"Time is a goon, right?" asks a passing character—in a book chock full of passing
characters—some one hundred pages into Jennifer Egan’s novel A Visit from the
Goon Squad. "Isn’t that the expression?"
"I’ve never heard that," comes the response.
"Would you disagree?"
There’s a pause, and finally the
considered judgment. "No."
Okay, I hadn't heard that saying
either According to my dictionary,
a goon is "someone big and dumb
who commits acts of violence for
money.” (My spouse chimes in
now: "No, that’s an NFL player…")
What’s Egan up to here? Although she is
serving up a brash rock-and-roll novel,
our author is clearly unconvinced by Mick Jagger’s assertion "Time is on my side"
or David Byrne’s proclamation that "Time isn’t after us. Time isn’t holding us." In A
Visit from the Goon Squad, Father Time has apparently sharpened his scythe and
joined a street gang.
Critics are forever tempted to compare novels to other novels—a lamentably
reductive process, but one that at least gives potential readers some measuring
rod for what they might encounter in a new work. So indulge me. In this instance,
Egan’s willingness to play fanciful games with chronology brings to mind two
famous books about heroes "unstuck" in time—or, borrowing Egan's jargon, books
in which time is a goon—Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and Audrey
Niffenegger's The Time Traveler’s Wife. But Egan’s work reminded me even
more forcefully of the one-story-begets-another virtuosity David Mitchell
demonstrated in his novel 2004 Cloud Atlas. In both works, each chapter is
connected to the next one in the same way I might, by playing the "six degrees of
separation" game, find my personal connection to the President of the US or the
Dalai Lama.
Like each of these three predecessors, Egan presents a genre mashup that mixes
in elements of science fiction without losing her book's pedigree as a "serious
book." I’ve written at length about this trend in contemporary fiction, and in
particular about imaginative power of recent works of literary fiction that borrow
genre elements, but Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is one of the most
striking examples yet of this tendency at work.
Yet Egan offers her own twists that you won’t find in any predecessor—both in the
formal structure and kaleidoscopic content of this brilliant work. Each chapter in A
Visit from the Goon Squad abandons the central plot of the preceding chapter, but
holds on to a least one familiar character—who serves a springboard to set
another story in motion. These separate tales are each so individually compelling,
that I was reluctant to move on to the next. Indeed, I feared that Egan was leaving
behind more loose threads than a frisky cat in a yarn store. But—mirabile dictu—
she somehow manages to resolve almost every plot complication during the
course of this peripatetic novel. And she does this, moreover, without every
returning directly to the plots she has abandoned. The structural wizardry involved
here is quite prepossessing.
That said, the content is as extravagant as the formal architecture of the novel.
Consider yourself forewarned: if you are looking for stories built on subtle aperçus
and ruminative accounts of the quotidian, you are advised to steer clear of A Visit
from the Goon Squad. A manic and maximalist sensibility pervades this work, and
as the chapters move along, Egan seems to be engaged in a game of can-you-top-
this with herself.
Which story here is the edgiest? Is it the tale of the NY publicist who takes on a
genocidal dictator as client, and makes him wear a fluffy hat to improve his
image? Is it the story of the journalist for a major magazine who interviews a starlet
over lunch, and then decides to abduct and assault her instead? Is it the interlude
about the ailing rock star who wants to go on a suicide tour, pushing himself so
hard on stage night after night that fans will come—if only to see if he will collapse
and die in mid-performance?
Yet the final sections of the book, which take place a decade or more in the future,
make these preliminary stories seem tame by comparison. Egan drags her key
characters into a dystopian nightmare scenario, a world ravaged by global
warming and waning resources. These stories stay true to Egan’s character-
driven approach to fiction—so the science and technology never become the main
course here, as in so many "genuine" sci-fi books. The landscape is more akin to
the futuristic urban environments that serve as backdrop to, say, Jonathan Lethem's
Chronic City or David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. By setting this part of the
book in the future, Egan is not driven by an obsession with gadgetry and
technology—although she offers some creative perspectives here. Rather, she
embraces the openness of unwritten history as a way of re-imagining the cultural
and personal perspectives of her story and as a springboard for psychologically
rich narrative development. She is as interested in what people's attitudes will be
like in the future as in their high tech accessories.
Her depiction of a world in which marketing concepts become psychological
frameworks—imagine Freud rewritten by the faculty of Harvard Business School,
and you will get an idea of what she is up to—is both insightful and hilarious. But I
am even more shaken by her attempt to project both the future of storytelling and
the future of music. What do they look like? It’s worse than I could have believed,
and all too plausible: stories morph into corporate PowerPoint presentations and
the music industry is built on the tastes of 4 year-olds. In all honesty, these visions
are just logical extensions of what we already see around us—but perhaps that
very fact is what makes them so frightening.
I read and enjoyed Egan’s previous novel The Keep, but she has moved up a
notch, or maybe even two, with his follow-up work. In short, A Visit from the Goon
Squad is an important work, a crystallization of many of the most provocative
developments in contemporary fiction, yet also freshly original in its deviations and
digressions. It's worth adding that A Visit from the Goon Squad is also what non-
academics call “a good read.” And that rare combination of smarts and sheer
storytelling panache will keep me on the lookout for what else this very creative
author might have up her sleeve.
characters—some one hundred pages into Jennifer Egan’s novel A Visit from the
Goon Squad. "Isn’t that the expression?"
"I’ve never heard that," comes the response.
"Would you disagree?"
There’s a pause, and finally the
considered judgment. "No."
Okay, I hadn't heard that saying
either According to my dictionary,
a goon is "someone big and dumb
who commits acts of violence for
money.” (My spouse chimes in
now: "No, that’s an NFL player…")
What’s Egan up to here? Although she is
serving up a brash rock-and-roll novel,
our author is clearly unconvinced by Mick Jagger’s assertion "Time is on my side"
or David Byrne’s proclamation that "Time isn’t after us. Time isn’t holding us." In A
Visit from the Goon Squad, Father Time has apparently sharpened his scythe and
joined a street gang.
Critics are forever tempted to compare novels to other novels—a lamentably
reductive process, but one that at least gives potential readers some measuring
rod for what they might encounter in a new work. So indulge me. In this instance,
Egan’s willingness to play fanciful games with chronology brings to mind two
famous books about heroes "unstuck" in time—or, borrowing Egan's jargon, books
in which time is a goon—Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and Audrey
Niffenegger's The Time Traveler’s Wife. But Egan’s work reminded me even
more forcefully of the one-story-begets-another virtuosity David Mitchell
demonstrated in his novel 2004 Cloud Atlas. In both works, each chapter is
connected to the next one in the same way I might, by playing the "six degrees of
separation" game, find my personal connection to the President of the US or the
Dalai Lama.
Like each of these three predecessors, Egan presents a genre mashup that mixes
in elements of science fiction without losing her book's pedigree as a "serious
book." I’ve written at length about this trend in contemporary fiction, and in
particular about imaginative power of recent works of literary fiction that borrow
genre elements, but Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is one of the most
striking examples yet of this tendency at work.
Yet Egan offers her own twists that you won’t find in any predecessor—both in the
formal structure and kaleidoscopic content of this brilliant work. Each chapter in A
Visit from the Goon Squad abandons the central plot of the preceding chapter, but
holds on to a least one familiar character—who serves a springboard to set
another story in motion. These separate tales are each so individually compelling,
that I was reluctant to move on to the next. Indeed, I feared that Egan was leaving
behind more loose threads than a frisky cat in a yarn store. But—mirabile dictu—
she somehow manages to resolve almost every plot complication during the
course of this peripatetic novel. And she does this, moreover, without every
returning directly to the plots she has abandoned. The structural wizardry involved
here is quite prepossessing.
That said, the content is as extravagant as the formal architecture of the novel.
Consider yourself forewarned: if you are looking for stories built on subtle aperçus
and ruminative accounts of the quotidian, you are advised to steer clear of A Visit
from the Goon Squad. A manic and maximalist sensibility pervades this work, and
as the chapters move along, Egan seems to be engaged in a game of can-you-top-
this with herself.
Which story here is the edgiest? Is it the tale of the NY publicist who takes on a
genocidal dictator as client, and makes him wear a fluffy hat to improve his
image? Is it the story of the journalist for a major magazine who interviews a starlet
over lunch, and then decides to abduct and assault her instead? Is it the interlude
about the ailing rock star who wants to go on a suicide tour, pushing himself so
hard on stage night after night that fans will come—if only to see if he will collapse
and die in mid-performance?
Yet the final sections of the book, which take place a decade or more in the future,
make these preliminary stories seem tame by comparison. Egan drags her key
characters into a dystopian nightmare scenario, a world ravaged by global
warming and waning resources. These stories stay true to Egan’s character-
driven approach to fiction—so the science and technology never become the main
course here, as in so many "genuine" sci-fi books. The landscape is more akin to
the futuristic urban environments that serve as backdrop to, say, Jonathan Lethem's
Chronic City or David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. By setting this part of the
book in the future, Egan is not driven by an obsession with gadgetry and
technology—although she offers some creative perspectives here. Rather, she
embraces the openness of unwritten history as a way of re-imagining the cultural
and personal perspectives of her story and as a springboard for psychologically
rich narrative development. She is as interested in what people's attitudes will be
like in the future as in their high tech accessories.
Her depiction of a world in which marketing concepts become psychological
frameworks—imagine Freud rewritten by the faculty of Harvard Business School,
and you will get an idea of what she is up to—is both insightful and hilarious. But I
am even more shaken by her attempt to project both the future of storytelling and
the future of music. What do they look like? It’s worse than I could have believed,
and all too plausible: stories morph into corporate PowerPoint presentations and
the music industry is built on the tastes of 4 year-olds. In all honesty, these visions
are just logical extensions of what we already see around us—but perhaps that
very fact is what makes them so frightening.
I read and enjoyed Egan’s previous novel The Keep, but she has moved up a
notch, or maybe even two, with his follow-up work. In short, A Visit from the Goon
Squad is an important work, a crystallization of many of the most provocative
developments in contemporary fiction, yet also freshly original in its deviations and
digressions. It's worth adding that A Visit from the Goon Squad is also what non-
academics call “a good read.” And that rare combination of smarts and sheer
storytelling panache will keep me on the lookout for what else this very creative
author might have up her sleeve.
Check out our sister sites:
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published since 1985
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Radical, unconventional and
experimental fiction
The New Canon
Great literary works
published since 1985
Great Books Guide
Reviews of current books
Postmodern Mystery
Experimental works of mystery &
suspense
Fractious Fiction
Radical, unconventional and
experimental fiction
| A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan |
Essay by Ted Gioia
Ted Gioia is publishing essays on his
50 favorite works of non-realist fiction
released since 2000. Featured books
will include works of magical realism,
alternative history, sci-fi, horror, and
fantasy, as well as mainstream literary
fiction that pushes boundaries and
challenges conventional notions of
verisimilitude.
50 favorite works of non-realist fiction
released since 2000. Featured books
will include works of magical realism,
alternative history, sci-fi, horror, and
fantasy, as well as mainstream literary
fiction that pushes boundaries and
challenges conventional notions of
verisimilitude.
| conceptual fiction Exploring the Non-Realist Tradition in 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 Blind Assassin
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Bacigalupi, Paolo
The Windup Girl
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
Barker, Clive
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bierce, Ambrose
The Complete Short Stories
Blackwood, Algernon
The Complete John Silence Stories
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
Brooks, Max
World War Z
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Butler, Octavia E.
Fledgling
Campbell, Ramsey
Demons by Daylight
Campbell, Ramsey
The Nameless
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
Chambers, Robert W.
The King in Yellow
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
Cline, Ernest
Ready Player One
Crichton, Michael
Jurassic Park
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
Dickens, Charles
A Christmas Carol
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
Egan, Jennifer
A Visit from the Goon Squad
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
Fowles, John
A Maggot
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gardner, John
Grendel
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
Hendrix, Grady
Horrorstör
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Joe Hill
Heart-Shaped Box
Hill, Susan
The Woman in Black
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Houellebecq, Michel
Submission
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Never Let Me Go
Jackson, Shirley
The Haunting of Hill House
James, Henry
The Turn of the Screw
James, M.R.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Ketchum, Jack
Off Season
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
King, Stephen
Carrie
King, Stephen
Pet Sematary
Koja, Kathe
The Cipher
Krilanovich, Grace
The Orange Eats Creeps
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
Our Lady of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Levin, Ira
Rosemary's Baby
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Lindqvist, John Ajvide
Let the Right One In
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Lovecraft, H.P.
Tales
Machen, Arthur
The Great God Pan
Malzberg, Barry N.
Herovit's World
Mandel, Emily St. John
Station Eleven
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
I Am Legend
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
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Wizard of the Crow
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
Oyeyemi, Helen
White is for Witching
Percy, Walker
Love in the Ruins
Poe, Edgar Allan
Tales of Mystery & Imagination
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Rice, Anne
Interview with the Vampire
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Roth, Philip
The Plot Against America
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, Clark Ashton
The Dark Eidolon
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Straub, Peter
Ghost Story
Spinrad, Norman
Bug Jack Barron
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Stoker, Bram
Dracula
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
Tryon, Thomas
The Other
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
The Dragon Masters
Vance, Jack
Emphyrio
Vance, Jack
The Languages of Pao
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vollmann, William T
Last Stories and Other Stories
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wallace, Edgar
King Kong
Walpole, Horace
The Castle of Otranto
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
Wong, David
John Dies at the End
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Yamada, Taichi
Strangers
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Zelazny, Roger
This Immortal
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
My Year of Horrible Reading
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
The Most Secretive Sci-Fi Author
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
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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 Blind Assassin
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Bacigalupi, Paolo
The Windup Girl
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
Barker, Clive
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bierce, Ambrose
The Complete Short Stories
Blackwood, Algernon
The Complete John Silence Stories
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
Brooks, Max
World War Z
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Butler, Octavia E.
Fledgling
Campbell, Ramsey
Demons by Daylight
Campbell, Ramsey
The Nameless
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
Chambers, Robert W.
The King in Yellow
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
Cline, Ernest
Ready Player One
Crichton, Michael
Jurassic Park
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
Dickens, Charles
A Christmas Carol
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
Egan, Jennifer
A Visit from the Goon Squad
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
Fowles, John
A Maggot
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gardner, John
Grendel
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Burning Chrome
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Carrie
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The Cipher
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The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
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Rosemary's Baby
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Magic for Beginners
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Love in the Ruins
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John Dies at the End
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Lord of Light
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