In addition to Neuromancer, which is a masterpiece of prose, I would add:

Everyone should read every word he ever wrote.
(These are some of my personal faves.)

He's a piece of trash, no doubt, but I'll go with my first impulse on this one and say Case from Neuromancer. Anyone more heroic, and the book might not have worked at all. When a character so jaded and generally screwed up finally gets horrified/pushed into action by something, it has a strong effect on the story.

His behavior has literally killed him a dozen times, he's a fugitive, he has either pushed all of his friends away or indirectly killed them, and he banished his entire species to another dimension. Oh, and he's committed genocide on multiple occasions.

No contest.

On the one hand: she's kind of right that genre categories are reductive and meaningless shorthand that people use to compartmentalize stories often based on the most superficial elements of a story. On the other hand: WELCOME TO THE GENRE GHETTO, SUCKER!! Enjoy your stay. :P

The implication that science fiction fans won't enjoy a work because it's too literary betrays a serious ignorance of the state of the field for the last thirty five years or more.

Gonna post this every chance you give me, Charlie Jane.

Big Trouble in Little China

I think The Usual Suspects is the gold standard for Plot Twists. It's set up nicely and it completely changes how the movie is viewed.

Kilgore Trout...with over 117 novels and 2000 short stories, there's no subject he isn't able to tackle. Though, you may have a little trouble finding his work unless you're comfortable with seeking out the nearest adult bookstore...I'd highly recommend him, however.

Anyone who has not read this book needs to stop right now, go to the library, and get this book. This book is amazing. The lengths Edmond Dantes goes to, to utterly destroy the people who ruined his life and took everything from him is amazing. No revenge story has ever been this good.

There can be...ONLY one (answer)

The best: A Clockwork Orange. Precisely because it doesn't tell you anything about where or when you are. You're left to squirm uncomfortably, wondering if this is "the future" or the present. In a film about cruelty, the opening of the film is cruelty itself.

"After I killed them, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions. Shortly thereafter the instructions came through. 'Get the fuck out of London, youse dumb fucks. Get to Bruges.'I didn't even know where Bruges fucking was.

This one earns both my favorite and least favorite at the same time. Least favorite because the movie is so much better without it, but favorite because Keifer's delivery is distinctive and tasty, letting you know how unusual the movie will be.

John Constantine tricked the devil twice. He knows magic, but usually wins by being a clever, magnificent bastard.

The Mad Max trailer was awesome. Was that a comic con release?

I would pay good money for 90 minutes of Charles Dance and Peter Dinklage fucking up their lines.