but is less forthcoming about what her allegory represents. Ursula K. Le Guin, for her part,
prefers to describe Hav as science fiction—but there isn't much science here, and surprisingly
little deference to the usual modes of fiction. Some readers have even assumed that the book
is non-fiction, and pestered the author for information on how to visit Hav. I think "alternative
history" might be a better label, but best of all would be "alternative geography"—except for
he unfortunate fact that there is no fiction genre called alternative geography.
In other words, Jan Morris has written a novel that is in a class
by itself…but only because no one else got admitted to the class.
Morris, by trade, is not a novelist, but rather a travel writer—and
ranks among the finest of her generation. She has written
acclaimed book-length studies of Hong Kong, Oxford, Trieste,
Sydney, Venice, and other locales. So who can be surprised
that, when Morris decided to turn her hand to fiction, she
wrote a novel in the form of a travel book. But with one catch:
the city of Hav doesn’t exist. Her novel is the account of
imaginary visits to make-believe locales.
Yet her narrative possesses such intense realism that you can
well understand the confusion of the member of the Royal
Geographic Society who contacted Morris hoping for guidance
in finding Hav on the map. Of course, it appears on no map,
but you can almost imagine where it would reside on a globe,
a gateway between East and West, a conduit on important
waterways and trade routes, centrally located in the center of
things, yet also off the beaten track, easy to ignore and neglect.
This novel was originally written as two separate narratives, published more than two
decades apart. The first two-thirds of the book were issued under the name Last Letters
from Hav in 1985, and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Morris published a lengthy
coda entitled Hav of the Myrmidons in 2006, and both works now reside a single volume
entitled Hav. The two narratives combine seamlessly into a coherent novel, and I suspect
that many readers wouldn’t be aware that more than quarter century separated their
writing.
Morris offers a peculiar, but persuasive, explanation for why she turned to fiction to create
a work of travel literature. "I had come to realize that I really seldom knew what I was writing
about," she admits. "I did not truly understand the multitudinous forces—political, economic,
historical, social, moral, mythical — that worked away beneath the forces of all societies.
I blundered around the planet, groping for meanings but not often absolutely understanding
them, and working only with an artist’s often misguided intuition." Her goal with her letters
from Hav was to embrace this sense of mystery, to show that vibrant communities possess
a concatenation of significations and forces that resist reduction into travel book spiel.
That’s an extraordinary self-effacing admission from a
travel writer of the highest order. I will pass over the
issues of whether this sense of humility (very rare in
Morris’s generation, but perhaps even rarer now when
blustering certainty is the calling-card of punditry of any
sort) may have actually contributed to Morris’s superiority
as an interpreter of various cultures. I am dealing with
Hav now, not Hong Kong or Venice, and here Morris
has achieved something quite magical. She has written an account that probes into the
enigma of an unfamiliar place, but actually adds to the mystery the more it probes. The
impact on the reader is akin to the effect of reading a detective story, only to find more
corpses in the final chapter, and all the suspects possessing air-tight alibis.
Hav, you see, has no shortage of perpetrators, sometimes in the guise of individuals—a
tight-lipped port master, an effusive and discreet casino manager, a caliph-in-exile,
a British consul who doubles as a spy, a wealthy import-export agent with inexplicable
sources of revenue, etc.—but more often in the form of traditions, some of them dating
back to Marco Polo, the Crusaders, Alexander the Great, and even further back to (is
it possible?) the great Achilles himself. On the surface, Hav is a busy multicultural city-
state, a model of tolerance where different races and religions coexist and often collaborate
in all spheres of civic and private life. But the longer our narrator (named Jan Morris, by
the way) spends in the Hav, the more she realizes that hidden tensions and conflicting
ambitions undergird almost everything she sees.
Morris (the author, not the character) has mentioned that the events of 9-11 contributed to
her interest in returning to the subject of Hav, and continuing the story she had begun in
1980s. It would be going too far to claim that Morris anticipated the terrorist attack that
destroyed the World Trade Center and changed the face of modern geopolitics. But she
deserves absolute acclaim for grasping the kind of submerged conflict in world views that
can manifest itself in an instant, and permanently shift the dynamics of everyday life.
This is a deep book, and deserves careful reading. But I fear that Morris has taken a
path here that most readers will resist. People read books for two main reasons. The
close-minded read in order to confirm that they already possess all the answers. The
more open-minded read in order to expand their knowledge of the world. But Morris is
bypassing both of those groups, and hoping to entice a third category of readers: those
who are willing to immerse themselves in a subject in order to realize how profound the
mystery really is. This is a tiny subset of individuals—people who can truly echo
Socrates’s boast that all he knew was that he knew nothing. Don’t dismiss that Socratic
ultra-minority out of hand: the cultivation of mystery can bring both aesthetic and
pragmatic insights inaccessible to others with more confidence in their explanatory models.
I recall a few other works of fiction that have celebrated the deep, unfathomable nature of
human relations—their ranks include Henry James The Ambassadors, James Joyce’s
“The Dead,” Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea, Soren Kierkegaard's Repetition—and I mull
over the incomprehension (if not outright) hostility they have sometimes evoked. No,
there isn't much of a market for books like Hav. But there is a need, a pressing one at
that. So even if I admit that Hav may have a miniscule target market—if I can borrow the
publishing industry term—at least it is in excellent company.
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: January 17, 2018
prefers to describe Hav as science fiction—but there isn't much science here, and surprisingly
little deference to the usual modes of fiction. Some readers have even assumed that the book
is non-fiction, and pestered the author for information on how to visit Hav. I think "alternative
history" might be a better label, but best of all would be "alternative geography"—except for
he unfortunate fact that there is no fiction genre called alternative geography.
In other words, Jan Morris has written a novel that is in a class
by itself…but only because no one else got admitted to the class.
Morris, by trade, is not a novelist, but rather a travel writer—and
ranks among the finest of her generation. She has written
acclaimed book-length studies of Hong Kong, Oxford, Trieste,
Sydney, Venice, and other locales. So who can be surprised
that, when Morris decided to turn her hand to fiction, she
wrote a novel in the form of a travel book. But with one catch:
the city of Hav doesn’t exist. Her novel is the account of
imaginary visits to make-believe locales.
Yet her narrative possesses such intense realism that you can
well understand the confusion of the member of the Royal
Geographic Society who contacted Morris hoping for guidance
in finding Hav on the map. Of course, it appears on no map,
but you can almost imagine where it would reside on a globe,
a gateway between East and West, a conduit on important
waterways and trade routes, centrally located in the center of
things, yet also off the beaten track, easy to ignore and neglect.
This novel was originally written as two separate narratives, published more than two
decades apart. The first two-thirds of the book were issued under the name Last Letters
from Hav in 1985, and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Morris published a lengthy
coda entitled Hav of the Myrmidons in 2006, and both works now reside a single volume
entitled Hav. The two narratives combine seamlessly into a coherent novel, and I suspect
that many readers wouldn’t be aware that more than quarter century separated their
writing.
Morris offers a peculiar, but persuasive, explanation for why she turned to fiction to create
a work of travel literature. "I had come to realize that I really seldom knew what I was writing
about," she admits. "I did not truly understand the multitudinous forces—political, economic,
historical, social, moral, mythical — that worked away beneath the forces of all societies.
I blundered around the planet, groping for meanings but not often absolutely understanding
them, and working only with an artist’s often misguided intuition." Her goal with her letters
from Hav was to embrace this sense of mystery, to show that vibrant communities possess
a concatenation of significations and forces that resist reduction into travel book spiel.
That’s an extraordinary self-effacing admission from a
travel writer of the highest order. I will pass over the
issues of whether this sense of humility (very rare in
Morris’s generation, but perhaps even rarer now when
blustering certainty is the calling-card of punditry of any
sort) may have actually contributed to Morris’s superiority
as an interpreter of various cultures. I am dealing with
Hav now, not Hong Kong or Venice, and here Morris
has achieved something quite magical. She has written an account that probes into the
enigma of an unfamiliar place, but actually adds to the mystery the more it probes. The
impact on the reader is akin to the effect of reading a detective story, only to find more
corpses in the final chapter, and all the suspects possessing air-tight alibis.
Hav, you see, has no shortage of perpetrators, sometimes in the guise of individuals—a
tight-lipped port master, an effusive and discreet casino manager, a caliph-in-exile,
a British consul who doubles as a spy, a wealthy import-export agent with inexplicable
sources of revenue, etc.—but more often in the form of traditions, some of them dating
back to Marco Polo, the Crusaders, Alexander the Great, and even further back to (is
it possible?) the great Achilles himself. On the surface, Hav is a busy multicultural city-
state, a model of tolerance where different races and religions coexist and often collaborate
in all spheres of civic and private life. But the longer our narrator (named Jan Morris, by
the way) spends in the Hav, the more she realizes that hidden tensions and conflicting
ambitions undergird almost everything she sees.
Morris (the author, not the character) has mentioned that the events of 9-11 contributed to
her interest in returning to the subject of Hav, and continuing the story she had begun in
1980s. It would be going too far to claim that Morris anticipated the terrorist attack that
destroyed the World Trade Center and changed the face of modern geopolitics. But she
deserves absolute acclaim for grasping the kind of submerged conflict in world views that
can manifest itself in an instant, and permanently shift the dynamics of everyday life.
This is a deep book, and deserves careful reading. But I fear that Morris has taken a
path here that most readers will resist. People read books for two main reasons. The
close-minded read in order to confirm that they already possess all the answers. The
more open-minded read in order to expand their knowledge of the world. But Morris is
bypassing both of those groups, and hoping to entice a third category of readers: those
who are willing to immerse themselves in a subject in order to realize how profound the
mystery really is. This is a tiny subset of individuals—people who can truly echo
Socrates’s boast that all he knew was that he knew nothing. Don’t dismiss that Socratic
ultra-minority out of hand: the cultivation of mystery can bring both aesthetic and
pragmatic insights inaccessible to others with more confidence in their explanatory models.
I recall a few other works of fiction that have celebrated the deep, unfathomable nature of
human relations—their ranks include Henry James The Ambassadors, James Joyce’s
“The Dead,” Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea, Soren Kierkegaard's Repetition—and I mull
over the incomprehension (if not outright) hostility they have sometimes evoked. No,
there isn't much of a market for books like Hav. But there is a need, a pressing one at
that. So even if I admit that Hav may have a miniscule target market—if I can borrow the
publishing industry term—at least it is in excellent company.
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: January 17, 2018
Check out our sister sites:
The New Canon
Great literary works
published since 1985
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Reviews of current books
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Experimental works of mystery &
suspense
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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
| Hav by Jan Morris |
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.
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 |
"I had come to realize
that I really seldom knew
what I was writing about."
that I really seldom knew
what I was writing about."
Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
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
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haig, Matt
The Humans
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
Morris, Jan
Hav
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
North, Claire
The First 15 Lives of Harry August
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
Weir, Andy
The Martian
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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Los Angeles Review of Books
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copies and promotional materials from
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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
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haig, Matt
The Humans
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
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Practical Magic
Houellebecq, Michel
Submission
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Never Let Me Go
Jackson, Shirley
The Haunting of Hill House
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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
Morris, Jan
Hav
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
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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
North, Claire
The First 15 Lives of Harry August
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
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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
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King Kong
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The Castle of Otranto
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Weir, Andy
The Martian
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
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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
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