NPR contest for best SF/Fantasy

[Reposado]

What a weird list of choices, with some individual books and other series. When I saw Going Postal, I was shocked. How many Pratchett would be included.

I went pretty loose and fast, clicking what I liked and then going back to delete something once I reached the limit.

In no particular order.

ASOIAF

Prince of Nothing

Otherland

Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Vlad Taltos Series

Small Gods

Black Company Series

Amber

Lies of Locke Lamora

Enders Game

[Selmy]

Which version did he give you? The original publication, or the UnCut Edition (with something like 60K words put back in)?

And the sex scenes in aSiaSL are nothing compared to the sex scenes in some of Heinlein's later stuff (Time Enough for Love, To Sail Beyond the Sunset to name a couple--great reading for a horny teenager!!! Gods I miss those days LOL).

Time Enough for Love has a sex scene between a guy and the two clones (sex changed clones at that) of himself that had been made. Begs the question, is that incest or masturbation?

And in To Sail Beyond the Sunset, that same character time travels to the past and does the nasty with his mom! EEEW EEEW EEEW!! Heinlein, you were a dirty old perverted man! Love ya!!

It must have been the full edition. I remember getting the book and thinking it was pretty big.

Yeah Heinlein was a gloriously dirty old man. I remember reading I Will Fear No Evil and thinking. "Huh, in the future women will have perfect bodies and wear body paint instead of clothes...doesn't sound so bad."

[CryHavoc]

Can't remember precisely, but I included ASoIaF, The Silmarillion, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, The Left Hand of Darkness, 1984, and A Handmaid's Tale (in part because I really like it and in part to say "haha! It is sci-fi/fantasy, therefore it must contain talking space squids, but that's a thread for another day). Actually can't remember what else I voted for...Thomas Covenant, I think, and then...? Dunno.

[nickg]

What a weird list of choices, with some individual books and other series. When I saw Going Postal, I was shocked. How many Pratchett would be included.

I went pretty loose and fast, clicking what I liked and then going back to delete something once I reached the limit.

In no particular order.

ASOIAF

Prince of Nothing

Otherland

Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Vlad Taltos Series

Small Gods

Black Company Series

Amber

Lies of Locke Lamora

Enders Game

I don't know of too many other people who would put Otherland in their top 10, but its borderline for me, I thought that series was freaking awesome.

Vlad Taltos is another series that doesn't get as much praise as it should.

[Reposado]

I don't know of too many other people who would put Otherland in their top 10, but its borderline for me, I thought that series was freaking awesome.

Vlad Taltos is another series that doesn't get as much praise as it should.

Yeahh, loved Otherland. Especially, all the aboriginal myths and dreamtime stuff. Dread is one of my favorite villains.

And Taltos I think, I might have put second if I had ordered them. Would have voted for the Phoenix Guards too if it was an option.

[Lannes]

Glad you said that, I too voted for Flowers for Algernon. Forgot that.

You enjoyed Something Wicked? I just read it late last month, and was shockingly disappointed. Felt the same theme had been done better. I hated myself for it, because, I mean, its Bradbury!

Something Wicked has a special place in my heart. I first read it years ago when I was 16 and as I've gotten older and am now a Dad, I find that I am beginning to identify more with the Old Man and less with Will and Jim...lol.

At any rate, I usually reread it every October.

[MaesterLuwin]

Weird list, and occasionally hard to decide. I love Pynchon and Murakami, but I wouldn't think to list them as SFF authors. Their books have SFF elements, certainly, but their literary aims are so different that I couldn't really compare them to Jordan or Martin. I voted for them anyway, in hopes of encouraging others to read them. :)

Has there ever been a poll for Most Overrated SFF Books? I always feel that Snow Crash, American Gods and Starship Troopers end up too high on these "best-of" lists...

[nickg]

Weird list, and occasionally hard to decide. I love Pynchon and Murakami, but I wouldn't think to list them as SFF authors. Their books have SFF elements, certainly, but their literary aims are so different that I couldn't really compare them to Jordan or Martin. I voted for them anyway, in hopes of encouraging others to read them. :)

Has there ever been a poll for Most Overrated SFF Books? I always feel that Snow Crash, American Gods and Starship Troopers end up too high on these "best-of" lists...

Starship Troopers might not be my favorite Heinlein, but I can't argue against its inclusion. There are several books I would place ahead of it personally though.

Snow Crash should be there though.

[Jora]

I would've wanted to vote for Earthsea but didn't seem to find it on the list??! :o wtf

[SkynJay]

Has there ever been a poll for Most Overrated SFF Books? I always feel that Snow Crash, American Gods and Starship Troopers end up too high on these "best-of" lists...

Not that I have seen, but i could imagine the flame war if a thread were started. For instance, I feel American Gods is one of the best stand alone fantasy novels ever(or to clarify, that I have ever read, which is all any of us can go by). I loved before i realized it was hyped to hell(found Pratchett, read Good Omens, moved on to American Gods). So I would never think it was overrated, unless people called it the best novel ever, which i haven't seen.

Never read Snow Crash, and enjoy Starship Troopers, but may agree if it was highly rated at the end of polling.

I however, am horrified at how quickly The Magicians is showing up not only on peoples list, but high on them. So there is my vote for most overrated.

[polishgenius]

The most bizarre name on the list has to be NK Jemisin. I mean, I quite enjoyed her first book and will read the rest when I've got a bit of spare dough and time, but a top 100 list? Even setting aside my personal thoughts, I didn't think it'd made that big a splash either way to be in this sort of discussion.

[nickg]

Not that I have seen, but i could imagine the flame war if a thread were started. For instance, I feel American Gods is one of the best stand alone fantasy novels ever(or to clarify, that I have ever read, which is all any of us can go by). I loved before i realized it was hyped to hell(found Pratchett, read Good Omens, moved on to American Gods). So I would never think it was overrated, unless people called it the best novel ever, which i haven't seen.

Never read Snow Crash, and enjoy Starship Troopers, but may agree if it was highly rated at the end of polling.

I however, am horrified at how quickly The Magicians is showing up not only on peoples list, but high on them. So there is my vote for most overrated.

I didn't even notice The Magicians on that list, but I can easily think of several dozen books that should be there over it ( maybe more than that ) The Magicians was decent, no way it should be listed, so I completely agree.

[Tears of Lys]

No Long Price Quartet? No Earthsea? The contest fails.

(Voted in it anyway, for all the usual suspects.)

[haLobEnder]

I voted a day or two before this topic was posted, so I didn't exactly keep track. As I recall however I voted for ASoIaF, American Gods, Neverwhere, Cat's Cradle, Tigana and The City and The City. Might have been one or two others I voted for as well, but I was being very conservative with my clicks.

Going down the list just made me feel naive and entirely uncultured. Like I knew something like Neverwhere --my favourite Gaiman book-- wouldn't hold water against the likes of Childhood's End in most peoples opinions, but at the same time I like what I like and have little interest --at least at this point in my life-- in going back and reading some of the classics of sci-fi/fantasy. Heck, I haven't even read Lord of the Rings yet.

[SkynJay]

I didn't even notice The Magicians on that list, but I can easily think of several dozen books that should be there over it ( maybe more than that ) The Magicians was decent, no way it should be listed, so I completely agree.

No idea if it made this list, but I have been seeing it on other peoples list on several sites.

No Long Price Quartet? No Earthsea? The contest fails.

(Voted in it anyway, for all the usual suspects.)

I too noticed the lack of Long Price. And I will beat the horse again about the lack of Diskworld as a whole.

[haLobEnder]

I too noticed the lack of Long Price. And I will beat the horse again about the lack of Diskworld as a whole.

I might have missed it but I don't think Good Omens was on the list either. That would have been my personal Pratchett selection.

[tybeechris]

I'm the OP. From the replies, sure wish I had seen the NPR site at the time they were asking for recommendations and then posted it here. Seems the final choices would have been different. No "His Dark Materials?" Will be interesting to see final results.

[Jaxom 1974]

:lol: First time I ever got called mean on the Boards...

Just because you like something I like doesn't mean that you have good taste or that your opinion is somehow more valid. On this forum especially, people are going to mock you for your shitty taste in books. If you don't want to be mocked for it, stop having shitty taste in books. That doesn't mean you're a horrible person or that you're stupid. I have a weakness for Star Wars novels, for instance - and I know they're badly written and plotted. I enjoy them and have fun with them. But I wouldn't claim that they're high literature or on par with Asimov or Brin or Mieville.

Agree with everything here, but I have to claim Star Trek books instead of Star Wars... :P

No dragonlance, contest sucks.

:lol:

The only Martin work that would deserve a place on the list is Dying of the light, but i couldn't find it.

Really? ASOIAF certain,y belongs on a list lile this because...

Weird list, and occasionally hard to decide. I love Pynchon and Murakami, but I wouldn't think to list them as SFF authors. Their books have SFF elements, certainly, but their literary aims are so different that I couldn't really compare them to Jordan or Martin. I voted for them anyway, in hopes of encouraging others to read them. :)

Has there ever been a poll for Most Overrated SFF Books? I always feel that Snow Crash, American Gods and Starship Troopers end up too high on these "best-of" lists...

...reading the criteria of the list, the fact ghat fans picked whst went on the list makes it a popularity contest and ,in the end, has little to do with "best"...but that's my opinion...

[Grack21]

I JUST finished An Autumn War, so the lack of Abraham seems heretical to me.

[RedEyedGhost]

Earth Abides

Flowers for Algernon

I am Legend

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Lord of Light

The Prestige

The Prince of Nothing

Sandman

Something Wicked This Way Comes

A Song of Ice and Fire

You enjoyed Something Wicked? I just read it late last month, and was shockingly disappointed. Felt the same theme had been done better. I hated myself for it, because, I mean, its Bradbury!

And likely only done because of this book :ohwell:

I absolutely loved this book when I read it for the first time last year (one of three of my picks that I read last year, along with Earth Abides and Flowers for Algernon); the prose was evocative, the story was charming, and it didn't feel dated in the slightest. Overall a magnificent book.

I JUST finished An Autumn War, so the lack of Abraham seems heretical to me.

That's pretty much how I felt when I read it three years ago. I literally felt that this series should be on top ten list until there were ten new things better than it, and the last book wasn't even out yet! It's a damn shame that it doesn't have enough of a following to qualify for this popularity contest.