My Critical Reading List

While I'm list-making, I thought that I might also make a post detailing the critical works related to genre that I've read and still need to read. Lists like these definitely seem to help me focus when I'm staring at my to-read piles and asking myself, "What should I read next?" I hope that other folks will find them useful too. (The dates on many of these may be inaccurate--in some cases I may have dates from a later edition instead of original publication.) In the comments, feel free to suggest works to add or works that can be skipped. I've marked the ones I think (or suspect) are especially useful/important with **.

To Read

• Pilgrims Through Space and Time: Trends and Patterns in Scientific and Utopian Fiction, J. O. Bailey [1947]
• Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of Science Fiction Writing, ed. Lloyd Arthur Eshbach [1947]
• Modern Science Fiction: Its Meaning and its Future, ed. Reginald Bretnor [1953]
• The Science Fiction Novel: Imagination and Social Criticism [1959]
• **In Search of Wonder: Essays on Science Fiction, Damon Knight [1960]
• Heinlein in Dimension: A Critical Analysis, Alexei Panshin [1968]
• Science Fiction Today and Tomorrow, ed. Reginald Bretnor [1974]
• The Craft of Science Fiction, ed. Reginald Bretnor [1976]
• **The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, Samuel R. Delany [1977]
• Robert A. Heinlein: America as Science Fiction, H. Bruce Franklin [1980]
• Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction, Ursula K. LeGuin [1982]
• David Lindsay, Gary K. Wolfe [1982]
• **How to Suppress Women's Writing, Joanna Russ [1983]
• The Rhetoric of Fiction, Wayne Booth [1983]
• Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf, Algis Budrys [1985]
• **Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss [1986]
• The John W. Campbell Letters, John W. Campbell [1986]
• The Tale that Wags the God, James Blish [1987]
• The Motion of Light in Water, Samuel R. Delany [1988]
• Grumbles from the Grave, Robert A. Heinlein [1989]
• Strategies of Fantasy, Brian Attebery [1992]
• Reading by Starlight, Damien Broderick [1995]
• Outposts: Literatures of Milieux, Algis Budrys [1996]
• The Dreams our Stuff is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World, Thomas Disch [1998]
• Critical Theory and Science Fiction, Carl Freedman [2000]
• Concordance to Cordwainer Smith, Anthony R. Lewis [2000]
• The Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith, Karen L. Hellekson [2001]
• Decoding Gender in Science Fiction, Brian Attebery [2002]
• Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and Visions of Utopia in Space, De Witt Douglas Kilgore [2003]
• **x, y, z, t: Dimensions of Science Fiction, Damien Broderick [2004]
• Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly, ed. Jane Espenson [2004]
• A Sense of Wonder: Samuel R. Delany, Race, Identity, and Difference, Jeffrey Allen Tucker [2004]
• Bound to Please, Michael Dirda [2005]
• Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life, Michael Dirda [2005]
• My Mother was a Computer, N. Katherine Hayles [2005]
• Daughters of the Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century, Justine Larbalestier [2006]
• Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction, John C. Rieder [2008]
• The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem, Peter Swirski [2008]
• On Joanna Russ, ed. Farah Mendlesohn [2009]
• A Short History of Fantasy, Farah Mendlesohn [2009]
• The Secret Feminist Cabal, ed. Helen Merrick [2009]
• Chicks Dig Timelords, ed. Lynne Thomas and Tara O'Shea [2010]
• The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism [2010]
• Twenty-First Century Gothic, ed. Daniel Olson [2010]
• Pardon this Intrusion, John Clute [2011]
• **The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, ed. Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn [2011, pending]

Already Read

• Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction Fandom, Sam Moskowitz [1954]
• New Maps of Hell, Kingsley Amis [1960]
• **The Issue at Hand: Studies in Contemporary Magazine Science Fiction, William Atheling, Jr. (James Blish) [1964]
• More Issues at Hand: Critical Studies in Contemporary Science Fiction, William Atheling, Jr. (James Blish) [1970]
• The Futurians, Damon Knight [1970]
• **The Known and the Unknown: the Iconography of Science Fiction, Gary K. Wolfe [1979]
• Metamorphoses of Science Fiction, Darko Suvin [1979]
• Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction, James Gunn [1982]
• **Starboard Wine, Samuel R. Delany [1984]
• Critical Terms for Science Fiction and Fantasy, ed. Gary K. Wolfe [1986]
• The World Beyond the Hill: Science Fiction and the Quest of Transcendence, Alexei Panshin [1989]
• I. Asimov, Isaac Asimov [1995]
• Age of Wonders: Exploring the Worlds of Science Fiction, David Hartwell [1996]
• Literary Theory, Terry Eagleton [1997]
• **How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics, N. Katherine Hayles [1999]
• Edging into the Future, ed. Veronica Hollinger [2002]
• **The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Justine Larbalestier [2002]
• **Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer, Riki Wilchins [2004]
• Soundings: Reviews 1992 - 1996, Gary K. Wolfe [2005]
• The SEX Column and Other Misprints, David Langford [2005]
• Polder: A Festschrift for John Clute and Judith Clute, ed. Farah Mendlesohn [2006]
• **About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters and Five Interviews, Samuel R. Delany [2006]
• **James Tiptree Jr: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, Julie Philips [2006]
• **The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, ed. Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn [2006]
• **The Country You Have Never Seen, Joanna Russ [2007]
• Writing the Other, Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward [2008]
• The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. [2008]
• What it is We Do When We Read Science Fiction, Paul Kincaid [2008]
• **Rhetorics of Fantasy, Farah Mendlesohn [2008]
• A Companion to Science Fiction, ed. David Seed [2008]
• How Fiction Works, James Wood [2009]
• Hope-in-the-Mist, Michael Swanwick [2009]
• The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children's and Teens' Science Fiction, Farah Mendlesohn [2009]
• Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands, Michael Chabon [2009]
• Canary Fever: Reviews, John Clute [2009]
• Bearings: Reviews 1997 - 2001, Gary K. Wolfe [2010]
• **Evaporating Genres, Gary K. Wolfe [2011]

Golden Age Reading List

For my own reference, to be updated as I read:

• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volumes I, IIa, IIb edited by Robert Silverberg and Ben Bova
• World of Null-A, A. E. van Vogt [1945]
• Earth Abides, George Stewart [1949]
• Lest Darkness Fall, L. Sprague de Camp [1939]
• Darker Than You Think, Jack Williamson [1948]
• The Once and Future King, T. H. White [1958]
• Tales of the Dying Earth, Jack Vance [1950]
• A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller [1960]
• City, Clifford Simak [1952]
• The Space Merchants, Fred Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth [1952]
• Slan, A. E. van Vogt [1946]
• A Case of Conscience, James Blish [1953]
• Mathematics of Magic, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt [1941]
• The Wanderer, Fritz Leiber [1964]
• The Sword of Rhiannon, Leigh Brackett [1953]
• Conjure Wife, Fritz Leiber [1943]
• Best of Science Fiction, ed. Groff Conklin [1946]
• Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake [1946]
• Fury, Henry Kuttner [1947]
• The Humanoids, Jack Williamson [1949]
• Star Man's Son [1952], or Star Soldiers [1953], or Uncharted Stars [1969], by Andre Norton
• Long Loud Silence, Wilson Tucker [1952]
• Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut [1959]
• Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut [1963]
• Three to Dorsai, Gordon R. Dickson [1959]
• Way Station, Clifford Simak [1963]
• The Planet Savers, Marion Zimmer Bradley [1958]
• Little Fuzzy, H. Beam Piper [1962]
• The Big Time, Fritz Leiber [1958]
• Portable Novels of Science, ed. Donald A. Wollheim [1945]
• They'd Rather Be Right, Mark Clifton [1954]
• Best of C. M. Kornbluth [1939-1958]
• The Body Snatchers, J. Finney [1955]
• What Mad Universe, F. Brown [1949]
• A Star Above and Other Stories, Chad Oliver [1955]
• Untouched by Human Hands, Robert Sheckley [1954]

Might hold over for the New Wave:

• Ill Met in Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber [1970]
• Tau Zero, Poul Anderson [1970]

Golden Age Reading List Draft

So I only wrapped up my pre-WWII genre reading list a couple months ago, but I'm starting to have thoughts about the Golden Age. As it turns out, reading classics occupies a different part of my brain than my contemporary reviews (as for Salon Futura and Strange Horizons) or my Egan research. It's a bit more relaxing, and I've found that I'm missing it. So, here are some initial thoughts towards a Golden Age list. What I'm looking for are things that are important and influential to the development of the field--things where reading the classics gives me extra insight into the field today. I'm leaving out Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Cordwainer Smith, Alfred Bester, John Wyndham, and Ray Bradbury because I'm comfortable that I've read all their most important pieces. I'm hoping for suggestions about things I need to add--or even better, things I can chuck off the list. I've added the ones I think are most important/non-negotiable in bold.

Here are books that I already own:

• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volumes I, IIa, IIb edited by Robert Silverberg and Ben Bova
• Slan, A. E. van Vogt
• Darker Than You Think, Jack Williamson
• Earth Abides, George Stewart
• Tales of the Dying Earth, Jack Vance
• City, Clifford Simak
• The Space Merchants, Fred Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
• The Big Time, Fritz Leiber
• A Case of Conscience, James Blish
• A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller
• The Complete Compleat Enchanter, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
• Agent of the Terran Empire, Poul Anderson
  
• The Wanderer, Fritz Leiber [Optional]
  
• Little Fuzzy, H. Beam Piper [Optional]
  
• They'd Rather Be Right, Mark Clifton
• The Planet Savers, Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The Sword of Rhiannon, Leigh Brackett
• Conjure Wife, Fritz Leiber
• The Once and Future King, T. H. White

Here's the list of potential acquisitions:

• Lest Darkness Fall, L. Sprague de Camp
• Portable Novels of Science, ed. Donald A. Wollheim
• Mathematics of Magic, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
  
• Best of Science Fiction, ed. Groff Conklin
• Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake
• Pilgrims Through Space and Time, J. O. Bailey [Non-fiction, the Pilgrim award is named after this book]
• Fury, Henry Kuttner
• World of Null-A, A. E. van Vogt
• The Humanoids, Jack Williamson
• What Mad Universe, F. Brown
• Star Man's Son, or Star Soldiers, or Uncharted Stars, by Andre Norton [Whichever I can find first.]
• More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
• Long Loud Silence, Wilson Tucker
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers, J. Finney
• Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut
• Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
• Untouched by Human Hands, Robert Sheckley
• Three to Dorsai, Gordon R. Dickson
• Tau Zero, Poul Anderson
• Best of C. M. Kornbluth
• Ill Met in Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber
• A Star Above and Other Stories, Chad Oliver
• Way Station, Clifford Simak
  

Part of me really wants to narrow this down because I feel like I'm procrastinating in getting to the New Wave, where I'm definitely weakest. And this list could easily take me 5 years to get through at the current pace. Your thoughts?

Declaring Victory!

I now declare victory in my project to read pre-1939 genre classics! Have I read everything even vaguely genre related published before 1939? No, but I've read all the stuff that I want to, and everything that has been pointed out to me as important and/or influential. Altogether this project consisted of 45 books over roughly four years. In retrospect that doesn't sound like much, but that was squeezed in between all the other reading and work and &c.

This list doesn't include a lot of the really big, well-known classics--mostly because I'd read them in college or high school. I didn't feel the need to re-read all the Verne and Wells, or to revisit Brave New World et. al. This project was all about filling in the gaps, getting acquainted with the lesser known but still important pieces of the history. For archival purposes I wanted to put together this list, and that way I'll be able to reference it as needed. The list is ordered in the reverse order that I read them, most recent first.

So what's next? The next big thing is the reading needed for the Egan book, and I'll be starting on that shortly. And of course I'm trying to stay on top of new short fiction for Salon Futura. But I'll also look to fill in a few gaps in my Golden Age reading (for instance I've never read Lest Darkness Fall or The Space Merchants). That's a much shorter list, and eventually I'll make my way to the New Wave, which will be another Major Undertaking.

1. The Greatest Adventure, John Taine, 1929
2. The Seeds of Life, John Taine, 1931
3. Sirius, Olaf Stapledon, 1944
4. Odd John, Olaf Stapledon, 1935
5. Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirrlees, 1926
6. The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym, Edgar Allen Poe, 1838
7. The Hour of the Dragon, Robert E. Howard, 1936
8. At the Mountains of Madness, H. P. Lovecraft, 1936
9. The Shadow over Innsmouth, H. P. Lovecraft, 1936
10. The King of Elfland’s Daughter, Lord Dunsany, 1924
11. Lilith, George MacDonald, 1895
12. We, Yevgeny Zamiatin, 1921
13. The Book of Wonder, Lord Dunsany, 1912
14. The Princess and Curdie, George MacDonald, 1883
15. The Worm Ouroboros, E. R. Eddison, 1922
16. R. U. R., Karel Capek, 1920
17. Jurgen, James Branch Cabell, 1919
18. The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald, 1882
19. Phantastes, George MacDonald, 1858
20. Voyage to Arcturus, David Lindsay, 1920
21. The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton, 1908
22. The Nightland, William Hope Hodgson, 1912
23. The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, ~1400 [Norton Critical Edition]
24. A Dreamer’s Tales, Lord Dunsany, 1910
25. The Ghost Pirates, William Hope Hodgson, 1909
26. The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, Lord Dunsany, 1908
27. Dracula, Bram Stoker, 1897
28. The House on the Borderland, William Hope Hodgson, 1908
29. Kim, Rudyard Kipling, 1901
30. The Purple Cloud, M. P. Shiel, 1901
31. Utopia, Thomas More, 1561
32. Before Adam, Jack London, 1907
33. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, 1899
34. Looking Backward: 2000-1887, Edward Bellamy, 1887
35. A Martian Odyssey, Stanley G. Weinbaum, 1934
36. Science Fiction of the 1930’s, ed. Damon Knight
37. The Moon Pool, A. Merritt, 1919
38. Gladiator, Philip Wylie, 1930
39. Last and First Men, Olaf Stapledon, 1930
40. Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon, 1937
41. Galactic Patrol, Doc Smith, 1937
42. She, H. Rider Haggard, 1887
43. King Solomon’s Mines, H. Rider Haggard, 1885
44. Princess of Mars, John Carter, 1909
45. A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle, 1887

Of all of these the ones that I flat-out enjoyed the most were: King Solomon's Mines, everything by Stapledon, A Martian Odyssey, The Sword of Welleran and Others, and At the Mountains of Madness. The ones that I was simply glad to see the end of include: She, Galactic Patrol, The Moon Pool, everything by William Hope Hodgson, Lilith, and The Hour of the Dragon.

20 in 20 Lists (and more lists)

Cheryl Morgan has, as promised, put up the 5 lists produced by the 5 panelists at this year's WorldCon "20 Essential Books from the Last 20 Years" panel. Niall Harrison has some good discussion (and his own list) up over at Torque Control, and before the panel had even occured SFSignal had an active comment thread over the topic.

Because I have way too much time on my hands, I decided to do a little data mining. I wanted to see which books gathered the most acclaim. The first list here is the books ordered by how many of the panelists voted for them. I continued my cheating ways by claiming that a series was voted for if any book from it was voted for (a vote for Hyperion and one for Fall of Hyperion become two votes for Hyperion Cantos). This allowed a little more consensus to develop.

5 River of Gods
5 Hyperion Cantos
3 Diaspora
3 Nanotech cycle (Goonan)
3 Fairyland
3 Revelation Space
3 Accelerando
3 Spin & Axis
3 Mars Trilogy
3 Culture Series
2 Evolution
2 Pattern Recognition
2 Grass
2 Snow Crash
2 Fall Revolution
2 Light
2 Aleutian Trilogy (Jones)
2 Stories of Your Life
2 Cloud Atlas
2 Air
2 Arabesk Trilogy (Grimwood)
Mother of Storms
Queen of Angels
Antarctica
Cryptonomicon
Holy Fire
Gate to Women's Country
Difference Engine
Book of the Long Sun
Parable of the Sower, Talents
Furious Gulf
Separation
Counting Heads
Child Garden
China Mountain Zhang
Beggars in Spain
Sarah Canary
Fire Upon the Deep
Bridge Trilogy
Sparrow
Glimmering
Distraction
Ash
Against the Day
Capitol Science
Hard Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World
Commonwealth Duology
Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad
Magic for Beginners
Pump 6
Doomsday Book
Altered Carbon
SFWA European Hall of Fame
Diamond Age
Perdido Street Station
Holdfast Chronicles
Course of the Heart
Soldier of Arete
Waking the Moon
Synners
Rats and Gargoyles
Sandman: Dream Chronicles
Fortunate Fall

Next up is the same list, with the same methodology, with Niall Harrison's list shuffled in (For brevity I'm cutting the list at the 2+ vote line, and only adding 1 vote titles if they're new from Niall's input)

6 River of Gods
5 Hyperion Cantos
4 Fairyland
4 Accelerando
4 Mars Trilogy
4 Culture Series
3 Diaspora
3 Nanotech cycle
3 Revelation Space
3 Spin, Axis
3 Pattern Recognition
3 Snow Crash
3 Light
3 Aleutian Trilogy
3 Stories of Your Life
3 Cloud Atlas
3 Air
2 Evolution
2 Grass
2 Fall Revolution
2 Arabesk Trilogy
2 China Mt. Zhang
2 Fire Upon the Deep
2 Sparrow
Axiomatic
Vacuum Diagrams
Breathmoss
Best of the Best
Yiddish Policemens Union

From this list, here is a list of those that have won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus or BSFA awards in the eligible years (Thanks to John DeNardo at SFSignal!)

River of Gods
Hyperion Cantos
Mars Trilogy
Culture Series
Spin, Axis
Stories of Your Life
Air
Fall Revolution
Arabesk Trilogy
Fire Upon the Deep
Sparrow
Crptonomicon
Parable of the Sower, Talents
Separation
Ash
Doomsday Book
Diamond Age
Sandmand: Dream Chronicles
Yiddish Policemens Union

For those counting, that's 19 out of a total list of 67 (28%) that won awards in their years, although I would note that many more of them were nominated for awards.

And for a twist, here's the list when the inputs from the SFSignal comment thread are shuffled in:

9 Hyperion Cantos
8 River of Gods
7 Mars Trilogy
6 Culture Series
6 Spin, Axis
5 Accelerando
5 Snow Crash
5 Light
5 Stories of Your Life
5 Fire Upon the Deep
4 Fairyland
4 Cloud Atlas
4 Air
4 Sparrow
4 Diamond Age
3 Diaspora
3 Nanotech cycle
3 Revelation Space
3 Pattern Recognition
3 Aleutian Trilogy
3 Doomsday Book
3 Altered Carbon
2 Evolution
2 Grass
2 Fall Revolution
2 Arabesk Trilogy
2 China Mt. Zhang
2 Queen of Angels
2 Holy Fire
2 Difference Engine
2 Separation
2 Counting Heads
2 Beggars in Spain
2 Sarah Canary
2 Pump 6
2 Perdido Street Station
2 Deepness in the Sky
2 Stations of the Tide
Small and Remarkable Life
From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain
American Gods
Camoflage
Forever Peace
Harry Potter Goblet of Fire
Tehanu
Terminal Experiment
City of Pearl
Coyote
Terraplane
The Road
Iron Dragon's Daughter
Calculating God
Carpet Makers

Finally, returning to the original panelists plus Niall, here is the breakdown on the authors that everyone liked, independent of individual works:

6 Ian McDonald
6 Kim Stanley Robinson
5 William Gibson
5 Dan Simmons
5 Neal Stephenson
4 Greg Egan
4 Paul McAuley
4 Charles Stross
4 Iain M. Banks
4 M. John Harrison
4 Geoff Ryman
3 Stephen Baxter
3 Kathleen Ann Goonan
3 Bruce Sterling
3 Robert Charles Wilson
3 Gwyneth Jones
3 Ted Chiang
3 David Mitchell
3 Sherri S. Tepper
3 Alastair Reynolds
2 Gene Wolfe
2 Ken MacLeod
2 Maureen McHugh
2 Vernor Vinge
2 Mary Doria Russell
2 Elizabeth Hand
2 Mary Gentle
2 Jon Courtenay Grimwood
John Barnes
Greg Bear
Octavia Butler
Gregory Benford
Christopher Priest
David Marusek
Nancy Kress
Karen Joy Fowler
Thomas Pynchon
Haruki Murakami
Peter F. Hamitlon
Minister Faust
Kelly Link
Paolo Bacigalup
Connie Willis
James & Kathryn Morrow (as editors)
China Mieville
Suzy McKee Charnas
Pat Cadigan
Neil Gaiman
Raphael Carter
Ian McLeod
Gardner Dozois (as editor)
Michael Chabon

That makes 28 authors with more than one vote as opposed to 24 books with that sort of consensus.

Don't know what all that adds up to, but thought people might find it interesting.