Yes, I know, it's Thursday, not Wednesday. All I can say in my defense is deadlines and Tumblr. Not my Tumblr, of course, but someone else's. Which took up about four hours. Which is also why I will never get a Tumblr. You'll never see me again.

So you may have seen on my blog-page yesterday the post from NPR-- the Must Read Science Fiction list. How many can you score? It's a neat little interactive page where you can click on the books you've read, and it'll count them up for you. That way at the end you can know how many you've read. Every 25 reads gets you a gold star for being so literarily awesome.

It has a great list of books on there, and I was surprised by some of the contents of the list. My two favorite authors Robin McKinley and Lois McMaster Bujold were included, and while Bujold is undoubtedly a science fiction author, McKinley deals more in the fantasy realms, and her book Sunshine was listed here-- a vampire novel that is far from Twilight. It's the story of a girl nicknamed Sunshine who lives in a recovering, paranormally-war-torn world and works in a bakery...until she's snatched by vampires.

The thing I love most about Sunshine, beyond its obvious good writing, its well-paced plot, its detail, and its spunk, is that the vampires are more traditional. They're ugly. They're absolutely terrifying. They are the ultimate predators of the human race and turn all people who see them into the immediate staring deer in the headlights. But it doesn't matter, because if they want you, they can make you come to them by sheer power of suggestion and illusion. If you look into their eyes, you're a goner.

I wouldn't have thought it to be science fiction, though. Perhaps paranormal fantasy. But I suppose it could also be paranormal fiction, as well, and it's based in a present-day if urbanly fantastical world. Still, I was pleased and surprised.

Other books on the list? The Once and Future King, The Lord of the Rings, The Foundation Trilogy, Ringworld, and The Left Hand of Darkness.

I was sorely tempted to 'count' those books towards my score that I hadn't read yet but had discussed extensively with various members of my family and the science-fiction fan crowd. Also those of which I've read a book from the series if not the book in question. What's my score on pure honesty? A round, pleasing, single-gold star 28.

If I count everything else? 35.

Out of 100, I'd say that's not bad, but I clearly have a lot of reading to do. And that's what got me more excited about this list than anything. I have a list of about 75 books that I've never read before that are considered the classics of the genre. It's like Christmas come early!

So what am I doing here? I gots readin' to do!!