I met Tom Disch on just one occasion. I was making the rounds
of Manhattan with my brother one day in the mid-1980s, when
we stopped by Disch's apartment. Dana and Tom spent much
of the time talking about poetry, and Disch also gave a rundown
of his dealings with Disney on an innovative animated film project.
But I found myself caught up in a computer game that Tom had
invented. He showed me a prototype version of a narrative-
driven game he had created for the Apple II called Amnesia,
and I got so engrossed in giving it a test drive, that I scarcely
participated in the conversation.
I mention this, not only to express regret over
not asking the late Mr. Disch more questions
about science fiction—although I wish I had—
but to stress the wide-ranging activities of this
intensely creative individual, who is too often
pigeonholed as a one-dimensional genre writer.
Disch was a visionary—I can't think of a better
word to describe him—and his talents not only
extended to the fields of poetry, video games,
and film, discussed that day, but many other
areas as well. He wrote theater and opera
criticism, and also created his own dramas
as well as an opera libretto based on the
Frankenstein story. He published children's
books and horror fiction. And then we come to his science fiction,
works that broke out of the traditional genre mold at every
opportunity. Disch was a daring prose stylist, and could easily
have thrived in the world of literary fiction, but he understood that
his own allegiances and background were more aligned with
populist pursuits. "" have a class theory of literature," Disch
once explained. "I come from the wrong neighborhood to sell
to The New Yorker. No matter how good I am as an artist, they
always can smell where I come from."
Where does a reader start with such a wide-ranging oeuvre?
Disch's 1968 novel Camp Concentration offers a good entry
point, showcasing the storytelling skills that made him a leader
of the New Wave movement in sci-fi, but also incorporating
elements of poetry, political commentary, satire and literary
criticism. The narrative, presented in the form of journal entries,
is wide-ranging; some sections are explicitly experimental
discursions into the unknown (or 'ravings' as described by
the protagonist), while others are taut, plot-driven interludes
in the style of traditional adventure stories. But even when
Disch keeps closest to the conventions of genre fiction, his
writing is infused with symbolic resonances you won't find in,
say Robert Heinlein or Arthur C. Clarke. Much of Camp
Concentration plays out as a commentary on the Faust legend,
and there is more Aquinas, Dante and Bunyan here than
physics, chemistry and biology. Yes, this is science fiction,
but how fitting that the technology that gets the most attention
here is a discredited one, namely alchemy. In short, Disch plays
by his own rules at every stage of this book, and they are the
most unruly rules you will find in a sci-fi novel.
The hero and narrator, Louis Sacchetti is a conscientious objector
whose refusal to participate in a Vietnam-type military campaign
leads to his internment at Camp Archimedes, an underground
government installation involved in secret research. Here
prisoners have been injected with a modified version of syphilis
that inflames the brain with stirrings of genius. Those infected
get smarter with each passing month, demonstrating a
remarkable ability to assimilate technical and cultural knowledge.
They learn sciences, master new languages, write literary works,
and delve into the most arcane reaches of philosophy. But there
is an unpleasant side effect: they die from the disease after only
nine months. This is their Faustian bargain: they get a taste of
the fruits of towering intellect, but at the cost of their lives.
This extravagant plot offers a perfect set-up for Disch, who
has an excuse for inserting conversations and observations on
almost any sphere of the intellectual life into Sacchetti's journal
entries. These imprisoned savants might debate ethics one day,
and stage a theatrical production the next. Their restless
energy, married to intense curiosity, leads them to seek out
ever new stimuli, and try their hand at various creative projects.
In other words, they prove to be very much like Tom Disch
himself.
New Wave sci-fi took many chances during this period. Soon
after Disch published Camp Concentration, J.G. Ballard released
his controversial The Atrocity Exhibition and Samuel R. Delany
delivered his daunting Dhalgren. Disch offers a more cohesive
work than either these exemplars of experimental sci-fi, and
even when he stretches his sentences and paragraphs beyond
traditional notions of coherence, he still finds a way to tie them
credibly into the story at hand. His choices of vocabulary take
on a showy effervescence—this book is littered with five-dollar
words such as 'hyperdulia', 'rodomontade', 'illapses', 'epithesis'—
of Nabokovian proportions, and he will toss in occasional passages
in foreign tongues to keep readers on their toes. But in a tale of a
band of geniuses, this is not only justified, but perhaps necessary.
Yet the real treat here is in the conversations, some of which
remind me of the heated intellectual dialogue in Thomas Mann's
The Magic Mountain, while another powerful section of Camp
Concentration offers a modern updating of Dostoevsky's "The
Grand Inquisitor."
Not everything hits the bullseye in these pages. A few passages
are self-indulgent. The final resolution of the story is surprising
and clever, yet feels a bit rushed. But these are paltry
peccadilloes. The best parts of Camp Concentration are
captivating in their bravado, smartly conceived and stylishly
written. How sad that this novel is now out-of-print, suffering
the fate of many of the leading New Wave sci-fi works of the
1960s and 1970s, cutting-edge works that have fallen out of
favor for no better reason than the most obvious one, namely
that the New Wave is no longer new. Yet in the current era,
when literary fiction and sci-fi are again cross-fertilizing and
producing vibrant new hybrids, this 1960s book could serve as
a textbook, showing how this merging of highbrow and lowbrow
can be achieved, and what heights it can reach.
Ted Gioia writes about music, literature and pop culture. His next book,
a history of love songs, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
of Manhattan with my brother one day in the mid-1980s, when
we stopped by Disch's apartment. Dana and Tom spent much
of the time talking about poetry, and Disch also gave a rundown
of his dealings with Disney on an innovative animated film project.
But I found myself caught up in a computer game that Tom had
invented. He showed me a prototype version of a narrative-
driven game he had created for the Apple II called Amnesia,
and I got so engrossed in giving it a test drive, that I scarcely
participated in the conversation.
I mention this, not only to express regret over
not asking the late Mr. Disch more questions
about science fiction—although I wish I had—
but to stress the wide-ranging activities of this
intensely creative individual, who is too often
pigeonholed as a one-dimensional genre writer.
Disch was a visionary—I can't think of a better
word to describe him—and his talents not only
extended to the fields of poetry, video games,
and film, discussed that day, but many other
areas as well. He wrote theater and opera
criticism, and also created his own dramas
as well as an opera libretto based on the
Frankenstein story. He published children's
books and horror fiction. And then we come to his science fiction,
works that broke out of the traditional genre mold at every
opportunity. Disch was a daring prose stylist, and could easily
have thrived in the world of literary fiction, but he understood that
his own allegiances and background were more aligned with
populist pursuits. "" have a class theory of literature," Disch
once explained. "I come from the wrong neighborhood to sell
to The New Yorker. No matter how good I am as an artist, they
always can smell where I come from."
Where does a reader start with such a wide-ranging oeuvre?
Disch's 1968 novel Camp Concentration offers a good entry
point, showcasing the storytelling skills that made him a leader
of the New Wave movement in sci-fi, but also incorporating
elements of poetry, political commentary, satire and literary
criticism. The narrative, presented in the form of journal entries,
is wide-ranging; some sections are explicitly experimental
discursions into the unknown (or 'ravings' as described by
the protagonist), while others are taut, plot-driven interludes
in the style of traditional adventure stories. But even when
Disch keeps closest to the conventions of genre fiction, his
writing is infused with symbolic resonances you won't find in,
say Robert Heinlein or Arthur C. Clarke. Much of Camp
Concentration plays out as a commentary on the Faust legend,
and there is more Aquinas, Dante and Bunyan here than
physics, chemistry and biology. Yes, this is science fiction,
but how fitting that the technology that gets the most attention
here is a discredited one, namely alchemy. In short, Disch plays
by his own rules at every stage of this book, and they are the
most unruly rules you will find in a sci-fi novel.
The hero and narrator, Louis Sacchetti is a conscientious objector
whose refusal to participate in a Vietnam-type military campaign
leads to his internment at Camp Archimedes, an underground
government installation involved in secret research. Here
prisoners have been injected with a modified version of syphilis
that inflames the brain with stirrings of genius. Those infected
get smarter with each passing month, demonstrating a
remarkable ability to assimilate technical and cultural knowledge.
They learn sciences, master new languages, write literary works,
and delve into the most arcane reaches of philosophy. But there
is an unpleasant side effect: they die from the disease after only
nine months. This is their Faustian bargain: they get a taste of
the fruits of towering intellect, but at the cost of their lives.
This extravagant plot offers a perfect set-up for Disch, who
has an excuse for inserting conversations and observations on
almost any sphere of the intellectual life into Sacchetti's journal
entries. These imprisoned savants might debate ethics one day,
and stage a theatrical production the next. Their restless
energy, married to intense curiosity, leads them to seek out
ever new stimuli, and try their hand at various creative projects.
In other words, they prove to be very much like Tom Disch
himself.
New Wave sci-fi took many chances during this period. Soon
after Disch published Camp Concentration, J.G. Ballard released
his controversial The Atrocity Exhibition and Samuel R. Delany
delivered his daunting Dhalgren. Disch offers a more cohesive
work than either these exemplars of experimental sci-fi, and
even when he stretches his sentences and paragraphs beyond
traditional notions of coherence, he still finds a way to tie them
credibly into the story at hand. His choices of vocabulary take
on a showy effervescence—this book is littered with five-dollar
words such as 'hyperdulia', 'rodomontade', 'illapses', 'epithesis'—
of Nabokovian proportions, and he will toss in occasional passages
in foreign tongues to keep readers on their toes. But in a tale of a
band of geniuses, this is not only justified, but perhaps necessary.
Yet the real treat here is in the conversations, some of which
remind me of the heated intellectual dialogue in Thomas Mann's
The Magic Mountain, while another powerful section of Camp
Concentration offers a modern updating of Dostoevsky's "The
Grand Inquisitor."
Not everything hits the bullseye in these pages. A few passages
are self-indulgent. The final resolution of the story is surprising
and clever, yet feels a bit rushed. But these are paltry
peccadilloes. The best parts of Camp Concentration are
captivating in their bravado, smartly conceived and stylishly
written. How sad that this novel is now out-of-print, suffering
the fate of many of the leading New Wave sci-fi works of the
1960s and 1970s, cutting-edge works that have fallen out of
favor for no better reason than the most obvious one, namely
that the New Wave is no longer new. Yet in the current era,
when literary fiction and sci-fi are again cross-fertilizing and
producing vibrant new hybrids, this 1960s book could serve as
a textbook, showing how this merging of highbrow and lowbrow
can be achieved, and what heights it can reach.
Ted Gioia writes about music, literature and pop culture. His next book,
a history of love songs, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
| Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch |
| Essay by Ted Gioia |
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Great literary works published
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Experimental works of mystery
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Radical and unconventional
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Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian
Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian
Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian
Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R.
Nova
Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
The Centauri Device
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Lafferty, R.A.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Malzberg, Barry N.
Herovit's World
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Moorcock, Michael
Behold the Man
Moorcock, Michael
The Final Programme
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada, or Ardor
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Percy, Walker
Love in the Ruins
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna
The Female Man
Saramago, José
Blindness
Sheckley, Robert
Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Silverberg, Robert
The World Inside
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Spinrad, Norman
Bug Jack Barron
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James
Warm Worlds and Otherwise
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Vance, Jack
Emphyrio
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Wilson, Robert Anton & Robert Shea
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Zelazny, Roger
This Immortal
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
When Science Fiction Grew Up
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
A Tribute to Richard Matheson
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
The Puzzling Case of Robert Sheckley
The Avant-Garde Sci-Fi of Brian Aldiss
Science Fiction 1958-1975: A Reading List
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Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian
Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian
Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian
Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R.
Nova
Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
The Centauri Device
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Lafferty, R.A.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Malzberg, Barry N.
Herovit's World
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Moorcock, Michael
Behold the Man
Moorcock, Michael
The Final Programme
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada, or Ardor
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Percy, Walker
Love in the Ruins
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna
The Female Man
Saramago, José
Blindness
Sheckley, Robert
Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Silverberg, Robert
The World Inside
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Spinrad, Norman
Bug Jack Barron
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James
Warm Worlds and Otherwise
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The Mixed Men
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Cat's Cradle
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Cloudstreet
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Orlando
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The Bear Comes Home
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Lord of Light
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This Immortal
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Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
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Science Fiction 1958-1975: A Reading List
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