As you may have seen, Locus are running a poll to find the best sf of the 20th and 21st centuries; it ends today. I've seen various other people (Nina Allan [pdf], Martin Lewis, Cheryl Morgan, Ian Sales) post their picks, so I thought I'd do the same. It's an exhausting process! And, of course, far from definitive. Some of my selections, no doubt, are there on fond memories. Some I've revisited and can be more confident. Some names crop up a lot, because they have a body of work I've spent a lot of time with, so they come to mind. Some names, I'm sure, are missing. All that can really be said is that this is a selection of the sf that seems important and good to me right now. So:
20th century science fiction novel
1. Pacific Edge, Kim Stanley Robinson
2. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
3. The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
4. China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F McHugh
5. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
6. We Who Are About To ..., Joanna Russ
7. Fairyland, Paul McAuley
8. Golden Witchbreed, Mary Gentle
9. Voyage, Stephen Baxter
10. The Chrysalids, John Wyndham
20th century fantasy novel
1. Ash, Mary Gentle
2. The Course of the Heart, M John Harrison
3. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K Le Guin
4. Lanark, Alasdair Grey
(I really have not read enough canonical fantasy.)
20th century novella
1. Story of Your Life, Ted Chiang
2. Great Work of Time, John Crowley
3. Houston, Houston, Do You Read?, James Tiptree Jr
4. Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
5. 1/72nd Scale, Ian R MacLeod
6. R&R, Lucius Shepard
7. True Names, Vernor Vinge
20th century novelette
1. Reasons to Be Cheerful, Greg Egan
2. Tower of Babylon, Ted Chiang
3. Fondly Fahrenheit, Alfred Bester
4. The Women Men Don't See, James Tiptree Jr
5. The Lucky Strike, Kim Stanley Robinson
6. Sexual Dimorphism, Kim Stanley Robinson
7. The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule, Lucius Shepard
8. Starship Day, Ian R MacLeod
9. Surface Tension, James Blish
10. Blood Music, Greg Bear
20th century short story
1. When it Changed, Joanna Russ
2. Learning to be Me, Greg Egan
3. And I Awoke And Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side, James Tiptree Jr
4. Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N. Sirsi and Sandra Botkin, Raphael Carter
5. The Screwfly Solution, Racoona Sheldon
6. Aye, and Gomorrah, Samuel R Delany
7. Moon-Calf, Stephen Baxter
8. Speech Sounds, Octavia Butler
9. Light of Other Days, Bob Shaw
10. Sheena 5, Stephen Baxter (the canonical squids-in-space story)
21st century science fiction novel
1. Evolution, Stephen Baxter
2. The Summer Isles, Ian R MacLeod
3. The Dervish House, Ian McDonald
4. Hav, Jan Morris
5. Life, Gwyneth Jones
21st century fantasy novel
1. In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield
2. The Year of Our War, Steph Swainston
3. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
4. Lavinia, Ursula K Le Guin
5. Acacia, David Anthony Durham
21st century novella
1. New Light on the Drake Equation, Ian R MacLeod
2. Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link
3. Over Yonder, Lucius Shepard
4. Mayflower II, Stephen Baxter
5. The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window, Rachel Swirsky
21st century novelette
1. Hell is the Absence of God, Ted Chiang
2. The People of Sand and Slag, Paolo Bacigalupi
3. Only Partly Here, Lucius Shepard
4. Isabel of the Fall, Ian R MacLeod
5. Eros, Philia, Agape, Rachel Swirsky
21st century short story
1. Exhalation, Ted Chiang
2. Singing My Sister Down, Margo Lanagan
3. Dead Horse Point, Daryl Gregory
4. Summer Ice, Holly Phillips
5, The House Beyond Your Sky, Benjamin Rosenbaum