by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the arid anarchist world of Anarres, risks everything by traveling to the lush, capitalist home world of Urras to complete his General Temporal Theory. Le Guin crafts an unforgettable portrait of an ambiguous utopia, contrasting the hunger and freedom of collective life against the wealth and corruption of property.
Stanislaw Lem
When psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at the research station hovering above the oceanic planet Solaris, he finds the crew deranged and terrified by physical phantoms materialized from their deepest, most shameful memories. Stanislaw Lem crafts the definitive meditation on the terrifying impossibility of truly understanding an alien intelligence.
Becky Chambers
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered into the wilderness, never to be seen again. One day, the life of a traveling tea monk named Dex is upended by the arrival of a wild robot who has come to ask a single question: "What do people need?"
Frank Herbert
Twelve years after becoming Emperor, Paul Muad’Dib finds himself trapped by his own prescience and the unstoppable galactic jihad waged in his name as conspiracies brew in the shadows of his imperial palace.
Dan Simmons
On the eve of armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims embark on a final voyage to Hyperion to seek the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands. A towering epic of literary space opera.