{"id":1710,"date":"2012-10-24T22:13:53","date_gmt":"2012-10-25T02:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/?p=1710"},"modified":"2013-03-21T15:35:19","modified_gmt":"2013-03-21T19:35:19","slug":"all-time-best-sf-f-stories-novels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/all-time-best-sf-f-stories-novels\/","title":{"rendered":"All-time best SF & fantasy novels & stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Locus is going to do a poll to find out what science fiction and fantasy novels and stories are the all-time best (they’ve done this a few times before but not in years). The categories are science fiction novel, fantasy novel, novella, novelette, and short story. They’re also diving the poll into 20th century (10 in each category) and 21st century (5 in each category). Here<\/a> is the announcement.<\/p>\n

And here are my first thoughts on my votes…<\/p>\n

1901 – 2000<\/p>\n

SF novel<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Foundation \u2013 Isaac Asimov<\/li>\n
  2. The Demolished Man \u2013 Alfred Bester<\/li>\n
  3. Ender\u2019s Game \u2013 Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n
  4. The City and the Stars \u2013 Arthur C. Clarke<\/li>\n
  5. The Left Hand of Darkness \u2013 Ursula K. Le Guin<\/li>\n
  6. A Canticle for Leibowitz \u2013 Walter M. Miller, Jr.<\/li>\n
  7. A Door Into Ocean \u2013 Joan Slonczewski<\/li>\n
  8. Snow Crash \u2013 Neal Stephenson<\/li>\n
  9. A Fire Upon the Deep \u2013 Vernor Vinge<\/li>\n
  10. Darwinia \u2013 Robert Charles Wilson<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Fantasy novel<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Watership Down \u2013 Richard Adams<\/li>\n
    2. Seventh Son \u2013 Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n
    3. Someplace to Be Flying \u2013 Charles de Lint<\/li>\n
    4. Tigana \u2013 Guy Gavriel Kay<\/li>\n
    5. A Wizard of Earthsea \u2013 Ursula K. Le Guin<\/li>\n
    6. A Game of Thrones \u2013 George R.R. Martin<\/li>\n
    7. The Book of Knights \u2013 Yves Meynard<\/li>\n
    8. The Witching Hour \u2013 Anne Rice<\/li>\n
    9. The Initiate Brother \u2013 Sean Russell<\/li>\n
    10. Nobody\u2019s Son \u2013 Sean Stewart<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      novella<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Eye for Eye \u2013 Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n
      2. Story of Your Life \u2013 Ted Chiang<\/li>\n
      3. A Meeting with Medusa \u2013 Arthur C. Clarke<\/li>\n
      4. A Boy and His Dog \u2013 Harlan Ellison<\/li>\n
      5. Ill Met in Lankhmar \u2013 Fritz Leiber<\/li>\n
      6. Stardance \u2013 Spider & Jeanne Robinson<\/li>\n
      7. \u2026And Then There Were None \u2013 Eric Frank Russell<\/li>\n
      8. The Big Front Yard \u2013 Clifford D. Simak<\/li>\n
      9. The Last of the Winnebagos \u2013 Connie Willis<\/li>\n
      10. Spice Pogrom \u2013 Connie Willis<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        novelette<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Tower of Babylon \u2013 Ted Chiang<\/li>\n
        2. The Minority Report \u2013 Philip K. Dick<\/li>\n
        3. Changeling \u2013 Barbara Hambly<\/li>\n
        4. Flowers for Algernon \u2013 Daniel Keyes<\/li>\n
        5. Mountain Ways \u2013 Ursula K. Le Guin<\/li>\n
        6. Sandkings \u2013 George R. R. Martin<\/li>\n
        7. City \u2013 Clifford D. Simak<\/li>\n
        8. The Moon Moth \u2013 Jack Vance<\/li>\n
        9. Tableau \u2013 James White<\/li>\n
        10. Bluesberry Jam \u2013 Gene Wolfe<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          short story<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Nightfall \u2013 Isaac Asimov<\/li>\n
          2. Fondly Fahrenheit \u2013 Alfred Bester<\/li>\n
          3. The Million Year Picnic \u2013 Ray Bradbury<\/li>\n
          4. Unaccompanied Sonata \u2013 Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n
          5. Expedition to Earth (aka History Lesson) \u2013 Arthur C. Clarke<\/li>\n
          6. Mythological Beast \u2013 Stephen R. Donaldson<\/li>\n
          7. \u2018Repent, Harlequin!\u2019 Said the Ticktockman \u2013 Harlan Ellison<\/li>\n
          8. Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large \u2013 James Alan Gardner<\/li>\n
          9. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas \u2013 Ursula K. Le Guin<\/li>\n
          10. Just Like Old Times \u2013 Robert J. Sawyer<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            2001 – 2010<\/p>\n

            SF novel<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Evolution \u2013 Stephen Baxter<\/li>\n
            2. Warchild \u2013 Karin Lowachee<\/li>\n
            3. The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife \u2013 Audrey Niffenegger<\/li>\n
            4. Hominids \u2013 Robert J. Sawyer<\/li>\n
            5. Passage \u2013 Connie Willis<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Fantasy novel<\/p>\n

                \n
              1. The Crystal City \u2013 Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n
              2. Magic Street \u2013 Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n
              3. The Eyre Affair \u2013 Jasper Fforde<\/li>\n
              4. The Historian \u2013 Elizabeth Kostova<\/li>\n
              5. The Other Wind \u2013 Ursula K. Le Guin<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                novella<\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Atlantis \u2013 Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n
                2. The Lifecycle of Software Objects \u2013 Ted Chiang<\/li>\n
                3. Thousandth Night \u2013 Alastair Reynolds<\/li>\n
                4. Identity Theft \u2013 Robert J. Sawyer<\/li>\n
                5. A Piece of the Great World \u2013 Robert Silverberg<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  novelette<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. Hell is the Absence of God \u2013 Ted Chiang<\/li>\n
                  2. The Trial of Edgar Allan Poe \u2013 Hugh Cook<\/li>\n
                  3. I, Robot \u2013 Cory Doctorow<\/li>\n
                  4. Counting Tadpoles \u2013 Uncle River<\/li>\n
                  5. Abigail & Chang \u2013 Harvey Welles & Philip Raines<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    short story<\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. Benedice Te \u2013 Jay Lake<\/li>\n
                    2. Faller \u2013 Will McIntosh<\/li>\n
                    3. The Anabe Girls \u2013 A. R. Morlan<\/li>\n
                    4. Shed Skin \u2013 Robert J. Sawyer<\/li>\n
                    5. An End to All Things \u2013 Karina Sumner-Smith<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      Locus is going to do a poll to find out what science fiction and fantasy novels and stories are the all-time best (they’ve done this a few times before but not in years). The categories are science fiction novel, fantasy novel, novella, novelette, and short story. They’re also diving the poll into 20th century (10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[7,9,42,28,8,44],"class_list":["post-1710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-thoughts","tag-book","tag-fantasy","tag-lists","tag-novels","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1710"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1716,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710\/revisions\/1716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidmswitzer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}