Sci-Fi Lists is dedicated to bringing you quality lists and concise reviews of science fiction's all-time top books, films, TV shows and short stories. The Top 200 Sci-Fi Books list is the flagship of the site, but lists have also been compiled for movies and television with the aim of being the most statistically reliable of their type found anywhere on the net. All lists are regularly updated to include new sources of information that become available, including results from the relevant Sci-Fi Lists online polls.

The Book List
Awards - 20; Published critics - 38; Popular polls - 15; Other lists - 53
A statistical survey of sci-fi literary awards, noted critics and popular polls. To qualify a book has to be generally regarded as science fiction by credible sources and/or recognised as having historical significance to the development of the genre. For books that are part of a series (with some notable exceptions) only the first book in the series is listed.
(Updated 18 April 2008)

The Film List
Published critics - 22; Popular polls - 13; Other lists - 77
A statistical survey that includes data from noted critics and popular polls. The qualification rules are similar to those used for the books list and for statistical purposes films in a series are treated in tallies as stand-alones. Exceptions to this rule include the Star Wars trilogies.
(Updated 20 February 2008)

The Television List
Experts polled - 11; Published critics - 6; Popular polls - 9; Other lists - 90
Based on data gathered from a statistical survey and a direct poll of sci-fi television experts - including critics, editors and website managers. Shows often classified under other genres but containing significant and notable sci-fi content (e.g. The Avengers & The Wild, Wild West) qualify for inclusion on the list.
(Updated 6 March 2008)

The Short Fiction List
Popular polls - 3; Published critics - 2; Awards - 6
A very difficult list to start owing to the lack of published data. Locus, Nebula and Hugo award information helped formulate the original list. A couple of ageing polls also helped out, but it was site visitor interest that kept it going. The online poll and visitor feedback are the main sources for updating this list, which generates more than its fair share of healthy debate.
(Updated 11 March 2008)

Fourth Reich

The Keepers: WWIII
by Richard Friar
2008 (Infinite Conception Phaze)

Critical Mass

The History of Science Fiction
by Adam Roberts
2005 (Palgrave)

Richard Friar's The Keepers is sure to please all Hitler fanatics and lovers of high-tech military science fiction.

Set just over two decades from now the new Hitler is a messiah figure named Geiseric. He takes Germany down the path of a utopian dictatorship based on Plato's Republic, enslaving the conquered and keeping them in check with benevolence.

In the face of the high-tech superweapons of the Apex even the United States has little hope as World War III ravages the planet. As with conquered France in WWII, a small but highly-skilled underground resistance movement carries on the fight.

Friar dazzles readers with big battles and saucy science, all driven by an astute sense of history and human motivation. Given the pace of Geiseric's blitzkrieg one suspects that the chinks in his armour might begin to show in the next eagerly anticipated volume.

Noted academic Adam Roberts adopts a unique perspective in his critical survey of the history of science fiction.

Roberts delves into antiquity for the genre's origins before pointing to the Reformation as the first major historical movement that triggered a new way of defining the universe. It is a theme that pervades throughout, culminating in the industrial and technological revolutions that underpin the various forms of modern sci-fi.

The debate is a lively one and, as many will find, explicitly open to frequent challenge. Thematic considerations aside, Roberts does a superb job in analysing individual literary, cinematic and televised works - with a handy chronology of key titles and developments included as an appendix.

Now available in an affordable paperback edition, if seeking an intellectual challenge this should prove an enlightening read.

Still the Best

Battlestar Galactica: Season 3
2008 (953m)
Universal Studios

Extraordinary Abilities

Heroes: Season 1
2007 (1035m)
Universal

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Battlestar Galactica is one of those amazing shows that has made people forget there was ever an original series.

The twenty episodes that comprise the 2006-07 season start with a quadrilogy that finds many Galactican heroes on the bleak Cylon-ruled New Caprica controversially conducting a terrorist resistance. A slump of sorts occurs with a few mid-season pot-boilers focussing more on character development than slam-bang action.

By the season's thrilling cliffhanger finale the Cylons are back and bad. To tide fans over during an extended hiatus, the movie length Razor focussing largely on the crew of the Pegasus is an action-packed stunner.

For those coming in cold turkey it will be a big ask to try and unravel the complicated series premise without checking out some of the earlier episodes from the critically acclaimed first two seasons.

To the delight of its multitude of fans the debut 2005-06 season of hit sci-fi serial Heroes finds it way onto DVD.

Taking on the air of a graphic novel, the heroes of the story are ordinary people who discover they have extraordinary abilities. With the hook "Save the cheerleader, save the world" viewers are drawn into several disparate story arcs eventually converging in a stunning climax by season's end.

Tying creator Tim Kring's genius together is the apocalyptic annihilation of New York City for reasons unclear. There is not a dud in sight in any of the first season's 23 episodes of this classic sci-fi series.

Whether it's the indestructible cheerleader, the insecure power-absorbing Peter Petrelli, the temporally-handy samurai-at-heart or any of the others - the show has a hero for all occasions. With the villainous Sylar rounding things out, this is topnotch TV.