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Great Science-Fiction
& Fantasy Works
a critical list with discussions
Some Candidate Science-Fiction & Fantasy Authors and Books
"'The Observer will decide,' I said."--Kiteworld,
Keith Roberts
What Makes a "Candidate"
About This Page
Regrettably, I have been spared little time of late for the development of this site. While I hope and expect that I will be returning to a heavier commitment to it soon now, in the meantime I thought to augment the site with a list of authors and books that I suspect--from considerable examination of others' comments on them (and on who those "others" are and how credible they are)--might plausibly end up, once I have read them, being added to the main lists at this site. Let me make it clear that I am not exactly "prejudging" these books, and that in consequence this list is unlike the main lists, in that it is not a list of recommendations but rather just a list of intriguing possibilities. As time (and, in the case of some rarer books, budget) allows, I will read these and either add them to the actual "recommended" lists or just discard them. I set forth this list only to assist those few--if any--who occasionally look to this site for some hints on new realms to explore in their reading.
This list is basically just a prettified and annotated copy of my personal "buy and read" list, but that list has some nuancing worth mention. Although I intend to examine everything on this list, I do not reckon equal probabilities of success for everything on it. Some authors sound--to the extent that we can deduce reliably from existing comment and review--like they are virtual locks; most just sound pretty interesting; and a few I am more or less skeptical about, but will examine owing to the total weight of others' critical approval. I have used color coding, explained farther below, to mark out each author's status in this list. While it may seem curious, or even hypocritical, to segregate authors whose works I admittedly have not personally reviewed, the distinction is of value, at least to me, in that it creates a triage order in which to attack the list; and having set up those distinctions, I simply pass them on for what they may, or may not, be worth to others.
I should further note that although I am treating all of these authors as "unread", in not a few instances I have read some--sometimes much--of their work, but so long ago, many decades ago in a lot of instances, that I can no longer trust either my memory or the status of my critical judgement at the time. Don't reckon that I am a quasi-illiterate just owing to the appearance of some major names on this "unread" list: been there, done that, at least at some time. But, as someone wisely said, the past is a foreign country, and only strangers live there.
Finally, I will note that in several instances of authors who work in the vicinity of the border between speculative fiction and mainstream fiction, it has been hard to deduce from the available commentary whether this or that particular book really qualifies for the designation "speculative fiction". Mainstream books, however meritorious, do not belong in these specialist lists, but I cannot simply omit the uncertain; I have, therefore, included those questionable titles, but have appropriately marked them out, as explained farther below.
(This issue--what sort of work does or does not belong in these lists--nagged at me enough that I eventually set forth some comment on the matter supplementary to what is already in the Apologia elsewhere on this site.)
Other Resources
Since the idea is to point you at authors and books generally consonant with those actually in the main lists on this site, let me also point you at some further resources for identifying such authors and books.
The lists maintained by Jeff VanderMeer, which were the original source of many of the selections that appear here. The lists vary somewhat from time to time, but here is his comprehensive list as of 16 May 2006--once at the linked page, scroll down to the blog entry for Tuesday, May 16, 2006. As VanderMeer himself says, "There's stuff on this list that stinks up the place" (note carefully that the choices are by no means all his), but it's a valuable starting point for further research.
The Curiosities series at The SF Site.
The Scriptorium, "featuring writers who have pushed the edges of their medium, combining literary talent with a sense of experimentation to produce some remarkable works of modern literature." This is a subdivision of the wonderful Modern Word literature site.
The Complete Review, "A Literary Saloon and Site of Review", which has a Science Fiction and Fantasy sub-list. Their chief defect is that they are rather too generous in their ratings; for example: a novel of which they write "the writing is amateurish and formulaic, and the characterization often ridiculous" receives a B- grade. But their reviews are revealing, and they include an excellent cross-section of other critical opinions.
Another fine literary resource, not specific to speculative fiction but including many speculative-fiction authors, is the so-called "Authors' Calendar", a set of well-done short essays and select bibliographies for most of the notable figures of literature.
The List
This list is liable to very frequent revisions, which--owing to that frequency--are not logged on this site's Change Log page.
In these listings:
- Book titles not boldfaced are works that I have reason to think are speculative fiction, but about which I cannot be sure.
- Author names in green are authors I am especially interested in.
- Author names in grey are authors whose works I have doubts will make the final cut, but who do deserve a look.
The standard marks on this site also apply: a # mark after an author's name signifies that he or she produced only one or two books in our field (however many might have been produced in other areas), while a * after a book title indicates that it is a collection of tales, not a novel.
Where I know enough about the writer, I have inserted a brief note (note, not evaluation). I have also tried to provide an external link for each author. I think it important to emphasize that the titles listed are not necessarily a complete bibliography of a given author's speculative-fiction work; in many cases they are, but in others they are only an indicative selection (or even single book). The idea here is to point you (and me) at books with which we can sample the authors; if we like what we taste, we can (and I will) go on to assemble complete lists.
Authors Included:
(each name is a clickable down-page link)
- Baker, Frank
- Ballard, J. G.
- Beerbohm, Max
- Bioy Casares, Adolfo
- Brockmeier, Kevin
- Bujold, Lois McMaster
- Kafka, Franz
- Kay, Guy Gavriel
- Kharms, Daniil
- King, Thomas
- Knox, Elizabeth
- Koster, R. M.
- Kotzwinkle, William
- Krausser, Helmut
- Krohn, Leena
- Martel, Yann
- Masefield, John
- Meyrink, Gustave
- Michael, Ib
- Miller, Keith
- Moore, Brian
- Morris, Kenneth
- Murakami, Haruki
- Pamuk, Orhan
- Potocki, Jan
- Powers, Richard
- Powys, John Cowper
- Powys, T. F.
- Prantera, Amanda
- Pynchon, Thomas
Aickman, Robert
Aickman is a "horror" writer whose works sound sufficiently large in purpose to possibly qualify as "speculative fiction" (as I define it). These collected tales are, I believe, his entire oeuvre. There is a useful web site, Robert Aickman - An Appreciation, and another at Robert Aickman -- A Pictorial Bibliography. The samples of Aickman's prose available are limited, but strongly suggestive of excellence. Aickman penned quite a few books, but his entire oeuvre has been collected in one set.
- The Collected Strange Stories * [2 volumes: 2001 2nd printing preferred]
Aylett, Steve
A writer who snuck in under my radar, Aylett is by general report savagely funny. He maintains his own web site, titled simply the Steve Aylett Website; most of his books are reviewed at The Complete Review. The list below is not a complete bibliography.
- Bigot Hall
- Beerlight:
- Slaughtermatic
- Atom
- The Crime Studio
- The Inflatable Volunteer
- Toxicology *
- Shamanspace
- Accomplice:
- Only an Alligator
- The Velocity Gospel
- Dummyland
- Karloff's Circus
Baker, Frank
The tantalizingly little information generally available suggests that others of his oeuvre may well also be of interest. There is a nice web site available, Frank Baker Author. His complete fiction oeuvre is 15 novels (how many speculative is unknown to me) and a collection of stories.
- Miss Hargreaves
- The Birds (possible inspiration for the Hitchcock movie)
- Mr Allenby Loses His Way
- Stories of the Strange and Sinister *
Ballard, J. G.
Ballard was a copious writer who eventually achieved mainstream reputation after a long science-fiction career. The list below is only a small sampling of his oeuvre, intended as a starting place for anyone interested (including me). Ballard is one of those writers whose work I last read so many decades ago that I need to refresh myself before definitively adding him into these lists. If he is as I recall, the final tabulation for him will doubtless be rather longer than this mini-list. A good starting place on line is the web site at jgballard.com; another is The Ballardian.
- Elementals:
- The Wind from Nowhere
- The Drowned World
- The Burning World aka The Drought
- The Crystal World
- Vermillion Sands *
- The Unlimited Dream Company
- The Best Short Stories of J. G. Ballard *
Beerbohm, Max #
Beerbohm, a contemporary of Shaw and Chesterton, was held by such as they to be a wit supreme and an elegantly polished writer. His one novel has sufficient fantastic elements (though they sound like appurtenances to the tale, not core issues) to qualify for consideration here, as do at least some of the portraits in the collection below; if he is anything like as good as reputed, I'm glad to have the excuse to include him here. There is a nice on-line review of some books on his life and work, The Beerbohm Cult. (He has been referred to as "the world's greatest minor writer".)
- Zuleika Dobson
- Seven Men and Two Others *
Bioy Casares, Adolfo
"Bioy" was a good friend of Borges, and collaborated with him on some works. On his own, he was, by general report, a good writer, but nothing like in Borges' class. His chief work (in modern opinion) is the novel cited below, a curiously weird, humorous, sad, and philosophical work. Some--perhaps many--of his short stories also have a fantastical cast. There is an on-line discussion of Morel, The Invention of Morel, Adolfo Bioy Casares.
- Morel's Invention [La invención de Morel]
Brockmeier, Kevin
The novel listed below derives from a short story that appeared in the New Yorker. It has been well received critically, both in the mainstream and in speculative-fiction circles. Brockmeier has other works, too, whose status as speculative fiction are iffy.
- The Brief History of the Dead
- The View From the Seventh Layer *
Bujold, Lois McMaster
I have sampled her Vorkosigan "franchise", as David Tate has perceptively referred to it, and found it wanting; I don't ordinarily comment on what I may have found wanting, but David, and not a few others, insists that Bujold's output rose dramatically in quality when she turned to fantasy, and that the books below--all set in the same world but stand-alone--are sterling candidates. So here they are. (She also now has another fantasy series--a true series--called "The Sharing Knife".)
- The Curse of Chalion
- Paladin of Souls
- The Hallowed Hunt
Carpentier, Alejo
Carpentier is one of the very earliest writers whose works would come to be described as "magical realism" (indeed, he may have created the term, lo real maravilloso); he is said to have inspired such successors as Gabriel García Márquez. I have listed his complete oeuvre below, but I cannot yet solemnly swear it is all speculative fiction (though I think so). There is a pleasant article, Alejo Carpentier, Criticism and Essays, available on line; another good resource is Alejo Carpentier - a guide to his greatest works.
- The Lost Steps
- The Kingdom of this World
- Explosion in a Cathedral
- War of Time
- Baroque Concerto
- Reasons of State
- The Harp and the Shadow
Carrington, Leonora
Carrington is both a respected painter and an apparently under-recognized author, chiefly in the surrealist mode. Her most-read book (in a relative sense) is The Hearing Trumpet; I have read it, and found it overall not quite up to these lists: but it is a mixed bag--if only it had finished as it started, it would have been at least three and perhaps four stars. The curious thing is the the first phase, which is much of the book, is screamingly funny--dry but wicked humor--but with very little that is fantastic (aside from the characters of the protagonist and supporting cast); then, all of a sudden the fantasy faucet is turned full open, but chiefly to serve a regrettably unsubtle Great Message about feminism. It is that unsubtleness--what I call wielding The Great Hammer of Obviousness--that in the end sinks the book (though I still think it a fine one-time read).
But since that novel shows a real talent that might, with more restraint (which the short-story form often imposes, and much of her work is short stories), be excellent. Thus I present this list of her other works. I think they are all fantasies, but I may err; there is too little information on line about her writing (though much on her painting). There may be some overlap in the contents of the story collections.
- The Stone Door (novella)
- The Oval Lady * (6 stories)
- The House of Fear * (4 quasi-autobiographical novellas)
- The Seventh Horse * ("The Stone Door" plus 18 short stories)
Coney, Michael
There is a tribute Michael Coney web site with much information on Coney, plus some of his work available to be read on line; it also has a large--but incomplete--bibliography of his extensive oeuvre. Also available on line is an appreciative obituary of Coney by Christopher Priest. The list below is only a sampling of his many works (see the Michael Coney Wikipedia article for a fuller listing).
- Mirror Image
- Hello Summer, Goodbye aka Rax aka Pallahaxi Tide (there was a sequel, I Remember Palahaxi)
- Winter's Children
- Friends Come in Boxes
- Brontomek!
- The Celestial Steam Locomotive
- Cat Karina
Constantine, Storm
Constantine has a rabid fan following for her substantial oeuvre, most of which at least sounds like things I would not fancy; the novel listed below, however, may be an exception (if, in fact, my deductions from reviews are correct as to her work), and seems well worth sampling. There is an "official Storm Constantine web site", Dreams of Dark Angels, which--though it refers to itself as a site--is really a blog.
- Calenture
Coover, Robert #
This bizarre novel by a noted mainstream author very probably belongs here, but till I finish it--I once began it, but it has fallen aside for now in my reading--I can't say for certain. Coover also has some other work that seems arguably speculative fiction, but his stuff is near the heart of the question of whether strangeness in fiction suffices to qualify as speculation. I cannot find any solid Coover site or even page, but there is a on-line review of Association from The New York Times.
- The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop.
Cortasár, Julio
On the Authors' Calendar Julio Cortasár page at that excellent literary site, he is is described as "one of the great masters of the fantastic short story, who has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges." Cortasár also wrote a novel, Hopscotch, that--although written in an experimental style (read the chapters in any order, hence the title)--I don't think is really "speculative fiction".
- Collected Stories *
Ford, Jeffrey
A lot of people with a right to an opinion very much like this author, comparing him to Kafka, Wolfe, Crowley, and even Borges; that's pretty strong company. Ford maintains his own web site, Jeffrey Ford's Homepage.
- Cley:
- The Physiognomy
- Memoranda
- The Beyond
- The Fantasy Writer's Assistant & Other Stories *
- The Cosmology of the Wider World [novella]
- The Empire of Ice Cream *
Forster, E. M.
Yes, this is that E. M. Forster. While far and away best known for his mainstream fiction, Forster was always an adventurer into speculation, as his classic novella The Machine Stops (included in the second collection) shows. The stories in this collection are by and large parables, reportedly excellently written.
- The Eternal Moment *
Fuentes, Carlos
One of the last of the diplomat-scholars, Fuentes "uses experimental techniques familiar from the nouveau roman and postmodern fiction" (per the Fuentes page on The Authors' Calendar) in literate tales that, by and large, focus on power and politics in Latin America. There seems, by report, little doubt that Fuentes is a writer of high quality; what is less certain, to me, is which of his books fairly fall under the rubric "speculative fiction" ("experimental techniques" is not quite the same thing as "speculative fiction"). The listing below is thus quite incomplete (Fuentes was prolific, with both fiction and non-fiction) and possibly in some error; I consider it a modest "sampler" list, which can be expanded at will.
- Aura
- Christopher Unborn
Garnett, David
Though Garnett wrote a number of later fictions, this, his first, is what he is remembered for--to the extent that he is remembered, for despite the book's having in its time won all sorts of literary prizes and the praise of the famous, neither it nor Garnett himself are much remembered today. There is correspondingly little about Garnett on the web; perhaps the best of that little is this little David Garnett bio.
- Lady Into Fox
Geston, Mark S.
Geston wrote science fiction for which the phrase "amazingly depressing" is too light. But a lot of people seem to feel that he wrote it well, and with Big Ideas well treated. I have done his flagship (and premier) novel at least twice, at widely separated times, and still don't have it on the shelves, but I guess third time pays for all . . . . (A couple of his later books are said to be somewhat different.) I find it remarkable and then some that though Geston's name seems universally recognized by veteran sf readers, there is virtually nothing substantive about him or his works on the web.
- Lords of the Starship
- Out of the Mouth of the Dragon [sequel to the above]
- The Day Star
- The Siege of Wonder
- Mirror to the Sky
Gray, Alasdair
Gray is a respected Scottish author, mostly mainstream but with a few turns of fantasy, as listed below. Gray has his own web site, The Official Web Site of Alasdair Gray. My first approach to 1982, Janine, which I did not finish, left me unsure of its merit, and I need to re-try it to get a better handle on it and Gray. (But it was skillfully written, at the least).
Since writing that, I have begun his earliest novel, Lanark, and in early going it is quite first-class. More later.
- Lanark: A Life in Four Books
- Poor Things
- 1982, Janine
- A History Maker
Gray, Curme #
This little-known book, now well over half a century old, is said to be a remarkable exercise: a far-future tale (a murder mystery, as it happens) told with absolutely no "infodumping" whatever. The author writes as if addressing others of that time, and so explains nothing that would be common knowledge--often leaving the reader perplexed. It could be great or it could be awful: it certainly never found any popular readership, yet the few who write of it do so respectfully (as did Damon Knight and Paul Di Filippo). I'll be interested to see. Here is a link to Di Filippo's mini-review of the book (from the SF Site Curiosities series).
- Murder in Millennium VI
Gun, Guneli
Gun is a Turk, now resident in the U.S., who writes in English and seems well liked by the literary establishment (here's an on-line micro-biography of Guneli Gun). The novel listed below is available online.
- On The Road To Baghdad
Hand, Elizabeth
This is just one sample--a collection of four novellas--of her extensive work, but is probably as good a starting point as any. Ms. Hand maintains her own web site, Winterlong.
- Bibliomancy *
Hansen, Brooks
Hansen's first novel, The Chess Garden, stirred some strong positive reactions in competent critics. The next two look rather promising as well, based on a majority of published criticism from reputable sources. There seems to be no overall Hansen site or page on the web, but there are available reviews of the individual books, of which these are samples: review of The Chess Garden; review of Perlman's Ordeal; and review of Caesar's Antlers.
- The Chess Garden, or the Twilight Letters of Gustav Uyterhoeven
- Perlman's Ordeal
- Caesar's Antlers (young adult)
Harpur, Patrick
This came to my attention through a recommendation by M. John Harrison. Most reviews seem to like it. Harpur has a small essay on alchemy of some possible interest. This book seems to be a sort of cult "semi-classic", in that it is little known but those who know it like it.
- Mercurius
Hesse, Herman
Hesse is another world-class mainstream author who occasionally dipped into the fantastic (or the science-fictional). Professor Günther Gottschalk maintains the Herman Hesse Home Page.
- The Glass Bead Game aka Magister Ludi
- Steppenwolf
- The Complete Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse *
- Pictor's Metamorphoses and Other Fantasies *
Hollander, John
Hollander is a top-ranked poet and scholar, and he used his abilities to construct this one fantasy work, which takes the form of a scholar's efforts to piece together and interpret a lost medieval epic poem; the resulting book is half an amusing commentary on scholarly research and half an actual epic poem, though in scattered pieces in different hands and different styles. The thing is said to be a delightful hoot.
- The Quest of the Gole
Ishiguro, Kazuo #
The first novel linked below is another that, even after reading extensive reviews and descriptions of it, seems to me hard to classify as "speculative fiction". Odd, yes, no doubt; told in an curious, experimental manner, yes; surrealistic or fantastic--maybe. But, it seems, definitely a good book, no matter of what sort. Here is a brief on-line evaluation of Ishiguro. (The second novel loisted here is definitely speculative fiction.)
- The Unconsoled
- Never Let Me Go
Jansson, Tove
Jansson's "Moomintroll" tales are nominally children's stories, but like many another such set, they have been enthusiastically taken up by many adults. They have been lauded by folk with a right to an opinion, and seem well worth a taste. Regrettably, after the series passed from the late author's originals it was turned into a schlocky cottage industry, rather like Pooh.
- The Moomins and the Great Flood
- Comet in Moominland
- Finn Family Moomintroll
- The Exploits of Moominpapa
- Moominsummer Madness
- Moominland Midwinter
- Tales from Moominvalley *
- Moominpappa at Sea
- Moominvalley in November
Johnson, Kij
Johnson has a series of awards to testify to the quality of her writings: the Theodore A. Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short story of 1994, the International Association for the Fantastic in the Art's Crawford Award for best new fantasy novelist of the year, finalist for the 2003 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, finalist for the 2004 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, currently a finalist for the World Fantasy Award; she was an author guest of honor for the 2005 SFRA conference in Las Vegas. She has her own web page, Kij Johnson; separate from that, she runs her own blog, "Everything is a transition between something and something else".
- The Fox Woman
- Fudoki
Jones, Gwyneth
A long-time and prolific writer of children's books (under another name), in 1984 Jones (under her own name) turned to science fiction; since then, she has been the winner of two World Fantasy Awards, the BSFA short story award, the Children of the Night Award from the Dracula Society, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and a co-winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. The work below is only a sampling of her total oeuvre; if it pans out, the list will likely end up rather longer. She has a web site of her own, Gwyneth Jones.
- Seven Tales and a Fable
Joseph, M. K.
The work below is only a sampling of the total oeuvre of this remarkable writer; if it pans out, the list will likely end up rather longer. There is available an extensive discusion of the book listed below.
- The Hole In the Zero
Kafka, Franz
There is no least doubt that these classics by this famed author belong here; my only question is at how many stars, so I need to navigate them before adding them in. Kafka material on the web is voluminous, but the Authors' Calendar Franz Kafka page is a good place to look.
- The Castle
- The Trial
Kay, Guy Gavriel
Here is another writer a lot of people seem to love, but who brings out, in me, only The Eight Deadly Words (described farther above). Nothing in his work seems particularly wrong in any way, but the sum of the elements--from the actual prose to the depth of the characters--seems always just that much off deep achievement. But several readers have suggested that perhaps I was reading the wrong works--some being supposedly much better than others, I guess--so I owe it one more fling. The two books listed below are probably as good a place to dive in as anywhere. There is an "authorized" Kay web site, Bright Weavings.
- Tigana
- A Song for Arbonne
Kharms, Daniil #
Kharms wrote short absurdist pieces in Stalinist Russia, which facts led, at least in part, to his incarceration, during which he died of starvation in the prison hospital. His works are short, often microscopically so, but are reportedly outstanding reading; so far as I can tell, the volume cited below collects all of these pieces. Kharms also produced a substantial body of books for young children, many of which are also said to be absurdist fantasy, and at least some of which are available in English. The Authors' Calendar Daniil Kharms page is useful.
- Incidences *
King, Thomas #
This is said to be a very funny book; King, a Cherokee Indian, writes of the clash between traditional Indian culture and the modern world, and spares nothing and nobody from his pervasive wit, which is warm-hearted, not scathing. There is a fair amount of material about King on the web, none particularly deep or insightful; here is a typical King bio, Canadian Writers: Thomas King.
- Green Grass, Running Water
Knox, Elizabeth
The work below is only a sampling of her total oeuvre; if it pans out, the list will likely end up rather longer. The New Zealand Book Council has a reasonably extensive web page on Elizabeth Knox.
- The Vintner's Luck
Koster, R. M.
Koster has written some other works, but this is the only one that seems to clearly lie in our fields; it is reported to be exceedingly clever and funny. There is remarkably little available about Koster, surprising in that he has been a controversial political writer for a long time. The closest to useful is perhaps this brief description of Carmichael's Dog.
- Carmichael's Dog
Kotzwinkle, William
Kotzwinkle has written numerous popular children's books (with titles like Walter the Farting Dog) and--apparently with very bad results--"novelizations" of some major movie scripts (such as E.T.), as well as a good number of adult novels, many fantastical (and commonly described as satirical); he is a two-time winner of both the National Magazine Award for Fiction and the World Fantasy Award. For a'that, there is no central Kotzwinkle site or page on the web (that I can find), just scattered reviews of some individual books. The closest thing to general background is this skinny micro-biography.
- Hermes 3000
- Doctor Rat
- Fata Morgana
- Seduction in Berlin
- Herr Nightingale and the Satin Woman
- The Bear Went Over the Mountain
- The Exile
Krausser, Helmut
Krausser has written a lot more; I don't know how much of it, if any, is fantasy, because little or none (save the one novel listed below) is available yet in English. In the novel we have, a psychiatrist takes on a patient who claims to be--and may indeed be--Satan; much hilarity (sort of) ensues. There seems no Krausser web page, but here's a review of The Great Bagarozy.
- The Great Bagarozy
Krohn, Leena
Krohn is a Finnish author of substantial output, but (so far as I know) the two books listed below are her only work yet translated into English. Tainaron is a rather unusual epistolary novel, the letters coming from an unnamed writer visiting a city of diverse, civilized, human-sized insects; all available reports praise it highly. Krohn's style is to build a whole out of quite small pieces of prose--such as the letters in Tainaron--which, though each seems almost independent, add up to a significant whole exposition. Krohn has several other works in her oeuvre, some possibly also fantastical. Besides numerous glowing reviews of Tainaron, There are a couple of mini-biographies available on line--here is one such Krohn biography.
- Tainaron: Mail From Another City
- Dona Quixote and Other Writings [Dona Quixote and Other Citizens plus Gold of Ophir]
La Farge, Tom
La Farge (married to Wendy Walker, see farther below) specializes in adult tales of the Talking Animal variety. There is annoyingly little information on him or his works on the web; about the best available is this mini-review of Zuntig.
- Mole Place:
- The Crimson Bears (a novel in two volumes):
- The Crimson Bears
- A Hundred Doors
- Zuntig
- The Broken House [forthcoming]
- The Crimson Bears (a novel in two volumes):
- Terror of Earth *
Lem, Stanislaw
Lem is a late addition to this page, because I had read some of his work and found it jejeune. But it seems that a very great deal depends on the translation, with the developing consensus being that most English translations have done Lem's work great disservice. In the books list below, I have included only those translated into English by Michael Kandel, who appears to be the one universally praised translator for Lem. We'll see how this goes on the replay. (Note that Solaris, possibly Lem's best-known work, is not--yet, anyway--translated by Kandel.)
- The Star Diaries *
- Memoirs Found in a Bathtub
- Mortal Engines *
- The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age *
- His Master's Voice
- The Futurological Congress
- A Perfect Vacuum *
- Mortal Engines *
- Peace on Earth * [translated by Elinor Ford with Michael Kandel]
- Fiasco
Link, Kelly
One reviewer describes her tales as "elliptical and spooky". She maintains her own web site, www.kellylink.net.
- Stranger Things Happen *
- Magic For Beginners *
Martel, Yann
Martel hit the big time with this novel. He has a few other works that also straddle the line between mainstream and speculative fiction; if this one reads well, those will be worth pursuing as well. (This prize-winning novel was, by Martel's own avowal, derived from Moacyr Scliar's novel (see below) Max and the Cats.) There are several reviews of the novel on line, but only scant Martel biography: this Martel page seems to be about as much as there is.
- The Life of Pi
Masefield, John
(Yes, the Poet Laureate Masefield.) Many critics seem to like these two novels, though the terms in which they speak lead me to believe that there is an element of nostalgia possibly clouding their critical judgements. Well, in time we shall see. There is an extensive Masefield biography available on line.
- The Midnight Folk
- The Box of Delights [sequel]
Meyrink, Gustave
More a psychological and social study than a "supernatural" tale, this is one of the definitive renderings of the golem legend. One reader suggests strongly that the 1928 translation by Madge Pemberton (available in a Dover edition of the novel) is somewhat more flowing than that of Mike Mitchell, though the latter has done several Meyrink books of late. There are few pages on the web about Meyrink, but there is a decent review of The Golem available.
- The Golem
Michael, Ib
As with many other listings on this page, this is only a sample of a larger oeuvre. There is a decent Ib Michael web site available.
- Prince
Miller, Keith
A first novel, a quest fable, told in elegant prose, liked by critics and readers.
- The Book of Flying
Moore, Brian
Moore is another respected mainstream writer who on occasion entered to the speculative arena to go a few rounds with his angst and issues. Both these books garnered substantial critical praise; one thing I noted in reviews of The Great Victorian Collection was that no two reviewers, though each seemed certain of his grasp of the book, seemed to find the same message in it, which--for me--bodes well. And while Cold Heaven was made into a movie, one reviewer said "avoid at all costs the film based on the book, a botched job if there ever was one." Reviews of the book are generally positive, but more mixed than for Collection.
- Cold Heaven
- The Great Victorian Collection
Morris, Kenneth
Morris was catapaulted into current attention when Ursula Le Guin classed him one of the three master prose stylists of fantasy in the twentieth century (along with Dunsany and Tolkien). There is a good Kenneth Morris web site.
- The Dragon Path: The Collected Tales of Kenneth Morris *
- The Chalchiuhite Dragon
- Welsh folklore:
- The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed
- Book of the Three Dragons
Murakami, Haruki
Murakami has become quite the bright light of modern literature. It's time to see why. The so-called "official American Murakami web site" is a programming disaster requiring the vile "Flash" plugin to show anything at all (perhaps the very definition of "brain dead" in site-making); fortunately, there is a nicely done "unofficial" Haruki Murakami site.
- A Wild Sheep Chase
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Nabokov, Vladimir
Nabokov is an eminently well-known "mainstream" novelist who is by no means always mainstream. I presently know him only by his autobiographical work Speak, Memory, which is first-class writing. There is a useful Authors' Calendar Vladimir Nabokov page.
- Ada
- Pale Fire
- Bend Sinister
Nye, Robert
Elsewhere on this site, I have praised Nye's book Falstaff, but not included it in the main lists because it is not truly a work of speculative fiction (though it reads much like, which is why I mentioned it). I now find that Nye has treated several other literary and historical figures, and if the results are as good as for Falstaff, there's quite a treat awaiting. I list below only Nye's books that do or might qualify as "speculative", but recommend to you anything you can find by him. (Incidentally, despite the success of Falstaff and some of his other novels, it seems Nye is best known as a poet.) There is a brief biography of Robert Nye, but not a lot more in any one place.
- Doubtfire
- Tales I Told My Mother *
- Faust
O'Leary, Patrick
O'Leary is a popular young writer of speculative fiction. He maintains his own web site, Patrick O'Leary's Books.
- The Gift
- The Impossible Bird
- Other Voices, Other Doors *
Okri, Ben
Okri, a Nigerian African, is often compared to Amos Tutuola; Okri's books, set in modern-day Africa, are redolent of "magic realism" (whatever exactly that may be), with Yoruba myths and beliefs interwoven integrally with the narrative. Some readers report The Famished Road as complicated or difficult or, tellingly, as a book that reads as if written for an academic readership; others simply love it. The ever-helpful Author's Calendar has a Ben Okri page.
- The Famished Road
Pamuk, Orhan
Pamuk, a Turk, is a commonly described as a bright star in today's literary constellations. The books listed below, though they seem all to partake of modernist writing techniques, are by no means assuredly what I would class "speculative fiction". There is a Orhan Pamuk web site (unofficial).
- The White Castle
- The Black Book
- My Name Is Red
Potocki, Jan
The novel below, a sprawling Decameron of sub-tales, seems known to few, all of whom ecstatically praise it. Note that the latest translation from the original French not Polish, as I previously stated here), by Ian MacLean, seems considered by many to be inferior to the earlier two-volume version by Elizabeth Abbot ("only version that captures the humor of the original"), which was published in two volumes (entitled The Saragossa Manuscript and The New Decameron.); yet another reviewer preferred the translation by Christine Donougher ("more successfully captures the surreal whimsy"--do we see a trend here?). There was a film of the book, said to be pretty faithful (and thus good).
(Actually, the history of the manuscript is complex, in that parts of the original in French were lost, the present English translations derive from an early translation of the then-intact whole into Polish, which translation was and is considered quite good.
- The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
Powers, Richard
Powers is a literary Big Boy, and perhaps deservedly so. Despite the general praise for the novel listed below (and his other work), I have a nagging sense of an Asimovian type of novel: "walking, talking ideas" as someone once put it. But I could be very wrong--only one way to find out. There is a useful brief Richard Powers biography available on the web.
- Galatea 2.2
Powys, John Cowper
Powys was a strange man who wrote strange books, though whether their strangeness is of the sort that makes them true speculative fiction is unclear to me. Of the Wessex sextet, probably A Glastonbury Romance and Porius are the likeliest candidates, but the others may belong, too. One thing seems sure: that Cowper could write exquisite, clean prose. There is a solid online appreciation of Cowper from The Guardian.
- The Wessex novels:
- Wolf Solent
- A Glastonbury Romance
- Weymouth Sands [aka Jobber Skald
- Maiden Castle
- Owen Glendower
- Porius: A Romance of the Dark Ages
Powys, T. F.
This Powys, a brother of the one above, both members of an extraordinary literary family--with its own following and their web site, The Powys Society--has been described as "a master stylist and one of the most original of all English storytellers" (Times Literary Supplement) and his work as "elegant and amusing, profound and sparse" (The Times). He, like his brother, was a strange man, though in different ways. His works are commonly called "allegorical", though whether they are actually allegorical as we today use the word or are simply parables (not quite the same thing) is hard to say from just reading reviews; all, however, deal with philosophical and religious questions, especially that of death. Though Powys stopped writing in 1936, his works were by no means wholly published in his lifetime, and "new" novels and story collections appear from time to time even today. The few listed below are a sort of "starter kit" to see if more is wanted (a bibliography of even his major work is hard to come by). There is a long essay, "Modernity and Medievalism in T. F. Powys's Mature Fiction", available on line.
- Mr. Weston's Good Wine
- Unclay
- Fables *
- The Two Thieves
Prantera, Amanda
For a writer who has received kind words from major newspaper reviewers, Prantera--an Englishwoman long resident in Italy--seems almost unknown. Her novels apparently divide rather sharply between mainstream and fantastical, though whether they are truly "speculative fiction" is not quite clear from the few minimal reviews available on line. The titles below, which may not be of equal quality, seem to comprise her fantastical works; the marking off of "likely" and "possible" (as to being "speculative") is, I warn, tentative. I don't normally link discussion threads here, but this Amanda Prantera forum thread seems the best material available in one place.
- The Kingdom of Fanes
- Strange Loop
- The Cabalist
- Spoiler
Pynchon, Thomas
Pynchon's talent seems undoubtable (despite the occasional sniping at his difficulty); but, though his books are apparently all rather wild explosions of linguistic and conceptual fireworks, whether they are truly "speculative fiction" remains--for me--to be seen. But I look forward to finding out, no matter which way it goes. (This list is by no means his full oeuvre.) There are multiple sites about Pynchon; this Thomas Pynchon Home Page seems as good as any.
- The Crying of Lot 49
- Gravity's Rainbow
- Mason & Dixon
- V
Ray, Jean
Ray is sometimes compared to H. P. Lovecraft, which is not, to me, a recommendation. This unabashedly "Gothic" novel is said to be at least "good of kind", so I suppose it deserves a look; but, applying triage, it is not likely to get read here anytime soon. The Violet Books site has a good article on Malpertuis (which has been made into a film).
- Malpertuis
Richardson, Maurice #
Said to be side-splittingly funny, what it contains "is a series of extracts from the Surrealist Sportsman's Club Chronicles, in which the titular boxer, a gentleman of short stature and simian aspect, is pitted against an assortment of foes and obstacles, from villainous octopi to Butlins Redcoats" (from James Marriott). How far wrong can one go in trying this? There is a modest but interesting Maurice Richardson biography available on line.
This book is a hen's tooth, but I gather that a new printing is due out fairly soon from Savoy Books.
- The Exploits of Engelbrecht
Rooke, Leon
Rooke has seven novels and hundreds of short stories. Though much of his work is mainstream fiction, there is also--especially in his later work--a definite fantastical streak (which you can see in this on-line short story by Rooke, Polar Arms). It is hard to determine from reviews which of his novels partake of the fantastical; his short stories also apparently are quite a mix. I list below one story collection, listed elsewhere as an example of Rooke's speculative fiction, and one novel that, based on a New York Times review, seems rather fantastical. Rooke may well be an author worth following up (there is an on-line bibliography available on Rooke's own web site, Leon Rooke), though at least some of his work (such as the novel The Beautiful Woman is, by report, uncharacteristically weak.
- Sing Me No Love Songs, I'll Say You No Prayers *
- Good Baby
Rulfo, Juan
Rulfo is deeply respected in Latin American letters despite having produced only two books: a collection of short stories ()apparently all mainstream), and the definitely fantastical novel listed below. Some have compared the tale (in "feel" rather than precise parallel) with Dante's Inferno. It is widely described as immensely powerful and deep, with large overtones of relevance that interfere not at all with the sheer story-telling. There is an Authors' Calendar Juan Rulfo page.
- Pedro Páramo
Russell, Mary Doria
Quoting Wikipedia, "Russell has become widely known for her two novels which explore one of science fiction's oldest concepts: first contact with aliens. In this framework she also explores the even older issue of how one can reconcile the idea of a benevolent deity with pain and evil in the world." Russell maintains her own web site, Mary Doria Russell.
- The Sparrow
- Children of God [sequel to The Sparrow]
Ryman, Geoff
Ryman is a contemporary writer of speculative fiction that some people like and some don't. There are numerous reviews of individual books, and a few interviews, but no overall critical assessment that I could find; there is, however, this brief Ryman biography, which touches on his various books. There is also available on line his peculiar hypertext novel 253.
- The Child Garden
- V.A.O.
- Unconquered Countries *
- The Warrior Who Carried Life
- Air
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de #
His one fantasy, nominally a children's book but a morality tale much appreciated by adults, is regularly referred to as "classic". There is a nice Authors' Calendar Antoine de Saint-Exupéry page; he was an interesting fellow.
- The Little Prince
Schulz, Bruno #
Schulz's work is described so variously as to make it hard to characterize just from what has been said of it. Two things, though, on which there seems virtually complete agreement are that 1) it is fantastical; and 2) that it is extraordinarily good. Schulz produced only these two books before his untimely (and bizarre) murder by a Nazi officer during World War II. The Authors' Calendar Bruno Schulz page is, as always, a good one.
- The Street of Crocodiles * [aka Cinnamon Shops]
- Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass *
Scliar, Moacyr
Scliar is a Latin American Jewish writer (so identified here because his identity overtly powers his writing); while I think that if I read the phrase "magic realism" one more time I'll puke, his work does fit into that Latin literature that accepts and emphasizes the unusual in everyday settings. So far as I can judge from reviews and comments, the list below comprises speculative-fiction works (Max is the avowed inspiration for Yann Martel's Booker-prize-winning novel The Life of Pi, listed above.) Doubtless some of the tales in The Collected Stories of Moacyr Scliar will also fit under the same umbrella, but--since I don't know the percentage--I have not expressly listed that collection. There are reviews of various of his books available, but the closest thing to an overall insight is perhaps this on-line essay by Scliar, "Reclaiming the text - or reclaiming voices?" about his writing.
- The Centaur In The Garden
- Max and the Cats
- The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes
Sinclair, Andrew
Though he has written numerous novels, some but not all speculative, the (speculative) trilogy below being considered his best work. Even within the trilogy, the first, Gog seems to be thought the standout work, with the others "somewhat less interesting" or "weaker".
- The Albion Cycle:
- Gog
- Magog
- King Ludd
Smith, Ali
This has gotten wildy differing reviews, though most are positive. The Complete Review has a nice discussion.
- Hotel World
Smith, Michael Marshall
Smith is a British writer whose first published story won the 1991 British Fantasy Award for "Best Short Story" and whose first novel won the 1995 August Derleth Award for Best Novel. Smith maintains his own web site, www.michaelmarshallsmith.com.
- Only Forward
- Spares
Spencer, William Browning
Spencer writes weird books, typically featuring possibly insane characters. Some at least are also by report wildly funny (by design, I should note). I don't know why there are so many fine writers with no web site, but Spencer is yet another--lots of on-line reviews of individual books, but no central critical assessment. This review of Spencer's short-story collection will have to do for all till he, or someone, gets a site up.
- Zod Wallop
- Résumé With Monsters
- Irrational Fears
- The Ocean and All Its Devices *
Starrett, Vincent #
Starrett, an always delightful literary polymath, seems to have produced only this one fantastic work, but it is said to be an uproarious delight. There is an on-line biography of Starrett, a fascinating man. (Mystery fans, and arguably everyone, should read his Sherlock Holmes works: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes; 221 B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes; the Adventure of the Unique Hamlet, one of the greatest pastiches ever; and the poem "221B", original source of the oft-quoted phrase "where it is always 1895".)
- Seaports in the Moon
Stephenson, Neal
"Cyberpunk", I will freely confess, tends to give me a pain. If I want to learn about "hi-tech", I can read non-fiction. Stephenson is said to be literate cyberpunk; that strikes me as an oxymoron, but I can't know for sure till I try it. (Several reviewers question whether Cryptonomicon and some of his other books are truly speculative fiction, as opposed to historical fiction.) Stephenson has his own web site, Neal Stephenson.
- Snow Crash
- The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
- Cryptonomicon
- The Baroque Cycle:
- Quicksilver
- The Confusion
- The System of the World
Sterling, Bruce
The work below is only a sampling of his total oeuvre; if it pans out, the list will likely end up rather longer. There is a lot about and by Sterling on the web, but most of it (including his blog) seems mainly or wholly related to his various activist causes, not his fiction. About the most general thing is this general Bruce Sterling page (now a bit long in the tooth)) by Cosma Shalazi.
- Schismatrix Plus *
Stevens, Brooke
Stevens worked in a circus, and his much-praised tales use that background. Stevens has his own web site, Brooke Stevens.
- The Circus of the Earth and the Air
- Tattoo Girl
Stockton, Frank R.
Stockton produced children's tales, the most famous being "The Lady or the Tiger?" This being now and that being then, the tales are written in a style well above "children's books" of today, albeit a bit stiff and Victorian. I have read some paragraphs of Stockton's work here and there, and cannot conclude whether his work would be interesting at length. But I include this one listing as a fair sampler, for myself and those who would like to see his work (though there is some available on line). There's a modest but sufficient biography of Frank R. Stockton available on the web.
- The Bee-Man of Orn and Other Fanciful Tales *
Storr, Catherine
The work below, while her most famed, is only a sampling of her total oeuvre, which is children's and "young adult" books amenable to adult appreciation; if it pans out, the list will likely end up rather longer. There is a brief biography of Catherine Storr available on line.
- Marianne Dreams
Tennant, Emma
Tennant is best known for being what The New York Times eloquently described as a "literary ventroliquist", meaning she has written a hundredweight of sequels to or pastiches of famous works, from Pride and Prejudice to Gone With the Wind. But she has also written not a few original works, several of the speculative sort. One reviewer, speaking of Hotel de Dreams (a Pringle Top 100 fantasy and surely the best place to start sampling her) said that "While the book is certainly not lacking in the weird humour of her two previous books, and actually abounds in the grotesque, there is a shift away from satirical comedy in favour of psychological fantasy, from a broad perspective to a closed world. Even so, Tennant still provides a tangentially symbolic comment on the 'condition of England' issue through her characters and their dream-selves. All that should give you some idea of her. (The list of books below is a sampler, not complete, and some may not be speculative.)
- The Time of the Crack
- The Last of the Country House Murders
- Hotel de Dream
- Wild Nights
- Alice Fell
- Queen of Stones
- Woman Beware Woman
Tevis, Walter
Probably best known for the big-name movies made from his books--The Hustler, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Color of Money--Tevis wrote several science-fiction books (including the one from which the movie Man Who Fell was made). Whether the others are up to his "big one" is unclear, but I will try them and see. There is a decent appreciation of Tevis and his works available on line.
- The Man Who Fell to Earth
- Mockingbird
- Far From Home
- The Steps of the Sun
Thurber, James #
Thurber, the urbane writer and cartoonist of New Yorker fame, also wrote some children's books that seem to receive unanimous praise, and the two listed below are widely described as well suited for adult enjoyment as well (though Clocks gets much more praise than Deer). A lot of the fun seems to reside in Thurber's characteristically witty play with the English language. There is a useful Authors' Calendar James Thurber page available.
- The Thirteen Clocks
- The White Deer
Tiptree, James, Jr.
Tiptree was the pseudonym of Dr. Alice Sheldon. I have read only one Tiptree story, "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?", which story won the Nebula award and tied for the Hugo award, in both cases for best novella published in 1976; all I can say is that those judges' criteria and mine are very different. I found it obvious to the point of juvenilia, didactic--one might even say whiny. But considering all the critical foofaraw over her work, I suppose that sooner or later I should read this entire collection, which seems to be the cream of her work. There is a James Tiptree, Jr. WWW Page on line.
- Her Smoke Rose Up Forever *
Tutuola, Amos
Tutuola is a Nigerian whose works incorporate Yoruba folk tales; he manages to combine the ideas of old magic and modern hi-tech--seamlessly, the reviewers say. He is well regarded in mainstream literary circles. There is a useful Authors' Calendar Amos Tutuola page available.
- The Palm Wine Drinkard and his Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town
- My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Unamuno, Miguel de
Unamuno was a philosopher, but is today better remembered for his fiction. The tale below is his best-known speculative-fiction opus. There is a useful Authors' Calendar Miguel de Unamuno page available.
- Mist [Nebla]
VanderMeer, Jeff
VanderMeer is, by all accounts, one of the exciting new voices out there in fantastic fiction, and I can scarcely wait to dig in. (Note that City of Saints and Madmen has appeared in three successively larger editions; the most complete is the 2004 UK edition.) VanderMeer maintains his own web site, jeffvandermeer.com.
- Ambergris:
- City of Saints and Madmen: The Book of Ambergris * [TOR UK 2004 edition]
- The Exchange - with Eric Schaller, as by "Nicholas Sporlender" [chapbook, with associated artifacts]
- Shriek: An Afterword
- Veniss Underground
- The Book of Frog *
- The Book of Lost Places *
- Secret Life * [contains both Ambergris- and Veniss-related tales]
- Secret Lives *
Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.
Vonnegut is, I fear, another counter-culture cult fave who does little for me. Too often, what seems to mainstream reviewers and readers as strikingly new and bold is, to veteran speculative-fiction readers, strikingly old and humdrum. What I can recall of his prose did not excite me, and based on the summaries of his work, the plots are so thin that the prose has to be what will carry them if anything will. But I'll give him another go. The book below is probably a fair representation of his middle-period work, so I'll try it (sooner or later). There are several dedicated Vonnegut web sites, of which The Vonnegut Web is representative.
- Cat's Cradle
Walker, Wendy
Everyone seems to just swoon over Walker's fantasy novel The Secret Service, which seems to be both intelligent and beautifully written. Of her other work, the short stories in The Sea-Rabbit are re-workings of classic fairy tales in Walker's reportedly lambent prose (there: I've been just dying for an opportunity to flourish "lambent", a word apparently beloved of literary critics). One reviewer (Elizabeth Willey) recommends starting with the stories, as an induction to Walker's prose styling. (Walker has another short-story collection, Stories Out of Omarie, which does not appear to be speculative fiction.) She maintains her own web site, Wendy Walker.
- The Sea-Rabbit, or, The Artist of Life *
- The Secret Service
Wall, Mervyn
Irishman Wall writes of an unfortunate medieval monk, Brother Fursey, caught up between Irish monks and Lucifer, unable to either abandon or turn to either. The tales are superficially quite comic, but seem to have an underlying seriousness--one source refers to them as tragicomedies. I can determine little about the other work listed here save that it deals with (hang on) an attempted assassination of Santa Claus; one has to assume that Wall's writerly abilities were up to the task. I can find no information whatever on the nature of Wall's short fiction (collected in A Flutter of Wings), though I suspect that at least a bit of it is fantastical. There is not much about Wall on the web--this Mervyn Wall micro-biography is about it; there are, however, at least some reviews of the Fursey tales, including one from the SF Site's "Curiosities" series, The Unfortunate Fursey and The Return Of Fursey.
- The Complete Fursey [two novels: The Unfortunate Fursey & The Return of Fursey]
- The Garden of Echoes: a Fable for Children and Grown-Ups
- A Flutter of Wings *
Wylie, Elinor
Wylie, who published in the 1920s, is a curious case: as one biographical notes puts it, "she was described by contemporaries as an icon of the age." The Virginia Quarterly Review remarks that "Wylie may never be known as more than a minor artist of great elegance and skill, but though there were other notable women writers in her life span . . . there were none with quite her quality." Yet today, she is scarcely remembered, least of all for her four novels (her forte was poetry). But, of the novel listed below, another online review remarked that it is "the most mannered and ornamental and beautiful allegorical Frankenstein tale you will ever read." (You can read more about the book at Georgia Tech's "Frankenstein Project", aka "Mary Shelley's Legacy in Science Fiction".) Wylie's other three novels are either not fantastic or, apparently (as with her Shelley fantasy), not very good. (The four novels and some short stories were collected in one volume, The Collected Prose of Elinor Wylie.) There are some bios available on line, of which this, Elinor Wylie, seems the fullest.
- The Venetian Glass Nephew
Zoline, Pamela
Zoline is an artist and a writer, her adult fiction being (she has done a children's book) being, so far as I know, wholly contained in the book listed here. Nonetheless, she is viewed by many leading critics as an outstanding writer, the title story of the collection apparently being her chef d'oeuvre. (See Mary Papke's essay "A Space of Her Own" for more on Zoline.)
- The Heat Death of the Universe and Other Stories *
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