Top 10 Australian SFF books
The ABC top 100 list of 100 Aussie books to read before you die is about to be shortlisted to a top 10 by popular vote.
NO SFF BOOKS ARE ON THIS LIST.
Let’s create our own. List suggestions in the comments below. Reply to suggestions to agree with nominations.
There is no need to nominate Margo Lanagan’s Sea Hearts for inclusion in this list, I got the message the first half-dozen times it was nominated 🙂
If anyone spots a nomination that isn’t Australian, please let me know.
Nominations for Top 100 Aussie reads so far
in alphabetical order
Books are NOT ranked
1) Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
2) Arrival, The by Shaun Tan
3) Battle Axe by Sara Douglass
4) Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth
5) Black Crusade, The by Richard Harland
6) Blaze of Glory by Michael Pryor
7) Blood Countess, the by Tara Moss
8) Blood Song by Rhiannon Hart
9) Blood Ties by Pamela Freeman
10) Blue Silence by Michelle Marquardt
11) Book of Lies by James Maloney
12) Bottersnikes and Gumbles by S. A. Wakefield
13) Business of Death, The by Trent Jamieson
14) Centurion’s Empire, The by Sean McMullen,
15) Changeling, The by Sean Williams
16) Courier’s new Bicycle, The by Kim Westwood
17) Dark Space by Marianne de Pierres,
18) Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Mariller
19) Deep Field, The by James Bradley
20) Displaced Person by Lee Harding
21) Dragonlinks by Paul Collins
22) Dreaming Dragons by Damien Broderick
23) Etched City, The by KJ Bishop
24) Foxmask by Juliet Marillier
25) Gathering, The by Isobelle Carmody
26) Geomancer by Ian Irvine
27) Gift, The by Alison Croggon
28) How To Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
29) In Hollow Lands by Sophie Masson
30) Infernal, The by Kim Wilkins
31) Kelly Country by Bertram Chandler
32) Killeroo by Darren Close
33) Less than Human by Maxine McArthur,
34) Library of Forgotten Books by Rjurik Davidson
35) Luck of Brin’s Five, The by Cherry Wilder
36) Madigan Mine by Kirstyn McDermott
37) Magic Pudding, The by Norman Lindsay
38) Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
39) Metal Fatigue by Sean Williams
40) Midnite by Randolph Stow
41) Nargun and the Stars, The by Patricia Wrightson
42) Nylon Angel by Marianne de Pierres
43) Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody
44) Oceanic by Greg Egan
45) On The Beach by Neville Shute
46) Permutation City by Greg Egan
47) Pilo Family Circus, The by Will Elliott
48) Privateer by Simon Brown
49) Puzzle Ring, the by Kake Forsyth
50) Quarantine by Greg Egan
51) Resurrectionists, The by Kim Wilkins
52) Riley Jensen series by Keri Arthurs
53) Rynosseros by Terry Dowling
54) Sabriel by Garth Nix (It’s a different book than Shade’s Children)
55) Saturn Returns by Sean Williams
56) Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan
57) Shade’s Children/Sabriel by Garth Nix
58) Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman
59) Slights by Kaaron Warren
60) Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen
61) Space Demons by Gillian Rubenstein
62) Stone Mage & The Sea, The by Sean Williams
63) Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
64) The Sea and Summer by George Turner
65) Threshold by Sara Douglass
66) Time Future by Maxine McArthur
67) Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait by KA Bedford
68) Total Devotion Machine and other stories, The by Rosaleen Love
69) Velvet Waters by Gerald Murnane
70) Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren
71) When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett
72) White Abacus by Damien Broderick
73) Wildwood Dancing by Juliette Marillier
74) Worldshaker by Richard Harland
75) X6 novella anthology from Coeur De Lion
Bottersnikes and Gumbles – S. A. Wakefield
The Magic Pudding – Norman Lindsay
Mary Poppins – P.L. Travers
Midnight – Randolph Stow
How To Ditch Your Fairy – Justine Larbalestier
Sabriel – Garth Nix (It’s a different book than Shade’s Children)
In Hollow Lands – Sophie Masson
The Library of Forgotten Books – Rjurik Davidson
The Total Devotion Machine and other stories – Rosaleen Love
Singing the Dogstar Blues – Alison Goodman
Blue Silence – Michelle Marquardt
Velvet Waters – Gerald Murnane
Correction: For “Midnight”, read “Midnite”.
I’ve added these nominations to the list and updated the list above. 🙂
Which came first, the problem or the sloiuotn? Luckily it doesn’t matter.
The Puzzle Ring by Kake Forsyth.
The Blood Countess by Tara Moss
(Bit difficult to post more, as I don’t have much works by Aussie authors… )
I’m reading Bitter Greens, it’s AWESOME. I don’t remember reading any other Forsyth or Moss works. I think they’ve been fairly prolific so I might have found some in a library back when I did the library thing (library? What’s that? 😉
Here’s a few off the top of my head:
Margo Lanagan – Sea Hearts
Sean Williams – The Stone Mage & The Sea
Sara Douglass – BattleAxe
Also, does ithave to be novels? What about the novella anthology X6 from Coeur De Lion?
I’ll try to think of more.
Ok Some more 🙂
Shade’s Children/Sabriel – Garth Nix
The Gathering – Isobelle Carmody
The Changeling – Sean Williams
The Gift – Alison Croggon
Daughter of the Forest – Juliet Mariller
Book of Lies – James Maloney
The Assassin – Robin Hobbs
(does Paul Collin’s Count? Dragonlinks)
Some of the many 🙂
Like Russ, these are off the top of my head:
Across the Nightingale Floor – Lian Hearn
The Nargun and the Stars – Patricia Wrightson
Foxmask – Juliet Marillier
The Etched City – KJ Bishop
Blood Ties – Pamela Freeman
Worldshaker – Richard Harland
Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait – KA Bedford
When We Have Wings – Claire Corbett
Walking the Tree – Kaaron Warren
Sea Hearts – Margo Lanagan
That’s enough to fill up the top 10 😀
Trying not to repeat suggestions already made… When it comes to graphic storytelling, what about Killeroo by Darren Close? When I think of Australian comic books, it’s the that one which always comes to mind.
Blood Song by Rhiannon Hart
Riley Jensen series by Keri Arthurs
That’s a skillful aswner to a difficult question
Marianne de Pierres ‘Nylon Angel’ (preferably the trilogy)
I agree 🙂
What a neat article. I had no inknilg.
Michael Pryor’s ‘Blaze of Glory’ (and any of his Laws of Magic series).
Off the top of my head:
The Sea and Summer, George Turner
The Dreaming Dragons, Damien Broderick
Space Demons, Gillian Rubenstein
Oceanic, Greg Egan
The Infernal, Kim Wilkins (disclaimer: we’ve published this)
Metal Fatigue, Sean WIlliams
Privateer, Simon Brown
Battle Axe, Sara Douglass
White Abacus, Damien Broderick
The Luck of Brin’s Five, Cherry Wilder
Displaced Person, Lee Harding
Obernewtyn, Isobelle Carmody
I have to agree with the Sarah Douglas mention, and to the mention of Michael Pryor below
Terry Dowling – “Rynosseros”
(Though I’d really like to nominate the whole cycle of Tyson books – Rynosseros, Blue Tyson, Twilight Beach and Rynemonn, as the first book I think Rynosseros should more than be on the list!)
Got it! Thanks a lot again for hpeilng me out!
Maxine McArthur Time Future
Isobelle Carmody Obernewtyn
Agreed!
Agreed!
Sean Williams Saturn Returns
+1 to this
Juliette Marillier – Wildwood Dancing
Definitely!
Marianne de Pierres, Dark Space
Sean McMullen, The Centurion’s Empire
Greg Egan, Permutation City
Here are few authors whom I couldn’t decide on which book:
Greg Egan
Sean McMullen
Terry Dowling
Marianne de Pierres
You can nominate more than one book, but please nominate books. I’m frantically putting all the novels with pics into another post, getting ready to publish the nominations later.
The Sean and Summer by George Turner, winner of the 1988 Clark award.
Oops “the sea” obviously. Although The Sean and Summer could be a perfectly good book.
You and me both (and McMullen too!) 🙂
Neville Shute’s On The Beach
This
Bertram Chandler’s Kelly Country
Richard Harland, The Black Crusade
Yes. Steampunk genre.
I’m a fan of Steampunk too, but please name specific books. 🙂
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Maxine McArthur, Less than Human
Kaaron Warren, Slights
Agree
Sara Douglass, Threshold
Agree
Kim Wilkins, The Resurrectionists
Bah, stupid WordPress – that second Agree was supposed to go to Sean’s comment, not mine. Silly program that wouldn’t let me use the same word twice.
*deep breath in, deep breath out*
Agree 🙂
Lovesya, Sean 🙂
Agree again.
James Bradley’s THE DEEP FIELD.
Margo Lanagan’s TENDER MORSELS.
Agree again
Agreed
If I were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, now I’d say “Koawbnuga, dude!”
Shaun Tan’s THE ARRIVAL
Agreed!
Agree
Agreed!
Another agree!