Memes and Junk

A couple days ago I posted a meme for Masterworks of SFF collection, focused specifically on the science fiction titles published (or re-published, if you will) by Gollanz. In the interest of fairness, I now give you the fantasy version of the meme, courtesy of Spiral Galaxy Reviews. Here are the rules:Bold the titles you’ve read.Italicize the titles you own, but haven’t read. Simple enough, right? Here goes (after the fold): 1 – The Book of the New Sun, Volume 1: Shadow and Claw – Gene Wolfe2 – Time and the Gods – Lord Dunsany3 – The Worm Ouroboros – E.R. Eddison4 – Tales of the Dying Earth – Jack Vance5 – Little, Big – John Crowley6 – The Chronicles of Amber – Roger Zelazny7 – Viriconium – M. John Harrison8 – The Conan Chronicles, Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle – Robert E. Howard9 – The Land of Laughs – Jonathan Carroll10 – The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea – L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt 11 – Lud-in-the-Mist – Hope Mirrlees12 – The Book of the New Sun, Volume 2: Sword and Citadel – Gene Wolfe13 – Fevre Dream – George R. R. Martin14 – Beauty – Sheri S. Tepper15 – The King of Elfland’s Daughter – Lord Dunsany16 – The Conan Chronicles, Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon – Robert E. Howard17 – Elric – Michael Moorcock18 – The First Book of Lankhmar – Fritz Leiber19 – Riddle-Master – Patricia A. McKillip20 – Time and Again – Jack Finney 21 – Mistress of Mistresses – E.R. Eddison22 – Gloriana or the Unfulfill’d Queen – Michael Moorcock23 – The Well of the Unicorn – Fletcher Pratt24 – The Second Book of Lankhmar – Fritz Leiber25 – Voice of Our Shadow – Jonathan Carroll26 – The Emperor of Dreams – Clark Ashton Smith27 – Lyonesse I: Suldrun’s Garden – Jack Vance28 – Peace – Gene Wolfe29 – The Dragon Waiting – John M. Ford30 – Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe – Michael Moorcock 31 – Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams – C.L. Moore32 – The Broken Sword – Poul Anderson33 – The House on the Borderland and Other Novels – William Hope Hodgson34 – The Drawing of the Dark – Tim Powers35 – Lyonesse II and III: The Green Pearl and Madouc – Jack Vance36 – The History of Runestaff – Michael Moorcock37 – A Voyage to Arcturus – David Lindsay38 – Darker Than You Think – Jack Williamson39 – The Mabinogion – Evangeline Walton40 – Three Hearts & Three Lions – Poul Anderson 41 – Grendel – John Gardner42 – The Iron Dragon’s Daughter – Michael Swanwick43 – WAS – Geoff Ryman44 – Song of Kali – Dan Simmons45 – Replay – Ken Grimwood46 – Sea Kings of Mars and Other Worldly Stories – Leigh Brackett47 – The Anubis Gates – Tim Powers48 – The Forgotten Beasts of Eld – Patricia A. McKillip49 – Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury50 – The Mark of the Beast and Other Fantastical Tales – Rudyard Kipling I’ve read a total of 0 books on the list and own 9. That’s even worse than the science fiction list. Then again, I’m not a fantasy nut. I like fantasy, but I’m more knowledgeable about science fiction’s past than I am with fantasy’s (then again, I know a lot about fantasy’s past, which means I know a crazy amount about science fiction). What about you? How many have you read and how many do you own?

Time for another meme! I found this one at The Speculative Scotsman. It contains all the science fiction books from the Gollanz Masterworks of SFF collection. How it works: Bold the stuff you’ve read, italicize the stuff you own, but haven’t read, and leave normal everything else. Feel free to join in! (The Speculative Scotsman notes that “some of the SF Masterworks were released in a line of special hardcovers – denoted by roman numerals – as well as the paperbacks we all own a few of, so there are a few duplicates in the list.” This will account for some repeats on the list.) Here goes: I – Dune – Frank HerbertII – The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le GuinIII – The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. DickIV – The Stars My Destination – Alfred BesterV – A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller, Jr.VI – Childhood’s End – Arthur C. ClarkeVII – The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. HeinleinVIII – Ringworld – Larry NivenIX – The Forever War – Joe HaldemanX – The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham 1 – The Forever War – Joe Haldeman2 – I Am Legend – Richard Matheson3 – Cities in Flight – James Blish4 – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick5 – The Stars My Destination – Alfred Bester6 – Babel-17 – Samuel R. Delany7 – Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny8 – The Fifth Head of Cerberus – Gene Wolfe9 – Gateway – Frederik Pohl10 – The Rediscovery of Man – Cordwainer Smith 11 – Last and First Men – Olaf Stapledon12 – Earth Abides – George R. Stewart13 – Martian Time-Slip – Philip K. Dick14 – The Demolished Man – Alfred Bester15 – Stand on Zanzibar – John Brunner16 – The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin17 – The Drowned World – J. G. Ballard18 – The Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut19 – Emphyrio – Jack Vance20 – A Scanner Darkly – Philip K. Dick 21 – Star Maker – Olaf Stapledon22 – Behold the Man – Michael Moorcock23 – The Book of Skulls – Robert Silverberg24 – The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds – H. G. Wells25 – Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes26 – Ubik – Philip K. Dick27 – Timescape – Gregory Benford28 – More Than Human – Theodore Sturgeon29 – Man Plus – Frederik Pohl30 – A Case of Conscience – James Blish 31 – The Centauri Device – M. John Harrison32 – Dr. Bloodmoney – Philip K. Dick33 – Non-Stop – Brian Aldiss34 – The Fountains of Paradise – Arthur C. Clarke35 – Pavane – Keith Roberts36 – Now Wait for Last Year – Philip K. Dick37 – Nova – Samuel R. Delany38 – The First Men in the Moon – H. G. Wells39 – The City and the Stars – Arthur C. Clarke40 – Blood Music – Greg Bear 41 – Jem – Frederik Pohl42 – Bring the Jubilee – Ward Moore43 – VALIS – Philip K. Dick44 – The Lathe of Heaven – Ursula K. Le Guin45 – The Complete Roderick – John Sladek46 – Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said – Philip K. Dick47 – The Invisible Man – H. G. Wells48 – Grass – Sheri S. Tepper49 – A Fall of Moondust – Arthur C. Clarke50 – Eon – Greg Bear 51 – The Shrinking Man – Richard Matheson52 – The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch – Philip K. Dick53 – The Dancers at the End of Time – Michael Moorcock54 – The Space Merchants – Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth55 – Time Out of Joint – Philip K. Dick56 – Downward to the Earth – Robert Silverberg57 – The Simulacra – Philip K. Dick58 – The Penultimate Truth – Philip K. Dick59 – Dying Inside – Robert Silverberg60 – Ringworld – Larry Niven 61 – The Child Garden – Geoff Ryman62 – Mission of Gravity – Hal Clement63 – A Maze of Death – Philip K. Dick64 – Tau Zero – Poul Anderson65 – Rendezvous with Rama – Arthur C. Clarke66 – Life During Wartime – Lucius Shepard67 – Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang – Kate Wilhelm68 – Roadside Picnic – Arkady and Boris Strugatsky69 – Dark Benediction – Walter M. Miller, Jr.70 – Mockingbird – Walter Tevis 71 – Dune – Frank Herbert72 – The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein73 – The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick74 – Inverted World – Christopher Priest75 – Kurt Vonnegut – Cat’s Cradle76 – H.G. Wells – The Island of Dr. Moreau77 – Arthur C. Clarke – Childhood’s End78 – H.G. Wells – The Time Machine79 – Samuel R. Delany – Dhalgren (July 2010)80 – Brian Aldiss – Helliconia (August 2010) 81 – H.G. Wells – Food of the Gods (Sept. 2010)82 – Jack Finney – The Body Snatchers (Oct. 2010)83 – Joanna Russ – The Female Man (Nov. 2010)84 – M.J. Engh – Arslan (Dec. 2010) So, of the 80+ books above, I have read 9 and own around 40 (minus the repeats). That’s pretty pathetic. I am officially ashamed of myself. The only excuse I have is that I have been predominately focused on contemporary SF literature, and the books above, despite the dates in parenthesis, are mostly older books. I am happy to have read some Philip K. Dick, though. Not a lot of folks can say that! Feel free to steal the meme and do it yourself. Leave a link in the comments!

John Ottinger over at Grasping For the Wind posted a meme yesterday based on Sandra McDonald’s periodic table of women in science fiction. Since I’ve recently been talking about women in science fiction with Weirdside on our podcast, I thought it would be fun to do this meme here. I’ll put my stats at the bottom of the list with a brief comment. (One thing to note: I own a lot of books and it’s entirely possible that some of the folks below should be bolded who are not. I can’t remember all of the books I own; there are just too darn many.) The meme: Bold the women by whom you own booksItalicize those by whom you’ve read something of (short stories count)*Star those you don’t recognize Andre NortonC. L. MooreEvangeline Walton*Leigh BrackettJudith Merril*Joanna RussMargaret St. Clair*Katherine MacLean*Carol EmshwillerMarion Zimmer BradleyZenna Henderson*Madeline L’EngleAngela CarterUrsula LeGuinAnne McCaffreyDiana Wynne JonesKit ReedJames Tiptree, Jr.Rachel Pollack*Jane YolenMarta Randall*Eleanor Arnason*Ellen AsherPatricia A. McKillipSuzy McKee Charnas*Lisa TuttleNina Kiriki HoffmanTanith LeePamela Sargent*Jayge Carr*Vonda McIntyreOctavia E. ButlerKate WilhelmChelsea Quinn YarbroSheila Finch*Mary GentleJessica Amanda Salmonson*C. J. CherryhJoan D. VingeTeresa Nielsen HaydenEllen KushnerEllen DatlowNancy KressPat MurphyLisa GoldsteinElizabeth Ann ScarboroughMary Turzillo*Connie WillisBarbara HamblyNancy Holder*Sheri S. TepperMelissa ScottMargaret AtwoodLois McMaster BujoldJeanne CavelosKaren Joy FowlerLeigh KennedyJudith MoffettRebecca Ore*Emma BullPat CadiganKathyrn CramerLaura Mixon*Eileen GunnElizabeth HandKij JohnsonDelia ShermanElizabeth MoonMichaela Roessner*Terri WindlingSharon LeeSherwood SmithKatherine KurtzMargo LanaganLaura ResnickKristine Kathryn RuschSheila WilliamsFarah MendlesohnGwyneth JonesArdath Mayhar*Esther Friesner*Debra Doyle*Nicola GriffithAmy Thomson*Martha Wells*Catherine AsaroKate ElliottKathleen Ann GoonanShawna McCarthyCaitlin KiernanMaureen McHughCheryl MorganNisi ShawlMary Doria RussellKage BakerKelly LinkNancy SpringerJ. K. RowlingNalo HopkinsonEllen KlagesTananarive DueM. Rickert*Theodora GossMary Anne MohanrajS. L. ViehlJo WaltonKristine SmithDeborah Layne*Cherie PriestWen SpencerK. J. BishopCatherynne M. ValenteElizabeth BearEkaterina SediaNaomi NovikMary Robinette KowalAnn VanderMeer The breakdown is like this:–Total authors on the list: 117–Authors I have never heard of: 25 (21.4%)–Authors whose work I own: 49 (41.9%)–Authors whose work I’ve read: 18 (15.4%)–Authors whose work I’ve never read: 99 (84.6%) Alright, so here’s what I think about all of this. 1. While I only own work for 49 of the authors listed above, I also own multiple books by the majority of them. I am well on my way to owning everything Nalo Hopkinson and Kage Baker have ever written, have a dozen Andrew Norton novels, and quite a few from many others on the list. 2. I’m rather shocked that I don’t own work for many of the big name authors on the list. I may have to check my library to make sure I’m not forgetting things. 3. Of the 18 authors whose work I have read, many of them I have read multiple times. I’ve read two Kage Baker novels, at least four Elizabeth Bear ones, two by Jo Walton, and a number of Le Guin and Butler titles. 4. A lot of female authors I have read do not appear on this list, such as: Susan Beth Pfeffer, Jennifer Rahn, Chris Moriarty, Kay Kenyon, and Mary Shelley. 5. I really would like to read more of the authors on this list. This has been an issue for me for two reasons: the first is that I receive very few female authors in either science fiction and fantasy to review; the second is that most of the female authors I have read are either fantasy authors or authors of other genres; and the third is that I don’t have as much time for free reading as I would like, which inevitably means I don’t get to read more diversely. I am hoping to solve the last of these issues, though, and maybe I’ll get the opportunity to read more female authors in the future. We’ll see. Right now, things are looking pretty crowded. 6. After all is said and done, I do think I may have to be a little more proactive in diversifying my reading, not just in terms of gender, but in terms of race as well. I’ve said as much before, but this is making it a little more clear for me. I’ve also said in the past that my non-diverse reading is not at all intentional, nor subconscious, which is perhaps made clear by the fact that many of the women I have read on this list are folks I came to organically, enjoyed, and continue to read. And that’s the end of that. I’m curious how the numbers look for everyone else, though. Let me know in the comments.