Modern Fantasy - The 100 Best Novels: 1946-1987 (Pringle, 1988)

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Here's that second list I was referring to.

David Pringle was the editor of Xanadu's Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, published in 1985, and this list for Grafton Books was his own follow-up. As it seems, according to the introduction, it was his intent to make a balanced list of notable works, so some of his choices weren't to his particular taste, though he acknowledged that they may be others' favorites; he also spoke of the arbitrariness of such a list, how "there are not a hundred masterpieces of modern fantasy, any more than there a hundred masterpieces of science fiction."

It should also be noted that, much like the last list (as you may have realized), this is an English language selection, which is rather a disservice to some of the great foreign fantasies of the world; also, it only covers the post-WWII years. This book is also out of print (save in digital format) butcan still be found reasonable cheap on the Amazon marketplace, so check it out if you want to. You'll also find that many titles are shared between lists - perhaps that's a sign of being rather special (just my opinion).


1.   Titus Groan (1946) by Mervyn Peake
2.   The Book of Ptath (1947) by A. E. van Vogt
3.   The Well of the Unicorn (1948) by Fletcher Pratt
4.   Darker Than You Think (1948) by Jack Williamson
5.   Seven Days in New Crete, or Watch the North Wind Rise (1949) by Robert Graves
6.   Silverlock (1949) by John Myers Myers
7.   The Castle of Iron (1950) by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
8.   Conan the Conqueror (1950) by Robert E. Howard
9.   The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) by C. S. Lewis
10.   Gormenghast (1950) by Mervyn Peake
11.   The Dying Earth (1950) by Jack Vance
12.   The Sound of His Horn (1952) by Sarban
13.   Conjure Wife (1953) by Fritz Leiber
14.   The Sinful Ones (1953) by Fritz Leiber
15.   The Broken Sword (1954) by Poul Anderson
16.   The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) by J. R. R. Tolkien
17.   Pincher Martin (1956) by William Golding
18.   The Shrinking Man (1956) by Richard Matheson
19.   Dandelion Wine (1957) by Ray Bradbury
20.   The Once and Future King (1958) by T. H. White
21.   The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (1959) by Robert A. Heinlein
22.   The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson
23.   Titus Alone (1959) by Mervyn Peake
24.   A Fine and Private Place (1960) by Peter S. Beagle
25.   Three Hearts and Three Lions (1961) by Poul Anderson
26.   The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1962) by John D. MacDonald
27.   Glory Road (1963) by Robert A. Heinlein
28.   Witch World (1963) by Andre Norton
29.   The Magus (1965) by John Fowles
30.   Stormbringer (1965) by Michael Moorcock
31.   The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) by Thomas Pynchon
32.   Day of the Minotaur (1966) by Thomas Burnett Swann
33.   The Eyes of the Overworld (1966) by Jack Vance
34.   The Owl Service (1967) by Alan Garner
35.   Rosemary's Baby (1967) by Ira Levin
36.   The Third Policeman (1967) by Flann O'Brien
37.   Gog (1967) by Andrew Sinclair
38.   The Last Unicorn (1968) by Peter S. Beagle
39.   A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) by Ursula K. Le Guin
40.   The Swords of Lankhmar (1968) by Fritz Leiber
41.   Black Easter (1968) and The Day After Judgment (1971) by James Blish
42.   The Green Man (1969) by Kingsley Amis
43.   The Phoenix and the Mirror (1969) by Avram Davidson
44.   A Feast Unknown (1969) by Philip José Farmer
45.   Fourth Mansions (1969) by R. A. Lafferty
46.   Red Moon and Black Mountain (1970) by Joy Chant
47.   Time and Again (1970) by Jack Finney
48.   Grendel (1971) by John Gardner
49.   Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) by Doris Lessing
50.   Jack of Shadows (1971) by Roger Zelazny
51.   Watership Down (1972) by Richard Adams
52.   The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (1972) by Angela Carter
53.   Sweet Dreams (1973) by Michael Frayn
54.   The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974) by Patricia A. McKillip
55.   'Salem's Lot (1975) by Stephen King
56.   The Great Victorian Collection (1975) by Brian Moore
57.   Grimus (1975) by Salman Rushdie
58.   Peace (1975) by Gene Wolfe
59.   The Malacia Tapestry (1976) by Brian Aldiss
60.   The Dragon and the George (1976) by Gordon R. Dickson
61.   Hotel de Dream (1976) by Emma Tennant
62.   The Passion of New Eve (1977) by Angela Carter
63.   The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Volume 1: Lord Foul's Bane (1977) by Stephen R. Donaldson
64.   The Shining (1977) by Stephen King
65.   Fata Morgana (1977) by William Kotzwinkle
66.   Our Lady of Darkness (1977) by Fritz Leiber
67.   Gloriana, or The Unfulfill'd Queen (1978) by Michael Moorcock
68.   The Unlimited Dream Company (1979) by J. G. Ballard
69.   Sorcerer's Son (1979) by Phyllis Eisenstein
70.   The Land of Laughs (1980) by Jonathan Carroll
71.   The Vampire Tapestry (1980) by Suzy McKee Charnas
72.   A Storm of Wings (1980) by M. John Harrison
73.   White Light (1980) by Rudy Rucker
74.   Ariosto (1980) by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
75.   Cities of the Red Night (1981) by William S. Burroughs
76.   Little, Big (1981) by John Crowley
77.   Lanark (1981) by Alasdair Gray
78.   The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981) by Michael Moorcock
79.   Nifft the Lean (1982) by Michael Shea
80.   Winter's Tale (1983) by Mark Helprin
81.   Soul Eater (1983) by K. W. Jeter
82.   Tea with the Black Dragon (1983) by R. A. MacAvoy
83.   Cold Heaven (1983) by Brian Moore
84.   The Anubis Gates (1983) by Tim Powers
85.   Who Made Stevie Crye? (1984) by Michael Bishop
86.   The Digging Leviathan (1984) by James P. Blaylock
87.   Nights at the Circus (1984) by Angela Carter
88.   The Businessman: A Tale of Terror (1984) by Thomas M. Disch
89.   Mythago Wood (1984) by Robert Holdstock
90.   The Glamour (1984) by Christopher Priest
91.   The Witches of Eastwick (1984) by John Updike
92.   Hawksmoor (1985) by Peter Ackroyd
93.   The Dream Years (1985) by Lisa Goldstein
94.   The Fionavar Tapestry (1985-87) by Guy Gavriel Kay
95.   The Bridge (1986) by Iain Banks
96.   The Hungry Moon (1986) by Ramsey Campbell
97.   Replay (1986) by Ken Grimwood
98.   The Unconquered Country (1986) by Geoff Ryman
99.   The Day of Creation (1987) by J. G. Ballard
100.   Aegypt, or The Solitudes (1987) by John Crowley


So how about that list? Which one do you prefer? Do you think this is a comprehensive guide to postwar English fantasy, or do you think there are some that are left out?

[Raven]

I'm not one for ranking things in terms of what is better, etc., though I don't shy from comparison. Lists, for me, only serve to introduce me to books I might possibly be interested in reading. Who knows, I might look into a couple of these titles and add them to my wish list. But, this list makes far more sense to me than the other one.  Not saying that I agree with the order or anything, but the other one made little sense to me.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Again, it's not ranked by the best. It's a publication list. Let that be a good lesson: lists don't automatically mean competition.

[Raven]

Heheh. I'll take my slap on the wrist, again.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Some of these authors have been discussed on my "Masters of Fantasy" blog, so you could always look there for further information. In addition, I'm pretty sure that most of these have individual Wiki entries. Personally, it's tough to single out which I want to read most of all, as the more I learn about them, the more fascinating they become.