Comments on: “The Best of the Centuries” – Reflections on What Makes A Story Important

By: John H. Stevens

John H. Stevens — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 04:12:19 +0000

Thanks Patrick!

By: Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:19:49 +0000

I’m just staring uncomprehendingly at … That … Entry at the top of …

You know today is my birthday, yes? This is just the best thing ever. Thank you so unbelievably much.

By: Sam M-B

Sam M-B — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:27:20 +0000

Yeah, I think it was the loudness of WORD which hurts the novel for me. It re-read to me (last year I think was the most recent?) as so very “in your face” and not at all leaving any of the connections or implications to your imagination; the bad guys were VERY bad, the good guys VERY good. (Maybe I’m not quite remembering that part correctly, but that’s what comes to mind.) The Dispossessed refused (to me) to grant ultimate moral judgement when it came to nearly everything, and that’s one of the things which makes it such an affecting book for me.

By: Patrick Hester

Patrick Hester — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:19:06 +0000

Sorry John – didn’t catch that. Have fixed it.

By: Carl V.

Carl V. — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:37:54 +0000

I’ve really been enjoying reading the lists of bloggers who decided to post them. I find it such an intriguing process to see what people picked, hear why they made the choices they did, etc. Thanks for sharing yours.

Enjoyed seeing Desolation Road on your list. It was the first (and thus far only) novel-length story I’ve read by McDonald and it is a book I highly enjoyed. I know if made my ‘best of’ list that year.

I’ve read “The Brave Little Toaster” by Disch and I like that one as well. Some of the other stories (short, novella, novelette) look familiar but they aren’t bringing up enough of a memory to know if I’ve read them or not. I really should do a better job of cataloging and rating the short stories I read.

I didn’t vote so did not give the list a great deal of thought initially. I have a feeling To Avenge Man by Lester Del Rey would be on my 20th century short story list. I’d have some Cordwainer Smith on the list, though I would have a hard time deciding which short story is my favorite. There would be more of the well known authors on my 20th century novel list simply because that is predominately what I’ve read in the SFF genres.

As for 21st century I would put Wolfe’s Wizard Knight on my fantasy list, Reynolds’ Chasm City on my SF list. And then there would be several other stories battling it out while I was having your same questions in my head, “what does it mean to be ‘the best’”.

By: John H. Stevens

John H. Stevens — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:29:29 +0000

Sam: Thanks for pointing out the link; I’ll get that fixed.

I was torn between WORD and THE DISPOSSESSED. But the former won out because it’s had more of an impact on me and I liked the approach Le Guin took to the aliens. The echoes of colonialism are a bit loud, but the aliens are fascinating.

By: Sam M-B

Sam M-B — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:29:09 +0000

One thing I’m enjoying is (I think like you have done) is sort of cross-examining my picks with other people’s. I’m certainly noticing a long pile of books and stories I’ve not read, whew, my plans for 2013 reading are expanding… But I’m also definitely noticing both some direct (same exact book) and indirect (same author or even series, but different book) overlap. Examples being the 20th c. sf Le Guin books across some of the lists: The Word for World is Forest, The Left Hand of Darkness, and (my pick) The Dispossessed. Or Terry Bisson 20th c. short stories, “Bears Discover Fire”, “They’re Made Out of Meat”, and (my pick) “Over Flat Mountain”. Or Jeff VanderMeer novels, Shriek, Veniss Underground, and (my pick) Finch. I’m wondering if Locus will post (anonymized) the “long tail” of votes so we can see these kinds of things; maybe not quite enough people will pick a single particular one of these books or stories, but there’s an obvious affection for these works and writers where different books or stories resonated more with one of us than another.

By: Sam M-B

Sam M-B — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:18:17 +0000

The “some other folks” link is broken — needs a colon after http. (Thoughts later, but one after glancing at your 20th c. sf list is that I did not care that much for The Word for World is Forest, but did include other Le Guin novels on my list.)

By: Paul (@princejvstin)

Paul (@princejvstin) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:05:06 +0000

Thanks, John.

Still kicking myself for not saving my own list. I did have some overlap with you but not a lot…your list is a lot more diverse than mine was, as far as I recall.