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| conceptual fiction Exploring the Non-Realist Tradition in Fiction Moderan by David R. Bunch Essay by Ted Gioia |
David R. Bunch, who passed away in 2000 at age 74, may be the
best kept secret in New Wave sci-fi. As far as I can tell, only two of
the hundreds of stories he wrote are still in print. These two tales,
included in Harlan Ellison’s pathbreaking 1967 anthology Dangerous
Visions, served as my introduction to Bunch’s work. And what a
stunning introduction they were—in an all-star collection, filled
with the stars of 1960s sci-fi, Bunch’s two brief tales impressed
me more than any of the other illustrious narratives.
Ellison himself clearly recognized Bunch's
exceptional talent. Bunch was the only contributor
to have more than a single story accepted for
the volume. In his intro to one of the stories,
Ellison noted that Bunch was "a writer whose
work I admire vastly. And a writer who has,
oddly enough, barely received the acclaim
due to him." Looking over the assembled talents
who participated in Dangerous Visions—a cast
of free radicals that included Philip K. Dick, J.G.
Ballard and Samuel R. Delany—Ellison added:
"Bunch is possibly the most dangerous visionary
of all those assembled here."
I was so struck by Bunch’s whimsical and
outlandish prose style and arch attitudes, that I
decided to track down more of his work. This proved much harder
than I anticipated. Bunch only published two short story collections
during his career, and both of them have been out-of-print for
decades. A few second-hand copies are available from online
retailers, but are usually sold at astronomical prices. I did some
online snooping and found that, for some puzzling reason, several
copies of Bunch's most famous work Moderan were available from
booksellers in Spain at only modestly outlandish prices. I placed
an order from a librería in Granada, Spain. When my copy of
Moderan arrived a couple weeks later, I opened the package in
eager anticipation—only to learn that it I had just purchased an
(out-of-print) Spanish translation of Bunch's book. At this point, I turned
to US sellers of overpriced, beat-up, out-of-print sci-fi paperbacks,
and after shelling out a sizable chunk of change, I finally acquired
Bunch's Moderan in English.
Yes, it was worth the time and trouble. Bunch didn't play by the same
rules as most of his peers in the genre fiction field. Moderan is written
in an extravagant first-person style that attempts to emulate the
speech patterns of a robot-and-human mashup from a future dystopia.
Every sentence and paragraph of this book has been polished to a
fine metallic finish, and while reading it I found myself compelled to
recite certain passages aloud, just to savor the odd cadences
and phraseology.
Here our narrator talks about the scientific breakthrough of Moderan
society—which consists mostly of quasi-men who have replaced the
majority of their flesh parts with advanced metal components. The
most privileged members of the society are more than 90% metal.
"As steel men we were essentially but extensions of what man has
always been. The essential man had been extended, I'm trying to say.
The essence of normal man was and is and always will be the feeling of,
'I AM the greatest and most deserving thing in ail the Universe and I
should have preference wherever I go.' This is true collectively and
it is equally true individually. There was never normal man so lowly but
what he, if given the smallest smallest chance to rise, would start
regarding himself as a winner for sure. The domain of his aspirations
will have no NO ceiling and no NO walls: The whole universe will be
his pumpkin, his and his alone. A ghastly, slimy, ungodly contrivance
he, in many ways, is. But he has, let's face it, one saving grace. He is
to be counted on to be his ghastly, rotten, slimy, true-bad self until the
end. He is reliable, let us say, in that his total badness is assured. And
in that he is godly."
Unlike almost every other dystopian sci-fi book, Moderan lets the rulers
of the degraded future society speak for themselves, in their own words,
and in defense of their own actions. For this to work, Bunch needs to
impart a degree of hidden irony and double-meaning to virtually
every paragraph in the book. Yet he also gives his warlord narrator a
touch of a poetic sensibility, and even a bit of human sentimentality. By
any measure, this is virtuoso performance—and I can’t think of more
than a half-dozen sci-fi authors of the era who could have pulled it off
with such finesse and persistence. The end result is an odd but
convincing combination of humor, social criticism and psychological
insight.
The closest book to Moderan, among the other futuristic works of its
era, is Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, released around the
same time that Bunch began publishing his Moderan stories. Like
Burgess, Bunch realized that the conceptualization of a different kind
of society ideally involves the creation of a different kind of language,
a new body of speech patterns. Burgess's wordplay is largely indebted
to Joyce and other experimental authors of the first half of the 20th
century. Bunch's sources are harder to pinpoint, but his futuristic
metal men sometimes remind me of medieval chroniclers in their
language, at other times their words resemble the belligerent taunting
of skinheads at a British football match right before the rioting and
hooliganism get out of control. To emphasize the effect, Bunch liberally
uses exclamation points and all capital letters. Yet he also mixes in
sweet metaphors and quasi-Shakespearean imagery. The finished
product is sui generis, a way of expression that exists solely within
the pages of this book.
The philosophical content in Moderan is almost as fascinating as
the work's linguistic effects. The name Nieztsche does not appear
anywhere in this book, but clearly his fingerprints are all over its
dystopian society. In Moderan, the sword is truly mightier than the
pen—and supersized bombs are mightier than either. The practical
result of the melding of advanced metals with flesh is that the
'improved' citizens of Moderan are almost indestructible. This new-
found invincibility inspires them to devote most of their energy to
warfare and domination. Many of the most poetic passages in the
book are devoted to singing the praises of various weapons and
their consequences. Behind all this bluster, Bunch makes a case
for peace and fellowship—but only by presenting this over-the-
top counterexample.
The only clumsiness in this book is due to its origins as separate
short stories. Bunch made some token efforts to create the appearance
that Moderan is a novel not a collection of isolated tales. But he
didn't successfully integrate the separate works into a flowing,
holistic narrative. As a result, the connecting passages don't
adequately connect, and the individual sections are marked by
repetitions and occasional contradictions. In most of the stories, the
Moderan civilization is devoted to warfare, but in a handful of
'chapters' the narrator adheres to much different priorities, aiming
to spend as much time as possible meditating over deep philosophical
issues. Another cavil: too many of the stories here repeat a predictable
plot of a visitor coming to a warlord’s stronghold and sharing a
more humanistic and traditional viewpoint. The ensuing dialogue
between worldviews is fascinating, at least at first, but not after
the fifth or sixth repetitions. Even with these flaws, Moderan is a tour
de force, worthy of praise (and a return to print); but it would have
been even better if Bunch had exercised some judicious editing and
pruning.
Although I offer these tiny gripes about the book, my main
complaint is targeted at the parties who have kept this work
out-of-print for decades, and haven’t salvaged more of the
hundreds of stories Bunch published in magazines during his
lifetime. Make no mistake, David R. Bunch was a big-time talent
even if he only left behind a small-time reputation. He can't
change that now, but we can…and should.
Ted Gioia writes about music, literature and pop culture. His next book,
a history of love songs, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
Publication Date: September 19, 2014
best kept secret in New Wave sci-fi. As far as I can tell, only two of
the hundreds of stories he wrote are still in print. These two tales,
included in Harlan Ellison’s pathbreaking 1967 anthology Dangerous
Visions, served as my introduction to Bunch’s work. And what a
stunning introduction they were—in an all-star collection, filled
with the stars of 1960s sci-fi, Bunch’s two brief tales impressed
me more than any of the other illustrious narratives.
Ellison himself clearly recognized Bunch's
exceptional talent. Bunch was the only contributor
to have more than a single story accepted for
the volume. In his intro to one of the stories,
Ellison noted that Bunch was "a writer whose
work I admire vastly. And a writer who has,
oddly enough, barely received the acclaim
due to him." Looking over the assembled talents
who participated in Dangerous Visions—a cast
of free radicals that included Philip K. Dick, J.G.
Ballard and Samuel R. Delany—Ellison added:
"Bunch is possibly the most dangerous visionary
of all those assembled here."
I was so struck by Bunch’s whimsical and
outlandish prose style and arch attitudes, that I
decided to track down more of his work. This proved much harder
than I anticipated. Bunch only published two short story collections
during his career, and both of them have been out-of-print for
decades. A few second-hand copies are available from online
retailers, but are usually sold at astronomical prices. I did some
online snooping and found that, for some puzzling reason, several
copies of Bunch's most famous work Moderan were available from
booksellers in Spain at only modestly outlandish prices. I placed
an order from a librería in Granada, Spain. When my copy of
Moderan arrived a couple weeks later, I opened the package in
eager anticipation—only to learn that it I had just purchased an
(out-of-print) Spanish translation of Bunch's book. At this point, I turned
to US sellers of overpriced, beat-up, out-of-print sci-fi paperbacks,
and after shelling out a sizable chunk of change, I finally acquired
Bunch's Moderan in English.
Yes, it was worth the time and trouble. Bunch didn't play by the same
rules as most of his peers in the genre fiction field. Moderan is written
in an extravagant first-person style that attempts to emulate the
speech patterns of a robot-and-human mashup from a future dystopia.
Every sentence and paragraph of this book has been polished to a
fine metallic finish, and while reading it I found myself compelled to
recite certain passages aloud, just to savor the odd cadences
and phraseology.
Here our narrator talks about the scientific breakthrough of Moderan
society—which consists mostly of quasi-men who have replaced the
majority of their flesh parts with advanced metal components. The
most privileged members of the society are more than 90% metal.
"As steel men we were essentially but extensions of what man has
always been. The essential man had been extended, I'm trying to say.
The essence of normal man was and is and always will be the feeling of,
'I AM the greatest and most deserving thing in ail the Universe and I
should have preference wherever I go.' This is true collectively and
it is equally true individually. There was never normal man so lowly but
what he, if given the smallest smallest chance to rise, would start
regarding himself as a winner for sure. The domain of his aspirations
will have no NO ceiling and no NO walls: The whole universe will be
his pumpkin, his and his alone. A ghastly, slimy, ungodly contrivance
he, in many ways, is. But he has, let's face it, one saving grace. He is
to be counted on to be his ghastly, rotten, slimy, true-bad self until the
end. He is reliable, let us say, in that his total badness is assured. And
in that he is godly."
Unlike almost every other dystopian sci-fi book, Moderan lets the rulers
of the degraded future society speak for themselves, in their own words,
and in defense of their own actions. For this to work, Bunch needs to
impart a degree of hidden irony and double-meaning to virtually
every paragraph in the book. Yet he also gives his warlord narrator a
touch of a poetic sensibility, and even a bit of human sentimentality. By
any measure, this is virtuoso performance—and I can’t think of more
than a half-dozen sci-fi authors of the era who could have pulled it off
with such finesse and persistence. The end result is an odd but
convincing combination of humor, social criticism and psychological
insight.
The closest book to Moderan, among the other futuristic works of its
era, is Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, released around the
same time that Bunch began publishing his Moderan stories. Like
Burgess, Bunch realized that the conceptualization of a different kind
of society ideally involves the creation of a different kind of language,
a new body of speech patterns. Burgess's wordplay is largely indebted
to Joyce and other experimental authors of the first half of the 20th
century. Bunch's sources are harder to pinpoint, but his futuristic
metal men sometimes remind me of medieval chroniclers in their
language, at other times their words resemble the belligerent taunting
of skinheads at a British football match right before the rioting and
hooliganism get out of control. To emphasize the effect, Bunch liberally
uses exclamation points and all capital letters. Yet he also mixes in
sweet metaphors and quasi-Shakespearean imagery. The finished
product is sui generis, a way of expression that exists solely within
the pages of this book.
The philosophical content in Moderan is almost as fascinating as
the work's linguistic effects. The name Nieztsche does not appear
anywhere in this book, but clearly his fingerprints are all over its
dystopian society. In Moderan, the sword is truly mightier than the
pen—and supersized bombs are mightier than either. The practical
result of the melding of advanced metals with flesh is that the
'improved' citizens of Moderan are almost indestructible. This new-
found invincibility inspires them to devote most of their energy to
warfare and domination. Many of the most poetic passages in the
book are devoted to singing the praises of various weapons and
their consequences. Behind all this bluster, Bunch makes a case
for peace and fellowship—but only by presenting this over-the-
top counterexample.
The only clumsiness in this book is due to its origins as separate
short stories. Bunch made some token efforts to create the appearance
that Moderan is a novel not a collection of isolated tales. But he
didn't successfully integrate the separate works into a flowing,
holistic narrative. As a result, the connecting passages don't
adequately connect, and the individual sections are marked by
repetitions and occasional contradictions. In most of the stories, the
Moderan civilization is devoted to warfare, but in a handful of
'chapters' the narrator adheres to much different priorities, aiming
to spend as much time as possible meditating over deep philosophical
issues. Another cavil: too many of the stories here repeat a predictable
plot of a visitor coming to a warlord’s stronghold and sharing a
more humanistic and traditional viewpoint. The ensuing dialogue
between worldviews is fascinating, at least at first, but not after
the fifth or sixth repetitions. Even with these flaws, Moderan is a tour
de force, worthy of praise (and a return to print); but it would have
been even better if Bunch had exercised some judicious editing and
pruning.
Although I offer these tiny gripes about the book, my main
complaint is targeted at the parties who have kept this work
out-of-print for decades, and haven’t salvaged more of the
hundreds of stories Bunch published in magazines during his
lifetime. Make no mistake, David R. Bunch was a big-time talent
even if he only left behind a small-time reputation. He can't
change that now, but we can…and should.
Ted Gioia writes about music, literature and pop culture. His next book,
a history of love songs, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
Publication Date: September 19, 2014
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
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
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
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
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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
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
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
Links to related sites
The New Canon
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io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
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SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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