Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books, by H.R.F.Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, by David Pringle (1985), foreword by Michael Moorcock.Carroll & Graf published the books in the U.S. Transatlantic editions or simply jacket and cover designs may variably use 'the' and 'hundred' in the subtitles. Xanadu Publications of London published at least four '100 Best' books. A small minority, perhaps as many as ten, are books for which I have little or no personal enthusiasm: they have been included for the sake of balance and variety. Some are other people's favourites, novels which have been outstandingly popular or influential, or which seem to be especially good representatives of their type. Some of them are old favourites of my own.

Pringle admits that fewer than thirty selections may generously be called even 'masterpieces of their sort'. The time period covered is approximately that for science fiction as a category of book publication, although the selected books were not all published in that category. In contrast, science fiction has a real-world setting and 'fantastic developments which are explicable in terms of the scientific world-view.' World-view does not mean accepted theory or fact: 'many sf writers cheat: they use sleight-of-hand rather than genuine scientific knowledge.' 'The skilful use of pseudo-science and gobbledygook' may be good enough to exploit the world-view. He also names the subclass 'Fabulations', which do not belong in this book 'unless they have a significant scientific or technological content'. They may be represented by Dracula and The Lord of the Rings, featuring 'the irruption of some supernatural force into the everyday world' and 'set in completely imaginary worlds' respectively. Within fiction he distinguishes science fiction from ' Supernatural Horror' and ' Heroic Fantasy'. as it has come to be accepted by the intelligent layperson', which arguably 'first became common property in the mid to late 19th century.' In the introduction Pringle offers the working definition, 'Science fiction is a form of fantastic fiction which exploits the imaginative perspectives of modern science.' In turn, modern science is the 'scientific world-view. Xanadu followed Science Fiction with at least three more '100 Best' books ( below). Pringle followed Science Fiction with Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels (1988). It is considered an important critical summary of the science fiction field. Primarily, the book comprises 100 short essays on the selected works, covered in order of publication, without any ranking. Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949–1984 is a nonfiction book by David Pringle, published by Xanadu in 1985 with a foreword by Michael Moorcock. 1985 book by David Pringle Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949–1984

Route 666 by David Pringle