Ian McDonald’s Brasyl is almost as sprawling as the country that serves as its setting, and
just as hard to categorize. I've traveled around Brazil many times, both for business and
pleasure—that binary opposition, beloved by customs officials, and supposedly
representing incompatible states; but these, like much else in this nation, blur together.
In fact this country seems to thrive on paradox. The most commonly heard pronouncement
from its citizens is a self-canceling bon mot: "Brazil is the country of the future and always
will be." The first time I heard a Brazilian say it, I laughed. But after a while, I stopped treating
it as a joke.
McDonald's novel takes that quip, and treats it as a springboard
for a plot. In his story line, incompatible time lines coexist, an
infinity of favelas and Copacabanas, mixing together like a cosmic
feijoada stewing over a quantum theory fire. The narrative leaps
from story line to story line, in the manner of Cloud Atlas (probably
the closest counterpart to McDonald’s book), Gods Without Men
and other recent works in what I have called the "fragmented novel"
genre. But while other books in this style sometimes seem contrived
—excuses to turn short stories into a quasi-novel—Brasyl comes
across as pleasingly holistic and integrated despites its built-in
disjunctions.
Three stories intersect, representing the past, present and future
of Brazil. In 1732, a Jesuit priest named Luis Quinn arrives in the
Portuguese colony on a mission to discipline a rogue missionary
who has set up an authoritarian fiefdom, built on slavery and
syncretic religion, in a remote Amazonian hideaway. In 2006,
a reality TV producer gets caught up in high profile scandal when
an impostor who looks exactly like her seeks to destroy her career
and closest relationships. In 2032, the cross-dressing Edson finds
himself entangled with high-tech criminals who use quantum computers to elude the mass
surveillance state of a futuristic cyberpunk Brazil.
Each of these three stories is written with extraordinary vigor and rhapsodic prose. There
isn't a lazy sentence in this whole book. I might even accuse McDonald of veering into poetry,
if it wasn't for the action-packed plots, slangy dialogue, larger-than-life characters and
crazy pacing of Brasyl. The poetry on display here is more like a poetry slam marathon,
perhaps viewed through a psychedelic haze. At no point does this book even approach
the formulaic writing of the genre world, and it almost certainly displeases those who are
trying to turn the whole sci-fi category into a home for young adult narratives, teachable
moments, and downsized sentences. Make no mistake, this book is a challenging read,
but in the best possible way.
I mentioned, at the start, that Brasyl is hard to
categorize. That hasn’t prevented the book
industry from squeezing it into the sci-fi category,
even if its close counterparts (let me mention
Cloud Atlas, again) get embraced as serious
literary fiction. I imagine McDonald is happy with
that decision, which gives him access to readers,
reviewers, and awards consideration in the genre
world. I note that Brasyl earned nominations for
the Nebula, the Locus and the John W. Campbell
prizes, and picked up a British Science Fiction
Award for best novel. But this is a book that really
deserves to find readers in MFA departments too, and among those who hand out the
more illustrious Booker Awards. Those barriers are breaking down, but not fast enough,
and much of the crossover is driven by marketing considerations rather than the books
themselves.
Eventually the characters in these stories cross over into each other’s plots. Of course,
this must involve heavy-duty technology—after all, this is supposed to be a sci-fi story.
I hope I’m not disappointing you when I say that some of the most advance tech here is
extracted from an Amazonian frog. Okay, there’s some very advanced quantum computing
at play in Brasyl, and a super-duper knife. But that pretty much exhausts the list.
At times, this novel will remind you more of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness or
V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River than of anything from the Asimov-to-Zelazny playbook.
But it's a lot more fun than either of those pessimistic tales of human failings. You can’t
really capture the spirit of Brazilian life in a book unless you throw in a bit of Carnival as well
as some World Cup excesses, and McDonald doesn't stint on either of those categories.
In fact, my favorite character in Brasyl is real-life sports figure Moacir Barbosa Nascimento,
the goalie often blamed for the nation’s defeat in the 1950 World Cup. This loss would
follow Barbosa the rest of his life. He once quipped that even murderers in Brazil only
get sentenced to thirty years, but he was punished for a full half-century—in fact, he served
as a symbol of national disgrace and target for abuse until his death in 2000. What a
wonderful notion, possible only in a book with alternative Brazils in other time-space
continuums, to give our goat (no, not GOAT) of a goalie another chance to prove his mettle.
If this sounds very futuristic, let me add that our author does not shy away from going
old school. You will get sword fights, car chases and martial arts—the latter in the guise
of the stylized Brazilian combat dance known as capoeira—and other staples of
traditional adventure stories. I am almost tempted to say that this story would work better
on the screen—as a film or TV miniseries—than as a book. But that wouldn’t be fair.
Brasyl is a masterful literary achievement, and even the best computer-generated special
effects couldn't quite replicate what McDonald delivers on the page. Even so, some
smart producer ought to snatch up the rights.
Ted Gioia writes on music, literature and popular culture. He is the author of ten books. His most
recent book is How to Listen to Jazz (Basic Books).
Publication date: February 16, 2018
just as hard to categorize. I've traveled around Brazil many times, both for business and
pleasure—that binary opposition, beloved by customs officials, and supposedly
representing incompatible states; but these, like much else in this nation, blur together.
In fact this country seems to thrive on paradox. The most commonly heard pronouncement
from its citizens is a self-canceling bon mot: "Brazil is the country of the future and always
will be." The first time I heard a Brazilian say it, I laughed. But after a while, I stopped treating
it as a joke.
McDonald's novel takes that quip, and treats it as a springboard
for a plot. In his story line, incompatible time lines coexist, an
infinity of favelas and Copacabanas, mixing together like a cosmic
feijoada stewing over a quantum theory fire. The narrative leaps
from story line to story line, in the manner of Cloud Atlas (probably
the closest counterpart to McDonald’s book), Gods Without Men
and other recent works in what I have called the "fragmented novel"
genre. But while other books in this style sometimes seem contrived
—excuses to turn short stories into a quasi-novel—Brasyl comes
across as pleasingly holistic and integrated despites its built-in
disjunctions.
Three stories intersect, representing the past, present and future
of Brazil. In 1732, a Jesuit priest named Luis Quinn arrives in the
Portuguese colony on a mission to discipline a rogue missionary
who has set up an authoritarian fiefdom, built on slavery and
syncretic religion, in a remote Amazonian hideaway. In 2006,
a reality TV producer gets caught up in high profile scandal when
an impostor who looks exactly like her seeks to destroy her career
and closest relationships. In 2032, the cross-dressing Edson finds
himself entangled with high-tech criminals who use quantum computers to elude the mass
surveillance state of a futuristic cyberpunk Brazil.
Each of these three stories is written with extraordinary vigor and rhapsodic prose. There
isn't a lazy sentence in this whole book. I might even accuse McDonald of veering into poetry,
if it wasn't for the action-packed plots, slangy dialogue, larger-than-life characters and
crazy pacing of Brasyl. The poetry on display here is more like a poetry slam marathon,
perhaps viewed through a psychedelic haze. At no point does this book even approach
the formulaic writing of the genre world, and it almost certainly displeases those who are
trying to turn the whole sci-fi category into a home for young adult narratives, teachable
moments, and downsized sentences. Make no mistake, this book is a challenging read,
but in the best possible way.
I mentioned, at the start, that Brasyl is hard to
categorize. That hasn’t prevented the book
industry from squeezing it into the sci-fi category,
even if its close counterparts (let me mention
Cloud Atlas, again) get embraced as serious
literary fiction. I imagine McDonald is happy with
that decision, which gives him access to readers,
reviewers, and awards consideration in the genre
world. I note that Brasyl earned nominations for
the Nebula, the Locus and the John W. Campbell
prizes, and picked up a British Science Fiction
Award for best novel. But this is a book that really
deserves to find readers in MFA departments too, and among those who hand out the
more illustrious Booker Awards. Those barriers are breaking down, but not fast enough,
and much of the crossover is driven by marketing considerations rather than the books
themselves.
Eventually the characters in these stories cross over into each other’s plots. Of course,
this must involve heavy-duty technology—after all, this is supposed to be a sci-fi story.
I hope I’m not disappointing you when I say that some of the most advance tech here is
extracted from an Amazonian frog. Okay, there’s some very advanced quantum computing
at play in Brasyl, and a super-duper knife. But that pretty much exhausts the list.
At times, this novel will remind you more of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness or
V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River than of anything from the Asimov-to-Zelazny playbook.
But it's a lot more fun than either of those pessimistic tales of human failings. You can’t
really capture the spirit of Brazilian life in a book unless you throw in a bit of Carnival as well
as some World Cup excesses, and McDonald doesn't stint on either of those categories.
In fact, my favorite character in Brasyl is real-life sports figure Moacir Barbosa Nascimento,
the goalie often blamed for the nation’s defeat in the 1950 World Cup. This loss would
follow Barbosa the rest of his life. He once quipped that even murderers in Brazil only
get sentenced to thirty years, but he was punished for a full half-century—in fact, he served
as a symbol of national disgrace and target for abuse until his death in 2000. What a
wonderful notion, possible only in a book with alternative Brazils in other time-space
continuums, to give our goat (no, not GOAT) of a goalie another chance to prove his mettle.
If this sounds very futuristic, let me add that our author does not shy away from going
old school. You will get sword fights, car chases and martial arts—the latter in the guise
of the stylized Brazilian combat dance known as capoeira—and other staples of
traditional adventure stories. I am almost tempted to say that this story would work better
on the screen—as a film or TV miniseries—than as a book. But that wouldn’t be fair.
Brasyl is a masterful literary achievement, and even the best computer-generated special
effects couldn't quite replicate what McDonald delivers on the page. Even so, some
smart producer ought to snatch up the rights.
Ted Gioia writes on music, literature and popular culture. He is the author of ten books. His most
recent book is How to Listen to Jazz (Basic Books).
Publication date: February 16, 2018
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| Brasyl by Ian McDonald |
Essay by Ted Gioia
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50 favorite works of non-realist fiction
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will include works of magical realism,
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verisimilitude.
Click here for the other titles
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.
Click here for the other titles
| 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
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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
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This novel may remind
you more of Joseph
Conrad's Heart of Darkness
or V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in
the River than of anything
from the Asimov-to-Zelazny
playbook.
you more of Joseph
Conrad's Heart of Darkness
or V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in
the River than of anything
from the Asimov-to-Zelazny
playbook.
