5 Sci-Fi Novels That Deserve Film Adaptations (& 5 That Deserve Better)

1. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

And now we come to the MVP! The grandmother of them all! The one, the only Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. We have this novel to thank for so much, the least of them being that we most likely wouldn't even have science fiction in its current form if it weren't for Shelley penning this masterpiece when she was eighteen. Yes, you read that right, eight-goddamn-teen, feel free to be equal parts furious and impressed at that.

There have been so many adaptations of Frankenstein over the years that it's tough to keep count, but somehow the best one so far has been Young Frankenstein - that ain't a slight against Mel Brooks, okay? It's just...something really needs to be done about this.

Everything about Frankenstein is utter perfection. The prose is sparse and beautiful, the framing device works gorgeously and the entire story is gripping from start to finish. It's a wonderful analysis of the possibility that technology - the monster that is - may one day take over and deem us nothing but a monstrous creator who has no right to exist - this was a good century and a bit before the concept of the singularity would come about, by the way.

Beyond the industrial elements, the novel is also a stunning meditation on what makes us human, and, more importantly, what makes many of us monsters. There is no more moving a passage in all of literature than The Monster/Adam's isolation, rapid evolution and realisation that he shall never belong.

And, yes! I am crying! Is it not human to weep?!