Science 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. And if a weapon of mass destruction appears in the opening
chapter, you can bet the complete works of Chekhov that it will destruct the masses, or
a good majority of them, before the final page.
Subtlety is as scarce as plutonium-239 in these books. That’s
what makes Matt Haig's The Humans all the more remarkable.
Haig has written a science fiction novel about compassion, and
the frailties of the human condition. But the sweetest twist is the
narrator: an extra-terrestrial from a remote galaxy who is trying
to live undercover in human society. Even better, he sees us
more clearly than we see ourselves.
Let’s call our alien Professor Andrew Martin. That isn’t his real
name, but rather the identity he has assumed on Earth. Our visitor
from a distant galaxy murdered the real Professor Martin, a
43-year-old mathematics professor at University of Cambridge,
and has adopted a passable imitation of the dead man’s body.
His purpose is to destroy Martin’s proof of the Riemann hypothesis,
a famous math problem that has dogged the best minds for the last
150 years, and murder anyone who knows about it.
But this isn’t a simple task. This hapless extraterrestrial has to take on Martin’s various
responsibilities as a husband, father, friend and teacher. He is ill-prepared for this
mission—partly due to his ignorance of human customs (even the basics, such as
wearing clothes or eating meals), and even more because he comes from a society
that values rationality and mathematics above all other pursuits. Face it, it’s hard
adjusting to mundane concerns after spending your formative years on a planet where
individuals devote leisure hours to contemplating prime numbers.
But let’s let our narrator tell his own side of the story:
“Prior to arriving on Earth I did not have midbrown hair that fell in a natural side-parting.
Equally, I did not have an opinion on The Planets by Holtz [sic] or Talking Heads’ second
album, because I did not agree with the concept of music. Or I shouldn't have anyway. And
how could I believe that Australian wine was automatically inferior to wine sourced from
other regions on the planet when I had never drunk anything but liquid nitrogen?”
There are many pleasures in reading this novel, but I especially enjoy Haig’s deftness in
shifting from comedy to profundity, and maintaining a fast-paced story all the while. Some
of the finest passages deal with the new Professor Martin’s haphazard encounters with
those many things we take for granted. We watch in the wings while he has his first
experience with shopping, cigarettes, the Beach Boys, the family dog, coffee, sporting
events, TV news, poetry, police interrogation techniques, automobiles, mental health
professionals, school bullies, peanut butter, and various other quotidian ingredients of
everyday life. Along the way, our narrator discovers new passions—for Emily Dickinson,
Cinema Paradiso and Debussy on the one hand, and his inherited wife and son on the
other—and starts questioning old ones. Rationality doesn't look quite so appealing after
a few glasses of Australian wine, with the right music and company to set the mood.
The success of this kind of writing rests solely on the
insight and skill of the writer, and Haig delivers a
virtuoso performance. Other science fiction writers
are skilled at constructing new worlds, but Haig
achieves something better, he creates a whole new
worldview. Adding to the difficulty, he shows how this
perspective on the vanity of human wishes might prove
so persuasive that even someone lacking all experience
with it—indeed, approaching it with outright hostility—might be persuaded of its validity. This
is the softest of polemics, but no less effective for that fact.
A story of this sort could easily collapse into facile absurdist comedy. The fact that Haig
manages to deliver so much more than mere laughs, without losing the humorous elements
inherent in his plot, probably results from the autobiographical origins of The Humans. In
his mid-twenties, Haig fell into a deep psychic malaise, a combination of depression and
anxiety that left him literally incapacitated. Storytelling played a key role in his recovery, and
his vocation as an author became linked in Haig’s mind, with an affirmation of the human
condition and the quest for a life worth living.
Even at that early stage, Haig had conceived the basic plot of The Humans, although he
didn’t find the courage to reveal himself so intimately in print for many years. But over time
Haig’s work has increasingly embraced self revelation, and with powerful results. “I think
books can save us,” he declares, “and I think they sort of saved me.” One could hardly find
a less postmodern or more unfashionable stance for a novelist, but the lived authenticity
that permeates this narrative probably couldn’t exist without Haig’s deeply held conviction
that fiction, even genre fiction, has a destiny beyond escapism and entertainment.
I guess I should be shocked and appalled that the science fiction community hasn’t
embraced this book. The Humans didn’t even earn a nomination from the Hugo voters
(or combatants, I should perhaps say), who seem to disagree on many things, but
apparently agree that science fiction ought to return to its origins as exemplary stories
for youngsters (albeit sometimes masquerading as books for adults), filled with
teachable moments and driven by didactic impulses. At the very moment when established
literary fiction is turning to sci-fi, sci-fi seems determined to punish books that don’t fit
into formulas. And The Humans definitely goes against that grain.
Here’s the strange twist. The Edgar Awards, given by the Mystery Writers of America,
did nominate Haig’s book—despite its complete disconnection from anything having to
do with mystery fiction. And I note that The Humans has attracted a cult following since
its initial release. Teachers are sneaking it into their classroom. Fans are building its
reputation by word of mouth. I even hear accounts of readers who found their life changed
and psychic wounds healed by this novel. If someone doesn’t step in and stop it, this
whole book might by bypass the gatekeepers and hit the big time.
Haig isn’t your typical novelist. In other books, he has retold Shakespeare’s Henry IV,
Part I with the main characters replaced by dogs, and updated Hamlet from the perspective
of an autistic pre-teen. He isn’t afraid of taking chances. But Haig has said that he hopes
to be remembered for The Humans. I suspect that might happen; in fact, I think it might
already be happening.
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 11, 2018
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. And if a weapon of mass destruction appears in the opening
chapter, you can bet the complete works of Chekhov that it will destruct the masses, or
a good majority of them, before the final page.
Subtlety is as scarce as plutonium-239 in these books. That’s
what makes Matt Haig's The Humans all the more remarkable.
Haig has written a science fiction novel about compassion, and
the frailties of the human condition. But the sweetest twist is the
narrator: an extra-terrestrial from a remote galaxy who is trying
to live undercover in human society. Even better, he sees us
more clearly than we see ourselves.
Let’s call our alien Professor Andrew Martin. That isn’t his real
name, but rather the identity he has assumed on Earth. Our visitor
from a distant galaxy murdered the real Professor Martin, a
43-year-old mathematics professor at University of Cambridge,
and has adopted a passable imitation of the dead man’s body.
His purpose is to destroy Martin’s proof of the Riemann hypothesis,
a famous math problem that has dogged the best minds for the last
150 years, and murder anyone who knows about it.
But this isn’t a simple task. This hapless extraterrestrial has to take on Martin’s various
responsibilities as a husband, father, friend and teacher. He is ill-prepared for this
mission—partly due to his ignorance of human customs (even the basics, such as
wearing clothes or eating meals), and even more because he comes from a society
that values rationality and mathematics above all other pursuits. Face it, it’s hard
adjusting to mundane concerns after spending your formative years on a planet where
individuals devote leisure hours to contemplating prime numbers.
But let’s let our narrator tell his own side of the story:
“Prior to arriving on Earth I did not have midbrown hair that fell in a natural side-parting.
Equally, I did not have an opinion on The Planets by Holtz [sic] or Talking Heads’ second
album, because I did not agree with the concept of music. Or I shouldn't have anyway. And
how could I believe that Australian wine was automatically inferior to wine sourced from
other regions on the planet when I had never drunk anything but liquid nitrogen?”
There are many pleasures in reading this novel, but I especially enjoy Haig’s deftness in
shifting from comedy to profundity, and maintaining a fast-paced story all the while. Some
of the finest passages deal with the new Professor Martin’s haphazard encounters with
those many things we take for granted. We watch in the wings while he has his first
experience with shopping, cigarettes, the Beach Boys, the family dog, coffee, sporting
events, TV news, poetry, police interrogation techniques, automobiles, mental health
professionals, school bullies, peanut butter, and various other quotidian ingredients of
everyday life. Along the way, our narrator discovers new passions—for Emily Dickinson,
Cinema Paradiso and Debussy on the one hand, and his inherited wife and son on the
other—and starts questioning old ones. Rationality doesn't look quite so appealing after
a few glasses of Australian wine, with the right music and company to set the mood.
The success of this kind of writing rests solely on the
insight and skill of the writer, and Haig delivers a
virtuoso performance. Other science fiction writers
are skilled at constructing new worlds, but Haig
achieves something better, he creates a whole new
worldview. Adding to the difficulty, he shows how this
perspective on the vanity of human wishes might prove
so persuasive that even someone lacking all experience
with it—indeed, approaching it with outright hostility—might be persuaded of its validity. This
is the softest of polemics, but no less effective for that fact.
A story of this sort could easily collapse into facile absurdist comedy. The fact that Haig
manages to deliver so much more than mere laughs, without losing the humorous elements
inherent in his plot, probably results from the autobiographical origins of The Humans. In
his mid-twenties, Haig fell into a deep psychic malaise, a combination of depression and
anxiety that left him literally incapacitated. Storytelling played a key role in his recovery, and
his vocation as an author became linked in Haig’s mind, with an affirmation of the human
condition and the quest for a life worth living.
Even at that early stage, Haig had conceived the basic plot of The Humans, although he
didn’t find the courage to reveal himself so intimately in print for many years. But over time
Haig’s work has increasingly embraced self revelation, and with powerful results. “I think
books can save us,” he declares, “and I think they sort of saved me.” One could hardly find
a less postmodern or more unfashionable stance for a novelist, but the lived authenticity
that permeates this narrative probably couldn’t exist without Haig’s deeply held conviction
that fiction, even genre fiction, has a destiny beyond escapism and entertainment.
I guess I should be shocked and appalled that the science fiction community hasn’t
embraced this book. The Humans didn’t even earn a nomination from the Hugo voters
(or combatants, I should perhaps say), who seem to disagree on many things, but
apparently agree that science fiction ought to return to its origins as exemplary stories
for youngsters (albeit sometimes masquerading as books for adults), filled with
teachable moments and driven by didactic impulses. At the very moment when established
literary fiction is turning to sci-fi, sci-fi seems determined to punish books that don’t fit
into formulas. And The Humans definitely goes against that grain.
Here’s the strange twist. The Edgar Awards, given by the Mystery Writers of America,
did nominate Haig’s book—despite its complete disconnection from anything having to
do with mystery fiction. And I note that The Humans has attracted a cult following since
its initial release. Teachers are sneaking it into their classroom. Fans are building its
reputation by word of mouth. I even hear accounts of readers who found their life changed
and psychic wounds healed by this novel. If someone doesn’t step in and stop it, this
whole book might by bypass the gatekeepers and hit the big time.
Haig isn’t your typical novelist. In other books, he has retold Shakespeare’s Henry IV,
Part I with the main characters replaced by dogs, and updated Hamlet from the perspective
of an autistic pre-teen. He isn’t afraid of taking chances. But Haig has said that he hopes
to be remembered for The Humans. I suspect that might happen; in fact, I think it might
already be happening.
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 11, 2018
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Experimental works of mystery &
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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
| The Humans by Matt Haig |
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 |
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Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian
Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian
Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian
Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Blind Assassin
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Bacigalupi, Paolo
The Windup Girl
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barker, Clive
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bierce, Ambrose
The Complete Short Stories
Blackwood, Algernon
The Complete John Silence Stories
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Brooks, Max
World War Z
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Butler, Octavia E.
Fledgling
Campbell, Ramsey
Demons by Daylight
Campbell, Ramsey
The Nameless
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chambers, Robert W.
The King in Yellow
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Cline, Ernest
Ready Player One
Crichton, Michael
Jurassic Park
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R.
Nova
Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Dickens, Charles
A Christmas Carol
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Egan, Jennifer
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fowles, John
A Maggot
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gardner, John
Grendel
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
The Centauri Device
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Hendrix, Grady
Horrorstör
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Joe Hill
Heart-Shaped Box
Hill, Susan
The Woman in Black
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Houellebecq, Michel
Submission
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Never Let Me Go
Jackson, Shirley
The Haunting of Hill House
James, Henry
The Turn of the Screw
James, M.R.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Ketchum, Jack
Off Season
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
King, Stephen
Carrie
King, Stephen
Pet Sematary
Koja, Kathe
The Cipher
Krilanovich, Grace
The Orange Eats Creeps
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Lafferty, R.A.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Our Lady of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Levin, Ira
Rosemary's Baby
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Lindqvist, John Ajvide
Let the Right One In
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Lovecraft, H.P.
Tales
Machen, Arthur
The Great God Pan
Malzberg, Barry N.
Herovit's World
Mandel, Emily St. John
Station Eleven
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
I Am Legend
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Moorcock, Michael
Behold the Man
Moorcock, Michael
The Final Programme
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada, or Ardor
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Wizard of the Crow
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Oyeyemi, Helen
White is for Witching
Percy, Walker
Love in the Ruins
Poe, Edgar Allan
Tales of Mystery & Imagination
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Rice, Anne
Interview with the Vampire
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Roth, Philip
The Plot Against America
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna
The Female Man
Saramago, José
Blindness
Sheckley, Robert
Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Silverberg, Robert
The World Inside
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Clark Ashton
The Dark Eidolon
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Straub, Peter
Ghost Story
Spinrad, Norman
Bug Jack Barron
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Stoker, Bram
Dracula
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James
Warm Worlds and Otherwise
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Tryon, Thomas
The Other
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Vance, Jack
The Dragon Masters
Vance, Jack
Emphyrio
Vance, Jack
The Languages of Pao
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vollmann, William T
Last Stories and Other Stories
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wallace, Edgar
King Kong
Walpole, Horace
The Castle of Otranto
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Wilson, Robert Anton & Robert Shea
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Wong, David
John Dies at the End
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Yamada, Taichi
Strangers
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Zelazny, Roger
This Immortal
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
My Year of Horrible Reading
When Science Fiction Grew Up
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
A Tribute to Richard Matheson
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
The Most Secretive Sci-Fi Author
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
The Puzzling Case of Robert Sheckley
The Avant-Garde Sci-Fi of Brian Aldiss
Science Fiction 1958-1975: A Reading List
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Fractious Fiction
Ted Gioia's web site
Ted Gioia on Twitter
_____
SF Site
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Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Millions
Big Dumb Object
SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
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Reviews and Responses
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True Science Fiction
Tor blog
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction
and its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials from
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parties.
All rights reserved
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
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Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
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A Visit from the Goon Squad
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
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I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
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Like Water for Chocolate
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To Your Scattered Bodies Go
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A Maggot
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Aura
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American Gods
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Neverwhere
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Grendel
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Burning Chrome
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Neuromancer
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The Tin Drum
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The End of the Affair
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The Magicians
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The Forever War
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Light
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The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
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Time Enough for Love
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Winter's Tale
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Horrorstör
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Submission
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Brave New World
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Never Let Me Go
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The Turn of the Screw
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Off Season
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Flowers for Algernon
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Carrie
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Pet Sematary
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The Cipher
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The Orange Eats Creeps
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The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
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Gods Without Men
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Nine Hundred Grandmothers
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The Big Time
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Conjure Wife
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Our Lady of Darkness
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Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
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His Master's Voice
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Rosemary's Baby
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Let the Right One In
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Magic for Beginners
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Tales
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Herovit's World
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Station Eleven
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Doctor Faustus
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100 Years of Solitude
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Wittgenstein's Mistress
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Hell House
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I Am Legend
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What Dreams May Come
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The Road
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A Canticle for Leibowitz
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Dangerous Laughter
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Cloud Atlas
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Behold the Man
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Ada, or Ardor
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Ringworld
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Vurt
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At Swim-Two-Birds
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White is for Witching
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Love in the Ruins
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Interview with the Vampire
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The Plot Against America
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Blindness
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Frankenstein
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City
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More Than Human
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Around the Moon
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Cloudstreet
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John Dies at the End
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The Bear Comes Home
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Lord of Light
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This Immortal
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