The Female Man was hardly the first feminist science fiction novel—
my college professor Anne Mellor has argued, in an influential essay, that
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, published 150 years before Joanna Russ's
book, should be read as a radical critique of gender roles. And many
other sci-fi writers broke out of the stereotyped male and female
character types in the years leading up to The Female Man.
Ursula K. Le Guin, eight years older than Russ, played a key role in
the process, establishing gender roles and sexual preferences as a
legitimate focus for probing science fiction works, but even Heinlein
and Asimov could challenge prevailing conventions of masculine and
feminine behavior in strange and surprising ways during the course
of their future-tripping narratives. On the other extreme, a number of
women genre writers actually played the role of real-life 'female men'
—adopting pseudonyms that convinced most
fans that they were guys. Author C.L. Moore
met her husband, fellow sci-fi writer Henry
Knutter, when he sent a fan letter to "Mr.
Moore," only to discover, apparently to his
subsequent delight, that he was a she.
Surviving correspondence indicates that
Andre Norton's publisher Houghton Mifflin
had no clue that she was actually a
woman (born as Alice Mary Norton). Even
more secretive, Alice Bradley Sheldon did
such a good job of hiding her identity behind
the pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr. (she took
the last name from a brand of marmalade)
that virtually no one in the science fiction
community was aware that she wasn't a
man until she was in her 60s.
Despite these precedents, Russ's book stands
out as a milestone event in the history of science
fiction. The boldness and bravado of the dialectic
in her book—more than half of this novel is devoted to ideology and
cultural critique—made this an unusual work, even during an age in
which sci-fi authors increasingly addressed social and political
topics in their stories. And when plot and character development do
move to the forefront of The Female Man, they clearly serve to advance
an agenda. Russ certainly wants to entertain her readers, but she is
even more committed to persuading them, and that preference is
felt on almost every page of The Female Man.
Russ is just as iconoclastic in structuring her narrative as in advancing
her arguments. The Female Man tosses around protagonists and
settings as if they were hot dice in all-night craps game, leaving behind
a series of unresolved complications and stranded characters in the
process. But what seems, at first glance, blatant disorder in the plot
eventually morphs into the literary equivalent of theme-and-variations.
The individual stories that constitute The Female Man exist in separate
time-space continuums, but they bear a family resemblance to each
other, as do the various main characters.
Let’s call them the 4 J’s. Jeanine lives in a world much like our own,
except for quirky differences in fashion and culture. She is a librarian
who wants to get married, but is depressed and exasperated at the
potential husbands available to her. Janet is a visitor from a future
alternate universe known as Whileaway, where all men died long
ago and women created a nomadic pastoral society. The assassin
Jael comes from a different alternate future, and can also travel
through time; but watch out for this visitor from another world—her
home society takes the concept of the 'war between the sexes'
seriously, very seriously. Not only do Manland and Womanland exist
as separate nations, but the ladies are hatching a plan to kill off the
fellows. And then, presiding over them all—or at least trying to run
the show—is our last J, and the most powerful of them all. Joanna,
the author herself, or her fictional alter ego, inserts herself into the
various subplots and dialogues, full of motherly advice that the other
J's frequently ignore.
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have an ungrateful
character!
A few other women have prominent secondary roles in this book.
We meet Laura, from the same time-space continuum as Joanna—
which may very well be the actual United States, circa 1970—and
follow her budding romance with Janet. We get a brief glimpse of
Janet's Whileaway wife Vittoria. And, you ask, what about the men?
Well, plenty of them show up for cameo appearances, but they are a
sadass group of guys. They are needy and whiny, phoney and bossy,
egotistical and domineering. You will hardly care that many don't even
get assigned a name, and won't shed a tear when a few even get
assaulted or murdered. In the world of The Female Man, this is their
comeuppance. (It's no coincidence that this novel came out around the
same time that Charles Bronson's Death Wish films were drawing
packed houses at movie theaters—they both, in their different ways,
appeal to the latent desire among the victimized and oppressed for
do-it-yourself vengeance.)
None of the men stay around for more than a few pages, but before
they disappear they say stuff like this: "You want it. You want to be
mastered….you're waiting for me, waiting for a man, waiting for me to
stick it in, waiting for me, me, me." This bloke gets eviscerated by Jael,
and bleeds to death on the next page—but it would have been better
for all parties, and especially the reader, if it happened even sooner.
Russ is much better at showing complexity and depth in her female
characters. The four J's may all be chips off the same block, but they
still bicker among themselves and challenge each other’s preconceived
notions. I'm happy to report that, at the close of the novel, they overcome
their differences (as well as the boundaries between their various places
in the space-time continuum) and gather together at a restaurant for a
Thanksgiving dinner. The food is mediocre, but no one gets murdered
here, and no man shows up with a lame pickup line. Instead, the
protagonists serve up the trademarks ingredients of Russ’s novel,
namely pointed dialogue, confession and assertive social commentary.
The rest of us can join in that process. Indeed, a lot of the science in this
sci-fi book is expendable, and far less passionate than the polemic.
Before I read this book, I assumed that The Female Man would focus
on genetic and biological technology—and we do get a tiny dose of that
in these pages. But when author (and character) Joanna Russ gets into
her groove, she makes clear that the most radical dissection of gender
and sex is, always and everywhere, conceptual and behavioral. That's
a powerful idea, and one that—fortunately for us!—doesn't require a
time machine or visitor from the future for rumination and response.
Ted Gioia writes on literature, music and popular culture. His next book, Love
Songs: The Hidden History is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
Publication Date: June 30, 2014
my college professor Anne Mellor has argued, in an influential essay, that
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, published 150 years before Joanna Russ's
book, should be read as a radical critique of gender roles. And many
other sci-fi writers broke out of the stereotyped male and female
character types in the years leading up to The Female Man.
Ursula K. Le Guin, eight years older than Russ, played a key role in
the process, establishing gender roles and sexual preferences as a
legitimate focus for probing science fiction works, but even Heinlein
and Asimov could challenge prevailing conventions of masculine and
feminine behavior in strange and surprising ways during the course
of their future-tripping narratives. On the other extreme, a number of
women genre writers actually played the role of real-life 'female men'
—adopting pseudonyms that convinced most
fans that they were guys. Author C.L. Moore
met her husband, fellow sci-fi writer Henry
Knutter, when he sent a fan letter to "Mr.
Moore," only to discover, apparently to his
subsequent delight, that he was a she.
Surviving correspondence indicates that
Andre Norton's publisher Houghton Mifflin
had no clue that she was actually a
woman (born as Alice Mary Norton). Even
more secretive, Alice Bradley Sheldon did
such a good job of hiding her identity behind
the pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr. (she took
the last name from a brand of marmalade)
that virtually no one in the science fiction
community was aware that she wasn't a
man until she was in her 60s.
Despite these precedents, Russ's book stands
out as a milestone event in the history of science
fiction. The boldness and bravado of the dialectic
in her book—more than half of this novel is devoted to ideology and
cultural critique—made this an unusual work, even during an age in
which sci-fi authors increasingly addressed social and political
topics in their stories. And when plot and character development do
move to the forefront of The Female Man, they clearly serve to advance
an agenda. Russ certainly wants to entertain her readers, but she is
even more committed to persuading them, and that preference is
felt on almost every page of The Female Man.
Russ is just as iconoclastic in structuring her narrative as in advancing
her arguments. The Female Man tosses around protagonists and
settings as if they were hot dice in all-night craps game, leaving behind
a series of unresolved complications and stranded characters in the
process. But what seems, at first glance, blatant disorder in the plot
eventually morphs into the literary equivalent of theme-and-variations.
The individual stories that constitute The Female Man exist in separate
time-space continuums, but they bear a family resemblance to each
other, as do the various main characters.
Let’s call them the 4 J’s. Jeanine lives in a world much like our own,
except for quirky differences in fashion and culture. She is a librarian
who wants to get married, but is depressed and exasperated at the
potential husbands available to her. Janet is a visitor from a future
alternate universe known as Whileaway, where all men died long
ago and women created a nomadic pastoral society. The assassin
Jael comes from a different alternate future, and can also travel
through time; but watch out for this visitor from another world—her
home society takes the concept of the 'war between the sexes'
seriously, very seriously. Not only do Manland and Womanland exist
as separate nations, but the ladies are hatching a plan to kill off the
fellows. And then, presiding over them all—or at least trying to run
the show—is our last J, and the most powerful of them all. Joanna,
the author herself, or her fictional alter ego, inserts herself into the
various subplots and dialogues, full of motherly advice that the other
J's frequently ignore.
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have an ungrateful
character!
A few other women have prominent secondary roles in this book.
We meet Laura, from the same time-space continuum as Joanna—
which may very well be the actual United States, circa 1970—and
follow her budding romance with Janet. We get a brief glimpse of
Janet's Whileaway wife Vittoria. And, you ask, what about the men?
Well, plenty of them show up for cameo appearances, but they are a
sadass group of guys. They are needy and whiny, phoney and bossy,
egotistical and domineering. You will hardly care that many don't even
get assigned a name, and won't shed a tear when a few even get
assaulted or murdered. In the world of The Female Man, this is their
comeuppance. (It's no coincidence that this novel came out around the
same time that Charles Bronson's Death Wish films were drawing
packed houses at movie theaters—they both, in their different ways,
appeal to the latent desire among the victimized and oppressed for
do-it-yourself vengeance.)
None of the men stay around for more than a few pages, but before
they disappear they say stuff like this: "You want it. You want to be
mastered….you're waiting for me, waiting for a man, waiting for me to
stick it in, waiting for me, me, me." This bloke gets eviscerated by Jael,
and bleeds to death on the next page—but it would have been better
for all parties, and especially the reader, if it happened even sooner.
Russ is much better at showing complexity and depth in her female
characters. The four J's may all be chips off the same block, but they
still bicker among themselves and challenge each other’s preconceived
notions. I'm happy to report that, at the close of the novel, they overcome
their differences (as well as the boundaries between their various places
in the space-time continuum) and gather together at a restaurant for a
Thanksgiving dinner. The food is mediocre, but no one gets murdered
here, and no man shows up with a lame pickup line. Instead, the
protagonists serve up the trademarks ingredients of Russ’s novel,
namely pointed dialogue, confession and assertive social commentary.
The rest of us can join in that process. Indeed, a lot of the science in this
sci-fi book is expendable, and far less passionate than the polemic.
Before I read this book, I assumed that The Female Man would focus
on genetic and biological technology—and we do get a tiny dose of that
in these pages. But when author (and character) Joanna Russ gets into
her groove, she makes clear that the most radical dissection of gender
and sex is, always and everywhere, conceptual and behavioral. That's
a powerful idea, and one that—fortunately for us!—doesn't require a
time machine or visitor from the future for rumination and response.
Ted Gioia writes on literature, music and popular culture. His next book, Love
Songs: The Hidden History is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
Publication Date: June 30, 2014
| To purchase, click on image |
| conceptual fiction Exploring the Non-Realist Tradition in Fiction |
The Female Man
by Joanna Russ
Essay by Ted Gioia
by Joanna Russ
Essay by Ted Gioia
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The New Canon
Great literary works published
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Reviews of current books
Postmodern Mystery
Experimental works of mystery &
suspense
Fractious Fiction
Radical and unconventional
works of fiction
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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
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
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Midnight's Children
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The Female Man
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Blindness
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Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
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Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Silverberg, Robert
The World Inside
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City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
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Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
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Snow Crash
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Bug Jack Barron
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Glasshouse
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More Than Human
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Some of Your Blood
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Gulliver's Travels
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The White Hotel
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Warm Worlds and Otherwise
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The Hobbit
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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
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Emphyrio
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Around the Moon
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From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
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Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
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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
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The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
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The Avant-Garde Sci-Fi of Brian Aldiss
Science Fiction 1958-1975: A Reading List
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