This seems to be a day for short posts. A couple weeks ago, Chris DeVito mentioned that NPR was collecting nominations for the top 100 SF/Fantasy books. They've tabulated the results and now they've opened the list of top 100 books for voting. The link to the voting is here.
The nominations are pretty much in line with what I'd expect, with all the classics of the genre represented. I didn't see any conspicuous omissions, but I was surprised by how many newer books were on there, though that just might be me becoming curmudgeonly and out of touch with the community as I get older. Zelazny has two nominations, one for Lord of Light and another for the Amber series as a whole. I don't imagine that he'll do well, simply because he's been gone for so long and there aren't that many active communities to get out the vote. Ah, well. As Glorian of Knowledge said when he was up for the Joseph Campbell Award for Best Semi-Actual Persona, "It's an honor just to be nominated."
Here's my top ten list:
ReplyDelete1. Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
2. Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny
3. The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester
4. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
5. The Female Man, by Joanna Russ
6. Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak
7. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
8. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
9. Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner
10. Norstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith
--Chris DeVito
I couldn't find any books I liked so I just made a write in vote, and voted for each of the Merlin books twice.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though...
ReplyDelete1. Bridge Of Birds, by Barry Hughart
2. The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
3. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser Series, by Fritz Leiber
6. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
7. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
8. Lord Of Light, by Roger Zelazny
9. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
10. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Runners-up for me were Cat's Cradle , by Kurt Vonnegut, American Gods, by Neil Gaiman,
The Black Company Series, by Glen Cook and The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman.
I'm mildly horrified to see that Piers Anthony had as many nominations as Zelazny. I'm surprised that Bridge of Birds made it on this list. It's one of my very favorites, but it's not widely known.