NPR's Top 100 SF/Fantasy Books

@roger,

Not science fiction. It might be fantasy. But, I'd call it satire.

@littlek,

Satire works for me. I'm going to go rearrange the bookshelves again.

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@Irishk,

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't deeply affected by The Road. I bawled my eyes out as well. It's a triple flying kick to the soul to read that book.

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@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

Yeah, those are pretty mediocre.

Imagine discovering Heinlein by reading Farnham's Freehold or Sixth Column.....

I discovered Heinlein by reading Children of the Stas, which was impressive to a ten year old. Later, i read Stranger in a Strange Land because it was then a popular cult classic. At some point in between i read Starship Trooper.

Then, in my 30s, i read Farnham's Freehold. I thought to myself, "What a racist, sexist, elitist ****." Then i re-read Starship Trooper, and realized how much it sucked. The movie was no better than it deserved to be. Since then, i have read several of his novels, and read them in record time, too--i just skip over the self-righteous preaching, which eliminates more than half of the book. Heinlein's a great story teller, but i would be ashamed to admit that he were my friend. Of course, that never happened, lowly worm that i am.

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That whole schtick with Drizzt Do'Urden and a series going on for far too long has an "interactive" explanation. I don't recall who the original author of the series was, there have been many. But Wizards of the Coast (who own Dungeons and Dragons) used his mythical planet of Faerun and the Forgotten Realms series for their second edition D & D games. Then a PC game company used them. They had a game of mediocre popularity (Planet Scape Torment) with one of the best RPG game engines ever devised--the Infinity Engine. So, they got the necessary permissions, and using D & D edition 2, they made the game of Baldur's Gate, which was followed by an expansion, Tales of the Sword Coast, then a new game, Icewind Dale, and an expansion, Heart of Winter, then BG II and IWD II, and expansions. It became a wildly popular and successful series of games, beginning in the early 1990s.

So this opened up a huge new cult audience for the Forgotten Realms novels (it was created in the 1960s, by an author whose name escapes me, for childrens stories). Several authors began churning them out. R. A. Salvatore contracted with TSR (who originally owned D & D) to write some novels in the 1980s, and has sold literally tens of millions of them, and has had more than 20 NYT best sellers. This is not deathless prose, but it is one of publishing's greatest success stories. I doubt the other authors have done as well as Salvatore, but no one has gone home broke from the Forgotten Realms dog and pony show.

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@Setanta,

I first read Heinlein as a short story "The Roads Must Roll". Hooked! Spent a long time trying to find other Heinlein that inspired me in the same way. Other short stories did ("Waldo, Inc." springs to mind) but not much else. Too much misogyny and narcissism I thought.

I would add Julian May (Exiles) and Brian Aldiss (Heliconia) to my top ten.

Oh, and if we're going with a broad definition of Sci-Fi, I'd have to add Doris Lessing's Shikasta series. Highly allegorical but delightful reading.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Then, in my 30s, i read Farnham's Freehold. I thought to myself, "What a racist, sexist, elitist ****." Then i re-read Starship Trooper, and realized how much it sucked. The movie was no better than it deserved to be. Since then, i have read several of his novels, and read them in record time, too--i just skip over the self-righteous preaching, which eliminates more than half of the book. Heinlein's a great story teller, but i would be ashamed to admit that he were my friend. Of course, that never happened, lowly worm that i am.

Yeah, once he got popular enough to override his editors the quality of his writing went WAY down.

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Back in the 80s, i knew a lot of young guys who nearly worshipped Heinlein for Lazarus Long. I only read a Lazarus Long novel a couple of years ago. Worst case of preaching i've ever seen in a novel.

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One problem here--leaving aside the list, which seems to suffer disdain from most of the participants in this thread--is that none of this is deathless prose. Take for example, the doyen of fantasy literature, J. R. R. Tolkien. When it comes to the tales of men and elves, his prose is stilted and pompous. The hobbits are the saving grace of The Lord of the Rings, and they are just stout English yoemen in another guise. The Hobbit is far more entertaining and moves along better, and i say that's because it's not burdened with the tales of elves and men for thousands of prior years.

Very little of what is offered here is truly great literature.

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@Setanta,

'Truly Great Literature' is, of course interpreted differently by different people for different reasons.

Stilted and pompous aside, the story is still epic and brilliantly paints an image of a world that delighted me as a child and continues to do so today. To each his own I guess.

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@Questioner,

You assume too much. I enjoyed the story, too. Nothing i wrote suggests otherwise. Whether or not a story is "epic"can be interpreted differently by different people. It's simple enough to create one's own world and one's own mythology and acheive "epic" proportions. And it is exactly in those areas that Tolkien's writing becomes stilted and pompous. Try reading The Sylmarillion some time.

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@Setanta,

I see. I apparently read something that wasn't there. I've slogged through The Silmarillion and see your point. As to your point about it being simple enough to create one's own world, true. Anyone can make a world. Not everyone can make a world that people care about, wherein lies the skill.

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@Questioner,

I loved LOTR (as a 15 year old) . Hated the Silmarillion at 18 and tried to read the hobbit in my early 20s and couldn't be bothered. Weird considering the first 100 pages of LOTR was probably requires the most commitment I've ever given to a read without feeling a reward coming.

Also read Tree and Leaf and Farmer Giles of Ham. I think reading LOTR first pretty much kills your appetite for Tolkein's 'lesser' works.

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@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

Yeah, once he got popular enough to override his editors the quality of his writing went WAY down.

I'd like to add that this applies to many other authors, as well. (e.g., J. K. Rowling)

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't deeply affected by The Road. I bawled my eyes out as well. It's a triple flying kick to the soul to read that book.

That book was my introduction to Cormack McCarthy's work and it totally blew my mind. No Country for Old Men was also fantastic, a thousand times better than the movie.

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Just as a clarification here: i will read almost any book which has a good story to tell. As i've already noted, i am contemptuous of Heinlein for his preaching, and the content thereof--but i will read what he wrote for the story. The same thing applies to detective fiction, science fiction, fantasy--if you can tell a story well, i'll read what you write.

That doesn't mean i don't have a very critical attitude toward the quality of what one writes.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

That book was my introduction to Cormack McCarthy's work and it totally blew my mind. No Country for Old Men was also fantastic, a thousand times better than the movie.

OK, please explain how it blew your mind? I'd really like to understand what people see in that book.

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@Setanta,

As much as I love The Hobbit as a childrens book, I'd rather read LOTR, or the Sil, or even Unfinished Tales again. The hobbits are indeed the saving grace, but isn't that the point? The Choices of Master Samwise lose their import without the stilted and pompous setting of Tolkien's rich "history".

To be fair, The Silmarillion did take me several attempts across a number of years. Well, the first reading anyway!

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@hingehead,

hingehead wrote:

I loved LOTR (as a 15 year old) . Hated the Silmarillion at 18 and tried to read the hobbit in my early 20s and couldn't be bothered. Weird considering the first 100 pages of LOTR was probably requires the most commitment I've ever given to a read without feeling a reward coming.

Also read Tree and Leaf and Farmer Giles of Ham. I think reading LOTR first pretty much kills your appetite for Tolkein's 'lesser' works.

I can understand why the Silmarillion is not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. Rather than stilted and pompus I consider it grand and majestic. I don't think I would have appreciated it as much if I hadn't already been captivated by Tolkien's mythopoeia, but I feel confident I would have admired it if it stood alone.

It's a matter of taste I guess.

Tree and Leaf and Farmer Giles of Ham were pretty much a waste of my time though. The Hobbit was written for a juvenile audience and although it has it's moments - particularly the encounter between Bilbo and Gollum, it doesn't at all match the richness of LOTR.

I read it after I read LOTR and it was unsatisfying by comparison. I can imagine someone attempting The Hobbit before moving on to LOTR and never making the transition. Although the early chapters of The Fellowship are now some of my favorites, I found them slow going at first as well and almost abandoned the book. Obviously glad I didn't or I would have missed a true masterpiece.

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@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

Lustig Andrei wrote:
That book was my introduction to Cormack McCarthy's work and it totally blew my mind. No Country for Old Men was also fantastic, a thousand times better than the movie.

OK, please explain how it blew your mind? I'd really like to understand what people see in that book.

I can't speak for Lustig, but for me it was it's ability to create a fairly overwhelming emotional experience. Granted much of that experience involves grim dispair, but the love of the father and son is a bright wire that pulls you through a world and a story that is otherwise crushing in its greyness.

1 Reply

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