NPR's Top 100 SF/Fantasy Books

@Finn dAbuzz,

OK, I guess it just didn't affect me the same way. Mainly because I couldn't overcome my incredulity long enough to become interested in what was happening. I kept reading, hoping to understand why it won the Pulitzer, but I never got it.

I agree with this reviewer:

Quote:

...

Despite these misgivings, and they are serious affronts to a reader’s credibility, the power of the narrative is so great, the world so bleak, the absence of hope so overpowering that the reader marches along anyway, swept on, keeping pace with the protagonists, suffering every step and rewarded by every extraordinary sentence, desperate to know ‘what happens’.

What happens is the final and most telling weakness of the story. What happens is a redemption, of sorts, arguably absurd in the face of such overwhelming nihilism. In the mind of this reader anyway, this sense of hope is utterly inconsistent with all the despair and lack of trust that has preceded it.

More importantly, ‘what happens’ at the end of the story is not a consequence of any decision of the two protagonists, nor is it linked in a causal way to any event, character, or fictional motif or any other literary device in the story. What happens is a kind of much-desired, undeserved and unexpected, merciful redemption. The problem with this kind of conclusion in fiction is that a redemption resolution must have its roots in the earlier part of the narrative. It must still be a consequence of some position or action or choice. Otherwise, it’s simply deus ex machina.

...

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

Pretty much what Finn said. It's not really an apocalyptic vision at all, in the final analysis. It's a story about father-son relationships with a strong overlay of mystic symbolism. The son's instinctive moral/ethical urge is masterfully juxtaposed against the father's protective pragmatism and comes across as almost an epiphany for the careful reader near the end of the book. And besides that the book is so well written it approaches poetry in some parts.

I read books word-for-word. I despise Evelyn Wood or anyone else who advocates "speed reading."

0 Replies

@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

OK, I guess it just didn't affect me the same way. Mainly because I couldn't overcome my incredulity long enough to become interested in what was happening. I kept reading, hoping to understand why it won the Pulitzer, but I never got it.

I agree with this reviewer:

Quote:
...

Despite these misgivings, and they are serious affronts to a reader’s credibility, the power of the narrative is so great, the world so bleak, the absence of hope so overpowering that the reader marches along anyway, swept on, keeping pace with the protagonists, suffering every step and rewarded by every extraordinary sentence, desperate to know ‘what happens’.

What happens is the final and most telling weakness of the story. What happens is a redemption, of sorts, arguably absurd in the face of such overwhelming nihilism. In the mind of this reader anyway, this sense of hope is utterly inconsistent with all the despair and lack of trust that has preceded it.

More importantly, ‘what happens’ at the end of the story is not a consequence of any decision of the two protagonists, nor is it linked in a causal way to any event, character, or fictional motif or any other literary device in the story. What happens is a kind of much-desired, undeserved and unexpected, merciful redemption. The problem with this kind of conclusion in fiction is that a redemption resolution must have its roots in the earlier part of the narrative. It must still be a consequence of some position or action or choice. Otherwise, it’s simply deus ex machina.

...

This reviewer, of course, is Mark Rossiter. I disagree with his final paragraph. The redemption he refers to is in no way "undeserved." It is a much hoped for vindication of the boy's moral stance throughout the novel. In that sense it certainly does have "its roots in the earlier part of the narrative." There are subtle hints all along the way, almost from the outset, that the boy is somehow "special" and deserving of a special redemption in the end.

0 Replies

@Eorl,

Eorl wrote:

. . . or even Unfinished Tales again.

The unfinished tales were the worst. It seems that Tolkien père didn't find them worthy of publication, and i suspect that Tolkien fils was just after the bucks. The early stories which take place in a sort of mythic England, and involve journeying to the west showed me how the elder Tolkien made the transition from an Anglo-Saxon scholar to a writer of fiction in a full-blown world of myth and legend, unconnected to but drawing from many rich linguistic and historical sources. But after that first portion, it was deadly dull. Baran became a bore, and i didn't care if the awful wolf tore him to pieces or not. The very scale of the myth made it unweildy for good story-telling. Few characters were in the narrative long enough to be fully fleshed out, and to engage the readers' sympathy.

I suspect that The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales only sold as well as they did (if they did sell well) because of the cachet of the Tolkien name.

0 Replies

First off..

I am an old man.. over 50
And my whole life has been dedicated to SF or Speculative Fiction.
My daughter is a great fan of the great writers.
I dont mean Asimov and especially don't mean Heinlein. But i do mean Clark
Have you read 'Raft' by S Baxter. If you have not then leave now
[and read it]

Yes im a hard SF guy. Magic is for lord of the rings. There is no need for magic is SF
Reality is magical enough for me.

Prill

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

Well i suppose if i am to be taken seriously. I have to do a top ten

AA Atanasio..Radix
Barrington J Bayley ...Fall of Chronopolis
Iain M Banks.. Consider phlebas. And.. the wasp factory.
Larry Niven.. Ringworld
The man in thr high castle.. P K Dick
Maze of death PK Dick
Ring. Stepen baxter
Dean Koontz .. lightning [ go on laugh... but it is good and would be one hell of a good movie]
Brian Aldis: Report On Probability A .The dark lightyears.
Uses up my quota
by pray just one more . really Wild story
called . plague of demons by Kieth Lamaur

3 Replies

@Hjarloprillar,

NPR..
what is more important is how you made a thread. I cannot.

Is it dudly do-right points.
Obviously mods have say.. what say you?
This hotsage thing that mods have with posters.

Im not going to play.. If im banned.. You have admitted your weakness.
For i dont swear or bilittle minors.
I CAN ONLY BE BANNED BECAUSE YOU ARE P****D OFF

Thus i want right to make a thread. now
Well im on SF forum.. There is no button for make a thread.
I have forgotten more SF than you have read. Im a GURU
Ah well
im patient

2 Replies

@Hjarloprillar,

well i can't edit,, and i ant make a thread.

I WISH TO POST MY OWN THREAD
I WISH TO POST MY OWN THREAD
I WISH TO POST MY OWN THREAD

Is that loud enough

0 Replies

@Hjarloprillar,

Hjarlo, just go back to yourA2k home page, the page you see when you log on. Right there is where you start a thread of your own. I'm sure you can figure it out.Just follow directions.

1 Reply

@Lustig Andrei,

In fact, just scroll to the very bottom of this page and there should be a "start a discussion" link.

Edit: Hell, I'll just post the start a discussion link here.

0 Replies

@Hjarloprillar,

Hjarloprillar wrote:

AA Atanasio..Radix

AA Atanasio also wrote _The Last Legends of Earth_, one of my all time favorite books. He is a very imaginative author.

2 Replies

@rosborne979,

Also one of mine. Love all the Attanasio.

Didn't see any Julian May there unfortunately (Exiles)

Someone else mentioned Aldiss' Helliconia series.

But... possibly all-time favourite; the little known
Barry B. Longyear - Sea of Glass.

1 Reply

@Eorl,

Eorl wrote:

Didn't see any Julian May there unfortunately (Exiles)

But... possibly all-time favourite; the little known
Barry B. Longyear - Sea of Glass.

I loved Julian May's Pliocene Exile series, and a few of the sequels (like Diamond Mask) were also good.

I've never heard of "Sea of Glass", maybe I'll look it up. But I don't have time to read much lately, not like when I was younger.

0 Replies

And I've mentioned this before, but my all time favorite SF book was _The Last Dancer_ by Daniel Keys Moran.

And I just found out that DK Moran has released another sequel in that series called _The AI War_, so I'll have to pick that up next Smile

1 Reply

@rosborne979,

One of the fifteen 5 star reviews on Amazon of "Sea of Glass";

Quote:

"A Life-changing Read, January 15, 2006
By
Kevin Kershner "NExUS1g" (Portland, OR)
This review is from: Sea of Glass (Paperback)
I was no older than 20 when I first picked up this book. I was told at the time that he was the writer of Enemy Mine. I liked that movie so I thought it would be a good choice to read. Keep in mind that I'm personally not much of a reader. It will often take me months to complete a novel. I devoured this book in two days straight. I slept, I ate, I read. I loved this book so much that I read it twice, this was a first for me. I loved this book so much I read it aloud to my wife from start to finish who also fell in love with it. I have just come across this page while recommending this book to my mom and trying to help her find it. Back when I read this in the early 90's this book wasn't in reprint yet and was very difficult to find a copy of. I had several rare bookstores trying to find copies of it, all of whom were unsuccessful. I cannot say how happy I am that this book is back in print. I'm personally going to get two copies. One for myself and one to hand to every person that I get to know who has not yet read this book. "

Just sayin'

1 Reply

@Hjarloprillar,

Being pedantic, I could point out that The Wasp Factory is written under the name of Ian Banks, not Ian M. Banks. He likes to keep those two sides separate. I prefer The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldrich over High Castle, and Nova Express is one of the finest novels ever written.

1 Reply

@rosborne979,

Ros.. yes i have last legends on shelf also solis and the one where he
flips out of this world and leaves behing a fractal on bathroom mirror..
The name escapes me an im too lazy to get up. Wink

.

I always styled myself as a Sumner Kagan [radix]
Such an unlikely hero.
And thats' what makes him real.

Prill

0 Replies

@izzythepush,

izzy . I noted that ssome time back.. that the 'M' is only for a particular genre.
Spec fiction.
Great a PK Dick Aficionado.
i have nearly all his work.. missing a few still.
One of which is 'stigmata' which i read some 15 or 20 years back.
Slack of me ,yes.
The first One i read ever was' martian time slip' which along with Wells' war of the worlds. changed my perspective on life.. [being only 9 or 10 at the time]
Being one that has aspergers.. His references in that book especially to 'the pit' And the perception of time.
Well. you can imagine.

Prill

PS

Thanks for advice on making a thread people. I'll work it.
but. it seems i've gone blank.
So i'll stick with the aphorism [for now]
"Better to stay silent and appear stupid ,than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"

2 Replies

@Hjarloprillar,

I like his religious stuff, The Divine Invasion and Valis were both very good, but my favourite of that ilk is The Transmigrations of Timothy Archer. I've not read any for a long time though.

0 Replies

@Hjarloprillar,

I just this minute finished "A Scanner Darkly".

Woh.

0 Replies

NPR's Top 100 SF/Fantasy Books

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know