Tom likes to read science fiction and fantasy

My reading diet for the last 14 years has consisted almost solely of science fiction and fantasy. It's not that I dislike other genres. I don't. I can sit down and read mysteries, adventure etc. quite happily. The problem is that for every book from outside sf that I read, that's time that I could have spent reading one sf book. And since I didn't start reading in the '50s, when it was just about possible to read every sf book written, I am over 30 years behind already. A sad thought, isn't it.

So what are my favourite sf books?

Number one on my list has to go to Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. It is the only book I have given a 10 to in the Top 100 SF list. I enjoy Card's writing immensely, with the exception of the Tales of Alvin Maker series. The rest of my favourites include :

• Lord Valentine's Castle, Robert Silverberg
• The Last Herald Mage Trilogy, Mercedes Lackey
• The Bloody Sun (Darkover Series), Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Witches of Karres, James H. Schmitz
• The Demon Princes series, Jack Vance
• Magician, Raymond E. Feist
• Born to Exile, Phyllis Eisenstein
• Ivory, Mike Resnick
• The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov
• Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
• The Instrumentality of Mankind, Cordwainer Smith
• With a Single Spell, Lawrence Watt-Evans

This list is by no means exhaustive. It leaves out a lot of authors that I enjoy reading, including L. Sprague de Camp, Anne McCaffrey, Gordon R. Dickson, David Eddings (well, The Belgariad anyway), a few I have probably just forgotten, adn some more recent ones that I just haven't bothered adding. It also leaves out a number of authors who are regarded as greats, but of whom I have not read enough to find a top class book, such as Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl.

I am currently trying to work my way through the Top 100 List, an expensive and time-consuming process. At this stage I have read about a quarter and own about another half which I have yet to read. I think that it's a worthwhile exercise. I'm counting on the fact that the collective taste of the SF Net community is fairly good.

Links to some SF sites

Yahoo's Science Fiction and Fantasy page

Good place to start searching for info.

The SF lovers archive at Rutgers U

Great source of reference for awards, movies, reviews, etc.

Tristrom Cooke's Top 100 SF booklist

Top 100 SF books as voted by the Internet Community. Add your votes to the growing list.

Tom Brennan : website@ozultimate.com : updated 20030527