The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1990s

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The 1990s was the last decade of the century and the millennium, and although science fiction has been around for centuries, it feels like the genre blossomed in the second half of the 20th century.  By the last decade it feels fantasy flavored SF had overtaken hard science fiction in popular appeal, but many of the most successful science fiction books of the 1990s were about space travel.  Vernor Vinge, Iain M. Banks, Dan Simmons, and Peter F. Hamilton began paving the way for the New Space Opera of the 2000s.  Ben Bova, Greg Bear and Kim Stanley Robinson used NASA’s recent knowledge of the solar system to build new visions of interplanetary colonization.  And more than ever, science fiction is concerned with the post-human future.

SF writers of 1990s represents the centennial descendants of H. G. Wells, and his genre originating novels The Time Machine (1895) and War of the Worlds (1898).  Where Wells explored the impact of Darwinism, 1990s science fiction writers were inspired by NASA interplanetary probes, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the many breakthroughs in contemporary cosmology.  It’s quite amazing, but in the 1990s, both the scientific universe and science fictional universes are tremendously bigger than the objective reality of the 1950s and its science fictional universes.  Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke loom large in our history, but modern science fiction writers stand on their shoulders and see much further than they ever imagined.

Yet, I would claim by the 1990s that it was obvious that science fiction had forked in its evolution.  On one hand, we still have a branch of science fiction inspired by science, but on the other hand, it’s all too obvious that the larger branch of science fiction is inspired by older science fiction.  New sub-genres like Military SF, seemed descended from 1959’s Starship Troopers by Heinlein, and isn’t the sub-genre of galactic empire romances descended from Asimov’s Foundation stories?  NASA will never be able to send a probe to either of these universes.  Whereas, Kim Stanley Robinson and Michael Flynn are practically begging NASA to use their books as blueprints for its future budgets.

A handful of writers dominated the decade with their series books.  Lois McMaster Bujold, Connie Willis, Kim Stanley Robinson and Vernor Vinge, all won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards as well as getting many nominations, and winning other genre awards.

Kim Stanley Robinson set the standard for hard science fiction with his decade spanning Mars trilogy.  He won two Hugos and one Nebula by writing about a realistic colonization of the Red planet.

Lois McMaster Bujold had so many award winning books in the 1990s that picking the best is impossible.  The Vor Game, Barrayar, Mirror Dance, Cetaganda, Memory, Komarr and A Civil Campaign are probably getting even more readers today than in the 1990s.  The Vorkosigan Saga just keeps on growing.  And fans debate whether new readers should follow publication order or internal chronological order.

Connie Willis won five Hugos and three Nebulas in the 1990s, with The Doomsday Book winning both.  Willis has carved out a much loved series based on time travel and history, blending two genres together, and like Bujold, Willis keeps expanding her series today.

Vernor Vinge picked up two Hugos and two Nebula nominations for A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, proving that fans still love a good space opera.

Some people have asked me how I make up these lists of memorable science fiction books.  The first one, about the 1950s, was more from personal memory, but eventually I discovered various resources I used for the later decades.  I start with Internet Speculative Fiction Database.  I use its advanced search and look up novels, language and type.   I only worry about books in English.  I go down their listings looking for books I remember reading or reading about.  I can right click on any title to bring up it’s bibliographic record which includes how often it was reprinted and whether or not it won any awards.  Most valuable is whether the book made the Locus Poll that year.  That’s the first indicator how popular a book was with the fans during the year it came out.

I also study various best of lists to discern long term popularity.  I look for books that get picked time and again.  This is how I create the short list called the Best Remembered books.  The longer Defining Books list are those books which got particular notice during the year they came out.  Most of these have been frequently reprinted and are often on some of the best SF of all time lists.  I avoided fantasy novels unless they won or were nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, or other SF award.

Best of Book Lists

• The Classics of Science Fiction By Year
• Top 100 Sci-Fi Books
• Next 100 Sci-Fi Books
• NPR Top 100 SF/F Books
• Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels (David Pringle pre-1985)
• Locus Best SF Novels of All-Time (pre-1990)
• ISFDB Top Books by Year
• All the Lists at Worlds Without End

The Best Remembered Science Fiction Books of the 1990s

• The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1990)
• Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (1991)
• A Fire Upon the Deep/A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
• Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992)
• The Doomsday Book/To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
• The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)
• Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
• The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (1995)
• The Sparrow/Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
• The Vor Game/Barrayar/Mirror Dance/A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1990s

1990
	Earth by David Brin In the Country of the Blind by Michael F. Flynn Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson The Difference Engine by Gibson and Sterling The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold Use of Weapons Iain M. Banks Voyage of the Red Planet by Terry Bisson
1991
	A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold Bone Dance by Emma Bull Fallen Angels by Niven, Pournelle and Flynn King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick Synners by Pat Cadigan The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
1992
	A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge Chanur’s Legacy by C. J. Cherryh China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh Fools by Pat Cadigan Jumper by Steven Gould Mars by Ben Bova Quarantine by Greg Egan Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Sideshow by Sheri S. Tepper Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Steel Beach by John Varley The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
1993
	A Plague of Angels by Sheri S. Tepper Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks Ammonite by Nicola Griffith Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress Glory Season by David Brin Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Growing Up Weightless by John M. Ford Moving Mars by Greg Bear Nightside the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe On Basilisk Station by David Weber Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler The Giver by Lois Lowry The Norton Book of Science Fiction ed. Le Guin and Attebery The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith Virtual Light by William Gibson Vurt by Jeff Noon
1994
	Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks Foreigner by C. J. Cherryh Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold Mother of Storms by John Barnes Mysterium by Robert Charles Wilson Permutation City by Greg Egan Queen City Jazz by Kathleen Ann Goonan Remake by Connie Willis The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott
1995
	Brightness Reef by David Brin Distress by Greg Egan Invader by C. J. Cherryh Legacy by Greg Bear Metropolitan by Walter Jon Williams Slow River by Nicola Griffith The Bohr Maker by Linda Nagata The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter Women of Wonder ed. Pamela Sargent
1996
	Bellwether by Connie Willis Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold Endymion by Dan Simmons Excession by Iain M. Banks Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling Memory Lois McMaster Bujold Reclamation by Sarah Zettel Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon Starplex by Robert J. Sawyer The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell Voyage by Stephen Baxter
1997
	/ by Greg Bear Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson City of Fire by Walter Jon Williams Diaspora by Greg Egan Fool’s War by Sarah Zettel Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker Jack Faust by Michael Swanwick The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
1998
	Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson Children of God by Mary Doria Russell Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson Distraction by Bruce Sterling Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan Factoring Humanity by Robert J. Sawyer Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler The Alien Years by Robert Silverberg The Cassini Division by Ken MacLeod To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
1999
	A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card Teranesia by Greg Egan The Sky Road by Ken MacLeod

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