Introduction

Enter the Realm of Sci-Fi

March 2006

Science Fiction, that magical blend of science, make-believe and a good story, has an almost cult-like following. Two BCCLS staffers, Rich Neels and Matthew Mitchel, are sci-fi fans. Rich focuses primarily on classic science fiction, while Matthew's tastes are more eclectic. Look at their choices and see where your taste in science fiction reading falls. One thing is certain, if you are going to read only one sci-fi title try Dune by Frank Herbert, or The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury since both Rich and Matthew included them on their lists.

Recommended Reads

Rich's Favorites

Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle; Xan Fielding (Translator)
ISBN: 0345447980
Publication Date: 2001-05-29
Science fiction or possible future fact? A satiric view of today's human society is presented in this portrait of astronauts stranded on a planet where humans and apes have exchanged roles. This popular novel has spawned five films, a remake, a television series, and a cartoon all of which take an ironic jab at mankind's belief that we are the highest link on the evolutionary chain.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
ISBN: 0743247221
Publication Date: 2003-09-23
In this classic novel of censorship and defiance, a totalitarian regime of the future has ordered all books to be destroyed, but one of the book-burners suddenly realizes their merit.
I Sing the Body Electric! by Ray Bradbury
ISBN: 0380789620
Publication Date: 1998-05-01
A collection of twenty-eight classic Bradbury short stories, and one poem, is set in a variety of locales ranging from the verdant Irish countryside to the coldest reaches of outer space.
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
ISBN: 0380973847
Publication Date: 1997-06-01
Eighteen imaginative science fiction stories--including the title story in which a tattooist's needle creates a canvas that captures humankind's destiny--range from the not-so-ordinary world of Middle America to the vast reaches of outer space as they explore themes of love, madness, and death.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
ISBN: 0553278223
Publication Date: 1984-06-01
The tranquility of Mars is disrupted by earthmen who have come to conquer space, colonize the planet, and escape a doomed earth.
2001 - A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
ISBN: 0451198492
Publication Date: 1999-10-01
Sent to unravel the mystery of an enigmatic monolith left on the moon by an unknown alien intelligence, two astronauts aboard the spacecraft Discovery find their journey into space and their very lives jeopardized by the jealousy of an extraordinary computer named Hal.
Odyssey Two 2010 by Arthur C. Clarke
ISBN: 088103262X
Publication Date: 1984-02-01
Sequel to: 2001, A Space Odyssey
Haywood Floyd, director of the original Discovery mission, sets out to discover what happened to HAL 9000 and comes face to face with something claiming to be Discovery astronaut Dave Bowman.
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
ISBN: 0553287893
Publication Date: 1990-11-01
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
ISBN: 0345404475
Publication Date: 1996-05-28
Captures the strange world of twenty-first-century Earth, a devastated planet in which sophisticated androids, banned from the planet, fight back against their potential destroyers.
(The inspiration for the movie Blade Runner)
Between Planets by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN: 0345320999
Publication Date: 1984-09-12
The message had seemed simple, yet it was more complex than Don could have imagined. He was being called from Earth to an alien world for reasons unknown -- save only that his life depended on it. But setting out for Mars and getting there in good shape turned out to be a lot more complicated than Don ever would have guessed possible.
Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN: 0671318365
Publication Date: 2001-09-01
Hamilton Felix, the product of a three-hundred-year program of controlled genetics, is bored by his life and the contrived world in which he lives, but things start to get more interesting after he is recruited by a group of revolutionaries.
Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN: 0345330137
Publication Date: 1986-10-12
One minute, down and out actor Lorenzo Smythe was -- as usual -- in a bar, drinking away his troubles as he watched his career go down the tubes. Then a space pilot bought him a drink, and the next thing Smythe knew, he was shanghaied to Mars. Suddenly he found himself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career: impersonating an important politician who had been kidnapped.
Have Space Suit - Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN: 034546107X
Publication Date: 2003-07-29
A high school senior wins a space suit in a soap jingle contest, takes a last walk wearing "Oscar" before cashing him in for college tuition, and suddenly finds himself on a space odyssey.
Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN: 0312861761
Publication Date: 1996-06-01
It is a tale of revolution, of the rebellion of a former penal colony on the Moon against its masters on the Earth. It is a tale of a culture whose family structures are based on the presence of two men for every woman, leading to novel forms of marriage and family. It is the story of the disparate people - a computer technician, a vigorous young female agitator, and an elderly academic - who become the movement's leaders. And it is the story of Mike, the supercomputer who, for reasons of his own, is committed to the revolution's ultimate success.
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN: 0441783589
Publication Date: 1987-05-15
Starship trooper John Rico and his men scour the metal-strewn emptiness of space to hunt down the enemy -- an insect life form that threatens the future of mankind.
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN: 0441788386
Publication Date: 1991-10-01
Valentine Michael Smith, born and raised on Mars, arrives on Earth stunning Western culture with his superhuman abilities.
Dune by Frank Herbert
ISBN: 0441172717
Publication Date: 1990-09-01
Herbert's epic tale is set on the desert planet Arrakis, the focus for a complex political and military struggle with galaxy-wide repercussions. Arrakis is the source of "spice", a mind-enhancing drug which makes interstellar travel possible, and therefore the most valuable substance in the galaxy.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
ISBN: 0553379267
Publication Date: 1997-09-02
In the Utah desert, Brother Francis of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz has made a miraculous discovery: the relics of the martyr Isaac Leibowitz himself, including the blessed blueprint and the sacred shopping list. They may provide a bright ray of hope in a terrifying age of darkness, a time of ignorance and genetic monsters that are the unholy aftermath of the fiery atomic holocaust that plunged the earth into darkness and ignorance.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
ISBN: 0440180295
Publication Date: 1991-11-03
Considered one of the greatest anti-war stories. The story of Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, centers on his shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.
The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells
ISBN: 0486414183
Publication Date: 2000-12-18
In this 1901 classic, Wells' "first men in the moon" practice lunar locomotion, get lost in a moon jungle, and confront intelligent life in lunar caverns.
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
ISBN: 0439574277
Publication Date: 2004-09-01
A scientist who has discovered a way to make himself invisible unleashes his growing madness and frustrations by terrorizing a small town.
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells; Melvin Burgess
ISBN: 0439436540
Publication Date: 2004-03-01
A Victorian scientist uses his remarkable invention, a time machine, to hurtle himself some 800,000 years into the future and encounters a world populated by two distinct races: the childlike Eloi and the disgusting Morlocks, who prey on the Eloi.
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells; Orson Scott Card
ISBN: 0439518490
Publication Date: 2004-03-01
The spellbinding account of an invasion from outer space. Aliens from Mars touch down in Victorian England and threaten to reduce the civilized world to cinder in short order, as humanity's vaunted knowledge proves to be of little use. First published in 1898 and famously dramatized by Orson Welles in an extraordinary 1938 radio presentation that had listeners fearing for their lives.

Matthew's Picks

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
ISBN: 0553293354
Publication Date: 1991-10-01
Foundation is set in the far future when mankind has spread so far through the Universe that Historians can't even remember where the human species originally came from. Unfortunately, the Galactic Empire has grown too large and can no longer sustain itself. Mathematician Hari Seldon knows that 1,000 years of chaos are coming so he devises a plan to store all the collected knowledge of mankind in a library in a remote corner of the universe.
The Forge of God by Greg Bear
ISBN: 0765301075
Publication Date: 2001-08-11
Europa, the sixth moon of Jupiter, has disappeared. In Death Valley, a 500-foot cider cone has appeared overnight. And, in Australia, a granite mountain has been found where there wasn't one before. In America, a lone alien warns of an impending invasion of an alien race that strips planets of all their resources. In Australia, a group of robots appear promising the cure to cancer and solutions to all our problems. Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? And what happened to Europa?
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
ISBN: 0380973847
Publication Date: 1997-06-01
Ray Bradbury is one of America's most underrated authors. I read this collection way back in grade school and have revisited it many times since. All the stories involve sci-fi in one way or another, but they are all radically different in tone. I highly recommend "The Veldt," a darkly comic tale of children and the virtual world they create in their home, and "Kaleidoscope" which documents the last few hours in the life of an astronaut who is floating out in space.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
ISBN: 0393312836
Publication Date: 1995-04-17
A Clockwork Orange is set in a bleak future that is close enough to ours to invite comparison, yet distant enough for us to hope that we can avoid ever reaching it. The book depicts a society in which narcissism and chaos have produced the amoral Alex, a main character who commits all sort of horrible acts of violence just for fun. The book uses an odd mish-mash of English and Russian to create a futuristic slang that is both puzzling and absolutely believable. Some print editions contain a controversial "happy ending" final chapter.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
ISBN: 0765342294
Publication Date: 2002-02-18
The first volume in the never "end-ing" (get it?) saga of Andrew Wiggins and his encounters with an alien species known as the "Buggers". This volume revolves around a futuristic school designed to educate children to be war strategists.
Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
ISBN: 0060541814
Publication Date: 2003-11-01
In 1969 Michael Crichton predicted that man's first contact with extraterrestrial life would be in the form of unicellular organisms, bacteria, or viruses. Starting from that premise, he constructed a story around a government sponsored space expedition designed to capture the tiny organisms and bring them back to earth. Unfortunately, when the satellite crashes, a terrible plague is unleashed on the earth and scientists must race against time to find a cure.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
ISBN: 0345370775
Publication Date: 1991-11-13
When I heard that Stephen Spielberg was filming Jurassic Park, I was very excited because it was one of the best books I read in 1990. I figured that Spielberg was a big enough director to pool the necessary technical wizardry to put dinosaurs on the big screen. As far as the dinosaurs were concerned, Spielberg did a great job. Unfortunately, the movie as a whole was a bland, watered-down version of the book that was ultimately a disappointment for fans of the original novel. If you hated the movie, I recommend the book. Note to readers: The Lost World (sequel to Jurassic Park) is a real stinker and it should be sealed in a radioactive vault and buried in Nevada.
This Day All Gods Die by Stephen R. Donaldson
ISBN: 0553071807
Publication Date: 1996-04-01
This Day All Gods Die is the final volume in Stephen R. Donaldson's sci-fi retelling of Wagner's The Ring. There is no easy way to encapsulate this story into a few sentences other than it involves Morn Hyland (a woman who feels compelled to hit the auto-destruct button every time her ship warps through space), Angus Thermopyle (a rapist turned cyborg), Nick Succorso (a secret agent / pirate / sociopath), and the Amnioni (an alien race that is interested in mutating the genes of all of humankind). The story is filled with so many twists and turns that the heroes often turn out to be the villains in the end. Recommended for adults.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
ISBN: 0684852586
Publication Date: 1998-04-06
No one can deny that this book is influential - it has spawned three movies (a 4th is coming starring Nicole Kidman) and a TV series. Aliens invade earth in the form of plants and replicate their victim's bodies while they sleep. The resulting alien-human hybrid looks and sounds the same, but lacks all the emotions of the absorbed person.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
ISBN: 0380973650
Publication Date: 2001-06-19
I'm not sure American Gods is science fiction, but it certainly is worthy reading for anyone interested in the unexpected. The story blends ancient mythology with modern urban legends and adds a dash of a serial killer plotline. The end result is a book that turned a "die hard" non-fiction friend into a "fiction junkie".
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
ISBN: 0553281747
Publication Date: 1997-02-06
If there were no William Gibson, there would have been no Matrix. William Gibson was the father of the Cyberpunk era and he gave us concepts such as virtual reality and "hacking". Mona Lisa Overdrive is the story of Angie, a girl who can "surf" cyberspace without a computer. This is the final book in his "Sprawl" trilogy. The first two volumes are Neuromancer and Count Zero.
Dune by Frank Herbert
ISBN: 0441172717
Publication Date: 1990-09-01
Forget the movie versions of this book. Dune has to be read to be truly experienced. The characters, settings, cultures, and motivations couldn't be properly filmed even with the best director and most talented actors. Although there are a number of sequels to the original, the first works well as a self- contained story. The story is centered about the desert planet Arrakis (the only source of a mind-altering substance named "mélange") and the political maneuverings of various royal houses in a galactic empire. Think James Clavell's Shogun in space.
Hellstrom's Hive by Frank Herbert
ISBN: 9780765317728
Publication Date: 2007-04-03
There is a good reason why Hellstrom's Hive has not been reprinted since 1982 - it is one of the most disturbing pieces of speculative fiction ever written. Hellstrom's Hive was written in response to "The Hellstrom Chronicle", a 1971 nature documentary that displayed the cruelty and efficiency of bees. The book takes the movie's fictional Dr. Hellstrom and makes him the mad scientist at the center of a genetic experiment that has humans living by the same principles as insects. This is a chilling novel and it is not recommend for young readers.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
ISBN: 0060929871
Publication Date: 1998-09-01
This book has been on high school required reading lists for years and for good reason. The book depicts a utopian society in which all our current social issues - warfare, disease, and poverty - have been solved. Unfortunately, family, art, and love have been lost in the process.
Lightning by Dean Koontz
ISBN: 0425115801
Publication Date: 1989-05-01
Laura Shane leads a cursed life. Her birth is almost botched by an alcoholic doctor, she is almost molested twice, and her best friend is killed in a tragic accident. Each time she is faced with tragedy Laura is rescued by a mysterious man that appears out of a flash of lightning. Now there are more men chasing her, and only her mysterious savior can protect her.
Footfall by Larry Niven; Jerry Pournelle
ISBN: 0345323440
Publication Date: 1986-04-12
A real page-turner in which, I kid you not, alien elephants invade the earth.
The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling
ISBN: 157500111X
Publication Date: 1999-01-01
No list of science fiction would be complete without at least one entry by Rod Serling. Rod Serling introduced the world to his quirky version of science fiction when he assembled some of the most prominent authors of the time to create The Twilight Zone. Each episode consisted of an everyday person coming into contact with the strange and unusual. This collection contains text adaptations of his 19 favorite episodes.
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
ISBN: 038533348X
Publication Date: 1998-09-08
Kurt Vonnegut displays his acerbic wit and sarcasm in his take on the Cold War and mankind's endless fascination with finding ways to kill itself. Sitting in for the nuclear bomb is "Ice-Nine" a dangerous new molecule that freezes all water that it touches.
Fire Watch by Connie Willis
ISBN: 0553260456
Publication Date: 1998-04-01
Connie Willis has won six Nebula and five Hugo awards during the course of her writing career. This collection of twelve short stories perfectly showcases the imagination that has won her so many devoted followers. The best of the collection is "Fire Watch", a short story set in a universe where future history students are sent back in time to observe their subjects first-hand. Other, lesser- known stories, display her ability to cross genres. "Service for the Burial of the Dead" is a gothic ghost story and "Mail Order Clone" is good cross between comedy and satire.