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forestofglorySo back in 2004 I thought I would start a project -- I would read all the writen stories that had won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. I made an LJ post about it here Then for a while I sought out those stories and updated that post. Then the stories got harder to find and I got less interested in reading classic SF just because it is classic. So I haven't been actively working on this project for long time though I have read some of the more recent winners because they are thing I wanted to read.
Recently I realized that the library has most of the annual Nebula collections. This means that the short stories should be easy to get. So I've decided to work on this reading goal again.
I've re-written up the list with more comments about the works I've read. Some of them I don't remember very well (it has been a while) so they don't all get comments.
1966/60 Novel/Short Fiction: Flowers for Algernon/"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes I’ve only read the short story -- but it was depressing enough that I doubt I’ll read the book
1966/65 Novel: Dune by Frank Herbert - I loved this in high school, not so much anymore as I find the politics dull and ecology way too simple.
1966/65 Short Fiction/Short Story: "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison Deeply depressing which seem par for the course with all the other Ellison stories I’ve read.
1967/66 Novelette/Novella: "The Last Castle" by Jack Vance -- No memory of reading this. Too bad it’s probably the only Vance I’ve read.
1968/67 Novelette: "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber
1970/69 Novel: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin A very good book, but they Le Guin is one of my favorite authors.
1970/69 Short Story/Novelette: "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" by Samuel R. Delany I didn’t understand what was happening in this story maybe I ought to try reading it again some time.
1971/70 Novel: Ringworld by Larry Niven en, this was never my favorite Know Space story (I think that would be “Grendel”) and no longer feel much fondness for it, though I remember liking it once.
1971/70 Novella: "Ill Met in Lankhmar" by Fritz Leiber (10/10) Good fun.
1971/70 Short Story/Novelette: "Slow Sculpture" by Theodore Sturgeon (10/10) The science in this so dated as to be silly. (Curing cancer with electricity!)
1972/71 Novelette: "The Queen of Air and Darkness" by Poul Anderson (11/10) I liked the setting of this, but the man explains everything to a woman mode of explain the action got old. At least the female character was scientist, though the story focused on her role as a mother more.
1973/72 Novel: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov I find it odd that someone who wrote books without a single female character could write something a gender-bendy as this. (Still the story mostly confirms gender norms at the time especially the idea that men reason and women are intuitive.)
1973/72 Novelette: "Goat Song" by Poul Anderson (12/10) This is a SF retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice. I thought it did a very good job with the mythical correspondences.
1974/73 Novel: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke en, there is big thing in space, but I fail to care.
1975/74 Novel: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin love! The best SF book featuring Anarcho-syndicalists.
1976/75 Novel: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman I see why this book is important but I didn't really enjoy it.
1976/75 Novella: "Home Is the Hangman" by Roger Zelazny I remember liking this but not what it was about.
1976/75 Short Story: "Catch that Zeppelin!" by Fritz Leiber Alternate History with Zeppelins!
1977/76 Novella: "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" by James Tiptree, Jr.
1977/76 Novelette: "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov
1978/77 Novel: Gateway by Frederik Pohl
1978/77 Novella: "Stardance" by Spider and Jeanne Robinson This had dancing in free fall but was still sad.
1978/77 Short Story: "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison more very depressing Ellison.
1979/78 Novel: Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
1979/78 Novella: "The Persistence of Vision" by John Varley Really interesting story about a society of blind and deaf people who don't see themselves as disabled.
1980/79 Novel: The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke (4/11) I didn't think I'd like this at all, but actually I rather enjoyed it. It is an engineering story about building a space elevator. The book has a list of references in the back, it is hardcore like that. (Thus I learned that Clarke didn't originate the idea of the space elevator.) Anyways there isn't much character conflict at all. There is a conflict with some monks that seems like maybe it could be epic, but then it just goes away.
Clarke is also a bit dim about religion. Most humans aren't going to give up religion because an alien prob comes along and says that religion is illogical, and that most aliens don't have any. It's just not what people are like. Oh well, this is not a book about people at all really.
1980/79 Novella: "Enemy Mine" by Barry B. Longyear
1980/79 Novelette: "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin(1/11) Well written, fairly creepy with interesting critters.
1981/80 Short Story: "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak
1982/81 Novella: "The Saturn Game" by Poul Anderson (12/10) This story is awfully negative about roleplaying, but it does have an awesome setting.
1983/82 Novelette: "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis Good. Set in the same universe as Doomsday Book ect.
1984/83 Novel: Startide Rising by David Brin I used to love this but haven’t read it for years for fear of the suck fairy. Has talking Dolphins which is always a plus.
1984/83 Novelette: "Blood Music" by Greg Bear
1985/84 Novel: Neuromancer by William Gibson This another classic I mostly feel eh about.
1985/84 Novella: "PRESS ENTER " by John Varley (5/11)Interesting and rather creepy.
1985/84 Novelette: "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler
1986/85 Novel: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
1987/86 Novel: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card I always liked this one better then Enders Game. (I like odd aliens a lot) but I have not re-read either in a long time. Card being homophobic on the internet has made me like his books less.
1987/86 Short Story: "Tangents" by Greg Bear(1/11) This story was rather bland. I didn't find it very interesting, and don't really have much to say about it.
1989/88 Novella: "The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis Very very sad, but I also question the author’s grasp of how epidemics work.
1989/88 Short Story/Novelette: "Schrödinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger (2/11) I wasn't much taken with this. The story is about quantum mechanics as you might guess form the title, but not about cats.
1990/89 Novella: "The Mountains of Mourning" by Lois McMaster Bujold Love! One of the best Miles stories.
1991/90 Novella: "The Hemingway Hoax" by Joe Haldeman (2/11)I really didn't like this. One, I've never read anything by Hemingway nor do I want to, so I wasn't that interested in the story to began with ; two bits of this where way too gory for me; and three the ending made no sense, it didn't answer the questions raised in the rest of the story and it was confusing.
1991/90 Short Story: "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson quite odd.
1992/91 Novella: "Beggars in Spain" by Nancy Kress This was very good, I keep wondering if I want to read the novel it became or not.
1993/92 Novel: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis This very good and also very tragic (which isn’t the same thing as depressing).
1993/92 Short Story: "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis Very silly and fun. Willis in full on screwball mode. (For some reason I own at least 3 copies of this in different collections)
1994/93 Novelette: "Georgia On My Mind" by Charles Sheffield
1995/94 Novella: "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" by Mike Resnick [*] This story is very bleak, yet I found myself drawn in. The concept of the story, of an archeological dig on Earth long after the fall of humanity was neat too. The team is able to look back on human history through a series of artifacts. Social Justice Stuff: I'm not a fan of call humanity Man and referring to us with a masculine pronoun. There are a fair number of Black people in this story, but they are generally portrayed as primitive and/or corrupt.
1996/95 Novelette: "The Martian Child" by David Gerrold (2/11) I thought this story was very sweet, but surprisingly un-SFinal.
1998 Novel: Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
2001 Novella: "The Ultimate Earth" by Jack Williamson (3/11) The premise was interesting and kinda creepy, but the creepy bits don't really get explored, the story went somewhere else instead.
2002 Novel: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
2002 Novelette: "Hell is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang Very strange. I don’t think I’d like to live in a world where God was so explicitly real.
2003 Novella: Coraline by Neil Gaiman Dark. I’ve never liked Gaiman as much as many of my friends for some reason and this book followed that general trend.
2004 Novel: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold Love! This is another of my favorite Bujold mostly because I like Ista a lot.
2005 Novelette: "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link
2005 Novella: "Two Hearts" by Peter S Beagle Quite Good. (I’m not sure how it would seem to people who had not read The Last Unicorn)
2007 Novelette: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (4/11) This story has several stories within it and lots of time travel. I thought it was interesting and bit sad, but also exoticizing.
2008 Novel: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon I enjoyed this very much even if it ticked off the inner feminist citric a bit.
2010 Novel: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (1/11) I have mixed feeling as about this book. On the one hand the science is extremely implausible, and most of the viewpoint characters are rather unlikeable. Still I found it compelling reading -- I wanted to know what happened next.
2011 Novel: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis this was rather disappointing.
2012 Novel: Among Others by Jo Walton
2012 Novelette THE MAN WHO BRIDGED THE MIST by Kij Johnson
2012 Short Story: ”The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu Ken Liu always write tearjerkers.
[*]Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick is available free online.
Recently I realized that the library has most of the annual Nebula collections. This means that the short stories should be easy to get. So I've decided to work on this reading goal again.
I've re-written up the list with more comments about the works I've read. Some of them I don't remember very well (it has been a while) so they don't all get comments.
1966/60 Novel/Short Fiction: Flowers for Algernon/"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes I’ve only read the short story -- but it was depressing enough that I doubt I’ll read the book
1966/65 Novel: Dune by Frank Herbert - I loved this in high school, not so much anymore as I find the politics dull and ecology way too simple.
1966/65 Short Fiction/Short Story: "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison Deeply depressing which seem par for the course with all the other Ellison stories I’ve read.
1967/66 Novelette/Novella: "The Last Castle" by Jack Vance -- No memory of reading this. Too bad it’s probably the only Vance I’ve read.
1968/67 Novelette: "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber
1970/69 Novel: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin A very good book, but they Le Guin is one of my favorite authors.
1970/69 Short Story/Novelette: "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" by Samuel R. Delany I didn’t understand what was happening in this story maybe I ought to try reading it again some time.
1971/70 Novel: Ringworld by Larry Niven en, this was never my favorite Know Space story (I think that would be “Grendel”) and no longer feel much fondness for it, though I remember liking it once.
1971/70 Novella: "Ill Met in Lankhmar" by Fritz Leiber (10/10) Good fun.
1971/70 Short Story/Novelette: "Slow Sculpture" by Theodore Sturgeon (10/10) The science in this so dated as to be silly. (Curing cancer with electricity!)
1972/71 Novelette: "The Queen of Air and Darkness" by Poul Anderson (11/10) I liked the setting of this, but the man explains everything to a woman mode of explain the action got old. At least the female character was scientist, though the story focused on her role as a mother more.
1973/72 Novel: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov I find it odd that someone who wrote books without a single female character could write something a gender-bendy as this. (Still the story mostly confirms gender norms at the time especially the idea that men reason and women are intuitive.)
1973/72 Novelette: "Goat Song" by Poul Anderson (12/10) This is a SF retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice. I thought it did a very good job with the mythical correspondences.
1974/73 Novel: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke en, there is big thing in space, but I fail to care.
1975/74 Novel: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin love! The best SF book featuring Anarcho-syndicalists.
1976/75 Novel: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman I see why this book is important but I didn't really enjoy it.
1976/75 Novella: "Home Is the Hangman" by Roger Zelazny I remember liking this but not what it was about.
1976/75 Short Story: "Catch that Zeppelin!" by Fritz Leiber Alternate History with Zeppelins!
1977/76 Novella: "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" by James Tiptree, Jr.
1977/76 Novelette: "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov
1978/77 Novel: Gateway by Frederik Pohl
1978/77 Novella: "Stardance" by Spider and Jeanne Robinson This had dancing in free fall but was still sad.
1978/77 Short Story: "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison more very depressing Ellison.
1979/78 Novel: Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
1979/78 Novella: "The Persistence of Vision" by John Varley Really interesting story about a society of blind and deaf people who don't see themselves as disabled.
1980/79 Novel: The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke (4/11) I didn't think I'd like this at all, but actually I rather enjoyed it. It is an engineering story about building a space elevator. The book has a list of references in the back, it is hardcore like that. (Thus I learned that Clarke didn't originate the idea of the space elevator.) Anyways there isn't much character conflict at all. There is a conflict with some monks that seems like maybe it could be epic, but then it just goes away.
Clarke is also a bit dim about religion. Most humans aren't going to give up religion because an alien prob comes along and says that religion is illogical, and that most aliens don't have any. It's just not what people are like. Oh well, this is not a book about people at all really.
1980/79 Novella: "Enemy Mine" by Barry B. Longyear
1980/79 Novelette: "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin(1/11) Well written, fairly creepy with interesting critters.
1981/80 Short Story: "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak
1982/81 Novella: "The Saturn Game" by Poul Anderson (12/10) This story is awfully negative about roleplaying, but it does have an awesome setting.
1983/82 Novelette: "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis Good. Set in the same universe as Doomsday Book ect.
1984/83 Novel: Startide Rising by David Brin I used to love this but haven’t read it for years for fear of the suck fairy. Has talking Dolphins which is always a plus.
1984/83 Novelette: "Blood Music" by Greg Bear
1985/84 Novel: Neuromancer by William Gibson This another classic I mostly feel eh about.
1985/84 Novella: "PRESS ENTER " by John Varley (5/11)Interesting and rather creepy.
1985/84 Novelette: "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler
1986/85 Novel: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
1987/86 Novel: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card I always liked this one better then Enders Game. (I like odd aliens a lot) but I have not re-read either in a long time. Card being homophobic on the internet has made me like his books less.
1987/86 Short Story: "Tangents" by Greg Bear(1/11) This story was rather bland. I didn't find it very interesting, and don't really have much to say about it.
1989/88 Novella: "The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis Very very sad, but I also question the author’s grasp of how epidemics work.
1989/88 Short Story/Novelette: "Schrödinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger (2/11) I wasn't much taken with this. The story is about quantum mechanics as you might guess form the title, but not about cats.
1990/89 Novella: "The Mountains of Mourning" by Lois McMaster Bujold Love! One of the best Miles stories.
1991/90 Novella: "The Hemingway Hoax" by Joe Haldeman (2/11)I really didn't like this. One, I've never read anything by Hemingway nor do I want to, so I wasn't that interested in the story to began with ; two bits of this where way too gory for me; and three the ending made no sense, it didn't answer the questions raised in the rest of the story and it was confusing.
1991/90 Short Story: "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson quite odd.
1992/91 Novella: "Beggars in Spain" by Nancy Kress This was very good, I keep wondering if I want to read the novel it became or not.
1993/92 Novel: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis This very good and also very tragic (which isn’t the same thing as depressing).
1993/92 Short Story: "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis Very silly and fun. Willis in full on screwball mode. (For some reason I own at least 3 copies of this in different collections)
1994/93 Novelette: "Georgia On My Mind" by Charles Sheffield
1995/94 Novella: "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" by Mike Resnick [*] This story is very bleak, yet I found myself drawn in. The concept of the story, of an archeological dig on Earth long after the fall of humanity was neat too. The team is able to look back on human history through a series of artifacts. Social Justice Stuff: I'm not a fan of call humanity Man and referring to us with a masculine pronoun. There are a fair number of Black people in this story, but they are generally portrayed as primitive and/or corrupt.
1996/95 Novelette: "The Martian Child" by David Gerrold (2/11) I thought this story was very sweet, but surprisingly un-SFinal.
1998 Novel: Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
2001 Novella: "The Ultimate Earth" by Jack Williamson (3/11) The premise was interesting and kinda creepy, but the creepy bits don't really get explored, the story went somewhere else instead.
2002 Novel: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
2002 Novelette: "Hell is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang Very strange. I don’t think I’d like to live in a world where God was so explicitly real.
2003 Novella: Coraline by Neil Gaiman Dark. I’ve never liked Gaiman as much as many of my friends for some reason and this book followed that general trend.
2004 Novel: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold Love! This is another of my favorite Bujold mostly because I like Ista a lot.
2005 Novelette: "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link
2005 Novella: "Two Hearts" by Peter S Beagle Quite Good. (I’m not sure how it would seem to people who had not read The Last Unicorn)
2007 Novelette: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (4/11) This story has several stories within it and lots of time travel. I thought it was interesting and bit sad, but also exoticizing.
2008 Novel: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon I enjoyed this very much even if it ticked off the inner feminist citric a bit.
2010 Novel: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (1/11) I have mixed feeling as about this book. On the one hand the science is extremely implausible, and most of the viewpoint characters are rather unlikeable. Still I found it compelling reading -- I wanted to know what happened next.
2011 Novel: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis this was rather disappointing.
2012 Novel: Among Others by Jo Walton
2012 Novelette THE MAN WHO BRIDGED THE MIST by Kij Johnson
2012 Short Story: ”The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu Ken Liu always write tearjerkers.
[*]Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick is available free online.
