SF Books meme and sexist SF fanboys

[glaurung]

The Science Fiction book club's "Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002":

[Bold: I've read it.
Italic: started but lost interest/never finished.
Asterisk: loved it at the time.
Two asterisks: love it still.
Strikethrough: did not enjoy it then, OR would rather have my eyes plucked out than have to read it again.]

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien **
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov *
3. Dune, Frank Herbert *
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein ** (it's a love-hate relationship)
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin **
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke *
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury *
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. **
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov *
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison *
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams **
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice (But I've read other Vamp books by Rice, hence the strike through)
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin **
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut *
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein ** (see above re: love-hate relationship)
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Well, it's pretty clear this list was drawn up by a member of the "no gurlz allowed" branch of SF fandom. I mean, really, Terry "talentless hack" Brooks' "Tolkien Puree of Shanarra" qualifies among the "50 most influential" but nothing by James Tiptree does?  Give me a break!

(And the same could be said of JK Rowling: yes, she's sold a zillion books, but I don't think she has been "influential" in the same way as Heinlein or James Tiptree.)

Blatantly omitted authors/works (same key as above, maybe not be super-famous, but all have been far, far more influential on the field than Terry fucking Brooks with his Crapstorm of Shanarra drivel):

James Tiptree: Brightness Falls from The Air, and/or Warm Worlds and Otherwise **
Russ: The Female Man **
Octavia Butler: Xenogenesis Trilogy
Tanith Lee: The Flat Earth Series **
Suzy McKee Charnas: Walk to the End of the World & Sequels ** (the series has a name now, but I forget it)
Lois McMaster Bujold: Miles Vorkosigan Series
Chelsia Quinn Yarbro: Saint-Germain series
Vonda McIntyre: DreamSnake **

Neil Gaiman (just about anything he's written) **
John Varley: The Ophiuchi Hotline **
Peter S Beagle: The Last Unicorn *

Comments

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

Well, it's pretty clear this list was drawn up by a member of the "no gurlz allowed" branch of SF fandom.

It is indeed. Where, for instance, is Robin McKinley, who I think may have written the first book about a female dragon-slayer (The Hero and and the Crown) and who has certainly had an influence on the whole 'woman in the role of quasi-epic hero' subgenre? Where is C. J. Cherryh, who has given us some of the best aliens ever? And also, perhaps not coincidentally, some of the most convincing faeries?

Women writers aside, where is Keith Roberts, whose Pavane is one of the earliest and best alternative timeline books? Where is J. G. Ballard, for God's sake? Or M. John Harrison? This is not just male-dominated, it is overwhelmingly US dominated. I reckon there are just five UK writers on that list: Tolkien, Arthur C Clarke, Pratchett, Moorcock, and the tedious and heavily derivative Rowling.

Probably that's why it didn't occur to their narrow and dull little minds to include Gaiman. He's not American.

[glaurung-quena.livejournal.com]

This is not just male-dominated, it is overwhelmingly US dominated.

And totally anglophonic: I didn't like the book by him that I've read, but Stanislaw Lem, to name just one example, belongs on any list of "most influential" SF writers.

Thanks for reminding me of Cherryh. And add Tepper to the list. I'm not very fond of either, but they both belong on a list of "most influential" writers, I think.

Come to think of it, Brooks and Rowling are I think on the list based on their effect on book marketing; the rest are there, I think, based on their literary influence on the genre. But if you're going to include marketing as a basis for "influential"-ness, then for sure the Star Wars/Star Trek novels and the Dragonlance novels belong on the list even more than Brooks and Rowling. Once you start admitting guests based on how rich they are, you can't turn someone away from your party just because you don't think their money has the right pedigree.

I'm planning on coming up with a women writers counter-meme in a day or so.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

I don't like Tepper - I used to quite enjoy some of her books, though there were elements in them that I wasn't too keen on, but The Fresco (2000) finally pissed me off. I won't call the book feminist; misandro-fascist is more like it.

I used to find Cherryh boring, but she has grown on me over the years. And improved as a writer, I think.

[glaurung-quena.livejournal.com]

I won't call the book feminist; misandro-fascist is more like it.

I used to find Cherryh boring, but she has grown on me over the years. And improved as a writer, I think.

The Tepper that turned me off her was "The Gate to Women's Country," which was also the first Tepper I read. It didn't read to me as the feminist book everyone was praising it to me as, it read as biological essentialism, which we get more than enough of from conservatives and sexists, we don't need more of it from people who regard themselves as feminists.

I used to have a lot of Cherryh but unloaded them all at one point when I realized that she was writing more-or-less the same story of political intrigue over and over again, and that I wasn't really enjoying the political intrigue parts of her books. Maybe I should check out her recent work and see if any of it sounds interesting.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Just to say "I heartily agree" to this, plus to say thank you for reminding me of Pavane - I read it years ago, and now I think I shall find it and read it again.