Although the NY Times generally reviews SF within the ghetto of Gerald
Jonas' column, they have in fact reviewed a number of major SF novels
and collections in regular reviews, outside that column. Back when
Asimov/Clarke/Herbert were actually making the NY Times Bestseller
List, they got the occasional review. Le Guin has had a couple.
Greg Benford got one for Timescape, I believe. I believe Michael
Bishop and John Crowley have been reviewed seriously as well, though
probably for their fantasies rather than their SF. Sometimes these reviews
have been negative and frequently they've been of books that sold a
lot of copies, but weren't really the best representatives of our
field (late Foundation and Dune novels, for example), but it has been
done. Tom Disch has done several such reviews. Unfortunately, Disch,
whether reviewing science fiction or poetry, tends to specialize in
sneers and negativism.
Mike Levy
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