Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Basics Challenge – Exploring Speculative Fiction

basics-1

(Click on the Badge to access the actual challenge site.)

Emily Cross has created this challenge to help writers, and readers to understand the basics within a specific genre(s). To further an understanding within that genre for the writer or reader.

It is a flexible challenge which you can shape to your needs or wishes. Here are the  guide lines for The Basics Challenge.

 My Goal:

To attempt to read 100 books within a 5 year span, less 25% forgiveness rate, which is a total of 75 books. Divided down it’s 15 books per year. Which ultimately translates to a little over 1 book per month.

This challenge will be an overlap with The Fill in the Gaps Challenge listed here.

I have chosen to use a “reading pool” method. All the books are within the Speculative Fiction Genre – Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

Overlapping Challenge Books

Science Fiction:

  1. Dune - Frank Herbert
  2. Children of Dune - Frank Herbert
  3. Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert
  4. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
  5. Foundation - Isaac Asimov
  6. Foundation Empire - Isaac Asimov
  7. Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov
  8. Do Androids Dream of Sleep - Phillip K. Dick
  9. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
  10. 1984 - George Orwell
  11. Animal Farm - George Orwell
  12. Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clark
  13. Ringworld - Harry Niven
  14. Time Machine - H. G. Wells
  15. The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
  16. The Island of Doctor Moreau - H. G Wells
  17. The World Treasury of Science Fiction - David G. Hartwell
  18. The Day After Tomorrow - Robert Heinlein
  19. Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
  20. Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham
  21. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham
  22. Chrysalids - John Wyndham
  23. The Godmakers - Don Pendleton
  24. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harllan Ellison

Feminist Science Fiction:

  1. Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  2. New Eves - ed Janrae Frank
  3. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
  4. The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood

Horror:

  1. Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
  2. The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice
  3. The Queen of the Damned - Anne Rice
  4. Cry to Heaven - Anne Rice
  5. The Locus Awards - ed Charles N. Brown
  6. Great Tales of Horror - Edgar Allen Poe
  7. The Hunter of the Dark - H. P. Lovecraft
  8. Dracula - Bram Stoker (completed but needs to be posted)
  9. The Inferno - Dante
  10. The Metamorphosis - Frank Kafka (completed and linked below)
  11. The Historian - Elizabeth Kostava

Fantasy:

  1. The Middle Window - Elizabeth Goudge
  2. The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
  3. Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring - J. R. R. Tolkien
  4. Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - J. R. R. Tolkien
  5. Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien
  6. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
  7. Dragon Flight - Anne McCaffrey
  8. The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart
  9. The Last Enchantment - Mary Stewart
  10. The Hollow Hills - Mary Stewart
  11. Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury
  12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone - J. K. Rowling
  13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling
  14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Ascaban - J. K. Rowling
  15. Green Mansions - William Henry Hudson

Books will be reviewed, and linked below:

  1. The Things That Keep Us Here - Carla Buckley (adult apocalyptic)
  2. The Magic Warble – Victoria Simcox (children’s fantasy)
  3. RELEASE by Nicole Hadaway – (horror, vampire)
  4. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan – (dark fantasy, fairytale retelling )
  5. Soulless by Gail Carrigan – (urban fantasy, steam punk, vampire, werewolf)
  6. The Metamorphosis by Frank Kafka (horror, classic, literature)
  7. - needs to be posted.
  8. Life As We Knew It
  9. The Dead and The Gone
  10. This World We Live In (all linked here in one post) – (apocalyptic, young adult)
  11. Inside Out by Maria Snyder (young adult – girls science fiction)
  12. Cursed by Jeremy Shipp (horror- bizarro)

12 completed, 63 more to go.

2 comments:

Rhiannon Hart said...

Great challenge! It's my own, ongoing challenge to read more sci-fi. I'm trying to get over my "IT'S FOR NERDS!" reaction--the hard stuff anyway. And who am I kidding. I am a nerd :)

Unknown said...

Rhiannon -
I like being a nerd. :)

I would love to see you join this challenge.

There is no pressure, and the moderator she is also writing a fantasy book and an editor for a large publishing company in UK - I believe.

Just create a goodreads shelf and link like I did. Read and double post.

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