Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books

[Lawrence Bryan]

Hmmm... you mean dragons, fairies, and elves aren't allegorical? :)

Lawrence

On Aug 15, 2011, at 10:39 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> I don't think I've ever met anyone who read them and didn't like them - just other snoots like me who refused to read them at all.  I think I'm ready to join the opposing camp and give them a try.  Especially since, as you say, they're more allegorical than fantasy(dragons, fairies, elves -- ugh!) based.
> 
> Laura
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
>> Sent: Aug 15, 2011 3:28 PM
>> To: "kelber at mindspring.com" <kelber at mindspring.com>
>> Cc: "pynchon-l at waste.org" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Subject: Re: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books
>> 
>> I read them all and loved them.  I suppose Lessing was to sci-fi in the 1970's/'80s  similar to what Margaret Atwood is to it today. Most of the Canopus series is allegorical and about the human condition in society more than anything else. (But lots of the best sci-fi of the 1960s was  that.)   I read them becausd I was a fan of Lessing and I read them as they came out, so I don't remember a lot. 
>> 
>> My favorite of the series was/is The Marriage of Zones Three, Four and Five (is tht right?) And the one where the great prophet/teacher returns to find a war going and himself made into a doll fqigure.  
>> 
>> Bekah
>> 
>> 
>> On Aug 15, 2011, at 9:53 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!
>>> 
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