Kevin's Watch

Ever since the creation of my weblog, the question that people have asked me the most has remained the same. They wish to know which stand-alone novels I could recommend. Series are wonderful but time-consuming, and the wait between volumes is often interminable.

Unfortunately, I never really know what to answer to that question, since I don't know of that many stand-alone novels that are of excellent quality. As you can see from my personal Top 5 (see the blog), other than Guy Gavriel Kay's work, well I'm not too familiar with stand-alone works that deserve much acclaim.

Hopefully this poll can answer that recurrent question. And introduce me to books that are well worth my time! And yours!;) And with the well-read bunch that can be found in these parts, I'm willing to bet that we should come up with a few interesting choices!

By the way, since few people actually followed the guidelines of the last poll (best fantasy artists and book covers), I'm sorry to say that I could not come up with any sort of list. But two names kept returning, over and over again.

Which made the selection of the favourite fantasy artists quite easy. And they are:

Michael Whelan and Jon Howe.

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Best stand-alone sci-fi? One of my favorites is Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. An older book, but well worth the hunt.

Well...let me just get Neverness out of the way quickly (right Edge?) then I'll say Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams and The Heart of the Comet by David Brin and Gregory Benford. Or, if you want read two little books that will blow your mind: The Inverted World by Christopher Priest or Whipping Star by Frank Herbert.

Honestly? I think I might go with The Postman by David Brin.

I like series myself, (except for the wait), since I hate having a book end.

I think that you probably have to go back a bit for the stand-alones, as todays books seem to be based on the theory that people want series.

Whipping Star, as Danlo mentioned, is awesome.

A lot of Heinlein novels, (No 1 has to be Stranger in a Strange Land) are stand-alones, in fact, although several are interconnected in terms of universes/timelines, most of those still count as stand-alones too. Job and Friday are two great ones that are stand-alones.

Dhalgren by Delaney is another. And I'll stop there rather than try and think of more.

--A

A few worth mentioning:

Course of Heart - M. John Harrison
The Anubis gates - Tim Powers
The Silmarillion - JRR Tolkien
Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Leguin
The Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Rats and Gargoyels - Mary Gentle
The Land of Laughs - Jonathan Carroll
Might Life of Gods - Thorn Smith
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Gloriana - Micahel Moorcock
Fevre Dream - George R.R. Martin
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Perdido Street Station - China Mieville
The Scar - China Mieville
The Last Coin - James P. Blaylock
Fairyland - Paul J. Mccauley
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Paper Grail - James P. Blaylock
The King of Elfland's Daughter - Lord Dunsany
Little, Big - John Crowley
Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling
The Last Call - Tim Powers
The Child Garden : A Low Comedy - Geoff Ryman
Tiger! Tiger! by Alfred Bester
Nazareth Hill - Ramsey Campbell
Iron Dragon's Daughter - Michael Swanwick
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
The Fourth Circle - Zoran Zivkovic
The Dispossed - Ursula K. Leguin
The Once and Future King - TS White
The Island of Doctor Moreau - HG Wells
Farenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Life During Wartime - Lucious Shephred
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick
Pattern Recognition - William Gibson
Facts of Life - Graham Joyce
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert -Heinlen
The Troika - Stepan Chapman
Bold as Love- Gwyneth Jones
The Diamond Age -Neal Stephenson
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll


There are obviously tons, and tons more but those come to mind

Haven't read many yet, but the best of those I've read are:

"Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville
"The Scar" by China Mieville
"Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell", by Susanna Clarke

Okay, I'll definitely second A Canticle for Leibowitz and Farenheit 451. There is also Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, but that may or may not be sci-fi, depending on who you ask.

A Scanner Darkly-P.K.Dick

More Than Human -Theodore Sturgeon
Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Stranger In A Strange Land - Robert Heinlein

Nineteen Eighty Four

Anything by Charles de Lint. Good, solid, intelligent fantasy, and some of the books are set in the modern day.

While I have no proof of it, I wouldn't be surprised if the publishers encourage series rather than stand alone novels. Hooks in the readers, makes them pay for multiple books rather than just one or perhaps two.

Day of the Triffids. Kind of sci-fi... Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell is good, especially if taken alone without reading any of his other books I seem to mostly read series...

Contact- Carl Sagan

any of michael chrichton's stuff - but especially the andromeda strain, sphere and timeline

Sounds of Distant earth, or something to that effect - Arthur C Clarke

Hi everyone!

Thanks for all your recommendations! Instead of doing a Top 5, I'm starting to believe that to come up with a list of all the more popular nominations would be better. That way, more people could find out about a vast number of stand-alone reads that are worth their while.

Insofar, I have a list of 34 books which have gathered a few votes each. I'll try to post it later this evening, so check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

The results are in! Let me know what you think!

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Dune, Frank Herbert
Sphere, Michael Crichton
City, Clifford Simak
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Battlefield Earth
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Ender's Game, Orson Card
Speaker for the Dead, Orson Card
A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
Startide Rising, David Brin
Vaacum Diagrams, Stephen Baxter

Is Vacuum Diagrams a novel? I understand it's a collection of short stories.

Ummm...City and Foundation are kind of the same...collections of short stories progressing through a timeline with a narrative that builds on the previous or is within the same universe.

'Ummmm' . . . I hate it when people do that.