I'm kind of sad to see Snow Crash not rank in the upper 50.
Also Neuromancer I agree with, but no mention of John Shirley.
If Lewis Shiner had made it in, it would be a deadly insult, but
no John Shirley? I can't be accused of being a johnny-come-lately,
as I'm fuming at the lack of John Campbell, while Doc Smith makes the cut.
I can't believe the Techno-babble laden space opera would have been
a genre unto itself without Campbell transplanting the square-jawed
adventure yarn into a world of paraffin-insulated rockets and
propellers powered by the mass of light. Yes, solar-sail proponents, I
talk to you.
While I understand these are meant to be readable, there are too many easy
choices for me to support this. Clarke and Asimov in the top ten?
Shocking!
Blish's Case of Conscience, but not Jack of Eagles or the Devil's Day?
I don't argue for just personal favorites. Wilson&Shea's Illuminati
Trilogy is a perennial favorite of mine, but it uses Sci-fi trappings
to tell a transformative story. (Dick fen can argue Valis does the same)
Likewise, Lovecraft has journeys to Venus, gulfs of space, creatures
alien to man, but is he a peer of Anne McCaffrey? Shudder.
Is the Eclipse Trilogy (or even Eclipse itself) less valuable than
1984? Or is it more familiar? Brian Talbot's Luther Arkwright?
Inspired by Moorecock's Jerry Cornelius, also irrepresented, is it
less a novel as it's a comic book? The Forever War and not the Big Time?
I always grow leery in the prescence of Top X lists, as I try to figure
out what went into the choices for the list, and why someone's left off.
