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Thursday, February 27, 2014

March Poll: Write In Best 70s/80's/90's Science Fiction Series

Aliens looked like this in the 80's, right?
March is almost here!  So Writing About Writing needs your help with two things.

First- We need the final remnants of voters to go make their voices known about which movie was the best adaptation of a book. Looks like The Princess Bride is going to win hands down, but second place is basically a three-way tie and many of the other votes are only one vote difference.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY...

We need your nominations for the newest poll.  Now about a year and a half ago I did a poll on best Sci/fi or Fantasy series and it turned into a seven part poll with semi-finals and finals and just went on and on and on, so I'm hoping to streamline things a bit by breaking up the categories. This will JUST be science fiction series (that's more than one book) from 70's, 80's, and 90's.

Rules- 
1) You may nominate two book series. It should be one (your favorite) but I find this makes book lovers get awfully uncomfortable.
2) You may second (or third or fourth etc...) as many series as you want. In fact you should do that or they may not make the poll. Check back and see what others have nominated so you can give them secondings and they will make the poll.
3)In order to keep lots of redundant series off the NEXT poll (which will be 2000-present) the series must have published its final book some time between January 1st, 1970 and December 31, 1999.)  If there is a series that is incomplete, but hasn't had a new book since 1999, you may nominate it, but the main thing here is that there are no new books after that date.  (Our next poll will cover contemporary series.)

As usual, I'm not going to be an enforcer on "what is science fiction" or "what constitutes a series." I find that alienates people more than encouraging them to participate. Use your best judgement. As long as you're not saying Xanth is Science Fiction or something, I'll take your nomination.  All I will do is check the publication date on the last book of the series.

Don't forget to come back here and second series you want to see make it onto the poll.  Also it is best to nominate HERE....on this thread. If you nominate a series as a reply to the G+ or FB post it probably won't get noticed and you won't get seconds.


Note: I'm happy to go back and revisit our old polls now that we have closer to 500 regular readers instead of a tenth of that, but if there are any polls you feel I should add into the rotation, please let me know.  There wasn't enough interest in other genres to really support a poll yet (I think most of my readers overlap with sci fi/fantasy/geek culture) but we may be able to in the future.  In the meantime, other suggestions are welcome.

20 comments:

  1. Oh, a BOOK series! I was about to write "Babylon 5". I will have to pour myself another cup of coffee and get back to this.

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    1. Yeah, I think dabbling in visual media was a failed experiment. I'll be glad when this month's poll is over.

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  2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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  3. (1) The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell. Sequel is Children of God. (Series with only 2 books count, yes?)
    (2) City of Diamond, by Jane Emerson. A series that was never finished, to my ongoing dismay.

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  4. Julian May: The Pliocene Exile Saga (Many-Colored Land)etc. Sheri S. Tepper: The Arbai Trilogy, Grass, Raising the Stones, Sideshow.

    Adding this for someone from Facebook who's having a hard time commenting.

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    1. And acting as ME instead of on the behalf of this person, I will second the Tepper series.

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  5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy gets my Seconding. I'm adding the Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh trilogy by Brian Daley. "A Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds" (1985), "A Jinx on a Terran Inheritance," and "Fall of the White Ship Avatar."

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  6. Posthumous publication by a different author after the original author's death doesn't count, right? So I can count the original Dune series for this? I haven't read any of the later published stuff anyway.

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  7. Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
    The Sprawl Trilogy (Neuromancer etc), William Gibson

    Second Hitchhiker's

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    1. Hot damn! I didn't realize Neruomancer was part of a trilogy.

      And people wonder why I do these polls....

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  8. All very good suggestions so far.
    I'll second Neuromancer and ilk.
    My nominee's are Titan/Wizard/Demon by John Varley and The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.

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  9. Oooh, so many excellent ones to second!
    Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series
    Clarke's Odyssey series
    Gibson's OH MY GOD THIS STUFF IS GREAT series
    Varley's PLEASE KEEP TELLING ME STORIES, JOHN series

    As a nomination, I'll toss out Larry Niven's Known Space series.

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  10. Piers Anthony Bio of a Space Tyrant Second Adams, Gibson, Niven

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  11. I was going to nominate Anne McCaffery's "Dragon Riders of Pern" series, but the last book in the series (at least, the last one I acknowledge) was 2001 ... most of the rest of my favorite series I think of as strictly fantasy, but I'll nominate the Thrawn trilogy from the Star Wars books and McCaffery's Crystal Singer trilogy.

    I'll also second Hitchhiker and Dune (I really need to read Clarke's Odyssey series someday)

    For future dated polls, would you say it's fair to nominate something if the series jumped the shark before the end of the era restriction?

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    1. Usually, if I break up a poll like this in sort of an arbitrary way, it's probably going to be the next poll where things get wrapped up. So Pern will have it's day in April.

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    2. Second Crystal Singer. Wow, I had almost forgotten about those I read them so long ago... but so wonderful!

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  12. Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, simply because it sprang to mind.

    Xenogenesis series by Octavia Butler, because I read the first book and enjoyed it.

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    1. I will second the Butler series if no one else will.

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