Tor's 100 SFF books to read in the new year

[Dara]

Tor lists 100 SF/F Books You Should Consider Reading in the New Year. I bookmarked this for my future reading rut. Should be inspirational.

Some former S&L picks made the list including:
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

And January's pick, Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee.

[Bill]

I like that they stayed away from a lot of the big popular series. I had a few of them on my radar for next year and may add a few more.

[Mark]

Interesting list. These are the titles on my radar:

Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue by Rosel George Brown (1968)
The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter (1996)
Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (2010)
Blood Price by Tanya Huff (1991)
Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy (1983)
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh (1992)
The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monáe (2010)
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (2012)

[Dara]

Bill wrote: "I like that they stayed away from a lot of the big popular series. I had a few of them on my radar for next year and may add a few more."

Yeah, me too. There's a lot of variety in that list.

[Phil]

Am I being dense or was the list all female or non-binary authors and was that the point?

[Bill]

I think he was the one that did the fighting erasure series so it’s probably the point.

[Dara]

Phil wrote: "Am I being dense or was the list all female or non-binary authors and was that the point?"

The point was to list 100 books to consider reading in the new year and James Davis Nicoll did a smashing job.

[Phil]

I think it's a great list but it also has an agenda in that he states the books were based on merit but now we know that wasn't the only criteria. Imagine the outcry if it was all male authors.

[Dara]

What a jag! How dare he make a list of books that also promotes overlooked female and queer authors! The nerve!

[Bill]

Every list has an agenda. I think the (ahem) was your “warning” that he wasn’t going entirely off pure merit. I’m sure most other list will be mostly men with the obligatory Hobb or Jemisin listing thrown in.

[Dara]

Do we really need another list telling us how great John Scalzi's, Brandon Sanderson's, and Pat Rothfuss's works are? No. We know those guys are great. They get plenty of visibility. All lists are subjective anyway. The list is based on *his* own qualifications of merit and frankly, I'm glad he's using his voice to boost the visiblity of lesser known female and queer authors. This isn't a list of BEST SFF BOOKS OF ALL TIME. It's a list of books to consider reading in the new year and it absolutely should include books of lesser known authors.

[Rick]

Mark wrote: "Interesting list. These are the titles on my radar:

The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter (1996)
Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard ..."

Not read the linked post yet, but these are both outstanding. e Bodard's starts a trilogy but can be read alone and the Carter is one of the most interesting books I've read. Sadly, I think it's Carter's only novel length work.

On the 'bias' of the list.... for decades there's been lists of straight white guys. Even now, most lists have mostly straight white guys. One of the best things to happen in the last decade is that the field is expanding past just them to other viewpoints which brings us new, different reading experiences. This is nothing but good and lists that highlight this are fine.

Speaking of bias, Phil, note that your post has a bias when you say ":... the books were based on merit but now we know that wasn't the only criteria."

Two issues there. First, that these must somehow not be excellent books with merit because of the presence of another criterion. Second, that if it had included the usual suspects it would not be just different, but better.

PS: Something that might be flying over the heads of people here is that Nicoll is obviously taking a jab at lists that DO claim to be solely based on merit when he says things like "... each selected entirely on the basis of merit and significance to the field (ahem)."

His point? ALL lists have biases and NONE are purely on merit. To pretend otherwise is ignorant of how we humans think.

[Paul]

An interesting list, many I'd not heard of and I'm always happy to diversify Mount TBR ( I confess I'd not noticed that gender / sexuality / colour balance of the list ).



Nice to see some of my old faves - Joan Aiken, Elizabeth Boyer, Susan Cooper, Mary Gentle ( although I'd have put Ash: A Secret History there, one of the greatest books ever written ), Ellen Kushner, Tanith Lee, Megan Lindholm ( Wizard of the Pigeons is wonderful! ), Julian May, Pat Murphy.



Bookmarked!

[Leesa]

James Nicholl pretty much makes most of his lists very inclusive. We need more people like him.

[Phil]

Hey, there's no need to get angry or snarky at me for asking a question and apparently the answer was "yes, I was dense for not noticing or correctly interpreting the "Ahem"". Dara, I didn't know he was promoting any particular type of author and was just asking if there was something that I had missed.
I don't have a problem with the quality of the books on the list and I stated that in my second post.
Rick, I don't see the bias in my statement; obviously the other criteria besides merit was that the author not be male. I believe you're misinterpreting what I said.
I didn't insult anyone or even complain; I just asked a question and made an observation.
I'm out.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Phil wrote: "obviously the other criteria besides merit was that the author not be male."

There are male authors in the list.

[Silvana]

Interesting that the list has an album.
I am most interested in the last one, Ooku, which apparently the first manga ever won the Tiptree award.

[Dara]

Phil wrote: "Hey, there's no need to get angry or snarky at me for asking a question and apparently the answer was "yes, I was dense for not noticing or correctly interpreting the "Ahem"". Dara, I didn't know h..."

My apologies, Phil.

[Rick]

Phil - I can only reply to what I read. I can't know what you're thinking aside from that and when I read I think it's a great list but it also has an agenda in that he states the books were based on merit but now we know that wasn't the only criteria. Imagine the outcry if it was all male authors. that feels like more than a simple question in the context of all the controversies in the SF community about who gets attention in recent years.

That said, sorry if I misinterpreted what you meant there.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Dara wrote: "Tor lists 100 SF/F Books You Should Consider Reading in the New Year. I bookmarked this for my future reading rut. Should be inspirational.

"

Great list, thanks for sharing it! I had never heard of Woman on the Edge of Time before and it sounds right up my alley.