(1) HOOKED. When the Book Smugglers Quarterly Almanac leads with a title like this, it’s hard to resist ordering a copy whatever you may think about Harry Potter —
…I have felt as possessive about the Harry Potter canon as anyone I’ve ever met, so once again, when people are talking about Noma Dumezweni being cast as the adult Hermione, and the possibility that Hermione may not have been white in the first place, I can feel my (non-existent) entitlement begin to tickle. I have always been Hermione among my friends; it’s the rare character in which I saw myself reflected, validated in fiction; the character whose triumphs and losses were my own—surely no one else can have the last word on whether a black Hermione “feels right”? If it doesn’t feel right to me, there’s no way that can be retconned into the canon. That’s violating my childhood. I won’t have it.
Except that I was never a white girl myself. Through all my childhood years of hardcore Pottermania, I was a brown girl growing up in Calcutta, India.
(2) BIG-FOOTIN’ THE BIG-FOOTERS. The Washington Post’s Anna Fifield looks at the success of Godzilla Resurgence, which is the highest-grossing live-action film in Japan this year in part because Godzilla is now a symbol of a resurgent Japan that won’t take orders from America or anyone else anymore.
Now, in the wake of the 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the theme takes on a different meaning. It is impossible to watch the flummoxed bureaucrats, the scenes of the boats being washed ashore and the fears of radiation without thinking of the tsunami that devastated the northeast coast of Japan five years ago.
When the United States suggests a nuclear strike on the monster, people object, saying that Tokyo will become a “zone that is difficult to return to” — using the same phrase applied to the area around Fukushima.
Kenji Tamaki, a journalist for the Mainichi newspaper, wrote that the film portrayed “the deep anxieties” of modern Japan and parodied a political elite in crisis.
“Interminable meetings, bureaucrats’ reports read in somnolent monotones, an emergency that just seems to go on and on and on,” he wrote in the left-leaning paper. “Echoes of real-life Japan circa spring 2011, when the government descended into chaos in the face of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.”
But the film also portrays a militarily stronger, more confident Japan. The prime minister, putting down the phone after speaking to the American president, mutters about how the United States is always giving orders.
(3) GLEICK BOOK REVIEWED. Thomas Levensen tells Boston Globe readers how “James Gleick looks at history, physics of time travel”. (Beware, this may disappear behind a paywall at some point).
In “Time Travel,’’ James Gleick has done a wonderful thing. The book delivers on the promise of its title: It dives deep into the science, the philosophy, and the imaginative writings that have explored whether human beings could journey into the future or the past — and what complications would follow if we could.
But this book shouldn’t be mistaken for a work of popular science; this is no “The Physics of Doctor Who.’’ Time-travel enthusiasts will certainly get the history, the basic physics, and a useful tour of the classic paradoxes of time travel and its implications. But the book pursues much greater ambitions as well.
Gleick — a preeminent science author and journalist for over four decades — has long explored some of this territory. Beginning with “Chaos,’’ published in 1987, and through six subsequent books, he’s played with heady ideas about determinism and free will, the pace of time, the physics of time, and more. Now in “Time Travel’’ those themes come to center stage as Gleick asks why, over the long century just past, we have so passionately pursued the idea of an escape from the relentless grip of time.
(4) FROM THE VAULT. Echo Ishii brings to light another ancient sf television series: “SF Obscure: Moonbase 3”.
I haven’t abandoned SF Obscure. In fact, good things may be on the horizon.
But a short note about two shows set on space stations Moonbase 3 and Space Island One.
Normally, when I consider shows set on space stations I immediately think of my two favorites Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine. Drama. Humans. Aliens. Interstellar Wars. It’s space opera and the closest I am likely to come to a soap opera. And the relationships: Worf /Jadzia; Sisko/Yates;Kira/Odo. And the epic Babylon 5 romance of Sheridan and Delen.
Moonbase 3 has no alien romance, I’m afraid, but lots of interesting science. This series was produced in 1973 by the BBC. The main reason I heard about it was because of the theme song by Dudley Simpson who also wrote the theme for Blake’s 7. It only lasted for six episodes-there wasn’t much interest-but it’s good in the sense of looking back at how 1973 saw the future of space exploration….
(5) TODAY IN HISTORY
- October 3, 1955 — The children’s TV show Captain Kangaroo with Bob Keeshan in the title role was broadcast for the first time.
(6) WAR AND PEACE. Thanks to Kevin Standlee for pointing out that the WSFS Rules page (Constitution, Standing Rules, Ruling & Resolutions of Continuing Effect, Business Passed On to next year’s Worldcon, and the 145 page Minutes of the 2016 WSFS Business Meeting) are now online at the WSFS web site.
(7) NPR ON UPCOMING YA FANTASY. Caitlyn Paxson makes three recommendations, all with strong female leads:
The three books that caught my fancy this month look wildly different on the surface. Traci Chee’s The Reader follows multiple characters through a fantasy world where pirates sail the waves and a secret society seeks to hoard the written word. Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova draws inspiration from Latin American cultures to offer up modern teen witches on a journey through the spirit realm, and Sarah Glenn Marsh’s novel Fear the Drowning Deep paints a portrait of a little fishing village in 1913, where people are disappearing and creatures out of Manx folklore may be to blame. They have different cultural influences and different types of narrative – so imagine my surprise when I began to feel like these three books were circling in the same orbit.
(8) DON’T MISS ‘EM. Lady Business recommends “60 Essential Science Fiction & Fantasy Reads”.
Science fiction and fantasy are booming across multiple types of media these days: television, superhero films with strong SFF elements, and gaming are all enjoying a solid boost from science fiction and fantasy concepts. But what types of stories led us to this excellent time to be a SFF fan? What books inspired and entertained us until we reached this moment? Here are 60 of some important and thought-providing texts from science fiction and fantasy’s long history.
These are books which many people loved, that created new fans, entertained old ones, or renewed someone’s love of genre. Perhaps they even led some of the authors we love today to write in the very genre that we all enjoy so we can keep moving forward. Check them out below; how many have you read? 😀
Note: all blurbs come from Goodreads!
(9) LESS THAN 1984 STEPS. What does it take to make an Orwellian cup of tea? Read on: “George Orwell’s 11 Tips for Proper Tea Making” at Mental Floss.
FIRSTLY
First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays—it is economical, and one can drink it without milk—but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea….
LASTLY (SADLY NOT ELEVENTHLY)
Lastly, tea—unless one is drinking it in the Russian style—should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.
Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
(10) PARTS UNKNOWN. Wil Wheaton knows the best tourist places.
https://twitter.com/wilw/status/783039901881274368
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Kevin Standlee, Rose Embolism, and Chip Hitchcock for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
First again?
I guess there’s tea snobs to go with wine and beer snobs.
I’m like, is it hot, caffeinated, and could I get a coffee instead?
Current reading: Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett. I’m…bemused? that this made the best novel Hugo shortlist.
Re: 8 — I’ve read 42 of them. And there’s another five or so where I’ve read something else by the same author, but not the named book(s). Vagrerfgvat gung nyy ohg Fpnymv ner ol srznyr nhgubef…..
Fifth. Praise Eris!
Currently reading Seeker’s Mask by P. C Hodgell (Godstalk III). Not sure how I feel about it yet.
Posting here because the Special Award for series post is sooooooooooo far lost in the pixels: I am *SO* nominating Diane Duane’s Young Wizard series for this: the most recent one was published in 2016. *Jumps up and down excitedly*
Here is a brilliant and not spoilerific (in terms of major endings and plot elements) portmanteau review at StrangeHorizons (including discussion of the reissued New Millenium editions which may make me reconsider my not buying purist LURVE for the original ones): Electra Pratchett’s review.
If Kelly McCullough’s Fallen Blade series hadn’t ended last year, I’d have nominated that–I’m not sure if I learned about it here (or at Book Smugglers)–but I devoured the series a couple of months ago. I have to re-read to figure out why it was so compelling (I rarely feel that way about male protagonists these days–a large part of it was Aral’s — great name of course! — friendships with women, including those he was sexually/romantically involved with in the past — and the look at what happened when a Major Chosen Major HERO ends up with major issues after Bad Things Happen–not spoiling anything here).
29/60 on the Lady Business list. I feel like this was discussed back in August when it was first posted, but I guess it never actually got Pixel-Scrolled, for obvious reasons.
(8) I’ve read 17 out of 60. Kind of surprised me when I counted them up.
(9) “Tea is meant to be bitter”?
Sorry, absolutely not. I don’t put sugar in it; I use the little blue packets. I can still taste the tea, too.
(Maybe this title should be “Con-Teaky?”)
I use a very small amount of sugar in teas that have citrus and spice in them (think Constant Comment and its lemony sibling) as I think it helps bring out those flavors. Otherwise I take my tea black and unsweetened. Sugar in a good Darjeeling makes me sad.
8) only read 14. Why do books have to be so long?
About #1 – shouldn’t that be a Quarterly Almanac?
“you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.”
Apparently Orwell hadn’t visited the American South and was unfamiliar with sweet tea, which amounts to sugar water with a brown coloring obtained by brewing otherwise drowned out tea in it. Although it’s also undoubtedly *much* sweeter than he would’ve imagined was obtained by just adding the usual amount of sugar to regular tea.
icky-Tay
K8: Right you are — appertain yourself the beverage of your choice!
8 – 16/60. Got to get on some of those classics.
9 – Not a tea person – it’s mainly bog standard Lipton tea bags, or pu er/ Ti Kuan Yin when I’m having Chinese food. Sugar with the former, not with the latter, and never milk. Green teas are to be hated, and green tea lattes are an abomination unto man and gods.
The LadyBusiness list is odd to me in two ways;
1) At first, given the authors and the name of the blog, it seemed to be a list exclusively of works by female authors. But then I hit the John Scalzi book, which appears to be the only male authored book in the list. Wonder how he slipped in?
2) Given the intro, I was also expecting much more of a historical list; “What books inspired and entertained us until we reached this moment?” etc. But there’s a fair number of what seem to me as darn recent books (i.e. within the 2010s), so I’m not quite sure what the criteria were for getting on it (What, no Frankenstein?). Still, looks like a useful list for reading suggestions.
(9)
I like my tea strong. It takes a lot of sugar (or sweetener) to make it even mildly sweet. Milk is not bad in some teas – try it in Assam or Yunnan. And Lapsang Souchong makes a fine sun tea.
(9)
Fish sauce?
I believe Ladybusiness is making a point of producing a list of essential SF almost but not entirely composed of books by women, the way the majority of essential SF lists tend to be almost but not entirely composed of books by men. Except when they are entirely composed of books by men.
(3) GLEICK BOOK REVIEWED.
I’m fifth (!) on my library waitlist for this. I’m really looking forward to when it arrives in the collection.
::ticky::
(6) WAR AND PEACE.
At first I thought this caption was a commentary on the ambience of the Business Meeting, rather than a commentary on the length of the documents.
“Current reading: Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett. I’m…bemused? that this made the best novel Hugo shortlist.”
Read it when it was serialized in Analog just over 50 years ago. My recollection of it was of it being an interesting locked room murder.
The cover art for Part 1 – http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?56781 – and all of the interior art was by John Schoenherr, just wonderful stuff.
Of the nominees that year I read all but the novelization of Flowers for Algernon and enjoyed them all for assorted reasons. By hey, I was 16 going on 17.
Jo Walton has a survey of the 1967 nominees here: http://www.tor.com/2011/01/23/hugo-nominees-1967/
(8) — 16/60 here too. Plus another dozen or so where I’ve read the author but not the listed book.
Did I miss a scroll? I think I missed a scroll. I may have to go find it.
Finished A Most Extraordinary Pursuit, by Julia Gray (told you I’d check the spelling!) Remained steam punk in feel without any real steam punk elements. The lightly hinted at fantasy elements proved to be crucial in the end. A very good read.
Tea is the One True Beverage.
Good tea, properly brewed, is not bitter.
Exciting news for anyone following the Long List Anthology Kickstarter: the campaign has reached its first stretch goal to include 7 novelettes alongside the 9 short stories + 2 Letters to Tiptree already announced in the base goal. The next milestone is at $5000 for inclusion of two (at the moment!) novellas, including the Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn which I shamefully haven’t read yet because I’m spoiled by e-ink and struggle with long texts on the computer. They are about $1000 off with 13 days to go so I’m optimistic!
Link is here if you want to follow their progress.
8) @Tom Galloway Pretty sure Scalzi is there as a comment on the many, many “all men with a token woman (usually Ursula)” iterations of the “XX SFF books you must read” articles. The introduction is also quite clever in setting up the definition of “essential” not as “you need to read this canon or you’re not really a fan” but as “these are 60 texts which have contributed to the genre being as exciting as it is in 2016”. (ETA Ninja’d on this by James Davis Nicoll!)
I’ve seen this list four or five times now and every time I end up downloading another few samples to the virtual TBR. I was quite impressed to find I’ve now read 21.5 of the listed books – the .5 is for Cordelia’s Honour as I think this collects Shards of Honour, which I’ve read, and Barrayar, which I haven’t yet.
9) I wonder how George Orwell felt about tea leaf salad? (For the record I recommend feeling good about tea leaf salad, it’s delicious).
OMG bro do you even tick
@Arifel – Tea leaf salad far surpasses its modest name.
(8) @Arifel
That’s the only way it makes sense to me.
So, on that list… 17 read, 14 on my TBR, 28 that I either have never heard of or hadn’t made it to my TBR yet. This is the best article or list I’ve seen linked to LadyBusiness. There are several works on there that I have read about before and then forgotten to put on my TBR. There are also a few that are on my TBR, but have gotten buried because of the constant addition of new books. I’m particularly thinking of “Sunshine,” “War for the Oaks,” and “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland…” I’ve also had “Grimspace” on my Kindle for a long-ass time now, but couldn’t remember why, and the cover and title are not enticing when I’m poking around for something to check out.
…just full of lingering regrets
Of the Lady Business list, I’ve read 11, started another two but bogged down for one reason or another, and own at least two more waiting for their turn.
I’ve read 18 on the Lady Business list, plus a few more that I either read part of and stalled out on, or that I’ve heard so much about I feel like I’ve read them but I’m not sure I’ve actually -read- read them.
8) Read 16, plus another 5 that I gave up on without finishing. Not a particularly good showing… but I’ve never been particularly fond of God Stalk either so it’s possible my taste is defective.
@kathodus
“Grimspace” is one of the ones I gave up on. IIRC, it’s not actually bad – breezy, fast-paced, and episodic in the style of a TV show – but it’s built around one of those romance plots where disempowering things have to keep happening to the nominally competent heroine so the male lead’s manliness isn’t threatened.
It also reads like an homage to Firefly, in the sense of “I want to write something like Firefly but cooler”, which might be a recommendation if you liked Firefly?
I’ve read about eleven items on the Lady Business list, but to be honest, I think most of them were kind of forgettable. I must have had bad luck in those I picked.
Too Many Magicians and the other Lord Darcy stories were among the very first to introduce what TV Tropes calls Magic A is Magic A: the idea that magic can have a consistent and logical set of rules, just like science. Which in turn, is what allowed Garrett to write a fair mystery, where the reader had an honest chance to guess whodunnit. If you have New Rules as the Plot Demands (as was far more typical of the fantasy of the day), then all reader can really say is “a wizard dunnit”.
This was all considered quite a revelation at the time. Garrett basically created the genre of the fantasy detective. (This is why Glen Cook later named his fantasy detective Garrett, P.I.) Nowadays, of course, the fantasy detective is a common trope, so it doesn’t seem quite as impressive. Still, I think Too Many Magicians is a decent enough mystery by the standards of the time. (Though I may be biased, as I knew Garrett quite well–I was his page in the SCA.)
Maybe a better mystery than fantasy, in fact.
Xtifr: Too Many Magicians and the other Lord Darcy stories were among the very first to introduce what TV Tropes calls Magic A is Magic A: the idea that magic can have a consistent and logical set of rules, just like science. Which in turn, is what allowed Garrett to write a fair mystery, where the reader had an honest chance to guess whodunnit. If you have New Rules as the Plot Demands (as was far more typical of the fantasy of the day), then all reader can really say is “a wizard dunnit”.
Well, that’s kind of cool. My biggest problem with Agatha Christie was the way the solutions to her mysteries always came out of thin air, based on previously-unrevealed information to which the reader was not privy.
The Lord Darcy stories are collected in a Fantasy Masterworks edition, and my library has it. I’m curious enough now that at some point, I’ll have to check it out.
@robinareid: Thanks for that link. Whilst I enjoyed Games Wizards Play,it felt to me far too much like the sixth Harry Potter book in the sense of needing to resolve some subplots before the big finalé and I’m with the general consensus that it’s incomprehensible for anyone new to the series.
Then again, I’m one of those who has been with the series since the late 80s; I’m incredibly reluctant to read the new editions (with the attempt to “fix” the timeline) especially High Wizardry which is nostalgia for me rather than outdated – I don’t want it “fixed” to address the tech absurdities…!
robinareid: Posting here because the Special Award for series post is sooooooooooo far lost in the pixels
The thread is here:
Best Series Hugo: Eligible Series
I’ve asked Mike to include the link to it on the permapage at the 2016 Recommended SF/F Page link up on the main blog header.
Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series is certainly already on the list.
Re: The Lady Business list.
I took the one Scalzi on it, and the rest women, to be a “Take that” at all of the lists people we see posted where its all men, except maybe one woman (and that’s Ursula K Le Guin, or Octavia Butler if people are feeling “diverse”).
Arifel:
Psst: There are browser plugins to turn web pages into e-reader files. If you have a Kindle, Amazon’s Send to Kindle is very easy to use. “GrabMyBooks” is an independent thing that saves to epub. There might be other plugins more tailored for other readers.
The Lady Business list was discussed briefly during the kids-alone-at-home-party in August. And the gender distribution is clearly deliberate.
8) read 12 of those and other books by half a dozen of the writers where I’d not read that specific book.
OK, comments above made sense re: Scalzi, I was wondering if there was something we didn’t know.
::tickbox::
It’s a ~*~sooper top sekrit wimmin’s conspiracy~*~ innit 🙂
@Johan P howwwwww did I not know these exist! Installed, trialled, works, super appreciated. Thank you!
(8) My comments:
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre: Haven’t read it. I wasn’t that impressed by Enclave, the start of her YA series, but that doesn’t necessarily say anything about the rest of her stuff.
Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro — This is an odd book. The middle of it is an absolutely BRILLIANT story about a soldier dealing with PTSD. Wrapped around that at the beginning and end is a not-all-that-great SF romance. Possibly worth reading for that central half, though, and it kicks off a long and well-regarded series.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood — Amazing and a must read. Chilling. Definitely a classic and an essential.
Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear — Haven’t read it. I wasn’t all that taken with Bear after reading Dust, but my opinion changed after reading Karen Memory. Despite some lurches at the end, that’s a strong book, and makes me much more inclined to read more Bear.
Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg — Haven’t read it.
Chime by Franny Billingsley — Chime! Chime is on the list! Chime is so good, y’all! Billingsley should be better known, and Chime is probably her best work.
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop — Haven’t read it. I’ve heard this called “pure idfic”.
Tithe by Holly Black — Tithe is fantastic, as is the whole trilogy it begins. A lot of people I know don’t seem to care for Black, and I have no idea why; this is one of my favorite books.
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett — Haven’t read it. Love her short fiction; pulpy goodness.
Cordelia’s Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold — This is absolutely the right choice for Bujold; her later works are often very good, but her debut achieved a richness she often didn’t equal later. (Although she sometimes did; A Civil Campaign leaps to mind.)
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull — Good book. This is a foundational work of Urban Fantasy (before that meant “Usually Sex & Guns”), and a classic of the “Minneapolis School” of 80’s SF. While I think the genre has some better later examples, this is definitely worth reading.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler — Slightly ashamed to say I haven’t read this classic. I do love the Butler I have read, particularly Dawn.
Synners by Pat Cadigan — Haven’t read it. Her short fiction is great; Cadigan is one of the founders of cyberpunk and one of its best voices.
Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh — Haven’t read it (I know, I know). Love Cherryh, though. The Pride of Chanur is particularly great, and I’m fond of Merchanter’s Luck, the Morgaine Cycle, and oh so many others.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke — Big and sprawling and wonderful. One of those transformative works of fantasy that come along every now and then.
Survival by Julie E. Czerneda — Been a while since I’ve read this, but I remember really liking it. Czerneda does good, rich far future SF.
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean — On my “to read” shelf right now.
King’s Dragon by Kate Elliott — Haven’t read it. Only read her Spiritwalker series, which I found a bit convoluted. Doesn’t necessarily mean I wouldn’t like her other stuff, though.
Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman — Haven’t read it.
Slow River by Nicola Griffith — OK. Slow River. I CANNOT describe how much I love Slow River. This is essential SF. It is amazing. And it’s about love & drugs & power & privilege & sewage treatment.
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly — Dragonsbane is amazing and I highly recommend it. It is not necessarily the Hambly I’d have put on the list, though, but only because The Silent Tower is even better. (It is possible, though, that my view of Dragonsbane is colored by the fact that later books featuring those characters got a bit … upsetting.)
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge — Fly By Night! Yes! Everybody go read Fly By Night! I’ll wait. Have you read it? Wasn’t it AMAZING? Now go read Cuckoo Song. It’s EVEN BETTER!
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb — Haven’t read it. I read her Liveship Traders series, and thought it was good but not blow-my-mind awesome. Many people seem to disagree with me about Hobb on that, though.
The God Stalker Chronicles by P.C. Hodgell — Oh my god yes. These. These are the books I reread on a rainy night. These are the books I rave about to anyone who will listen. These are the *only* books I buy in electronic form first to read on my computer, then buy the hardcovers later, because I simply cannot wait. They are that good.
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson — Haven’t read it.
Valor’s Choice by Tanya Huff — Haven’t read it. I like the Huff I’ve read all right (the Quarters series, mostly), but it didn’t blow me away.
God’s War by Kameron Hurley — Really good stuff. If you like it grim & gritty, you can’t do much better than the God’s War books. Would definitely recommend them.
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin — Huh. Love Jemisin, but this is not the Jemisin I’d put on the list. I’d go with The Fifth Season, given all the possible choices.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones — This one, though, is definitely a classic. Jones has tons of books worth reading, and this is among her best.
Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr — Haven’t read it.
The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein — YES READ THE STEERSWOMAN IT IS AMAZING. Won’t say more because saying pretty much anything is spoilery for this one.
Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress — This was some really excellent SF. I wasn’t as taken with the sequels, but this one is great.
Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz — Oh, wow, memories of childhood. Kurtz was writing big thick doorstopper novels before that was a Thing in fantasy. I loved these a lot, but eventually got tired of the series.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle — Well, this is inarguably a classic. Weird and wonderful.
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan — Haven’t read it. The Brides of Rollrock Island was very, very good though.
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin — Well, this list would have been worthless if it didn’t have either The Dispossessed or The Left Hand of Darkness on it. Genius work by a master at the height of her powers.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie — There’s a reason this one exploded onto the SF scene and won Every Award. It fuses classic SF with bold innovation and may be the best 21st century SF novel so far.
Ash by Malinda Lo — I liked Ash a lot, but wouldn’t necessarily call it a classic. Her Inheritance/Adaptation duology was quite good, too. Lo is getting better, and I think she’s one to watch, but I’m not sure she’s written her best work yet.
Warchild by Karin Lowachee — Haven’t read it.
Legend by Marie Lu — OK, this is the first one that made me go … What? Really? I did not like it. I thought it was clunky and unoriginal and poorly plotted.
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey — Ah, McCaffrey. Read her when you’re young, if you can. The Harper Hall books made me cry. This is a classic indeed, although McCaffrey has some flaws that the other works I’ve lauded as classics do not. Still, if you read them at the right time, these books can punch you right in the emotions.
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire — I read Rosemary and Rue and … wasn’t impressed. Everyone was raving about it, and I couldn’t tell why. I thought I didn’t like McGuire, but then I read Indexing and Sparrow Hill Road. So I do like McGuire, quite a lot, and this one just somehow eludes me.
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre — Haven’t read it. I should.
The Thief’s Gamble by Juliet E. McKenna — Haven’t read it.
Sunshine by Robin McKinley — Yes. Yes yes yes. The best vampire novel ever. If you think you don’t like vampire novels, read this one.
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik — Huh. I thought His Majesty’s Dragon was enjoyable fluff, so it baffles me that her entry isn’t for Uprooted, which took her writing to the next level and is a genuinely great book. Lots of people love His Majesty’s Dragon a whole lot, though, so I guess Taste Varies.
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor — Haven’t read it.
The Female Man by Joanna Russ — Another true classic of the genre. Try her short fiction too (“When It Changed” is amazing), but this is one to read if you want to dive deep into the feminist SF revolution.
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi — Haven’t read it. Loved Redshirts, however. Funny book with real things to say.
A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski — Been a LONG time since I’ve read this one, but I remember it being pretty mindblowing stuff.
The Grass King’s Concubine by Kari Sperring — Haven’t read it.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater — Haven’t read it.
City of Pearl by Karen Traviss — This is an absolute classic of ecological science fiction. The sequels, alas, get progressively less interesting, but this one and maybe the second I’d put high on the must-read list.
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. — Definitely yes. The best of the New Wave, perhaps the best of Science Fiction, collected for you in one handy book. More great stories than you would have thought possible.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente — I LOVE Valente, and this is great stuff. If middle-grade isn’t for you, though, try The Orphan’s Tales instead. There’s many others I could recommend. Her recent book Radiance is weird and awesome, too.
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge — Another definite classic. A giant of the genre, worth reading and re-reading.
Farthing by Jo Walton — Farthing is the book I lend to people who don’t know whether they’d like the whole alt-history thing. It is brilliant. And chilling.
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells — Oh, yeah. These books are wildly inventive with characters you’ll want to spend time with. Great stuff.
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis — This is a good intro to Willis, and is particularly good for fans of Three Men In A Boat, although having read that is not necessary to enjoy it. I’m surprised it wasn’t Doomsday Book that made the list, though, that’s generally considered to be her strongest. There’s a lot of Willis I like, though.
8) I’ve read 21/60 on the Lady Business list. Have read another 6 or 7 authors, just not the listed work. Interesting list. My personal list would be a bit different, but that’s as it should be.
8) I counted 17 that I’d read, plus however many I’ve read and forgotten. I was expecting that 17 to be a low count – I haven’t read all that much recent SF.