[LMB] OT: Seminal SF/fantasy

[Mark Allums]

Eric Oppen wrote:
> So what works do you on the list think should be qualified in their 
> respective fields?  I have a partial list:
> So what do you all think, and which subgenres have I left out?

I am not sure that hard SF much overlaps with space opera, but anyway:

I consider Asimov's Foundation to be "seminal", in particular the
concept of psychohistory.

Heinlein's Future History.

Niven's Known Space.

Lovecraft.  Gothic and/or horror genre.

Vernor Vinge's singularity.

A good source of fantasy tropes/cliches is found in Diana Wynne Jones'
Tough Guide to Fantasy (Dark Lord approved), though it may not qualify
as "seminal" per se.


--Mark Allums