Classic Fantasy and SF Ideas, Part Two

...and that idea is a list of the books that first laid out the Big Ideas in SF. The ones you should really know if you're going to play in the sandbox. If you want to write post-nuclear dystopias, you should know A Canticle for Leibowitz. If you want to write about STL interstellar travel and you haven't read Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky, you're doing yourself no favors. In other words, these are the stories an F/SF writer should know so that he/she can avoid reinventing the wheel.

I'll be giving each idea its own post. But if you want to see the list in its entirety, you can take a look at my original thread on the AbsoluteWrite.com writers forum. (And a shout-out to the AWers who contributed suggestions, especially IdiotsRUs, Polenth, TMA-1, Dawnstorm, Lyra Jean, Fenika, Marguerite Ming, MommyJo2, Hallen, Rachel Udin, PEBKAC, and of course Pthom, the super mod.)

First up: Alien Invasion! No one is safe...