Masterwork

[aliantha]

Dunno that popularity should enter into it, unless it's of the "will stand/has stood the test of time" variety. There's a lot of popular dreck out there.

If SRD can be believed, then sci-fi and fantasy are separated by themes: fantasy deals with an internal/psychological dilemma while sci-fi deals with an external/societal dilemma.

Asimov's "Robot" stories were about prejudice; Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" was about the subjection of women; "Dune" was about drug cartels, yes? It's been years since I read it.

[Duchess of Malfi]

Dune was about drug cartels, human evolution, religious messainic movements, and environmental issues. I think it stands out as a classic because it did explore so many important themes.

[jacobRaver]

Yepper.

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[Duchess of Malfi]

Not to mention economic themes as well.

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I love Dune.

--A

[jacobRaver]

I love Dune...and pizza...mmmm.

[taraswizard]

My reading of this thread's first several messages got me confused The original message said 'Masterwork' and then the discussion faded into a discussion of 'epic'; AFAIK, epic is a category of story telling (examples, Illiad, Kalevala, LotR, WoT (maybe?), Dune, Norse sagas, etc.). For more than a few years SF focused very much of gadget stories, and after you tell the story about the gadget you're done.

Regarding Masterworks, well, IMO SF can bring a few more things to the table than those mentioned. Gateway by Fred Pohl is brilliant fiction very worthy of masterwork designation. Fifth Head of Cerebus by Gene Wolfe and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein are both masterworks (brilliant fiction that stands up any piece of mmetic fiction you'd care to compare them to). YMMV

[Avatar]

Ah, see, that's why I was asking for a definition of masterwork. I had no idea what constituted such. Since I'm a huge fan of Heinleins The Moon is..., I have a much better picture of what was meant.

Hmmm...will have to think about it. In my opinion, Hellstrom's Hive by Herbert might well count. Incredible book.

--A