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Locus 20th And 21st All-Centuries Poll

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Pretty self-explanatory:

Locus Online is hosting, during the month of November 2012, a poll for the best novels and short fiction of the 20th and 21st centuries, the first such poll Locus has conducted since those hosted by the Magazine in 1975, 1987, and 1998 (with an online supplemental poll in 1999). The scope for this poll is the 20th century, 1901 to 2000, and the first decade of the 21st century, 2001 to 2010.

There are five categories in each century: SF novel, fantasy novel, novella, novelette, and short story. For 20th century categories, you may vote for up to 10 items in each category; for 21st century categories, you have the usual 5 items in each. Results will be scored based on rank, so that a 1st place vote is worth twice as much as a 5th or 10th place vote, but not 5 times or 10 times as much.

The poll closes tomorrow and I’ve been putting it off all month. I imagine other people have being doing the same so I thought I’d post 21st Century lists as a prompt for other people to get their finger out.

21st Century Science Fiction Novel

  • Light by M John Harrison
  • Spirit by Gwyneth Jones
  • Black Man by Richard Morgan
  • Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
  • Maul by Tricia Sullivan

21st Century Fantasy Novel

  • Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
  • Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge
  • The Facts Of Life by Graham Joyce
  • The Scar by China Mieville
  • In Great Waters by Kit whitfield

Please feel free to defame these choices below. I also recommend reading Nina Allan’s choices, particularly if you are after short fiction recommendations.

Written by Martin

29 November 2012 at 11:36

Posted in awards, books, sf

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4 Responses

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  1. Okay, I’ve sent my ballot in now. Here are my 20th Century picks:

    Use of Weapons by Iain Banks
    Ridley Walker by Russell Hoban
    Vurt by Jeff Noon
    China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh
    Stand On Zanzibar by John Brunner
    The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman
    The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
    The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin
    Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
    Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling

    Lanark by Alistair Gray
    The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick
    Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
    Rubicon Beach by Steve Erickson
    The Bridge by Iain Banks
    The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
    Only Begotten Daughterby James Morrow
    The Five Gates Of Hell by Rupert Thompson
    Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
    Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

    Martin

    30 November 2012 at 10:33

  2. Good list!

    I’m not even going to try, honestly. Questions like “what’s the best [x] novel of the 20th century?” just make me break out in hives. I’d have no idea where to start.

    Jared

    30 November 2012 at 18:12

  3. You gotta just go with your gut.

    Martin

    1 December 2012 at 14:40

  4. The ones I wish I’d had room for:

    Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
    Darkmans by Nicola Barker
    Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
    Course Of The Heart by M John Harrison
    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

    The ones I really need to read:

    Life by Gwyneth Jones
    Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson

    The one I deliberately excluded because I didn’t really think it counted:

    One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

    Martin

    2 December 2012 at 10:03


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