The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1990s

1950s – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s

The 1990s was the last decade of the century and the millennium, and although science fiction has been around for centuries, it feels like the genre blossomed in the second half of the 20th century.  By the last decade it feels fantasy flavored SF had overtaken hard science fiction in popular appeal, but many of the most successful science fiction books of the 1990s were about space travel.  Vernor Vinge, Iain M. Banks, Dan Simmons, and Peter F. Hamilton began paving the way for the New Space Opera of the 2000s.  Ben Bova, Greg Bear and Kim Stanley Robinson used NASA’s recent knowledge of the solar system to build new visions of interplanetary colonization.  And more than ever, science fiction is concerned with the post-human future.

SF writers of 1990s represents the centennial descendants of H. G. Wells, and his genre originating novels The Time Machine (1895) and War of the Worlds (1898).  Where Wells explored the impact of Darwinism, 1990s science fiction writers were inspired by NASA interplanetary probes, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the many breakthroughs in contemporary cosmology.  It’s quite amazing, but in the 1990s, both the scientific universe and science fictional universes are tremendously bigger than the objective reality of the 1950s and its science fictional universes.  Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke loom large in our history, but modern science fiction writers stand on their shoulders and see much further than they ever imagined.

Yet, I would claim by the 1990s that it was obvious that science fiction had forked in its evolution.  On one hand, we still have a branch of science fiction inspired by science, but on the other hand, it’s all too obvious that the larger branch of science fiction is inspired by older science fiction.  New sub-genres like Military SF, seemed descended from 1959’s Starship Troopers by Heinlein, and isn’t the sub-genre of galactic empire romances descended from Asimov’s Foundation stories?  NASA will never be able to send a probe to either of these universes.  Whereas, Kim Stanley Robinson and Michael Flynn are practically begging NASA to use their books as blueprints for its future budgets.

A handful of writers dominated the decade with their series books.  Lois McMaster Bujold, Connie Willis, Kim Stanley Robinson and Vernor Vinge, all won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards as well as getting many nominations, and winning other genre awards.

Kim Stanley Robinson set the standard for hard science fiction with his decade spanning Mars trilogy.  He won two Hugos and one Nebula by writing about a realistic colonization of the Red planet.

Lois McMaster Bujold had so many award winning books in the 1990s that picking the best is impossible.  The Vor Game, Barrayar, Mirror Dance, Cetaganda, Memory, Komarr and A Civil Campaign are probably getting even more readers today than in the 1990s.  The Vorkosigan Saga just keeps on growing.  And fans debate whether new readers should follow publication order or internal chronological order.

Connie Willis won five Hugos and three Nebulas in the 1990s, with The Doomsday Book winning both.  Willis has carved out a much loved series based on time travel and history, blending two genres together, and like Bujold, Willis keeps expanding her series today.

Vernor Vinge picked up two Hugos and two Nebula nominations for A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, proving that fans still love a good space opera.

Some people have asked me how I make up these lists of memorable science fiction books.  The first one, about the 1950s, was more from personal memory, but eventually I discovered various resources I used for the later decades.  I start with Internet Speculative Fiction Database.  I use its advanced search and look up novels, language and type.   I only worry about books in English.  I go down their listings looking for books I remember reading or reading about.  I can right click on any title to bring up it’s bibliographic record which includes how often it was reprinted and whether or not it won any awards.  Most valuable is whether the book made the Locus Poll that year.  That’s the first indicator how popular a book was with the fans during the year it came out.

I also study various best of lists to discern long term popularity.  I look for books that get picked time and again.  This is how I create the short list called the Best Remembered books.  The longer Defining Books list are those books which got particular notice during the year they came out.  Most of these have been frequently reprinted and are often on some of the best SF of all time lists.  I avoided fantasy novels unless they won or were nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, or other SF award.

Best of Book Lists

• The Classics of Science Fiction By Year
• Top 100 Sci-Fi Books
• Next 100 Sci-Fi Books
• NPR Top 100 SF/F Books
• Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels (David Pringle pre-1985)
• Locus Best SF Novels of All-Time (pre-1990)
• ISFDB Top Books by Year
• All the Lists at Worlds Without End

The Best Remembered Science Fiction Books of the 1990s

• The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1990)
• Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (1991)
• A Fire Upon the Deep/A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
• Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992)
• The Doomsday Book/To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
• The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)
• Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler (1994)
• The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (1995)
• A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (1996)
• The Sparrow/Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
• The Vor Game/Barrayar/Mirror Dance/A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1990s

1990
	Earth by David Brin In the Country of the Blind by Michael F. Flynn Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson Redshift Rendezvous by John E. Stith The Difference Engine by Gibson and Sterling The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons The Quiet Pools by Michael P. Kube-McDowell The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold Use of Weapons Iain M. Banks Voyage of the Red Planet by Terry Bisson
1991
	A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton Bone Dance by Emma Bull Carve the Sky by Alexander Jablokov Fallen Angels by Niven, Pournelle and Flynn King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald Heavy Time by C. J. Cherryh Orbital Resonance by John Barnes Raft by Stephen Baxter Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick Synners by Pat Cadigan The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
1992
	A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge A Million Open Doors by John Barnes Brother to Dragons by Charles Sheffield Chanur’s Legacy by C. J. Cherryh China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh Fools by Pat Cadigan Jumper by Steven Gould Mars by Ben Bova Quarantine by Greg Egan Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Sideshow by Sheri S. Tepper Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Steel Beach by John Varley The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
1993
	A Plague of Angels by Sheri S. Tepper Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks Ammonite by Nicola Griffith Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress Crashcourse by Wilhelmina Baird Glory Season by David Brin Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Growing Up Weightless by John M. Ford Hard Landing by Algis Budrys Moving Mars by Greg Bear Nightside the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe On Basilisk Station by David Weber Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler The Giver by Lois Lowry The Norton Book of Science Fiction ed. Le Guin and Attebery The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith Virtual Light by William Gibson Vurt by Jeff Noon
1994
	Beggars & Choosers by Nancy Kress Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks Foreigner by C. J. Cherryh Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold Mother of Storms by John Barnes Mysterium by Robert Charles Wilson Permutation City by Greg Egan Queen City Jazz by Kathleen Ann Goonan Remake by Connie Willis The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt Towing Jehovah by James Morrow Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott
1995
	Brightness Reef by David Brin Chaga by Ian McDonald Distress by Greg Egan Far Futures ed. Gregory Benford Invader by C. J. Cherryh Legacy by Greg Bear Metropolitan by Walter Jon Williams Sailing Bright Eternity by Gregory Benford Slow River by Nicola Griffith The Bohr Maker by Linda Nagata The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter Women of Wonder ed. Pamela Sargent
1996
	A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin Bellwether by Connie Willis Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold Endymion by Dan Simmons Excession by Iain M. Banks Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling Memory Lois McMaster Bujold Reclamation by Sarah Zettel Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon Starplex by Robert J. Sawyer The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell Voyage by Stephen Baxter
1997
	/ by Greg Bear A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson City of Fire by Walter Jon Williams Diaspora by Greg Egan Finity’s End by C. J. Cherryh Fool’s War by Sarah Zettel Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman Frameshift by Robert J. Sawyer In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker Jack Faust by Michael Swanwick Signs of Life by M. John Harrison The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons Think  Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories by James Patrick Kelly
1998
	Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson Children of God by Mary Doria Russell Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson Distraction by Bruce Sterling Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan Factoring Humanity by Robert J. Sawyer Mission Child by Maureen F. McHugh Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler The Alien Years by Robert Silverberg The Cassini Division by Ken MacLeod To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
1999
	A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card Teranesia by Greg Egan The Sky Road by Ken MacLeod

JWH – 5/2/13

The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1980s

I’ve been reading science fiction for over fifty years, and I’m touring my SF memories decade by decade.  So far I’ve written about the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Something happened to the world of science fiction books in the 1980s.  The genre grew, gaining new writers, publishers and readers.  Star Trek and Star Wars got millions of media fans to try reading SF, often introduced by novelizations.  Science fiction became big business.  From my view of the genre, two SF books went nova in the eighties:  Neuromancer and Ender’s Game, making William Gibson and Orson Scott Card the breakout science fiction writers of the decade, like Delany and Zelazny had been for the 1960s.

Computers and video games made the 1980s a happening decade for science fiction.  Personal computers became all the rage, with the IBM PC being introduced in 1981 and the Apple Macintosh in 1984.  Fandom shifted from fanzines to computer networks like CompuServe and GEnie, connecting readers to the cyber world – letting us all live in a science fictional reality.  Kids growing up with Atari 2600s from the 1970s, jumped to the Nintendo, accelerating the cyber addiction of the 1980s, so is it any wonder that in the mid-80s that teens totally resonated with Ender’s Game and Neuromancer?   They were what the Heinlein juveniles were to my generation.

Now this is a longshot, but I think it was the massive influx of female fans that made Ender’s Game a mega success.  Over the years I’ve been surprised by countless women telling me that Ender’s Game is one of their all-time favorite books.  This was particularly shocking because most of my lady bookworm friends didn’t read science fiction.  Ender’s Game got them started on the genre though, if only a book now and then.

Ender’s Game is often taught in schools, and I’ve met both students and teachers who have gushed over this story.  To me Ender’s Game was just another outstanding science fiction novel, but to new readers it was a mind blowing introduction to the world of written science fiction.  They grew up on science fiction comics, television shows, games, toys and movies, but it’s the books that are the real heroin of science fiction addiction.  Remember, the Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12, and to the 1980s generation, their time was just as exciting to them, as the 1960s were to us baby boomers.

These essays about remembering past decades of science fiction are about memory – my memory, our collective fan memory, and maybe the world at large memory of science fiction.  I’m not the only person looking backwards at science fiction.   Last year, Ernest Cline remembered the 1980s in his novel Ready Player One, and its over-the-top success is due to Cline speaking directly to the heart of the Nintendo generation.  The year before that, Jo Walton remembered growing up with science fiction in her novel Among Others.  Walton spoke to the heart of introverted science fiction bookworms, which won her the Hugo, Nebula and British Fantasy Awards.  Here is a list of novels she wrote about in Among Others.  Most of the science fiction books she mentions have been listed in my defining decades lists, but her novel goes further because Walton also remembers fantasy, classics and non-genre books.  Walton resonated with lonely book lovers everywhere.

With each succeeding decade, science fiction gets more sophisticated, and the overall quality of writing improves.  More people take science fiction seriously, and science fiction becomes more serious.  It’s still escapism, but the stories are getting longer and less simplistic.  It also obvious by the 1980s that the genre was shifting more towards fantasy, a trend that has been accelerating ever since.

Science fiction became big in the 1980s.  Bigger books, more books, more series, bigger series, wordier writing, and bigger sales.  In the 1980s writers took to writing trilogies and series like never before.  Lois McMaster Bujold is another standout writer of the 1980s, by developing a huge fan base for her Vorkosigan series.  Her 1980 books won awards back then, but they are still huge sellers today because the series keeps growing. Every new convert to her fictional universe wants to jump back to the 1980s to start the series from the beginning.

For the long list below, I only list the first book in a series unless a later title makes some kind of splash, wins an award, or was very popular for that year.  The 1980s was dominated by series, both new and renewed.  As you gander down the list, think of how many of these stories are part of a bigger whole?  Orson Scott Card, C. J. Cherryh, Iain M. Banks and Lois McMaster Bujold started series in the 1980s that continue to current times.  Isaac Asimov capitalized on his classic Foundation and Robot series in the 1980s in a tremendous way.  David Brin and Gene Wolfe wrote two standout series of the decade.  Dan Simmons started his Hyperion series at the end of the decade.  The most memorable books of the decade were seldom standalone novels.

Not only did we see more series books, but the books seem to be getting bigger, and some writers developed baroque writing styles, moving science fiction away from fast action pulp writing.  Gardner Dozois started his annual The Year’s Best Science Fiction series in 1984, by showcasing a massive amount of short fiction in a single volume.  The 1980s was a boom time for science fiction.

The 1980s will also be remembered for the Cyberpunk moment.  Neuromancer by William Gibson got a subgenre rolling that breathed new life into the old genre.  It was as revolutionary as the New Wave had been back in the 1960s, with Bruce Sterling leading the charge with his fanzine Cheap Truth.  The SF big three, Heinlein-Clarke-Asimov, the old guard of classic 1950s SF, were still selling lots of books, but their future visions were being eclipsed by new ones from Young Turks.

I divide the decade into two lists.  First, a short list for those books that are the most remembered today, and maybe most known by people who don’t normally read science fiction.  Then, a longer list of the books that hardcore science fiction fans should remember, and probably newer fans are slowly discovering.

The Best Remembered Science Fiction Books of the 1980s

• Timescape by Gregory Benford (1980)
• Startide Rising by David Brin (1983)
• Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)
• Blood Music by Greg Bear (1985)
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
• Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1986)
• The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (1986)
• Replay by Ken Grimwood  (1987)
• Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (1988)
• Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1989)

The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1980s

1980
	Beyond the Blue Event Horizon by Frederik Pohl Dragon’s Egg by Robert L. Forward Lord Valentine’s Castle by Robert Silverberg Mockingbird by Walter Tevis Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban Roderick by John T. Sladek Sundiver by David Brin The Arbor House Treasury of Great Science Fiction Short Novels edited by Robert Silverberg The Garden of Delight by Ian Watson The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge The Visitors by Clifford D. Simak Timescape by Gregory Benford Wild Seed Octavia Butler Wizard by John Varley
1981
	Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh Dream Park by Niven and Barnes God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert Little, Big by John Crowley Oath of Fealty Niven and Pournelle Radix by A. A. Attanasio Sandkings by George R. R. Martin The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe The Divine Invasion by Philip K. Dick The Many-Colored Land by Julian May The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee VALIS by Philip K. Dick Windhaven by Martin & Tuttle
1982
	2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke A Rose for Armageddon by Hilbert Schenck Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov Friday by Robert A. Heinlein Helliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss In Viriconium by M. John Harrison No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop Psion by Joan D. Vinge Software by Rudy Rucker The Compass Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin The Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe The White Plague by Frank Herbert
1983
	Against Infinity by Gregory Benford Forty Thousand In Gehenna by C. J. Cherryh Helliconia Summer by Brain W. Aldiss His Master’s Voice by Stanislaw Lem Millennium by John Varley Startide Rising by David Brin Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers The Armageddon Rag by George R. R. Martin The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov The Void Captain’s Tale by Norman Spinrad
1984
	Emergence by David R. Palmer Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin Neuromancer by William Gibson The Final Encyclopedia by Gordon R. Dickson The Integral Trees by Larry Niven The Peace War by Vernor Vinge The Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson The Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois True Names by Vernor Vinge West of Eden by Harry Harrison
1985
	Ancient of Days by Michael Bishop Blood Music by Greg Bear Brightness Falls from the Air by James Tiptree, Jr. Contact by Carl Sagan Cuckoo’s Egg by C. J. Cherryh Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card Eon by Greg Bear Firewatch by Connie Willis Footfall by Niven and Pournelle Helliconia Winter by Brian W. Aldiss Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood The Postman by David Brin
1986
	A Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski Artificial Things by Karen Joy Fowler Burning Chrome by William Gibson Chanur’s Homecoming C. J. Cherryh Count Zero by William Gibson Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams Heart of the Comet by Brin and Benford Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge Mirrorshades edited by Bruce Sterling Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt The Ragged Astronauts by Bob Shaw The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold This Is the Way the World Ends by James Marrow
1987
	A Mask for the General by Lisa Goldstein Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks Dawn by Octavia E. Butler Great Sky River by Gregory Benford Life During Wartime by Lucius Shepard Lincoln’s Dreams by Connie Willis Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan Replay by Ken Grimwood Sphere by Michael Crichton The Essential Ellison by Harlan Ellison The Forge of God by Greg Bear The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard The Uplift War by David Brin The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
1988
	Becoming Alien by Rebecca Ore Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh Deserted Cities of the Heart by Lewis Shiner Desolation Road by Ian McDonald Eternity by Greg Bear Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper The Gold Coast by Kim Stanley Robinson The Healer’s War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks Wetware by Rudy Rucker
1989
	A Wall Around Eden by Joan Slonczewski Full Spectrum edited by Aronica and McCarthy Good News From Outer Space by John Kessel Grass by Sheri S. Tepper Hyperion by Dan Simmons Orbital Decay by Allen Steele Patterns by Pat Cadigan Phases of Gravity by Dan  Simmons Rimrunners by C. J. Cherryh The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman

JWH – 4/13/13

The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1970s

What started as a review of American Science Fiction: The Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, has put me on a quest to organize my memories of the great science fiction books, decade by decade, and year by year.  Back in the mid-90s I created The Classics of Science Fiction website.  Then I wrote The Greatest Science Fiction Novels of the 20th Century about the science fiction books that people who don’t read science fiction might know.  I’m preoccupied with how people remember science fiction, well at least the literary form.  Recently I wrote The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1960s which is getting more hits than usual for my blog, so that makes me think other people are like me – looking back, trying to remember all their favorite science fiction books from childhood.

For those science fiction fans who really love reading about the great books of science fiction, I highly recommend reading Anatomy of Wonder edited by Neil Barron, now in it’s 5th edition.  It’s a very expensive book, designed for library reference, so it’s cheaper to get used copies of the older editions.  Go to the Amazon link I provided with the title and click on Look Inside to see what it’s like.  Neil Barron and his contributors are doing what I’m doing here, but exhaustively, scholarly, and providing a summary description for each book.  If you really love science fiction and want to read about the best books from the past, this book is for you.   You can get used copies of older editions for less than $5 at Abebooks.com.  Editions were 1976, 1981, 1987, 1995, 2004.  Aim for the latest edition you can afford.  I hope a 6th edition comes out soon.

Doing the research for these essays has been great fun.  A test of my memory.  It’s also shown me how science fiction has aged, and changed over time.  The science fiction of the 1970s seems more grownup than the 1960s and 1950s, less about space adventure and more about people and their problems.  Part of that change came about because of Terry Carr and his Ace Science Fiction Specials (1968-1990), and the impact of The New Wave on science fiction.  Science fiction also seemed to be polarizing over politics of the 1970s – see “New Maps of Science Fiction” by William Sims Bainbridge and Murray M. Dalziel from the Analog Yearbook, 1977.  For the article they polled 130 readers to get a list of the popular SF writers of the 1970s.

It you study this list and then look at my long list below you’ll notice that there are many new authors breaking out in the 1970s, especially women writers.  Of the 27 writers making their popularity poll, only two are women, Ursula K. Le Guin and Anne McCaffrey.  My 1970s long list adds Octavia Butler, Suzy McKee Charnas, C. J. Cherryh, Vonda N. McIntyre, Marge Piercy, Joanna Russ, Alice Sheldon (James Tiptree, Jr.), and Kate Wilhelm.

I create two lists for these remembrances of science fictional past.  The first is a short list of the most famous titles, the science fiction books probably most remembered today, especially by current fans, and maybe famous enough to be known by people outside of the genre.  The second, the long list, are the books that hardcore science fiction fans should fondly remember.

The Best Remembered Science Fiction Books of the 1970s

• Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970)
• Time and Again by Jack Finney (1970)
• The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (1971)
• The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1972)
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1973)
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
• The Mote In God’s Eye by Niven and Pournelle (1974)
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1975)
• A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick (1977)
• Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1978)
• Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)

I believe these 1970s science fiction books are more often reprinted, more often talked about by young readers I meet, more often discussed in the book club, and more often written about, but I can’t prove it – just my intuition.  I expect every science fiction fan who lived through the 1970s will want to argue with me.  None of the books I picked for the short or long list are my top favorite SF books of all time.  I like them, but none of my all-time favorite science fiction books came out in the 1970s.  I’ve read many of the books from the long list, and most are entertaining, but none of them have stuck in my heart.  For some reason, since the turn of the century, I’ve been experiencing a reading renaissance, and I’ve been discovering new books again that I love like I did when I was a teen – but that’s another essay.  They do say getting old leads to a second childhood.

Like I said in the original essay about the 1950s, it’s the books we read starting at age 12, and following few years, that imprint on our souls.  The 1970s represents my twenties, and I was branching away from science fiction by then.  I’m quite sure there are fans who were teens in the the 1970s that found many of these books wonderful and are lifetime favorites for them.  But also remember, the 1970s was when Star Trek fans started swarming into the genre, and then Star Wars hit.  After that science fiction conventions were more about media science fiction than literary science fiction.

The Best Science Fiction Books of the 1970s for Hardcore Fans

1970
	A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick After Things Fell Apart by Ron Goulart And Chaos Died by Joanna Russ Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg I Will Fear No Evil by Robert A. Heinlein Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R. A. Lafferty Ringworld by Larry Niven Tau Zero by Poul Anderson The Atrocity Exhibition by J. G. Ballard The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, edited by Robert Silverberg The Steel Crocodile/The Electric Crocodile by D. G. Compton The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker Time and Again by Jack Finney Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg Whipping Star by Frank Herbert
1971
	A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg Alone Against Tomorrow by Harlan Ellison Chronopolis and Other Stories by J. G. Ballard Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer Dragonquest Anne McCaffrey Driftglass by Samuel R. Delany Furthest by Suzette Haden Elgin Half Past Human by T. J. Bass Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny Moderan by David Bunch Son of Man by Robert Silverberg Starlight by Hal Clement The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories by Roger Zelazny The Hugo Award Winners, Volume Two edited by Isaac Asimov The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin The World Inside by Robert Silverberg To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer Vermillion Sands by J. G. Ballard
1972
	334 by Thomas M. Disch A Choice of Gods by Clifford Simak Again, Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two edited by Robert Silverberg The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad The Listeners by James Gunn The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner What Entropy Means to Me by George Alec Effinger When Harlie Was One by David Gerrold
1973
	Frankenstein Unbound by Brian W. Aldiss Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem Protector by Larry Niven Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke The Embedding by Ian Watson The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
1974
	Before the Golden Age edited  by Isaac Asimov Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe/The Unsleeping Eye by D. G. Compton The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin The Godwhale by T. J. Bass The Mote in God’s Eye by Niven & Pournelle Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
1975
	Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach Norstrillia by Cordwainer Smith The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester The Deep by John Crowley The Female Man by Joanna Russ The Forever War by Joe Haldeman The Infinity Box by Kate Wilhelm The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner The Wind’s Twelve Quarters by Ursula K. Le Guin Women of Wonder edited by Pamela Sargent
1976
	Man Plus by Frederik Pohl Science Fiction of the Thirties edited by Damon Knight Ten Thousand Light-Years From Home by James Tiptree, Jr. The Clewiston Test by Kate Wilhelm The Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin Triton by Samuel R. Delany Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
1977
	A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick All My Sins Remembered by Joe Haldeman Gateway by Frederik Pohl In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan Lucifer’s Hammer by Niven and Pournelle Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley The Road To Science Fiction edited by James Gunn
1978
	Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre The Faded Sun: Kesrith by C. J. Cherryh The Persistence of Vision by John Varley
1979
	Engine Summer by John Crowley Kindred by Octavia Butler Juniper Time by Kate Wilhelm On the Wings of Song by Thomas Disch Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Stanislaw Lem The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams The Instrumentality of Mankind by Cordwainer Smith Titan by John Varley

JWH – 4/9/13

The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1960s

After completing The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1950s, I decided to push ahead into the 1960s.  Going through the databases and assembling the list was a shock to my memory.  I remember the 1960s being a tremendous decade for science fiction, and it was in volume, but I just don’t know how many of the books I found to list here are actual classics.  I’ve reread far fewer of these titles than I did for the books from the 1950s, so I’m going more from distant memory than recent.  And I padded the list with more books I remember reading about but haven’t read.  I included them because they still sound good enough to track down in 2013.  Many of these books listed below are ones I discovered researching the Classics of Science Fiction website, so they stick in my mind.

Also, I’m doubting the completeness of my databases.  I had to consult several sources to find many of the titles I “remembered.”  If I had to actually make up this list from cold memory it would be far shorter.  I needed tools like the Internet Science Fiction Database to trigger buried recollections.

In the 1960s I loved shopping for books so much that I would visit bookstores two or three times a week.  Towards the end of the decade I learned how to go to flea market and garage sales and offer to buy whole boxes of paperbacks cheap.  I’d then take them to 2 for 1 trade in stores.  I got to know the science fiction sections of several used bookshops in Miami.  So looking for cover art for this list was a trip down memory lane.

I’d often read a book a day back then.  Which is probably why I don’t remember these books so well – I read fast, and consumed science fiction in mass quantities.   Some do stand out, especially the titles I’ve reread over the years.  In terms of ideas, the 1960s were rich in original content.  Most of the 1950s was spent reprinting the classic stories of the 1930s and 1940s pulp area.  This still happened, but less often.  Heinlein’s great short novel Orphans in the Sky from 1963, is really two novellas from the early 1940s, “Universe” and “Common Sense.”  Thus it’s very hard to think of Orphans of the Sky as a classic 1960s novel.

The original essay I wrote about the 1950s was inspired by the Library of America’s collection of 1950s science fiction.  I assume Library of America will published a collection for the 1960s, and then the 1970s.  After collecting all the most memorable titles from the 1960s that I could find, favorites just don’t jump out at me like they did for the 1950s.  However, I would say this short list of books are the standout science fiction books of the 1960s, the ones most remembered by people who don’t normally read science fiction.  These are the titles I think will be remembered by literary scholars, if they’re willing to read science fiction.

• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
• Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
• The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
• Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

A Canticle for Leibowitz is tricky, it was copyright 1959, but published in 1960.  I personally think Stand on Zanzibar is a great SF novel of the 1960s, but it’s quickly becoming forgotten.  When it comes down to the nitty-gritty I’d say Stranger in a Stranger Land and Dune are the quintessential novels of the 1960s.  They aren’t my favorites, but I think they are the ones remembered by the most people.

Here’s the larger list I worked from, the titles that hard core science fiction fans should easily remember and love.  These are the books that I either read, read about, won awards, or are often talked about at the Classics of Science Fiction Book Club.  Compiling this list makes me want to reread a lot of books.

1960
	A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Assignment in Eternity by Robert A. Heinlein Deathworld by Harry Harrison Drunkard’s Walk by Frederik Pohl Eight Keys to Eden by Mark Clifton Flesh by Philip Jose Farmer Galaxies Like Grains of Sand by Brain A. Aldiss Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys The Big Time by Fritz Leiber The High Crusade by Poul Anderson The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley The Tomorrow People by Judith Merril To the Tombaugh Station by Wilson Tucker Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon
1961
	A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke Dark Universe by Daniel F. Galouye Pilgrimage: The Book of the People by Zenna Henderson Solaris by Stanislaw Lem Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein The Joy Makers by James E. Gunn The Lovers by Philip Jose Farmer The Rim of Space by A. Bertram Chandler The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison Time is the Simplest Thing by Clifford D. Simak
1962
	A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess A for Andromeda by Hoyle & Elliot A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle Hothouse/The Long Afternoon of Earth by Brian W. Aldiss Island by Aldous Huxley Journey Beyond Tomorrow by Robert Sheckley Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard The Eleventh Commandment by Lester del Rey The Hugo Winners edited by Isaac Asimov The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delany The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick The Worlds of the Imperium by Keith Laumer
1963
	All the Colors of Darkness by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Dolphin Island by Arthur C. Clarke Envoy to New Worlds by Keith Laumer Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein Passport To Eternity by J. G. Ballard Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein Star Surgeon by James White The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance The Game Players of Titan by Philip K. Dick The Man Who Fell To Earth by Walter Tevis Way Station by Clifford D. Simak You Will Never Be The Same by Cordwainer Smith
1964
	Clans of the Alphane Moon by Philip K. Dick Davy by Edgar Pangborn Farmham’s Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein Greybeard by Brian W. Aldiss Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick The Planet Buyer by Cordwainer Smith The Reefs of Space by Williamson & Pohl The Star King by Jack Vance The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber The Whole Man by John Brunner
1965
	A Plague of Pythons by Frederik Pohl All Flesh is Grass by Clifford Simak Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb by Philip K. Dick Dune by Frank Herbert Nova Express by William Burroughs The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick The Squares of the City by John Brunner
1966
	Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany Colossus by D. F. Jones Earthblood by Laumer and Brown Empire Star by Samuel R. Delany Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison Mindswap by Robert Sheckley Now Wait for Last Year by Philip K. Dick Orbit 1 edited by Damon Knight Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin Rocannon’s World by Ursula K. Le Guin The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard The Dream Master by Roger Zelazny The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein The Solarians by Norman Spinrad The Watch Below by James White The Witches of Karres by James Schmitz This Immortal by Roger Zelazny
1967
	Berserker by Fred Saberhagen Chthon by Piers Anthony Four for Tomorrow by Roger Zelazny Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny Restoree by Anne McCaffrey Soldier, Ask Not by Gordon R. Dickson The Butterfly Kid by Chester Anderson The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany The Past Through Tomorrow by Robert A. Heinlein Thorns by Robert Silverberg
1968
	2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke A Specter is Haunter Texas by Fritz Leiber A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch Chocky John Wyndham Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg Neutron Star by Larry Niven Nova by Samuel R. Delany Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn Omnivore by Piers Anthony Past Master by R. A. Lafferty Pavane by Keith Roberts Picnic on Paradise by Joanna Russ Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner The Demon Breed by James H. Schmitz The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock The Goblin Reservation by Clifford Simak The Last Starship from Earth by John Boyd The Masks of Time by Robert Silverberg The Reefs of Earth by R. A. Lafferty The Still, Small Voice of Trumpets by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. The Underpeople by Cordwainer Smith
1969
	Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick Macroscope by Piers Anthony Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov Nightwings by Robert Silverberg Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Jagged Orbit by John Brunner The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin The Pollinators of Eden by John Boyd The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey Ubik by Philip K. Dick Up the Line by Robert Silverberg World’s Best Science Fiction 1969 edited by Wollheim & Carr

JWH – 4/7/13

The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1950s

In 1963, when I was 12, science fiction began imprinting on my brain, so that science fiction from the 1950s is how I define the genre.  All science fiction novels I’ve read in the succeeding fifty years are measured against those stories I  first discovered in my early teens.  That’s why I so completely understand the statement, “the Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12.”  Younger generations of science fiction fans have since imprinted on science fiction via television shows like Star Trek, or movies like Star Wars, and even later forms of the genre that I don’t even understand like comics and video games.  Science fiction is very hard to pigeon-hole because its so radically different from generation to generation.  For me, science fiction is defined by certain books I first read in 1963, 1964 and 1965, and most of those were first published in the 1950s.  I discovered 1950s science fiction in libraries, as cheap paperbacks on wire racks, in dusty used bookstores, and most of all by joining the Science Fiction Book Club which often promoted the classic books from the 1950s.

Sad to say, many modern science fiction fans don’t know about the science fiction I point to when I think science fiction.  That time is so far in the past that the Library of America has even published American Science Fiction:  Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, a two-volume boxed set, edited by Gary K. Wolfe.  The collection is almost an academic preservation of old, mostly forgotten, science fiction novels.

1. The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
2. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
3. The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
4. The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
5. Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein
6. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
7. A Case of Conscience by James Blish
8. Who? by Algis Budrys
9. The Big Time by Fritz Leiber

To get a feel for capturing the science fiction novels of the 1950s, just take a gander at their companion website, especially their wonderful Timeline, and their short overview essays.  And you can pick up even more details about the decade by reading Arthur D. Hlavaty’s review in The New York Review of Science Fiction, or visit the Library of America Science Fiction Facebook page for more reviews to read.  Everyone remembers something different about the 1950s.

Now, here’s the funny thing, those nine novels aren’t the nine novels from the 1950s that would define my memory of 1950s science fiction.  Not that I am saying Wolfe selection is a bad, it’s just not mine.  Like the web site The Burning House, in which people take photos of their favorite possessions, the ones they would grab first while running out of their burning homes, my selection of 1950s science fiction novels would be different.

And there’s a further complication.  For the last decade I’ve been rereading many of those Oldie-Goldie science fiction novels from mid-20th century by listening to them on audiobook, and most of them are disappointing to me now, even though I thought they were wonderful back then.  Would a 12-year-old today discovering these books find them exciting, or would they seem dumb and quaint compared to all the modern books, television shows and movies of today?

In other words, if we are defining the classic SF novels of the 1950s do they have to succeed for Golden Age readers (age 12, remember) or for people of any age in any reading year?  For example, The Foundation Trilogy was mind blowing for me at 13 in 1964, but I found unreadable clunky at 59.  Conversely, I thought Asimov’s The Naked Sun was boring back then and page turning fascinating a few years ago.

So I have two views of 1950s science fiction in my mind, 1950s SF Classics from my 10s and 20s, and 1950s SF Classics from my 50s and 60s.  If I had been hired by Library of America to collect books that represent American science fiction in the 1950s I’d be torn between collecting those books I nostalgically remembered, and those books I felt held up over time.  But I’d also be troubled by collecting books I loved versus books I knew were well loved by others.

Ultimately such a collection is a burning house situation, you have to grab the ones you want to save, the ones you want people to remember, the ones you want young readers to discover.  Gary K. Wolfe made a great selection, but here are mine.

1. Have Space Suit-Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
2. City by Clifford Simak
3. The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
4. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
5. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
6. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
7. Brain Wave by Poul Anderson
8. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
9. Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement

I follow the precedent of only one book by any author, otherwise five of the books would be by Heinlein.

I previously felt there were zillions of great SF books from the 1950s, but when I did the research I found far fewer than my nostalgia remembers.  Below is a list of SF books that are vivid in my memory still, and  I constantly remember seeing at libraries, bookstores, garage sales, friend’s bookshelves, etc., when I first began looking for science fiction.  Library of America only publishes American writers, but I’m including the British ones I remember too.  The other thing I forgot is how many great 1950s science fiction books were collections of short stories.  The Foundation Trilogy is really three volumes of short stories.  Some books like City, A Case of Conscience or The Martian Chronicles, were called “fix-up” novels, but originally appeared as stories in the magazines.

So, here’s how I remember the 1950s, from my fading memories of the 1960s when I became addicted to science fiction.

1950
	Cosmic Engineers by Clifford Simak Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein First Lensman by E. E. “Doc” Smith Fury by Kuttner & Moore Galactic Patrol by E. E. “Doc” Smith I, Robot by Isaac Asimov Needle by Hal Clement Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov Seetee Ship by Jack Williamson The Dreaming Jewels by Theodore Sturgeon The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt
1951
	Between Planets by Robert A. Heinlein City at the World’s End by Edmond Hamilton Foundation by Isaac Asimov Gray Lensman by E. E. “Doc” Smith The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham The Disappearance by Philip Wylie The Green Hills of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke The Stars Like Dust by Isaac Asimov The Weapon Shops of Isher by A. E. van Vogt
1952
	City by Clifford Simak Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov Limbo by Bernard Wolfe The Currents of Space by Isaac Asimov The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein This Island Earth by Raymond F. Jones Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Takeoff by C. M. Kornbluth
1953
	Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C. Clarke Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Iceworld by Hal Clement More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon Revolt in 2100 by Robert A. Heinlein Ring Around the Sun by Clifford Simak Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov Second Stage Lensman by E. E. “Doc” Smith Sentinels from Space by Eric Frank Russell Starman Jones by Robert A. Heinlein The Black Star Passes by John W. Campbell The Lights in the Sky Are Stars by Fredric Brown The Space Merchants by Pohl & Kornbluth West of the Sun by Edgar Pangborn Wild Talent by Wilson Tucker
1954
	A Mirror for Observers by Edgar Pangborn Brain Wave by Poul Anderson Children of the Lens by E. E. “Doc” Smith I Am Legend by Richard Matheson Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov The Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster The Star Beast by Robert A. Heinlein The Stars Are Ours! by Andre Norton Trouble on Titan by Alan E. Nourse Untouched By Human Hands by Robert Sheckley
1955
	Citizen in Space by Robert Sheckley Earthlight by Arthur C. Clarke Earthman, Come Home by James Blish Gladiator-at-Law by Pohl & Kornbluth Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown Men, Martians and Machines by Eric Frank Russell Not This August by C. M. Kornbluth Of All Possible Worlds by William Tenn Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton Solar Lottery by Philip K. Dick The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney The Chrysalids/Re-Birth by John Wyndham The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein The Martian Way and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
1956
	Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein Nerves by Lester del Rey The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke The Death of Grass by John Christopher The Human Angle by William Tenn The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson The Man Who Japed by Philip K. Dick The Power by Frank M. Robinson The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester The World Jones Made by Philip K. Dick They Shall Have Stars by James Blish Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein Under Pressure by Frank Herbert
1957
	Big Planet by Jack Vance Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein Doomsday Morning by C. L. Moore Eye in the Sky by Philip K. Dick On the Beach by Nevil Shute Pilgrimage to Earth by Robert Sheckley Star Born by Andre Norton The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle The Cosmic Puppets by Philip K. Dick The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wynham The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov They’d Rather Be Right by Clifton & Riley Wasp by Eric Frank Russell
1958
	A Case of Conscience by James Blish Have Space Suit-Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein Methuselah’s Children by Robert A. Heinlein Non-Stop by Brian W. Aldiss The Cosmic Rape by Theodore Sturgeon The Languages of Pao by Jack Vance The Lincoln Hunters by Wilson Tucker The Time Traders by Andre Norton Who? by Algis Budrys
1959
	A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank Dorsai! by Gordon R. Dickson Immortality, Inc. by Robert Sheckley Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein The Enemy Stars by Poul Anderson The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick Wolfbane by Pohl & Kornbluth

Now, I don’t know how many of these books are worth reading today.  I’m in an online book club for people who love classic science fiction, and many of the members prefer the old stuff, especially books from the 1950s and 1960s, but most of those members are like me, in their 50s and 60s, and when we all pass from reality, who will remember these books?  I doubt many science fiction books from the 1950s will be taught in schools in the future, but who can tell today.

For me, remembering the science fiction books from the 1950s is a nostalgia trip.  I tend to think the people who buy the Library Of America books will be people like me and my friends at the book club.  They are marketing these books to us old farts who have fond memories of reading that far out Sci-Fi.

JWH – 4/4/13

What If Star Trek (1966) Had Been About Colonizing Mars?

If Star Trek in 1966 had been about colonizing Mars, would we have a colony on Mars right now?  If Star Trek hadn’t been about an impossible distant future, but a much closer possible future, would it have influenced the space program?  After we stopped going to the Moon in 1972, did the majority of humanity give up on space travel because they didn’t have a realistic science fiction vision to inspire them?

First Star Trek and then Star Wars changed the face of the science fiction genre.  They created millions of new science fiction fans.  Star Trek and Star Wars also spread the concept of the warp drive and hyperspace across the world so that most people of the Earth now assume that mankind will one day travel to the stars using these propulsion technologies.  And that’s my problem with Star Trek and Star Wars.  They have made the warp drive and jump drive as believable as heaven, hell, angels, gods and life after death.  And although the warp drive has theoretical science behind it, it’s probably as realistic as reaching another world by dying.  The jump drive is even less believable, even though it has theoretical mathematicians supporting it with wild theories.

Star Trek created a future mythology that suggests traveling between the stars will only take days or weeks.  Star Wars enhanced that mythology by letting people believe that travel between the stars will only take hours.

The reality will be interplanetary space travel will take months and years, and interstellar travel, if it’s even possible, will take tens of years, and more likely, hundreds or thousands of years.

Science fiction has oversold the ease of space travel, and that has hurt the potential of manned space travel.

By selling the warp drive and the jump drive, most of our future mythologies are built around traveling quickly between the stars, either at ocean liner speeds or jet liner speeds.  I can’t help but wonder if this hasn’t impeded the public’s support for real space travel.  As long as real space travel is by space capsule and the destinations are rock strewn plains, space travel has little sex appeal.  It’s not an adventure but a scientific experiment to be endured by the toughest humans with the right stuff.  Having a television like Star Trek would have humanized the job.

The important thing though, this theoretical show would have had to been positive.  Most movies about Mars are about failures.

If Star Trek back in 1966 had been about a successful colony on Mars, making the endeavor exciting, and imagining realistic possibilities of what living on Mars might be like, would a science fiction show been able to influence reality?

Why hasn’t science fiction been more realistic about space travel? Why doesn’t science fiction promote the pioneering spirit anymore?  Has Star Trek and Star Wars convinced us all to wait until we can travel in comfort?  There are real advocates of space travel working on the problem of getting people off Earth, and back before Star Trek and Star Wars, many of these real space dreamers saw science fiction as cheerleading the cause, but that’s no longer true.

Can fiction shape destiny?  Is science fiction creating mythologies no more realistic than past mythologies?  Do we dream dreams to make them to come true, or do we dream dreams to fool ourselves about the nature of reality?

It’s been over forty years since humans have last walked on the Moon.  If space travel was a realistic dream we would have colonized the Moon and Mars by now.  Has science fiction failed us by cheerleading us with impractical dreams?  If science fiction had written more stories about realistic interplanetary travel would that have inspired more people to back space travel, or would the popularity of science fiction just have faded?

It’s obvious people want a Star Trek and Star Wars future, but it’s in the same way as they also want heaven, angels and God, by just waiting for them to happen.  We have to colonize the Moon and Mars first.  And that’s just a start.  There are centuries between now and The Federation, so when and how are we going to get going?

JWH – 4/1/13

Is Heinlein’s Have Space Suit-Will Travel Satire?

Over at Locus Online, Gary Westfahl has proposed a new theory about Robert A. Heinlein in his essay “The Joke Is on Us:  The Two Careers of Robert A. Heinlein.”  Westfahl proposes:

Thus, I wish to argue instead that there were, in fact, only two periods in Heinlein’s career: from 1939 to 1957, Heinlein wrote science fiction, and from 1958 until his death in 1988, Heinlein wrote satires of science fiction. Or, if that language seems too strong, say that from 1939 to 1957, Heinlein took his science fiction very seriously, and after that, he no longer took his science fiction seriously.

Now Westfahl didn’t say Heinlien wrote satires, but satires on science fiction, and even makes a case that Heinlein is parodying his own earlier work.  Westfal starts his essay by claiming Heinlein is a golden age science fiction writer that still has impact:

Still, there is at least one classic writer that every science fiction reader must come to terms with; for when you visit a bookstore today, the science fiction section may have only a few books by Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, or even Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, and there may be few signs of their influence on other writers. But the works of Robert A. Heinlein are still occupying a considerable amount of shelf space, and the evidence of his broad impact on the genre is undeniable.

I don’t agree.  Heinlein has always been my favorite SF writer, but I’ve watched his reputation’s slow decline in recent decades.  I am totally open to reevaluating Heinlein’s work like Gary Westfahl has done, but not to explain Heinlein’s continued success, but to rescue Heinlein’s work for contemporary readers.  I think we need to find and recognize Heinlein’s best work that will appeal to new readers.  In our Classics of Science Fiction Book Club we have many Heinlein fans but far from most, and his popularity is on the wane, especially with younger readers.

I don’t think repackaging Heinlein as a satirist will sell or fly.

Claiming Heinlein’s later work is satire is not new, William H. Patterson Jr. was the first one I remember proposing this idea in his book The Martian Named Smith back in 2001.  But I’m sorry, I just don’t buy the satire theory of Heinlein.  To me Heinlein was always as serious as a rattlesnake, and even when he was being light hearted, as he was in Have Space Suit-Will Travel, a book for children, he was dealing with kidnapping, murder, torture, genocide and destroying planets.  Heinlein worked awful hard to make that book realistic, even though it had a silly title.

Westfahl believes Citizen of the Galaxy, the 11th juvenile was the culmination of Heinlein’s expansion of stories moving away from Earth starting with Rocket Ship Galileo.  However,  Have Space Suit-Will Travel went further than Citizen of the Galaxy, by leaving the Milky Way.  Have Space Suit-Will Travel is the logical conclusion of the series.  Starship Troopers is the first retreat.   Starship Troopers is the first of the preachy Heinlein novels.  Starship Troopers it the first of Heinlein’s books where Heinlein is flat out on his soap box arguing his philosophy and politics to the reader.  Starship Troopers is Heinlein’s first Putnam novel.

And that preaching has always been in Heinlein’s work, but I believe editors always reined Heinlein in until he went to Putnam.  Once Heinlein moved to G. P. Putnam, we finally get to see the naked Heinlein.  I don’t think he wanted to wear court jester attire, he was a nudist.  When Heinlein’s characters propose killing people for being rude I don’t think Heinlein was trying to be funny or satirical.  I think he really meant we should shoot rude people.  And this horrifies me.

Even at the end of Have Space Suit-Will Travel, when Kip is before the galactic tribunal and Earth is being judged, Kip gets mad and tells them, “All right, take away our star–  You will if you can and I guess you can.  Go ahead!  We’ll make a star!  Then, someday, we’ll come back and hunt you down—all of you!”

That wasn’t satire.  Heinlein meant it.  Heinlein has always believed that homo sapiens are the most dangerous creature in the galaxy.

The Daily Show is satire.  Saturday Night Live is satire.  Satire is something liberals do.  I don’t think deadly serious conservatives do satire.  When Heinlein was younger he had some liberal in him, but I’m pretty sure most of it was gone by 1958.

If you read Heinlein from beginning to end, over and over again, you’ll see he had certain pet ideas that were always present in his stories.  I believe Heinlein changed his writing style to fit his publisher.  In the early days those were pulp magazine editors.  Then he started writing for the slicks after the war, and finally snagged a lucrative deal at Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1947 and wrote twelve amazing juvenile novels.  Heinlein’s writing was confined by Alice Dalgliesh, his editor while at Charles Scribner’s Sons.  In the 1950s he also wrote a handful of adult books for Doubleday, and they were different from the Scribner titles.  Finally he went to Putnam, and his writing changed again.  I think Putnam let Heinlein be Heinlein.

Heinlein always claimed his number one reason for writing was money.  But after he got money, I think he wanted to express his own ideas.  As he got older, I believe Heinlein started expressing his personal fantasies.  I think all his later books are his own personal power and sex daydreams.  I don’t think Jubal Harshaw was Heinlein, but I believe Heinlein wanted to be Jubal Harshaw.

I believe Heinlein changed after Sputnik too, like Gary Westfahl suggests, but for different reasons.  Heinlein was savvy enough to realize that NASA was going to invalidate much of science fiction before the 1960s.  Heinlein knew space science was going to change science fiction and he wanted to be ahead of the curve, so he started writing social science fiction, political science fiction, sexual science fiction, fantasy science fiction, and got away from writing space travel science fiction.

Personally, I believe Heinlein’s writing got sloppy as he got old, and lost his ability to write structured novels.  He never was great at the structure of fiction, but the editors at Putnam let him run wild.  I don’t think Heinlein ever wanted to be Jonathan Swift but Patrick Henry.  Later in life Heinlein claimed his essential books were Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land and A Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  Oh, I agree some of Stranger does seem satirical, like the scenes with the angels, but I believe that was Heinlein being sentimental, more like A Wonderful Life for grownups.  Most of Heinlein’s political drama is simplistic, like out of a 1930s Frank Capra flick.

I believe all the scenes with Harshaw are Heinlein talking straight.  I believe the scenes with Mike are Heinlein’s power and sex fantasies.  The Fosterite Church scenes could be labeled satire on 1950s television preachers, but what is he satirizing?  One of Heinlein’s pet ideas was proving that the soul existed after death.  Do people attack beliefs they want to be true?  Mike, Foster and Digby become archangels in the end.  Is this satire or sentimentality?

Is Heinlein attacking “Thou art God” philosophy or proposing it?

Satirical writers have a target in mind for their writing.  They want to destroy people and ideas with humor.  Heinlein was cynical and angry, and didn’t think much of the average man, but I don’t think he was trying to kill people with humor, if Heinlein wanted to kill people he’d use a gun.  Heinlein was as funny as William F. Buckley, Jr.  Heinlein never struck me as a George Carlin, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, or even a Mark Twain.

Although Heinlein is my favorite writer, I’ve always felt he went downhill after he went to Putnam.  None of the Putnam books strike me as funny or satirical.  Heinlein is attacking people, ideas, customs and society, but I don’t believe its with humor.  Humor is a funny thing in that what I might not laugh at someone else will.  Maybe I’m just missing the satire.  Heinlein always seemed to be about getting what he wanted.  He was bad about developing conflict, and generally created faceless straw men to knock over.  Satire is all about the details of the enemy, and Heinlein was always about the details of people who got ahead and took what they wanted.

Have Space Suit-Will Travel has always been my favorite book because its about the overwhelming desire to go into space.  It’s about a boy wanting to go to the Moon, and I grew up wanting to go into space myself.  I took this novel seriously, even though it had a funny title.  Have Gun-Will Travel was a favorite show as a kid, and it wasn’t funny either.  Much of Have Space Suit-Will Travel is about space suits.  I loved those details.  Have Space Suit-Will Travel was a power fantasy for me at 13.  It was a story I wanted to live.

It never occurred to me to think Have Space Suit-Will Travel is satire.  What I worry about now is modern minds looking back on those old books and thinking them silly, and concluding the author must have written them for laughs.   And I can even see why Gary Westfahl claims Have Space Suit-Will Travel is poking fun at science fiction because in modern eyes the story might seem quaint, goofy and naïve, but back in 1964 it was my Bible, my dream, my fantasy for the future.  I would have exchanged places with Kip in a heartbeat.

I don’t consider Have Space Suit-Will Travel poking fun at science fiction, I consider it the ideal expression of science fiction.

JWH – 11/30/12

Why Do I Read Science Fiction?

My friend Laurie called me today to ask, “Why do you read science fiction?”  Laurie is a professor of reading education at the university where I work and she’s writing an article on book clubs and reading.  She told me about an essay she read on why women read romance novels and she thought about me and my love of science fiction.

That’s a good question I told her.  Why do any of us do the things we do?  If you’re a college football fanatic can you explain why?  If you’re a CPA, can you tell us about the path you took to get into that profession?

I am a lifelong science fiction fan.  I don’t like mysteries.  I don’t like thrillers.  I don’t like romance novels.  I love movie westerns but seldom read western novels.  I like science fiction movies, but they aren’t my favorite movies.  I think literary novels are the most rewarding books to read, yet I still spend most of my reading time consuming science fiction novels.  Why?

Discovering the Science Fiction Genre

I assume, as a professor that specializes in reading, Laurie wants to know how to get kids and adults involved with reading.  Maybe she assumes if she knew why bookworms want to read she could help non-readers find the books they will like.  There is some truth to this.  When I was in the third grade my teacher and parents sent me to summer school because they claimed I couldn’t read well.  My problem wasn’t reading, but what to read.

I remember going to my first summer school reading class.  It was cramped wedge shaped room, that was really a storage closet for books.  There were few places to sit.  The teacher told me to pick out a book from a twirling rack of paperbacks.  I took my time and carefully selected Up Periscope that, if I remember right, was a Scholastic paperback for kids, meaning it was probably abridged.  I started reading it.  I got into it.  As far as I can remember, the summer school teacher never gave me any lessons in reading – he just provided fun books to read.  Hell, I knew how to read.  Up till then I didn’t have anything worth reading.

So, starting in the fourth grade I began prowling the school library at Lake Forest Elementary in Hollywood, Florida for interesting books.  Then we moved to Homestead Air Force Base in 1961, while I was in middle of 5th grade, and my dad took me to the base library.  That’s where I discovered proto science fiction books.  During these years Alan Shepard and John Glenn made their historic flights into space.

At this time I didn’t know there was a category of books called science fiction.  As a kid growing up with television in the 1950s I saw a lot of science fiction movies and television shows.  I’d watch The Wizard of Oz every year on television.  I watched Topper and other fantasy and SF shows.  They weren’t a special genre yet.  I also loved cartoons, westerns, sitcoms and everything on TV pretty much.

The first books I remember discovering at the Air Force Base Library were the Oz books, and one of my favorites was The Patchwork Girl of Oz.  I read all the Baum titles, but didn’t like the Thompson books that were written after Baum died.  I then switched to Danny Dunn, Tom Swift, Tom Swift, Jr. and Hardy Boys books.  I still didn’t know there was a genre called science fiction.  My reading was unguided, but it was shaped by the books in the library.  I guess access to books is a big factor.

In the sixth grade, my teacher Mrs. Saunders read us books after lunch, and she got me hooked on A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.  I think that got me to realize that there were far out books that weren’t part of a children’s book series.  I remember going up and down the shelves at school looking for books that had space ships on the cover.  There weren’t that many.  I found Jules Verne and H. G. Wells this way though, but still didn’t realize there was a category of books called science fiction.

I suppose if Laurie knew exactly what book to give a potential reader she could capture them for life.  But how does she know what book?  Maybe that’s what her article will be about.

When I wasn’t reading I was watching TV shows like The Twilight Zone.  It was wonderful.  Beginning in the fall of 1963, when I was starting the 7th grade, and still only 12, The Outer Limits came on.  I was addicted to it right from the start.  We moved temporarily back to Hollywood, Florida, right around the time JFK was killed, and then to rural South Carolina, where we lived out in the country and I had a 35 mile school bus trip twice a day.  During this time I got out of the reading habit.  Playing in the woods every day was more exciting, but I still discovered Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Time Machine and Dolphin Island by Arthur C. Clarke that year.

This is another clue.  I’ve always read less when I had more exciting things to do.  If you want to hook people on books, get them to read when there’s not much to do.

Then in the second half of 1964 we returned to Florida, and I started 8th grade at Homestead Junior High where I had a very special English teacher.  I wish I could remember her name, but she had one teaching technique that changed my life.  She offered to raise any student’s grade one letter if they’d read 6 books, 6 magazine articles and 6 newspaper articles each 6 week period and write a report on them.  And she provided a list of approved authors.  On that list was Robert A. Heinlein, so I read The Red Planet for the first of many times.  I wanted more Heinlein and rode my bicycle over to the Air Base Library and asked the librarian about Heinlein.  The airman took me to the adult side of the library and showed me the science fiction section, which contained dozens of Heinlein novels.

This is when it all fell into place and I finally discovered a category of novels called science fiction.  I had finally found my genre.  Some people will read anything, and other people like to stick to what they like.  How can you interview a person and quickly determine their genre?

The Importance of Teachers and Libraries

You will notice in the above narrative that three teachers played a very important role in helping me to discover science fiction.  First, the summer school reading teacher, second Mrs. Saunders my 6th grade English teacher, and finally my name forgotten 8th grade English teacher.  Later on my 12th grade English would turn me onto literary books like A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, The Stranger, Catcher in the Rye,  etc.  None of these teachers told me to read science fiction.  They just presented a selection of great books and I responded to the ones that resonated with my soul.

Another factor in this narrative is libraries.  I have very fond memories of libraries, especially the Homestead Air Force Base Library – it’s legendary in my memories.  I needed libraries until I could earn my own money and go to bookstores.  When I got my first punch the clock job at 16, I bought the 12 Heinlein juveniles directly from the publishers with my first paycheck.  I was so hooked on reading at a young age that books were my primary form of entertainment.  I’m not sure that can be quickly instilled in a grown person.

But Does This Answer Laurie’s Question?

My history so far explains how I discovered certain books, but it doesn’t explain why I wanted to read them in the first place.  I loved my childhood, and I’m very nostalgic about growing up, but I had alcoholic parents and we moved around an awful lot.  I went to a lot of different schools.  If we play the home shrink self-examination game I have to figure I read books to escape a stressful environment.   So why science fiction?

I was born in 1951, and Sputnik was launched when I was in 1st grade.  We landed on the Moon the summer I finished the 12th grade.  Alan Shepard took his 15 minute flight into history when I was in the 4th grade.  I grew up with NASA and my formative school years covered Project Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.  I was influenced by NASA, rock and roll, television and movies.  The undercurrent of the 1960s was all about the future and revolutionary social change.  How science fiction is that?

As a little kid I couldn’t buy into religion.  I didn’t believe in heaven, but wished to go to outer space.  I didn’t believe in God, but thought wise aliens might come down from the skies.  I didn’t believe in life after death, but life extension might be possible.  Science fiction promised a future reality that seemed far more real than the religion of the older generations.

Making Friends with Other Science Fiction Fans

Because my family moved around so much I got good at making friends, and I always found a best friend quickly.  The quality I looked for most in a friend was the love of science fiction.  I told Laurie if she wanted to understand this aspect of becoming a science fiction bookworm then all she needed to do was read Among Others by Jo Walton.  There’s a reason why Among Others has won all the science fiction and fantasy awards – it speaks to my kind.  Laurie, maybe you can hook people on books if you can find what books friends will read together?

Why Do I Continue to Read Science Fiction?

To be honest, I can easily find books I like better than science fiction, but I often stick to the genre because growing up programmed me to love science fiction.  I keep reading science fiction hoping to find books that have the same sense of wonder I discovered in childhood.  I don’t often find it, but sometimes I do, like with Ready Player One by Ernest Cline or Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.

Laurie, among science fiction fans we talk about a quality that makes science fiction great:  sense of wonder.  I grew up in an age of wonders, and science fiction just happened to have more wonder than any other form of literature.  But I think science fiction represents a deeper desire.  At least for me, science fiction promised travel to far out places, to greener pastures.  It hasn’t delivered though.

To understand this very deep driving force Laurie, you’ll have to read a novella, “The Star Pit” by Samuel R. Delany.  Follow the link to my review.  It’s a story about people facing limitations.  We’re all fish in an aquarium, poking our heads into a glass wall hoping to swim further.   It was written by a young black gay man in the middle of the 1960s and he knew about limitations and used science fiction as a metaphor to explain the crush of living with barriers.

I think “The Star Pit” is the key to understanding how to find books that people will love – it requires finding stories people will identify with at a deep emotional level.  ”The Star Pit” is about a father who lost contact with his children due to alcoholism and wild living.  Years of regret later, the man hires an older teenager who is wild and unmanageable, and tries to be his mentor.  That kid is envious of an even younger teenager who is wilder still.  All three characters are tortured by what they can’t have in life.  I read this story when I was 16 and wanted far more from life than I could ever have, and “The Star Pit” made a lasting impression.

“The Star Pit” meant so much to me because I had an alcoholic father who couldn’t communicate with me, and I was a teenager who did drugs to go to far out places.  I imagined my dad as a boy wanting to be a pilot, and I was a son that wanted to go into space, and neither one of us could ever get off the ground.

What readers want is emotional, intellectual and psychological resonance.

Starting with my earliest books I picked out stories about characters going on amazing fantastic adventures.  Oz and Outer Space are otherworldly destinations that I can never reach.  The reason why I loved “The Star Pit” at 16 is it helped me realize I’ll never get where I want to go and I have to learn to accept that.  I knew my father, because of his drinking, failed to learn that.

Science fiction is a substitute for all the places I’ll never reach in this life.

JWH – 11/13/12

Defining Science Fiction by Analyzing NBC’s New Show Revolution

It’s very hard to define the term “science fiction,” a topic often discussed in my science fiction book club.  Searching the web reveals endless essays on the topic.  It’s not possible to come up with a one-size-fits all definition for science fiction.  I’m going to take another approach.  I’m going to analyze the new show Revolution point by point, and say which parts I think are science fiction and which I think are fantasy.

Revolution is about a family thrown into a dark world of a collapsed civilization.  The show begins 15 years after a worldwide blackout with a father dying, a son being kidnapped and the daughter seeking her long lost uncle Miles to help her rescue her brother.  The daughter, Charlie Matheson, played by Tracy Spiridakos is a kind of less hard, less savvy, Katniss Everdeen, so the story carries on the current vogue of girl action heroes.  Miles Matheson is played by Billy Burke and he’s your standard action guy.  This is why I loved Breaking Bad so much, none of the characters were cookie cutter clichés.

Strangely enough, the medium level bad guy in Revolution is Giancarlo Espositio playing Tom Neville, a ruthless, but sometimes coldly kind, captain of a militia, who previously played a ground breaking character in Breaking Bad, Gustavo “Gus” Fring, who was also ruthless with a strange tinge of cold kindness.  You’d think Espositio would have tipped the Revolution writers not to go for the obvious, and make him different.  I fear such a wonderful actor will get typecast.

Premise

Revolution pictures our world without electrical power or electronic gadgets – a powerful “What if…” scenario.  We’re all so depended on computers and electricity that it’s an intellectual adventure to pretend to live in a time of 18th century technology.   Revolution hints that some kind of force field is capable of dampening all electronics, and even electricity production.  Science knows solid state electronics are vulnerable to electromagnetic pulses (EMP) that are generated as a byproduct of nuclear explosions.  However, mechanical turbines should continue to work, and even old fashioned tube electronics might continue to work with EMP fields.

There is no science to suggest that such a energy dampening force field is possible.  It’s just a writer’s gimmick to advance the story.  Does that make Revolution a fantasy?  It’s a damn cool idea, but so is a school for wizards.  In other words, I have to say the premise of Revolution is fantasy.

In Revolution, there is a reason why and how the power got turned off. Revolution’s creators are holding that back as a mystery, like the mystery of the island in Lost. Mystery is one of the prime movers of fiction, so you can’t blame them for holding back, but I’m worried I’m going to be disappointed, like I did with Lost. Unless they come up with other mysteries, I doubt I’ll keep watching.  Bad Robot Productions, the company that made Lost, and produces Revolution, does have a track record for upping the mystery ante every week.

The mystery of who has killed off the power isn’t very science fictional to me. For it to be really science fictional, it has to be plausible, so we think, “Could this really happen?” When Jules Verne and H. G. Wells wrote stories about men traveling to the Moon, people did think, “Hey, that might be possible, what will it be like, and how will they do it?” That’s science fiction.

Contrast Revolution with The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi which is set in the 22nd century after fossil fuels have been used up, after global warming has changed every thing, and after crop monoculture and genetically modified agriculture has failed.  In The Windup Girl Bacigalupi develops kinetic energy machines using springs.  This same technology would work in the world of Revolution, but so far we haven’t seen any ideas like this, and I’m not sure the Bad Robot people think this way.

If the Bad Robot Production people had been truly creative, they would have taken the same scenario and come up with a totally new post apocalyptic society – one without electricity, but very creative.  They would have envisioned new forms of mechanical power, the return of sailing ships and dirigibles, funky new bicycles, rocket powered airships, and new forms of animal power.  They could have had computers like Babbage dreamed about, and new art forms not depended on digital media.  That’s what science fiction is about.  What they gave us is Mad Max Lite.

Post Apocalyptic World

Post apocalyptic fiction is one of my favorite sub-genres of science fiction, and for two reasons.  First, I love how an author imagines people surviving the collapse of civilization.  Second, thinking about how to rebuild civilization offers countless intellectual puzzles for my mind.  Now that’s some good clean science fictional fun.

Revolution is just a post apocalyptic fantasy that allows guys to fight with swords.  At least so far.  Why are guns rare but swords plentiful?  How did they gear up for sword production so fast?  I know I’ve only seen two episodes and the science fiction world building has been slight – mostly using stock after-the-collapse imagery.  In fact, they seem to have gotten most of their imagery from Life Without People.

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction has a very long history which Revolution must be judged against.  When I saw the show announced this summer I had hoped for a television version of Earth Abides or The Day of the Triffids, or the British TV series Survivors.  Revolution is closer to The Postman by David Brin, more about adventure and less about the details of survival, or efforts to rebuild civilization.  Both feature a ruthless militia leader trying to start a post-civilization empire.

Now, this political subject is a honest science fictional topic.  Rebuilding our society after we’ve mined all the easily available resources is a scientific challenge worthy of much speculation.  However, in the first two episodes, Revolution hasn’t dealt with scarcity.  At one point Charlie’s Uncle Miles, tries to bribe someone with a small chunk of metal, which I assume we’re to think of as gold.  Gold nuggets are very rare, what gold we mine nowadays is molecules of gold processed from tons of ore.

What people use for money in Revolution’s apocalyptic world is a fascinating idea to explore, but so far the show ignores the issue, other than this one transaction with a tiny lump of yellow metal.  Good science fiction will explore all aspects of a possible future.  Revolution takes a Indiana Jones approach to the story, using slight of hand on facts, and diverting viewer’s mind with action and violence.

We have to ask ourselves:  Is a story science fiction if it’s set in a science fictional setting?  I don’t think so.  We are told Miles Matheson is a man who is good at killing people.  Miles’ abilities to fight are so unbelievable that they remind me of the recent Sylvester Stallone action flick, The Expendables 2.  That makes me think Revolution is more inspired by video games than science fiction books.  It’s appeal is to would-be first person shooters than folks who like to read speculative fiction about possible futures.

I wish Revolution’s level of violence was more like Breaking Bad’s, and it focused more on clever plots with interesting science fiction speculation.

Population Dying Off

If the power went off all over our world, how long could we support 7 billion people?  Revolution doesn’t even try to answer that question.  It skips 15 years immediately.  There’s some flashbacks, but no explanations.  The starting point of most collapse of civilization stories are a plague that kills off most of the population, or nuclear war that kills off most of the population, or aliens from space that kill off most of the people, or some kind of natural or cosmic calamity that kills off most everyone.  Revolution looks like the population took a major beating, but we’re not shown how.

I’m currently reading The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, another literary look at the end of the world, much like The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  Now this is real science fiction in my mind.  The Dog Stars is serious, philosophical, speculative, and worthy to be called science fiction in my book.  Revolution is decent fun without any real thinking involved.  That’s a shame.  For a story to kill off billions of people there should be more details.

In Revolution most of the population has disappeared and we don’t know why.  The writers obviously wanted a low population Earth for the story but hasn’t explained how everyone died.  In other words, after the collapse stories are so common in the mundane world that the producers don’t even feel the need to explain.  They are using a post apocalyptic world as a setting, just like Star Wars used a galactic empire as a setting.  There’s no science fiction speculation in either, so just accept the premise.  Revolution is an action adventure story set in a realistic but unscientific world.

Surviving the Collapse

I’m disappointed with Revolution because it makes no effort to show people surviving.  Everyone has plenty to eat, clean clothes without having to wash them, there’s no worry about diseases or bad water.  After 15 years, how good will clothes look?  There’s no effort to show how people make new clothes.  I don’t expect Mad Max fashions, but the show should speculate some, at least.

The plot is driven by Danny Matheson’s kidnapping.  Our characters don’t seemed challenged by any other problem.  The two episodes involved plots to set the stage so Miles can kill a bunch of people, and convince Charlie that killing is the way to operate.  The only survival going on is whether the audience won’t be killed off watching Billy Burke kill a dozen tough guys every episode.

Cliché Science Fiction

Whenever I read a new science fiction novel, or watch a new science fiction show I hope to discover a new idea or perspective. It’s hard to come up with a totally original idea nowadays. There just are too many fiction factories out there.  Barring originality I look for creative style – if you can’t deliver a new idea, at least present a mash-up old ideas in a new way.

Science fiction has become as formulaic as a murder mystery. I believe most SF fans find comfort by embracing their favorite sub-genres so writers cater to ever more baroque presentations of the same old ideas, creating Über-clichés. Revolution is merely the current incarnation of a long line of stories about the breakdown of civilization. Some reviewers call it dystopian, but I disagree. The original meaning of dystopia was an anti-utopia. In modern parlance dystopian has come to mean any unpleasant future. That’s a corruption of the original intent of the world. Nineteen Eighty-Four was a dystopian novel because the government of Big Brother was suppose to represent a view of communism, which before Stalin was seen by many intellectuals as a utopian ideal, but Orwell speculated communism would be hell instead of heaven.

Nineteen Eighty-Four was dystopian because it was anti-utopian. Revolution isn’t anti anything. Revolution uses a cliché science fictional setting to create an action adventure story. Collapsed civilizations are a good way to create a setting for rationalized violence, like westerns.  Post apocalyptic stories are good for creating situations where your character can kill a lot of people.  Audiences can’t seem to get enough of that kind of violence.

The proper categorization of Revolution is post-apocalyptic science fiction, which covers stories about the aftermath of collapse of our current civilization.  A common cliché within apocalyptic fiction is freemen versus brutal militias.   So Revolution is a sub-sub-genre.

To further complicate the problem all new fictional creations must compete with the most creative works at the moment. Taking on a new TV show for me, means finding something to watch that competes with my recent favorites, Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights and Glee.

Watching the first episode of Revolution was a big letdown for me. Oh, it still has possibilities. But most great shows have fantastic first episodes, and Revolution’s was just ho-hum.  I did watch the 2nd episode and will watch the 3rd.  I have hope.  Revolution does have possibilities.

On the big screen they usually go for bigger and bigger action, usually involving saving the world. That’s an expensive proposition for a TV show, but Revolution has a very large scope.  There’s room for lots of action and speculation.  Let’s hope there is less of the former and more of the latter.

JWH – 9/25/12

Robot and Frank–The Best Science Fiction Film Since Gattaca

When I was growing up in the 1950s I was sure flying in a spaceship would be in my future.

Now that I’m getting old, I wondering if a robot will be my companion for my waning days of life.

Robot and Frank is a little movie about a man coming undone.  That’s what getting old and dying is all about, coming undone.  Whether we spend our last days in dementia is a matter of luck.  Frank, an ex-con and jewel thief, played by Frank Langella, is not so lucky.  His mind is unraveling too.  Frank lives alone and barely makes do.  Frank’s son, played by James Marsden, must drive ten hours to check up on Frank every weekend, neglecting his own family.  His solution?  Give Frank a robot.

Most science fiction fans will not think Robot and Frank much of a science fiction movie, there are no explosions, chases, superheroes or saving the world.  No one even saves Frank from dementia.  So why do I claim this is the best science fiction film since Gattaca?  This is a story Isaac Asimov could have written for Astounding Science Fiction in the 1940s.  As far as I can tell, this little robot, which is never given a name other than robot, follows all the three laws of robotics.

But Robot and Frank is more than a modern day Asimovian tale.  The film explores what it means to be a human losing his intelligence while a robot is gaining its awareness.  Robot and Frank is not sentimental, or even particularly cute.  This is an adult story.  I wonder if anyone under 50 will even understand it.  Unless you’ve experienced memory loss, unless you’ve cared for a dying parent, unless you have first hand experience of becoming helpless,  I doubt you’ll empathize much with Frank.  Robot and Frank is for an audience that has often said, “I’m having a senior moment.”

Oh, don’t worry, there’s enough of a story for a person of any age to enjoy this delightful movie, but I tend to think, only those of a certain age will feel deeply moved.  Middle age viewers might be horrified by the fear they will one day have to care for their aging parents, and I bet some of them might watch the film and think about opening a savings account to start collecting money to buy a robot.  I know I wondered if saving for a robot might be a better use of money than paying into nursing home insurance.  The Japanese are working full steam ahead on developing androids.

Robot and Frank is set only slightly in the future.  The closing credits shows clips of real robots being tested.  However, the mind of the robot in this film is very far from what we can create now.  That’s why the film is science fiction.  The robot is halfway to Data from Star Trek.  Somewhere between R2D2 and 3CPO.  I don’t know if we need to reach the Singularity to get this kind of intelligence in a helper bot, but I don’t think it’s in the near near future.  Maybe 2025?  I’ll turn 74 that year.

When you watch Robot and Frank, you’ll have to ask yourself, “Will I be happier with a robot or human caretaker?”  At first you think the son and daughter are shirking their duty but by the end of the film, you might change your mind.  Frank gets quite attached to robot, and spends a lot of time talking to it.  But who or what is he talking to?  But who or what is Frank talking to when his son or daughter is with him?  What is consciousness?  When we’re alone, and our days are dwindling, what kind of companion do we really want?  Are we wanting to listen, or are we wanting to be listened to?

Yes, what we want is a spouse we’ve spent our whole life with.  After that we want our children.  But what if we don’t have children, or a spouse?  Is a personal robot better than an impersonal nurse?  Robot is able to observe and understand Frank.  And isn’t that what we’ll want?  Someone to know where we’re at, no matter how Swiss cheesy our memory becomes?

I found Robot and Frank tremendously uplifting.  I left the theater feeling mentally accelerated and physically better than when I walked in.   We will all come undone.  We will all have to deal with it.  Suicide is one way to avoid the issue, but this movie doesn’t consider that path.  Frank’s mind keeps unraveling, but he lives for moments of being himself.  The movie suggests a robot might help find those moments.

JWH – 9/17/12