What Are The Darkest Science Fiction Novels and Stories You Ever Read ?

[Cicero]

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

 

[Cicero]

Arena by Frederick Brown
The Monster by A E Van Vogt

Upon the Dull Earth by Philip K Dick This one would have made a very good Twilight Zone Episode.

 

[Cicero]

The Man Who Lost the Sea by Theodore Sturgeon

 

[Cicero]

The Berserker Saga by Fred Saberhagen is pretty dark and grim stuff.

 

[Cicero]

The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke

 

[Randy M.]

The Star by Arthur C. Clarke
The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

 

[Cicero]

Run For the Stars by Harlan Ellison

 

[Cicero]

Born of the Sun by Jack Williamson
The Earth Brain by Edmond Hamilton

 

[bledec]

The Time Machine perhaps, particularly Wells’s view of the extremely far future of Earth? Creeped me out.

 

[bledec]

The Star by Arthur C. Clarke
The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

Read The Star but don’t remember anything about it. The Godwin and the Bradbury for sure, especially the Bradbury.

 

[Woofdog2]

As a dark SF book series I think most likely The Gap Cycle by Stephen Donaldson

The Gap Cycle - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

this is on my short list also. it is in many senses grimdark in space opera. (nearly) every character rivals every other for being a horrid person in some way or other. most of them do terrible things to some of the others. their names stick with you the rest of your life, they are so real.

And I believe this is the author's single best work, even though he surely will be remembered as the thomas covenant author and this will be a footnote. the story, pacing, and development is just about perfect and the ending is just as good.

 

[Mostlyharmless]

I agree that the characters in the Gap Cycle are mostly unpleasant but I did like the ship's names. Free Lunch was good but Calm Horizons (and Tranquil Hegemony) seemed really attractive. The nearest human equivalents were the Imperial Japanese Navy's carriers, Shōkaku meaning “Soaring Crane” (翔鶴), Zuikaku meaning “Auspicious” or “Happy” Crane (瑞鶴) and Taihō meaning "Great Phoenix"大鳳.

Meanwhile, for an optimistic science fiction story, some of you might like John Brunner's Total Eclipse.

 

[Cicero]

Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson is probably one the the influential Werewolf / Lycanthropy never ever written I has chased cosmic hour to it and could rue read as either science fiction story or dDark Fantasy novel and its great read but giants of Science Fiction .