Having been a science fiction afficionado since as long as I can remember, I feel it’s only right to make a list cataloguing some of my favourite science fiction authors. Some of these are well known, the others not so well known.
The Big Four would have to be
Isaac Asimov
Arthur C. Clarke
Robert Heinlein
Philip K. Dick
Some of you might raise eyebrows at Dick’s inclusion in the holy circle, but his presence is fully justified, from what I’ve read of him, which is everything.
I shudder to use terms like ’second tier’, or ‘lesser calibre’, it almost reminds me of when fanboys would compare bands like Testament to bands like Slayer, ah the good old days of alt.music.slayer. Never was Godwin’s law invoked with more machine-like precision than in the glory days of 1998-2003. But I digress. Back to science fiction we shall go.
Second tier authors:
Harry Harrison
Harlan Ellison, the outspoken critic of everything, but always done with vigour and good taste
Ray Bradbury (up there with Saki and Roald Dahl for emotive short stories)
The Strugtasky Brothers – the chaps who came up with “Thinking is not entertainment but an obligation!”. Truer words were never spoken. Very Russian, very Soviet, very good.
H. G. Wells (yes, he was Victorian and wrote classic literature, but he still counts, one of the founding fathers)
Jules Verne (the French analogue of Wells, unrivalled in his day)