Worlds Without End Blog

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!

4 Comments | Posted in Lists, Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge, WWEnd Updates | Tags: James Wallace Harris, Mike Jorgensen, Science Fiction by Women Writers

We’ve recently updated the Classics of Science Fiction list from version 3 to 4. Because of this, some books that were on version 3 have fallen off the latest list. My main reason for producing the classics list is to track how books are remembered and forgotten. Most books are forgotten soon after they are printed, so to get on our list and stay on it for years means a huge number of readers are remembering those books. When books fall of the list, it doesn’t mean those books are unworthy of reading anymore, but that readers are forgetting them. Sometimes books are rediscovered, especially if they get new editions, produced as audio books, or made into films or television shows. Generally, books slide into obscurity. Old readers die off, and new readers never find the better older books.

Many of the titles that dropped off the list were books published before 1950. For version 3, we used several lists for library collection development, or critical histories of science fiction. For version 4, we had more fan polls. Version 3 had many short stories collections and anthologies that didn’t make it to version 4. Plus, many classic titles from 1950-1975 fell off. I assume newer readers aren’t discovering older books.

I also think version 4 is a better list than version 3. Most of the second half of version 3 didn’t make it to version 4. Which makes me wonder if the bottom half of version 4 will disappear when we create version 5 in ten years.

Here are the titles that fell of the list this time. The ones in red are books I’ve reread in the recent years and think still deserve to be read. There are plenty of books on the list below I still plan to reread.

• 334 (1972) by Thomas Disch
• The Absolute at Large (1927) by Karel Čapek
• Across the Zodiac (1880) by Percy Greg
• Again, Dangerous Visions (1972) edited by Harlan Ellison
• Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell
• Astounding Science Fiction Anthology (1952) edited by John W. Campbell
• Back to Methuselah (1921) by George Bernard Shaw
• The Battle of Dorking (1871) by Sir George Chesney
• Before the Golden Age (1974) edited by Isaac Asimov
• Behold the Man (1969) by Michael Moorcock
• The Best of C. L. Moore (1975) by C. L. Moore
• The Best of C. M. Kornbluth by C. M. Kornbluth
• The Best of Henry Kuttner (1975) by Henry Kuttner
• The Best of Science Fiction (1946) edited by Groff Conklin
• Beyond Apollo (1972) by Barry N. Malzberg
• The Big Time (1961) by Fritz Leiber
• The Black Cloud (1957) by Fred Hoyle
• Brain Wave (1954) by Poul Anderson
• Bring the Jubilee (1953) by Ward Moore
• Bug Jack Barron (1969) by Norman Spinrad
• Casey Agonistes (1973) by Richard McKenna
• Chronopolis and Other Stories (1971) by J. G. Ballard
• The Chrysalids (1955) by John Wyndham
• The Clockwork Man (1923) by E. V. Odle
• The Coming Race (1871) by Edward Bulwer Lytton
• Dark Universe (1961) by Daniel F. Galouye
• Davy (1964) by Edgar Pangborn
• The Death of Grass (1956) by John Christopher
• Deathbird Stories (1975) by Harlan Ellison
• Deathworld (1960) by Harry Harrison
• Deluge (1927) by S. Fowler Wright
• The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories (1971) by Roger Zelazny
• Dorsai (1976) by Gordon Dickson
• Downward to the Earth (1970) by Robert Silverberg
• The Dream Master (1966) by Roger Zelazny
• The Dying Earth (1950) by Jack Vance
• E Pluribus Unicorn (1953) by Theodore Sturgeon
• The Embedding (1973) by Ian Watson
• Engine Summer (1979) by John Crowley
• Erewhon (1872) by Samuel Butler
• Final Blackout (1948) L. Ron Hubbard
• The Girl in the Golden Atom (1922) by Ray Cummings
• Gray Lensman (1951) by E. E. “Doc” Smith
• Greybeard (1964) by Brian Aldiss
• Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift
• The Hampdenshire Wonder (1911) by J. D. Beresford
• Herland (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• The Iron Dream (1972) by Norman Spinrad
• Islands in the Net (1988) by Bruce Sterling
• The Lensman Series (1948) by E. E. “Doc” Smith
• The Listeners (1972) by James Gunn
• The Long Tomorrow (1955) by Leigh Brackett
• Looking Backward (1880) by Edward Bellamy
• The Lost World (1912) by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Lovers (1961) by Philip José Farmer
• The Machine Stops and Other Stories (1909) by E. M. Forster
• Make Room! Make Room! (1966) by Harry Harrison
• Man Plus (1976) by Frederik Pohl
• A Martian Odyssey and Other Science Fiction Tales (1975) by Stanley G. Weinbaum
• The Midwich Cuckoos (1957) by John Wyndham
• A Mirror for Observers (1954) by Edgar Pangborn
• Norstrillia (1975) by Cordwainer Smith
• Nova (1968) by Samuel R. Delany
• Of All Possible Worlds (1955) by William Tenn
• On the Beach (1957) by Nevil Shute
• On the Wings of Song (1979) by Thomas Disch
• The Past Through Tomorrow (1967) by Robert A. Heinlein
• Perelandra (1943) by C. S. Lewis
• The Persistence of Vision (1978) by John Varley
• Play Piano (1952) by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Poison Belt (1913) by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Riddley Walker (1980) by Russell Hoban
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One (1970) edited by Robert Silverberg
• The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe (1976) by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Science Fiction of Jack London (1975) by Jack London
• She (1886) by H. Rider Haggard
• The Sheep Look Up (1972) by John Brunner
• The Short Stories of H. G. Wells (1927) by H. G. Wells
• Sirius (1944) by Olaf Stapledon
• The Skylark of Space (1946) by E. E. “Doc” Smith
• Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) by Robert Lewis Stevenson
• That Hideous Strength (1945) by C. S. Lewis
• To-Morrow’s Yesterday (1932) by John Gloag
• Under Pressure (1956) by Frank Herbert
• Untouched by Human Hands (1954) by Robert Sheckley
• A Voyage to Arcturus (1920) by David Lindsay
• The Wanderer (1964) by Fritz Leiber
• War of the Newts (1936) by Karel Čapek
• The Weigher of Souls (1931) by Andrew Maurois
• Who Goes There? (1948) by John W. Campbell
• The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (1975) by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Witches of Karres (1966) by James H. Schmitz
• Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) Marge Piercy
• The World Below (1930) by S. Fowler Wright

Editor’s note:  WWEnd has recently updated our Classics of Science Fiction list from version 3 to match Jim and Michael’s new version 4.

10 Comments | Posted in Genre History & Criticism | Tags: Classics of Science Fiction, James Wallace Harris