ThReads Must Roll: the new, improved rolling fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction &c. thread

On a whim went back to the all-time speculative fiction poll to decide a reading list for this year, came up with the following (pending further investigation):

091 Thomas Disch - Camp Concentration
087 Octavia Butler - Lilith's Brood
085 Gene Wolfe - Book of the Long Sun
084 Flann O'Brien - At Swim-Two-Birds
083 Joe Haldeman - The Forever War
082 Russell Hobon - Riddley Walker
074 John Crowley - Engine Summer
071 Ursula K. Le Guin - The Lathe of Heaven
064 James Tiptree - Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
062 Ted Chiang - Stories of Your Life and Others
047 Philip K. Dick - Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

Have read all but 11 of the top 50, mostly missing some fantasy and a bit of dick.

085 Gene Wolfe - Book of the Long Sun aargh how did this get in here I am not good with computer

+ 045 Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time. Damnit.

Had mixed feelings about that on old Rolling F thread, can paste them if you're curious. But gist of it: could see how this influenced the early 60s configuration of what's now called YA fiction, for transitional, middle school/high school, mercurial readers, but, as with some traditional complaints about CS Lewis's allegories, I (sometimes) felt like the religious bits were in my face, like yet another helping of sweets. Overall, the author came off like an intelligent, observant, imaginative, occasionally carried-away granny.
Still, glad I checked it out, and was told (on old thread, I think) that subsequent books in series were stronger (also apparently books in later series, judging by article about her in Science Fiction Encyclopedia online).This is the L'Engle to start with, pretty sure.

subsequent books in series were stronger

ah the old harry potter defence, always great to hear especially when each installment in the series can stop a heavier door than the last.

yeah this one's more of a maybe as i'm not crazy about YA type stuff, for the most part, mentioning CS Lewis doesn't strengthen the case. still, i won't rule it out in case i find myself in the mood or stumble across a copy.

It's very short and fast, but with no sense of skimpiness or hastiness---impulsiveness, maybe, re idealism. Which reminds me just a bit of Tiptree, now that I think of it, and don't sleep on xpostHer Smoke Rose Up For Ever, or any of her other stuff, though it does get even more reckless toward the end.

mentioning CS Lewis doesn't strengthen the case

I'm not a huge Lewis dude (never could make it through any of the Narnia books, even as a YA) but I will stan for the sci-fi trilogy, which, while def heavy handed with the Xtian allegories, is still pretty strange and batshit. The first one is like an HG Wells homage, the second one is the dumbest, and the third is the best fwiw

Her Smoke Rose Up Forever is incredible. true master shit there.

and Riddley Walker! omg what a book. had to stop myself from buying it the other day when I saw it in a shop, even though I've already read it. the terrible sleeve design prevented me.

Outic what do you think of the third inkling, Charles Williams?

haven't read. is he worth it?

the ending of 'the forever war' is really great. the other novel that had an ending of similarly 'unexpected emotion', for me at least, was 'house of suns' by alastair reynolds.

Xpost I haven't read him yet either, he has an interesting rep though, sounds like insane xtian based SF-fantasy. His stuff is on one of the non-US Gutenberg services

yeah sounds like an odd duck

one of the things I like about the Lewis sf trilogy is that what little science he attempts to inject into the narrative is hilariously wrong (for ex. traveling between planets is unbearably hot! uhm ok). To be fair I don't think he fares much better with the theology (the Xtian protagonist in the second book must overcome his adversary by... murdering him? Yes, that's what Jesus would have done, sure). The whole thing is ridiculous from start to finish, in a very odd and charming way.

Can anyone recommend a decent hard SF read, maybe along similar lines to Anderson's 'Tau Zero" perhaps?

Rendezvous with Rama?
Alastair Reynold's Pushing Ice? A lot of what I complained about upthread re:Reynolds work is there, but in tolerably smaller doses, and it captures a lot of the excitement and peril of TZ.
Lem's His Master's Voice. Not really similar, not much excitement, pretty philosophical and political. Very intelligent though, and definitely not touchy-feely.

Internet says If you like Tau Zero, try Timescape by Gregory Benford and The Haertel Scholium by James Blish, I haven't tried them.

Thanks folks, I love Rama, have never tried Reynold(s) or Lem

Yesterday I found an old paperback (with an oddly thick, laminated cover) of Silverberg's 'Son of Man' which looks like it might be a bit of a mindblow, so when I am done with that I shall investigate.

Somebody here heavily recommended Son Of Man and I bought it on the strength of that. A lot of people don't like it but some others call it a classic stoner book. Looking forward to it someday.

I just got the newish Ian Miller art book and its totally stunning. You guys have probably seen lots of his art on book covers. It's totally packed with detail and cool landscapes. I kinda wish they had put in more covers though, like his great Swamp Thing covers.

Cool, I know him mostly from his quite traditional fantasy art style fighting fantasy book covers, and some really distinctive etched pieces in a Tolkien bestiary I have - all angles, close hatching, and almost mechanistic forms.

Here's his Swamp Thing covers
http://www.comicvine.com/swamp-thing/4050-3465/object-appearances/4040-28255/

I think a lot of his best work is around Lovecraft and his Peake inspired castles.

Oops it was ian macaig's ff covers I was thinking of. Not so keen on miller's, tolkien stuff still great though.

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/b4/7a/a0/b47aa008e609b601656ec0ae70c6846f.jpg
This is one of my favourite Miller ones.

Son Of Man, I don't know if I would call it great but it is probably the most psychedelic sf book I've ever read, in that it really reads like one long phantasmagoric trip

I can't think of anything quite like it honestly. Starmaker maybe. Even Barefoot in the Head is more grounded in a contemporary reality than Son of Man.

Thanks. Me, I still have to read Dying Inside and those short story collections first.

Interesting that Silverbob basically considered himself to be a kind of hack until Pohl told him: I'll make you a deal. Write something you really mean and I'll buy it for Galaxy, no strings attached. In the end, after he returned to sf following his crisis, he ended up turning himself into a hack again, albeit a slicker and smoother one.

Meanwhile, speaking of Pohl, rereading Gateway today for the first time since it came out. Enjoying it, but just got to the exact middle at which point he finally goes out and his first mission, and felt it started to drag a little with all the sf trappings of which star system they were in. But I know it's headed towards a boffo ending, even if I can't remember what it is.

Guy right here hates it, apparently:http://io9.com/5659500/gateway-by-frederik-pohl-the-most-dreadful-of-hugo-winners

My wife re-read those recently and felt they were not as great as she remembered. I remember them being okay, but not my favorite.

That io9 review is pretty positive...?

not at all

Dammit, this is a good book.

Haven't actually read that review yet because spoilers, maybe? The title made me think it was negative, maybe it is just some sort of rhetorical move?

Okay, I see. Dictionary definition trick.

It's funny how almost all the words we use to say something sucks go back to a quite different meaning
Dreadful
Awful
Terrible
Horrible

Ha, yes, exactly.

Okay. Finished. Time to read that blog post to the end. Book holds up well, although ebook is riddled with horrible typos which grow worse towards the end, to the extend that the denouement actually appears inside one of the sidebars! Although one could attribute this to gravity shear, I guess. Have very little desire to read the rest of the Heechee Saga, as it were. Dimly remember not liking or not finishing Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, although eventually I did dig the song that title is based on.

Does anyone have any recommendations for great sci-fi that is either very feminist or phenomenologically-aware?

Also, here is Roberto Bolaño's (very) short and amazing contribution to speculative fiction: http://eyeshot.net/bolanobeach.html

Massively worth reading if you've a spare ten minutes this afternoon.

Joanna Russ (the Female Man in particular), LeGuin, Tiptree

Butler? (I've never read her)

Bolano is in that cosmos latinos anthology discussed awhile back. Definitely recommended.

I havent been able to get into butler myself but I imagine she might fit the bill

That Bolano piece linked is newly translated/not in the anthology. Thx for the heads up!

Thanks for recommendations! Will forward my impressions at some point in the future...

Came across that Bolaño piece in the 'Aliens' issue of Granta magazine a few years back, but that translation is subscription only online. Actually the whole anthology is well worth reading if you can get hold of it: http://www.granta.com/Archive/114

M.R James "Casting The Runes" and "Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You, My Lad".

Both often considered his best work but I thought the former was really underwhelming (I don't care much for Night Of The Demon film either) but the latter was brilliant and quite scary, some great visual descriptions.

I think there's a good sense of mounting tension towards the end in CtR, but yeah the lead up and denoument a bit thin, Count Magnus and A Warning to the Curious do the stalked by ghoulies thing better. The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and Mr Humphreys both have terrific - in both senses of course - visual descriptions towards the end, the latter is quite hallucinatory although it may try your patience on the way. There's a couple of shorter ones which have some of the nastiest imagery he came up with, A School Story and Wailing Well.

Oops, short changed Mr Humphreys out of His Inheritance.

I love "Count Magnus" but haven't read the others you mention, yet. I'm a fan of "The Ash Tree" too.

http://www.wildsidepress.com/Science-Fiction-Fantasy_c_3142.html
http://www.wildsidepress.com/Horror_c_3191.html

Can't believe how cheap and numerous these Wildside Megapacks are. 17 Oz books for the price of a bottle of juice!
Hope these are well formatted.

Hmm thanks! Might try one and report back. Leaning toward occult detective or weird fic. Or WH Hodgson.

Some of the Pulp Megapack stories have the most amazing titles but unfortunately like a lot of old movies and comics, an evocative title is no assurance of quality.

Silverbob really killin it in vol. 4, I must say. The Dybbuk of Mazel Tov IV and the Science Fiction Hall of Fame are him in top form.