Oh, And —
Posted on January 11, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 31 Comments
Old Man’s War currently at #1 on that Tor.com Best SFF Novels of the Decade poll. For today, anyway — I really don’t expect to keep that ranking, considering how many very good SFF novels were published in the last decade. But for today: w00t! Thanks.
If you’ve not voted in the poll yet but would like to, use that second link above. You can vote for as many SFF novels from the last decade as you think should qualify as the best, which I think is a good way of going about it. Vote’s open through Friday.
(And to be clear: Vote for my books only if you would have done so anyway. I’ll still love you even if you don’t think my books are the best of the decade. And by “love you” I mean “will consider you a prime source of bus fare.”)
Update: Uh-oh, Neil’s just tweeted about the thing to his 1.5 million Twitter minions. Sigh. My reign was fun while it lasted.
Shame on you for using your minions to rush the poll… it just doesn’t seem fair!
I am proud to be a source of bus fare.
CBot:
1. Somehow I don’t think Tor.com is upset at getting a few thousand people sent their way to participate in their poll.
2. I’ve been pretty clear about telling people not to stuff the ballot on my behalf, and in encouraging them to vote for others.
3. The idea that people who read here are in any serious way my “minions” amuses me. I mean, do you actually read these folks when they leave comments? Fairly independent bunch, they are.
So: Meh.
Haven’t voted yet, but I’ll probably put Anathem in before OMW.
Go right ahead!
The idea that people who read here are in any serious way my “minions” amuses me. I mean, do you actually read these folks when they leave comments? Fairly independent bunch, they are.
Best type of minions to have.
If you manage to herd them, you got it made.
You know, there have been a lot of things gone wrong and right around me throughout the past ten years. While I wouldn’t have known about the Tor Pole without you, I did honestly vote.
I can say with all sincerity that you were the only new author in the past decade that has not been boring. You have not written anything that I couldn’t share with my family and friends. You have not let me, my family, or my friends down in any way with your works. I did vote for you, and I am very proud to have done so.
gwangung :
Yes, but in terms of ease of herding, it goes like this: Sheep, goats, cats, Whatever readers. Who has the time to be a Whatherder?
Congrats!! That is way cool!
Suli/Suzie
If only I’d known about this poll twenty years ago. Then I could’ve voted for some of Anne McCaffrey’s stuff. Sadly, her more recent works, and the stuff she’s written with her son, and the stuff he’s written himself (particularly the latter) just don’t, imo, hold up to the standards of her earlier works.
Squirrel!
Oh, the irony of timing. It BURNS us, it does.
Congrats on reaching the #1 spot, however fleeting your elation may be. Always remember and never forget: We have not failed you.
Much.
Keeping minions in line is very difficult. That’s why supervillains and evil overlords are so quick with the summary executions.
If you wimp out on wanton slaughter, you’ll never get minions under control.
You know, since you don’t have to chose among your favorites for voting for just one, Neil and you should join minion forces to dominate, that way you win by having mentioned it on your blog first! I’m not sure what the upside would be for Neil would be, maybe in his heart of hearts he is just a faithful Scalzi Minion and OMW was his favorite of the 2000’s.
Voted for Cryptonomicon (over Anathem) and Android’s Dream (over OMW). Guess I’m just weird. :)
The biggest injustice is Gaiman’s Horde is going to vote for the wrong one of his books!
::stacks cartons of The Graveyard Book into a barricade and starts pouring powder into his musket::
@Hentosz
I noticed a strong bias towards more recently published books in the lists as well. I pulled mine from a decade of my USENET reviews, and noticed a lot of old favorites I’d forgotten about.
There’s also an apparent bias the recommendations that list book A, in that they also list B-F as well, while other books come in as singletons. The preliminary tabulation they’ve published is odd, by my eyes. I suggested in my note that Tor might want to get a statistician to work the list over.
Regards,
Jack Tingle
I only just started ‘Old Man’s War’ today, but 35 pages in I’m really enjoying it. It’s like ‘The Forever War’ without almost-homophobia.
I ended up voting for Sawyer’s ‘Hominids’, Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’, Bacigalupi’s ‘The Windup Girl’, and ‘Forbidden The Stars’ by Valmore Daniels. If the poll had been a week later I can see ‘Old Man’s War’ making it, if the last 90% is as lovely as the first 10%.
Buried by the Army of Goth Girls.
I am not a minion! I am a free … going to vote. How’d you do that?
Heh. I’d love to see a cross-referenced list of who voted for Old Man’s War with scalzi.com posters. It’d be amusing to see who voted to promote a novel filled with anti-politician eliminationist rhetoric.
I voted for OMW, it was a particular rough time for me when i first read it…I was recovering from stroke in the hospital and it seemed like this book had been written for me personally. I thank you John for getting me through a particularly rough time in my life. OMW will alway be number one in my heart!
I’m interested in the discussion they’re having over there of BEST book verses FAVORITE book.
I added Old Man’s War to my list because I think Scalzi is one of the absolute best new SFF writers in the last decade and think OMW is the best of his books. And that makes it a very, very good book indeed.
I added Anatham to my list for different reasons. Anathem is not my favorite book in the last 11 years. But it’s high up on my list of best books. It just works on so many levels and on a personal level I loved figuring out the world Stephenson built. (Yes, I skipped the note to the reader.) I’m reading it for the third time now and get something more every time.
The field of Hugo nominees in 2009 was a tough choice. But I felt Anathem really stood out as the best an SFF book can be.
I try to avoid voting for my favorite book with the Hugos and in polls like this. I try to figure out what I think the best book is. Which made realizing from that discussion that others have the same opinion interesting for me.
I have to admit to some confusion. Some of the books in the top 20 are clearly fantasy, not science fiction. While often lumped together in bookstores, they are NOT the same genre, and it would never have occurred to me to vote for a fantasy book in a contest for sci fi books.
Anyway. Voted for both “Old Man’s War” and “The Last Colony”. As well as three books not written by you. (World War Z, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and Boneshaker.”
But not American Gods. Because it’s not Science Fiction. No matter how much I may love it.
Veronica:
As I understand it the poll is open to both science fiction and fantasy.
John is correct. American Gods qualifies. From the description of the poll:
(Bolding mine.)
And congrats! As of 6:00 today EST, Old Man’s War is still #1 by 41 votes even after Gaiman’s tweet.
(Oh, I hope I hope I hope I got the quote tags right.)
Huh! Maybe I should have read the fine print, then. Consider me corrected. :)
(Oh…storiedthreads and Veronica are the same person. Whoops!)
Still No. 1!!!
I guess that’s the promotional power of having a popular blog.
“Whatever you do, dear readers, DONT go over to this site right here and stuff the ballot on my behalf. No, no, no, no, no. That would be wrong. Did I mention, the voting takes place on this page right here (link provided)?”
…. later….
“Oh look! I moved up from number 8 position to number 1! Wow! I wonder how that happened?”
Yes they are. Science fiction is just plausible fantasy.