2014 RYO Lists


There’s a new challenge for 2014 on the World Without Ends site.  It’s the “Roll Your Own Challenge”.  It lets you create a challenge of your own and/or join a challenge created by another member.  I’ve created my own.  It’s called the 2014 I Just HAVE To Read More Of That Author Challenge.  This is how I came up with it:

I started by wondering how I could incorporate the last 4 books of my personal challenge to read all the Hugos into a WWEnd challenge.  As I reflected on this, I realized all the books were the second or third book by an author whose previous winners I’ve already read.  They are Connie Willis’ “Blackout/All Clear”, Vernor Vinge’s “A Deepness in the Sky”, CJ Cherryh’s “Downbelow Station”, and Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Paladin of Souls”.  I couldn’t use the already created Sequel or Universe challenges because these Hugo winners are a mish-mash of the two.  “Paladin” is not a sequel to nor in the universe of the Vorkosigan Saga books I’ve already read but it’s the second part of its own trilogy the first of which I haven’t read, Vinge’s book is a sequel, and the Willis and Cherryh books are in universes.  Wow, that’s confusing.

Also, I’ve been dying to read more Clifford Simak and Karen Lord, Connie Willis’ non-time travel books, Mary Doria Russell’s sequel to “The Sparrow”, and the sequels to Wrede and Steverson’s Sorcery and Cecelia.

My challenge covers all these books which do not fit snuggly into the other challenges.

The actual challenge is to read 12 books by authors you’ve read before and write a review for 6 of them.  The books can be standalone novels, the remaining books in a series, or parts of a universe.  You can read 12 books by one author, one book book each by 12 different authors, or a few books by several authors.  Mine will be the last one.


I’m opening up the challenge to all my friends and followers.  To keep track of your progress and publish your reviews, join the Worlds Without End website and signup for my challenge.  Feel free to leave comments here or in my challenge’s forum on WWEnd.  Let me know what authors you just HAVE to read more of and which of their books you’re reading.  Oh, and just to include more people, if you don't want to write reviews, you don't have to.  It's fun just to keep track of your books in the challenge tracker.

My list of books are below with links to their reviews.  I also added all the other challenges I've joined.  I know, I'm crazy.  Many of the books fit into multiple challenges, so you'll see a lot of duplicates, and it brings the total books I need to read from 60 to 46.  And the icons also give you a link to that challenge listed on the WWEnd RYO challenge pages.















Title Author Rating
All Clear Connie Willis 5 stars
ArachneLisa Mason 3 stars
Black Easter/Day After Judgement James Blish 4 stars
Blackout Connie Willis 5 stars
A Choice of Gods Clifford D. Simak 5 stars
Richard K. Morgan
3 stars
A Deepness in the Sky Vernor Vinge 4 stars
Downbelow Station CJ Cherryh 2 stars
The Grand Tour Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer 4 stars
The Mislaid Magician Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer 4 stars
Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 3 stars
Passage Connie Willis 4 stars










Challenge:  Read 12 books by 12 different authors who have won the Damon Knight Grand Master Award, who you've never read before.







Title Author Rating
Behold The Man Michael Moorcock 4 stars
The Complete Compleat Enchanter L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt 4 stars
Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 4 stars
Dhalgren Samuel R. Delaney 3 stars
Emphyrio Jack Vance 4 stars
Greybeard Brian Aldiss 3 stars
The Immortals James Gunn 4 stars
Pstalemate Lester del Rey 3 stars
Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 5 stars
Son of Man Robert Silverberg 3 stars
The Stainless Steel Rat Harry Harrison 4 stars
Turning On Damon Knight 4 stars









Challenge:  Read 12 books by LGBT authors or books that have LGBT characters or themes







Title Author Rating
Brown Girl in the Ring Nalo Hopkinson 5 stars
The Cold Commands Richard K. Morgan 3 stars
The Dark Defiles Richard K. Morgan 4 stars
Deep Wizardry Diane Duane 2 stars
Dhalgren Samuel R. Delaney 3 stars
Drawing Blood Poppy Z. Brite 4 stars
Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite 5 stars
The Female Man Joanna Russ 2 stars
Lost Souls Poppy Z. Brite 3 stars
Slow River Nicola Griffith 4 stars
The Steel Remains Richard K. Morgan 5 stars
Winterlong Elizabeth Hand 3 stars






Challenge:  Read 12 books that are included in Orion Publishing Groups SF Masterworks, SF Mistressworks, and Fantasy Masterworks lists.  The idea for the lists was the managing editor's, to bring important works back into print.





Title Author Rating
Behold The Man Michael Moorcock 4 stars
Brown Girl in the Ring Nalo Hopkinson 5 stars
The Complete Compleat
 Enchanter
L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt 4 stars
Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 4 stars
Dhalgren Samuel R. Delaney 3 stars
Emphyrio Jack Vance 4 stars
The Female Man Joanna Russ 2 stars
Grendel John Gardner 5 stars
Greybeard Brian Aldiss 3 stars
The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut 3 stars
Slow River Nicola Griffith 4 stars
Winterlong Elizabeth Hand 3 stars






Challenge: Read 12 books by 12 different women authors of genre fiction, who you've never read before




Title Author Rating
Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie 2 stars
Brown Girl in the Ring Nalo Hopkinson 5 stars
Deep Wizardry Diane Duane 2 stars
Drawing Blood Poppy Z. Brite 4 stars
The Female Man Joanna Russ 2 stars
The Golem and the Jinni Helene Wecker 5 stars
Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 4 stars
New Amsterdam Elizabeth Bear 1 stars
Remnant Population Elizabeth Moon 5 stars
Slow River Nicola Griffith 4 stars
Winterlong Elizabeth Hand 3 stars
A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle 3 stars






Challenge:  Read 12 books that have been nominated for 12 of the 14 genre fiction awards listed on WWEnd, but did not win an award.

Title Author Award Rating
Black Easter/Day After Judgement James Blish Nebula 4 stars
Children of God Mary Doria Russell British SF 5 stars
A Choice of Gods Clifford D. Simak Locus SF 5 stars
The Dog Stars Peter Heller Clarke 5 stars
Drawing Blood Poppy Z. Brite World Fantasy 4 stars
Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite Stoker 5 stars
Godbody Theodore Sturgeon Locus Fantasy 4 stars
Grendel John Gardner Mythopoeic 5 stars
The Lies of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch British Fantasy Society 4 stars
Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut Hugo 3 stars
White is for Witching Helen Oyeyemi Shirley Jackson 3 stars
Winterlong Elizabeth Hand Philip K Dick  3 stars












Challenge: Read 12 fantasy books









Title Author Rating
The Cold Commands Richard K. Morgan 3 stars
The Complete Compleat Enchanter L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt 4 stars
Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 4 stars
Deep Wizardry Diane Duane 2 stars
The Golem and the Jinni Helene Wecker 5 stars
The Grand Tour Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer 4 stars
Grendel John Gardner 5 stars
The Mislaid Magician Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer 4 stars
Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 4 stars
Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 3 stars
Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 5 stars
The Steel Remains Richard K. Morgan 5 stars







Challenge: Read a book each by Elizabeth BearElizabeth Hand and Elizabeth Moon.

Title Author Rating
New Amsterdam Elizabeth Bear 1 stars
Remnant Population Elizabeth Moon 5 stars
Winterlong Elizabeth Hand 3 stars











Challenge: Read 12 novels, each winning a different award tracked by WWEnd, in 12 months.




TitleAuthorAwardRating
Altered CarbonRichard K. MorganPhilip K Dick4 stars
Ancillary Justice Ann LeckieClarke2 stars
Claw of the ConciliatorGene WolfeLocus Fantasy4 stars
The Curse of ChalionLois McMaster BujoldMythopoeic
Deepness in the SkyVerner VingeHugo4 stars
Little Brother Cory DoctorowCampell5 stars
PassageConnie WillisLocus SF4 stars
Shadow of the TorturerGene WolfeBritish SF5 stars
Slow RiverNicola GriffithNebula4 stars
Sword of the LictorGene WolfeBritish Fantasy Society5 stars
Tooth and ClawJo WaltonWorld Fantasy5 stars
Witches on the Road TonightSheri HolmanShirley Jackson2 stars




Challenge:  Pick three SF or fantasy trilogies and write one review for each trilogy.  That's nine
 and three reviews in twelve months.  You must read at least one SF trilogy and one Fantasy trilogy.  You can make it more challenging by reading a Horror trilogy for your third choice otherwise it's up to you.  A trilogy that later got expanded into a longer series is OK and it's also cool if you want to read the first three books of a longer series.  As a suggestion, rather than a rule, pick at least one trilogy by a woman author.


Title Author Rating
The Curse of Chalion Lois McMaster Bujold
Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 3 stars
The Hallowed Hunt Lois McMaster Bujold 3 stars
The Steel Remains Richard K. Morgan 5 stars
The Cold Commands Richard K. Morgan 3 stars
The Dark Defiles Richard K. Morgan 4 stars
The Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 5 stars
The Claw of the Conciliator Gene Wolfe 4 stars
The Sword of the Lictor Gene Wolfe 5 stars









Challenge:  This challenge is all about reading books you've read before.  For the "Read it again, Sam." challenge you get to indulge yourself in some old favorites. Pick 6 books that you've always wanted to re-read and see for yourself if they're still favorites. But be warned, many old faves won't stand up to a second reading - especially if it's been years since your first read.


I'm using this challenge to reread the 6 Hugo winners I read long ago, but need to reread in order to write reviews.






Title Author Rating
American Gods Neil Gaiman 5 stars
Dune Frank Herbert
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card 5 stars
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire JK Rowling
Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card
To Say Nothing of the Dog Connie Willis 4 stars









Challenge:  Read 12 books that could be tagged apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, near future, utopia, dsytopia, etc.









TitleAuthorRating
Black Easter James Blish 4 stars
The Bone Clocks David Mitchell 5 stars
A Choice of Gods Clifford D. Simak 5 stars
The Day After Judgement James Blish 4 stars
Dhalgren Samuel R. Delaney 3 stars
The Dog Stars Peter Heller 5 stars
The Female Man Joanna Russ 2 stars
Greybeard Brian Aldiss 3 stars
The Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 5 stars
Slow River Nicola Griffith 4 stars
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 2 stars
Winterlong Elizabeth Hand 3 stars







Challenge:  Read 6 books that feature Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves, Monsters, Mutants, and any other creepy creatures you can think of.









TitleAuthorRating
Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 4 stars
Feed Mira Grant 4 stars
The Golem and the Jinni Helene Wecker 5 stars
Grendel John Gardner 5 stars
Lost Souls Poppy Z. Brite 3 stars
New Amsterdam Elizabeth Bear 1 star







Challenge: Read 12 books that begin a series.  It doesn't necesssarily have to be the book identified as the first in the WWE database, but should be a recognised starting point, not just a random book.  In addition, it should be a real series, where the books relate to one another, rather than a loose collection of stories or a thematic series (so Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea, fine;  the Hainish Cycle, not so fine) 







TitleAuthorRating
Altered Carbon Richard K. Morgan 4 stars
Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie 2 stars
Black Easter James Blish 4 stars
The Curse of Chalion Lois McMaster Bujold
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card 5 stars
Leviathan Wakes James S.A. Corey 3 stars
Little Brother  Cory Doctorow 5 stars
New Amsterdam Elizabeth Bear 1 star
The Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 5 stars
The Steel Remains Richard K. Morgan 5 stars
Winterlong Elizabeth Hand 3 stars
A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle 3 stars








Challenge: Read 12 sequels.  The sequels can be to those books read in other challenges or just sequels to something read a long time ago.  










TitleAuthorRating
Day After Judgement James Blish 4 stars
Children of God Mary Doria Russell 5 stars
The Citadel of the Autarch Gene Wolfe 5 stars
The Claw of the Conciliator Gene Wolfe 4 stars
The Cold Commands Richard K. Morgan 3 stars
The Dark Defiles Richard K. Morgan 4 stars
A Deepness in the Sky Vernor Vinge 4 stars
The Grand Tour Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer 4 stars
The Hallowed Hunt Lois McMaster Bujold 3 stars
The Mislaid Magician Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer 4 stars
Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 3 stars
Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card



No comments:

Post a Comment