Because this has been bothering me since Wiscon

[starlady]

Poll #7183 Greatest living SF writer?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 35

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Greatest living SF writer?

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Ted Chiang (source: owner of Dreamhaven Books)
0 (0.0%)

Samuel R. Delany (source: me)
2 (5.9%)

Ursula K. LeGuin (source: me)
28 (82.4%)

Gene Wolfe (source: Neil Gaiman)
0 (0.0%)

someone else I will name below
4 (11.8%)

Write-in candidate?

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I just can't believe someone would put Ted Chiang over the woman who coined the term 'ansible,' but maybe I shouldn't be all that surprised.

Comments

[seekingferret]

DHALGREN IS AMAZING. READ IT. YOU WON'T REGRET IT.


Also, his Neveryon fantasy stories are incredibly worth it and nowhere near as intimidating.

I'm a sort of admirer of Wolfe in an abstract way, though I've found in practice that actually sitting down and reading him is like taking a dose of your medicine. I will say that we couldn't have had the past thirty years' explosion in non-Tolkien fantasy without him.

[starlady]

See, this is interesting, because I read Neverÿona first of all his books and only then realized that he was fictionalizing critical theory. I think the Neverÿon books may be his real achievement, I love Dhalgren but…Neverÿon will always be first in my affections.

What Wolfe have you read? I think The Book of the New Sun is one of the most mindtrip-y books I've ever read, in a brilliant way.

[seekingferret]

Don't get me wrong, the Neveryon books are both incredibly brilliant and incredibly intellectually demanding. You're absolutely right that the way he plays with theory without diminishing character at all is stunning and powerful. I'm just saying that the stories aren't as intimidating- they don't have the unpredictable narrative jumps and complicated textual play that I think make Dhalgren an intimidating book to undertake for someone new to Delany.

I think I've read the first three parts of the Book of the New Sun, plus various short pieces of his SF. And I admired The Book of the New Sun greatly but never really enjoyed it, which is why I never finished. It never made me excited to keep reading.