NPR's Top 100 SF/Fantasy Books - vote for SRD!
Moderator: I'm Murrin
- aliantha
- blueberries on steroids
- Posts: 17865
- Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 7:50 pm
- Location: NOT opening up a restaurant in Santa Fe
NPR's Top 100 SF/Fantasy Books - vote for SRD!
National Public Radio is hosting a contest to pick the top 100 sci-fi/fantasy books of all time. You can vote for 10 titles. (They've lumped most series together, which helps. ) The Chrons, the GAP Cycle, and Mordant's Need are all finalists. Our mission is clear.
Here's where to vote: www.npr.org/2011/08/02/138894873/vote-f ... asy-titles
Here's where to vote: www.npr.org/2011/08/02/138894873/vote-f ... asy-titles
EZ Board Survivor
"Dreaming isn't good for you unless you do the things it tells you to." -- Three Dog Night (via the GI)
https://www.hearth-myth.com/
- ussusimiel
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 5346
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
- Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland
- [Syl]
- Unfettered One
- Posts: 13020
- Joined: Sat Oct 26, 2002 12:36 am
- Has thanked: 1 time
- Been thanked: 1 time
Went for:
The Book of the New Sun
Cat's Cradle
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Hitchhiker's Guide
The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Neuromancer
The Prince of Nothing
The Road
Song for the Basilisk
Starship Troopers
I was happy to see Armor on the list, but decided the spot was better served by Troopers. I would've preferred The Book of Atrix Wolfe for McKillip, but Basilisk was still good. I wanted to vote for Pratchett, but Going Postal? Thief of Time would've been an easy choice, and Good Omens almost as good, but Postal was just a little too political for me. Left off Tolkien since I don't think it really needs my vote. Also surprised Haruki Murakami didn't make the list.
The Book of the New Sun
Cat's Cradle
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Hitchhiker's Guide
The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Neuromancer
The Prince of Nothing
The Road
Song for the Basilisk
Starship Troopers
I was happy to see Armor on the list, but decided the spot was better served by Troopers. I would've preferred The Book of Atrix Wolfe for McKillip, but Basilisk was still good. I wanted to vote for Pratchett, but Going Postal? Thief of Time would've been an easy choice, and Good Omens almost as good, but Postal was just a little too political for me. Left off Tolkien since I don't think it really needs my vote. Also surprised Haruki Murakami didn't make the list.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
-George Steiner
- I'm Murrin
- Are you?
- Posts: 15840
- Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
- Location: North East, UK
- Contact:
I voted yesterday; had a hard time picknig favourites, so decided to spread my votes around and cover a variety of types. Can't remember exactly what I voted, think it was:
- A Clockwork Orange
- House of Leaves
- Chronicles of Amber
- The Scar
- Frankenstein
- Gormenghast
- A Song of Ice and Fire
And I'm not sure about the rest. I dithered over Pratchett's Small Gods for a while but don't know if I voted. I may have gone for the Gap series in the end, but again, not sure.
To be honest I feel like I haven't read anywhere near enough of the list to make a real decision.
Edit: Wait, I just realised which forum this is in. /shakesfist
- A Clockwork Orange
- House of Leaves
- Chronicles of Amber
- The Scar
- Frankenstein
- Gormenghast
- A Song of Ice and Fire
And I'm not sure about the rest. I dithered over Pratchett's Small Gods for a while but don't know if I voted. I may have gone for the Gap series in the end, but again, not sure.
To be honest I feel like I haven't read anywhere near enough of the list to make a real decision.
Edit: Wait, I just realised which forum this is in. /shakesfist
Last edited by I'm Murrin on Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- ussusimiel
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 5346
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
- Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland
I voted these. Chose all the SRD ones as I wouldn't be voting at all if I wasn't on this site.
The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant
The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
The Gap Series
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Mordant's Need
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
The Uplift Saga by David Brin
Syl/Quote/Gunslinger,
This was also on the list:
Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End of The World, by Haruki Murakami
(I missed the Julian May saga which I would have voted for. It's a long list!)
Quite a few titles there that I wouldn't really classify as sci-fi or fantasy e.g. 'Brave New World', 'A Clockwork Orange', '1984'; more dystopias rather than sci-fi/fantasy, IMO.
u.
The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant
The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
The Gap Series
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Mordant's Need
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
The Uplift Saga by David Brin
Syl/Quote/Gunslinger,
This was also on the list:
Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End of The World, by Haruki Murakami
(I missed the Julian May saga which I would have voted for. It's a long list!)
Quite a few titles there that I wouldn't really classify as sci-fi or fantasy e.g. 'Brave New World', 'A Clockwork Orange', '1984'; more dystopias rather than sci-fi/fantasy, IMO.
u.
- Vraith
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 10621
- Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:03 pm
- Location: everywhere, all the time
Did my bit, even commented.
I ended up choosing by just counting how many times I've reread.
I ended up choosing by just counting how many times I've reread.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
- [Syl]
- Unfettered One
- Posts: 13020
- Joined: Sat Oct 26, 2002 12:36 am
- Has thanked: 1 time
- Been thanked: 1 time
Ahh, I missed that one. Wouldn't have voted for it anyway. Either Wild Sheep Chase or, of course, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. Heck, maybe even Kafka on the Shore.
Murrin, Frankenstein? Are we talking literary significance or personal enjoyment? I really need to read House of Leaves one of these days, though.
Add The Handmaid's Tale to that list.Quite a few titles there that I wouldn't really classify as sci-fi or fantasy e.g. 'Brave New World', 'A Clockwork Orange', '1984'; more dystopias rather than sci-fi/fantasy, IMO.
Murrin, Frankenstein? Are we talking literary significance or personal enjoyment? I really need to read House of Leaves one of these days, though.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
-George Steiner
- I'm Murrin
- Are you?
- Posts: 15840
- Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
- Location: North East, UK
- Contact:
- Damelon
- Lord
- Posts: 8550
- Joined: Fri Dec 13, 2002 10:40 pm
- Location: Illinois
- Has thanked: 2 times
- Been thanked: 4 times
Animal Farm
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Culture Series
The Hyperion Cantos
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Mordant's Need
Rendezvous With Rama
The Silmarillion
A Song of Ice and Fire Series
The Uplift Saga
Thought a bit on submitting The Kingkiller Chrioncles for The Uplift Saga and The Forever War with Rendezvous with Rama.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Culture Series
The Hyperion Cantos
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Mordant's Need
Rendezvous With Rama
The Silmarillion
A Song of Ice and Fire Series
The Uplift Saga
Thought a bit on submitting The Kingkiller Chrioncles for The Uplift Saga and The Forever War with Rendezvous with Rama.
- aliantha
- blueberries on steroids
- Posts: 17865
- Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 7:50 pm
- Location: NOT opening up a restaurant in Santa Fe
The app wouldn't load for me at work, so I had to wait to vote 'til tonight.
American Gods
The Chrons
The Eyre Affair
Fahrenheit 451
The Foundation Trilogy
The Handmaid's Tale
Malazan
Mordant's Need
Slaughterhouse-Five
Song for the Basilisk (which happens to be my favorite McKillip )
I had a number of also-rans:
1984
The City and the City/Perdido Street Station (I would've voted for only one)
Doomsday Book
The Farseer Trilogy
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Princess Bride
Sirens of Titan
Stranger in a Strange Land/Time Enough for Love (I would've voted for only one)
and the classics -- Tolkien, Orwell, H.G. Wells, etc.
American Gods
The Chrons
The Eyre Affair
Fahrenheit 451
The Foundation Trilogy
The Handmaid's Tale
Malazan
Mordant's Need
Slaughterhouse-Five
Song for the Basilisk (which happens to be my favorite McKillip )
I had a number of also-rans:
1984
The City and the City/Perdido Street Station (I would've voted for only one)
Doomsday Book
The Farseer Trilogy
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Princess Bride
Sirens of Titan
Stranger in a Strange Land/Time Enough for Love (I would've voted for only one)
and the classics -- Tolkien, Orwell, H.G. Wells, etc.
EZ Board Survivor
"Dreaming isn't good for you unless you do the things it tells you to." -- Three Dog Night (via the GI)
https://www.hearth-myth.com/
- danlo
- Lord
- Posts: 20838
- Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 8:29 pm
- Location: Albuquerque NM
- Been thanked: 1 time
- Contact:
Gods, I can't remember now (jet lag)
All the SRD series
Uplift
Hyperion
Snow Crash
Culture
The Stars, My Destination
A Song of Ice and fire
The Difference Engine (Gibson & Sterling)
...and, of course, I complained that Zindell and Walter Jon Williams weren't on the list... Too hard to choose, too many good choices...
All the SRD series
Uplift
Hyperion
Snow Crash
Culture
The Stars, My Destination
A Song of Ice and fire
The Difference Engine (Gibson & Sterling)
...and, of course, I complained that Zindell and Walter Jon Williams weren't on the list... Too hard to choose, too many good choices...
fall far and well Pilots!
- aliantha
- blueberries on steroids
- Posts: 17865
- Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 7:50 pm
- Location: NOT opening up a restaurant in Santa Fe
Yeah. "Whaddya mean, I can only vote for 10??"
EZ Board Survivor
"Dreaming isn't good for you unless you do the things it tells you to." -- Three Dog Night (via the GI)
https://www.hearth-myth.com/
- aliantha
- blueberries on steroids
- Posts: 17865
- Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 7:50 pm
- Location: NOT opening up a restaurant in Santa Fe
Some of the robot books were on the list as well, but not as a series.Damelon wrote:Had I noticed it, I probably would have found a place for that one.aliantha wrote: The Foundation Trilogy
I found myself voting for authors as opposed to individual books ("hmm, which Vonnegut should I vote for?").
I left out a bunch of the classics because I figure they'll get enough votes without my help....
EZ Board Survivor
"Dreaming isn't good for you unless you do the things it tells you to." -- Three Dog Night (via the GI)
https://www.hearth-myth.com/
- Vraith
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 10621
- Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:03 pm
- Location: everywhere, all the time
Some people are never satisfied. I was reading the comments section over there and got annoyed, so posted the following:
[ok...sometimes I exaggerate...maybe they do belong in the top million].
I wonder if NPR will delete it, or simply let me be abused? I hope the latter. [heh..."That's okay man, cuz I like the abuse!"]I have great news for some of you. "Dark Materials," "Harry Potter," and "Wrinkle in Time" are fighting it out for numbers 1,2, and 3 in the "Evil Goatee Parallel Universe" seen in Star Trek. Which is as it should be. No good universe would put them in the top million.
[ok...sometimes I exaggerate...maybe they do belong in the top million].
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
- Orlion
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 6666
- Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:30 am
- Location: Getting there...
- Been thanked: 1 time
I just recommended that comment I'm glad Harry Potter wasn't on the list... for obvious "popularity contest" reasons... A Wrinkle in Time is a little odd being absent, but "His Dark Materials" was just terrible. Pullman may think he's some sort of Blake/Milton scholar turning things on its head, but he's mostly an idiot.Vraith wrote:Some people are never satisfied. I was reading the comments section over there and got annoyed, so posted the following:
I wonder if NPR will delete it, or simply let me be abused? I hope the latter. [heh..."That's okay man, cuz I like the abuse!"]I have great news for some of you. "Dark Materials," "Harry Potter," and "Wrinkle in Time" are fighting it out for numbers 1,2, and 3 in the "Evil Goatee Parallel Universe" seen in Star Trek. Which is as it should be. No good universe would put them in the top million.
[ok...sometimes I exaggerate...maybe they do belong in the top million].
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
- Vraith
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 10621
- Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:03 pm
- Location: everywhere, all the time
God, I am starting to like you a lot, O. The Milton comment matches perfectly, cuz I just realized when you said it that Pullman's writing reminds me almost exactly of a guy from grad school who quoted spark notes in a class on Milton [without attribution even...he pretended it was his own]Orlion wrote:"His Dark Materials" was just terrible. Pullman may think he's some sort of Blake/Milton scholar turning things on its head, but he's mostly an idiot.
Wait....did I already like you a lot? did you once quote one of my lines in your sig, and inspire me to write the "Sig-man" song? [which even Cail liked...and that carries serious weight around the watch].
The comments about how stupid npr was for the choices on the list annoyed me even more...cuz they selected by votes...but I couldn't think of anything brief yet funny yet insulting enough to post.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
- Orlion
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 6666
- Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:30 am
- Location: Getting there...
- Been thanked: 1 time
Everybody likes me a lotVraith wrote:God, I am starting to like you a lot, O. The Milton comment matches perfectly, cuz I just realized when you said it that Pullman's writing reminds me almost exactly of a guy from grad school who quoted spark notes in a class on Milton [without attribution even...he pretended it was his own]Orlion wrote:"His Dark Materials" was just terrible. Pullman may think he's some sort of Blake/Milton scholar turning things on its head, but he's mostly an idiot.
Wait....did I already like you a lot? did you once quote one of my lines in your sig, and inspire me to write the "Sig-man" song? [which even Cail liked...and that carries serious weight around the watch].
The comments about how stupid npr was for the choices on the list annoyed me even more...cuz they selected by votes...but I couldn't think of anything brief yet funny yet insulting enough to post.
Yeah, Pullman reminds me more of that douche in high school that tries to make everyone be amazed at how deep and artful his prose is and will crow at the very little that he accomplishes.
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley