Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books

[Lawrence Bryan]

Many years ago. I did read them so they must not have been bad in my opinion, but I can't remember much about them, unlike other sci-fi books from that period.

Lawrence

On Aug 15, 2011, at 7:53 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> Doris Lessing had her sci-fi/fantasy phase, during which she wrote the Canopus in Argos: Archives series.  I was one of the loyal fans of her earlier work (and a fan of hard-science science fiction) who cringed at the thought of her wasting her talents on fantasy fiction - but I've always wondered about the books in the back of my mind.  Anyone read them?
> 
> Laura
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Aug 15, 2011 3:28 AM
>> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Subject: Re: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books
>> 
>> James Kyllo  wrote:
>>> The books that stand out in my memory are "The Left Hand of Darkness"
>>> and "The Word for World is Forest" (I see there is a novel version of
>>> this - it's the novella, in "Again, Dangerous Visions" that I've
>>> read).  Some of the others don't really transcend their eco-wimmin-sf
>>> genre, but are doubtless still better than the other inhabitant of
>>> that genre which comes to mind - Marge Piercy's "Woman on the Edge of
>>> Time"
>>> 
>> 
>> I dunno why anybody would want to transcend the eco-wimmin-sf
>> genre...it's got everything needed to sustain life...
>> 
>> but anyway:
>> 
>> 1976 was when I read the LHoD - I liked the snowy world, the cult of
>> ignorance, and I seem to remember she did something interesting with
>> gender.  Plus the edition I had, had an intro by her that I remember
>> as being worthwhile, in terms of introducing new ideas or helping to
>> grok the book, and sort of made me like her if that makes sense
>> 
>> there is a series of sorcery and sorcery (maybe a little bit of sword
>> too) that she wrote which was pretty fun.  Tales of Earthsea -- I read
>> those as an over 40 adult and still enjoyed them - a teen or preteen
>> who read those instead of or alongside Tokien would be well served,
>> fictionwise, I opine!
>> 
>> the Dispossessed is supposed to be really great, there was this
>> anarchist dude in the Infoshop bookstore in Kansas City with a
>> Lenin-looking beard who chose his email name from that book - ie,
>> people like it.  I haven't read it.
>> 
>> Always Coming Home had a table or insert at the end or beginning of
>> the book where ruling metaphors of life were the independent variable
>> and then for each it would list the respective variables - so like if
>> your ruling metaphor is business then yada yada -- anyway, great chart
>> - the rest of the book was great for noodling around in which was
>> perfect for me in the late 80s when I read it...actually I still do a
>> fair amount of noodling
>> 
>> That's really all I've read of hers or have to say about that although
>> I rate her pretty high.  I wouldn't mind rereading any of her books
>> that I've read (although  I didn't like the Lathe of Heaven movie very
>> much.)
>> 
>> There was a whole issue of the Fifth Estate, an anarchist magazine,
>> recently devoted to her and she contributed to it.
>> 
>> Last but not least: there's apparently a set
>> http://www.amazon.com/Always-Coming-Home-Ursala-Guin/dp/B0014EW6EE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313393026&sr=8-2
>> with a cassette tape which I'd like to hear
>> 
>> Wikipedia's bibliography shows there are a lot of her books that I
>> haven't read.  Cool!
> 
>