NPR wants to know: Which are the best sci-fi/fantasy books?

Via twitter: Best Science Fiction, Fantasy Books? You Tell Us! http://t.co/DG722Ao
Posted 20 June 2011

The Rules
1. Limit yourself to five titles per post. Don't hesitate to nominate a book that someone else has already listed; your entry will count as a vote in favor of that title progressing to the next round.
2. No young-adult or children's titles, please. We plan to devote a poll to YA next summer. (It's also no fun if Harry Potter wins every year.)
3. Horror and paranormal romance are also out, which disqualifies most of Stephen King (also a big winner in previous polls), Charlaine Harris and Stephenie Meyer. Once again, we'll cover horror in a future poll.
4. Feel free to nominate a series — such as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or Asimov's Foundation — as a single, collective work rather than listing individual books.
5. That said, there are series and series: To qualify as a collective work, the books in a series must be written consistently by the same originating author or authors. For example, you can't nominate the whole Star Wars franchise, though you can nominate individual Star Wars novels.

It's difficult thinking of just five, though it sounds like we can add as many posts as we like. I'm starting with just five, anyway.

I posted five earlier today; I'll probably list five more. :)

I wonder why they don't put a cap on the number of entries. Not that I'm complaining. It just means more of my favorites are getting votes. :)

Wow! Over 4,000 comment so far. Why is it my brain goes completely blank when faced with things like this? :o/

I sorted my SF by rating, here on LT, and looked at the top-rated ones to decide what to enter on NPR. My brain did the same thing, but I beat it!

#5 What about your Fantasy? I've tagged all (most of) my Fantasy Green Dragon over the years here. Just went and added it to everything I have tagged as Science Fiction. (I did a very spotty job with that tag. Probably missed at least half as I was adding those books.)

I don't distinguish - SF/F is labeled SF. Call it 'speculative fiction' if you like.

There are too many books where the line is fuzzy - from Pern to the Blue Adept.

bah. Why do they require registering? CBA

curse of the mistwraith
Cyteen
revelation space
strom front
not sure on the last, maybe name of the wind which I'm really enjoying currently.

I must add my green dragon tags too. Been woeful of late

My top five favorites I would nominate:

Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher (urban fantasy)
Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett (fantasy)
Split Infinity by Piers Anthony sci-fi/fantasy
Luck in the Shadows/Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling
Tinker by Wen Spencer sci-fi/fantasy

I'm not on Twitter (or Facebook for that matter) so I figured I'd just list my nominations here.

Shardik - Richard Adams
The Gap Cycle (series) - Stephen R. Donaldson
The Malazan Book of the Fallen (series) - Steven Erikson
The Acts of Caine (series) - Matthew Stover
The Book of the New Sun (series) - Gene Wolfe

I put in:

Dune
The Stars My Destination
Enders Game
Neuromancer
The Martian Chronicles

Mine were:

Ender's Game
The Martian Chronicles
Fahrenheit 451
Moonfall
Rendezvous with Rama and the rest of the series

Mine...

Now, some might not include Feist in this list, but he was an inspiration, so... I like him.

Ender's Game
Lord of the Rings
Magician: Apprentice
Wheel of time
Foundation

Belgariad series by David Eddings
Dandelion Wine
Time Enough for Love
Guards, Guards - although most Discworld books qualify.
Blue Moon Rising

I tried to go off the main paths for some of my choices. Narrowing it down to five is difficult.