Read on for the results.
Since it's by definition a popularity contest, I won't quibble with the ranking: the top 20 or so are largely predictable, but it's nice to see the Strugatskys so high up.
20th Century SF Novel:
Rank Author : Title (Year) Points Votes 1 Herbert, Frank : Dune (1965) 3930 256 2 Card, Orson Scott : Ender's Game (1985) 2235 154 3 Asimov, Isaac : The Foundation Trilogy (1953) 2054 143 4 Simmons, Dan : Hyperion (1989) 1836 131 5 Le Guin, Ursula K. : The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) 1750 120 6 Adams, Douglas : The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) 1631 113 7 Orwell, George : Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) 1493 105 8 Gibson, William : Neuromancer (1984) 1384 100 9 Bester, Alfred : The Stars My Destination (1957) 1311 91 10 Bradbury, Ray : Fahrenheit 451 (1953) 1275 91 11 Heinlein, Robert A. : Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) 1121 75 12 Heinlein, Robert A. : The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) 1107 76 13 Haldeman, Joe : The Forever War (1974) 1090 82 14 Clarke, Arthur C. : Childhood's End (1953) 987 70 15 Niven, Larry : Ringworld (1970) 955 74 16 Le Guin, Ursula K. : The Dispossessed (1974) 907 62 17 Bradbury, Ray : The Martian Chronicles (1950) 902 63 18 Stephenson, Neal : Snow Crash (1992) 779 60 19 Miller, Walter M. , Jr. : A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) 776 56 20 Pohl, Frederik : Gateway (1977) 759 58 21 Heinlein, Robert A. : Starship Troopers (1959) 744 53 22 Dick, Philip K. : The Man in the High Castle (1962) 728 54 23 Zelazny, Roger : Lord of Light (1967) 727 50 24 Wolfe, Gene : The Book of the New Sun (1983) 703 43 25 Lem, Stanislaw : Solaris (1970) 638 47 26 Dick, Philip K. : Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) 632 47 27 Vinge, Vernor : A Fire Upon The Deep (1992) 620 48 28 Clarke, Arthur C. : Rendezvous with Rama (1973) 588 44 29 Huxley, Aldous : Brave New World (1932) 581 42 30 Clarke, Arthur C. : 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 569 39 31 Vonnegut, Kurt : Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) 543 39 32 Strugatsky, Arkady & Boris : Roadside Picnic (1972) 518 36 33 Card, Orson Scott : Speaker for the Dead (1986) 448 31 34 Brunner, John : Stand on Zanzibar (1968) 443 33 35 Robinson, Kim Stanley : Red Mars (1992) 441 35 36 Niven, Larry (& Pournelle, Jerry) : The Mote in God's Eye (1974) 437 32 37 Willis, Connie : Doomsday Book (1992) 433 33 38 Atwood, Margaret : The Handmaid's Tale (1985) 422 32 39 Sturgeon, Theodore : More Than Human (1953) 408 29 40 Simak, Clifford D. : City (1952) 401 28 41 Brin, David : Startide Rising (1983) 393 29 42 Asimov, Isaac : Foundation (1950) 360 24 43 Farmer, Philip Jose : To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) 356 25 44 Dick, Philip K. : Ubik (1969) 355 25 45 Vonnegut, Kurt : Cat's Cradle (1963) 318 24 46 Vinge, Vernor : A Deepness in the Sky (1999) 315 22 47 Simak, Clifford D. : Way Station (1963) 308 24 48 Wyndham, John : The Day of the Triffids (1951) 302 24 49* Keyes, Daniel : Flowers for Algernon (1966) 297 23 49* Delany, Samuel R. : Dhalgren (1975) 297 19
20th Century Fantasy Novel:
Rank Author : Title (Year) Points Votes 1 Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Lord of the Rings (1955) 5675 340 2 Martin, George R. R. : A Game of Thrones (1996) 2182 149 3 Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Hobbit (1937) 2040 138 4 Le Guin, Ursula K. : A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) 1613 113 5 Zelazny, Roger : Nine Princes in Amber (1970) 971 70 6 Lewis, C. S. : The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) 821 58 7 Mieville, China : Perdido Street Station (2000) 757 54 8 Gaiman/Pratchett : Good Omens (1990) 693 50 9 Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) 657 49 10 Crowley, John : Little, Big (1981) 645 41 11 Adams, Richard : Watership Down (1972) 632 46 12 Goldman, William : The Princess Bride (1973) 604 46 13 Martin, George R. R. : A Storm of Swords (2000) 602 43 14 Beagle, Peter S. : The Last Unicorn (1968) 597 45 15 White, T. H. : The Once and Future King (1958) 589 46 16 Kay, Guy Gavriel : Tigana (1990) 522 38 17 Gaiman, Neil : Neverwhere (1996) 509 38 18 Wolfe, Gene : The Book of the New Sun (1983) 494 35 19 Vance, Jack : The Dying Earth (1950) 457 31 20 Bulgakov, Mikhail : The Master and Margarita (1967) 442 29 21 Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) 440 33 22 Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Silmarillion (1977) 433 32 23 Leiber, Fritz : The Swords of Lankhmar (1968) 425 30 24 Jordan, Robert : The Eye of the World (1990) 423 29 25 Donaldson, Stephen R. : Lord Foul's Bane (1977) 416 32 26 Bradbury, Ray : Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) 411 30 27 Peake, Mervyn : Gormenghast (1950) 410 29 28 Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999) 406 32 29 Powers, Tim : The Anubis Gates (1983) 403 29 30 Martin, George R. R. : A Clash of Kings (1998) 381 26 31 Bradley, Marion Zimmer : The Mists of Avalon (1983) 368 28 32 Hobb, Robin : Assassin's Apprentice (1995) 367 27 33 Pratchett, Terry : The Colour of Magic (1983) 359 27 34 Holdstock, Robert : Mythago Wood (1984) 326 25 35 King, Stephen : The Stand (1978) 316 22 36* L'Engle, Madeleine : A Wrinkle in Time (1962) 310 23 36* Pratchett, Terry : Small Gods (1992) 310 23 38 Howard, Robert E. : Conan the Barbarian (1950) 297 21 39 Ende, Michael : The Neverending Story (1983) 291 23 40 Peake, Mervyn : Titus Groan (1946) 287 20 41 McCaffrey, Anne : Dragonflight (1968) 281 22 42 Orwell : George : Animal Farm (1945) 279 20 43 Feist, Raymond E. : Magician (1982) 274 21 44 Silverberg, Robert : Lord Valentine's Castle (1980) 261 20 45 Lovecraft, H. P. : At the Mountains of Madness (1936) 249 20 46 Swanwick, Michael : The Iron Dragon's Daughter (1993) 247 18 47 King, Stephen : The Shining (1977) 238 18 48 Garcia Marquez, Gabriel : One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970) 223 16 49 Saint-Exupery, Antoine de : The Little Prince (1943) 217 16 50 Hughart, Barry : Bridge of Birds (1984) 213 16
21st Century SF Novel:
Rank Author : Title (Year) Points Votes 1 Scalzi, John : Old Man's War (2005) 674 101 2 Stephenson, Neal : Anathem (2008) 432 63 3 Bacigalupi, Paolo : The Windup Girl (2009) 367 58 4 Wilson, Robert Charles : Spin (2005) 305 49 5 Watts, Peter : Blindsight (2006) 251 37 6 Morgan, Richard : Altered Carbon (2002) 238 37 7 Collins, Suzanne : The Hunger Games (2008) 199 32 8 Gibson, William : Pattern Recognition (2003) 197 30 9 Mieville, China : The City & the City (2009) 193 29 10 Stross, Charles : Accelerando (2005) 187 31 11 Mitchell, David : Cloud Atlas (2004) 185 30 12 McDonald, Ian : River of Gods (2004) 181 29 13 McCarthy, Cormac The Road (2006) 151 23 14 Harrison, M. John : Light (2002) 147 22 15* Willis, Connie : Black Out/All Clear (2010) 142 20 15* Chabon, Michael : The Yiddish Policemen's Union (2007) 142 23 17* Simmons, Dan : Ilium (2003) 137 23 17* Niffenegger, Audrey : The Time Traveler's Wife (2003) 137 23 19* Doctorow, Cory : Little Brother (2008 125 22 19* Ishiguro, Kazuo : Never Let Me Go (2005) 125 20
The site promises a list of complete results, sorted into the categories seen above. While it claims to be "complete results, by category/rank and alphabetically by author," I can't find anything that sorts it by the five categories (fantasy novel, SF novel, novella, novellette, short story) anywhere. I may have overlooked it, or it could be in the process of being made, but I do think when you say there are five categories for a poll, it would be nice to see the results of those categories without having to go through each one individually.21st Century Fantasy Novel:
Rank Author : Title (Year) Points Votes 1 Gaiman, Neil : American Gods (2001) 721 109 2 Clarke, Susanna : Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004) 609 94 3 Rothfuss, Patrick : The Name of the Wind (2007) 422 64 4 Mieville, China : The Scar (2002) 221 33 5 Martin, George R. R. : A Feast for Crows (2005) 213 34 6 Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) 211 33 7 Bujold, Lois McMaster : The Curse of Chalion (2001) 177 27 8 Mieville, China : The City & the City (2009) 170 28 9 Fforde, Jasper : The Eyre Affair (2001) 160 27 10* Bujold, Lois McMaster : Paladin of Souls (2003) 150 22 10* Pratchett, Terry : Night Watch (2002) 150 26 12 Gaiman, Neil : Coraline (2002) 144 24 13* Wolfe, Gene : The Wizard Knight (2004) 141 23 13* Abercrombie, Joe : The Blade Itself (2006) 141 24 15 Pratchett, Terry : Going Postal (2004) 137 23 16* Gaiman, Neil : The Graveyard Book (2008) 136 22 16* Lynch, Scott : The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006) 136 23 18 Jemisin, N. K. : The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010) 124 21 19 Le Guin, Ursula K. : Lavinia (2008) 123 18 20 Sanderson, Brandon : Mistborn (2006) 122 18
The problem is, you can't do that either, because a number of the winning entries are not novels or novellas, novellettes, or short stories, but anthologies, collections or other publications not defined in the original poll. Cases in point:
20th Century SF Novels
Asimov, Isaac : The Foundation Trilogy (1953)
Bradbury, Ray : The Martian Chronicles (1950)
Wolfe, Gene : The Book of the New Sun (1983)
Sturgeon, Theodore : More Than Human (1953)
20th Century Fantasy Novels
Vance, Jack : The Dying Earth (1950)
Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Silmarillion (1977)
Howard, Robert E. : Conan the Barbarian (1950)
These are all collections, not individual novels or stories, and furthermore, they aren't clear as to which publication they're even talking about. "The Foundation Trilogy" obviously refers to the three Asimov books, but are they referring to the 1963 (not 1953) collection, or the fact that the third entry in the trilogy was released in 1953? If that's the case, then that's three "novels" (strictly speaking, they're short story collections) as opposed to one, unless they're talking about the 1963 publication, in which case they've got the date wrong. What's more, Asimov's Foundation is listed separately from "The Foundation Trilogy," and comes in at 42, effectively being listed twice. What.
The Martian Chronicles is more straightforward, being explicitly a collection of short stories. By "The Book of the New Sun," I'm guessing they're referring to The Book of the New Sun, Vols. I & II - that last part "Vols. I & II" highlighting that this is a collection of two volumes. Perplexingly, TBotNS is listed in both the SF and Fantasy novel sections, at 24 and 18 respectively. Again, What.
Onto the fantasy novels, Vance's The Dying Earth is - again - a collection of short stories. The Silmarillion is a tricky one, since you could consider it a novel and a collection, though the nature of the work has me leaning towards the latter. And much as I'm ecstatic to see Howard represented, the entry is just baffling, and is presumably meant to be one of the following, neither of which is satisfactory:
- Gnome Press's Conan the Conqueror (1950) - in which case they got the name of the 38th greatest fantasy novel of the 20th Century wrong (in addition to ignoring the original date of publication in Weird Tales, presumably because they were going with the first time it was published in novel form, which is needlessly confusing and imprecise)
- Gnome Press's Conan the Barbarian (1955) - in which case they got the publication date of the 38th greatest fantasy novel of the 20th Century wrong (in addition to it being a collection of short stories, not a novel)
Since Locus lists Conan the Conqueror 110th in the "complete results," I can only assume it's the second. Either that, or Locus is listing an entirely imaginary 1950 novel by the name of Conan the Barbarian as the 38th greatest fantasy novel of the 20th century. Third time's a charm: What.
It's a bit of a confusing list. Are Locus talking about specific book publications, or the novels themselves? Why didn't they break it down further into novella, novellette and short story? Heck, why didn't they include anthologies and collections too? And why in blazes is Perdito Street Station counted as a 20th Century fantasy novel?
Or maybe I'm just thick, you can't discount that factor.
Add Comments