NPR Science Fiction and Fantasy titles vote

[Kegg]

1984 isn't about "millions" of deaths in prewar USSR, it's about the terrible threat of the postwar USSR seducing the filthy (but curiously sexy) proles of the Free World with their propaganda and establishing a police state that would last forever.

*rubs eyes*

Stalin did kill millions of people.

If you really want to put brackets around it like you're some sort of historical revisionist, that's a whole other debate.

And yes, the book is very clearly - frankly, with little subtelty - modelled on the state of the contemporary Soviet Union.

You may have persuaded yourself that you are terribly humane to care about the deaths in prewar USSR but you happily approve all the others,

I never said I approved of any others.

 

[Technobuilder]

Hmm, I find it interesting that Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series made it as a finalist, and his Dresden Files series did not...

I love both, but not sure I would of picked Alera over Dresden.


Update:
http://www.jim-butcher.com/posts/2011/a-slew-of-kudos
Okay... Apparently it wasn't eligible under Sci-Fi/Fantasy but will be allowed in the Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy list.

Crazy.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I'm not one to vote in such things, but 1984 is possibly my favourite novel of all time, full stop. I like to read it every few years. I enjoy it for the quality of the allegory and don't read it too literally. Not sure why it's provoking this debate to be honest...

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

NPR has revealed the results (more than 60,000 ballots were cast):

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
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
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
22. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
23. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
24. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
25. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
26. The Stand, by Stephen King
27. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
28. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
29. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
31. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
32. 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

 

[Kegg]

You know I'm really pretty satisfied with that list (partly, no doubt, because I clearly don't read enough anyway). Clearly Song of Ice and Fire is benefiting from its wider exposure, and I'm surprised to not see any of the Harry Potter novels in that list.

Oh sure, Valis - my favourite sci-fi novel, ever - isn't there, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is merely Dick's best known novel (by way of movie adaptation), not his best one; and by the same token Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 novelization is not what jumps to my mind as his best book - but at least my personal favourite Childhood's End gets the number two slot and Rendezvous with Rama is amptly served... and admittedly I've never thought The Foundation Trilogy was great. And while it's nice to see some Discworld novels make the cut, none of the Watch novels did?

And if the list could include collections of short stories published in Weird Tales (which is exactly what Robert E. Howard's Conan pulps are), then the absence of a certain author known for his twisting tales of horrific eldritch gods is something one could comment on.

There's part of me that would like to see Keith Laumer's Retief series somewhere up there, maybe.

On the up and up, Watership Down was one of my obsessions as a youngster. I remember devouring scores of novels about animals enduring hardship and death during migration ever after I got my hands on that. I once drew a chart with the names of every single rabbit from that book. And The Left Hand of Darkness is easily the best science fiction novel I've read in the past few years.

And hey, I just finished Shards of Honor yesterday (since almost the entire Vorkosigan Saga is available for free online, so eh why not), it wasn't bad.

 

[Greg Cox]

Agreed. Not a bad list. And I count at least five Tor books so there should be much rejoicing at the Flatiron Building.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

The Harry Potter books weren't amongst the 237 nominees people could vote for. Neither were The Chronicles of Narnia, The Chronicles of Prydain, A Wrinkle in Time or The Dark Is Rising. Perhaps they're planning a separate list for children's books, just as they're planning a separate one for romance/urban fantasy.

 

[Greg Cox]

The Harry Potter books weren't amongst the 237 nominees people could vote for. Neither were The Chronicles of Narnia, The Chronicles of Prydain, A Wrinkle in Time or The Dark Is Rising. Perhaps they're planning a separate list for children's books, just as they're planning a separate one for romance/urban fantasy.

I believe the guidelines explicitly precluded children's and YA literature.

 

[Kegg]

Then how in heck did Watership Down get on the list?

 

[Mach5]

This list is a testament to everything that's wrong with internet's geek subculture these days.

I personally liked Ender's Game, but to place it above anything Asimov, Clarke or JULES FUCKING VERNE ever wrote? BTW, Rendezvous With Rama at the BOTTOM QUARTER of the list? Also, no mention of Stanislav Lem's Solaris?

Which 60 000 boneheads voted for this? I WANT NAMES!!!

Also, FOTR was tedious compared to the other two. Too much beating around the bush.

 

[stonester1]

I thought it was, for the most part, a fine mix of classics, crowd pleasers and more worthy "franchise" reps.

The very fact that they picked Small Gods to represent the Discworld ouvre closes the deal for me. That book is every bit as deep, poignant and philosophical as any classic in any genre. And it's funny and sharp in it's criticism.

It's from NPR's audience, which are a bit more savvy than your average dunderheads, even in the geek set, IMO.

 

[stonester1]

No Ayn Rand anywhere near, either.

 

[Kegg]

Also, no mention of Stanislav Lem's Solaris?

Now that you mention it I don't think there's a single non-English language book on the list, besides Jules Verne's stuff.

 

[stonester1]

Wasn't "We" on the list? Or was that the prelim list?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Wasn't "We" on the list? Or was that the prelim list?

We and Solaris were on the prelim list, but not in the ultimate top 100.

 

[Sci]

And it goes on and on. Every idea in 1984 that superficially bears merit is bent to caricature Communism and evading criticism of his society (which has developed along the same lines he so thoroughly missed into ours.)

Oh, George Orwell, you capitalist pig, you.

ETA:

The real issue, is that approving 1984 is symbolically approving of the murders of millions of people slain in the antiCommunist crusade, in Korea, in Vietnam, in Indonesia, in smaller numbers in countries too numerous to count, like Chile.

Uh, no. It's entirely possible to approve of Nineteen Eighty-Four but disapprove of the deaths brought about by American imperialism during the Cold War -- especially since the American imperialist impulse during those years played out exactly like Orwell's depiction of warring empires who use the "threat" of the other's existence as an excuse for mindless brutality.

 

[stonester1]

I get the feeling that stj is one of those charming holdouts who still believes that Communism would work if only we'd give it a fair shake.

 

[Sci]

I get the feeling that stj is one of those charming holdouts who still believes that Communism would work if only we'd give it a fair shake.

Nah. I'm friends with some of those guys. They're cool. They generally argue that real Communism has never existed anyway.

Stj is not one of those charming holdouts who still believes that Communism would be good. No, stj is one of those charming holdouts who still believes that the variant of "Communism" that existed in the East was good.

 

[stonester1]

I get the feeling that stj is one of those charming holdouts who still believes that Communism would work if only we'd give it a fair shake.

Nah. I'm friends with some of those guys. They're cool. They generally argue that real Communism has never existed anyway.

Stj is not one of those charming holdouts who still believes that Communism would be good. No, stj is one of those charming holdouts who still believes that the variant of "Communism" that existed in the East was good.

That goes from quaint to creepy.

 

[Kegg]

Stj is not one of those charming holdouts who still believes that Communism would be good. No, stj is one of those charming holdouts who still believes that the variant of "Communism" that existed in the East was good.

That's not really a fair characterisation, as most modern defenders of the Soviet Union (and I've known some) would be defending Lenin, or some of the post-Stalin leadership... as opposed to, you know, actually defending Stalin.

Most if anything question Stalin's communist and leftist credentials, following Trotsky. Keeping on marginally topic, Trotsky's doppelganger is treated very sympathetically in Animal Farm, and the fate of the old revolutionaries in 1984 isn't that unsympathetic either.