by Ted Gioia
What was the first significant magical realism
novel? Many readers will point you in the direction
of Gabriel García Márquez, whose 1967 work One
Hundred Years of Solitude did much to legitimize the
incorporation of magic
and fantasy in literary fiction.
Others might call attention to
Alejo Carpentier, the Cuban
novelist whose 1949 novel
The Kingdom of this World
anticipated Márquez in its
combination of myth and
Latin American history in a
fictional account that leavens
its intense social realism with
a modest dose of the phantas-
magorical. Or perhaps they
will acknowledge Jorge Luis
Borges or Arturo Uslar Pietri as the first magical
realist. Still others would refer to European
forebears, seeing Franz Kafka or Italo Calvino or
Günter Grass as the true pioneers, innovators who
had perfected the recipe for magical realism before
it became associated with Hispanic authors.
Frankly, I am always amazed at these suggestions—
with imply that the artful mixture of magical and
realistic elements in a work of fiction is a modern
conceit. Indeed, this combination is as old as
storytelling itself. The only new twist added in
recent decades has been the use of "magical
realism" as a marketing label—favored by
publishers who don't want their authors put on the
same shelf as genre writers. The degree to which
critics and academics play along with this
commercially-motivated distortion—a subject I will
write about at a later date—is a sad example of
groupthink, and an indicator of how readily
marketing categories have been adopted by the very
people whose job it is to scrutinize and question
their applicability.
Let's be honest, more than one thousand years of
magical realism preceded One Hundred Years of
Solitude. My choice for the first magical realism
novel dates back to the second century AD, and
came from the hand of a North African author.
Around the year 125, Lucius Apuleius was born in
Madaurus (now M'Daourouch in present-day
Algeria), a Roman colony famous as a center of
learning. St. Augustine studied there, and later
complained about the pagan tendencies of the local
populace, as did the Roman grammarian Nonius
Marcellus. Apuleius, however, was much more than
a product of local influences. He was widely
traveled and well educated: he first studied at
Carthage, before immersing himself in Platonist
philosophy in Athens, and later learned Latin
during a stay in Rome. He adopted a colorful style
of that language for his most famous work, The
Golden Ass, which is the only ancient Latin novel to
have survived in a complete form.
Apuleius was well equipped to incorporate
elements of magic into his storytelling—he was
once accused of practicing magic, and his
courtroom defense has survived. This document,
known as A Discourse on Magic, is more admired for
its wit than as a source of information on wizardry;
but it does give Apuleius an edge over Kafka or
Márquez and the other illustrious modernists who
could never convince anyone they were actual
sorcerers! Apuleius also brought other valuable
first-hand experiences to bear on his writing, not
just his extensive travels and broad-based
education, but also his participation in the ancient
mystery cults. The latter appear in the plot of The
Golden Ass, when the hero Lucius is initiated into
the cult of Isis.
The story opens with Lucius's journey to Hypata
(modern day Ypati) in Greece, where he stays as a
guest in the house of the miser Milo. He is warned
against Milo's wife Pamphile, "a well known witch
and said to be a past mistress of every kind of
necromancy." But the young man's curiosity is
stronger than his common sense, and he aims to
imitate the magic with which his hostess changes
herself into a bird. His attempt goes awry, and
Lucius discovers that, instead of flying off as a
winged creature, he has turned himself into a
jackass.
Misfortune follows misfortune, as Lucius the ass is
beaten, chased, and eventually stolen by thieves.
Yet in the midst of this adventure, Apuleius
changes course and incorporates a long story-
within-a-story into his novel—the most extensive
of several such interludes in The Golden Ass. "Once
upon a time there lived a king and queen who had
three very beautiful daughters..." begins an old
woman accomplice of the thieves—who proceeds
to relate the mythical tale of Cupid and Psyche, an
early forerunner of the story of "Beauty and the
Beast." This account comprises almost a fifth of
the entire book, and is sometimes anthologized as a
stand-alone novella. (Apuleius's narrative has also
inspired some provocative commentary—see for
example Erich Neumann's Jungian study of the
myth.)
Apuleius is always pleased to have the opportunity
for a lengthy digression, and his readers come to
share his enthusiasm for such colorful asides. Our
author is a charming raconteur, and his work
anticipates later picaresque novels by Cervantes,
Rabelais and others. The Golden Ass is also an
important forerunner of those famous literary
compendiums of folktales, such as the Decameron
and The Canterbury Tales. The fluid transformation
of people into animals would eventually serve as
fodder for modernist works, such as Kafka's "The
Metamorphosis" (indeed, Apuleius’s novel is
sometimes referred to under the title Metamorphoses)
and Orwell's Animal Farm—recall that book’s
closing lines: "The creatures outside looked from
pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to
man again; but already it was impossible to say
which was which." The concept also appears in
Latin American works of magical realism such as
Carpentier’s The Kingdom of this World or Carlos
Fuentes's Holy Place.
But I would be remiss if I did not point out the
connections between Apuleius’s masterwork and
genre fiction. Indeed, if you dislike genre stories,
you are advised to keep away from The Golden Ass,
for almost every major genre is represented here.
You will find fantasy, romance, adventure, travel,
suspense, comedy, mystery and horror in these
pages—and sometimes jumbled together in a
manner that still seems avant-garde so many
centuries later. But if I were forced to identify this
literary work under a single label, I would opt for
the broadest and most felicitous of them all: it is an
example of storytelling, plain and simple. And the
storyteller is less concerned about the purity of
literary forms or the conventions of genre fiction,
than about pacing, plotting and—above all—
holding the interest of the audience.
His success in that regard is Apuleius’s great
achievement and his chief legacy to us. Apuleius's
translator Robert Graves quotes Pliny's description
of a street corner storyteller, who would tell passers-
by: "Give me a copper and I’ll tell you a golden
story." We can do no better than turn to Apuleius
for a sense of the spell those early public tellers of
tales must have cast on their audience. Finally, if I
am right in seeing a return to storytelling as one of
the key developments—perhaps the primary one—
in the current literary environment, then Apuleius
may be more timely than ever. Or, put another
way, the first magical realism novel remains a valid
role model today, appealing to us not just for its
historical interest or influence, but as a vital text
that speaks to us with a familiarity and appeal that
belies its antiquity.
Ted Gioia writes on music, books and popular culture. His most
recent book is The Birth (and Death) of the Cool.
What was the first significant magical realism
novel? Many readers will point you in the direction
of Gabriel García Márquez, whose 1967 work One
Hundred Years of Solitude did much to legitimize the
incorporation of magic
and fantasy in literary fiction.
Others might call attention to
Alejo Carpentier, the Cuban
novelist whose 1949 novel
The Kingdom of this World
anticipated Márquez in its
combination of myth and
Latin American history in a
fictional account that leavens
its intense social realism with
a modest dose of the phantas-
magorical. Or perhaps they
will acknowledge Jorge Luis
Borges or Arturo Uslar Pietri as the first magical
realist. Still others would refer to European
forebears, seeing Franz Kafka or Italo Calvino or
Günter Grass as the true pioneers, innovators who
had perfected the recipe for magical realism before
it became associated with Hispanic authors.
Frankly, I am always amazed at these suggestions—
with imply that the artful mixture of magical and
realistic elements in a work of fiction is a modern
conceit. Indeed, this combination is as old as
storytelling itself. The only new twist added in
recent decades has been the use of "magical
realism" as a marketing label—favored by
publishers who don't want their authors put on the
same shelf as genre writers. The degree to which
critics and academics play along with this
commercially-motivated distortion—a subject I will
write about at a later date—is a sad example of
groupthink, and an indicator of how readily
marketing categories have been adopted by the very
people whose job it is to scrutinize and question
their applicability.
Let's be honest, more than one thousand years of
magical realism preceded One Hundred Years of
Solitude. My choice for the first magical realism
novel dates back to the second century AD, and
came from the hand of a North African author.
Around the year 125, Lucius Apuleius was born in
Madaurus (now M'Daourouch in present-day
Algeria), a Roman colony famous as a center of
learning. St. Augustine studied there, and later
complained about the pagan tendencies of the local
populace, as did the Roman grammarian Nonius
Marcellus. Apuleius, however, was much more than
a product of local influences. He was widely
traveled and well educated: he first studied at
Carthage, before immersing himself in Platonist
philosophy in Athens, and later learned Latin
during a stay in Rome. He adopted a colorful style
of that language for his most famous work, The
Golden Ass, which is the only ancient Latin novel to
have survived in a complete form.
Apuleius was well equipped to incorporate
elements of magic into his storytelling—he was
once accused of practicing magic, and his
courtroom defense has survived. This document,
known as A Discourse on Magic, is more admired for
its wit than as a source of information on wizardry;
but it does give Apuleius an edge over Kafka or
Márquez and the other illustrious modernists who
could never convince anyone they were actual
sorcerers! Apuleius also brought other valuable
first-hand experiences to bear on his writing, not
just his extensive travels and broad-based
education, but also his participation in the ancient
mystery cults. The latter appear in the plot of The
Golden Ass, when the hero Lucius is initiated into
the cult of Isis.
The story opens with Lucius's journey to Hypata
(modern day Ypati) in Greece, where he stays as a
guest in the house of the miser Milo. He is warned
against Milo's wife Pamphile, "a well known witch
and said to be a past mistress of every kind of
necromancy." But the young man's curiosity is
stronger than his common sense, and he aims to
imitate the magic with which his hostess changes
herself into a bird. His attempt goes awry, and
Lucius discovers that, instead of flying off as a
winged creature, he has turned himself into a
jackass.
Misfortune follows misfortune, as Lucius the ass is
beaten, chased, and eventually stolen by thieves.
Yet in the midst of this adventure, Apuleius
changes course and incorporates a long story-
within-a-story into his novel—the most extensive
of several such interludes in The Golden Ass. "Once
upon a time there lived a king and queen who had
three very beautiful daughters..." begins an old
woman accomplice of the thieves—who proceeds
to relate the mythical tale of Cupid and Psyche, an
early forerunner of the story of "Beauty and the
Beast." This account comprises almost a fifth of
the entire book, and is sometimes anthologized as a
stand-alone novella. (Apuleius's narrative has also
inspired some provocative commentary—see for
example Erich Neumann's Jungian study of the
myth.)
Apuleius is always pleased to have the opportunity
for a lengthy digression, and his readers come to
share his enthusiasm for such colorful asides. Our
author is a charming raconteur, and his work
anticipates later picaresque novels by Cervantes,
Rabelais and others. The Golden Ass is also an
important forerunner of those famous literary
compendiums of folktales, such as the Decameron
and The Canterbury Tales. The fluid transformation
of people into animals would eventually serve as
fodder for modernist works, such as Kafka's "The
Metamorphosis" (indeed, Apuleius’s novel is
sometimes referred to under the title Metamorphoses)
and Orwell's Animal Farm—recall that book’s
closing lines: "The creatures outside looked from
pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to
man again; but already it was impossible to say
which was which." The concept also appears in
Latin American works of magical realism such as
Carpentier’s The Kingdom of this World or Carlos
Fuentes's Holy Place.
But I would be remiss if I did not point out the
connections between Apuleius’s masterwork and
genre fiction. Indeed, if you dislike genre stories,
you are advised to keep away from The Golden Ass,
for almost every major genre is represented here.
You will find fantasy, romance, adventure, travel,
suspense, comedy, mystery and horror in these
pages—and sometimes jumbled together in a
manner that still seems avant-garde so many
centuries later. But if I were forced to identify this
literary work under a single label, I would opt for
the broadest and most felicitous of them all: it is an
example of storytelling, plain and simple. And the
storyteller is less concerned about the purity of
literary forms or the conventions of genre fiction,
than about pacing, plotting and—above all—
holding the interest of the audience.
His success in that regard is Apuleius’s great
achievement and his chief legacy to us. Apuleius's
translator Robert Graves quotes Pliny's description
of a street corner storyteller, who would tell passers-
by: "Give me a copper and I’ll tell you a golden
story." We can do no better than turn to Apuleius
for a sense of the spell those early public tellers of
tales must have cast on their audience. Finally, if I
am right in seeing a return to storytelling as one of
the key developments—perhaps the primary one—
in the current literary environment, then Apuleius
may be more timely than ever. Or, put another
way, the first magical realism novel remains a valid
role model today, appealing to us not just for its
historical interest or influence, but as a vital text
that speaks to us with a familiarity and appeal that
belies its antiquity.
Ted Gioia writes on music, books and popular culture. His most
recent book is The Birth (and Death) of the Cool.
| THE YEAR OF MAGICAL READING The Golden Ass by Apuleius |
Click on image to purchase
| The Year of Magical Reading (click here) |
Welcome to my year of magical
reading. Each week during the course
of 2012, I will explore an important
work of fiction that incorporates
elements of magic, fantasy or the
surreal. My choices will cross
conventional boundary lines of genre,
style and historical period—indeed, one
of my intentions in this project is to
show how the conventional labels
applied to these works have become
constraining, deadening and misleading.
In its earliest days, storytelling almost
always partook of the magical. Only in
recent years have we segregated works
arising from this venerable tradition
into publishing industry categories such
as "magical realism" or "paranormal"
or "fantasy" or some other 'genre'
pigeonhole. These labels are not without
their value, but too often they have
blinded us to the rich and
multidimensional heritage beyond category
that these works share.
This larger heritage is mimicked in our
individual lives: most of us first
experienced the joys of narrative fiction
through stories of myth and magic, the
fanciful and phantasmagorical; but only
a very few retain into adulthood this
sense of the kind of enchantment
possible only through storytelling. As
such, revisiting this stream of fiction
from a mature, literate perspective both
broadens our horizons and allows us to
recapture some of that magic in our
imaginative lives.
The Year of Magical Reading:
Week 1: Midnight's Children by Salman
Rushdie
Week 2: The House of the Spirits by
Isabel Allende
Week 3: The Witches of Eastwick by
John Updike
Week 4: Magic for Beginners by Kelly
Link
Week 5: The Tin Drum by Günter
Grass
Week 6: The Golden Ass by Apuleius
Week 7: The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
Week 8: One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez
Week 9: The Book of Laughter and
Forgetting by Milan Kundera
Week 10: Gargantua and Pantagruel by
François Rabelais
Week 11: The Famished Road by Ben
Okri
Week 12: Like Water for Chocolate by
Laura Esquivel
Week 13: Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Week 14: Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Week 15: Johnathan Strange & Mr.
Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Week 16: The Master and Margarita by
Mikhail Bulgakov
Week 17: Dangerous Laughter by Steven
Millhauser
Week 18: Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
Week 19: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Week 20: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
reading. Each week during the course
of 2012, I will explore an important
work of fiction that incorporates
elements of magic, fantasy or the
surreal. My choices will cross
conventional boundary lines of genre,
style and historical period—indeed, one
of my intentions in this project is to
show how the conventional labels
applied to these works have become
constraining, deadening and misleading.
In its earliest days, storytelling almost
always partook of the magical. Only in
recent years have we segregated works
arising from this venerable tradition
into publishing industry categories such
as "magical realism" or "paranormal"
or "fantasy" or some other 'genre'
pigeonhole. These labels are not without
their value, but too often they have
blinded us to the rich and
multidimensional heritage beyond category
that these works share.
This larger heritage is mimicked in our
individual lives: most of us first
experienced the joys of narrative fiction
through stories of myth and magic, the
fanciful and phantasmagorical; but only
a very few retain into adulthood this
sense of the kind of enchantment
possible only through storytelling. As
such, revisiting this stream of fiction
from a mature, literate perspective both
broadens our horizons and allows us to
recapture some of that magic in our
imaginative lives.
The Year of Magical Reading:
Week 1: Midnight's Children by Salman
Rushdie
Week 2: The House of the Spirits by
Isabel Allende
Week 3: The Witches of Eastwick by
John Updike
Week 4: Magic for Beginners by Kelly
Link
Week 5: The Tin Drum by Günter
Grass
Week 6: The Golden Ass by Apuleius
Week 7: The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
Week 8: One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez
Week 9: The Book of Laughter and
Forgetting by Milan Kundera
Week 10: Gargantua and Pantagruel by
François Rabelais
Week 11: The Famished Road by Ben
Okri
Week 12: Like Water for Chocolate by
Laura Esquivel
Week 13: Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Week 14: Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Week 15: Johnathan Strange & Mr.
Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Week 16: The Master and Margarita by
Mikhail Bulgakov
Week 17: Dangerous Laughter by Steven
Millhauser
Week 18: Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
Week 19: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Week 20: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
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
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.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
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
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
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
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
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
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
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
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
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
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
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
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
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
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
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
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
Ted Gioia's web site
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
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
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.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
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
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
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
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
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
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
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
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
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
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
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
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
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