Tor.com Best SFF of the Decade Results: OMW Is In
Posted on March 1, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 32 Comments
Oh, hey, look: the results of the Tor.com readers poll of the best science fiction and fantasy novels of the last decade (actually eleven years, but who’s counting?) are out, and Old Man’s War showed up on the final list. Yay! Want to see where on the list it landed? Want to see what else is on the list? Click that link above.
But wait, there’s more! Tor is also running a little contest for you to win all ten finalists on the list, and there will be four winners. Here’s how to get in on that action.
Finally, there will be an appreciation of each of the listing novels, written by authors and/or fans, one posted each day. Today’s is an appreciation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, written by Patrick Rothfuss. As it happens, I am the person who wrote the appreciation of Patrick Rothfuss’ placing book, The Name of the Wind, which will post on March 7, and the appreciation of OMW, written by Ken MacLeod, shows up on the 8th. Reading these and the other appreciations will be fun, I assure you.
Thanks to those of you who voted for OMW on this poll. It’s nice to have one’s work appreciated.
Such modesty, given that you were on top by almost 10%. Congratulations!
w00t!
Wow, that is some seriously hard-core competition on that list. Congrats!
Congrats on a well deserved win. I would have been unable to vote since I love a number of the books on that list, but yours is definitely a worthy winner.
Congrats, John.
Thanks for the link, as well. Given how much I like the books on the list that I _have_ read, the ones that I haven’t are now on my wish list.
Well done! I was glad to see OMW take top spot, as it’s one of my favourite books.
So are you planning to reward your faithful minions? :)
ZBBM:
I do have to say, even if one leaves out my book, it really is a very good list overall.
Aurian:
Well, the next novel is in fact very close to being done.
A trillion magical congratulations for landing on the list, because your kudos are well deserved. Now, I need to actually read that novel (sheepishly backs out of the room).
Wow.
Another bunch of additions to my reading pile….
May I anathematize and point out that at least you and Neil Gaiman have a vibrant online presence, and that would help results?
Please note… although mileage varies, 4 out of 10 are in my personal top 20.
The poll is good. Good for the genre, hence good for business (and thank you for keeping it in that order). Different than the industry votes that are the Hugo, Nebula and Campbell awards.
But as someone who is detached from fandom (by geography and culture) I find it frustrating that there is little way for me to discover new authors than through either 1) word of web or 2) online contests
To mainstream american readers, this may seem a weird complaint.. But guess I feel stuck in the 60s when word of mouth was the only publicity…
John, sorry for the rant. I’m truly happy that your novel is up there. And all others will be on my iPad soon. And as an out of country fan I value the work you do for online
promotion…
Cheers
Congratulations!
And we appreciate that you appreciate the appreciation, and hope that it doesn’t depreciate in the near future.
All joking aside, it’s a great book and deserves to be that list. Congrats. :)
Paul a:
“May I anathematize and point out that at least you and Neil Gaiman have a vibrant online presence, and that would help results?”
Well, and I also pointed people at the poll when it was open to voting, so quite obviously that didn’t hurt, either. I will note I was ranked on the poll before I was made aware of it, however.
Yay Scalzi. I would have entered the competition, but I already have 9/10 of them and the Peter Watts book appears to be online for free so thats alright then. I’ve only read 5 of them though.
By my count though only 3 of them are Science Fiction, 2 borderline and 5 Fantasy. Was fantasy more popular in the last decade? It seems so.
@Paul a: “Different than the industry votes that are the Hugo” …
Actually, the Hugo is voted on by the readers, be they lowly fans, or publishers, or editors, or artists, or authors, or whatever. One just has to be a member of the organization the awards the Hugo … and that’s quite easy to do.
You must be bustin’ yer buttons, Mr. Scalzi. Well done! My husband & I recommend OMW to friends all the time. I also recommend Blindsight to readers all the time. Fellow commenters, these are both well worth your time if you like great plots, interesting SF ideas, cool characters, & just plain excellent writing.
Hi John, That’s great OMW is nominated!
Did you know that at BaltiCon this Memorial Day, there will be a panel entitled, “Is John Scalzi the new Heinlein?” I get to be on panels for this con, because I just made my first sf story sale. (Yay!) It’s military sf and will be in an anthology released at the con. I get to choose which panels I’ll be on. I think I’ll choose this one :)
I involuntarily raised my arms in jubilation upon seeing the result.
Good showing!! (And well deserved, it’s an excellent book.)
Congrats on the top position and an excellent book! Just be glad the Harry Potter fans (and their name is Legion) did not find out about the poll, it would have been swamped. It is my understanding that several of the Harry Potter books were the top sellers for the Science Fiction and Fantasy market in the 2000s.
BTW, I gave OMW to my 72 year old Dad last Christmas .
I fully expected to see OMW on the list. It’s just an awesome space opera.
To see it top American Gods, which I expected to be in the top 5, totally rules.
Or since we are talking about the first decade of the twenty-first century, that’s pretty epic.
My vote counted! Woot! Great work for a great guy!
It would be nice if this poll result prompted a local to me (Australian) publisher to do dead tree editions of the whole OMW series.
Congratulations, John! All the accords are well deserved.
John,
I would have to say that I am in total agreement with the final vote. OMW is the best SF novel I’ve read in the last decade…and I read a lot of them. Congratulations!
They finally posted the results. I was hoping that you kept your number one ranking.
John @13 – Hmm, my comment sounds more snarky now than when I wrote it.
and
Michael @14 – I stand corrected. –
Having read eight of the ten listed (and I’m on my way to grab the other two), I agree without reservation with this list. Oh, and way to go, Mr. Scalzi.
Congratulations.
Personally I think the ‘online followers’ reasoning is a bit of a red herring. Dare I say you wouldn’t have an online following if your fiction wasn’t up to scratch.
All over the Tor compo though, you get to win the finalists? Bitchin’! Though will cloning be involved seeing as there are four winners? Or will things just get very messy indeed?
Wow. With “Old Man’s War-The Novel” getting listed as a top novel of the decade and optioned into “Old Man’s War-The Movie”, one can only hope that it will eventually find its way into the pinnacle of any writer’s ultimate goals:
“Old Man’s War – On Ice”
Dare to dream big, John. Some day, it could happen.
I just couldn’t finish American Gods and I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. It’s like people have forgotten Zelazny.
CONGA-RATS!!!
…and many thanks.