Anne McCaffrey passed away at the age of 85. I was introduced to her work when a friend handed me Dragonsinger in middle school. That novel, and the Pern series as a whole, had a profound impact on me. Pern was one of those worlds that grabbed hold of my imagination and didn't let go for a long time. After reading Fahrenheit 451, the book I ( Read more... )

This past Saturday I went to Context, a literary science fiction convention in Columbus. I'm really glad I went. Panels I attended:

What Women Want
Is there a Future for the Classics of SF?
The Genre Mash-up
Erica Neely Concert
Ghosts - Are They Real or Just Scary?
Myth and Folklore in Fantasy
Open Filk

I also got to see wishesofastar and went out for sushi ( Read more... )

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books

Most of my top twenty made it, as did many of my original top 52. Of their top ten, the only series I haven't read is Game of Thrones. ( Read more... )

16. Sandman series, Neil Gaiman. The story of Dream, who according to his sister Death is "utterly the stupidest, most self-centered, appalingest excuse for an anthropomorphic personification on this or any other plane." What happens when the father of stories finds himself trapped in his own tale? Impossible to describe, it's simply the best ( Read more... )

11. I, Robot, Isaac Asimov. An amazing, and sympathetic, portrayal of robots and artificial intelligence. I read this in elementary school and the story "Liar" still haunts me.

12. Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury. Scientifically impossible for Mars, this is nonetheless a lyrical and beautiful account of humans settling on another planet.

13. ( Read more... )

6. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. The mother of all science fiction novels - a scientist messes around with things he shouldn't, and pays the price. I was quite young when I read this, and it set me on the path of feeling sorry for the poor, tormented, misunderstood villain. Come to think of it, this may be the novel that started that trope.

7. ( Read more... )

After seeing my post on my top 20 picks for best fantasy and science fiction novels, nicosomething created his own list complete with a brief explanation about each novel or series, and suggested I do the same. Because I'm lazier than Nico, I'm going to have to break my recommendations down to groups of five. So here are my first five favorites and why I ( Read more... )

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/02/138894873/vote-for-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-titlesRead more... )

SPOILERS
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In which our heroine cheats by using an e-mail for a gaming e-mail list in place of an actual livejournal post ( Read more... )