For MZB, I only like the Darkover novels. Some of her SF books are on my worst books ever list. McCaffrey is just not a very good writer, although she had a compelling premise in the Pern novels.

Please don't dismiss all of David's list. Fafryd and the Grey Mouser and The Dying Earth are not to be missed.

My two favorite living authors are Bujold and Connie Willis.

In some ways, LeGuin can be an awkward writer and she sometimes whacks the reader on the head with the message, but what she accomplished in The Lathe of Heaven and The Left Hand of Darkness is amazing. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" says brilliantly what I believe most strongly about society.

Actually I don't think The Dispossed IS wish fulfillment.

I don't know if you notice, but the anarchist utopia is actually pretty repressive. The hero is rebelling against anarchist authoritarianism as much as he opposes capitalism and soviet style socialism. Le Guin was lovingly exploring ideas. And I think the results of her exploration was "I love these ideas, but I don't really think they will work." So very much the opposite of wish fulfillment.

I agree with McAffery as a hack. But I always found Carrol complete uninteresting. Also the Fafherd and Grey Mouser series - always thought Leiber came up with these wonderful exotic setting and two colorful characters and never really figured out what to do with them. Half the time I'd read a Fafherd and Grey Mouser story and think, "Ok this is really going to connect with me any minute now" only it never did.

Tanith Lee - the Flat Earth series, especially the early ones. She fell in love with Azhrarn because I guess she really goes for beautiful cruel ruthless bastards, at least in fiction. "Night's Master', the first in the series, shows how really good a book can be when the author is in love with her own creation. In some of the later books, I think that love led Lee to make choices that were not ideal for the story, though I think they all are worth reading. And in all fairness some of the things I would have thought she could never work, she pulled off beautifully.

I feel like I've read "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". The title sounds incredibly familiar.

I have heard good things about "The Left Hand of Darkness", so I might give that one a try someday.

Actually I don't think The Dispossed IS wish fulfillment

Well, I do in the sense that it's wish fulfillment to think you could even get an anarchy working. And yeah, it's a hard life they have, but it's clear that it does work, in many ways. Not in all ways, no.

I am glad to see Bujold made the list, but disappointed at how far down she is. And I'm pretty disturbed to see that Cherryh didn't make it at all. She's been a mainstay of my bookshelves for thirty years.

I've played too much D&D to really appreciate the Grey Mouser stories properly. I keep thinking about how they screwed up their rolls and how I've seen the various elements played out by Dungeon Masters.

I suspect one reason Cherryh wouldn't do well in a poll like that is that she's got too many series for her fans to get behind one in enough numbers.

What would you suggest for a Tanith Lee in the fantasy category? (distinct from horror)

The Secret Books of Paradys. (Which are close to my favorite works by her, but the Blood Opera Sequence still tops them.)

I would definitely have plumped for Something Wicked This Way Comes though I think Bradbury's greater influence is from his short stories.

While I love Something Wicked This Way Comes with something near obsession, I still think his best work ever is the short story "Homecoming". Of course, my opinion is colored because in my heart of hearts, I believe I belong to that family. (And come to think of it, my Dad wouldn't argue that point.)

I don't remember reading "Homecoming," which means I need to read it again. Obviously, I was short on memory cells the last time, and it is something I should remember reading, barring brain damage or pollen.

I have mixed feelings about the list in general, but I'm glad they did it in the "it's a start" sort of way. Mostly I've been boggled that they didn't split fantasy and science fiction into two different lists.

(And come to think of it, my Dad wouldn't argue that point.)

How do we know your Dad isn't Uncle Einar?

How do we know your Dad isn't Uncle Einar?

Good question! I mean, I'd like to think that if Dad had giant bat wings and flew around at night, he would have told me by now, but I can't discount the possibility.