Stephen's comments (member since Aug 13, 2008)

Stephen's comments from the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club group.

I would recommend The Dying Earth by Jack Vance. I thought the way Vance used magic spells was unique and clever. Not to mention that the books are a ton of fun to read.

How about Foundation by Isaac Asimov. It might be fun to critique one of the classics

Another good one might be Dread Empire's Fall : The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams

Great topic. There have been quite a few short stories that have statyed with me long after I read them. A strong top 10 would be:

1. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Ursula K. Le Guin).

2. The Lost Boys (Orson Scott Card)

3. Closing Time (Neil Gaiman)

4. Jefftey is Five (Harlan Ellison)

5. The Country of the Kind (Damon Knight)

6. The Monsters of Heaven (Nathan Ballingrud)

7. The Eichmann Variations (George Zebrowski)

8. The Star (Arthur C. Clarke)

9. That only a Mother (Judith Merril)

10. The Mountains of Mourning (Lois M. Bujold)

THE IRON DREAM by Norman Spinrad
BRING THE JUBILEE by Ward Moore

Agyar by Steven Brust (Only vampire novel I know of where the word Vampire is never used).

THE LIGHT AGES by Ian MacLeod

Lori -

In answer to your question (of Andrew), Tyrion is the Dwarf who I agree is not properly classified as a villian. Tywin, on the other hand, is Tyrion's father. Now he certainly fits the bill as a villian.

Hope this helps.

That is a fair comment about Peter since he was, in the end, a very complex character and maybe not a true villian (certainly compared to the rest of teh list). I included him mainly based on his treatment of Ender in the beginning of the book, which always stuck with me as being exceptionally cruel.

I am new to the boards so forgive me if this has already been done, but I thought, as a compliment to the "favorite" character topic, it would be fun to list the best (i.e., most evil) bad guys in sci-fi and fantasy. Those characters that make your skin crawl but also make the book all the more intersting because of how well they are written.

I'll start with the following in no particular order:

Gregor Clegane - Song of Ice and Fire
Joffrey Baratheon - Song of Ice and Fire
Emperor Jagang - Sword of Truth
The Man in Black - The Dark Tower Series
Messrs. Croup and Vandemar - Neverwhere
Baron Harkonnen - Dune
Beauty - Hart's Hope
Tik-Tok - Tik-Tok (John Sladek)
The Mule - Foundation Series
Wednesday - American Gods
Alex - A Clockwork Orange
Peter Wiggins - Ender's Game

I list of my favorites that I do not think have been metioned yet:

Shadow - Neil Gaiman (American Gods)
Messrs. Croup and Vandemar (Neil Gaiman)(Neverwhre)
Hari Michelson/Caine - Matt Stover (Heroes Die)
Raven -Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash)
Agyar - Steven Brust (Agyar)
Takeshi Kovacs - Richard K Morgan
Ender Wiggins - Orson Scott Card
The Gunslinger - Stephen King
Richard Rahl - Terry Goodkind
Nick & Gillian - Chris Hinz (Liege-Killer)
Pukwudji - Charles de Lint (Moonheart)

And though already mentioned, I have to include both Tyrion Lannister from GRRM Song of Ice and Fire and Miles Vorkosigan from the Vorkosigan Saga.