Conference noted::sf

577.0. "LOCUS SF & Fantasy Recommended Reading - 1987" by FENNEL::BALS (The toilet was full of Nietzsche) Tue Feb 16 1988 13:17

Since a common question in this conference is recommended reading, I thought
I'd plug in the LOCUS 1987 Recommended Reading Lists for SF and Fantasy
novels. LOCUS also published "Recommended" lists of first novels, anthologies, 
short story collections, nonfiction, novellas, novelettes, and short stories 
in their February edition. Because LOCUS sets its own standards on what
is/isn't a book "published in 1987" some books that you might expect to
see (such as Pat Murphy's "The Falling Woman" and Gene Wolfe's "Soldier of the 
Mist" both of which are leading the Nebula Award nominations) aren't on the 
list.

Fred

                           NOVELS - SCIENCE FICTION

The Forge of God, Greg Bear		Fool's Run, Patricia A McKillip
Great Sky River, Greg Benford		Memories, Mike McQuay
The Secret Ascension, Michael Bishop	The Smoke Ring, Larry Niven
Dover Beach, Richard Bowker	The Legacy of Heorot, Niven/Barnes/Pournelle
The Uplift War, David Brin	The Annals of the Heechee, Frederik Pohl
Dawn, Octavia E. Butler		Life During Wartime, Lucius Shepard
Still River, Hal Clement	Little Heroes, Norman Spinrad
Way of the Pilgrim, Gordon Dickson	After Long Silence, Sheri S. Tepper
When Gravity Fails, Geo. Alec Effinger	The Awakeners, Sheri S. Tepper
A Mask for the General, Lisa Goldstein	Vacuum Flowers, Michael Swanwick
Rumors of Spring, Richard Grant		The Sea and Summer, George Turner
To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Heinlein	Araminta Station, Jack Vance
    Doomed Planet, L. Ron Hubbard	Code Blue - Emergency, James White
Dark Seeker, K.W. Jeter			Voice of the Whirlwind, W. J. Williams
The Tommyknockers, Stephen King		The Urth of The New Sun, Gene Wolfe
Intervention, Julian May

____________________________________________________________________________

                               NOVELS - FANTASY

Being A Green Mother, Piers Anthony	The Witches of Wenshar, B. Hambly
Weaveworld, Clive Barker		Infernal Devices, K.W. Jeter
Land of Dreams, James P. Blaylock	Darkspell, Katherine Kerr
The Firebrand, M.Z. Bradley		The Dark Tower II, Stephen King
Aegypt, John Crowley			The Grey Horse, R.A. MacAvoy
Seventh Son, Orson Scott Card		Swan Song, Robert R. McCammon
Bones of the Moon, Jonathon Carroll	Never the Twain, Kirk Mitchell
A Min Rides Through, Donaldson		On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers
Guardians of the West, D. Eddings	Equal Rites, Terry Pratchett
Daughter of the Empire, Feist & Wurts	Lincoln's Dreams, Connie Willis
Strange Toys, Patricia Geary		Sign of Chaos, Roger Zelazny
The Hour of the Thin Ox, Colin Greenland

    Two minor corrections. I left out Clarkes' 2061: Odyssey Three and
    the correct title of the Hubbard book is *The* Doomed Planet.
    Interesting (to me, at least) that of the science fiction novels
    recommended, I've read only nine, and of the fantasies, exactly
    1. I'm not much of a fantasy reader, so I'm not real surprised about
    that. But, I read *a lot* of science fiction, on the average of
    two books a week. Just goes to show you how much product is out
    there.
    
    Fred

    To expand slightly on LOCUS's �standards on what is/isn't a book
    "published in 1987"�...
    
    Every month, LOCUS publishes a list of what books it's received
    from the various publishers that month. When drawing up the "Recom-
    mended Reading List", they go by these "books received" lists.
    Since they generally received "January 1987" in December 1986 (or
    possibly even November), those books are considered 1986 books,
    rather than 1987 books.
    
    By the way, I second Fred's plug for the LOCUS RRL's. After all,
    in past years, they had the good sense to recommend my (and my
    co-compiler, Ken Johnson's) indexes to the science fiction
    magazines. :-)
    
    --- jerry