Some of us wonder if today’s SF fans enjoy the same sf novels as earlier SF fans.
As it turns out, there were interesting surveys taken of best SF novels in 1987 (at the British eastercon) and 2022 (a poll of the media death cult members).
SFF Concatention recently published their analysis of the comparison here.
In summary:
“the result do not show a wildly difference in SF tastes between the 1980s and 2020s generations of fans: in fact, there are similarities. 10 of the SF² Concatenation top twenty appear in of the Cult’s top 40: indeed all but one, Tiger Tiger / Stars My destination appear in the Cult’s top 30. When it comes to authors, there is an even greater similarity: 7 in SF² Concatenation top twenty top ten cited authors appear in the Cult’s top 40. This bumps up to 8 authors if Alfred (working class) Bester, author of Tiger Tiger / Stars My destination, who was not one of the top ten most cited author but was in the mix as a lower ranking author.”the result do not show a wildly difference in SF tastes between the 1980s and 2020s generations of fans: in fat, there are similarities. 10 of the SF² Concatenation top twenty appear in of the Cult’s top 40: indeed all but one, Tiger Tiger / Stars My destination appear in the Cult’s top 30. When it comes to authors, there is an even greater similarity: 7 in SF² Concatenation top twenty top ten cited authors appear in the Cult’s top 40. “
Best Science Fiction Novels Then and Now in SFF Concatenation
The Adelaide Fan Review 