Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Science Fiction's 10 Most Epic Love Stories

At io9, Charlie Jane Anders writes about what she considers to be the 10 most romantic love stories in science fiction. These include Paul and Chani from Dune and John Crichton and Aeryn Sun from Farscape.

For my money, I found Peter David's Star Trek novel Imzadi to be the most romantic novel I've ever read. Troi and Riker are bonded in a strange way throughout the series, and this novel is an exploration of that relationship. It is put to the test, and their love ultimately transcends the space-time continuum. Very hard, very sweet.

What is your favorite love story from science fiction?

UPDATE: Matt Blum at GeekDad has a related list of the ten most tragic love stories in 'geek fiction' -- which he seems to define as to include superheroes, fantasy lit, and medieval lore. Reading it reminded me of another one of my favorite love stories: Willow and Tara from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. It is a tale that is both sweet and tragic. It's not science fiction, but it is a related genre.

9 comments:

Johnny Cat said...

Hands down: Deckard & Rachel. It's too bad she won't live, but then again who does? Yep.

wrf3 said...

Sheridan and Delenn.

wrf3 said...

Oh, also Vic and Blood.

Johnny Cat said...

Oh, and also also James Kirk and Edith Keeler.

John said...

I was never able to finish Blade Runner. It just didn't grab me. Sheridan and Delenn -- yes, that's a very good choice.

I had to look up Vic and Blood -- they're from A Boy and His Dog. A curious choice. Love stories are not limited to eros.

Kirk and Keeler -- oh, yes. Even Spock was sympathetic to the gravity of Kirk's love for her.

bob said...

If we are going for tragic, Rico and Dizzy from Starship Troopers fits that bill.

John said...

Yeah, but it's a bit painful because Rico is such a fool about it. At least in the movie. Was it in the novel? I can't remember.

bob said...

No that is strictly a movie romance.

Divers and Sundry said...

I vote for Sheridan and Delenn. Glad to see it was suggested early. :)