Dying Inside
By Robert Silverberg
Essay by Ted Gioia
In the final month of a turbulent decade, Robert Silverberg came up
with the title for his novel Dying Inside. “I found myself wondering,” he
recalls, “whether the phrase ‘dying inside,’
taken literally, might generate some useful
fictional idea.” This odd method was a proven
opening gambit for our author. In the past,
the prolific Silverberg—for a stretch in his
early twenties, he generated a million words
per year—often found that titles came before
the story, and paved the way for a plot.
The whole genre was struggling with plots at
the time. Much had changed during the 1960s,
but science fiction books had hardly budged—
most of them still were caught up in the pulp
fiction formulas that had been around since
before World War II. In this instance, Silverberg decided that his best
way of creating a vivid fictional future was by tapping into the raw
energy of the present moment. The result was one of this author’s
finest novels—a book that might have developed a cult following at
the time if it had been packaged and marketed with a little more
panache.
Ballantine’s paperback edition featured a slimy monster on the
cover—an illustration that would puzzle anyone who read the book,
and dissuade many from buying it in the first place. Hidden inside the
binding was a story that defied most conventions of the genre. How
many other sci-fi books of the period serve up LSD trips gone bad,
student protests, racial tensions, muggings, the sexual revolution and
Richard Nixon? Silverberg aimed to enhance the verisimilitude of his
story by latching on to these contemporary elements. At the same
time, he wanted to build his story without relying on (in his words)
“science fiction’s customary gaudy trimmings.”
Silverberg completed this novel in nine weeks, which was a slow pace
for him during his younger years. He claims that he typically wrote a
novel in three or four weeks at the time, and his 1967 book Thorns
was actually finished in ten days (and was nominated for both a Hugo
and a Nebula). Dying Inside marked a turning point for Silverberg,
and the pace of work that seemed slow to the novelist at the time set
the tone for his future projects. “Never again, after writing Dying
Inside,” he admits, “did I write a full-length novel in as little as nine
weeks. But it was an abnormal skill in the first place.”
Strangely enough—or perhaps not—the protagonist of Dying Inside,
David Selig, is also on the brink of losing an abnormal power. Selig is
a telepath. He can read minds, sometimes grasping just a few words
at forefront of an acquaintance’s consciousness, at other moments
probing deep into their souls. He finds the experience exhilarating, yet
this skill has ironically crippled his social interactions, setting him
apart from the rest of humanity.
In mid-life, Selig starts to lose his special talent. At first, the process is
so slow that he hardly notices it. But in time, the decline becomes
unmistakable. His mind-reading is often blocked, and brief periods of
recovery cannot hide the overall trend. Silverberg draws out the
implications in a series of memorable interludes, and we see how
Selig’s plight impacts his friendships, his family ties, his romantic
interests, his livelihood and day-to-day experiences. Much of the
allure of this story stems from the author’s penetrating grasp of what
such superhuman power really does to its beneficiary, and how its
loss might impact the lifelong mind-reader.
The result is a novel that is more psychologically charged than your
typical sci-fi story. You might think that the subject of telepathy itself
would inspire this richness of inner detail, but the history of the genre
shows that this is far from the case. Even an often-praised novel such
as Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (1953)—usually cited as the
preeminent fictional account of mind-reading—comes across as
hollow and contrived by comparison to Dying Inside. Silverberg, in
sharp contrast to Bester (who developed his skills writing radio and
TV scripts), is aiming for a more consciously literary effect.
Sometimes he tries too hard. The frequent literary allusions in this
book—Beckett, Eliot, Yeats, Aeschylus, etc.—don’t always work. At
one point, the book devotes six pages to an exegesis of the novels of
Kafka, and though our author tries valiantly to connect this to the
overall story, both on the level of plot and symbolism, the effect
comes across as forced. Even so, Silverberg is mostly on the mark,
and his willingness to take chances in a genre that often settles for
flashy and obvious effects, sets this book apart.
This is most apparent in the equivocal response of Selig to his loss of
telepathic powers. Silverberg’s hero has mixed feelings, and the
prospect of “dying inside” is not without its promise of rebirth into
something purer and better. Issues of aging and decline, maturity and
grace—rarely dealt with in any popular fiction, and with a few
exceptions (such as Flowers for Algernon) almost completely
neglected in sci-fi—are the key themes at work here. They are
handled so deftly and vividly that one inevitably wonders about the
connections between David Selig the character and Robert Silverberg
the author.
Silverberg has played down the autobiographical angle. Yet when he
submitted the manuscript to Betty Ballantine, she expressed her
concern—based on her sense that the protagonist of the story was a
stand-in for the writer. "While I admire the book," she wrote, "I am also
worried about you." Certainly readers today will find it hard not to link
this story with at least some elements of the author's own personal
history.
Although Dying Inside did not recieve much acclaim at the time of its
first release, it has build an audience the hard way—slowly and over
a period of years. Its gradual recognition as a classic is well
deserved. Working in a genre that suffers from the curse of
perpetual adolescence, our author shows that senescence can also
be the basis for a gripping story. This was heavy stuff for sci-fi back in
the day. It still is now.
By Robert Silverberg
Essay by Ted Gioia
In the final month of a turbulent decade, Robert Silverberg came up
with the title for his novel Dying Inside. “I found myself wondering,” he
recalls, “whether the phrase ‘dying inside,’
taken literally, might generate some useful
fictional idea.” This odd method was a proven
opening gambit for our author. In the past,
the prolific Silverberg—for a stretch in his
early twenties, he generated a million words
per year—often found that titles came before
the story, and paved the way for a plot.
The whole genre was struggling with plots at
the time. Much had changed during the 1960s,
but science fiction books had hardly budged—
most of them still were caught up in the pulp
fiction formulas that had been around since
before World War II. In this instance, Silverberg decided that his best
way of creating a vivid fictional future was by tapping into the raw
energy of the present moment. The result was one of this author’s
finest novels—a book that might have developed a cult following at
the time if it had been packaged and marketed with a little more
panache.
Ballantine’s paperback edition featured a slimy monster on the
cover—an illustration that would puzzle anyone who read the book,
and dissuade many from buying it in the first place. Hidden inside the
binding was a story that defied most conventions of the genre. How
many other sci-fi books of the period serve up LSD trips gone bad,
student protests, racial tensions, muggings, the sexual revolution and
Richard Nixon? Silverberg aimed to enhance the verisimilitude of his
story by latching on to these contemporary elements. At the same
time, he wanted to build his story without relying on (in his words)
“science fiction’s customary gaudy trimmings.”
Silverberg completed this novel in nine weeks, which was a slow pace
for him during his younger years. He claims that he typically wrote a
novel in three or four weeks at the time, and his 1967 book Thorns
was actually finished in ten days (and was nominated for both a Hugo
and a Nebula). Dying Inside marked a turning point for Silverberg,
and the pace of work that seemed slow to the novelist at the time set
the tone for his future projects. “Never again, after writing Dying
Inside,” he admits, “did I write a full-length novel in as little as nine
weeks. But it was an abnormal skill in the first place.”
Strangely enough—or perhaps not—the protagonist of Dying Inside,
David Selig, is also on the brink of losing an abnormal power. Selig is
a telepath. He can read minds, sometimes grasping just a few words
at forefront of an acquaintance’s consciousness, at other moments
probing deep into their souls. He finds the experience exhilarating, yet
this skill has ironically crippled his social interactions, setting him
apart from the rest of humanity.
In mid-life, Selig starts to lose his special talent. At first, the process is
so slow that he hardly notices it. But in time, the decline becomes
unmistakable. His mind-reading is often blocked, and brief periods of
recovery cannot hide the overall trend. Silverberg draws out the
implications in a series of memorable interludes, and we see how
Selig’s plight impacts his friendships, his family ties, his romantic
interests, his livelihood and day-to-day experiences. Much of the
allure of this story stems from the author’s penetrating grasp of what
such superhuman power really does to its beneficiary, and how its
loss might impact the lifelong mind-reader.
The result is a novel that is more psychologically charged than your
typical sci-fi story. You might think that the subject of telepathy itself
would inspire this richness of inner detail, but the history of the genre
shows that this is far from the case. Even an often-praised novel such
as Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (1953)—usually cited as the
preeminent fictional account of mind-reading—comes across as
hollow and contrived by comparison to Dying Inside. Silverberg, in
sharp contrast to Bester (who developed his skills writing radio and
TV scripts), is aiming for a more consciously literary effect.
Sometimes he tries too hard. The frequent literary allusions in this
book—Beckett, Eliot, Yeats, Aeschylus, etc.—don’t always work. At
one point, the book devotes six pages to an exegesis of the novels of
Kafka, and though our author tries valiantly to connect this to the
overall story, both on the level of plot and symbolism, the effect
comes across as forced. Even so, Silverberg is mostly on the mark,
and his willingness to take chances in a genre that often settles for
flashy and obvious effects, sets this book apart.
This is most apparent in the equivocal response of Selig to his loss of
telepathic powers. Silverberg’s hero has mixed feelings, and the
prospect of “dying inside” is not without its promise of rebirth into
something purer and better. Issues of aging and decline, maturity and
grace—rarely dealt with in any popular fiction, and with a few
exceptions (such as Flowers for Algernon) almost completely
neglected in sci-fi—are the key themes at work here. They are
handled so deftly and vividly that one inevitably wonders about the
connections between David Selig the character and Robert Silverberg
the author.
Silverberg has played down the autobiographical angle. Yet when he
submitted the manuscript to Betty Ballantine, she expressed her
concern—based on her sense that the protagonist of the story was a
stand-in for the writer. "While I admire the book," she wrote, "I am also
worried about you." Certainly readers today will find it hard not to link
this story with at least some elements of the author's own personal
history.
Although Dying Inside did not recieve much acclaim at the time of its
first release, it has build an audience the hard way—slowly and over
a period of years. Its gradual recognition as a classic is well
deserved. Working in a genre that suffers from the curse of
perpetual adolescence, our author shows that senescence can also
be the basis for a gripping story. This was heavy stuff for sci-fi back in
the day. It still is now.
Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
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
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Fractious Fiction
Ted Gioia's web site
Ted Gioia on Twitter
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Millions
Big Dumb Object
SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Tor blog
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction
and its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials from
publishers, authors, publicists or other
parties.
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
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
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