Begging to differ

[starlady]

So I mentioned that I might or might not make a post about my disagreements with io9's 20 Best SFF Books of the Decade. (They call the list simply science fiction, but with Harry Potter and Jonathan Strange on it, it's not just sf. Thanks for that insult, guys.) I was leaning toward might not until I saw jonquil post these choice quotations about Cory Doctorow's new novel on her journal. I can't stand Cory Doctorow as a writer, and rachelmanija's posts related to Little Brother are a good illustration of why.

---

So this list is shorter, because I don't think I read 20 sff books of the Aughts that were truly...I'm not even sure of the word. But I have read all of the ones below, and could go on at length about them if prompted. I took the ones I had read and agreed with off io9, then added.

Neal Stephenson, The Baroque Trilogy
J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter books
Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
China Miéville, Perdido Street Station
Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass
Kelly Link, Pretty Monsters
Naomi Novik, the Temeraire series
Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
Shaun Tan, Tales from Outer Suburbia

Some of the comments to the io9 post are pretty spot-on; I think the best is the one pointing out how white it is, which is a valid criticism of my list too. I haven't read enough sff by chromatic writiers; I also think I don't, or haven't, read enough sff of ideas--but I also think that not enough sff of ideas is written. And I don't count "literary fiction" as sff, which lops a chunk of the io9 choices off my reduced list.

What do other people think? What are the sff books of the decade by chromatic authors? What sff novels (of ideas) would you nominate? I think that my list is a beginning and that I am left with far more questions than answers, which disinclines me to try to make any sweeping statements.

Comments

[troisroyaumes]

Well to go for two in one, Ted Chiang is a chromatic author who writes really wonderful SFF of ideas. His book, Stories of Your Life is a collection of short stories and novellas.

I actually haven't read that many chromatic SFF authors either, and it's also something that I'm hoping to rectify.

[naraht]

Oh yes. Ted Chiang definitely deserves his place on the list.

[troisroyaumes]

Oops, I didn't follow the io9 link before leaving my comment--now I see that he was already listed. In any case, yes, very much deserved.

[starlady]

Hmm, my comment notifications seem to be having a problem.

I left off Chiang because I haven't read him, but clearly I should. :)

[naraht]

They might be using SF in the sense of "speculative fiction" rather than "science fiction." It can be ambiguous.

Why don't you count literary fiction? I tend to lean that way in my own reading preference, so I love stuff that is both literary and SF because it scratches both itches at once, if you see what I mean.

[starlady]

I'm actually reading a short story collection atm called The Secret History of Science Fiction which is related to my not counting them as the same thing. My thoughts on this topic remain inchoate, but I think Cat Valente got at what I think is the real difference between lf and sff in this recent post, which I really liked--her contention is that sff is different due to its focus on worldbuilding. I do think there are some writers with one foot in both worlds (Michael Chabon comes to mind), and some of the books on the io9 list I have heard brilliant things about, such as Oryx and Crake and Audrey Niffenegger, but haven't read for myself (yet). But I think literary fiction is its own genre, defined not by true literary value but by its limits (essentially the equivalent of "vanilla is a kink").

I like just typing sf because it is ambiguous, but I think the post writes out science fiction. *le sigh at the erasure of fantasy*

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Did you take Ted Chiang's The Story of Your Life And Others off the list because you haven't read it or you didn't like it? If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. Chiang writes sf-of-ideas in the best possible way (i.e., his stories have actual characters and there are no techno-infodumps); I think the collection well deserves its play on io9's list.

I'd switch Miéville's The Scar for Perdido Street Station; I think The Scar is more ambitious, questioning as it does certain fundamental sff tropes. I'd also switch Link's Magic for Beginners with Pretty Monsters, even though I haven't actually read PM, because "Magic For Beginners" and "The Faery Handbag" are among the best short fiction I've ever read.

My list would include Jeff Vandermeer's City of Saints and Madmen, which pushes hard at all kinds of literary boundaries. It wouldn't include the Harry Potter books, I'm afraid. I read them all, and they have some strengths, but I think the problems (e.g. Rowling's inability to structure a narrative or keep her worldbuilding consistent) outweigh the good points.

I wish I had more recommendations for women writers and/or writers of color. So many women fantasy writers seem to be producing (being pushed by editors to produce?) paranormal romance, which is a genre I can't stand.

Earlier this year I tried to read Nalo Hopkinson's Brown Girl in the Ring, but I stalled because it looked very much like it was going to be a story about How The Magical Eternal Feminine Life Force As Embodied in Ancient Goddesses And a Plucky Young Woman Saves The World, which I cannot overcome my aversion to.

Obviously I need to get off my ass and find more books by women writers and/or chromatic writers, because that's kind of faily.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

Haven't read Ted Chiang; he's now at the top of my 2010 queue, thanks to you and people on DW.

I agree with Rowling's place on the list as much for her effect on publishing in general as for the books themselves (which is why I put Novik on there, as I think she has had a demonstrable effect on the instance of dragons in the genre. And arguably several other tropes too). I think the best books in the series are not the ones that were published in the Aughts (5-7), but those from the '90s (1-4. I cheat because 4 came out in 2000), before her editors grew fearful and her structures fell apart like poor soufflés.

I go back and forth between Perdido Street Station and The Scar. I think The Scar is the better book for the reasons you cite (and I totally need to reread it), but ultimately I went with Perdido Street because, coming first, it was more revolutionary. And also it has the Ambassador of Hell.

Having read both Pretty Monsters and Magic for Beginners, I actually think PM is a slightly tighter collection, though it's essentially a toss-up, since they're both awesome. I'm getting Stranger Things Happen for Christmas and am Excited. Also Pretty Monsters has Shaun Tan's illustrations, and I'm probably going to edit this post right now to add one of his books to the list.