We've got two times slots each on fantasy and sci-fi (and I will put our most recent results up on the permanent results page tomorrow), but I figured we'd take a break and bring in some titles with a more specific bent. I know Post Apocalyptic has some overlap with good ol' fashioned Sci Fi, but often they are thematically more likely to be very different.
Remember that we're rerunning some of our most popular polls of the past few years, but this time we're doing it with lots more voters (and we'll be keeping the results on display.) It's all part of our new Sticky Polls--the 2019 roll out for polls here at Writing About Writing.
The Rules
(I know this is the third round of polls we've done under the new rules, but now that we've done a couple, you can see what I mean by some of this):
- There is a new category of nomination. It is NOT a nomination for the poll. It is an UNDERSUNG HERO nomination. Basically it is for books you think are great, tragically overlooked, but maybe not necessarily the besty bestest best. I will be listing these books along with the poll results. However, if you nominate a book for our poll it will not be considered for the undersung hero list and if you shout out something for an undersung hero, it will not be counted as a nomination for the poll. (Someone else can nominate it.) Think about if you want to give a book few seem to know about a shout out or if you're tossing your fave into The Hunger Games.
- As always, I leave the niggling over the definition of genres to your best judgement because I'd rather be inclusive. If you want to nominate The Stand, I'm not going to argue that it's probably better classed as apocalyptic (not POST apocalyptic) but YOU have to convince others if you're going to get on the poll--nevermind win.
- You get to mention two (2) books (or series). That's it. Two. You can do ONE nomination for the poll and ONE UNDERSUNG HERO. Or you can do TWO nominations. Or you can do TWO undersung heroes. But two is the total. If you nominate three or more I will NOT take any nominations beyond the second that you suggest. I'm sorry that I'm a stickler on this, but I compile these polls myself and it's a pain when people drop a megalodon list every decent book they can remember of in the genre. It is up to you how to divy your TWO choices. TWO.
- Did I mention two?
- You may (and absolutely should) second AS MANY nominations of others as you wish. THEY WILL NOT GET ONTO THE POLL WITHOUT SECONDS. You can agree with or cheer on the undersung heroes, but they won't "transform" into nominations unless someone else nominates that same book as "best" (and then they get a second). Also stop back in and see if anyone has put up something you want to see go onto the poll.
- Put your nominations HERE. I will take nominations only as comments and only on this post. (No comments on FB posts will be considered nominations.) If you can't comment for some reason because of Blogger, send me an email (chris.brecheen@gmail.com) stating exactly that and what your nomination is, and I will personally put your comment up. I am not likely to see a comment on social media even if it says you were unable to leave a comment here.
- You are nominating WRITTEN genre fiction, not their movie portrayals. If you thought the The Hunger Games movies were the shiznit, but thought the books were not written very well and slow, nominate something else.
- This is probably well known by vets of this blog by now, but there will be no more endless elimination rounds. I will take somewhere between 8-20 best performing titles and at MOST run a single semifinal round. By "performing" I mean the seconds. So second the titles you want even if they already have one. (Yes, I guess that would make them "thirds," "fourths," etc...) The competition on this poll might be fierce. You may have to get your friends involved. Buy them a pizza. Make it real.
- TWO!
Note, a couple of you sent in nominations for the misprint. If you don't renominate, I will make sure that the ones for actual Post Apocalypse fiction get on the list. Sorry about the miscommunication. We'll do utopia/dystopia soon.
The Chrysalids (John Wyndham)
ReplyDeleteSeconded
DeleteAbsolutely seconded! Brilliant, brilliant book which nobody seems to know about any more. It captured my imagination at age 7 and I’ve been re-reading it ever since.
DeleteSeconded!
DeleteSeries: Road to Nowhere (The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, The Book of Etta, The Book of Flora) by Meg Elison
ReplyDeleteSingle book & Undersung Hero: Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Second to both.
DeleteI second Ridley Walker
DeleteStation Eleven. The Girl with all the Gifts.
ReplyDeleteSecond Station Eleven!
DeleteDefinitely second to Station Eleven
DeleteSecond Girl With All the Gifts!
DeleteSecond GWAtG
DeleteSecond Station Eleven!
DeleteThe Postman (David Brin)
ReplyDeleteSecond The Postman
DeleteEmergence by David R. Palmer
ReplyDeleteUndersung Hero - Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
Second - The Postman
Absolutely yes Second Damnation Alley
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMC Carey, The Girl With All The Gifts
ReplyDeleteWalter Miller Jr, A Canticle For Leibowitz
Undersung hero: John Wyndham, The Chrysalids
Second A Canticle for Leibowitz
DeleteThird for canticle
DeleteFourth for Canticle for Leibowitz
DeleteEllison - A Boy and His Dog. (If you'll count a novella)
ReplyDeleteUnsung Hero: The Marrow Theives by Cherie Dimaline.
ReplyDeleteAlways Coming Home by Ursula le Guin
ReplyDeleteUnder-sung: The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler
Second ING Parable of the Sower
DeleteThirding Parable of the Sower
DeleteFourthing!
DeleteAnother vote for Parable of the Sower here
DeleteSeconding Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban AND seconding Station Eleven.
ReplyDeleteS.M. Stirling - The Change Series (Emberverse I)
ReplyDeletethis is my husband's favorite!
DeleteI've been trying to remember the zombie book about a man & his cat traveling, but I can't remember the name, so I guess whatever
Stephen King's The Stand
ReplyDeleteSecond Stephen King's The Stand
DeleteThe Earth Abides by George R Stewart
ReplyDeleteBook of the Unknown Midwife (Road to Nowhere series) Meg Elison
ReplyDeleteParable of the Sower Octavia Butler
Second Parable of the Sower!
DeleteParable of the Sower seconded!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSanta Olivia, Jacqueline Carey
ReplyDeleteUnder sung hero: Star Man's Son Andre Norton
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
ReplyDeleteHow I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
I second Who fears Death! Such an awesome book!!!
DeleteThe Holdfast Chronicles by Suzy McKee Charnas
ReplyDeleteApart from The Chrysalids (see above) I have to also mention the Incubation trilogy by Laura Disilverio. Thoroughly believable plot and well-characterised to boot. Engaged both my mind and my heart.
ReplyDeleteNewsflesh series by Mira Grant
ReplyDeleteThe Road, Cormac Mccarthy
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a second to The Road
DeleteOryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
ReplyDeleteSecond Oryx and Crake
DeleteNominating for Unsung Hero:
ReplyDeleteThe Dog Stars: Peter Heller
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer.
ReplyDeleteObernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody
ReplyDeleteAlas, Babylon.
ReplyDeleteThe Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
ReplyDeleteSecond Broken earth
DeleteSecond Broken Earth trilogy!
DeleteI second this!
DeleteSecond Broken Earth
DeleteAny reason this didn’t make it into the voting when books with fewer seconds did?
DeleteNo, not at all other than human error (mine). I added it to the final round though, and given the number of nominations, it's probably fine that it got seeded.
DeleteThe Passage by Justin Cronin
ReplyDeleteSecond this!
DeleteWool/Shift/Dust series by Hugh Howey
ReplyDeleteSecond this so much!
DeleteI seem to have a bird theme going on here. Two nominations:
ReplyDeleteAll The Birds In The Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (technically most of this book is pre-apocalyptic, but I think it still counts)
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1977 Hugo winner)
The Xenogenesis trilogy (AKA Lilith's Brood trilogy) by Octavia Butler
ReplyDeleteThe Chrysalids but I read an earlier edition called Rebirth. It has an extra section that Chrysalids doesn’t.
ReplyDeleteOoh! Must find and read that!
DeleteThe Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews (high-key recommend for sci-fi/fantasy fans who want well-written characters, esp. female ones, w/o grosssssssss tropes)
ReplyDeleteThe Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
ReplyDeleteSeconded
DeleteThe Alliance by Gerald Lund for Unsung Hero. Personally I think it is the best but I think it is unknown and would rather it be listed and better known than fail to get votes.
ReplyDeleteBook of the New Urth (The Torturer quadrilogy) - Gene Wolfe
ReplyDeleteUS H: Hardwired - Walter Jon Williams
Second Gene Wolfe
DeleteShades of Grey - Jasper Fforde
ReplyDeleteThe Postman - David Brin
ReplyDeleteThe day of the triffids - John Wyndham
Loved the weird post-post-(post?)-apocalyptic "Mara and Dann" by Doris Lessing, but I don't think it's on many people's radar, so I'm suggesting it as an Undersung Hero
ReplyDeleteArchivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace
ReplyDeleteThe End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker
ReplyDeleteSwan Song by Robert R. McCammon
ReplyDeleteThe Purge of Babylon (series) by Sam Sisavath
ReplyDelete