books: sci-fi by non genre authors
- Thread starter ether
- Start date
swears
preppy-kei
JG Ballard is basically a sci-fi author, right? Not all of his books' premises are based in science and technology, but most have a "what if..." angle.
One of my favourite sci-fi short stories is "The Janitor of Mars" by Martin Amis, which revolves around the idea that the human race is a bit rubbish compared to other civilisations, very funny.
One of my favourite sci-fi short stories is "The Janitor of Mars" by Martin Amis, which revolves around the idea that the human race is a bit rubbish compared to other civilisations, very funny.
viktorvaughn
Well-known member
Kurt Vonnegut. Done pure sci-fi (player piano) through to tinged stuff like slaughterhouse 5 and cats cradle. Great author.
littlebird
Wild Horses
Flicker
honestly not sure if "sci-fi" is the right label to affix to this book, but i do think it appeals to those who enjoy novels such as the P.D. James mentioned.
'Flicker' Theodore Roszak
i've heard mention for some time now that Aronofsky plans on making a film, but not seen much more than the name-dropping mention, and the new cover. i read this book quite a few years ago on a friend's suggestion, who had been passed his copy from a friend via another friend via another.
some links: Review
Amazon
honestly not sure if "sci-fi" is the right label to affix to this book, but i do think it appeals to those who enjoy novels such as the P.D. James mentioned.
'Flicker' Theodore Roszak
i've heard mention for some time now that Aronofsky plans on making a film, but not seen much more than the name-dropping mention, and the new cover. i read this book quite a few years ago on a friend's suggestion, who had been passed his copy from a friend via another friend via another.
some links: Review
Amazon
CHAOTROPIC
on account
Just finished "Oryx & Crake" by Margaret Atwood. Very funny, very scary. Cardboard characters but a nice fatalism about scientific progress. (While scientists are society's golden goose, do you want the future direction of mankind to be decided by a group of socially alienated elitists with varying degrees of Asperger's syndrome?*)
EDIT: * present company excepted, Mr Tea
EDIT: * present company excepted, Mr Tea
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slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
'CivilWarLand in Bad Decline' - George Saunders
'In the Country of Last Things' - Paul Auster
'Flats' - Rudolph Wurlitzer
All alternative looks at imaginary landscapes/scenarios...worth a look.
'In the Country of Last Things' - Paul Auster
'Flats' - Rudolph Wurlitzer
All alternative looks at imaginary landscapes/scenarios...worth a look.
The los angeles underbelly may as well be science fiction too me, Just ordered this, it sounds right up my street.
I like the idea of a futuristic theme park as backdrop, sounds a bit like that 70's movie Westworld.
littlebird
Wild Horses
from someone who lives in the underbelly, it may as well be.
love to know what you think on it after.
empty mirror
remember the jackalope
This constitutes the sum of my exposure to Joyce Carol Oates (the wife is a huge fan) but there's a story in "Wild Nights!" in which a family buys an "Emily Dickinson" robot-----it is fantastic, grotesque and strange. If everything she wrote was like this little story, I'd be a fanatic. (the Poe story is incredible but that is horror-genre)
littlebird
Wild Horses
that is definitely not the Joyce Carol Oates i've ever been exposed to. that actually sounds interesting.
empty mirror
remember the jackalope
she's a conundrum. she was friends with donald barthelme (though he was critical of her work) so... that must count for something.
littlebird
Wild Horses
she was/is quite prolific, i'll give her that. and tbf, i've only read a few (very few) books of hers, and only i think two to completion. so i'm not sure it is fair to make any real statement on her work as a whole, except to say what i did read in the past did not move me.
and yes, that is something in re: to Barthelme.
i know she was one of the advisors of Jonathan Safran Foer's thesis, which parts of became Everything Is illuminated.