THE ILX ALL-TIME SPECULATIVE FICTION POLL RESULTS THREAD & DISCUSSION

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03 Gene Wolfe - Book of the New Sun
261 points/14 votes/2 #1 votes

Gene Wolfe thirded - his Book of the New Sun novels are a far-future fantasy which can be very cryptic because it's written first-person and the perspective shift is often quite unforgiving (this is also how it gets round the "magic" thing). Beautifully done, though, easily my favourite fantasy novels.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, September 7, 2005 6:55 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark

Book of the New Sun! Shit this is weird. I was going to start a thread on this the other day. Reason being - you know when something reminds you of a book you read, until you realise, "Wow, a LOT of things lately have reminded me of scenes in the same book so therefore the book must be kinda good?" Well the description in 'SotT' of the world where layers of civilisation are lost underfoot and minutely-calibrated-pain-exchanges = society-distilled-to-essence (sort of 'Songs of [collective] ExperiencexUltra'] - reminds of (u KNOW what I'm going to say right?) Also I remember being in luv w/ Dorcas but feeling like an asshole about it right? I think one is supposed to. I dunno, I'm not very good with this 'emotions' thing. Wassit like? I read this book when I lived in prefab W Canadian community w/ no 'collective memory' or whatever, and 'SotT' made me wonder, "What must it be LIKE to be in a world like that?" (Now I'm in one and it's - giggle - TORTURE! heh heh) Then a few years later I lived in NYC and I thought "This must kinda be like 1% of what the Citadel-world is like", and I actually met some chick called Dorcas and I did have a bit of a weird thought like "Am I only talking to this person because of that name?" (I didn't tell HER that tho, I mean c'mon). Man, I'm trippin' out on the sci-fi thing, thanx! Here's the worst bit though, I finished 'SotT' in my teens and I think that when I started 'CotC' it unfortunately coincided with me moving away from home the first time (we're talkin' triple-digit mileage here N. American style, not the UK 'moving to the garden shed, wow what an adventure in self-reliance' thing), so amidst all that upheaval I never got any further, but if I ever get a chance to do some guaranteed uninterrupted reading (highly unlikely except in case of a) confinement to nuclear bunker b) MASSIVE cash windfall coinciding with crippling accident, c) something else of that nature) I'll tackle the whole New Sun thing. Thanx for the reminder!

― dave q, Saturday, December 7, 2002 6:02 AM (8 years ago) Bookmark

reading book of the new sun again theres a lot of words in it

― jveggra va pbqr (Lamp), Friday, August 21, 2009 1:08 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark

New Sun is amazing.

really, I only have issues with Mostly Harmless and that is mostly because there are times when you can sense palpable waves of hatred and disdain emanating off of the page directed squarely at you, the reader

xp: okay this is a massive blind spot, never read this

Nice! New Sun was my number one. Possibly the only book I've ever felt compelled to re-read.

also i know using that cover for book of the new sun is childish but it made me lol so hard i cant even

wow i guess i need to read this

RIP Watership Down, you should have been ranked much much higher

That cover is a hoot. I still have all my "timescape" paperbacks.

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02 Ursula K. Le Guin - The Earthsea Trilogy
302 points/19 votes/1 #1 vote

search: first earthsea trilogy as near-perfect fantasy, 90s earthsea as elucidation/exploration of why it's not really possible to write that sort of fantasy anymore; the lathe of heaven (hey-i-could-be-philip-dick-if-i-wanted); the dispossessed (ish); always coming home, but not to actually you know read

― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, December 24, 2003 4:28 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark

Earthsea rules them all - Le Guin spare prose is truly outstanding and still reads well with my adult sensabilities (I probably appreciate her artistry more now).

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Wednesday, October 12, 2005 7:30 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark

Wolfe! yes. Figured this would place high. lol he always has the worst cover art, for the most part.

I dunno how I feel about a genre parody placing in the top 5, seems kinda... wrong. And I say this as someone who thinks that first book is really great.

02 Ursula K. Le Guin - The Earthsea Trilogy

okay was REALLY not expecting this. this isn't even her best work!

foregone conclusion what number 1 is I guess.

fuck all you guys for not getting ANY Moorcock on here though.

I would never think of Hitchhiker's Guide as a genre parody.

If there's no Delany in this top 50 I swear I'm going to kick my dog to death and he'll never understand why he had to die.

New Sun my #1 as well. My last rereading was abt 3 years ago and was v v rewarding, gonna do it again in a couple years.

Lamp yr cover choise was awesome

So many of these series start so well and I tire of them by the end. Earthsea is another. I think that's probably more me than these series as I keep saying it as each one places.

hitchhiker's is comic sci-fi as opposed to parody

Just as DJP re: Wolfe I have a blind spot re: LeGuin, rly need to rectify

i vaguely remember reading a wizard of earthsea in middle school or so, guess i should re-read if it's really held in that high esteem by folks here

xpost I do not think New Sun suffers at its finale (but note i refuse to consider Urth Of The New Sun as its finale)

RIP WmC's dog

And mine as well

Yes! Earthsea was my #1 and it is the greatest thing ever, all three of the original books.

I guess lotr will be number one, obviously

i was borderline annoyed @ hitchhiker's guide placing so highly (or at all really i think theyre kinda garbage) but when i read ned's post abt the series i softened - i can see how it might mean a lot to other ppl, how it might have real value

lol anyway on to NUMBER ONE...

Gormenghast!

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J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
378 points/21 votes/2 #1 votes

Lord of the Rings (started by anthony on board I Love Everything on 16-Nov-2001)

Lord of the Rings (started by Rolf Königshof on board I Love Film on 18-Apr-2004)

LORD OF THE RINGS! (started by gaol clichy (clichy) on board I Love Books on 2-Mar-2004)

Lord of the Rings fillum (started by Alan Trewartha on board I Love Everything on 10-Dec-2001)

favorite "lord of the rings" character (started by mike (ro)bott on board I Love Everything on 18-Aug-2002)

lord of the rings modulator (started by Ian John50n (orion) on board All Noise Dude Summertime Fun Board and Pickle Bar on 21-Dec-2004)

Taking sides: Lord Of The Rings vs Lord Of The Flies (started by the anti-momus on board I Love Everything on 17-Feb-2004)

Lord of the Rings OST - much cop? (started by dave C on board I Love Music on 17-Dec-2001)

LORD OF THE RINGS poll (film version) (started by "he said...all things passantino the night" (omar little) on board I Love Everything on 23-Jul-2009)

ralph bakshi's lord of the rings (and other adaptation frankensteins) (started by jess on board I Love Everything on 17-Nov-2001)

Silencio (or: Mulholland Dr. vs Lord of the Rings - FITE!) (started by Edna Welthorpe, Mrs on board I Love Everything on 7-Jan-2002)

Lord of the Rings, fashion trendsetter, sez Elle (started by Ned Raggett (Ned) on board I Love Everything on 5-Aug-2003)

Lord of thej Rings: ELves were stupid? (started by Mr. Latham Green (hanle y 3000) on board I Love Everything on 31-Jan-2006)

FORCE FIELD "Lord of the Rings Modulator" ....... C/D? (started by maria b (maria b) on board I Love Music on 4-Apr-2003)

Syncing up Andrew WK and Lord of the Rings (started by richard wood johnson on board I Love Music on 30-Sep-2005)

I Have a Colleague Who Has Suddenyl Become Obsessed with Lord of the Rings (started by MarkH (MarkH) on board I Love Everything on 12-Nov-2002)

Oct. 17 Lord of the Rings exhibit in London pre-Tom FAP special! (started by Ned Raggett (Ned) on board I Love Everything on 7-Oct-2003)

OPO: Lord of the Rings Vs Star Wars (Episodes 4-6) (started by hmmmm on board I Love Everything on 19-Jan-2004)

Lord of the Animated Rings: Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings" v Rankin-Bass's "Return of the King" (started by Publicidad de Sexo (Abbbottt) on board I Love Everything on 29-Mar-2011)

LORD OF THE RINGS 2 - FIRST BEST FILM NOMINATION FOR A SEQUEL SINCE GODFATHER 2 ? (started by piscesboy on board I Love Everything on 11-Feb-2003)

The official thread for Lord Of The Rings - The Return Of The King [LOTR ROTK TROTK ROK] (NOW CONTAINS SPOILERS) (started by gygax! (gygax!) on board I Love Everything on 12-Nov-2003)

Taking Sides: Star Wars episodes 1 to 3 v. The Lord of the Rings films (started by DV (dirtyvicar) on board I Love Film on 15-Jul-2003)

#1)Tolkien "the lord of the rings" (well, back in my early teens I loved fantasy novels! I've read many of them but this is just insurpassable. Besides it's beautifully written while most fantasy stuff is RPG-derived, which means that the prose is often lacking... What struck me is that Tolkien created an incredibly detailed world, where everything, from the vegetation up to the races and their languages, is richly described. Plus, it' long and I love saga-like books)

― Simone, Friday, April 6, 2001 7:00 PM (10 years ago) Bookmark

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

my poor dog

yay movies

lol

Thank god it wasn't Gormenghast.

I am really kinda pissed at a bunch of stuff I rated in my top 10 not even appearing. what is wrong with you people

Yeah, why don't we all have the same taste as you

wau that gap between #1 and #2

I'm surprised at no Prydain Chronicles or Chronicles of Amber.

I voted LOTR number one, btw

I'm surprised no harry potter

LOTR win just makes me feel kinda nauseated. Milton otm

xp shakey, are you serious?!

I should have voted.

It's kind of appropriate that lotr is #1, no matter what you think of it. It is the most notable, most popular, most influential work of speculative fiction in the 20th c, probably

Aw hell. woof's partially convinced me, although I still find most of The Two Towers, nearly all of The Return of the King and the first part of the final third of Fellowship tiresome as all hell.

I take back my curses towards the Harry Potter ppl btw

TOP 51:

51 Alfred Bester - The Stars My Destination

50 Yevgeny Zamaytin - We
49 Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle
48 Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana
47 Philip K. Dick - Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
46 Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash

45 Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
44 Stanislaw Lem - Solaris
43 Walter Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz
42 Thomas Pynchon - The Crying of Lot 49
41 Edwin Abbott Abbott - Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

40 Isaac Asimov - The Foundation Trilogy
39 Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
38 Alasdair Gray - Lanark
37 Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
36 Philip K. Dick - Ubik

35 Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass
34 Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising Sequence
33 H.P. Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
32 William S. Burroughs - Naked Lunch
31 Philip K. Dick - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

30 Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
29 M.R. James - The Collected Stories of M.R. James
28 Fredrik Pohl - Gateway
27 Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
26 Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson - The Illuminatus! Trilogy

25 Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master & Margarita
24 J.G. Ballard - The Drowned World
23 Iain M. Banks - The Player of Games
22 Franz Kafka - The Collected Stories
21 H.P. Lovecraft - At the Mountains of Madness

20 Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time
19 Philip K. Dick - The VALIS Trilogy
18 J.R.R. Tolkein - The Hobbit
17 Philip K. Dick - A Scanner Darkly
16 Ursula K. Le Guin - The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia

15 George R R Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire
14 Philip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
13 Jorge Luis Borges - Ficciones
12 Philip K. Dick - The Man in the High Castle
11 J.G. Ballard - The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard

10 Frank Herbert - Dune
09 William Gibson - Neuromancer
08 C.S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia
07 Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness
06 Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials

05 George Orwell - 1984
04 Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
03 Gene Wolfe - Book of the New Sun
02 Ursula K. Le Guin - The Earthsea Trilogy
01 J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings

seriously tho, do ppl just not adore Watership Down the way I do or was that just outside of the boxes ppl were using to pick their votes?

Never read watership down, though the movie haunted the dreams of my youth

btw the dog is my wife's, not mine, so he survives on a technicality

xp I haven't read Watership Down; I guess I should someday.

seriously tho, do ppl just not adore Watership Down the way I do or was that just outside of the boxes ppl were using to pick their votes?

― fat fat fat fat Usher (DJP), Wednesday, April 6, 2011 12:10 PM (1 minute ago)

it was in my top 5, i think?

I haven't read Watership Down since my early teens. Didn't care for it much then so haven't revisited.

i was just the right age for harry potter when the first few books came out but i suspect i'm at the lower end of the ilx demographic age-wise so i'm not that surprised it didn't show up. also probably major harry potter fatigue around now, i didn't even consider voting for it and have also pledged to myself upon finishing the 7th book that i will not re-read them for at least 10 years.

i did like watership down when i was 12 or so but didn't think of voting for it here

watership down is good, but it's no duncton wood.

OMG

SERIOUSLY IF YOU HAVEN'T READ WD READ IT IMMEDIATELY

I encountered it pretty much by chance when I was... 7? I just assumed it was a kid's book because it had a rabbit on the cover. It remains to this day the second-most enthralling reading experience I've ever had and is largely responsible for me reading fantasy and science fiction almost exclusively.

Shall we post and talk about our ballots here or in a separate thread?