NPR's Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of 2011

Be sure to check out NPR’s list for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2011, as decided by Lev Grossman, who I swear has been a contributor to every genre “best of” list this year (other than being the author of this year’s ‘The Magician King‘, Grossman also happens to be the book reviewer for Time magazine).

NPR’s list, which of course features this year’s fantasy darling ‘A Dance With Dragons,’ also highlights lesser known entries like Catherynne Valente’s ‘The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making‘ and ‘Rule 34‘ from Charles Stross. I have read a grand total of zero books off this list, which bums me out, but they’re all getting added to the que and pegged for late January reading.

Check out the full list on their site.

 

Help NPR Pick The Greatest Science Fiction Books Of All Time

NPR is asking its readers/listeners to vote on the best science fiction and fantasy books of all time for their new summer poll. Your vote will go toward shaping the top-100 list and it will also give you a chance to peruse other recommendations for your summer SF/F beach/yacht/pool/park bench/planking/treadmill/spelunking (or where ever else you do your summer reading) reading list.

Here are the rules:

1. Limit yourself to five titles per post. Don’t hesitate to nominate a book that someone else has already listed; your entry will count as a vote in favor of that title progressing to the next round.

2. No young-adult or children’s titles, please. We plan to devote a poll to YA next summer. (It’s also no fun if Harry Potter wins every year.)

3. Horror and paranormal romance are also out, which disqualifies most of Stephen King (also a big winner in previous polls), Charlaine Harris and Stephenie Meyer. Once again, we’ll cover horror in a future poll.

4. Feel free to nominate a series — such as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings or Asimov’s Foundation — as a single, collective work rather than listing individual books.

5. That said, there are series and series: To qualify as a collective work, the books in a series must be written consistently by the same originating author or authors. For example, you can’t nominate the whole Star Wars franchise, though you can nominate individual Star Wars novels.

Vote here.