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I'd recommend Kir Bulychev (his website in russian) or Kir Bulytschow (german). At least to the russian or german speaking folks of us as I can't find any english versions of his books which is too bad since I really loved them when I was young. Especially Die lila Kugel (The violet sphere) was one I devoured (just grabbed a used copy at Amazon - so, thanks for reminding me of my childhood).

Well, if they've already got a Nebula or Hugo nomination (or award) they generally make it to my reading list eventually. Of those you mentioned, I was only really aware of Mieville (which appears to be the youngest, incidentally?). And Stephenson, obviously.

I suppose it comes down to taste, but holding up Neal Stephenson of an example of someone that's not an "overrated old guy" strikes me as odd. Granted "the Diamond Age" is great, and "Snowcrash" is great fun -- but after he got so famous editors didn't dare cut back on length (It what it *looks* like happened, more likely he's a voluntary victim of modern publishings idea that many words must be better than the needed amount of words) the novels go kind of down hill.

I recently re-read the foundation trilogy and was pleasantly surprised at how well the characters had stuck with me over the years -- but I suppose some will feel his style is too simple.

On a side note, the sci-fi book I generally recommend people to read first is "the Stars My Destination" -- but I must admit part of what makes it stand out to me is how early it was written.

For any *actual* library 54 books is a little light to represent sci-fi as a genre -- and I'd hope they both fit in Lem, Strugatsky (btw, see http://rusf.ru/abs/english/ for free downloads) Bradbury, Gibson, Sterling, LeGuin, Kress, Vinge as well as newer authors... but I'm hard pressed to list anyone a generation younger than Sterling off the top of my head.

A.E. van Vogt, Computerworld, 1983 (... the story of our world under the cold and emotionless eye of the almighty computers ...(not brilliant, but rather anticipatory and fits in here))

Ursula K leGuin; The Dispossessed, 1974 (In The Dispossessed the values of an anarchist world, Anarres, are contrasted with those of primarily capitalist. Anarres is a barren, small moon, from which the hero, an Anarresti physicist Shevek, starts his journey to Urras, the mother planet. Shevek's tries to develop a general theory of Time, which would re-unite the estranged societies. Shevek is not completely at home in either society. He finds that the culture of Urras is more alienating than on his home world. After finishing his work he returns to Anarres, seeing that its era of cultural isolation is coming to end.)

Paul van Herck, Where Were You Last Pluterday?, 1968 (A story of a guy who saved some 10^k years on his time account)

Anything of Stanislaw Lem, B&A Strugatsky

Well, and perhaps Ringworld & Co by Niven (also "The Mote in God's Eye" with Pournelle ).

&& ... I better stop here :)

CC.

Excellent point on the russian sci-fi. The Strugatzki brothers science fiction is quite possibly the best ever written. However, some of their books are too distinctly russian to be easily understood/enjoyed by a north american (see Monday starts on saturday). I would recommend their more philosophical works - "Hard to be a god", "Roadside Picnick", the trilogy "Prisoner of Power", "Beetle in the Anthill", "The Time Wanderers". All these have been translated into english, so I highly recommend them to any sci-fi fan. You will not be disappointed!

For newer good russian science fiction, try Henry Lion Oldie. This is a pseudonim for 2 ukranian authors that write some of the best science fiction i've ever read. Their historical science fiction "The hero must be alone" and the "Odesseus" books are simply brilliant. To see a sample of their writings go to Oldy Homepage - there are a few stories translated. This again is excellent scifi, better than most i've read.

Finally, i'm surprised that Neal Stephenson hasn't been mentioned more often. I immensly enjoyed the book "Snow Crash", and though it's not really science fiction, "Cryptonomicon". His essay "In the Beginning was the Command Line" is also a great read, and is avaiable on the net for free - In the beginning was the command line.

What I translated as Lame Fortune is A Lame Fate. The inner story of this novel, The Ugly Swans, has been translated to English, accordingly to this bibliography.

I keep recommending these books to people I meet. It's wonderful literature; I keep saying it's literature, not deserving the restrictive label of "SF"; a good Strugatsky is the kind of book you don't fully appreciate until you have put it down, when its flavour lingers and you realize that, while reading it, your mind took flight, and that you're still flying a few days after.

It is sad, but not too surprising, to learn how unknown they are outside the literati (by which I don't mean the average Slashdot geek type with their Asimov and Trekkie stuff). The English translations are, as far as I can know, almost entirely out of print. Roadside Picnic was recently resurrected, at least in Europe, by Gollancz as part of their "Gollancz SF" series (instantly recognizable as trade-paperbacks with minimalistic yellow covers), a wonderful series which also includes other semi-forgotten masterpieces by the likes of Brunner, John Sladek, Heinlein, Thomas Disch and John Crowley.

Obtaining these absent volumes is not hard. ABE Books is your friend; basically it's a network of used-book sellers with a unified shopping cart -- it's an amazing system that has significantly added to my personal library. Books typically arrive by air mail within a week, even here in Europe (Norway). Also popular, but untested by me, is BookFinder.

There have been posts in this discussion, some serious and some not, about the readability/relevance of Russian fiction, comments pretty typical of ethnocentric Americans. I can't stress this enough: There is absolutely nothing that should prevent you from completely enjoying a Russian book (translated into English, to wit). The references to Russian culture/history/etc. are more or less nonexistent, and their stories are usually set outside the Soviet state. As for translations, most of the Strugatsky books were done by an extraordinary translator, Antonina W. Buois. I cannot vouch for their correctness, as I have not read the original texts, but I applaud their beauty, humanity, subtlety and ingenuity, qualities which I can only assume are also present in the originals.

As for what to read, I highly recommend Roadside Picnic, which is a masterpiece in any genre (it served as the inspiration for Tarkovsky's Stalker). It is about the aftermath of an alien visitation -- after the beings themselves have left and mysteriously, without having revealed themselves -- which has left the Earth riddled with small "Zones", contaminated by alien debris. One theme of the novel is that while we humans consider ourselves "rational beings", our sense of rationality -- a way of putting order to chaos -- is closely tied to our human form; an alien civilization may in fact appear beyond our capacity to understand, and therefore their nature will seem chaotic, irrational and impossible to us. The debris is wonderful stuff, often dangerous, often inexplicable, and humans scavenge it like ants over the trash left, as a character says, by a family "roadside picnic".

Their other works are similarly masterly: Far Rainbow, Hard to Be a God (actually made into a French-German-Russian-produced film in 1989) and Definitely Maybe. The latter's original title is, translated: "A Billion Years to the End of the World: A manuscript discovered under unusual circumstance". It tells the story of how one day all scientific progress is suddenly threatened by, well, hedonistic distractions. It was adapted into the film Days of the Eclipse (1988).

Many of the Strugatskys' books play out in the same "universe", or continuum, of the 22nd century, which includes several novels featuring intergalactic investigator Maxim Kammerer, and also developing the backstory of "the Wanderers", a mysterious, never-seen, incredibly powerful race of beings that seem to be silently following and manipulating the human race, similar to the Visitors in Roadside Picnic. The most chilling example is "Wanderers and Travellers", a hypnotic little short story about a diver who tags rare marine animals with radio tracking, and who then meets a man who suspects that, after a visit to a remote planet, he has somehow been... tagged himself.

On note: Alongside their SF production, the Strugatskys also produced some absurdist fables, including Tale of the Troika and The Second Invasion of Mars, and while this is great stuff, it's likely to shock and disappoint anyone looking for a "vintage Strugatsky".

There is a website dedicated to Russian Science Fiction and Fantasy writers and gives bio's on the writers and what books they have released and so forth.. great site to check out

I've read a few Russian sci-fi books when I was young (i'm russian).. but unfortunately my knowledge of the language has started to fade ;-)