SF & F Polls

Fried Egg

Fried Egg

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Vote for 10 best SF here:

Top Sci-Fi Books - Survey powered by eSurveysPro.com

And for 10 best Fantasy here:

Top Fantasy Books - Survey powered by eSurveysPro.com

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There were many I haven't read and some books I would have voted for had they been included by my choices were as follows:

SF:

Brian Aldiss - Non-Stop (vt Starship) (1958)
Poul Anderson - Tau Zero (1970)
Isaac Asimov - Foundation [S1-3] (1951)
Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves (1972)
James Blish - A Case of Conscience (1958)
Philip K Dick - UBIK (1969)
Stephen Donaldson - Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story [S1] (1990)
Ursula K Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
Ursula K Le Guin - The Dispossessed (1974)
George Orwell - 1984 (1949)

Fantasy:

Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan Of the Apes (1914)
Lord Dunsany - The King Of Elfland's Daughter (1924)
E R Eddison - The Worm Ouroboros (1926)
Robert E Howard - [C] Coming Of Conan the Cimmerian (1933) *
Ursula K Le Guin - A Wizard of Earthsea [S1] (1968)
H P Lovecraft - [C] Bloodcurdling Tales (1937) *
Patricia A McKillip - The Forgotten Beasts Of Eld (1975)
Michael Moorcock - 'Elric of Melnibone' Series (1972)
Jack Williamson - Darker Than You Think (1940)
Roger Zelazny - 'The Chronicles of Amber' (1970)

* I have not read these specific collections but since no other collections were included...
 
I did the Fantasy one...hadn't read a lot, so the choices were basically the best of what I had read

The Belgariad -Eddings
Sword of Shanara - Brooks
Farseer Trilogy - Hobb
Time Travellers Wife - Niffenger
Thomas Covenant - Donaldson
Name of the Wind - Rothfuss
Gardens of the Moon - Erikson
A song of ice and fire - Martin
Dark Tower Series - King
Magician - Feist
 
Is to the point to vote in those polls ? They dont have many of my favorites.

Books that are given in my top ten arent there while books of the same creator who are more mainstream,current.

Gavriel has more books in fantasy than REH,Powers,Vance,Gemmell, so the polls arent for fans of my taste.
 
Battlefield Earth?...:eek:

I hope they publish all the results...:p
 
The one major problem with voted lists is that they have very little to do with actual quality. Look at the sharp contrasts in the top ten alone. More like sales

Paolini is at #12, for crying out loud, ahead of the brilliance of a Fantasy Mistress like LeGuin, and a whole host of others, and his books are the worst combination of rip-off, cliche and really, really poor writing. I couldn't finish Eragon. Must be nice to have parents who can get you a publishing contract.

So, to me, the 2 lists are poor, and at best an indifferent guide to what to read.

As Pyan said, Battlefield Earth? Indeed!
 
yeah, odd list

I was pelased to see I have read 10-20% of them there books, probably seen more as films. But they seem to include all sorts of books as sci-fi.

Is a Clockwork Orange really sci-fi? and Frankenstein? I would have thought the latter would be horror, but then what do I know?

Is Dune really that good?
Glad to see that most of the books you guys/gals recommend are near the bottom! ;)
 
Moonbat said:
Is a Clockwork Orange really sci-fi? and Frankenstein? I would have thought the latter would be horror, but then what do I know?
Click to expand...
I think it could be argued that Frankenstein contains elements of sci-fi, fantasy and horror. If pushed, I'd probably have plumped for fantasy, but that's just me. Clockwork Orange...part social commentary, part sci-fi (in the sense that it deals with an kind-of alternate present.

Have to agree with everyone that the lists are a bit...odd, to say the least. And the ol' Scientologists must have been out in force to get Battlefield Earth anywhere near the top 100, let alone the top 50. Man, that's a sucky book.
 
Frankenstein could only be classed as one thing: Historical Sci-Fi (sub-genre: Romantic Era Cyber Punk). Dr. Frankenstein's monster was the first cyborg that I know of in literature.

Battlefield Earth is the worst book that I ever read cover to cover (it took me about a year, in 1993-94), and it was the book that made me promise myself to never stick with a sucky book again. I just don't have the time, or the energy. To paraphrase the words of Homer Simpson, it is the suckiest book that ever sucked.
 
oh, gotta go, damn wiener kids listening - to finish the quote
 
Some of the books they include in the voting for fantasy are pretty bogus. Did anyone else notice the Grimm brothers fairy tales, the Cat in the Hat, or Winnie the Pooh? They are all among the best *children's* books, but it is rather insulting to adult fantasy lovers to include them in this genre. I also disagree with the placement of classics such as Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Homer's Odyssey, and Beowulf. All are excellent works, but not in the same category as modern day fantasy.
 
Hmm. Vinge's A fire Upon the Deep listed, but not A deepness in the Sky; Baker's The Life of the World to Come, but not In the Garden of Iden??

How was this compiled??
 
Tonnes of stuff I've not read and tough choice between some titles of the same author...that said, here's my top ten SF:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K Dick
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
 Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
Consider Phlebas, Iain M Banks
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A Heinlein
Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Hyperion, Dan Simmons
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
The Dispossessed, Ursula K Le Guin

Hard to pick only ten from this list; had to lop off some excellent books...Fantasy:

Lord Of the Rings, J R R Tolkien
A Song of Ice & Fire, George R R Martin
Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
 Coming Of Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E Howard
The Swords of Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
The Black Company, Glen Cook

 
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