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Worlds Without End Blog

New version 5 of Classics of Science Fiction Posted at 8:00 AM by James Wallace Harris

jwharris28

We are now rolling out version 5 of the Classics of Science Fiction list. Since 1987 how the lists were generated has changed with each new version. Version 5 is driven by a database and programs that allow us to add new citation sources on the fly. Hopefully, that means we won’t have to write new versions of the list generator in the future. But it does mean the list will automatically change when we add new data.

We have never claimed our lists of “classic science fiction” are the absolute best of all science fiction to read. Our goal has been to track how science fiction stories are remembered over time. Most stories are quickly forgotten. A few get remembered for years, and sometimes decades. Rare works are still read a century later. Collectively, we remember some stories, but that doesn’t mean that individuals don’t find stories that resonate overwhelmingly with their own unique reading tastes that don’t get recognition statistically.

In version 5 of the Classics of Science Fiction and Classics of Science Fiction Short Stories, almost everything is a hyperlink, and each column can be resorted by clicking on the heading label. There is also a build your own list where visitors can create custom lists. Titles and authors are linked to ISFDB.org, and from there you can follow links to other resources.

At the top of each list is the option to show the citations or turn them off. The citations are in order by year. If you study these lists and citations, you’ll see how stories are remembered and forgotten. If you are old enough, this might spur wistful memories.

We control the size of the generated lists by specifying the number of citations. For our classics lists we use 12 for books, and 8 for stories. These produce lists of around 100 titles, a size that seems to capture the most remembered stories. Stories we like to think of as classics. If you want fewer stories up the citation requirements, if you want more, lower them.

A fun thing to do with the custom list builder is to search for the most popular science fiction for the decade of your teen years. That tends to be everyone’s golden age of science fiction.

Our new URL is https://csfquery.com.

 

New List: Science Fiction by Women Writers Posted at 6:53 PM by Dave Post

Dave Post

Hello everyone!  We’ve just added a new “best of” list to Worlds Without End (#33!) that we think you’re really gonna like: Science Fiction by Women Writers.

This list comes to us from WWEnder and Uber User, the King of Lists himself, Mr. James Wallace Harris and his compatriot Mike Jorgensen.  Jim and Mike created this new list using the time tested method that gave us the much revered Classics of Science Fiction list.  Basically they reviewed every damn list they could find (65 in all!) and picked the books by women writers that made it onto at least 4 of those lists.  The result is a who’s who of women in genre fiction and a great place to find some great reads.  Be sure to check out the Classics of Science Fiction website for the source lists and essays.

This new list is an excellent addition to the other women-centric lists we feature on WWEnd including Ian Sales’ popular SF Mistressworks, David G. Hartwell’s 200 Significant SF Books by Women, and WWEnd’s own Award Winning Books by Women Authors.  If you’re ready to explore more works by women authors these lists will take you far along that road.

And as long as you’re at it join us for the 5th annual WWEnd Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge!  This year’s iteration has reading levels from just 6 books, enough to get your feet wet, all the way up to 48 books, for those looking to dive deep.

Our thanks to Jim and Mike for building such a great list and sharing it with us on WWEnd!  Let us know what you think about the new list in the comments below.  Read on!