are worthy for our children? We do not believe it is their responsibility to limit the world of imagination science fiction provides to kids due to their book buyers’ personal biases. Using The Softwire, we hope to spur more interest in science fiction among young adult readers, and encourage authors, publishers and book buyers to take another look at this "outcast" genre.

I am a Softwire asked science fiction author PJ Haarsma what science fiction means to him and why it is important to preserve it for our children:

I grew up in a household that abused alcohol. While my friends fantasized about being Spiderman or Superman, I fantasized about running away. A trip in my father’s truck was an opportunity to map out an escape route from my white-picket-fence facade. At night, sleepless from the anticipation of my freedom, I imagined my new life as far away from my current predicament as possible. Who lived there? What would I do? How would I survive?

As each new plan failed to come to fruition, however, it began to weigh on me that I might never leave. Invisible in my bedroom, but bored with Charlie Brown, the Archies and every toy guilt could purchase; I opened a book – a yellowed novel in the farthest corner of my room, waiting on the lowest shelf. The title is not important (in fact, I used to think that the book was Ender’s Game, but it was much earlier than that). After just a few pages, I disappeared – transported to some unknown corner of the universe. Here I stood, shoulder to shoulder with a mirror image of myself, as we struggled to endure our new environment. An alien environment.

After each completed mission, I would return to my room through some convenient wormhole or time portal. I realized I had found my way out without ever having to take a single step.

The mere thought that science fiction could be dead injures such a vital part of me that I will not let it go without a fight. Science fiction calls to writers like no other genre. We write not because we feel inclined to do so, but because we have to. Burdened with the task of looking into the mirror and recording what we see, science fiction writers deliver a unique, and brutally honest, critique of the human condition. We expose our darkest fears and our deepest wishes; wishes for a world that can make us feel insignificant at times.

Science fiction gives sustenance to our imaginations. It provides refuge for those who feel like strangers in this strange land, and it lets us peek into our future, empowering us to change it, if need be.

I shudder to think of a world without science fiction.

Great Science Fiction Novels Enjoyed by Readers Throughout the Years

The list of truly great science fiction novels is an impressive one. To state that science fiction does not create good books is not only absurd, it is ignorant. This list is just a sampling of all the great science fiction books that have been published. Not only does this list prove that science fiction does “create good books”, but we hope you will use it to find interesting selections that you may have missed. Most importantly, please put the books recommended for young readers into the hands of the children you know to keep the adventure of science fiction alive. Science fiction is dead only if we let it die.

For Young Readers:

Anderson, M. T.

• Feed

Asch, Frank

• Gravity Buster: Journal #2 of a Cardboard Genius

Brin, David

• Sky Horizon

Colfer, Eoin

• The Supernaturalist

Craig, Joe

• Jimmy Coates: Assassin?
• Jimmy Coates: Revenge
• Jimmy Coates: Survival
• Jimmy Coates: Target

Daley, Michael J.

• Shanghaied to the Moon

Davidson, Ellen Dee

• Stolen Voices

Engdahl, Sylvia Louise

• Journey Between Worlds

Farmer, Nancy

• The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm: a Novel

Foreman, Lelia Rose

• Shatterworld

Gaiman, Neil & Michael Reaves

• Interworld

Gates, Susan

• Dusk

Haarsma, PJ

• The Softwire Series
  • The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1
  • The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2

Haddix, Margaret Peterson

• Among The Hidden
• Double Identity
• Turnabout

Halam, Ann

• Siberia

Hautman, Pete

• Hole In The Sky

Hoover, H. M.

• The Shepherd Moon: A Novel of the Future

Hulme, John & Michael Wexler

• The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep

L’Engle, Madeleine

• A Wrinkle In Time
• A Wind In the Door
• A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Mahy, Margaret

• Maddigan's Fantasia

Michaels, Rune

• Genesis Alpha

Norton, Andre

• Iron Cage

Philbrick, W. R.

• The Last Book In The Universe

Pullman, Philip

• The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1)
• The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2)
• The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3)

Reeve, Philip

• Infernal Devices
• Mortal Engines
• Predator’s Gold

• Starcross: A Stirring Adventure of Spies, Time Travel and Curious Hats

Reeve, Philip & David Wyatt

• Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space

Rose, Malcolm

• Double Check

Walden, Mark

• H.I.V.E.: The Higher Institute of Villainous Education
• H.I.V.E.: The Overlord Protocol

Westerfeld, Scott

• Uglies
• Pretties
• Specials
• Extras

For Adult Readers:

Abbott, Edwin A.

• Flatland

Adams, Douglas

• Hitchhiker’s Guide Series
  • Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
  • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
  • Life, the Universe and Everything
  • So long, and Thanks for All the Fish
  • Mostly Harmless

Anderson, Poul

• Tau Zero
• Goat Song
• Hunter’s Moon
• The Queen of Air and Darkness
• The Saturn Game
• The Sharing of Flesh

Anthony, Piers

• Incarnations of Immortality Series
  • On A Pale Horse
  • Bearing An Hourglass
  • With A Tangled Skein
  • Wielding a Red Sword
  • Being A Green Mother
  • For Love of Evil

Asaro, Catherine

• Saga of the Skolian Empire

Asimov, Isaac

• I, Robot
• The Caves Of Steel
• The Gods Themselves
• The End Of Eternity
• Foundation Series
  
  • Prelude to Foundation
  • Foundation’s Fear
  • Foundation and Chaos
  • Foundation’s Triumph
  • Forward the Foundation
  • Foundation
  • Foundation and Empire
  • Second Foundation
  • Foundation and Earth
• The Mule
• The Bicentennial Man
• Gold

Atwood, Margaret

• The Handmaid’s Tale

Banks, Iain M.

• The Culture Series
  • Consider Phlebas
  • The Player of Games
  • The State of the Art
  • Use of Weapons
  • Excession, Inversions, Look to Windward

Baxter, Stephen

• The Time Ships
• Evolution

Bear, Greg

• Eon
• Blood Music
• The Forge of God
• Darwin’s Radio
• Moving Mars
• Hardfought

Benford, Gregory

• Timescape

Bester, Alfred

• The Stars My Destination
• The Demolished Man

Boulle, Pierre

• Planet Of The Apes

Bova, Ben

• The Asteroid Wars Series
  • The Precipice
  • The Rock Rats
  • The Silent War
  • The Aftermath
• The Voyagers Series
  • Voyagers
  • The Alien Within
  • Star Brothers
• Grand Tour Saga
  • Mars
  • Jupiter
  • Saturn
  • Titan
  • Mercury
  • Venus

Bradbury, Ray

• Fahrenheit 451
• The Martian Chronicles
• The Illustrated Man

Brin, David

• Earth
• The Postman
• The Uplift Series
  • Sundiver
  • Startide Rising
  • The Uplift War
  • Brightness Reef
  • Infinity’s Shore
  • Heaven’s Reach

Brunner, John

• Stand on Zanzibar

Bujold, Lois McMaster

• Vorkosigan Saga
  • Falling Free
  • Shards of Honor
  • Barrayar
  • The Warrior’s Apprentice
  • The Vor Game
  • Cetaganda
  • Ethan of Athos
  • Borders of Infinity
  • Brothers in Arms
  • Mirror Dance
  • Memory
  • Komarr
  • A Civil Campaign
  • Diplomatic Immunity
• Paladin of Souls
• The Mountains of Mourning

Burgess, Anthony

• A Clockwork Orange

Burroughs, Edgar Rice

• Barsoom Series
  • A Princess Of Mars
  • The Gods of Mars
  • The Warlords of Mars
  • Thuvia, Maid of Mars
  • The Chessmen of Mars
  • The Master Mind of Mars
  • A Fighting Man of Mars
  • Swords of Mars
  • Synthetic Men of Mars
  • Llana of Gathol
  • John Carter of Mars

Butcher, Jim

• Various titles

Butler, Octavia E.

• Xenogenesis Series
  • Dawn
  • Adulthood Rites
  • Imago
• Parable Series
  • Parable of the Sower
  • Parable of the Talents
• Bloodchild

Card, Orson Scott

• The Ender Saga
  • Ender’s Game
  • Speaker For The Dead
  • Xenocide
  • Children of the Mind
  • First Meetings
• The Shadow Series
  • Ender’s Shadow
  • Shadow of the Hegemon
  • Shadow Puppets
  • Shadow of the Giant
• Eye for Eye

Cherryh, C.J.

• The Faded Sun
• Downbelow Station
• Cyteen

Christopher, John

• The Tripods
  • When the Tripods Came
  • The White Mountains
  • The City of Gold and Lead
  • The Pool of Fire

Clark, Arthur C.

• Space Odyssey Series:
  
  • 2001
  • 2010
  • 2061
• The Song of Distant Earth
• Rendezvous With Rama
• Childhood’s End
• The City and the Stars
• The Fountains of Paradise
• A Meeting With Medusa

Clarke, Arthur C. & Gentry Lee

• Rama Series
  • Rama II
  • The Garden of Rama
  • Rama Revealed

Clement, Hal

• Mission of Gravity

Clifton, Mark and Frank Riley

• They’d Rather Be Right

Crichton, Michael

• Jurassic Park
• The Andromeda Strain
• Sphere

Crispin, A.C.

• V

Delany, Samuel R.

• Dhalgren
• Babel-17
• The Einstein Intersection
• Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones

Dick, Philip K.

• Minority Report
• A Scanner Darkly
• We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
• Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
• The Man In The High Castle
• UBIK
• The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
• VALIS
• Time Out Of Joint

Dickson, Gordon R.

• Dorsai!
• Lost Dorsai
• Call Him Lord
• The Cloak and the Staff

Doyle, Arthur Conan

• The Lost World

Effinger, George Alec

• Schrodinger’s Kitten

Egan, Greg

• Permutation City
• Oceanic

Ellison, Harlan

• Dangerous Visions (editor)
• Paladin of the Lost Hour
• The Deathbird
• Adrift Just Off The Islets of Langerhans
• A Boy and His Dog

Farmer, Nancy

• House of the Scorpion

Farmer, Phillip Jose

• To Your Scattered Bodies Go
• Riders of the Purple Wage

Gerrold, David

• The Martian Child, Cthorr Series

Gibson, William

• Neuromancer
• Burning Chrome
• Pattern Recognition

Gibson & Sterling

• The Difference Engine

Haldeman, Joe

• The Forever War
• Forever Peace
• The Hemingway Hoax

Hamilton, Peter F.

• Night’s Dawn Trilogy
  • The Reality Dysfunction
  • The Neutronium Alchemist
  • The Naked God

Hand, Elizabeth

• Last Summer at Mars Hill
  

Harrison, Harry

• Soylent Green
• The Stainless Steel Rat Series
  

Heinlein, Robert A.

• Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
• Stranger In A Strange Land
• The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
• Starship Troopers
• Time Enough For Love
• Citizen of the Galaxy
• The Door Into Summer
• The Puppet Masters
• The Past Through Tomorrow
• Double Star
• Friday
• Farmer In The Sky
• The Man Who Sold The Moon
  

Herbert, Frank

• Dune Series
  • Dune
  • Dune Messiah
  • Children of Dune
  • God Emperor of Dune
  • Heretics of Dune
  • Chapterhouse: Dune

Herbert, Frank et al

• Destination: Void Series
  

Huxley, Aldous

• Brave New World

Kress, Nancy

• Beggars in Spain
• The Flowers of Aulit Prison

Lawhead, Stephen

• Empyrion
• Dream Thief

LeGuin, Ursula K.

• A Fisherman of the Inland Sea
• The Left Hand Of Darkness
• The Dispossessed
• The Lathe Of Heaven
• Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea
• Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight
• The Word for World is Forest
• Solitude

Lewis, C. S.

• The Space Trilogy
  • Out of the Silent Planet
  • Perelandra
  • The Hideous Strength

MacLean, Katherine

• The Missing Man

Martin, George R. R.

• A Song For Lya
• Sandkings
• Blood of the Dragon
• Portraits of his Children

May, Julian

• The Many-Colored Lands Series

McCaffery, Anne

• Brain and Brawn Ship Series
  • The Ship Who Sang
  • Partnership
  • The Ship Who Searched
  • The City Who Fought
  • The Ship Who Won
  • The Ship Avenged
• The Coelura Series
  • The Rowan
  • Damia
  • Damia’s Children

McDevitt, Jack

• Engines of God

McIntyre, Vonda K.

• Dreamsnake
• The Moon and the Sun
• Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand

Meyer, Stephenie

• The Host

Morehouse, Lyda

• Archangel Protocol
• Apocalypse Array
• Fallen Host
• Messiah Node

Moorcock, Michael

• Behold the Man

Niffenegger, Audrey

• The Time Traveler’s Wife

Niven, Larry

• Ringworld Series
• Neutron Star
• The Borderland of Sol

Niven &Pournelle

• The Mote In God’s Eye
• Lucifer’s Hammer

Orwell, George

• 1984

Piercy, Marge

• Woman on the Edge of Time

Poe, Edgar Allan

• Collection: Science Fiction of Edgar Allen Poe

Pohl, Frederik

• The Heechee Saga
  • Gateway
  • Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
  • Heechee Rendezvous
  • Annals of the Heechee
  • The Gateway Trip
  • The Boy Who Would Live Forever
• Man Plus

Pohl & Kornbluth

• The Space Merchants

Pournelle, Jerry

• Starswarm

Reynolds, Alastair

• Revelation Space Series
  • Revelation Space
  • Chasm City
  • Redemption Ark
  • Absolution Gap
  • Diamond Dogs
  • Turquoise Days

Robinson, Kim Stanley

• Mars Trilogy
  • Red Mars
  • Green Mars
  • Blue Mars
  • The Martians
• The Blind Geometer

Robinson, Spider

• Callahan Chronicles
  • Callahan’s Cross Time Saloon
  • Time Travelers Strictly Cash
  • Callahan’s Secret
  • Callahan’s Key
  • Callahan’s Con
  • Callahan’s Legacy
• Stardance (with Jeanne Robinson)
• By Any Other Name

Sagan, Carl

• Contact

Sawyer, Robert J.

• The Neanderthal Parallax
  • Hominids
  • Humans
  • Hybrids
• The Terminal Experiment

Scheffield, Charles

• Various titles

Shelley, Mary

• Frankenstein

Shusterman, Neal

• Various titles

Shute, Neville

• On the Beach

Silverberg, Robert

• Dying Inside
• A Time of Changes
• Born with the Dead
• Enter A Soldier. Later: Enter Another
• Gilgamesh in the Outback
• Nightwings
• Sailing to Byzantium

Simmons, Dan

• Illium
• Hyperion Cantos
  • Hyperion
  • The Fall of Hyperion
  • Enymion
  • The Rise of Endymion

Stephenson, Neil

• Snow Crash
• Cryptonomicon
• The Diamond Age

Sterling, Bruce

• Bicycle Repairman
• Taklamakan

Stevenson, Robert Louis

• Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Sturgeon, Theodore

• More Than Human
• Slow Sculpture

Swanwick, Michael

• Stations of the Tide
• Legions In Time
• Slow Life

Turtledove, Harry

• Guns of the South
• Down in the Bottomlands

Twain, Mark

• A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court

Vance, Jack

• The Dying Earth
• The Last Castle

Varley, John

• Titan
• The Persistence of Vision
• Press Enter

Verne, Jules

• 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
• Journey To The Center Of The Earth

Vinge, Joan D.

• The Snow Queen
• Eyes Of Amber

Vinge, Vernor

• Deep Sequence
  • A Deepness in the Sky
  • A Fire Upon The Deep
• Fast Times at Fairmont High
• The Cookie Monster

Vonnegut, Kurt

• Slaughterhouse 5
• Cat’s Cradle
• The Sirens of Titan
• Player Piano

Weber, David

• Honor Harrington Series
  • On Basilisk Station
  • The Honor of the Queen
  • The Short Victorious War
  • Field of Dishonor
  • Flag in Exile
  • Honor Among Enemies
  • In Enemy Hands
  • Echoes of Honor
  • Ashes of Victory
  • War of Honor
  • At All Costs

Wells, H. G.

• The Time Machine
• War Of The Worlds
• The Island Of Dr. Moreau
• The Invisible Man

Westerfeld, Scott

• Midnight Hour Series

Willis, Connie

• Doomsday Book
• To Say Nothing of the Dog
• Fire Watch
• The Last of the Winnebagos
• The Winds of Marble Arch
• At the Rialto

Wolfe, Gene

• Book of the New Sun Series
  • The Shadow of the Torturer
  • The Claw of the Conciliator
  • The Sword of the Lictor
  • The Citadel of the Autarch
• The Death of Doctor Island

Wood, N.Lee

• Looking For the Mahdi
• Faraday’s Orphans

Zahn, Timothy

• Cascade Point

Zelazny, Roger

• Lord Of Light
• This Immortal
• …And Call Me Conrad
• Permafrost
• Unicorn Variation
• He Who Shapes
• The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth
• Home is the Hangman