From: IOR@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (Thomas Hyer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Author Polls -- Gordon R. Dickson
Date: 17 Aug 92 16:05:58 GMT
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

Welcome to the author polls.  This week's author is Gordon
R. Dickson.

INTRO to AUTHOR POLLS  (skip if you've participated before):

   Since no two readers can generally be expected to agree
   about the quality of a given author, an overall poll
   like that used in rec.arts.movies would be useless
   except as an incendiary.  However, there is often good
   agreement about which books by a given author are most
   worthy: thus this poll.

IF YOU MISSED AN EARLIER POLL and want to contribute, please
   feel free to DO SO.  There is also on ongoing meta-poll,
   which guides my choice of authors; a meta-poll ballot
   consists of a list of six authors.

BALLOT FORMAT  (read this once):

   You have four votes, one each at +3, +2, +1, and -1. You
   may vote for a work of any length, though you may wish
   to restrict yourself to the form in which the author was
   most prolific.

   Remember that the use, if any, of this poll is to aid
   readers who are not familiar with an author in making
   an informed choice of one of his works.  Try to choose
   the works you would recommend to a friend.

   You are NOT obliged to vote at each level; just try to
   make sure that whatever votes you do give are deserved.
   A negative vote is not an indicator of support (believe
   it or not, I have to say that explicitly).

SAMPLE BALLOT (just a reminder):

   + 3 <vote for at most one work>
   + 2 <vote for at most one work>
   + 1 <vote for at most one work>
   - 1 <vote for at most one work>

SEND BALLOTS TO THIS ADDRESS.  If you prefer multiple choice,
you can obtain fairly complete bibliographies by anonymous ftp
from gandalf.rutgers.edu, in /pub/sfl/authorlists.

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS:

Cordwainer Smith
----------------
 Ballad of Lost C'Mell             +  16
 Dead Lady of Clown Town           +  15
 Norstrilia                        +  10
 Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons    +   7
 Under Old Earth                   +   6
 Best of Cordwainer Smith          +   6
 Scanners Live in Vain             +   5
 Alpha Ralpha Boulevard            +   4
 Crime and Glory..Commander Suzdal +   2
 Instrumentality of Mankind        +   2
 On the Sand Planet                +   1
 Planet Called Shayol              +   1
 Quest of the Three Worlds         +   1
 Space Lords                       +   1
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Drunkboat                         -   1
 War No. 81-Q                      -   1

PREVIOUS RESULTS (ABRIDGED; for full listing, EMail to this address):

Roger Zelazny
-------------
 Lord of Light                     +  81
 Creatures of Light and Darkness   +  19
 <Chronicles of Corwin>            +  15
 Nine Princes in Amber             +  15
 Jack of Shadows                   +  13
 This Immortal / ..Call Me Conrad  +  12
 Isle of the Dead                  +   9
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Dark Travelling                   -   4

Larry Niven
-----------
 Ringworld                         +  43
 Mote in God's Eye                 +  38
 Protector                         +  19
 Legacy of Heorot                  +   9
 All the Myriad Ways               +   7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

C.J. Cherryh
------------
 Cyteen                            +  34
 Downbelow Station                 +  23
 <Chanur>                          +  21
  Chanur: Pride of Chanur          +  17
 Merchanter's Luck                 +  17
 <Faded Sun>                       +  10
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Tree of Swords and Jewels         -   4

Jack Vance
----------
 Dying Earth                       +  20
 Araminta Station                  +  17
 Last Castle                       +  12
 Lyonesse                          +  10
 <Demon Princes>                   +  10
 Cugel's Saga                      +   8
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Space Opera                       -   3
 Gray Prince                       -   3

Robert A. Heinlein
------------------
 Moon Is a Harsh Mistress          +  56
 Stranger in a Strange Land        +  26
 Starship Troopers                 +  24
 Door into Summer                  +  10
 Double Star                       +   8
 Friday                            +   7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 I Will Fear No Evil               -   3
 Farnham's Freehold                -   4

Robert Silverberg
-----------------
 Lord Valentine's Castle           +  30
 Dying Inside                      +  16
 Book of Skulls                    +   7
 Nightwings                        +   5
 Valentine Pontifex                +   5
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Time of Changes                   -   2

Isaac Asimov
------------
 <Foundation Trilogy>              +  36
 Caves of Steel                    +  20
 Gods Themselves                   +  17
 I, Robot                          +  13
 Nightfall                         +  10
 Robots of Dawn                    +   9
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Nemesis                           -   5
 Foundation and Earth              -   6

Poul Anderson
-------------
 Tau Zero                          +  12
 Boat of a Million Years           +   9
 <Flandry>                         +   9
 Brain Wave                        +   8
 Orion Shall Rise                  +   7
 High Crusade                      +   7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Frederik Pohl
-------------
 Gateway                           +  28
 Space Merchants                   +  15
 Gladiator at Law                  +   7
 Heechee Rendezvous                +   5
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Philip K. Dick
--------------
 Man in the High Castle            +  23
 Ubik                              +  17
 Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said +  12
 Valis                             +  11
 Do Androids Dream..Electric Sheep +   9
 A Scanner Darkly                  +   8
 Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch +   8
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Radio Free Albemuth               -   2

Samuel R. Delany
----------------
 Nova                              +  28
 Babel-17                          +  24
 Dhalgren                          +  24
 Stars in My Pocket Like..of Sand  +  11
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

John Brunner
------------
 Stand on Zanzibar                 +  50
 Shockwave Rider                   +  30
 Sheep Look Up                     +  22
 Compleat Traveller in Black       +  21
 Crucible of Time                  +   7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Give Warning to the World         -   2

Orson Scott Card
----------------
 Ender's Game                      + 100
 Speaker for the Dead              +  39
 Seventh Son                       +  23
 Songmaster                        +  15
 Red Prophet                       +  11
 <Alvin Maker / Hatrack River>     +   8
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Stanislaw Lem
-------------
 Cyberiad                          +  28
 Star Diaries                      +  16
 Solaris                           +  10
 Futurological Congress            +   7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Investigation                     -   2

Ursula K. Le Guin
-----------------
 Dispossessed                      +  43
 Left Hand of Darkness             +  40
 <Earthsea>                        +  34
 Wizard of Earthsea                +  16
 Lathe of Heaven                   +  11
 Rocannon's World                  +   9
 Always Coming Home                +   9
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Theodore Sturgeon
-----------------
 More than Human                   +  12
 Saucer of Loneliness              +   6
 Slow Sculpture                    +   6
 Synthetic Man / Dreaming Jewels   +   5
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Clifford D. Simak
-----------------
 Way Station                       +  25
 City                              +  21
 Time and Again                    +   6
 All Flesh Is Grass                +   5
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

David Brin
----------
 Startide Rising                   +  75
 Uplift War                        +  49
 Postman                           +  18
 Earth                             +  12
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Arthur C. Clarke
----------------
 Rendezvous with Rama              +  44
 2001: A Space Odyssey             +  35
 Childhood's End                   +  33
 City and the Stars                +  19
 Fountains of Paradise             +  12
 Imperial Earth                    +  10
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Cradle                            -   6
 2061: Odyssey Three               -   6