March Madness - Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy Style SWEET 16

[Stefan]

On to the SWEET 16! I have the match-ups in a SurveyMonkey survey, for this round there is only 1 survey.
Be sure to get your votes in as the stakes get bigger every round:
Sci-Fi Fantasy Madness Sweet 16

The actual bracket can be found here http://challonge.com/Sci_Fi_Fantasy_M... for your reference.

The Sweet 16 ends at Midnight CST on Thursday March 28.

Let the fun continue!!

[Jonathan , Reader of the fantastic]

I really like what you have done with this Stefan, nice work. Looking forward to the final results at the end!

[[deleted user]]

Jonathan wrote: "I really like what you have done with this Stefan, nice work. Looking forward to the final results at the end!"

Ditto. Thanks for both the idea, and for making it happen. Appreciated!

[Bobby]

Ouch. This one hurt my heart.

[[deleted user]]

To my mind, the upset of the previous round was A Wrinkle in Time beating out Brave New World. The former was published well after I was a child, so I suppose it's the precious childhood memories of some other generation. (Makes me wonder how Harry Potter would fare in the tournament, had he been invited.)

[Stefan]

First of all, thanks to everyone for participating and voting. I'm glad that you're enjoying it.

To the Harry Potter question, I wonder as well, it's one of those that missed the cut by a slim margin probably because most lists had those ranked as individual books instead of the series as a whole like some of the other series that made it.

I also found Starship Troopers over A Song of Ice and Fire to be an interesting upset.

[Bobby]

G33z3r wrote: "To my mind, the upset of the previous round was A Wrinkle in Time beating out Brave New World. The former was published well after I was a child, so I suppose it's the precious childhood memories o..."

That's an interesting point. I actually am not a fan of the Harry Potter books but I think A Wrinkle in Time is pretty wonderful. But I did first read it as a child and it did scare the crap out of me and I have never forgotten it. I think of A Wrinkle in Time being literature in a way that I never considered Harry Potter.

[Xdyj]

Voted. It seems about half of the titles I voted for in the previous round was beaten :)

[J.D.]

Stefan wrote: "
I also found Starship Troopers over A Song of Ice and Fire to be an interesting upset. ..."

I, on the other hand, would have been shocked to see it come out the other way.

[[deleted user]]

Stefan wrote: "I also found Starship Troopers over A Song of Ice and Fire to be an interesting upset"

J.D. wrote: "I, on the other hand, would have been shocked to see it come out the other way."

Yeah, I'm with J.D. on that. I, at least, voted ST. GoT has a major media presence going for it on HBO, but I still prefer the Heinlein classics.

[Jonathan , Reader of the fantastic]

J.D. wrote: "Stefan wrote: "
I also found Starship Troopers over A Song of Ice and Fire to be an interesting upset. ..."

I, on the other hand, would have been shocked to see it come out the other way."

Well even if GoT is more popular nowadays if we were considering all aspects it semi makes sense that ST wins.

Neuromancer over Margarita is interesting but since both are rather obscure to most modern readers it makes sense. Ones like Dune versus the Hobbit and Foundation versus The Princess Bride were always going to be tough...

[Jim]

"Neuromancer" obscure? I thought it was considered the first cyber punk book, father of a sub genre, & a classic. No?

[Bobby]

Hey Stefan, how did you go about picking your original 64? Did you have help? Have you read all of those stories? More besides, I take it. Just curious.

[Stefan]

Bobby wrote: "Hey Stefan, how did you go about picking your original 64? Did you have help? Have you read all of those stories? More besides, I take it. Just curious."

Actually I found 3 best of Sci-Fi & Fantasy lists and 1 each Best Sci-fi and Best Fantasy exclusive lists and combined the rankings together from all of the lists. If a book was not listed on a particular list but was on other lists I gave it an automatic 65 rating on the lists that it was not on. I then averaged the scores and what you see is what I came up with.

No, I have not read all of the books on the list. I have read a majority of them, but I will be adding several to my to read list because of this endeavor.

BY THE WAY, only a little over 24 HOURS left for voting in the Sweet 16!!

[Bobby]

Well, it's been way more fun and interesting than it even seems like it has a right to be. Thanks. And me as well. I've also wound up with a looong reading list.

Aaaannd...already voted. :)

[Stefan]

I'm glad that you're enjoying it. I'd hoped that it would be fun for more than just me.

Aaaand...the reminder was actually meant for EVERYBODY! ;)

[Krister]

I love this! What a great idea - thanks for setting it up Stefan. I've just cast my Sweet 16 votes and can't wait to see who makes it through. It's given me a couple to add to my reading list as well...