Perhaps the most emblematic name in American science fiction, Ray Bradbury was an author and screenwriter best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451, and his short story collections The Martian Chronicles, and The Illustrated Man.

His works not only imagine what extraterrestrial colonies might be like but also explore how such experiences would affect humans on a deeply personal level. His prose is both poetic and informative, making it accessible to both young and adult readers alike.

Image: Rod Long

If you’ve ever seen the movie Blade Runner or the TV series The Man in the High Castle, then you’ve been exposed to the work of Philip K. Dick. This prolific novelist wrote numerous novels and short stories that explore philosophical and social questions such as the nature of reality, human nature, and characters struggling against illusory environments, monopolistic corporations, and authoritarian governments.

His novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was the basis for Blade Runner and his works have earned him countless awards all over the world.

Image: Filip Filkovic Philatz

The creator of the now-ubiquitous term "cyberspace," William Gibson was a speculative fiction writer whose works explore the effects of technology, cybernetics, and computer networks on humans (fans of Black Mirror will likely find this author to their liking).

His first novel, Neuromancer, was credited with revitalizing science fiction literature in the 1980s, and he was described in 1999 as "probably the most important novelist of the past two decades.

Image: Brian McGowan

"While he is now more famous for founding Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard was a genuine science fiction writer who authored works such as Battlefield Earth, To the Stars, Buckskin Brigades, and Death’s Deputy, among other titles.

Hubbard was quite a prolific pulp science fiction and fantasy writer in his early career and, in 1950, he published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, establishing organizations to promote and practice Dianetics techniques.

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A critic turned writer, Theodore Sturgeon wrote over 120 short stories, 11 novels, and even a handful of scripts for the original Star Trek television series. His first science fiction novel, More Than Human, won the 1954 International Fantasy Award for that year's best novel.

Though he was not as well known to the general public as contemporaries like Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury, Sturgeon gained recognition among readers of mid-20th-century science fiction anthologies. At the height of his popularity in the 1950s, he was the most anthologized English-language author alive.

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One of the few writers credited with inventing modern science fiction, according to one of his colleagues, Alfred Bester was an author, TV, radio, and comics scriptwriter, and magazine editor. His novel, The Demolished Man, was the first winner of the Hugo Awards in 1953.

While working as a scriptwriter for DC Comics, he created the supervillain Solomon Grundy and also wrote extensively for television, magazines, and radio.

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An author whose work is as famous in the science fiction genre as it is in horror, H. P. Lovecraft was a writer of science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction, and a mixture of all these genres. His most notable work is the Cthulhu Mythos.

Some of his more popular works include The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow over Innsmouth, and The Shadow Out of Time. The central theme of his books is cosmicism, a theory dictating that "there is no recognizable divine presence, such as a god, in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of intergalactic existence."

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Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. is best known for writing the best-selling science fiction novel of all time, 1965's Dune, along with its five sequels. He also wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, photographer, book reviewer, ecological consultant, and lecturer.

His famous saga, set in the distant future and spanning millennia, explores complex themes, such as the long-term survival of the human species, human evolution, planetary science and ecology, and the intersection of religion, politics, economics, sex, and power in a future where humanity has long since developed interstellar travel and colonized thousands of worlds.

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With a literary career spanning nearly sixty years, Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is another legendary name on this list. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe and the Earthsea fantasy series.

Frequently described as a science fiction author, Le Guin has also been called a "major voice in American letters," though she once said she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist."

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The only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, both for his novel Ender’s Game, and its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card is a science fiction writer who often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Since 1979, he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.

During his childhood, Card read children's classics and popular novels, his favorite book being Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper. He often refers to works by Robert A. Heinlein and J. R. R. Tolkien as sources of inspiration.

Image: Greg Rakozy