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I just noticed that NPR is devoting its summer reading poll (a yearly feature) specifically to science fiction and fantasy this year. They are calling for nominations that will then move to later rounds/polls for voting.

In a nutshell: "During the coming weeks, your votes will decide the titles that make our top-100 list of the best SF/F novels ever written." (The list will exclude YA titles, horror, and paranormal romance, as those sub-genres will be getting their own features/lists in future.)

I thought other Beyond Reality folks might have some great ideas and input. (You can submit up to five books or series. I'm having a mild case of Reader Fits, trying to decide which books to nominate, myself.) If you decide to nominate something, I'd definitely be interested in reading about your choices and thoughts here! :)

Here's the link for the feature at NPR's site:

My top five, restricted to SF only:

Dune
The City And The Stars
Ender's Game
The Foundation Trilogy
The Voyage Of The Space Beagle

Guess I'm a little old fashioned in my tastes.

But check back later. I'm sure the list will change.

Duly posted on the NPR site.

Neat! Definitely something to ponder....

I posted mine yesterday (about 1200 comments ago!) and got 5 recommendations, which was kind of gratifying.

1. Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
2. The Tamir Trilogy - Lynn Flewelling
3. Terre D'Ange Saga - Jacqueline Carey
4. Wheel of Time series - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson
5. The Dark Tower Saga - Stephen King

1. Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett
2. The City & The City
3. Retrival Artist series by Kristine Rusch
4. The Alcemy of Stone
5. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams

American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Dark Tower - Stephen King
Discworld - Terry Pratchett

My favorites are Dune, The Left Hand of Darkness, and Slaughterhouse-Five, though Vonnegut often did not enjoy being labelled sci-fi.

I continue with my disdain for seeing "Dune" on the same lists as "Ender's Game" which I don't think is very good at all. But they flip-flop for the top spots in these lists all the time. Go figure.

Thanks for posting this. My picks were:

The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
The Wars of Light & Shadow by Janny Wurts
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Exorcisms and Ecstasies by Karl Edward Wagner

It's tough trimming down to 5 books. I could have picked twice that many by Zelazny alone. I probably should have included "Dune", "I, Robot" & some others... Oh well...

I noticed that some posters on the NPR page made multiple entries in multiple posts. I hope the NPR police are watching.

Jim wrote: "I noticed that some posters on the NPR page made multiple entries in multiple posts. I hope the NPR police are watching."

I believe the NPR request is limited to 5 nominations per post. So people (like me) who want to nominate more have multiple posts.

My first post was:
1. Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein
2. Miles Vorkosigan series, Lois McMaster Bujold
3. Deverry Series, Katharine Kerr
4. Crown of Star series, Kate Elliott
5. Foundation series, Isaac Asimov

My second post:
1. Discworld series, Terry Pratchett
2. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
3. Dune series, especially the initial book, Frank Herbert
4. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe series, Douglas Adams
5. Deryni series, Katherine Kurtz

My last post was to add The War of Light and Shadow series by Janny Wurts.

I ended up going with:


The Chronicles of Amber series � Roger Zelazny
Flowers for Algernon � Daniel Keyes
Dune � Frank Herbert
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang � Kate Wilhelm
Discworld series � Terry Pratchett (mostly for how much enjoyment this series has brought me during trying times)


I wanted to include, as well, but wasn't sure if it was only nostalgia on my part, as I read them so long ago (and needed some convenient criteria to narrow my list):

Brave New World � Aldous Huxley
The Master and Margarita � Mikhail Bulgakov
The Mists of Avalon � Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Arthurian Saga � Mary Stewart

...and something by each of these authors, but I either couldn't choose between their works or had some other reason for leaving them off the list:
Ursula K. Le Guin, China Miéville, Clifford Simak, Connie Willis

Kathi wrote: "Jim wrote: "I noticed that some posters on the NPR page made multiple entries in multiple posts. I hope the NPR police are watching."

I believe the NPR request is limited to 5 nominations per post..."

You are correct. I withdraw my snarky remark. However, I will refrain from adding more. The result should be interesting.

Oh I loved KAtherine Kerr, I must add it to my re-read, especially as I believe the story arc has finished. You could nominate it for the series read Kathi!

Jim wrote: "Kathi wrote: "Jim wrote: "I noticed that some posters on the NPR page made multiple entries in multiple posts. I hope the NPR police are watching."

I believe the NPR request is limited to 5 nomina..."

I fail to see what's snarky about your comment. Making multiple posts does rather blatantly ignore the entire point of asking people to nominate their top 5.

Dune
Foundation
1984
Discworld
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Well Jim a suprising number of the NPR posts have 6 or 10 rather than 5. I tried to read them all but didn't have the patience. I nominated
Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card
Doomsday Book Connie Willis
Tunnel in the Sky Robert Heinlein
The Foundation Series Isaac Asimov
The Left Hand of Darkness URsula K. LeGuin
I went with the books that have stayed with me a long time thus tilting slightly against more recent things although now I think I'd like to ditch the Heinlein and put The Time Traveler's Wife and maybe even the Asimov and put Expendable. That would tilt the other way lifetimewise . and I do need room for a sixth personally because A Deepness in the Sky/A Fire Upon the Deep belong on my list as well.

Marty wrote: "and I do need room for a sixth personally because A Deepness in the Sky/A Fire Upon the Deep belong on my list as well."

I'm with you there. If I were to add another five (which I promised myself I wouldn't) I would add the Vernor Vinge as well. Also the Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space series, the Iain M. Banks Culture novels, the Kage Baker Company series and the Tim Powers Last Call trilogy.

But I won't! Choke. Snort.

You guys must be excited about the upcoming third book in the A Fire upon the Deep/A Deepness in the Sky series! I wonder really wonder where he'll take the series.

I remember A Fire upon the Deep heavily relied on a galactic version of Usenet, an internet feature that's dropped off the radar since those first books were written. I remember thinking that feature was so cool when I first read the book, but when I tried to reread the book a few years ago, it seemed so dated that it kept pulling me out of the narrative. And A Deepness in the Sky - I still vividly remembering the big reveal, when we get to see the spider race as they really are, rather than through the humanizing lens of the stories as they're told on the ship. That's some good writing.

Oh, and... I will post my 5 books at some point. I'm having trouble editing the list down to 5. I'm stuck at about 18 right now :D

stuck at 18 Stefan....I am chuckling....

I don't know if I'll post to NPR (after all, I'm not an American national), but if I did I would need three posts, the first being all Lem books:

Cyberiad -- Stanislaw Lem
The Invincible -- ditto
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub -- ditto
His Master's Voice -- ditto
Solaris -- ditto

The Third Policeman -- Flann O'Brien
Starship and Haiku -- Somtow Sucharitkul
Use of Weapons -- Iain M. Banks
Perdido Street Station -- China Miéville
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand -- Samuel R. Delany

The Wreck of "The River of Stars" -- Michael Flynn
Mars trilogy -- Kim Stanley Robinson
Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson
"Nightfall" -- Isaac Asimov
Greatwinter trilogy -- Sean McMullen

Ron wrote: " Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand -- Samuel R. Delany "

And (the other) Jim posted The Einstein Intersection. Funny nobody here has listed Dhalgren or Nova.

But it's still interesting to see Delaney brought up. Does that make him a true "classic" SF author?

I think Delany, along with Zelazny & Harrison, are considered 'New Wave' SF writers, Heinlein & Asimov are 'Golden Age' while Shelley, Wells & Verne are 'Classic' but such distinctions generally don't mean much to me, so I could easily be wrong. I never cared much for any other book Delany wrote besides The Einstein Intersection, but it's one of my favorites of all time. Ditto with Herbert & "Dune".

I would have an easier time picking 5 authors & even that would be tough. I could easily pick all 5 books by Roger Zelazny even counting his 10 Amber books as 1.

I posted five but it nearly killed me. How can you choose only five? I can choose five 'classics' or five time travel novels or five space operas...but how to choose a flat top five?

I posted 5...as always it's a strain narrowing it down. I agreed with you a bit Jim, though I limited my choice to the first Amber series...the first 5.

Plus the LotRs and a couple that got less recognition.

Posting only 5 was painful, I agree. Who wants to leave out wonderful books? I ended up narrowing my list partially based on which books didn't already have a ton of noms (and thus would almost certainly make the next round without my help.) I wanted to voice love for some less-nominated books. (Well, I suppose Dune and Discworld have a lot of backers, but I couldn't bring myself not to include them, and while all my noms are popular enough, I saw very few mentions of the other three after going through many dozen pages of the list.)

On another note, that data is going to be a real, er, clusterfluff to compile and organize. On one hand, I don't envy the NPR folks involved, while on the other hand I think, "Nice work if you can get it."

Candiss wrote: "On another note, that data is going to be a real, er, clusterfluff to compile and organize. On one hand, I don't envy the NPR folks involved, while on the other hand I think, "Nice work if you can get it.""

I had a thought as I perused the things that people posted. There were many that were outside the guidelines, e.g., only two or three listed, Six or seven in one post, everything by a certain author, etc. With the volume involved, it would not surprise me to have them just omit responses that don't fit the instrux, which is to say: a great deal of editorial license.

It's true - they could have made it a little easier on themselves by just creating a fillable form allowing only 5 titles. That would still create a bunch of work, weeding out misspellings and duplicates and so on, but at least it would have been in a format that has some semblance of structure already. I weep for the poor intern who will have to tabulate that mess :)

And the Beyond Reality Award for Word of the Day goes to Candiss for "clusterfluff".

I know. looking through the responses I noted that several either didn't read the guidelines or thought they didn't apply to themselves... Oh well.

Ron wrote:
Cyberiad -- Stanislaw Lem
The Invincible -- ditto
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub -- ditto
His Master's Voice -- ditto
Solaris -- ditto."

What a fun thread! I would have trouble coming up with a top 5, but I am enjoying reading everyone elses.
I have been wanting to read something by Stanislaw Lem so thanks Ron for those suggestions!

Stefan wrote: "It's true - they could have made it a little easier on themselves by just creating a fillable form allowing only 5 titles. That would still create a bunch of work, weeding out misspellings and dupl..."

I second the giving of that award to Candiss xD

Barb wrote: "Ron wrote:
Cyberiad -- Stanislaw Lem
The Invincible -- ditto
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub -- ditto
His Master's Voice -- ditto
Solaris -- ditto."

What a fun thread! I would have trouble coming up a top 5, but I am enjoying reading everyone elses.
I have been wanting to read something by Stanislaw Lem so thanks Ron for those suggestions! ..."

You are very welcome, of course, Barb. I know I posted ten more books by others but the more I mull on it the more I think those Lem books would be my desert-island five.

Jim wrote: "I think Delany, along with Zelazny & Harrison, are considered 'New Wave' SF writers, Heinlein & Asimov are 'Golden Age' while Shelley, Wells & Verne are 'Classic' but such distinctions generally do..."

I'm with you on The Einstein Intersection, Jim. It's a great book.

I'd have to say:

Dune by Frank Herbert
the Enders Game series by OSC
Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (and wouldn't it just burn her toast to be nominated on a SF/F list! =)
Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series by JRRT


But oh, it's painful to have to stop at 5!!!!

If I could keep going, I'd add:
The Deverry series by Katharine Kerr
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Stand by Stephen King
The Gate to Women's Country by Sherri S. Tepper

I missed the cut-off at NPR, but here's what I would have entered:

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
Dune by Frank Herbert
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Also, for those interested, Patrick Rothfuss, partially inspired by NPR's poll and partially by some fan mail, posted his top 40 on his blog:

Very cool Mike - thanks for the link!

They're now asking for top ten from the list compiled of previous top fives.

I'm glad they're narrowing it to 100 and not a smaller number.

Oh, ugh. They're really limiting it to 10 & I had at least 12 top 10 picks.
;-)

How come the whole Discworld isn't up there? Hmm.

And how is it that Jim Butcher's Codex Alera made the list, but not the Dresden Files? Blasphemy!

Sarah Pi wrote: "They're now asking for top ten from the list compiled of previous top fives.

I'm glad they're narrowing it t..."

thanks for the link!

Sarah Pi wrote: "They're now asking for top ten from the list compiled of previous top fives.

I'm glad they're narrowing it t..."

Thanks for the heads-up!

huge holes in the list... oh well.

Well, the list was generated by users, so there are likely to be some holes. I'm a little surprised Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang didn't make the cut. I know I voted for that one.

Ack! I can't vote at all - the slider on the side is moving but it isn't scrolling the list down at all.
Wah!

Sarah Pi wrote: "Well, the list was generated by users, so there are likely to be some holes. I'm a little surprised Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang didn't make the cut. I know I voted for that one."

Tell me about it. I was bummed. But I think it's one of those books a lot of sff readers are aware of but haven't actually read.

At least the newer readers haven't. I used to come across more people who had read it than I do now. I was a huge Kate Wilhelm fan in high school.

I did my civic duty and voted for ten. Please don't ask which ones. I don't think I could recount them now. I did try to vote for not more than one title by any author.

Choosing only 10 was very difficult!!

I wish it more than ten too.