Old Tea Leaf Reviews 6: 1986 Locus Poll Best First Novel

[james_davis_nicoll]

Does anyone know why the number of Best First Novels varies so much from
year to year?



Best First Novel

1 Contact Carl Sagan

A female scientist finds herself caught up in what appears to
be the first genuine contact with aliens.

I thought this was stunningly mediocre.

As far as I know, this was Sagan's only attempt to write deliberate
fiction but I believe he had a certain amount of success in other fields to
comfort himself with.


2 Emprise Michael P. Kube-McDowell

This is the first book in the Trigon Disunity, which begins just after
a group of plucky scientists save humanity by inventing a Fission-B-Gone
device just before the oil runs out. Whoops. Civilization survives and goes
on to make contact with extraterrestrials of an unexpected nature.

I think the later books in the series are more interesting than this
one but this was interesting enough to get me to buy those later novels.

I believe his most recent book was 2002's VECTORS. His website
says that there's another book in the pipeline, THE EYES OF REASON.



3 In the Drift Michael Swanwick

This is set in a universe where Three Mile Island was a lot
more serious than it was in our world. A significant chunk of the US
got covered in radioactive debris, with both political and economic
consequences.

As it turns out, the Soviets seemingly took this as inspiration
for the next few years and unhappily for them, reactors built out of
shoddy and flammable materials are easier to make go boom than American
light water reactors.

This was competently written. I am not sure why the premise
didn't annoy me more.

Swanwick is still writing fantasy and SF and wins awards with
monotonous regularity.

This was a Ace Special.


4 The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay

I've never been able to finish this.

Guy Kay is as far as I can tell fairly successful.


5 Tailchaser's Song Tad Williams

This involved a cat and is thick enough to stun a nun if thrown.

Williams is also still with us.


6 Cats Have No Lord Will Shetterly

As I recall, the reason cats have no lord in the universe is tied
into the continued existance of the universe in question. I don't remember
much about the book except that there's an amusing reference to the duel
at the Cliffs of Madness from the PRINCESS BRIDE.

Shetterly is still active as a writer, among other things.
Apparently he had a book out as recently as 2007 but not only did I
manage to miss reading it, I missed its existence until now.


7 Masters of Glass M. Coleman Easton

I did not read this.

I believe that Easton had about a half a dozen novels, all
published in the 1980s.


8 Saraband of Lost Time Richard Grant

I also did not read this.

Grant was reasonably prolific but I am unaware of any books
more recent than 1999's KASPIAN LOST.


9 Walk the Moon's Road Jim Aikin
I did not see this.

As far as I know, Aikin only had two books published, the
most recent one in 1993.


10 Infinity's Web Sheila Finch

I did not read this.

Finch is a Nebula-awarding winning author. Her most recent
novel was published in 2004.


11 The Isle of Glass Judith Tarr

Another one that I did not pick up.

Tarr is fairly prolific to this day.


12 Saturnalia Grant Callin
I missed this. I've been looking for a copy for years without
uccess. Note that for reasons I find sufficient, I don't buy books on-
ine.

As far as I know, he only had two SF novels published, plus
handful of short stories.


13 The Torch of Honor Roger MacBride Allen

I''m sure that I've read this. Stupid non-functional
memory.

I believe that he has been reasonably prolific since this
was published. His most recent series is the BSI: Starside, a
procedural series about cops working the interstellar beat.


14 Children of the Light Susan B. Weston

I did not see this.

I believe that this was her only book.


15 The Warrior Who Carried Life Geoff Ryman

I also missed this, although I own a copy of it. Someday
I will get to it.

Infamous in my brain as the man that inflicted the purile
and unnecessary Mundane SF movement on a long suffering world, Ryman
has achieved both longevity and critical acclaim.


16 Song of Kali Dan Simmons

Suprisingly for a book with the word "Kali" in the title, one
white man's encounter with India does not go entirely well.

I remember liking it as the time but I know that there are
some people that thought its depiction of India was racist. Those
people will be happy to know that Simmons has since been distracted
by the shadowy menace of Eurabia.

Simmons has had a fairly long career to date. His more recent
book, THE TERROR, has been getting positive reviews.


17 The Secret Country Pamela Dean

I am very embarassed to admit that although I've owned this
fo over decade, I have not yet read it.

I believe that she had six novels published between 1985 and
1998 and that a seventh is in the works.


18 Skirmish Melisa C. Michaels

Another one that I missed.

I believe that she had about a dozen books published before
2000 but nothing since.


19 The Long Forgetting Edward A. Byers

Another one that I missed (I cut way back on buying SF in
the mid-1980s).

I believe he only had two novels, published in consecutive

years.


20 The Sorcery Within Dave Smeds

I also missed this.

Smeds appears to have had ten novels to date, all of which I
have missed. The standard disclaimer about books that I have missed
(as opposed to actively avoided) applies: all it means is that I did
not read those books, nothing more.


21 The Princess of Flames Ru Emerson

I also missed this.

Emerson appears to have been reasonably prolific in the
1980s and 1990s but I don't see anything more recent than 2001.


22 Pandora's Genes Kathryn Lance

I didn't even hear about this one.

As far as I can tell, she had this book and a sequel and nothing
since.


23 Down Town Vildo Polikarpus and Tappan King

I am quite embarrassed. I know that I've read this and I think
I liked it but I have no memory of it at all.

As far as I can tell, this was the only SF novel either of
them wrote.


24 Ibis Linda Steele

Yet another book that I missed. It seems to have been Ms. Steele's
only book.


25 Staroamer's Fate Chuck Rothman

And to close things out, a book other people liked that I missed
entirely.

This appears to have been his only novel, although he was writing
short fiction at least until the late 1990s.

Comments

[stephenshevlin.livejournal.com]

I thought Contact was decent for waht it was, but not anything special. It's still better than the film (which admittedly has some nice special effects), which somehow contrived to miss one of Sagan's main points in writing the book.

I've always found Swanwick short stories to be at least enjoyable, and often much better than that. He's not got that large a catalogue in the UK though I recently purchased The Iron Dragon's Daughter.

The only thing I've read by Kay is Tigana, which I couldn't get into at all the first time, but the second time blew me away. I should seek out more of his historically-flvaoured fiction.

I've being continually impressed by Ryman's short stories and a recent reading of The Child Garden has made me want to book more fiction by him. Perhaps I'll buy Air next. He is widely available in the UK.

Simmons is also widely avalaible in the UK. I think he work's best in single volumes, as I massively enjoyed Hyperion, found Fall of Hyperion a lesser work (although still quite good) but found Endymion tedious, so won't read Rise of Endymion. A similar trend occurs for the "Hard" series, although with additional racial dodginess.