“Must” you read HP? Hell no. There are plenty of books I’m “supposed” to have read that I haven’t. Or refuse to like no matter how many people try explaining how “important” James Joyce is as a writer. Movies, too.

As for The Andromeda Strain — gotta love a novel whose opening is: (a) a one sentence paragraph and (b) that sentence is incomplete. “A man with binoculars.” Let’s break the rules so we can establish a hook… In 1969, millions of people wanted to know what than man saw – and why a book about a disease had binoculars… (grin)

Dr. Phil

Strangely enough Michael Crichton made this best of Sci-fi list at spot #98: Phobos Top 100 Sci-fi Books you Must Read

Gordon’s header for the second story begins like this:
You might recall meeting Maggot in “A Democracy of Trolls” back in our Oct/ Nov. 2002 issue. He’s the human boy who was raised by a band of trolls.

That helps to put the story in perspective right off the bat.

My stubborness in refusing the Potter actually has to do with the over-the-top marketing of it, which seems to have cooled in recent years. And as a general rule I get annoyed when I’m told by acquaintances that “if you like to read, you absolute must read” John Grishom, Michael Crichton, JK Rowling, Dan Brown, and every other flash in the pan. I’ve read all of these authors except Rowling and rate them all “okay at best” and wish my time had been spent reading something else.

The Jack Vance sounds interesting too. That seems like a classic that has stood the test of time.

Another example of the novel-as-a-series-of-short-stories is Jack Vance’s Eyes of the Overworld. It’s composed of about a dozen novelettes. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect each was published in a magazine when it was first written, because each contains enough background and worldbuilding that it could stand on its own; and in fact, you occasionally find these individual stories in collections of Vance stories, or general SFF anthologies. The book is a sort of picaresque, in which the anti-hero/protagonist Cugel finds himself far from home, and has to make his way back, through various dangers and adventures. You guys may recall I’ve mentioned this novel before, as an example of the use of the hilarious/frustrating anti-hero, who is vastly entertaining, but whom the reader wants to strangle.

It’s a shame because I honestly think that it could’ve been one of the best High Fantasy series ever written had Jordan kept it down to 6 books. Maybe 8.

I feel bad for the guy, though. He has some rare blood disease.

No one should feel any pressure to read something because “you should.” I’m through with that, too. I have limited time to read as it is: I have no intention of surrendering any of it to something that hurts me–although I must admit that I’m going to read the next Robert Jordan book because I’ve invested far too much time in it to stop now. I wish I could. [Cue quiet piano music and fade to black. Voiceover: If you know someone who can't help themselves with epic fantasies, please, get help for them. Call 1-800-EPIC-HELP.]

I think Rowling is a plotting genius. I like how she seems to take small insignificant elements that at first just seem there for color and transforms it into integral parts of the story or a clues needed to solve a mystery that has been in front of the reader’s faces this entire time.

I also never really thought of the chapters in the first book as self-contained short stories. I just might not have noticed. Still, the techniques she used in the latter books felt like the exact same techniques she used in the first book, if not a bit more refined.

::shrugs:: Could just be me.

What I didn’t make clear in my post is that I expected short story-esque chapters to be saleable “as-is” in the current marketplace…but I don’t think they are. Rowling may have written self-contained episodes for chapters, but were they published as such in short fiction venues? That’s why I looked at CCF. The shorts “A Democracy of Trolls” and “Love and the Wayward Troll” appeared in F&SF before The Prodigal Troll novel was published.

Interestingly, Stephen King’s original The Gunslinger was five novellas that were published over the course of four years (1978-1981) in F&SF. Not sure that would work in today’s market, 25 years later.