The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread **PLEASE READ FIRST POST**

[Culhwch]

Well. I'm not sure how this will go. But nothing ventured...

Introducing the Chronicles Network Hall of Fame!

The idea being to compile a somewhat official list of Chronicles member's favourite books. Okay, here's the deal. Go away and think very carefully about your ten - yes, ten - favourite books in the realm of speculative fiction. Then rank them from first to last. I know this will be hard. Be strong. Once you've settled on your list, come back here and post them in order, 1-10. Once enough votes have been posted, I will start to compile a master list for the Hall of Fame in a seperate thread. As new members vote, or old members finalise their lists, I'll update that thread.

Some ground rules:

Be sure! One vote is all you get, for the time being. I might open the door to revisions after a suitable time, but probably not for awhile.

I considered allowing series to be voted for as a whole, but I figure - ten slots, surely that's more than enough to vote for component books. So books only, at this stage. I will compile a list of favourite series' from the total of individual votes for books in a series. If you do nominate a series, I will take your vote as meaning the first book in that series. For example, if you vote for 'A Song of Ice and Fire', I will give the points to A Game of Thrones.

Well, that's about it. Any questions or suggestions, feel free to ask or put forth. Still very much in liquid state at this point....

 

[GOLLUM]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Nothing ventured....

OK here's a current list of mainly Fantasy favs as it's the area I'm more specialised at:

1. Steven Erikson - Memories Of Ice
2. Gene Wolfe - Book Of The New Sun (omnibus edn), sorry too hard to split.
3. M. John Harrison - Viriconum Nights
4. R Scott Bakker - The Thousandfold Thought
5. China Mieville - Perdido Street Station
6. Jeff Vandermeer - Veniss Underground
7. Italo Calvino - Invisible Cities
8. Mervyn Peake - Titus Groan
9. Stephen Donaldson - Lord Foul's Bane
10. Lord Dunsany - King Of Elfland's Daughter

It's almost unfair to request a list such as this as I've left several personal favs out, but a reasonable representation of my likes nevertheless.

Would it be possible to split it into favs of Fantasy, SF and Horror, each with a maximum no greater than 10???

 

[Culhwch]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Would it be possible to split it into favs of Fantasy, SF and Horror, each with a maximum no greater than 10???

Well, now you're just being difficult... Seriously, though, the idea was to have votes all in one list, and then seperate it out into the various genres. Otherwise it might become too unwieldy. Plus I figure I'll have trouble getting to ten in all genres.... But if enough people want seperate lists, I will bow to popular demand.

 

[GOLLUM]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Point taken. I could fill a top 10 for Horror and Fantasy but would struggle with SF. The only series I didn't tease out as per your suggestion was Wolfe's Book Of The New Sun, but if needs be I may cut it down to 1 of the 4 books over time...

Cheers and Great Idea BTW....

 

[Brys]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

1. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
2. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
3. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
4. The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6. The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
7. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick
8. Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
9. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
10. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Very, very difficult to do, but that list looks just about ok to me. There are at least 30 more I would consider for it, but this list is relatively representative.

 

[iansales]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Not an easy task. And the list might well be different if you asked me a year from today. Some of the books in my ten favourites, I reread regularly; others I need to reread soon, just to see if they still belong on the list...

1 - Coelestis, Paul Park
2 - Dhalgren, Samuel R Delany
3 - Aegypt, John Crowley
4 - Take Back Plenty, Colin Greenland
5 - Undercover Aliens, AE van Vogt
6 - The Ophiuchi Hotline, John Varley
7 - Stations of the Tide, Michael Swanwick
8 - Dune, Frank Herbert
9 - Where Time Winds Blow, Robert Holdstock
10 - Kairos, Gwyneth Jones

 

[Mouse]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Hmm, ok.
1. A Storm of Swords part 2 Blood and Gold. George RR Martin
2. Assassin's Quest. Robin Hobb
3. Fool's Fate. Robin Hobb
4. The Golem's Eye. Jonathan Stroud
5. Abhorsen. Garth Nix
6. The Mad Ship. Robin Hobb
7. Northern Lights. Phillip Pullman
8. A Cavern of Black Ice. JV Jones
9. A Game of Thrones. George RR Martin
10. The Amber Spyglass. Phillip Pullman

 

[j d worthington]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Before I go jumping in with my ten, I have a question: are collections of short stories allowed? I feel that some of the best books in speculative fiction (in all its permutations) would be these. So... do they come under this heading, or no?

 

[Culhwch]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

I don't see why not, J. D. I did say books, not novels, so I really have no argument anyway.

On series, I am willing to concede if they are often all in one volume, ie Gollum's vote for Wolfe, or something like The Lord of the Rings.

And Mouse - as Storm of Swords is really one book published in paperback in two parts, I'm going to take your vote for the book as a whole.

Good to see such good a response straight away. Shouldn't be too long before I can post a preliminary list...

 

[Thunderchild]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

hope i get the names right...

1.Ringworlds Children - Larry Niven
2.Psyclone - Greg Bear
3.Count Zero - William Gibson
4.The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
5.At the mountains of Madness - H.P. Lovecraft
6.Protector - Larry Niven
7.Enders Game - Orson Scott Card
8.The Missplaced Legion - Harry Turtledove
9.Foundation - Isaac Asimov
10.Rendezvous With Rama - Arthur C Clarke

 

[YOSSARIAN]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

I can't believe I'm going to be the first to vote for LOTR. . .
1. LOTR (Which is not a true trilogy and should be counted as a stand-alone)
2. A Storm of Swords
3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
4. The Thousand-Fold Thought
5. American Gods
6. Good Omens
7. Going Postal
8. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
9. A Game of Thrones
10. A Clash of Kings

 

[nixie]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Here goes

Magican- Raymond E Feist

Memories of Ice- Steven Erikson

Thousandfold Thought- R Scott Bakker

Nine Princes of Amber- Roger Zelazny

Shadow of the Torture-Gene Wolfe

Illearth War- Stephen Donaldson

Midnight Tides- Steven Erikson

Wolves of Calla- Stephen King

Tigana- Guy Gavriel Kaye

Mists of Avalon-Marion Zimmer Bradley

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Well I've tried to give a broad reflection going back to books I also loved as a child
This is my list (at the moment!) but there is an awful lot of books I love now on here.

Magican - Raymond E Feist

A Game of Thrones - George R R Martin

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett

Nightfall - Isaac Asimov

The Twits - Roald Dahl

Young Legionnary - Douglas Hill

Wolf in Shadow - David Gemmell

Battlefield Earth - L Ron Hubbard (hey, I don't agree with the man's beliefs but I really enjoyed this book!)

There's Treasure Everywhere - Bill Watterson

Orion in the Dying Time - Ben Bova

 

[Mark Robson]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

My list, based on those that have given me the most enjoyment rather than those which I necessarily think are the best books:

The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien (I can't think of this as anything other than one book either)
Sheepfarmer's Daughter - Elizabeth Moon
Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruis Zafon
Foundation - Asimov
The Crystal Singer - McCaffrey
A Wolf in Shadow - Gemmell
Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve
Sabriel - Garth Nix
The Hidden Stars - Madeline Howard
Magician's Gambit - David Eddings

 

[elvet]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

Try as I might, I cannot separate a series into individual books.
My top ten:
Silmarillion
Lord of the Rings
Otherland (Tad Williams)
Liveship Traders (Robin Hobb)
His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman)
Memory, Shadow and Thorn (Tad Williams)
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Stephen Donaldson)
DragonsDawn (Anne McCaffrey)
Abhorsen Trilogy (Garth Nix)
Farseer Triology (Robin Hobb)

 

[Nesacat]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

It's a difficult choice and I think I've gone with the books I've found myself reading over again rather than the best at the moment.

1. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
2. Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
3. Von Bek: Tales of the Eternal Champion - Michael Moorcock
4. Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake
5. Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K LeGuin
6. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
7. If On A Winter's Night A Traveller - Italo Calvino
8. The Best of HP Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre
9. Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of HP Lovecraft
10. Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

 

[Mouse]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

I don't see why not, J. D. I did say books, not novels, so I really have no argument anyway.

On series, I am willing to concede if they are often all in one volume, ie Gollum's vote for Wolfe, or something like The Lord of the Rings.

And Mouse - as Storm of Swords is really one book published in paperback in two parts, I'm going to take your vote for the book as a whole.

Good to see such good a response straight away. Shouldn't be too long before I can post a preliminary list...

Ok!

 

[Rosemary]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

I can understand why some find it hard to chose!

Have eventually come up with my list, although I have to leave a lot of favourites out!

1. Sara Douglass - The Axis Trilogy
2. Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
3. Ian Irvine - View From The Mirror
4. Mercedes Lackey - The Mage Winds
5. Tolkein - Lord Of The Rings
6. Steven Erikson - Memories Of Ice
7. Frank Herbert - Dune
8. David Eddings - The Belagariad
9. Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Darkover Anthology
10 Terry Brooks - Sword of Shannara

 

[Culhwch]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

My own list:

1. Stardust, Neil Gaiman
2. The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell
3. A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
4. Guards, Guards, Terry Pratchett
5. War of the Flowers, Tad Williams
6. Fevre Dream, George RR Martin
7. Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
8. Northern Lights, Phillip Pullman
9. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
10. The Briar King, Greg Keyes

 

[Culhwch]

Re: The Chronicles Network Hall of Fame - Voting Thread

A little housekeeping... Please bear with me.

9. Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Darkover Anthology

Rosemary, it's been pointed out to me by one of our more knowledgeable mods that Bradley published quite a few Darkover books - if you could narrow it down to one, it'd be much appreciated.

Try as I might, I cannot separate a series into individual books.

In the interests of constancy, elvet, I'd appreciate if you'd try. If not, I'll take your votes as being for the first book in each series named. I do intend to take the votes individual books of a series get and combine them to come up with a seperate series list.

To everyone who posted, thank you very much. Oh, and if you haven't numbered your list I'm just going to assume they are in order top to bottom. Let me know if not. Cheers!