This was excruciating. I eventually decided to go for "what has most influenced me as a writer of speculative fiction or as a human being", which means that there's a definite bias towards older works (which I think is why the NPR list is also skewed towards older; when asked for a list of "best" people do tend to gravitate towards "most influential").
In no particular order and I'm sure I'll edit my choices (and I already did take out a few that I'd otherwise name because they've been named often enough that I am confident they will make it into the next round):
1. Pamela Dean, Tam Lin, book 2. Octavia Butler, the Parables duology (Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents), book 3. Theodore Sturgeon, "The Man Who Lost The Sea", short story 4. Spider and Jeanne Robinson, the Stardance trilogy (Stardance/Starseed/Starmind), book * 5. Robert Heinlein, "The Man Who Traveled in Elephants", short story 6. Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword/The Hero and the Crown duology, book 7. Star Trek (TOS), "City at the Edge of Forever", tv episode ** 8. Shoujo Kakumei Utena/Revolutionary Girl Utena, anime series 9. Marion Zimmer Bradley, the Darkover series, books *** 10. Neal Gaiman, Sandman, comic book/graphic novel series +
* This is a tough one, since it's only the first two that I feel that strongly about and think the third wasn't even in the same zip code of personal-influence; the gap in time of writing showed and did so to extreme detriment. But 1 & 2 are absolutely on the list, and it seems unfair not to nominate the whole trilogy.
** Yes, yes, the whole of Trek TOS is massively influential on the genre, it probably belongs on here as a whole, but really, this episode is the most perfect hour of television ever filmed, and I think it deserves calling-out separately.
*** Problematic in tons of places, so very dated by now, but still hellaciously influential, especially The Forbidden Tower, omg.
+ The most profound statement ever made on the nature of story.
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Date: 2011-08-14 09:21 am (UTC)In no particular order and I'm sure I'll edit my choices (and I already did take out a few that I'd otherwise name because they've been named often enough that I am confident they will make it into the next round):
1. Pamela Dean, Tam Lin, book
2. Octavia Butler, the Parables duology (Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents), book
3. Theodore Sturgeon, "The Man Who Lost The Sea", short story
4. Spider and Jeanne Robinson, the Stardance trilogy (Stardance/Starseed/Starmind), book *
5. Robert Heinlein, "The Man Who Traveled in Elephants", short story
6. Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword/The Hero and the Crown duology, book
7. Star Trek (TOS), "City at the Edge of Forever", tv episode **
8. Shoujo Kakumei Utena/Revolutionary Girl Utena, anime series
9. Marion Zimmer Bradley, the Darkover series, books ***
10. Neal Gaiman, Sandman, comic book/graphic novel series +
* This is a tough one, since it's only the first two that I feel that strongly about and think the third wasn't even in the same zip code of personal-influence; the gap in time of writing showed and did so to extreme detriment. But 1 & 2 are absolutely on the list, and it seems unfair not to nominate the whole trilogy.
** Yes, yes, the whole of Trek TOS is massively influential on the genre, it probably belongs on here as a whole, but really, this episode is the most perfect hour of television ever filmed, and I think it deserves calling-out separately.
*** Problematic in tons of places, so very dated by now, but still hellaciously influential, especially The Forbidden Tower, omg.
+ The most profound statement ever made on the nature of story.