Is William T. Vollmann really the name of an author? I’m no conspiracy
theorist, but I’m convinced that more than one person is behind these
books. The Vollmann oeuvre is like the Kennedy assassination—you
can't pin it on a single suspect. There’s too much going on here for such
a simplistic explanation. Somebody sniff around that grassy knolll
behind the Vollmann residence. I’m certain you’ll find a bevvy of
conspirators toiling away on ghostwritten manuscripts.
Do you know what the name Vollmann means?
It translate roughly as "man of many people."
That a clue, my friends. By the way, I note that
Vollmann claims to have studied at Cornell—the
same place that Thomas Pynchon attended. Then
he went to Berkeley, the same year as the first
Unabomber explosion in that city (the FBI took
note of that 'coincidence'). Then Vollmann went to
Afghanistan, at the same time that Osama Bin Laden
showed up there. Finally he moved to Sacramento,
and was spotted there when the Terminator took
over the governor’s mansion.
Let those who have eyes, see.
But you don’t need to hire a private investigator to figure out that an
individual named William T. Vollmann didn’t write all those books. You
just need to take a look at them. No single person could serve up so
much verbiage. Take a look at his 'essay' Rising Up and Rising Down,
which fills seven volumes and more than three thousand pages. It came
out at the same time that "Vollmann" was publishing his Seven Dream
series, which is even longer! And in his spare time, he was serving up
800 page books the way the pimply boy at Baskin Robbins scoops out ice
cream cones on a hot summer day.
If you still hold on to the 'lone gunman' hypothesis, take a look at the
books themselves. Then ask yourself: which author is the real William T.
Vollmann? Is it the war correspondent who dispassionately reports on
global conflicts? Is it the louche and bohemian author who hangs out in
the San Francisco Tenderloin? Is it the cultivated admirer of Japanese
Noh theater, or the student of Norse culture, or the observer of US
border politics, or the author of travel literature?
Related Essay
William T. Vollmann & the Bumbling Shostakovich by Ted Gioia
And what about Vollmann’s recent reinvention as a horror writer? Yes,
you heard what I said: a horror writer. And in typical Vollmann fashion,
he tosses off a 700-page collection of stories almost as an appetizer to his
high-profile novel, The Dying Grass—almost 1,400 pages!—that was
released a few months later. In the forest-killing world of Mr. Vollmann,
a 700-page book is what they call, in New Orleans, a lagniappe, a little
something extra for the fans.
But the same multiple personality disorder that permeates Vollmann’s
other books reappears in this collection of terrifying tales. Here we find a
Czech ghost story, a Japanese ghost story, a Mexican ghost story, an
Italian ghost story, and a host of other narratives, each infused with local
color, regional history and colloquial phraseology. Could we perhaps
have purchased a UNESCO anthology of ghost stories? These couldn't
all be written by the same author, could they?
The ghosts are as changeable as the settings in this volume. In the
context of a Vollmann story, ghosts rarely get around to haunting. They
have so many other things to do. They offer advice. They give gifts. They
ruminate nostalgically on former times. They even can serve as a trusted
friend or love interest. ("I strode forward to embrace her, hooking my
thumbs most conveniently on her cold ribs while her talons settled on
upon my collarbones…") In Vollmann’s ghosts stories, the spirits might
collect photographs, and lament the replacement of silver nitrate film
with digital images. Or they might ask you to bring them moonflowers,
and wait patiently by their graveside for you to show up with a bouquet.
Or they might ramble on about the afterlife. ("I have good days and bad
days. Being dead isn’t all that great, but it isn’t terrible….")
But there are some Vollmann trademarks that persist even as everything
else in the tale is different. The most characteristic ingredient in this
author’s prose is the extravagant simile. You can find one on almost
every page, and Vollmann seems to amuse himself by reaching for the
most convoluted and forced comparisons he can muster. A character's
"heart was as tobacco-stained as a Mexicana's hand." Or: "to enter one of
those archways is almost to shelter in a mummy’s armpit." He describes
a woman as "tender as sautéed snowpea shoots in a careful Chinese
restaurant."
Or how about this textbook example of a mixed metaphor married to a
bizarre simile? "Yukiko's dark little mouth was a plum in the newfallen
snow of her face, and her eyelashes were as rich as caterpillars." The
reader senses that Vollmann is very proud of these convoluted
pronouncements—this particular one opens one of the most carefully
researched stories in the book. But such passages can be worse than self-
indulgent; often they are simply clumsy.
In some instances, a simile hasn't even reached the finish line before
another one arises to interrupt it: "The lobby resembled the wide-
waisted skirts of a fifteenth-century German cruet, brass or bronze,
polished almost to gold, like a creek bottom when the sun strikes right."
These defeat the purposes of literary comparisons. When Wordsworth
tells us that he "wandered lonely as a cloud," the simile adds depth to our
appreciation of his loneliness. But the effect is the exact opposite in this
passage from Vollmann’s story “Goodbye”—here the layering on of
bizarre comparisons draws the reader out of the story, and instead of
enhancing its realism reinforces its artificiality:
If you have ever drunk in the humid sunshine of Kamakura in early
spring, which is flavored, as is a fresh bun by its raisins, by pigtailed
girls in white blouses and vermilion kimonos, you will understand me
when I say that moments and instants can remain as distinct as the
studs on a verdigrised bronze bell even in that languid ocean haze,
when life and death resemble the square white sleeves of two shrine
dancers slowly intersecting.
Did you follow the logic there? No, of course not. Vollmann is trying to
describe "humid sunshine" but merely calls attention to his refusal to do
so. If this were an occasional lapse by the "Vollmann committee," we
would forgive it. But these failed similes are the trademark of the
Vollmann style. You can’t escape them. As soon as you have left one
behind, another rises up, looming in the headlights.
These quirks are all the more irritating, because Vollmann’s stories have
moments of greatness. The Vollmann collective has at least one author
of exquisite skill on its staff. "The Treasure of Jovo Cirtovich," a novella
included in this volume presents a compelling mixture of horror,
historical fiction and magical realism. A Serbian immigrant living in
Trieste during the early 18th century enjoys an amazing run of luck, but
it’s due to something he keeps hidden in a jar. This is the most perfectly
realized story in the book, and it’s hardly a coincidence that it also the
most successful at conveying a sense of horror.
The reader often senses that Vollmann would rather write historical non-
fiction rather than narrative fiction. In Last Stories and Other Stories he
follows his typical modus operandi of attaching “scholarly” footnotes to
the tales—and the citations waver between actual scholarship and
postmodern parody of academic documentation. Most of the stories in
this collection are embroidered with research, which sometimes distracts
the reader, but when Vollmann puts aside the supernatural trappings
and tries his hand at "straight" historical fiction, he shows great skill at it.
His lengthy story "June Eighteenth" is another one of the gems in this
collection, although it adopts a different tone than the ghost stories that
dominate Last Stories and Other Stories. It recounts the final days of
Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, and presents vivid character sketches
of the main protagonists in that historical drama, as well as offer
meditations on colonialism, culture clash and the vagaries of fate. One
senses that Vollmann has approached this subject with more passion
and enthusiasm than he has brought to bear on most of the other tales
in this volume.
With some judicious editing, this book might have been a masterpiece.
There’s a brilliant 500-page volume hidden in this larger book. Alas, at
almost 700 pages, Last Stories and Other Stories feels bloated and
meandering. I suggest that the Vollmann team consider downsizing. The
co-op has a couple top-notch authors in its collective, but the other half-
dozen writers contributing to this massive out-put ought to find another
place to sell their extended similes. Best of all, I envision a single William
Vollmann, more restrained and less verbose, focused on quality and not
on quantity. If he ever shows up, that fellow could be a very important
novelist.
Ted Gioia writes about music, literature and popular culture. His most recent book,
Love Songs: The Hidden History, is published by Oxford University Press.
Publication Date: April 2, 2016
theorist, but I’m convinced that more than one person is behind these
books. The Vollmann oeuvre is like the Kennedy assassination—you
can't pin it on a single suspect. There’s too much going on here for such
a simplistic explanation. Somebody sniff around that grassy knolll
behind the Vollmann residence. I’m certain you’ll find a bevvy of
conspirators toiling away on ghostwritten manuscripts.
Do you know what the name Vollmann means?
It translate roughly as "man of many people."
That a clue, my friends. By the way, I note that
Vollmann claims to have studied at Cornell—the
same place that Thomas Pynchon attended. Then
he went to Berkeley, the same year as the first
Unabomber explosion in that city (the FBI took
note of that 'coincidence'). Then Vollmann went to
Afghanistan, at the same time that Osama Bin Laden
showed up there. Finally he moved to Sacramento,
and was spotted there when the Terminator took
over the governor’s mansion.
Let those who have eyes, see.
But you don’t need to hire a private investigator to figure out that an
individual named William T. Vollmann didn’t write all those books. You
just need to take a look at them. No single person could serve up so
much verbiage. Take a look at his 'essay' Rising Up and Rising Down,
which fills seven volumes and more than three thousand pages. It came
out at the same time that "Vollmann" was publishing his Seven Dream
series, which is even longer! And in his spare time, he was serving up
800 page books the way the pimply boy at Baskin Robbins scoops out ice
cream cones on a hot summer day.
If you still hold on to the 'lone gunman' hypothesis, take a look at the
books themselves. Then ask yourself: which author is the real William T.
Vollmann? Is it the war correspondent who dispassionately reports on
global conflicts? Is it the louche and bohemian author who hangs out in
the San Francisco Tenderloin? Is it the cultivated admirer of Japanese
Noh theater, or the student of Norse culture, or the observer of US
border politics, or the author of travel literature?
Related Essay
William T. Vollmann & the Bumbling Shostakovich by Ted Gioia
And what about Vollmann’s recent reinvention as a horror writer? Yes,
you heard what I said: a horror writer. And in typical Vollmann fashion,
he tosses off a 700-page collection of stories almost as an appetizer to his
high-profile novel, The Dying Grass—almost 1,400 pages!—that was
released a few months later. In the forest-killing world of Mr. Vollmann,
a 700-page book is what they call, in New Orleans, a lagniappe, a little
something extra for the fans.
But the same multiple personality disorder that permeates Vollmann’s
other books reappears in this collection of terrifying tales. Here we find a
Czech ghost story, a Japanese ghost story, a Mexican ghost story, an
Italian ghost story, and a host of other narratives, each infused with local
color, regional history and colloquial phraseology. Could we perhaps
have purchased a UNESCO anthology of ghost stories? These couldn't
all be written by the same author, could they?
The ghosts are as changeable as the settings in this volume. In the
context of a Vollmann story, ghosts rarely get around to haunting. They
have so many other things to do. They offer advice. They give gifts. They
ruminate nostalgically on former times. They even can serve as a trusted
friend or love interest. ("I strode forward to embrace her, hooking my
thumbs most conveniently on her cold ribs while her talons settled on
upon my collarbones…") In Vollmann’s ghosts stories, the spirits might
collect photographs, and lament the replacement of silver nitrate film
with digital images. Or they might ask you to bring them moonflowers,
and wait patiently by their graveside for you to show up with a bouquet.
Or they might ramble on about the afterlife. ("I have good days and bad
days. Being dead isn’t all that great, but it isn’t terrible….")
But there are some Vollmann trademarks that persist even as everything
else in the tale is different. The most characteristic ingredient in this
author’s prose is the extravagant simile. You can find one on almost
every page, and Vollmann seems to amuse himself by reaching for the
most convoluted and forced comparisons he can muster. A character's
"heart was as tobacco-stained as a Mexicana's hand." Or: "to enter one of
those archways is almost to shelter in a mummy’s armpit." He describes
a woman as "tender as sautéed snowpea shoots in a careful Chinese
restaurant."
Or how about this textbook example of a mixed metaphor married to a
bizarre simile? "Yukiko's dark little mouth was a plum in the newfallen
snow of her face, and her eyelashes were as rich as caterpillars." The
reader senses that Vollmann is very proud of these convoluted
pronouncements—this particular one opens one of the most carefully
researched stories in the book. But such passages can be worse than self-
indulgent; often they are simply clumsy.
In some instances, a simile hasn't even reached the finish line before
another one arises to interrupt it: "The lobby resembled the wide-
waisted skirts of a fifteenth-century German cruet, brass or bronze,
polished almost to gold, like a creek bottom when the sun strikes right."
These defeat the purposes of literary comparisons. When Wordsworth
tells us that he "wandered lonely as a cloud," the simile adds depth to our
appreciation of his loneliness. But the effect is the exact opposite in this
passage from Vollmann’s story “Goodbye”—here the layering on of
bizarre comparisons draws the reader out of the story, and instead of
enhancing its realism reinforces its artificiality:
If you have ever drunk in the humid sunshine of Kamakura in early
spring, which is flavored, as is a fresh bun by its raisins, by pigtailed
girls in white blouses and vermilion kimonos, you will understand me
when I say that moments and instants can remain as distinct as the
studs on a verdigrised bronze bell even in that languid ocean haze,
when life and death resemble the square white sleeves of two shrine
dancers slowly intersecting.
Did you follow the logic there? No, of course not. Vollmann is trying to
describe "humid sunshine" but merely calls attention to his refusal to do
so. If this were an occasional lapse by the "Vollmann committee," we
would forgive it. But these failed similes are the trademark of the
Vollmann style. You can’t escape them. As soon as you have left one
behind, another rises up, looming in the headlights.
These quirks are all the more irritating, because Vollmann’s stories have
moments of greatness. The Vollmann collective has at least one author
of exquisite skill on its staff. "The Treasure of Jovo Cirtovich," a novella
included in this volume presents a compelling mixture of horror,
historical fiction and magical realism. A Serbian immigrant living in
Trieste during the early 18th century enjoys an amazing run of luck, but
it’s due to something he keeps hidden in a jar. This is the most perfectly
realized story in the book, and it’s hardly a coincidence that it also the
most successful at conveying a sense of horror.
The reader often senses that Vollmann would rather write historical non-
fiction rather than narrative fiction. In Last Stories and Other Stories he
follows his typical modus operandi of attaching “scholarly” footnotes to
the tales—and the citations waver between actual scholarship and
postmodern parody of academic documentation. Most of the stories in
this collection are embroidered with research, which sometimes distracts
the reader, but when Vollmann puts aside the supernatural trappings
and tries his hand at "straight" historical fiction, he shows great skill at it.
His lengthy story "June Eighteenth" is another one of the gems in this
collection, although it adopts a different tone than the ghost stories that
dominate Last Stories and Other Stories. It recounts the final days of
Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, and presents vivid character sketches
of the main protagonists in that historical drama, as well as offer
meditations on colonialism, culture clash and the vagaries of fate. One
senses that Vollmann has approached this subject with more passion
and enthusiasm than he has brought to bear on most of the other tales
in this volume.
With some judicious editing, this book might have been a masterpiece.
There’s a brilliant 500-page volume hidden in this larger book. Alas, at
almost 700 pages, Last Stories and Other Stories feels bloated and
meandering. I suggest that the Vollmann team consider downsizing. The
co-op has a couple top-notch authors in its collective, but the other half-
dozen writers contributing to this massive out-put ought to find another
place to sell their extended similes. Best of all, I envision a single William
Vollmann, more restrained and less verbose, focused on quality and not
on quantity. If he ever shows up, that fellow could be a very important
novelist.
Ted Gioia writes about music, literature and popular culture. His most recent book,
Love Songs: The Hidden History, is published by Oxford University Press.
Publication Date: April 2, 2016
The Horror Stories of William T. Vollmann A Look at Last Stories and Other Stories by William T. Vollmann |
Essay by Ted Gioia
| conceptual fiction Exploring the Non-Realist Tradition in Fiction |
This is my year of horrible reading.
I am reading the classics of horror fiction
during the course of 2016, and each week will
write about a significant work in the genre.
You are invited to join me in my annus
horribilis. During the course of the year—if
we survive—we will have tackled zombies,
serial killers, ghosts, demons, vampires, and
monsters of all denominations. Check back
each week for a new title...but remember to
bring along garlic, silver bullets and a
protective amulet. Ted Gioia
I am reading the classics of horror fiction
during the course of 2016, and each week will
write about a significant work in the genre.
You are invited to join me in my annus
horribilis. During the course of the year—if
we survive—we will have tackled zombies,
serial killers, ghosts, demons, vampires, and
monsters of all denominations. Check back
each week for a new title...but remember to
bring along garlic, silver bullets and a
protective amulet. Ted Gioia
| To purchase, click on image |
My Year of Horrible Reading
Week 1:
Dracula
By Bram Stoker
Week 2:
The Haunting of Hill House
By Shirley Jackson
Week 3:
Tales of Mystery & Imagination
By Edgar Allan Poe
Week 4:
Carrie
By Stephen King
Week 5:
The Passion According to G.H.
By Clarice Lispector
Week 6:
Tales
By H.P. Lovecraft
Week 7:
The Exorcist
By William Peter Blatty
Week 8:
The Woman in Black
By Susan Hill
Week 9:
Nausea
By Jean-Paul Sartre
Week 10:
I Am Legend
By Richard Matheson
Week 11:
Ghost Stories of Henry James
By Henry James
Week 12:
Interview with the Vampire
By Anne Rice
Week 13:
American Psycho
By Bret Easton Ellis
Week 14:
Last Stories and Other Stories
By William T. Vollmann
Week 1:
Dracula
By Bram Stoker
Week 2:
The Haunting of Hill House
By Shirley Jackson
Week 3:
Tales of Mystery & Imagination
By Edgar Allan Poe
Week 4:
Carrie
By Stephen King
Week 5:
The Passion According to G.H.
By Clarice Lispector
Week 6:
Tales
By H.P. Lovecraft
Week 7:
The Exorcist
By William Peter Blatty
Week 8:
The Woman in Black
By Susan Hill
Week 9:
Nausea
By Jean-Paul Sartre
Week 10:
I Am Legend
By Richard Matheson
Week 11:
Ghost Stories of Henry James
By Henry James
Week 12:
Interview with the Vampire
By Anne Rice
Week 13:
American Psycho
By Bret Easton Ellis
Week 14:
Last Stories and Other Stories
By William T. Vollmann
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 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
Fowles, John
A Maggot
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
Hill, Susan
The Woman in Black
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Houellebecq, Michel
Submission
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Jackson, Shirley
The Haunting of Hill House
James, Henry
The Turn of the Screw
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
King, Stephen
Carrie
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
Lovecraft, H.P.
Tales
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
_____
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Millions
Big Dumb Object
SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Tor blog
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction
and its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors, publicists
or other parties.
All rights reserved.
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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
Fowles, John
A Maggot
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
Hill, Susan
The Woman in Black
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Houellebecq, Michel
Submission
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Jackson, Shirley
The Haunting of Hill House
James, Henry
The Turn of the Screw
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
King, Stephen
Carrie
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
Lovecraft, H.P.
Tales
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
_____
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Millions
Big Dumb Object
SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Tor blog
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction
and its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors, publicists
or other parties.
All rights reserved.