Fanatical Pupil

Here’s an annotated version of the list of the Top 100 SFF Books as voted by NPR listeners. Bold for the ones I’ve read, and because I’m a bit concerned about how pathetic that’s going to look, I’m going to put Italics for ones that I actually have a copy of on my shelf, just waiting to be read. There’s a summary at the bottom for anyone who wants some analysis and introspection.

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin (I’ve only read the first one, but at 900 pages, that’s no small accomplishment)
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov (started reading it and just couldn’t get into it…)
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

Summary
I’ve read 13. Though #1 is a Trilogy, and #23 The Dark Tower Series is actually 7 books, so I could say I’ve ready 22 of the Top 110, which gives me slightly better percentage (20% vs 13%). Of course, if you do that, then you probably have to expand A Song of Ice and Fire and all the other Trilogies or Serieses (Wheel of Time is at least 10 books) and then my percentage would probably end up lower than the original 13%. So, I guess I’ll just have to increase my number the hard way: actually reading.

Have copies ready to be read: 13. I’ve managed to up my monthly word intake to (a very roughly estimated) 100,000 words. So, if I say that each of the 13 books is about 150,000 words, then I’ll be through those 13 in a little over a year and a half. Not bad considering it took me 30 years to get through the first 13.

Yes, by now, we should all realize that Science Fiction is being viciously and excessively co-opted by the Mainstream. But, when things like Wolverine and Transformers are Action, what does that leave for Science Fiction?*

In her article on the Internet Review of Science Fiction, Kristine Kathryn Rusch says:

“I think science fiction as a genre will be dead in just a few years.”

I think a few years is a little too “shock and awe” to be realistic. But the rest of the arguments she makes in the article are valid.

Then there’s Paul over at Barnes & Noble’s Unabashedly Bookish who quotes Orson Scott Card saying that science fiction is “no longer a cutting-edge genre – the edge is now in fantasy.”

And while that’s certainly plausible, it could also be that the genre-melding of SF and Fantasy that Paul claims is happening, is, well, actually happening. Or, if not a genre-melding, then at least a large blurring of the line between the two:

I believe some of the very best – and most innovative – science fiction will actually be categorized as epic fantasy. Take Ken Scholes’ Psalms of Isaak saga, for example. It’s actually post-apocalyptic science fiction cloaked in grand-scale fantasy. Last year, reading the first installment in the series, Lamentation, was an almost surreal experience. I knew almost immediately that I had stumbled across a novel that was not only surely destined to be a classic but also the beginning of a series that could very well redefine both science fiction and fantasy.

I mean, was there not a time when quote-unquote Paranormal Fantasy was actually Horror because it had vampires in it?

And then there’s the never-ending question of where Star Wars fits in. Since it takes place “a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, then isn’t its setting better compared to a fantasy world (like Game of Thrones as an easy example)? I actually believe it should be, because they’re basically battling it out with laser-broadswords, and flying around on X-wings instead of dragons using robots instead of faeries. But since “literary SF” (as opposed to “TV/Movie SF”) had been growing for so long when Star Wars broke out, it’s literary scholars headed further and further into the Hard SF category, where everything has to be explained (or else derided). Did George Lucas have to explain how “Light Speed”, or “Light Sabers”, or “Light Side” worked within the limits of traditional physics? Certainly not.

And here again I use Kristine Kathryn Rusch so as to not have to rebuild arguments already made:

I read fiction for entertainment, relaxation, and enjoyment. If I want to work, I read the history, literary essays, biography, science, and legal books that grace my shelves.

Last week, for the first time in more than a decade, I saw an sf novel on the bookstore shelves that made my barbarian self reach for the book with joy. The cover had a picture of a derelict space ship. The back cover blurb talked about far futures and finding artifacts in outer space. The cover quote said, “In the old tradition of Astounding.” … the novel promises the very things that Star Wars gives: An escape, a journey into a new yet familiar world, entertainment. A good read.

The things you still find in fantasy fiction. The things that sf jettisoned in the erroneous cold equations practiced by the New Wave.

Thank you.

And again:

“Good” sf can retire to the specialty press where the Science Fiction Village can read and discuss it. It’s time to return to the gosh-wow, sense-of-wonder stories that sf abandoned when it added literary values to its mix, the kind of stories that Star Wars, and by extension, Star Trek, Stargate, and all those other media properties have had all along.

I’m happy that some people are acknowledging the need for some sort of alteration to the Science Fiction genre as it stands. I’m busy (at least, I try to be) writing a space opera, an advanced-tech-future action serial, a post-apocalyptic quest, a surreal futuristic adventure, and story which is essentially characters representing science fiction and fantasy battling it out on a global scale. I plan to give no explanation about the technology in any of those other that what is necessary in a Star Wars sense.

When Science Fiction becomes Mainstream, you have to give people what they want. It’s not selling out if you are still writing what you want to write. It’s just a happy coincidence (and happens to be a good business practice).

* Honestly, I’d rather have things I write classified as Action as opposed to Science Fiction because then you can get all those Mainstream people who don’t realize that they like Science Fiction to check it out, where they might not be apt to have a look if they see that it’s marketed as Science Fiction. Yes, Science Fiction may be Mainstream, but call it Science Fiction, and a lot of people will still think it’s for dorks who live in their mom’s basements and play D&D. (Kind of like bloggers, that way)