Locus 20th And 21st All-Centuries Poll
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.
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
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
You gotta just go with your gut.
Martin
1 December 2012 at 14:40
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