Others: Mixed A satiric fantasy predicting the shape of things to come.
Genres: science fiction
Lists: …
Amy Thomson
1995 · 431 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveThe award-winning author of Virtual Girl creates a strange new world of infinite possibilities where honor, sacrifice, and friendship between humans and aliens can mean many different things at once. Reprint.
What made the match, strongest first
Naomi Mitchison
1975 · 158 pages · 1 review
Others: NegativeAs a fast-paced novel about a future shaped by feminist ideals of sexual and racial equality, "solution three" at first seems to be a peaceful answer to the world's problems. Homosexuality as an international norm and reproduction by cloning have minimized aggression and overpopulation. The sexes have equal rights and status, racial tension has been eliminated through genetic intermixing, and scientists work closely with the governing body, the Council, to keep an eye on the food supply and to heal the earth of prior environmental terrorism. Originally published in 1975, Solution Three presents a future society in which reproductive control and homosexuality shape a more equitable life for all, eradicating aggression and racism, curbing overpopulation, and providing a dependable food supply. But there are those who are rebelling in this peaceful Miryam, a geneticist, secretly married, is rearing her own children; Lilac, a surrogate mother chosen to carry a Clone baby, is delaying her son’s seizure for social conditioning; and even the carefully conditioned Clones are behaving unexpectedly. This novel asks the courageous What is the cost to women of new models of reproducing life, regardless of the intentions behind the goal?
What made the match, strongest first
James Blish
1957 · 185 pages · 2 reviews
Others: MixedThe Seedling Stars is a collection of science fiction short stories by James Blish. It was first published by Gnome Press in 1957 in an edition of 5000 copies. The stories all concern adapting humans to alien environments. The stories all originally appeared in the magazine Fantasy & Science Fiction, If, Super Science Stories & Galaxy Science Fiction. Contents: "Seeding Program" "The Thing in the Attic" "Surface Tension" "Watershed"
What made the match, strongest first
Isaac Asimov
1962 · 194 pages · 1 review
Others: MixedContents: The Heart of the Serpent - novelette by Ivan Yefremov Siema - novelette by Anatoly Dnieprov The Trial of Tantalus - novelette by Victor Saparin Stone from the Stars - short story by Valentina Zhuravlyova Six Matches - short story by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Professor Ivan Yefremov (born 1907) is well known both as a tireless fossil hunter and a talented science-fiction writer. His fantasy ranges between the mysteries of times long bygone and the distant future. His novels include The Land of Foam, where the scene is set in ancient Egypt and Greece, and the world-renowned Andromeda, in which his fantasy roams two thousand years ahead. The Heart of the Serpent, given in this volume, was written in 1959. Its subject is related to that of Andromeda. Anatoly Dnieprov (born 1919), the author of Siema, which he wrote in 1958, is a distinguished physicist who works at an institute of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. His first book appeared in 1946. His favorite subject is cybernetics - its amazing achievements to date and its breathtaking potentialities. Scientific authenticity is a salient feature of his writings. Victor Separin (born 1905), a journalist by profession, is editor of the Soviet popular geographic magazine Around the World. His fiction, which treats of present-day scientific and technical problems, is amazingly realistic. In this volume he is represented by The Trial of Tantalus, a story dealing with prospects of microbiology. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, authors of The Six Matches, are frequent contributors to Soviet popular science periodicals. Few readers know, however, that the two brothers are not professional writers. Boris Strugatsky (born 1933) is an astronomer and works at the computer laboratory of Pulknovo Observatory. Arkady (born 1925) is a linguist and translator specializing in Japanese. Valentina Zhuravleva (born 1933) is a comparatively recent graduate of the Azerbaijan Medical Institute. She was probably prompted to try her hand at scientific fiction by the almost fantastic possibilities offering in the field of medicine. The bold flights of fancy in her scientific thinking make her stories particularly noteworthy. Bio-automation is the theme of her Stone from the Stars, written in 1959, and included in this volume.
What made the match, strongest first
Groff Conklin
1963 · 272 pages · 2 reviews
Others: MixedWhat made the match, strongest first
Walter M. Miller Jr.
1959 · 320 pages · 4 reviews
Others: MixedHighly unusual After the Holocaust novel. In the far future, 20th century texts are preserved in a monastery, as "sacred books". The monks preserve for centuries what little science there is, and have saved the science texts and blueprints from destruction many times, also making beautifully illuminated copies. As the story opens to a world run on a basically fuedal lines, science is again becoming fashionable, as a hobby of rich men, at perhaps 18th or early 19th century level of comprehesion. A local lord, interested in science, comes to the monastery. What happens after that is an exquisitely told tale, stunning and extremely moving, totally different from any other After the Holocaust story
What made the match, strongest first
Mixedthis ended up being one of the most important books I ever read... I said it was better than Lord of the Rings. I don't think that holds up. I don't think I believe that anymore... It is better than Fellowship of the Ring. It's not better than the whole Lord of the Rings.
