It all started when I saw one too many iterations of the BBC’s top 100 books on Facebook. These lists are always heavily weighted with hoary old tomes written by dead white guys. Plus the BBC always leans on British authors (as well they should, since they’re based in London, but still). But my biggest issue with these lists is that they never include enough speculative fiction entries. I’m defining speculative fiction as science fiction, fantasy, horror, and any combination, including all subgenres, thereof.
Anyway, I saw that list and I snapped. I have a lot of well-read friends who read speculative fiction all the time. And I was certain that if I asked around, I could come up with a list of 100 speculative fiction novels – and not only that, but our list would be a whole lot more interesting and fun than anything the BBC could put together.
So I took nominations and posted the list on Facebook. That drew more nominations, so I added them and posted it again – which drew more nominations. We ended up with 147 entries for our list of top 100 speculative fiction novels. (That reminded me of the marketing hook for Douglas Adams’s So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: “the fourth book in the trilogy!” That trilogy was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which of course is on our list.)
The list actually includes way more than 147 books, because I insisted on each series being one listing or else we’d have gotten to 100 too fast. (For example, if you count each of the 41 Discworld novels separately, you’re nearly halfway to 100 already.)
Of course, when I posted my final-final list on my blog, I received even more nominations from my friends. But I’m sticking with this iteration for now. Happy reading!
Top 147 Speculative Fiction Novels, in no particular order (according to Lynne & Friends) [Read more…] about The Top Speculative Fiction Books and Series – An Extremely Subjective List By Lynne Cantwell
