tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post3173965643212617412..comments2023-11-27T13:34:07.127-08:00Comments on The effusions of M. Julius Beezer: Canons to the left of them...Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-22868199960647665772012-09-06T07:45:48.446-07:002012-09-06T07:45:48.446-07:00The Dispossessed is one of my favourite novels (as...The Dispossessed is one of my favourite novels (as LeGuin is one of my favourite writers) but it's not for everyone. <br /><br />If I were going to recommend a list of science-fiction novels I think people should read... I probably wouldn't. Also, I am <i>way</i> behind on modern science-fiction.<br /><br />Margaret Attwood's <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> is such a reference point for what the current right-wing forces are doing to human rights. As is, in a different way, Suzanne Collins' <i>The Hunger Games</i>.<br /><br />I've been reading C.J.Cherryh's <i>Alliance/Union</i> sequence and her <i>Foreigner</i> series for so long now that I can't really say I recommend them - you definitely have to start at the beginning with <i>Foreigner</i> (well, at the third chapter, anyway) and be prepared to keep going. With the A/U novels you can drop in anywhere, pretty much. Both of them are sustained examinations of politics in a science-fictional setting. <br /><br />I enjoy everything Octavia E. Butler ever wrote. <i>Mind of my Mind</i> is what first hooked me, but I'm not sure it would if I read it at the age I am now: maybe <i>Wild Seed</i>. Both of those fall within the loosely-linked Patternmaster series. So does <i>Survivor</i> and <i>Clay's Ark</i>, both of which I also like.<br /><br />Of fantasy my favourite living writer is Robin McKinley (favourite deceased, Diana Wynne Jones). I'd recommend <i>Sunshine</i> to anyone even if they didn't much like fantasy, and <i>Witch Week</i> to anyone who remembers British secondary schools in the 70s/80s.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-56157889282741428142012-08-08T05:26:29.863-07:002012-08-08T05:26:29.863-07:00You need to read The Left Hand of Darkness, at lea...You need to read The Left Hand of Darkness, at least.Hugh Barnardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09503239335749735217noreply@blogger.com