I’ve been on a sci-fi kick recently and I’ve been astounded by the quality of the writing in some of the books I’ve read. The most notable in this regard is Samuel Delany’s Babel-17. This re-released 1967 masterpiece features a cool heroine in a spectacular space opera. Part poet, part space pilot, her mission is to break an alien ‘code’. The joyful use of language in this book is a delight to read. The description of space battles in particular is more like poetry than anything else.
Two other great books on decoding alien communications are: Stanislaw Lem’s His Master’s Voice and Carl Sagan’s Contact. Both excellent.
Actually, while I think about it, Lem’s Cyberiad is one of the most charmingly-written books I have ever read. It’s a sort of Brothers Grimm sci-fi and transmutes the language of science into the language of myth, legend and folk tale. It’s also funny.
View Babel-17
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I’ll second that about _Babel-17_. I don’t always get on with Delaney — he can lapse into tedious pretentiousness, and I don’t like his politics — but _Babel-17_ is a masterful blend of space opera and philosophical SF.
I lent my copy to my then girlfriend just before we broke up … and I bet she still hasn’t read it!
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