TBF Top 100 Scifi List Discussion

[direstraits]

Please post any comments or suggestions regarding the TBF's Top 100 Scifi List here.

My first comment will be VOTE MORE!

Other comments are the tabulation of scores. If anyone has a better idea, then post it here, else the list will continue as such.

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[Ainulindale]

Just a observation, Goodkind and Jordan, are on the voted list and there is no Peake, Moorcock, Lovecraft, or Dick.

Even on current authors it's rather laughable that Jordan and Goodkind are on a list and China Mieville is not mentioned in. How many people participated in this?

 

[Ell]

It's a work-in-progress. Please see the voting thread and participate.

As it's the first time posting the results and only a limited number of people having voted, it is going to be skewed. The more people who vote, the more accurate it will get in reflecting the opinions of TBF members.

So, for those who haven't voted yet, VOTE!

 

[hay82]

About 15 people Ainulindale...

 

[direstraits]

Just a observation, Goodkind and Jordan, are on the voted list and there is no Peake, Moorcock, Lovecraft, or Dick.

Even on current authors it's rather laughable that Jordan and Goodkind are on a list and China Mieville is not mentioned in. How many people participated in this?

Actually, there were votes for Dick, Moorcock and Lovecraft. They just didn't make it to the list.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a mention on Peake. So you've got to submit your votes. For background info on this endeavour, read The Internet Top 100 Scifi List thread, and the VOTE for The Book Forum Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy List thread.

Cheers, Ell, for the stickies. I'd also give credit to Prolixic, to whom I've spoken to before posting this, on his call to arms and his suggestions on scores tabulation.

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[direstraits]

General notes: For those who want to know, I wrote a little program (a quick kill in a couple of hours) that makes it a little easier to put in votes, and chucks it all into an Access database. The results are reports within Access, so all I really do in input the votes via the program, and run the reports. I still maintain the best way to do this is a web based application, but time being a constraint, this manual method will do for now.

The following are some notes I had while tabulating the list:

1. When voting, full names are very much appreciated. "Vinge" can be Vernor or Joan D, and not being familiar with their respective books can lead to wrong attribution of votes. I sometimes do tabulations offline, and thus cannot get to Amazon.

2. I Had problems with Iain M. Banks and Iain Banks - I just clumped them together. Anyone who disagrees let me know.
(For those who doesn't know, Iain M. Banks and Iain Banks are the same chap, however, he uses the one with the 'M.' and the one without for different books in different genres. Yeah, beats me too).

3. fluffy bunny - "Dick, the 5 volume story set" is a little ambigous. Is there an actual title for this collection? Also, there isn't "More than Human" by Moorcock!

4. TroyF - re: RA Salvatore - Sorry, but 'Pick any' isn't exactly a vote. I need specific titles.

5. Oberon - The Amber Series (Corwin) and Amber Series (Merlin) is giving me a little problem. Either specific books or the series as a whole?

Cheers!

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[Ainulindale]

I haven't voted but in regards to your question about the Amber series. the one denoted CORWIN, is the The First Chronicles of Amber, the one denoted MERLIN is the lesser Second Chronicles of Amber. They are part of The Great Book fo Amber, but regarded seperately.

 

[direstraits]

Ah, lovely. Thanks!

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[Prolixic]

Well I'd like to say thanks to direstraits because tabulating all those votes is a killer--especially trying to get all the information formatted uniformly.

 

[direstraits]

Calling readers of Scifi and Fantasy in TBF - vote for your books! There are lots of readers here that I know have ingested their fair share of good books, and I'm anxiously waiting your recommendations.

Calling M, A, SW, SS, K, NM and others whom I can't spell!

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[lorrekarloff]

Awesome list! Thanks for putting all that work in! It's a great reference point for finding more cool stuff to read.

I was confused about the Top Voters list; I think I posted around 21 votes but didnt see my name, but there are others listed with lower # of votes. Just curious, I'm probably confused -not unusual.

Thanks again. Great lists!!

 

[direstraits]

lorrekarloff... I really don't know how I managed it, but I *completely missed your list of nominations*!!!! Gosh, my blind spot is getting bigger and bigger everyday....

I'm very sorry, and I'll rectify that when I compile the list for this month.

Don't forget to post more as you read them! And of course, don't forget to vote for those that sucked too.

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[lorrekarloff]

lorrekarloff... I really don't know how I managed it, but I *completely missed your list of nominations*!!!! Gosh, my blind spot is getting bigger and bigger everyday....

I'm very sorry, and I'll rectify that when I compile the list for this month.

Don't forget to post more as you read them! And of course, don't forget to vote for those that sucked too.

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No problem! Usually I like being invisible anyway! And I took your suggestion and posted some more that I forgot about until I went over the lists and my shelves.

The ones that sucked I usually forget or block out--have to think hard about that one.

 

[Oberon]

5. Oberon - The Amber Series (Corwin) and Amber Series (Merlin) is giving me a little problem. Either specific books or the series as a whole?

Sorry to have just walked off! And very much: THANKS for all this work you've done!

Average out the Great Book of Amber to be an 8, since I gave Corwin a 9 and Merlin a 7.

Question: if we add on, do we do a new post or edit our original vote list?

 

[direstraits]

I've been out of whack for a bit, so sorry for the late reply, Oberon. If you add on, do a new post. Editing your original list would make me lose control of my eyeballs in a very short time.

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[Ice]

I've just realised I haven't submitted my list - give me a couple of days and i'll post it (It won't be as comprehensive as I would like as several of my books are still packed away - i'll go through my bookshelves though and compile a list from the ones on there )

 

[direstraits]

I totally understand what you mean, Ice... I'm in the same situation. Most of my books are packed in storage, waiting to shift with me to my new house.

Do give us whatever you can remember, we'll be here when you've got a more complete list...

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[direstraits]

I just wanted to say this month's edition is running a little late... I'm stuck in a project at present that wants everything yesterday.

This means I come back exhausted and too tired lift my finger to type more than a few characters per hour. Yes, this thread cost me countless hours past my bedtime.

It'll come soon!

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[Ice]

Ok - I've finally got round to posting my list Have fun tablulating the results

 

[direstraits]

Alright, I've decided to make the stuff I use to tabulate the scores for those who are interested (yeah, I'm talking to both of you).

TBF Top 100 Database - For those of you who have Microsoft Access, you can get the database where all the votes have been put in
here (83KB). There's reporting module in there, where you could generate and get the same list you see here.

TBF Top 100 Input Program - If you want the proggy I use to put in the votes, then click here (17KB). Be warned that you should have Visual Basic runtimes on your machine before it can run. If you don't know if you've got them, download them anyway and see if it does. If it complains, then no, you don't have them. It needs the database to be in the same directory as the program.

TBF Top 100 Input Program Sourcecode - And finally, for those who have run out of books and would like to read what I've written instead, and don't mind it if it's in Visual Basic, then you can grab the source code for the program here (93KB). It was done in a couple of hours, so you've been warned.

Enjoy!

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