James Davis Nicoll's 100 SF/F Books You Should Consider Reading in the New Year

[juushika]

Late to the bandwagon, but this is my wander though James Davis Nicoll's 100 SF/F Books You Should Consider Reading in the New Year.

Some thoughts: A great number of women! Otherwise the diversity is pretty standard, at least within the realms of what I read/circles I follow. Nicoll has more tolerance/love for well-intended early SF/F and the way it influenced the genre. Laudable! I do this for tropes I care about! but I can't and wouldn't want to do it this generally, probably because I don't like most genre tropes. Very little that was entirely new to me is an immediate must-read, complicated by the fact that the library doesn't have most of them in ebook. That said, where we overlap on slightly quieter/more obscure SF/F, like "obscure Cherryh" and "obscure Giffith" and "Elizabeth Lynn <3," is delightful. I suppose my standards for more obscure things still work seeking out is, predictably, arbitrary.

Not for me a profoundly useful list, but a fun one, particularly as a meme.


Bold = read it. (37)
Underlined = read something else by the author and/or on TBR. (46)
Strikethrough = no, ty. (8)
* = I may add this to my TBR because of this list. (13)

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (2014)
The Stolen Lake by Joan Aiken (1981) (I had mixed feelings about Black Hearts in Battersea, but I think I'd like her now, so The Serial Garden is on my TBR)
Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa (2001-2010) (I'll probably finish the Brotherhood anime this year, but I'm insufficiently invested for the manga)
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō by Hitoshi Ashinano (1994-2006)
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Stinz: Charger: The War Stories by Donna Barr (1987) (humor = no)
The Sword and the Satchel by Elizabeth Boyer (1980)
Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue by Rosel George Brown (1968)
The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989) (I've read ... 3? Bujold without still knowing if I should/shouldn't read more of her work)
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (1987)
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (1980) (just need to read Survivor!)
Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey (2010) (I have bounced off Carey before; not sure if I'll try again or where I'll start)
The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter (1996)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (2015) (one of the small minority who hated this book, and more's the pity as there's aspects of the sequel I'd probably like)
Red Moon and Black Mountain by Joy Chant (1970)
The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas (1980)
Gate of Ivrel by C.J. Cherryh (1976) (slowly working through, you know, everything she's ever written)
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (2015)
Diadem from the Stars by Jo Clayton (1977)
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper (1973) (I read this a few years ago, it didn't grab me enough to continue the series; it's probably better than that first impression but ... TBR so long)
Genpei by Kara Dalkey (2000)
Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (2010) (I bounced off of this series, honestly off of all the de Bodard novels I've read, but like and will continue with her short fiction)
The Secret Country by Pamela Dean (1985)
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany (1975) (more Delany is on my TBR ... maybe I'll get to them this year?)
* The Door into Fire by Diane Duane (1979) (reading her Star Trek, but I had heard vaguely of this series but didn't know it contains a poly relationship! adding to TBR)
On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis (2016)
Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott (2006)
Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl (1970) (read this some time ago, and would probably like it more now that I've fallen hard for the technology-as-magic trope)
* Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle (1983) (a very tentative maybe?)
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss (1997) (this looks like it leans too literary for my patience)
A Mask for the General by Lisa Goldstein (1987) Goldstein is on my list of Jewish authors to read someday; I'll probably start with The Red Magician, if I have the heart for it)
Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1995)
Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly (1988)
Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand (1990) (my least favorite Moon so far, I think? but I'm destined to read all her work eventually)
* Ingathering by Zenna Henderson (1995) (a hard "uh.... maybe?")
* The Interior Life by Dorothy Heydt (writing as Katherine Blake, 1990) (maybe!)
* God Stalk by P.C. Hodgell (1982) (long fantasy series bad; relationships with gods in fantasy very good. so, maybe)
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (1998)
Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang (2014) (don't get me wrong, I hear it's great, it just seems too action-y for me)
Blood Price by Tanya Huff (1991) (Huff is de facto TBR material at this point)
The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes (1980)
God’s War by Kameron Hurley (2011)
Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta (2014) (I'm burned out on YA dystopias)
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015)
Cart and Cwidder by Diane Wynne Jones (1975) (DWJ is also de facto TBR material)
Daughter of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones (2014) (this has been a maybe on my TBR for a while, but I've put it off because I think it may be too light in tone)
Hellspark by Janet Kagan (1988) (this has been on my TBR for seven thousand years; I guess I'll need to find it in print someday)
A Voice Out of Ramah by Lee Killough (1979)
*St Ailbe’s Hall by Naomi Kritzer (2004) (new to me Jewish author! I'll at least look into her work)
Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz (1970)
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner (1987)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)
Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier (2005)
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2013)
Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee (Also titled Drinking Sapphire Wine, 1979) (I keep bouncing off of Lee, but may give her another try)
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (2016)
Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm (1986)
Adaptation by Malinda Lo (2012) (some of the only YA I've enjoyed lately; the rest of her work is on my TBR)
Watchtower by Elizabeth A. Lynn (1979) (I've read most of her work and should seek out the rest, I love her so so much)
* Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy (1983) (maybe too light for me? but, as always, Walton makes me reconsider)
* The Many-Colored Land by Julian May (tentatively! and not for any time soon, as this series looks like A Lot)
The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald (2007)
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh (1992) (I should put some of her other work on my TBR)
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (1978) (love this book; have been reading more of her on account)
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip (1976) (slowly working through all of McKillip's work)
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees (1926)
* Pennterra by Judith Moffett (1987) (heavy emphasis on human/alien sex? okay)
The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monáe (2010) (this isn't ... a book? ??)
Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore (1969)
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2016)
The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy (1989) (The Falling Woman is the one on my TBR)
* Vast by Linda Nagata (1998) (premise looks intriguing. FWIW, GoodReads confirms this can be read as a standalone)
Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton (1959) (I read The Beast Master, but have meant to read more Norton some day)
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (2006) (love this series so much! haven't gotten along as well with her other work)
Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara (1993)
Outlaw School by Rebecca Ore (2000)
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor (2014) (I've read about half her work with mixed results; unsure if I'll read more)
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (1983) (still reading the Emelan books!)
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (1976)
* Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack (1996) (this looks v. up my alley)
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti (1859)
My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland (2011)
The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975) (another "read it all, eventually" author)
Stay Crazy by Erika L. Satifka (2016) (I want to asterisk this so bad but I know it'd be both too funny & wildly triggering)
The Healer’s War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1988)
Five-Twelfths of Heaven by Melissa Scott (1985) (read Trouble and Her Friends with mixed results; Dreamships is on my TBR but I bounced off of my first attempt at it)
Everfair by Nisi Shawl (2016) (this didn't work out, but I'll read future novels from her)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
* A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski (1986) (soft "maybe?")
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart (1970) (as a kid, with no strong desire to reread/read other Stewart)
Up the Walls of the World by James Tiptree, Jr. (1978) (All Tiptree is on my "get to it someday" list)
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (1996) (this is low on my "maybe someday before I die" list)
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (1980) (I dismissed this a while ago as not my style; maybe someday I'll reconsider?)
All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017) (other Wells has worked for me! this series didn't so much)
* The Well-Favored Man by Elizabeth Willey (1993) (this has been on my radar before b/c fantasy of manners)
Banner of Souls by Liz Williams (2004)
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (2012)
Ariosto by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1980)
Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga (2005-present)