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San Francisco, 7:43 AM
Wed Dec 16
25 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Adam Whitehead Adam Whitehead
    12/14/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    THE SEPARATION by Christopher Priest is the best SF book of the decade, to my mind. Its complex use of real history, alternate history, parallel worlds and human consciousness is simply fascinating.

    Mieville I can get behind. Stephenson I'm torn on, as whilst the Baroque Cycle has SF elements, overall it is a historical fiction with a high amount of historical fidelity (moreso than most straight historical works).

    ASH: A SECRET HISTORY by Mary Gentle should also be a contender for the list. As an alt-history with magic and an interesting language style, I would rank it as superior to JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL.

    For fantasy I think we do need A STORM OF SWORDS on there. A book with so many memorable moments, characters and lines that it's almost overwhelming, along with at least two of the most jaw-dropping "Are you kidding me?" moments in modern fantasy fiction. Probably the moment that post-Tolkien secondary world fantasy stopped aping the old master and finally said, "Right, now things are going to be little bit different," and followed up on in style by the likes of Bakker, Abercrombie and Lynch.

    For fantasy of a slightly different stripe, Steven Erikson's DEADHOUSE GATES and MEMORIES OF ICE are pretty impressive works, constantly imaginative and thought-provoking. Later books in the series have proved disappointing, even formulaic, but these two books remain very impressive.

    Alastair Reynolds, for me, would be a strong contender for individual best SF writer of the decade. Individual works by other writers have been better than any of his output, but his high rate of output (nine novels and three story collections this decade alone) and its very high quality should be respected. CHASM CITY and PUSHING ICE are classic works of modern SF in their own right.

    Ian McDonald's RIVER OF GODS and BRASYL are also very good, and refreshingly show that the future won't just be set in Los Angeles and New York, but that countries like India and Brazil have dazzling, high-tech futures and dangers to deal with as well.
     Reply
    Adam Whitehead was starred Adam Whitehead was unstarred
    Image of it must be bunnies it must be bunnies
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Thanks for the great list Annalee! More book articles please - look how many comments this has generated. I look forward to reading the new books on my must read list.

    Will there be another book club selection soon? I was without computer recently so I may have missed an announcement.
     Reply
    it must be bunnies was starred it must be bunnies was unstarred
    Image of Alessar Alessar
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    I'm really surprised Queen of Candesce isn't on here. ^_^
     Reply
    Alessar was starred Alessar was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    I wanted to like the Baroque Cycle, but it was too... baroque (And I adore 17th-century history).

    Whereas "Anathem", I zipped through in a ridiculously short amount of time, considering how big it is. I wasn't confused about the plot or the characters once.

    This list: not enough pew pew. j/k, but there's an awful lot of fantasy here.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of lazyeight lazyeight
    12/14/09

    @Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Agreed. The 'Cycle', while enjoyable was more what I would call historical fiction - ala Shogun.
     Reply
    lazyeight was starred lazyeight was unstarred
    Image of BullfightsOnAcid BullfightsOnAcid
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Glad to see Stross's 'Glasshouse' and Chiang's 'Stories of Your Life' on your list. They are brilliant. I desperately await more from Chiang.
     Reply
    BullfightsOnAcid was starred BullfightsOnAcid was unstarred
    Image of brownjawa brownjawa
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Lists are always fun to see! I've read a quarter of the books you've got listed here and am working on the sixth (Oryx & Crake). It was fun seeing your decade picks, thanks! :)
     Reply
    brownjawa was starred brownjawa was unstarred
    Image of FrankenPC FrankenPC
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Paperback came out in 2000: Dragons Egg. One of my all time favorite Sci-Fi novels. VERY hard sci-fi.
     Reply
    FrankenPC was starred FrankenPC was unstarred
    Image of thesis thesis
    12/12/09

    @FrankenPC: I assume you're talking about Robert L. Forward's Dragon's Egg (one of my favorite sf novels also). That was first published in 1980.
     Reply
    FrankenPC promoted this comment thesis was starred thesis was unstarred
    Image of FrankenPC FrankenPC
    12/13/09

    @thesis: Hardcover. Paperback in 2000.
     Reply
    FrankenPC was starred FrankenPC was unstarred
    Image of amygdala amygdala
    12/13/09

    @FrankenPC: The original paperback printing of Dragon's Egg was in 1980. It's a great book, and I'm glad to see that it's still available.
     Reply
    FrankenPC promoted this comment amygdala was starred amygdala was unstarred
    Image of FrankenPC FrankenPC
    12/13/09

    @amygdala: Hunh...Amazon is wrong.

    Regardless...yeah, fantastic Sci-Fi. His followup book Starquake was also fabulous.
     Reply
    FrankenPC was starred FrankenPC was unstarred
    Image of Platypus Man Platypus Man
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Wow, there's so much on here I've never heard of. I read Harry Potter on my own and "Tower of Babylon" from Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life And Others for my science fiction literature class (taught by John Kessel, if you've heard of him), both of which I enjoyed, but for different reasons.

    Next time I'm looking for a good science fiction book, I know where to turn.
     Reply
    Platypus Man was starred Platypus Man was unstarred
    Image of it must be bunnies it must be bunnies
    12/12/09

    @Platypus Man: You make me want to go back to university! Science Fiction Literature classes were not available in my day. Time to win the damn lottery and go back to school.
     Reply
    it must be bunnies was starred it must be bunnies was unstarred
    Image of Andrew Liptak Andrew Liptak
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Despite it's recent release, Paolo Bacigalupi's the Windup Girl should be here. A couple others that are worthy would be Altered Carbon and The Lies of Locke Lamora.
     Reply
    Andrew Liptak was starred Andrew Liptak was unstarred
    Image of Kishi Kishi
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Some books I really agree with on that, and of course some I think should have been included. I would have liked to have seen some Scalzi in there, or maybe something else from the young adult genre than Harry Potter- Hunger Games or the Uglies series would be a good choice there.
     Reply
    Kishi was starred Kishi was unstarred
    Image of pmbaustin pmbaustin
    12/12/09

    @Kishi: I was just going to post that I really think Scalzi's "Old Man's War" should be on this list. The whole series is great.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment pmbaustin was starred pmbaustin was unstarred
    Image of t3knomanser t3knomanser
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    I do think that this list needs Blindsight, which is the best sci-fi novel I have read this decade.

    It's not the most accessible- even though the main characters are, arguably, human, in practice they're fantastically alien beings. There's no comfortable or familiar point of view to follow the plot from.
     Reply
    t3knomanser was starred t3knomanser was unstarred
    Image of amygdala amygdala
    12/12/09

    @t3knomanser: I second the motion.

    More than any other novel I've read recently (even Glasshouse), Blindsight gets inside your head and twists things around. Awesome, if not accessible.
     Reply
    Chuck promoted this comment amygdala was starred amygdala was unstarred
    Image of Chuck Chuck
    12/12/09

    @amygdala: I liked Blindsight, but I also loved the whole Starfish/Maelstrom/Behemoth thing, too.
     Reply
    Chuck was starred Chuck was unstarred
    Image of dustyr dustyr
    12/12/09

    @amygdala: I'll third it. Blindsight was one of those books that reminded me why I read SF.
    I'll alo throw in a recommendation for The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Genre bending at its best.
     Reply
    Wookie1972 approved this comment dustyr was starred dustyr was unstarred
    Image of Wookie1972 Wookie1972
    12/13/09

    @dustyr: I would also include the two McSweeney's collections edited by Chabon, Mammoth Treasury Of Thrilling Tales and Enchanted Chamber Of Astonishing Stories. The first one is worth it just for Rick Moody's "The Albertine Notes," a brilliant PKD pastiche.
     Reply
    Wookie1972 was starred Wookie1972 was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo Dr Emilio Lizardo
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    I have read far to few of these.

    I need to retire so I can go back to the two-books-a-week I read in school.
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    12/12/09

    @Dr Emilio Lizardo: Back in high school (that terrible terrible period in my life I think of as "the dark times", which is to say: pretty much like everyone here's high school experience) I averaged two books a day. Then again, the books I read were a lot lighter weight than what I would spend the rest of my life reading. That's probably true for you too.

    I've read that the more education you have the slower your reading speed (in general), because you end up training your brain to read very carefully for dense technical content, and it's difficult to get out of that mode. That was certainly my experience once I got out of graduate school. That may be true for you too.

    Now I read about a book every two weeks or so, even though I discipline myself to make time to read nearly every morning (when, being very old, my mind is at its most alert).

    So I guess my short comment is: don't beat yourself up for not reading enough. Just find joy in the fact that you love to read.
     Reply
    Edited by Chip Overclock at 12/12/09 6:47 AM Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of Lassus Lassus
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    If having the Baroque Cycle precludes having Anathem listed, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and include the latter rather than the former. Oh the horror. It burns!

    I'm a bit surprised "The Name of the Wind" didn't make it. For anyone who's read both that and "Acacia", could you provide a couple sentences' comparison?

    Truthfully, although it's a terrible thing to contemplate, I'd be in favor of a project by io9 of a long and wide scope to define some genres. Not empirically, but for the purpose of this site specifically. I understand this may be impossible, but ending up with a list like this, it certainly would help.
     Reply
    Edited by Lassus at 12/12/09 5:56 AM Lassus was starred Lassus was unstarred
    Image of Captain_Tripps Captain_Tripps
    12/12/09

    @Lassus: Loose definition of Sci fi being used, if Harry Potter and The Name of the Wind are considered/included.
     Reply
    Lassus promoted this comment Captain_Tripps was starred Captain_Tripps was unstarred
    Image of Lassus Lassus
    12/12/09

    @Captain_Tripps: Er, well, right. That was my point.
     Reply
    Lassus was starred Lassus was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    12/12/09

    @Lassus: I've read most of these, but I haven't read The Baroque Cycle nor ANATHEM (although both are sitting on the huge stack of books in my office at home that are threatening to collapse 2012-like at any time). But since CRYPTONOMICON is one of my favorite books in any genre of all time, I'd have to make that my Neal Stephenson choice. I talked about it so passionately at the lunch table that most of my lunch buddies read it, then they too raved about it, driving the non-reading minority at the table crazy. Ahhhh, good times.
     Reply
    Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of Kishi Kishi
    12/12/09

    @Chip Overclock: Only problem is that Cryptonomicon came out last decade. =)
     Reply
    Kishi was starred Kishi was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    12/12/09

    @Kishi: Oops... I actually swung over to Amazon.com and checked on that and they had a date of 2002 on it. But maybe that's a reprint.
     Reply
    Edited by Chip Overclock at 12/12/09 8:43 AM Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of Chuck Chuck
    12/12/09

    @Lassus: I loved the Baroque Cycle, but calling it sci fi would be a stretch to me. More historical fiction with a sprinkling of magical reality...
     Reply
    Chuck was starred Chuck was unstarred
    Image of phoghat phoghat
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Haven't read "Time Traveler's Wife" yet but proud to say I've read most of the others. Didn't know I had such good taste.
     Reply
    Edited by phoghat at 12/12/09 3:44 AM phoghat was starred phoghat was unstarred
    Image of RavenNemain RavenNemain
    12/12/09

    In reply to 20 Best Science Fiction Books Of The Decade
    Seriously, am I the only one who was bored by the cliches and bad writing in "The Time Traveler's Wife"? I had to force myself to finish it.

    But I agree with the people who are asking aboug Neil Gaiman - American Gods, Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book... All excellent.
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz promoted this comment RavenNemain was starred RavenNemain was unstarred
    Image of TotalFanGirl TotalFanGirl
    12/12/09

    @RavenNemain: I had to force myself to the end of Time Traveler, too. I honestly couldn't figure out all the hype. As I read, I kept feeling like she was trying to impress me with her knowledge of music and art etc. But the story, ugh, sloooooow.
     Reply
    TotalFanGirl was starred TotalFanGirl was unstarred
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