Spike R. MacPhee's favorite sf list(s),

6/19/95 version 0.8
An article in progress.

Favorites. The choosing algorithm can be nostalgia/first read, longevity/prolific, originality/depth of idea development, literary quality, series/future history, agreement with your politics/worldview, perceived popularity, currently writing, rereadibility, or usually - a mixture.

These lists are not in order by rank or any other meterstick.

TopTen short story writers - Ted Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, R. A. Lafferty, James Tiptree Jr., John Varley, Cordwainer Smith, Fredric Brown, William Tenn, Robert Sheckley, Poul Anderson

TopTen novelists - Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, Frederik Pohl & Cyril M. Kornbluth, Doc Smith, Roger Zelazny, John Brunner, Robert A. Helnlein, James Blish, H. Beam Piper, Alfred Bester

Favorite novels by my topten authors:

Poul Anderson - Guardians Of Time
John Brunner - Stand On Zanzibar, Jagged Orbit
Alfred Bester - Stars My Destination, Demolished Man
Robert A. Heinlein - Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Time For the Stars, Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Citizen Of the Galaxy
James Blish - Cities In Flight, Quincunx Of Time
Larry Niven - Neutron Star, Ringworld
Pohl & Kornbluth - Wolfbane, Space Merchants
Roger Zelazny - Eye of Cat, Doorways In the Sand, Lord Of Light
H. Beam Piper - Space Viking, Paratime Police
Doc Smith - Galactic Patrol & rest of Lensman series

Rising on my list novelists - Lois Bujold, Alan Dean Foster (Humanx), John M. Ford, Walter Jon Williams, Vernor Vinge, William Gibson, Crawford Kilian, Greg Bear, Robert Forward, Gregory Benford, Charles Sheffield, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, Tim Powers, Gene Wolfe, C.J. Cherryh

Descending on my lists (mostly due to lessened output or discorporation) - Samuel R. Delany, Gordon R. Dickson, Philip Jose Farmer, James Hogan, Joe Haldeman, James White, Jack Vance, Robert Silverberg, A. Bertram Chandler, Harry Harrison, Keith Laumer

Fantasy - Terry Pratchett, L. Sprague DeCamp, Fritz Leiber, Thomas Burnett Swann, Michael Moorcock

Lone hero/breakneck pace - Eric Frank Russell, Keith Laumer

Comedy/humor/satire - Robert Sheckley, William Tenn, Eric Frank Russell, Terry Pratchett, Fredric Brown, R.A. Lafferty

Short Story Authors:

Cordwainer Smith - Instrumentality of Mankind
Zenna Henderson - Ingathering
John Varley - Persistence Of Vision
James Tiptree Jr. - Ten Thousand Light Years From Home
R.A. Lafferty - 900 Grandmothers
Fredric Brown - Collected Short Stories
[I'm cheating when I can by citing bigger retrospective reprints, not original collections.]

Favorite Books by less-famous and none-top ten authors:

John M. Ford - Final Reflection, Web Of Angels
Donald Kingsbury - Courtship Rite
Tim Powers - Anubis Gates
Michael Swanwick - Stations Of the Tide
Ursula K. LeGuin - Dispossessed, Left Hand Of Darkness
Damien Broderick - Dreaming Dragons
C.J. Cherryh - Cuckoo's Egg
Stuart Gordon - Smile on the Void, Fire in the Abyss
Dennis Caro - Man In the Darksuit

Interesting effect: when I chose to rate my favorites by rereadibility, Silverberg, Sheffield, Benford dropped off, and H. Beam Piper added [had a dozen and had to cut].

Time travel and space flight are my favorite topics, you may have noticed.

Autobiographical note - born in 1947, reading sf since 52.

Spike R. MacPhee 6/19/95

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