Doug Pensinger wrote:
>
> David wrote:
>
> > I never read this one, so I resisted the temptation to rate it
> > "useless".
>
> You were tempted to rate a book you haven't read?
Yes, to knock it down in the rankings. But that would be dishonest.
>
> I did rate the C.S. Lewis books, _Perlandra_ etc,
> > as "useless". Mentioning other planets does not make an
> > allegory into science fiction. (Similarly for _Animal Farm_.)
>
> Mentioning? Out of the Silent Planet was set on Mars, Peralandra on
> Venus. Most of the science was ridiculous by today’s standards but the
> creation of alien species to tell a story, however allegorical, is really
> the reason these books are classified as s.f.
"Science"? Including classical science fiction elements does
not make a story "science fiction" to me. They have to be used
according to a rigorous internal logic. (I note no one is
defending _Animal Farm_.)
> William will add books to the list as they are suggested - I believe
> that's how most, if not all of the books listed got there.
O.K.. But it doesn't have to be an encyclopedic listing.
I noticed Greg Bear's _Slant_ wasn't there, but don't care,
because many of his other books are.
---David
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