2019 Time Traveler Challenge

[CBRetriever]

Allison wrote: "I know some of you have grand compendia of works by authors. Count those for each decade it spans. The idea is to read across the decades and get a feel for how things are different, where trends come from and so on. If there's confusion, err on the side of that being the outcome."

Planning on it this time as The Lord Dunsany Compendium spans three decades: 1905-1922 thus covering 1900s, 1910s and 1920s.

And I'm pulling the one Speculative Fiction by Alexandre Dumas The Wolf-Leader from "Delphi Works of Alexandre Dumas" which doesn't seem to be listed on Goodreads. It's purportedly the first werewolf novel.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Wonderful, that sounds great!

[Anna]

What about rereads? I can't find anything I like and haven't already read for 1930s. I'll keep looking, but I could just reread The Hobbit.

[CBRetriever]

Anna wrote: "What about rereads? I can't find anything I like and haven't already read for 1930s. I'll keep looking, but I could just reread The Hobbit."

did you check here:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
or here
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

my 30s selections will come from either the Dunsany Compendium or some Tarzan books from Edgar Rice Burroughs or some of the Conan books

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Sure!

[Anna]

Thanks CBR! This might be the reason I finally read TOAFK?

[Anna]

FYI in case someone doesn't know: Omnibuses, like The Once and Future King, don't have the original pub date of the first work in the omnibus, but the latest. So this omnibus says it was originally published in 1958, but the first book, The Sword in the Stone, was published in 1938, and that's why I'm going to use it for the 1930s.

[CBRetriever]

true - that's why I go elsewhere (Goodreads and Wikipedia are good for this) to find the original publication date

[Meredith]

Anna wrote: "FYI in case someone doesn't know: Omnibuses, like The Once and Future King, don't have the original pub date of the first work in the omnibus, but the latest. So this omnibus says it w..."

Looks like it could also fit into the 1940s, since Books 3 & 4 were originally published in 1940....

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Anna, I think you can read Once and Future King as any era book and I'd agree.

Plus, he's largely rumored to have been gay, so get ye some points and also a glimpse at my disastrous heart.

[Anna]

Haha, I won't be counting points, just trying to hit as many decades as possible. I now have 13 on my list, and if I actually manage to read all of those, I'll be very happy!

[Lost Planet Airman]

Allison wrote: "Angie wrote: "If we read more than one book by the same author (say, two books by Octavia Butler), do we count the points for that author twice?"

Great question! I'll add this to the initial post...."

Wait -- if there is confusion, err on the side of confusion being the outcome?

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Mike wrote: "Wait -- if there is confusion, err on the side of confusion being the outcome? "

*nods sagely*

Such is the path to Nirvana.

[Lost Planet Airman]

Ok, I've got to draw the line -- it's disallowed to use Hinduism to spread Confusionism!

[Diane]

Kaa wrote: "I made a spreadsheet for this using the Buried Alive! spreadsheet from last year. I'm happy to share it if anyone wants something like that to help tally points.

Link to copy: https://docs.google...."

I think there is an error on the spreadsheet for subsequent reads. I am getting 25 points for one book instead of 1.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Mike wrote: "Ok, I've got to draw the line -- it's disallowed to use Hinduism to spread Confusionism!"

hahaha

[Kaa]

Diane wrote: "I think there is an error on the spreadsheet for subsequent reads. I am getting 25 points for one book instead of 1."

Oops, sorry, looks like that formula was leftover from the owned books spreadsheet. I've fixed it in the version to copy, or you can paste this formula into D5 to fix it: =COUNTA(D8:D)

[Diane]

Thanks!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

John wrote: "Allison wrote: "Since I'm seeing some questions about it, colonial powers are largely considered to have been : France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, the US an..."

That wasn't really the goal for me, John--the focus was on authors' POVs, the idea again being finding not just the "normal" for a decade but when we look back, what are we perhaps missing, and was the majority/group in power telling a story that sounds like the stories of those not in power?

I do think it would be an excellent thing to discuss colonialism in fiction, though!

[Gabi]

Question: A book written by a f/m couple … does this get points for the "author is a woman" part?

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yikes! I'm torn, Gabi. On the one hand, the prompt is by a woman, by herself. On the other hand, I could see that some periods would be decidedly more difficult to find without a man's name also on the cover.

I'm leaning towards "no" but am happy to be overruled, or to have folks take it on a case by case basis for what we can expect of the time.

[Gabi]

:D I'm fine with "no". I just wanted to clarify, cause I picked a married couple for my 40ies read (went through the links provided by Trike and went eenie meenie miney moo)

[Meredith]

Maybe give half the points for authorship, if one is a woman?

[Meredith]

I wonder if folks would share their selections/planning for the different decades. I have been able to fill in most of the decades from my shelf and some recent purchases, including a used book sale I went out in the snow for today. Some of the choices are books I've picked for other challenges too (in case you are wondering why certain picks).

Looking for ideas for 1900s and maybe 1940s.

1860s: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, 1869
1900s:
1910s: I'll read one of the Oz books here (I have the collection as an e-book)
1920s: Lud-in-the-Mist, 1926
1930s: The Once and Future King, 1938 for Book 1 Sword in the Stone
1940s: I could do books 3 & 4 from Once and Future King here
1950s: The Day of the Triffids, 1951
1960s: Catseye, 1961
1970s: Dhalgren, 1975
1980s: War for the Oaks, 1987
1990s: My Soul to Keep, 1997
2000s: Storm Front, 2000
✔ 2010s: The Shambling Guide to New York City, 2013

[Anna]

I do have a plan, but it's probably going to change.


1897 - The Invisible Man
1905 - Sultana's Dream (short)
1911 - The Herland Trilogy
1928 - Orlando
1938 - The Once and Future King (book 1)
1949 - 1984 / The Little White Horse
1952 - The Borrowers / Carbonel, the Prince of Cats
✔ 1961 - Catseye
1977 - The Rains of Eridan / The Wind's Twelve Quarters
1984 - Cards of Grief
1998 - Brown Girl in the Ring
2003 - Oryx and Crake
2019 - Atlas Alone

[Meredith]

Oooh, Sultana's Dream looks very cool!

[Nicol]

This is my plan and it relies heavily on what is available at my library but I agree with Anna - it could change
1890's The Island of Doctor Moreau
1910's A Princess of Mars
1920's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
1930's Brave New World
The Sword in the Stone
1940's The Twenty-One Balloons
1950's Foundation
The Once and Future King
1960's The Man in the High Castle
1970's The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
The Stand
1980's The Gunslinger
Sourcery
1990's Wild Magic
Dealing with Dragons
2000's Terrier
The Eyre Affair
2010's The Fifth Season
Sister Mine
The Chaos
Ninefox Gambit
Queen of Air and Darkness
Not Your Villain
Touch
Broken Monsters
The Boneshaker
Ghosts
and The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin which has stories published from 1970's to 2010's so not sure where to put it

[Nicol]

Anna wrote: "I do have a plan, but it's probably going to change.

1905 - Sultana's Dream (short)

Yay! My library has The Big Book of Science Fiction which includes it. Now I have one for 1900's! Thanks!!

[Anna]

Meredith wrote: "Oooh, Sultana's Dream looks very cool!"

It's a short story though, so no points.

[Gabi]

My plan is as follows:

1750 AD - Gilgamesch
720 AD - Ilias
1200 - The Nibelungenlied
1826 - The Last Man
1895 - The Island of Doctor Moreau
1926 - Metropolis
1937 - Swastika Night
1943 - Earth's Last Citadel
1955 - The Stars My Destination
1967 - The Master and Margarita
1979 - Kindred
1983 - Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was
1991 - The Famished Road
2001 - Skin Folk
2013 - The Ghost Bride

[Nicol]

Gabi wrote: "My plan is as follows:

Swastika Night looks really interesting! I wish my library had it.

[Kaa]

I don't have all of mine picked out yet, but this is what I'm thinking of:

1818: Frankenstein
1826: The Last Man
1857: The Wolf-Leader
1908: Red Star
1911: Moving the Mountain
1925: Metropolis
1937: Star Maker
1949: The Sword of Rhiannon
1959: A Canticle for Leibowitz
1966: Rocannon's World
1971: The Lathe of Heaven
1985: Always Coming Home
✔1998: Kiss of the Fur Queen
✔2001: Skin Folk
✔2018: Ninth Step Station

[CBRetriever]

1720s - Gulliver's Travels
1810s = Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus
1850s = The Wolf-Leader from Works of Alexandre Dumas
1860s = Journey to the Center of the Earth from
1890s = The War of the Worlds from Delphi Collected Works of H. G. Wells
1900s = The Gods of Pegana from The Lord Dunsany Compendium
1910s = The Book of Wonder from The Lord Dunsany Compendium
1920s = Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley fromf The Lord Dunsany Compendium
1930s =A Fighting Man of Mars from The Collected Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs
1940s =
1950s =The Stars My Destination
1960s =Babel-17
1970s =The Female Man
1980s =The Falling Woman
1990s =Black Unicorn
2000s =Blade Dancer
2010s =Falling in Love with Hominids

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Such good lists, everyone, I'm so excited about all of these selections.

[Kaa]

I was just browsing around on Project Gutenberg to try to find some of the older books on my list, and discovered that they have both a general science fiction bookshelf and a shelf of sf by women, which could be helpful resources for finding older books. (Unfortunately, publication year isn't listed, so you have look it up separately.)

[Meredith]

Anna wrote: "Meredith wrote: "Oooh, Sultana's Dream looks very cool!"

It's a short story though, so no points."

That's fine. I have a personal goal/challenge to read more authors of non-European descent (aka, authors of color), so this is a good addition to my TBR. This challenge can tend towards white male authors so any options that lean the other way(s) are welcome!

@everyone posting their lists: thank you, so many cool new books to check out!

[Gabi]

@CBRetriever: Gulliver's Travels is a great idea. I think I never actually read this one.

[CBRetriever]

I hadn't either - just a comic book version and a made for TV version

[Gabi]

CBRetriever wrote: "I hadn't either - just a comic book version and a made for TV version"

And I just saw that it is for free for kindle - yeah!

[Lost Planet Airman]

Some that I am considering:
=======================
Five Weeks in a Balloon, 1863
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, 1869
The Coming Race 1871
Erewhon 1872
Around the World in Eighty Days, 1873
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1886
Robur the Conqueror, 1886
An Antarctic Mystery, 1897
Master of the World, 1904
R.U.R. 1920
The Short Stories of H.G. Wells 1927

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I am intrigued by a few of those as well, Mike!

[Maggie]

some I pulled up from my tbr, and what I have so far---hopefully this challenge will let me get to them!

1830's-The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
1870's- Around the World in Eighty Days
1910's-Jurgen
1920's- The Worm Ouroboros
1930's Island of the Mighty
1950's-Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation
1960's- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
1970's- The Inverted World
1980's-Blood Music
1990's Bloodsucking Fiends
2000's- Deepsix
2010's- New York 2140

[Lost Planet Airman]

Allison wrote: "I am intrigued by a few of those as well, Mike!"

Sorry for the infodump; it was a late-night, last-minute answer to Meredith's request. This compilation is a smattering of the golden oldies from Verne's 54 Voyages Extraordinaires and the list-of-lists "greatest hits" "Classics of Science Fiction"

[Kaa]

One from 1666 I may try (the reviews are pretty bad, but at least it's short): The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish.

[CBRetriever]

I added that one to my list - it's free from gutenberg.org

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

So far, I've read 8 books across 5 decades. My initial impression is my God we're just enamored of brutality these days, aren't we? It was present in earlier works, but it was usually the bad people doing the bad things. Now it feels like it's everyone.

[CBRetriever]

it's the anti-hero syndrome coupled with more nuanced characters with shades of grey. Think of the heroic western movies (early John Wayne) vs the 60s westerns (Clint Eastwood). Books changed around the same time. Luke Skywalker was one of the lst throwback types in scifi/fantasy movies with Bladerunner being the opposite grey tinged main character

[Norton]

I agree! It seems that violence has become a sanctioned way of life.

[Sarah]

Sorry to bring this up again- I am still confused on the 'non-colonial power'. Is it in regards to view point?

The Wolf in the Whale - author is American, but wrote from the POV of an Inuit protagonist. Would that count?

A Memory Called Empire - author again American- protagonist is not necessarily part of the colonized group, but she is not a citizen of the 'empire' (who is definitely a colonial power).

Sorry- it gets tricky with the fantasy/sci-fi worlds!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I probably wouldn't count either, unless the research in Wolf in the Whale was stellar and the feeling was one of working in a world made hostile by other cultures.

The second one doesn't sound right for those points.

Again, not looking for tales of oppression, but honest looks at what it's like to have a culture out of the majority--generally achieved by having authors who are themselves not from the US, Germany, France, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands (and sometimes China and Japan.) As in, the POV should not reflect views shared culturally by colonizers.