*****An Invitation from TSS*****
I am a strong advocate of "science fiction"
as a vehicle for sociological
insights...especially as it relates to the
"future." I hope you enjoy the lists of
links, books, and movies which I've provided.
These aren't, of course, exhaustive...but
they are a good start. Your comments are
welcomed...including suggestions as to others
to include.
General and "Future" Science
Fiction Links
List of "Future" Science
Fiction Books and Links
Selected "Future" Movies
and Links
E-Mail Address
General
and Future Science Fiction
Links
Notebooks of Lazarus Long
From Heinlein's Time Enough for Love
Aphorisms for our day!!
Science Fiction: The Early History
by H. Bruce Franklin
Hard Science Fiction
by David G. Hartwell
H. G. Wells and the Genesis of Future Studies here
Science Fiction Research Bibliography here
Science Fiction in Education here
Search for Tomorrow: Science Fiction Literature & Today's Student here
Science Fiction & Society (College Course) here
Feminist Science
Fiction, Fantasy & Utopia: II. A. Author
Bibliographies here
Society for Utopian
Studies here
Internet Speculative
Fiction DataBase here
The Official
SciFi_Discussion Web Site here
List of
"Future" Science
Fiction books
This is a list of Science Fiction books
which I prefer to call Future Books. Each of
these deal in some way with potential futures
of our society and world. Some take us to a
different "time" on our world and others take
us to a different "place." Personally, I've
always considered the "best" science fiction
to be that which makes me reflect and
consider my own world. I hope you try out
some.
I've put some links about various books
and authors you might find interesting or
useful...there will be more to come. I've
also have my own synopses of a few and
will be adding them slowly but surely.
Meanwhile, if you have questions about any of
the books, email me.
I've arranged them alphabetically by
TITLE.
Dies the Fire Dispossessed, The (Ursula K.
LeGuin) Eight Against Utopia (Douglas R.
Mason) Farnham's Freehold (Robert
Heinlein) Future City (Roger Elwood--Ed.) Gate to Women's Country (Sheri S.
Tepper) Grass (Sheri S. Tepper) Handmaid's Tale, The (Margaret
Atwood) I, Robot (Isaac Asimov) Nightfall (Isaac Asimov & Robert
Silverberg) Iron Heel, The (Jack London) Job: A Comedy of Justice (Robert
Heinlein) Juniper Time (Kate Wilhelm) Lathe of Heaven, The (Ursula K.
LeGuin) Left Hand of Darkness, The (Usula K.
LeGuin) Looking Backward (Edward Bellamy) Love in the Ruins (Walker Percy) Millennial Women (Virginia Kidd--Ed.) Mind Parasites, The (Colin Wilson)
by S.M. Stirling
---Official S.M. Stirling Website
With sample chapters of most books Stirling has written or is writing
Essay & Commentary by David H. Kessel here
Study Guide here
Synopsis & Review
here
Essay by Barbara K. Kessel and David H. Kessel here
Review here
Reviews of Tepper Books here
Essay on Book and Movie (by David H.
Kessel)
here
Study Guide here
MARGARET ATWOOD INFORMATION PAGE Atwood's
own page here
The Atwood Society here
The Iron Heel--Online
The Jack London Collection (Online)
here
The Iron Heel: Synopsis and Commentary
by David H. Kessel
Leon Trotsky on The Iron Heel
"Introduction" to The Iron Heel
by H. Bruce Franklin
Book Review here
Short Review here
Heinlein Page
here
The Heinlein Book Bin--Reviews
here
Kate Wilhelm - Bibliography Summary here
Review (with ending revealed) here
Essay by David H. Kessel here
Looking Backward...Online
here
Edward Bellamy Webpage here
Unfavorable Review here
The Colin Wilson Page
here
Colin Wilson World
Moscow 2042 (Vladimir Voinovich)
News From Nowhere (William Morris)
1984 (George Orwell)
Essay on Book and Movie by David H. Kessel here O-Zone (PaulTheroux) Philosopher's Stone, The (Colin
Wilson) Player Piano (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.) Raising the Stones (Sheri S. Tepper) Revolt in 2100 (Robert Heinlein) Secret of the League, The (Ernest
Bramah) Sleeper Awakes, The (H.G. Wells) Time Machine, The (H.G. Wells) We (Yevgeny Zamyatin)
George Orwell Resources
here
Charles' George Orwell Links here
George Orwell was Wrong
Interview with Paul Theroux here
Essay by David H. Kessel here
Short Review
here
Ernest Bramah Bibliography
here
Walden Two (B.F. Skinner)
Walden Two Fan Site here
B. F. Skinner here
The One State and Its Discontents
The Importance of Mathematics in WE here
Essay by David H. Kessel here Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (Kate
Wilhelm) Year of the Cloud, The (Kate Wilhelm &
Ted Thomas)
The
Lathe of Heaven
Avon Books, PB, © 1971, 175 pp, ISBN
#0-380-79185-4
Reviewed June 1997
The Lathe of Heaven starts from a simple
premise: George Orr dreams, and sometimes he
has "effective" dreams, dreams which affects
reality. Afterwards, he knows that something
changed, but reality has been altered so that
to everyone else, the change is the way
things have always been. Afraid to sleep, to
dream, and abusing drugs to prevent this, Orr
is sent to Dr. William Haber for psychiatric
treatment. Haber uses a machine to hypnotize
and examine Orr's dreams, and becomes caught
in the changes: He finds that he, too, can
perceive the changes, and decides to use Orr
to improve the world.
Lathe works on two levels: First, it studies
the relationship between Orr and Haber, and
the morality of Haber's actions. Orr is
trapped: He can't leave Haber's care because
the authorities would then pick him up as a
drug abuser, but he hates what Haber is doing
to him. Orr believes he has no right to
tamper with reality, for better or for worse;
it is morally abhorrent to him. But Orr is
too passive - and genuinely disturbed - to
actively fight Haber. (Haber remarks on this
several times, dismayed that such a power was
given to a man who lacks the will to use it.)
Haber, for his part, keeps Orr on a tight
leash, constantly reminding him of the power
Haber has over him. Haber clearly has little
interest in treating Orr; he wants to use and
study Orr, and learn how to let his machine
duplicate his power.
The other approach Lathe takes is to study
the use and abuse of Orr's power, especially
given the haphazard control the principals
have over it. Lathe takes place in the near
future, in an overpopulated world. At one
point Haber makes Orr dream of a world
without the population problems; Orr's mind
imagines that in the past a great plague
wiped out much of mankind, and building and
people vanish at his subconscious command,
eliminated by the plague. Later, in an
attempt to eliminate racial conflict, Orr's
mind causes everyone in the world to become
featureless gray. Most disastrously, when
ordered to dream of world peace, Orr, unable
to imagine a world without any violence,
conjures up aliens that are being fought in
near space. In all these regards, Lathe is an
embodyment of the cautionary saying, "Be
careful what you wish for, you might get it."
Although The Lathe of Heaven is often
chilling, I felt it went over-the-top at
times, as with its introduction of the
aliens, who seemed either heavy-handed (as
antagonists) or enigmatic (when revealed more
closely). I wished Le Guin had reined in
Orr's imagination somewhat and taken a more
subtle approach. The climax of the book, in
which Haber "effects" his own mind to affect
the world, features an abortive apocalypse
which stretched believability for me. I felt
that the world, having been through so much
already, couldn't take the final blow
delivered by Haber.
Also, I felt that the interactions of the
characters was not as deep as some might
think; their personalities mainly functioned
as plot devices to study the effects of Orr's
power.
I think if Lathe had been grounded more
firmly and relied a bit more on stealth to
make its points (and deliver its emotional
impact), it would have been a better book.
But nonetheless it's quite effective as is.
Science
Fiction
Movies
The 2001 Internet Resource
Archive
2001: A Space Odyssey in Virtual
Reality
