I didn't expect to encounter fellow Trinity College, Oxford alum,
the Victorian era explorer Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890), as
the hero of a science fiction novel set thousands of years in the
future. Even stranger, Burton dies in the second sentence of the
novel. Stranger still, he dies several hundred additional times
during the course of the book.
I have to give credit to Philip José Farmer for
thinking outside the box. And thinking outside
the galaxy. And thinking beyond traditional life
and death constructs. Heck, just imagining life
and death as constructs is…well, as Dino
might have said: Ain’t that a kick in the pants?
As you may have guessed by now, To Your
Scattered Bodies Go starts where the happily-
ever-after story must, by definition, come to
an end. Farmer's novel explores the afterlife,
and if his tale takes place in heaven, it is a
heaven unlike any envisioned by the world's
various sects and creeds. Everybody who
ever lived simply wakes up, naked and hairless
and restored to the body they had when they were younger.
Relocated to a pastoral valley alongside an immensely long
river, Sumerians rub shoulders with Mayans, and Nazis get
neighborly with ancient Romans. Everyone has been given a
large empty container, which they come to call grails, that
magically gets replenished on a regular basis with food and
drink, as well as cigarettes, pot and a hallucinogenic gum. Maybe
God did all this—who else would mount such a full-scale
resurrection?—but if so, He isn't showing His face.
Although much has changed in the afterlife, a few things remain
constant. Skeptics are still skeptical, and believers still believe.
Some suspect that a scientific explanation can account for
this resurrection of the flesh, while others join up with the Church
of the Second Chance, which proclaims that new life has been
granted fallible humans so that they can make an improvement
over their flawed first existence. But one thing is certain: there
is no opting out of this new scheme. Anyone who dies in the
afterlife—and many are, given the inevitable rivalries and
confrontations of a nascent society—is simply resurrected
again, although in a far distant locale along the river bank.
Think of it as a kind of Witness Protection Program for the
born again.
Burton, however, is more suspicious than his fellow re-animated
neighbors. He had a brief glimpse of an intermediary stage
between death and rebirth, and saw a body holding zone and
the people running it. Other bits and pieces of evidence convince
him that his new home isn't heaven; rather, he has been enlisted,
along with billions of others, in some grand if mysterious social
engineering experiment.
Burton decides that he wants to find and confront the people
running the experiment. The facts at his disposal suggest that
Ethicals (his name for the hidden agents operating the 'heaven'
simulation) live at the source of the enormous river that spans
this brave, new world. Meanwhile, the Ethicals appear curious
about Burton, and send out disguised agents, who can blend
in with the resurrected population, to track him down.
The premise of To Your Scattered Bodies Go is ingenious, and
in the early stages of the novel, Farmer captivates his readers
with a story that is both mysterious and surprising, and possibly
even profound. How many genre stories tackle big questions
about the meaning of life, and still have time for chase scenes
and hand-to-hand combat? Farmer entertains with the non-stop
action, even as he delights with his grasp of how humans from
different eras and backgrounds might react to a sudden second
chance at life. For the first 100 pages or so, he seems poised to
deliver a different kind of sci-fi novel, a book of ideas as well
as adventure.
Yet by the midpoint of the novel, Farmer has mostly abandoned
the ideas. Readers now understand why our author selected a
famous historical explorer as his protagonist. To Your Scattered
Bodies Go has turned into a swashbuckling travel story. It's
successful on that level, but fails to deliver on the promises of
the high-powered concepts that made the opening pages so
capitvating. Farmer has a chance to rectify this at the conclusion,
but opts for the most crass commercial choice of them all—namely
to use the final section of his novel to build up the reader’s interest
in a sequel rather than offer a resolution to the plots he has set in
motion. As it turned out, he was able to milk this premise for another
four novels, not to mention assorted short stories—and even
managed to convince other authors to create 'Riverworld' tales
of their own.
So I give Philip José Farmer credit for establishing a lucrative
franchise. Later came the TV miniseries, the video game and
other merchandising deals. But I would have been more pleased
if Mr. Farmer had narrowed his scope and delivered a solid and
coherent novel. This didn't prevent him from winning a Hugo for
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, but I can’t help lament the career
arc of this talented writer, who stood out at mid-career for his
Joycean ambitions (see his novella "Riders of the Purple Wage"
in Dangerous Visions—it’s one of the boldest sci-fi works of the
1960s), but eventually opted to churn out retread stories about
Tarzan, Doc Savage, Oz and any other pulp idea he could beg,
borrow or steal.
So if there really is a Church of the Second Chance, as Farmer
postulates in his Riverworld books, and people actually get an
opportunity to rectify the mistakes of their previous existence, I
hope that our writer will aim a little higher the next time around.
I can’t deny it: Philip José Farmer was one of the most talented
science fiction authors of his generation, and when he put his
mind to it, he could achieve stunning effects. In fact, he does
that for long spells in this novel. But Riverworld is perhaps best
read as a cautionary tale for other authors, who would serve
their readers better by worrying more about the book at hand
and not the possible spin-offs.
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 17, 2014
the Victorian era explorer Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890), as
the hero of a science fiction novel set thousands of years in the
future. Even stranger, Burton dies in the second sentence of the
novel. Stranger still, he dies several hundred additional times
during the course of the book.
I have to give credit to Philip José Farmer for
thinking outside the box. And thinking outside
the galaxy. And thinking beyond traditional life
and death constructs. Heck, just imagining life
and death as constructs is…well, as Dino
might have said: Ain’t that a kick in the pants?
As you may have guessed by now, To Your
Scattered Bodies Go starts where the happily-
ever-after story must, by definition, come to
an end. Farmer's novel explores the afterlife,
and if his tale takes place in heaven, it is a
heaven unlike any envisioned by the world's
various sects and creeds. Everybody who
ever lived simply wakes up, naked and hairless
and restored to the body they had when they were younger.
Relocated to a pastoral valley alongside an immensely long
river, Sumerians rub shoulders with Mayans, and Nazis get
neighborly with ancient Romans. Everyone has been given a
large empty container, which they come to call grails, that
magically gets replenished on a regular basis with food and
drink, as well as cigarettes, pot and a hallucinogenic gum. Maybe
God did all this—who else would mount such a full-scale
resurrection?—but if so, He isn't showing His face.
Although much has changed in the afterlife, a few things remain
constant. Skeptics are still skeptical, and believers still believe.
Some suspect that a scientific explanation can account for
this resurrection of the flesh, while others join up with the Church
of the Second Chance, which proclaims that new life has been
granted fallible humans so that they can make an improvement
over their flawed first existence. But one thing is certain: there
is no opting out of this new scheme. Anyone who dies in the
afterlife—and many are, given the inevitable rivalries and
confrontations of a nascent society—is simply resurrected
again, although in a far distant locale along the river bank.
Think of it as a kind of Witness Protection Program for the
born again.
Burton, however, is more suspicious than his fellow re-animated
neighbors. He had a brief glimpse of an intermediary stage
between death and rebirth, and saw a body holding zone and
the people running it. Other bits and pieces of evidence convince
him that his new home isn't heaven; rather, he has been enlisted,
along with billions of others, in some grand if mysterious social
engineering experiment.
Burton decides that he wants to find and confront the people
running the experiment. The facts at his disposal suggest that
Ethicals (his name for the hidden agents operating the 'heaven'
simulation) live at the source of the enormous river that spans
this brave, new world. Meanwhile, the Ethicals appear curious
about Burton, and send out disguised agents, who can blend
in with the resurrected population, to track him down.
The premise of To Your Scattered Bodies Go is ingenious, and
in the early stages of the novel, Farmer captivates his readers
with a story that is both mysterious and surprising, and possibly
even profound. How many genre stories tackle big questions
about the meaning of life, and still have time for chase scenes
and hand-to-hand combat? Farmer entertains with the non-stop
action, even as he delights with his grasp of how humans from
different eras and backgrounds might react to a sudden second
chance at life. For the first 100 pages or so, he seems poised to
deliver a different kind of sci-fi novel, a book of ideas as well
as adventure.
Yet by the midpoint of the novel, Farmer has mostly abandoned
the ideas. Readers now understand why our author selected a
famous historical explorer as his protagonist. To Your Scattered
Bodies Go has turned into a swashbuckling travel story. It's
successful on that level, but fails to deliver on the promises of
the high-powered concepts that made the opening pages so
capitvating. Farmer has a chance to rectify this at the conclusion,
but opts for the most crass commercial choice of them all—namely
to use the final section of his novel to build up the reader’s interest
in a sequel rather than offer a resolution to the plots he has set in
motion. As it turned out, he was able to milk this premise for another
four novels, not to mention assorted short stories—and even
managed to convince other authors to create 'Riverworld' tales
of their own.
So I give Philip José Farmer credit for establishing a lucrative
franchise. Later came the TV miniseries, the video game and
other merchandising deals. But I would have been more pleased
if Mr. Farmer had narrowed his scope and delivered a solid and
coherent novel. This didn't prevent him from winning a Hugo for
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, but I can’t help lament the career
arc of this talented writer, who stood out at mid-career for his
Joycean ambitions (see his novella "Riders of the Purple Wage"
in Dangerous Visions—it’s one of the boldest sci-fi works of the
1960s), but eventually opted to churn out retread stories about
Tarzan, Doc Savage, Oz and any other pulp idea he could beg,
borrow or steal.
So if there really is a Church of the Second Chance, as Farmer
postulates in his Riverworld books, and people actually get an
opportunity to rectify the mistakes of their previous existence, I
hope that our writer will aim a little higher the next time around.
I can’t deny it: Philip José Farmer was one of the most talented
science fiction authors of his generation, and when he put his
mind to it, he could achieve stunning effects. In fact, he does
that for long spells in this novel. But Riverworld is perhaps best
read as a cautionary tale for other authors, who would serve
their readers better by worrying more about the book at hand
and not the possible spin-offs.
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 17, 2014
| To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer Essay by Ted Gioia |
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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
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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
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www.twitter.com/tedgioia
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian
Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian
Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian
Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R.
Nova
Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
The Centauri Device
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Lafferty, R.A.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Malzberg, Barry N.
Herovit's World
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Moorcock, Michael
Behold the Man
Moorcock, Michael
The Final Programme
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada, or Ardor
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Percy, Walker
Love in the Ruins
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna
The Female Man
Saramago, José
Blindness
Sheckley, Robert
Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Silverberg, Robert
The World Inside
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Spinrad, Norman
Bug Jack Barron
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James
Warm Worlds and Otherwise
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
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The World of Null A
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Around the Moon
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From the Earth to the Moon
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Cat's Cradle
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Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
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Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
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The Bear Comes Home
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Lord of Light
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This Immortal
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Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
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Science Fiction 1958-1975: A Reading List
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