The Illustrated Man
by Ray Bradbury
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Let’s get this straight from the start: you don’t read Bradbury
to learn about future of science and technology. These
aspects of his books are perfunctory and as true-to-life as the
Cheshire Cat's smile. In Bradbury's tale “Zero Hour” from The
Illustrated Man, first published
in 1947, the reader encounters
homes with vacuum elevators, food-
delivery tubes, chromium cars, and
electro-magnet dusting machines,
among other inventions that never
were. They are merely stage props,
adding color to the real action,
which (as so often with Bradbury)
is psychological and emotive in
nature.
The dusting machine could run on
microwave rather than magnets. It
wouldn't make any difference. The
cars could be made out of palladium
instead of chromium, who cares?
But the human angle in this story, so
typical of Bradbury’s work, builds on
the subtle divide between the impressionable minds of
youngsters, with their rich imaginative life, and the staid,
skeptical outlook of adults. Ah, now we are in Bradbury
territory.
You want predictions about the future? Well, Bradbury’s
most accurate forecast in The Illustrated Man may have
simply been the title character’s full array of tattoos. Who
would have guessed, back in the 1940s, that radical top-to-
toe body art would be so popular in the new millennium? A
few piercings, and the Illustrated Man would be at home in
your trendiest modern-day nightclub, and ready for his own
reality show on MTV. We may have made few steps toward
colonizing Mars, but we are tattooing like there is no
tomorrow.
In all seriousness . . . hmmm, perhaps with this author it is
better to say all non-seriousness . . . Bradbury’s fascination
with the make-believe life of youngsters is very much a
commentary on his own approach to his craft. Ray Bradbury
is the child who never grew up, the Peter Pan of sci-fi. The
theme of youthful fantasy recurs in the concluding story of
The Illustrated Man, “The Rocket,” in which a poor junkyard
owner buys a model of a spaceship, and with clever use of
movie screens, mirrors and other equipment is able to
convince his children that he is taking them on a trip to Mars
and back. In fact, the rocket never leaves the ground, but for
this author, the power of imagination is a levitating force far
more potent than the meager hyperspace drives and thrust
shifters of his sci-fi peers.
This same story includes a Bradbury rarity: strange alien
creatures appear with three yellow eyes and twelve fingers.
But, alas, they are only dolls used as playthings by the kids.
Yet children’s imaginary friends are not always harmless, as
the parents eventually learn in “Zero Hour.” In a similar vein,
“The Veldt”— a justly celebrated story that opens The
Illustrated Man and was later adapted for radio and
television—Bradbury builds his story around a virtual reality
nursery with 3D screens on all its walls that enables children
to bring their fantasies to life. But in this instance the
difference between virtual reality and actual reality blurs to
disastrous effect. Yes, there is moral there for readers in the
age of the Internet and Grand Theft Auto, but it is not a lesson
about technology itself; rather it tells us something about how
people let it take over and debase their lives.
Although Bradbury is invariably pigeonholed as a science
fiction writer, he often seems more at home in the mindspace
of the horror genre. It is no coincidence that the protagonist
in Fahrenheit 451, when faced with a decision of which book
to memorize to save it against those who consign all stories to
the flames, selects the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. In “The
Exiles” from The Illustrated Man, a peculiar combination of
gothic horror conventions with a veneer of science fiction,
Poe even appears as a character. And in other works from this
period, we also find Poe, Lovecraft and other horror-meisters
either as influences or actual elements in the plot. Indeed, the
overarching frame story of The Illustrated Man, with its
unsettling account of a man whose tattoos come to life, is
straight out of this same tradition.
Bradbury is attracted to the horror genre because it openly
embraces the psychological elements usually given short
shrift by the sci-fi literati. Science may be an objective
external phenomenon, but the horrifying is, first and
foremost, a mental state. And this author is always more
interested in the subjective response than in the objective
stimulus. On the other hand, Bradbury’s prose style, which
emphasizes brightness, lucidity, the clarity of free play—what
Matthew Arnold might have included under the rubric of
“sweetness and light”—won’t allow him to linger in the
macabre. He toys with the dark side only to give more
definition to its opposite.
As a result, Bradbury hardly develops the eerie framing story
of The Illustrated Man, which another author would have
milked for every creepy detail. After the initial set-up, and
some token gestures to link the tales together, he abandons
attempts to connect the dots, or even mention our tattooed
exile from civil society, except for a brief wrap-up at the end
of the book. Instead, Bradbury uses the individual “cinematic
tattoos” to probe his pet ideas, familiar themes that also
figure in his other works of the era. The colonization of Mars,
which forms the unifying concept behind The Martian
Chronicles is almost as prominent in The Illustrated Man, and
one could easily move several of the stories between these
two volumes without disturbing the overall structure of the
respective works. The concern with censorship and book-
burning that animates Fahrenheit 451 also recurs in several
stories here. In addition, we find the wistful, nostalgic tone—a
Bradbury trademark—and his preoccupation with children
and the most child-like of technologies: namely spaceships,
human-like robots, and those fanciful bits of machinery that
we now call consumer electronics.
But, as I cautioned at the outset, the gadgetry here is hardly
the main point. For this writer, the flashy techno-gimmicks of
his tales are often embraced a gateway to the child in all of us,
a way of recapturing wonder in an age that has too little of it.
Inevitably there is a also cost in these stories, and many of his
most pointed tales depict the sad fate of those who are slaves
to technology. And that is a theme that is even more relevant
today than when these stories were first published.
You could never accuse Bradbury of such an indiscretion. It
is worth remembering that this author, whose life spanned the
period from the introduction of the Model T Ford to the most
modern and streamlined hybrid vehicles, never learned to
drive a car. He is a proud technophobe who also scorns
computers, the Internet and ATMs. But you don’t need a
driver’s license to traverse the galaxy in your imagination.
And for that, Ray Bradbury is the first person you would want
behind the wheel.
by Ray Bradbury
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Let’s get this straight from the start: you don’t read Bradbury
to learn about future of science and technology. These
aspects of his books are perfunctory and as true-to-life as the
Cheshire Cat's smile. In Bradbury's tale “Zero Hour” from The
Illustrated Man, first published
in 1947, the reader encounters
homes with vacuum elevators, food-
delivery tubes, chromium cars, and
electro-magnet dusting machines,
among other inventions that never
were. They are merely stage props,
adding color to the real action,
which (as so often with Bradbury)
is psychological and emotive in
nature.
The dusting machine could run on
microwave rather than magnets. It
wouldn't make any difference. The
cars could be made out of palladium
instead of chromium, who cares?
But the human angle in this story, so
typical of Bradbury’s work, builds on
the subtle divide between the impressionable minds of
youngsters, with their rich imaginative life, and the staid,
skeptical outlook of adults. Ah, now we are in Bradbury
territory.
You want predictions about the future? Well, Bradbury’s
most accurate forecast in The Illustrated Man may have
simply been the title character’s full array of tattoos. Who
would have guessed, back in the 1940s, that radical top-to-
toe body art would be so popular in the new millennium? A
few piercings, and the Illustrated Man would be at home in
your trendiest modern-day nightclub, and ready for his own
reality show on MTV. We may have made few steps toward
colonizing Mars, but we are tattooing like there is no
tomorrow.
In all seriousness . . . hmmm, perhaps with this author it is
better to say all non-seriousness . . . Bradbury’s fascination
with the make-believe life of youngsters is very much a
commentary on his own approach to his craft. Ray Bradbury
is the child who never grew up, the Peter Pan of sci-fi. The
theme of youthful fantasy recurs in the concluding story of
The Illustrated Man, “The Rocket,” in which a poor junkyard
owner buys a model of a spaceship, and with clever use of
movie screens, mirrors and other equipment is able to
convince his children that he is taking them on a trip to Mars
and back. In fact, the rocket never leaves the ground, but for
this author, the power of imagination is a levitating force far
more potent than the meager hyperspace drives and thrust
shifters of his sci-fi peers.
This same story includes a Bradbury rarity: strange alien
creatures appear with three yellow eyes and twelve fingers.
But, alas, they are only dolls used as playthings by the kids.
Yet children’s imaginary friends are not always harmless, as
the parents eventually learn in “Zero Hour.” In a similar vein,
“The Veldt”— a justly celebrated story that opens The
Illustrated Man and was later adapted for radio and
television—Bradbury builds his story around a virtual reality
nursery with 3D screens on all its walls that enables children
to bring their fantasies to life. But in this instance the
difference between virtual reality and actual reality blurs to
disastrous effect. Yes, there is moral there for readers in the
age of the Internet and Grand Theft Auto, but it is not a lesson
about technology itself; rather it tells us something about how
people let it take over and debase their lives.
Although Bradbury is invariably pigeonholed as a science
fiction writer, he often seems more at home in the mindspace
of the horror genre. It is no coincidence that the protagonist
in Fahrenheit 451, when faced with a decision of which book
to memorize to save it against those who consign all stories to
the flames, selects the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. In “The
Exiles” from The Illustrated Man, a peculiar combination of
gothic horror conventions with a veneer of science fiction,
Poe even appears as a character. And in other works from this
period, we also find Poe, Lovecraft and other horror-meisters
either as influences or actual elements in the plot. Indeed, the
overarching frame story of The Illustrated Man, with its
unsettling account of a man whose tattoos come to life, is
straight out of this same tradition.
Bradbury is attracted to the horror genre because it openly
embraces the psychological elements usually given short
shrift by the sci-fi literati. Science may be an objective
external phenomenon, but the horrifying is, first and
foremost, a mental state. And this author is always more
interested in the subjective response than in the objective
stimulus. On the other hand, Bradbury’s prose style, which
emphasizes brightness, lucidity, the clarity of free play—what
Matthew Arnold might have included under the rubric of
“sweetness and light”—won’t allow him to linger in the
macabre. He toys with the dark side only to give more
definition to its opposite.
As a result, Bradbury hardly develops the eerie framing story
of The Illustrated Man, which another author would have
milked for every creepy detail. After the initial set-up, and
some token gestures to link the tales together, he abandons
attempts to connect the dots, or even mention our tattooed
exile from civil society, except for a brief wrap-up at the end
of the book. Instead, Bradbury uses the individual “cinematic
tattoos” to probe his pet ideas, familiar themes that also
figure in his other works of the era. The colonization of Mars,
which forms the unifying concept behind The Martian
Chronicles is almost as prominent in The Illustrated Man, and
one could easily move several of the stories between these
two volumes without disturbing the overall structure of the
respective works. The concern with censorship and book-
burning that animates Fahrenheit 451 also recurs in several
stories here. In addition, we find the wistful, nostalgic tone—a
Bradbury trademark—and his preoccupation with children
and the most child-like of technologies: namely spaceships,
human-like robots, and those fanciful bits of machinery that
we now call consumer electronics.
But, as I cautioned at the outset, the gadgetry here is hardly
the main point. For this writer, the flashy techno-gimmicks of
his tales are often embraced a gateway to the child in all of us,
a way of recapturing wonder in an age that has too little of it.
Inevitably there is a also cost in these stories, and many of his
most pointed tales depict the sad fate of those who are slaves
to technology. And that is a theme that is even more relevant
today than when these stories were first published.
You could never accuse Bradbury of such an indiscretion. It
is worth remembering that this author, whose life spanned the
period from the introduction of the Model T Ford to the most
modern and streamlined hybrid vehicles, never learned to
drive a car. He is a proud technophobe who also scorns
computers, the Internet and ATMs. But you don’t need a
driver’s license to traverse the galaxy in your imagination.
And for that, Ray Bradbury is the first person you would want
behind the wheel.
conceptual
fiction
fiction
Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
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
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
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
Camp Concentration
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
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
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
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
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
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
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
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
Saramago, José
Blindness
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
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
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
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
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
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
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
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
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 reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
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
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
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
Camp Concentration
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
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
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
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
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
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
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
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
Saramago, José
Blindness
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
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
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
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
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
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
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
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