Hurtling Over the Precipice

[ursula]

The Locus list of best science fiction and fantasy, with hostile commentary.


Bold if I've read them. Italics for other titles.

Science fiction:

Dune, Frank Herbert. glasseye loves this one far more than I ever could.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin. I really like Ursula Le Guin. Maybe it's the name . . .
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov. I've read one of the later ones at random. Does that count?
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein. I've read the short story but not the novel.
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller Jr
Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke. Sentimental, dated, pseudo-New Age drivel.
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card. Ah, if only he had stopped a few books thereafter . . .
Hyperion, Dan Simmons
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Startide Rising, David Brin. All the characters I can stand get abandoned at the end of the book; but his aliens are always good.
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin. Theoretical physics is almost like math . . .
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury. Read the beginning. Got depressed.
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein.
Downbelow Station, C.J. Cherryh. I really like C.J. Cherryh, but honestly I think this is one of her worse novels, and I'm confused by its relative status.
Ringworld, Larry Niven. Read it in fourth grade. Very educational.
2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke. I hate Arthur C. Clarke. He's a sexist, racist bastard who thinks he's all progressive.
The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. I haven't read this since I was a little kid. Would like to read it again.
The Mote in God's Eye, Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Way Station, Clifford D. Simak
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon
Dying Inside, Robert Silverberg
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke. It's been so long since I read this that I forgot about it the first time through. Probably saved the world a lot of righteous anger.
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
City, Clifford D. Simak
Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh. Some of us suspect we're azi . . .
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes. I've only read the short story.
Double Star, Robert A. Heinlein
Earth Abides, George R. Stewart
The Door Into Summer, Robert A. Heinlein
Last and First Men, Olaf Stapledon
Ubik, Philip K. Dick
Norstrilia, Cordwainer Smith
The Witches of Karres, James H. Schmitz
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Have Space Suit Will Travel, Robert A. Heinlein
Time Enough for Love, Robert A. Heinlein
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick. All I ever remember is the toad, though.
The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov
Riverworld series, Philip Jose Farmer

Fantasy novels:

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. Not in the last few years, though.
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien. More times than I can count.
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
"Earthsea" series, Ursula K. Le Guin
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. I have significant bits memorized.
Gormenghast series, Mervyn Peake
The Once and Future King, T.H. White. I've read Sword in the Stone, though.
Little, Big, John Crowley
Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Stephen R. Donaldson
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
The Belgariad, David Eddings. I've read the first two. Even in middle school I was unimpressed.
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers. The scene with the Romantic poet in the sewers who thinks the whole thing is an allegory is truly, truly brilliant.
The Dying Earth series, Jack Vance
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum. And masses of the sequels, too.
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley. I don't much care for Marion Zimmer Bradley, so I've avoided this one.
The Stand, Stephen King
Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Riddle-Master of Hed, Patricia A. McKillip
The Worm Ouroboros, E.R. Eddison. Tried to read this and got bored. That was in middle school, though.
Glory Road, Robert A. Heinlein
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock. I stopped partway through the series, though; it's interesting for a while, but eventually you realize that all they ever do is trudge grimly deeper into the woods.
"Alvin Maker" series, Orson Scott Card. Don't know whether I've read the most recent ones or not . . . Card doesn't know how to stop.
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
Witch World, Andre Norton
"The Fionavar Tapestry", Guy Gavriel Kay. This is what happens if one takes everything that seems like it might be a good idea and shoves it into the same trilogy. There shouldn't be a flying unicorn, or the character who only exists so he can have sex with the mother goddess and get killed, or the bitchy priestess who really just needed a man, or . . .
Deryni Rising, Katherine Kurtz
"Discworld" series, Terry Pratchett. I like Good Omens better, though.
Elric series, Michael Moorcock
Replay, Ken Grimwood
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
Fafhrd & Gray Mouser series, Fritz Leiber
The Incomplete Enchanter, Fletcher Pratt & L. Sprague de Camp

Comments

[ursula]

Thank you! The Fionavar icon is entertaining . . .