Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Forums

great find! one thing though, most of them are not translated into english, i think Dave wanted only those with translations.

i am all in with htaccess that if a list doesn't exist we should build one. as i mentioned before, Dave, that would be a great value-add and attraction for new users.

I like the idea of making WWEnder lists but I'm not sure we have the numbers to make a go of it.  I made a try at getting a list going in the Overlooked Books thread and did not get much response.  It takes a lot more people than we have right now to make a good list IMO.  What I don't want to do is have a list that goes nowhere cause everyone looses interest for lack of participation.  But if you guys tell me otherwise I'm game to try it.

I agree with Deven, you make a good point about combing through the DB to create new lists.  I think we have a pretty good plan to make that work already:

We've got a "custom list" feature on our enhancement list that will allow WWEnders to create their own custom lists that they can share with other members through the forum.  You'll be able to get some feedback to help you refine your list and we can make the best private lists, determined by vote, into public lists that can be accessed from the list section and the novel pages directly.

So for example, if you create a personal list of the "The Best Post-Apocalyptic Novels" and folks in the forum thought it kicked ass enough to warrant making it a public we'd call a vote and make it public.  Once it becomes a public list a new check box would appear in the member section of the novel page for any book sub-genre tagged as "Post-Apocalyptic" that would allow members to vote it up the list.  The resulting list would be dynamic and change over time as more people vote.  Since WWEnders determine the sub-genre tags as a group only the books that you guys have determined to belong in that sub-genre would be eligible for inclusion in that particular list.  Debate about miss-tagged books or books missing from the DB would ensue in the forums resulting in more accurate tags and the inclusion of new books.

Now, back to adding new existing lists:

My goal has been to leverage existing lists, from reputable sources, as a convenient way to find new quality books to add to the DB.  With each new list we all get some new books to sift through and these books, by virtue of having been in these lists, are going to be better books by and large than any random books we could add to the DB.  We can continue to grow our base with the best books first.  They're a perfect expansion outward from the awards lists since they cover the books that came before the awards or were overlooked etc.

An excellent example of this is the afore-mentioned Classics of Science Fiction list.  Throwing that list in adds 82 new books to the DB by some top-notch authors like Lewis, Ellison and Van Vogt.  There is surely some award caliber material in that 82.

I'm starting to ramble a bit now.  So, what does all this mean?  I'm going to keep looking for great lists, and counting on you guys to help me find them.  They are out there waiting to be plucked like the ripe fruit they are so you guys will never run out of books!

But don't worry, we'll get around to coding the custom lists eventually too.

It's been a long time since this thread was active but I thought I'd just mention here that we've finally started getting some Military SF into the site.

Still haven't found an award or a list but I did find a nice article by Mike Resnick that had a bunch of Mil-SF books in it.  I started adding some from the article (42 so far) and I posted a blog article about it too:

Lock ‘n Load! - Military SF at Worlds Without End

The Resnick article is linked from the blog post and is worth a read so be sure to check that out.

I'm currently working with a Mil-SF author on creating a new list.  I'll post more info here when I can.

Well, I've got good news for you on that front.  I'm about 20 books away from getting all the Classics of Science Fiction list completed.  It's a huge list and I've stopped a few times to do the MilSF and some other series books etc.  I should be able to finish it this weekend so look for it Monday or Tuesday.

Turns our I had more like 35 novels left to add and not much time to work on it this weekend.  I did get 8 more posted and I got the images together for the others so I'll be able to whittle away at them this week.

Done deal!  Check it out.

Thanks for catching that, hihik!  I forgot to add the page address to the data table.  It's fixed now.

Glad you like the new list.  It's rather an extensive list to be sure.  It's got most of the SF Masterworks on it so if you've made a dent in that one you have a good start on the Classics list.

Glad you like it.  Just wish it didn't take so long - 193 books is a lot of work!

I really like how that section is coming together, too.  I want to get some different kinds of lists in there now to broaden the appeal.  I've got to get busy on the Mil SF list again and perhaps something like a "classics of fantasy" to go with the new SF list.  Looking for fantasy recommendations if anyone knows of a good fantasy list.

There seems to be a lot of talk on the interwebs about women SF/F authors not getting the recognition they deserve.  No arguments here.  I've been making an effort to read more women the last few years and a list of the top award winning/nominated books by women authors in the WWEnd DB would be good for anyone else wanting to do the same.  That would be an easy list to put together too as it would not require any new books be added first.  I like the low hanging fruit so that one sounds like a winner.

Any other ideas for lists?

@htaccess:  You've got some great ideas there!  Thanks for being so thorough.

I really like the best of the decade lists too so that will surely go into our list of lists.  The established or famous lists are weighted toward the older titles for sure.  Some lists with newer stuff would be a nice contrast.

I'm glad you mentioned the women's list.  I've been following the Torque Control discussion and I'm waiting like a lynx to pounce on that list when it comes out.  I think it's going to be probably the best list of it's kind.  A lot of thought is going into that one and I'm excited to see the results.

The SF Signal idea has some potential.  I'll have to look those over.

Great stuff.

I thought about doing a Top Winners list but it would really be just a sub-set of the top noms list.  Can't get too excited about that one as it would be too similar to one we've already got.

I think while I wait for the Best Women's SF list to come out I'll concentrate on getting the MilSF list up next.  That will be a pretty good list and prolly better than any other MilSF lists out there.

Keep the ideas coming!

I don't know why I didn't think of it before but I could have made a great list of books by women authors based on data I've already got.  Behold:

Award Winning Books by Women Authors

This is a list of the 65 award winning novels written by women authors across all 10 awards that we cover.  What do you think?

OK, I switched out the graphic for the women's list.  jynnantonnyx gave me grief over using such a cliche image as Rosie the Riveter.  I do like the image he suggested better.

Glad ya'll like the new list.  I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it before.  There are some great books in there fo sho.

I'm making myself a reading challenge for next year to read 12 books from that list.  I've tagged a bunch already including:

• Doomsday
• Dreamsnake
• Downbelow Station
• Boneshaker
• A Door Into Ocean

Which other ones are not to be missed?  Looking for some recommendations here.

In case you missed this in the blog:  SF Mistressworks list by Ian Sales from his blog It Doesn't Have to be Right has been added to WWEnd.

This is a really great list of women authors/books.  Check it out.