Literary fantasyfan Vote • June 2016

[sun surfer]

Help choose the June 2016 selection to read for the MR Literary Club!


The emphasis is on works that explore the nature of identity in various ways. The books are in chronological order and all but one {no.3} are available as ebooks. Select from the following science fiction works:


1. Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles: originally published in 1950 and later updated. 243 pp.
Goodreads

Spoiler:

In its final version the book is a collection of 26 short stories.
The Martian Chronicles is an amazing work. Its closely interwoven stories, linked by recurrent images and themes, tell of the repeated attempts by humans to colonise Mars. . . the mood is one of loneliness and nostalgia; a pensive regret suffuses the book.”

2. Alfred Bester: The Demolished Man 1953 256 pp.
Goodreads

Spoiler:

For over fifty years The Demolished Man has held its place as of one of the most brilliant and remarkable science fiction novels ever written. It was also the first-ever winner of the Hugo award.

Here’s a good review of it:

Alfred Bester's early, pyrotechnic novels gave us two of SF's greatest antiheroes: Gully Foyle in The Stars My Destination (1956) and Ben Reich in The Demolished Man (1953)--which deservedly won the first-ever Hugo Award for Best Novel. Reich is an obsessed monster, haunted by nightmares of a Man With No Face, driven and compelled to murder a rival magnate in a future where crime can't be hidden from police telepaths. The penalty is Demolition: erasure of the criminal's mind. Armed with an ugly weapon holding very special ammo, an insane jingle to mask his thoughts, and the resources of his interplanetary business empire, Reich takes on the world--but, as hinted by clues in chapter 1, he still doesn't understand his own buried motives. It's an impossible problem for police chief Lincoln Powell, one of the hated mind-reading elite--who knows very well whodunnit but can't go to court on telepathic evidence alone. Bester's dazzling 24th century is full of brilliant and dotty conceits, most famously the woven typographic patterns of telepaths' group 'conversations'. A gripping, headlong storyline hurtles from Earth's decadent high society to its lowest dives, with an interlude of mayhem at the Spaceland asteroid resort. The final confrontations are apocalyptic and unforgettable, with major psychological shockers and a moving aftermath. A genuine SF classic. --David Langford

3. William Tenn {editor} Outsiders: Children of Wonder 1954 355 pp.
Goodreads

Spoiler:

This is a brilliant selection of science fiction stories about children. The works are divided into seven sections: “Wild Talents”, “The Child Possessed”, “The Stuff of Dreams”, “Terror In the Nursery”, “Alien Brothers”, “Little Superman, What Now?”, and “In Times to Come.”
You will find tales by Ray Bradbury, Truman Capote, Saki, Graham Greene, Katherine MacLean {in a deeply moving and powerful story} and many others.
Unfortunately this is the only selection not available as an ebook but can be obtained as a paperback from ABE. While I suspect that this problem makes it an unlikely final choice, I would urge everyone to put it on their TBR list simply because it is one of the best science fiction anthologies of its era.

4. Robert Heinlein: Double Star: 1956 259 pp.
Goodreads

Spoiler:

This novel won a Hugo and is probably the best adult novel Heinlein wrote in the fifties. The plot concerns an actor who is hired to impersonate an important politician. It is a sensitive exploration of identity and lacks the rather “unpleasant . . . hectoring didacticism” present in much of his later work.

5. Of Men and Monsters {first published in Galaxy as “The Men In the Walls”} by William Tenn {pseud. of Philip Klass}. 1968 286 pp.
Goodreads

Spoiler:

Tenn is acknowledged as the finest satirist modern science fiction has ever produced. The reputation of this novel which appeared in 1968 has continued to grow. Giant aliens have almost eliminated mankind but some survive living like mice in the walls of the aliens’ dwellings. The novel is a brilliant reversal of the “humankind conquers all” attitude that dominated the Campbell era.

“Despite his cheerful surface and occasional zany humour, WT, like most real satirists, was fundamentally a pessimist; and when the comic mask was whipped off, as happened with some frequency the result was salutary.”

Other than an “Author Emeritus” award given very late in his career Tenn was never given the major recognition he certainly deserved.

6. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin 1969 286 pp.
Goodreads

Spoiler:

Le Guin was writing at the top of her form and produced a brilliant novel exploring {among other things) gender identity.
'Left Hand was among the first books published in the feminist science fiction genre and the most famous examination of androgyny in science fiction. A major theme of the novel is the effect of sex and gender on culture and society, in particular through the relationship between Ai and Estraven, a Gethenian politician who trusts and helps him. The novel touched off a feminist debate when it was first published, over depictions of the ambisexual Gethenians. The novel also addresses the theme of religion, by contrasting the two major religions on Gethen, as well as exploring notions of loyalty and betrayal." Wikipedia

“The story is told in a prose notable for its clarity and evocative precision.” It was awarded both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel. I personally think it superior to The Dispossessed.

7. Iain M. Banks: Feersum Endjinn 1994 280 pp.
Goodreads

Spoiler:

FE is a stand-alone novel not connected with the famous “Culture” series. It is “a complex story told at a scherzo pace, conflating several plotlines—one a bravura narration in dyslexic English—into a neatly planned climax.”

"The book is set on a far future Earth where the uploading of mindstates into a world-spanning computer network (known as "the data corpus", "cryptosphere" or simply "crypt") is commonplace, allowing the dead to be easily reincarnated, either physically or virtually in the crypt. By custom, only a limited number of reincarnations of each type (physical and virtual) are allowed.

"The world is in crisis as the solar system is slowly drifting into an interstellar molecular cloud ("the Encroachment"), which will eventually dim the Sun's light sufficiently to end life on Earth. The Diaspora (the long-departed segment of humanity) have left behind a device (the "Fearsome Engine" of the title) to deal with the problem, although no one on Earth knows the nature of the solution." Wikipedia

The book is dazzlingly brilliant and earned Banks the BSFA award for best novel.

*

Guidelines-

Spoiler:

The poll will be open for three days and a discussion thread will begin shortly after a winner is chosen.

The vote is multiple choice. You may vote for as many or as few as you like. If you vote for the winner it is hoped that you will read the selection with the club and join in the discussion.

Bonus votes: When the poll ends, bonus votes will be manually added before determining final results. Basically, anyone who has commented in two out of the last six discussion threads is eligible for bonus votes, and everyone eligible will have any votes cast doubled.

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to vote if interested in participating in the literary club whether eligible for bonus votes or not, and anyone interested in bonus votes is encouraged to become eligible as it doesn’t take much.

Currently eligible-
AnotherCat, bfisher, Bookpossum, Bookworm_Girl, caleb72, fantasyfan, HomeInMyShoes, issybird, poohbear_nc, sun surfer

This includes posts thus far in the September to February discussion threads.
*There are a few caveats to eligibility as outlined in this post.
**If anyone feels there is any mistake in eligibility, please let me know before the poll is over. Once the poll ends and the tally with bonus votes added is announced, the results will be final.

The rotating nominator (this month - fantasyfan) may not vote in the poll. In the event of a tie, there will be a one-day non-multiple-choice run-off poll where the nominator again may not vote. If the run-off also ends in a tie then the tie will be resolved by the nominator.

[Bookpossum]

Well, I voted for the three I could get from my library, plus The Left Hand of Darkness which I have read many years ago and would be very happy to read again - a great book.

[caleb72]

I put this in the wrong thread, but apparently Double Star will be on special at Amazon US June 12 - June 14 for $2.99.

Information from the latest email-out from Phoenix.

May not influence anyone's decision, but just throwing out there in case it makes a difference.

[Bookpossum]

It looks as if Ray Bradbury has won, but it's an interesting list and I shall try to hunt out some of the other books in due course. Thanks fantasyfan!

[sun surfer]

The Martian Chronicles it is! Is this the first time the winner has had 100% support? I'll have the discussion thread up within a day.