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Sci Fi Authors name their fave SF books (from the Guardian)

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  • 15-05-2011 12:00pm
    #1
    Johnny Storm
    Registered Users Posts: 3,984 ✭✭✭


    Interesting
    Many old reliables - City and the Stars, Dune, Neuromancer etc and a few I've never even heard of TBH
    Special mention of Ballard's "Voices of Time" novella which I have always loved (except on leap years when I think it's pretentious twaddle)

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/14/science-fiction-authors-choice

    Apparently there's a Scifi exhibition on in London:
    Out of this World: Science Fiction But Not As You Know It is open from 20 May-25 September 2011 at the British Library, London.


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    #2
    mcgovern
    Registered Users Posts: 4,267 ✭✭✭mcgovern


    I haven't heard of half the "stars of modern SF"...
    Mostly seems to be the usual choices, most of which I either didn't enjoy (The Left Hand of Darkness) or found only average (City and the Stars) but one or two of the ones I haven't read piqued my interest.


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    #3
    Black Sheep
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 3,041 Mod ✭✭✭✭Black Sheep


    I'm surprised that Margaret Atwood would deign to be included in a list of 'SF stars' ... I thought she didn't regard herself as writing in the genre? :pac:


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    #4
    HivemindXX
    Registered Users Posts: 1,208 ✭✭✭HivemindXX


    Thanks for posting that. Much more interesting to me than any Top 100 popularity contest.


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    #5
    mikhail
    Registered Users Posts: 3,863 ✭✭✭mikhail


    Black Sheep wrote: »
    I'm surprised that Margaret Atwood would deign to be included in a list of 'SF stars' ... I thought she didn't regard herself as writing in the genre? :pac:
    Yeah, she made a bit of a twat of herself by redefining science fiction to mean space opera. This was when she won the Arthur C. Clarke award. If she'd even a passing familiarity with Clarke's work, she'd have known better.

    She and Aldiss are a bit long in the tooth to be 'stars of modern sci fi'. I mean, Aldiss is fondly remembered as a childhood inspiration of Baxter! And it's not like Baxter was born yesterday. They're not alone in that regard - a lot of the people on that list either had their most influential periods decades ago (e.g. Le Guin and Moorecock in the 70s), or are barely well enough known to be counted as stars (who the hell is Liz Jensen?). Trust the Grauniad to confuse award-winning with "star". Meanwhile, genuine stars of modern British SF like Stross and Banks are mysteriously absent. Anyway, chalk it up to a subeditor writing an overreaching title.

    Most of the books you'd expect on a modern list are in there: The City and the Stars, Dune, Farenheit 451, Watchmen, the works of HP Lovecraft, alongside slightly less well known classics by Aldiss, Bester and Stapleton (the latter two seem to be trending again since their best stuff got reissued). Some seriously modern, highbrow stuff too, like Harrisson's Light (as nasty as it's excellent) and Stephenson's Quicksilver (I've not read this, but its reputation is of a dense, clever book). I really liked the really obscure, personal entries though, like Crumey's pick, The Brick Moon, or various people talking about authors whose entire body of work has inspired them in some way.


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    #6
    jcrowbar
    Registered Users Posts: 343 ✭✭jcrowbar


    I think it's nearly criminal that Peter F. Hamilton isn't mentioned anywhere.


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    #7
    coffee_cake
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    jcrowbar wrote: »
    I think it's nearly criminal that Peter F. Hamilton isn't mentioned anywhere.

    Yes, he is the main scifi person for me.


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    #8
    Black Sheep
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 3,041 Mod ✭✭✭✭Black Sheep


    Well, it would have been a different list it it was compiled by SFX or even the Sunday Times Culture magazine or something... The Guardian has its own particular sensibilities... :pac:

    No chance of the likes of Neal Asher or Hamilton featuring with them I think.

    Surprised they missed Iain M. Banks though. Who knows, could have been something as simple as not being contactable.


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    #9
    Goldstein
    Registered Users Posts: 1,551 ✭✭✭Goldstein


    Cudos to William Gibson & Michael Moorcock.


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    #10
    5uspect
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 10,516 Mod ✭✭✭✭5uspect


    I've been meaning to pop along to the British Library one of these weekends.
    I have read that it seems to be a very lit crit kind of exhibition tho rather than a purely sci-fi affair.


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    #11
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Goldstein wrote: »
    Cudos to William Gibson & Michael Moorcock.

    They both went for one of my favourites too! I was glad to see A Canticle for Leibowitz mentioned in there too.


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    #12
    Nodin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    5uspect wrote: »
    I've been meaning to pop along to the British Library one of these weekends.
    I have read that it seems to be a very lit crit kind of exhibition tho rather than a purely sci-fi affair.

    .....bit of everything, I think.
    Funk legend George Clinton is to make a one-off appearance at the British Library in London. The Parliament-Funkadelic founder will speak about science fiction, Afro-futurism and, er, gettin' down.
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jun/01/george-clinton-british-library

    http://youtu.be/gjKFCYzqq-A


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