20 books in this genre
Twenty reviews of encounters with minds that are not human. Stanisław Lem supplies two of the bleakest, a living ocean in Solaris and an undeciphered signal from space in His Master's Voice, and Arthur C. Clarke appears twice, with 2001 and Childhood's End. Several books make contact a question of language: Ted Chiang's title story follows a linguist learning an alien script, and China Miéville's Embassytown builds a whole society on a speech its human visitors can barely use. James Blish asks a Jesuit biologist what a sinless alien race means for his faith.
Arthur C. Clarke2001: A Space OdysseyTed Gioia weighs Stanley Kubrick's film of 2001: A Space Odyssey against Arthur C. Clarke's novel of the same name, and calls the contest a dead heat.→James BlishA Case of ConscienceOne distraught reader responded to A Case of Conscience by sending author James Blish a copy of the Vatican's teachings on extraterrestrials....→Octavia E. ButlerBloodchild and Other Stories"The truth is, I hate short story writing," Octavia Butler admits at the outset of this book, a collection of seven tales and two essays. "I am essentially a novelist," she adds. "The ideas that most interest me tend to be big."→Arthur C. ClarkeChildhood's EndConceptual Fiction celebrates great works of science fiction, fantasy, magical realism and alternate history. In this installment, Ted Gioia revies Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke→China MiévilleEmbassytown"My aim," explains science fiction author China Mieville "would be precisely to write the ripping yarn that is also sociologically serious and stylistically avant-garde. I mean, that's the Holy Grail right there."→Orson Scott CardEnder's GameReaders may feel as if they have stumbled out of Starship Troopers only to find themselves lost in a bizarre version of The Federalist Papers from an alternative universe.→Frederik PohlGatewayConceptual Fiction celebrate the great works of science fiction, fantasy, magical realism and alternate history. In this installment, Ted Gioia looks at Gateway by Frederik Pohl.→Stanisław LemHis Master's VoiceTed Gioia on Stanisław Lem's His Master's Voice, in which scientists try to decode a signal from space and Lem's doubt about science itself comes to the fore.→Larry NivenRingworldConceptual Fiction, created by Ted Gioia, celebrates great works of science fiction, fantasy, magical realism and alternative history. In this installment, Gioia reviews Ringworld by Larry Niven.→Stanisław LemSolarisA review of Stanisław Lem’s novel of a living ocean that answers its human observers with their own memories.→Ted ChiangStories of Your Life and OthersTed Chiang's debut collection Stories of Your Life and Others ranks among the finest short fiction of its whole decade, by Ted Gioia's careful reckoning.→Robert HeinleinStranger in a Strange LandTwo years after his novel Starship Troopers, which incurred charges that he was a militarist, Heinlein offered up Stranger in a Strange Land, with its paean to free love. That's like attending West Point in the morning, and leading a protest at Berkeley in the afternoon...→H.G. WellsThe First Men in the MoonJules Verne ridiculed this novel for its flippant disregard of Newton's laws. The propulsion device H.G. Wells uses to get to the moon is reminiscent of "Flubber" from Walt Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor.→Joe HaldemanThe Forever WarConceptual Fiction celebrate the great works of science fiction, fantasy, magical realism and alternate history. In this installment, Ted Gioia looks at The Forever War by Joe Haldenman.→Thomas M. DischThe GenocidesTed Gioia expects the unexpected from Thomas M. Disch, yet The Genocides still surprised him: a novel closer to the Book of Job than to New Wave sci-fi.→Matt HaigThe HumansScience fiction usually comes packed with a wallop. Death stars explode, or they aren't worthy of the name. Mystery viruses wipe out millions, and make the Black Plague look like a case of the sniffles. Galactic civilizations are subjugated, if they're lucky, or swallowed by black holes if they aren't.→Ray BradburyThe Martian ChroniclesMars is almost incidental to these stories. Ted Gioia on how Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles owes far more to Winesburg, Ohio than to space opera.→Cixin LiuThe Three-Body ProblemLiu's breakthrough comes from a simple, but powerful insight. The aliens don't even need to send the spaceship. In fact, they don't even need to appear in the story. The most significant impact of first contact is merely the knowledge that the higher power exists.→A.E. van VogtThe Voyage of the Space BeagleOkay, here's your tip sheet. If you like whales, read Moby Dick. If you prefer dogs, try The Call of the Wild. If you like horses for your literary courses, go for Black Beauty. But if you're looking for creepy monsters from outer space, this is your book.→Roger ZelaznyThis ImmortalRoger Zelazny obsessively incorporated religious themes into his sci-fi novels. But the basic moral rule in these pages was: do unto other before they get a chance to do unto you.→