Why, oh why could I not find a book for #98? It’s really the last book I had to choose, because #99 will be Ender’s Game and #100 will be Dune. My original choice was Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates – because fellow Clarionite Stephen Gaskell literally gave me the book out of his hands when I expressed completely ungracious horror at the thought of receiving another copy of Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed – but that book about time travel is really more of fantasy, and the convoluted sentences were throwing me. I cracked open a book Chris had bought, The Child Buyer, but I don’t really have the wherewithall to read a book written as a congressional transcript.
So, I found myself cruising the internet searching for a last book. A book about the moon? I haven’t read any moon books in this entire list, which is odd really. What about that Moon story I loved as a little kid? What was the title? I don’t remember, and I can’t find it.
John Christopher? The White Mountains trilogy? Rats, I already read him! Richard Sawyer? Venus of Dreams? Darwinia? One of the authors I’ve already passed up, like David Brin? No, no, no. Oh my, cruising around, realizing the weight of this last book, like it is some immense choice, like it has to sum up everything that has transpired, like I will never read science fiction again.
I hit an old internet “Best 100" list and saw an author I had never noticed before, named Julian May. Who is he? Wikipedia: she was born in 1932, wrote thousands of articles for World Book, wrote hundreds of stories, quite a few science fiction books, and was loyally involved in the World Con community: a true, working writer who never really broke away from the pack. Someone like the rest of us.
So when I had finally given up looking for the perfect book for this spot, I found it. I ordered it with the dread Amazon One-Click I am giddy with expectation.
Oh, and thank you, Stephen Gaskell
... This is an aside because, although I did read all 100 books between 2005 and 2008, I had a computer malfunction that meant I could only find an old document, which was missing the reviews of the last three books. So... although I am actually on Book 41 of the Fantasy List, I will take this next month to read The Many-Coloured Lands, Ender's Game, and Dune, so that this list is finally complete.
It's a perfectly wonderful way to spend the holiday months, I assure you.
So, I found myself cruising the internet searching for a last book. A book about the moon? I haven’t read any moon books in this entire list, which is odd really. What about that Moon story I loved as a little kid? What was the title? I don’t remember, and I can’t find it.
John Christopher? The White Mountains trilogy? Rats, I already read him! Richard Sawyer? Venus of Dreams? Darwinia? One of the authors I’ve already passed up, like David Brin? No, no, no. Oh my, cruising around, realizing the weight of this last book, like it is some immense choice, like it has to sum up everything that has transpired, like I will never read science fiction again.
I hit an old internet “Best 100" list and saw an author I had never noticed before, named Julian May. Who is he? Wikipedia: she was born in 1932, wrote thousands of articles for World Book, wrote hundreds of stories, quite a few science fiction books, and was loyally involved in the World Con community: a true, working writer who never really broke away from the pack. Someone like the rest of us.
So when I had finally given up looking for the perfect book for this spot, I found it. I ordered it with the dread Amazon One-Click I am giddy with expectation.
Oh, and thank you, Stephen Gaskell
... This is an aside because, although I did read all 100 books between 2005 and 2008, I had a computer malfunction that meant I could only find an old document, which was missing the reviews of the last three books. So... although I am actually on Book 41 of the Fantasy List, I will take this next month to read The Many-Coloured Lands, Ender's Game, and Dune, so that this list is finally complete.
It's a perfectly wonderful way to spend the holiday months, I assure you.
RSS Feed