Re: Top Ten List was Re: KV Language

On Sat, 1 Apr 2000 23:27:11 -0500, "Laserlight" <laserlight@quixnet.net>
wrote:

>Since I'm sure you're all waiting with bated breath to find out
>what the other nine are...

Hmmm... Interesting post. I'm going to list mine, in no particular order
(these are novels, not necessarilby books, as I've left out some
favoured
anthologies).

1. _Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion_ by Dan Simmons (really one book). The
universe
Simmons puts together and the way he tears it apart is very good. And
Simmons
writes very well...
2. _The Player of Games_ by Iain Banks. I've only read three of Banks
books
and have not read _Use of Weapons_. This is only the second of two
Culture
books I've read. 
3. _Ender's Game_ by Orson Scott Card. I don't agree with much of the
writer's
own views, but he can tell one HELL of a story.
4. _Gateway_ by Fred Pohl. I tried, unsuccessfully, to create a board
game out
of this. I still love the basic background story.
5. _The Forever War_ by Joe Haldeman. A classic!
6. _Count Zero_ by William Gibson. Okay, it was a toss-up between this
and
_Neuromancer_ but the opening chapter in _Count Zero_, where the main
character is killed, reborn, goes through his sexual rediscovery, and
becomes
an adult once more is wonderful. So is the use of a mass driver as an
assassination tool.
7. _The Warrior's Apprentice_ by Lois Bujold. You could pick a number of
her
Verkosigan books, but this was the first I read. 
8. _Ringworld_ by Larry Niven. I find I can't read a lot of Niven these
days,
but when I grew up I devoured his stuff. This was a favourite.
9. _Dune_ by Frank Herbert. Okay, I gave up after God Emperor of Dune
(though
I hear Chapterhouse and Heretics aren't bad). Dune, though, was still a
cool
book.
10. _Up The Line_ by Robert Silverberg. My favourite all-time time
travel
novel.

I left out David Drake's books. Most of his Slammers stuff is actually
novelettes or novellas with a short story to wrap up the paperback. If I
were
to put anthologies in, though, the original _Hammer's Slammers_ would be
there.

So would David Brin's _The Postman_ which is actually three novellas. I
don't
know what Costner did to make what, I hear, is a stinker of a movie but
I
enjoyed the book. _Startide Rising_ would be on my list, but it's not
REALLY a
full novel on its own.

My favourite set of anthologies was Jerry Pournelle's _There Will Be
War_
anthology. Good mix of stories in those 9 editions, including some
classics.

Once I finish it, I can see _Snowcrash_ by Neal Stephenson will be on
the
list.  I don't read a lot of sci-fi these days, though, so my list
probably
isn't represented of much new stuff. 

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@interlog.com
Goodall's Grotto: http://www.interlog.com/~agoodall/

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things 
always go bad." - Kyle Baker, "You Are Here"