World in the Satin Bag

Need Your Help: Literary SF?

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I need your help, everyone. I’m considering doing an independent study course on literary SF and I’ve come to the realization that I don’t really know of any literary SF. So far my potential options include Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, which I’m told is SF, and something by Haruki Murakami (possibly Kafka on the Shore, if that is an SF/F title as some have told me). So, can you name any books that fall into the literary SF category? When I say literary SF I mean titles that are written in a more literary style. I don’t mean a confusing style, just something more deeply written than mainstream SF (and I do love mainstream SF, just so nobody throws a fit and thinks I’m being snooty here…the styles are just different and I’m looking for a specific style). So, can you help? I would like it to be SFish if possible, however works of contempary fantasy in a literary style are welcome too. Anyone can comment, so don’t be afraid! Thanks! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

World in the Satin Bag

MEME: 100 SF books according to a teacher!

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There’s been a list going around as of late of the top 100 SF books chosen by a teacher. Seeing how I plan to be a teacher one day and also have hopes to see SF become more common in public schools, I’m going to turn this one into a meme. Here are the rules: Bold the titles you’ve read. Italicize the titles you want to read (and I mean REALLY want to read). Mark titles you’ve never heard of with strikeouts, underlines, or (NH) for “never heard”. Tag people. I’m tagging SQT, John of Grasping For the Wind, Tia Nevitt of Fantasy Debut, and Carraka. Here goes: # George R. Stewart – Earth Abides# Ray Bradbury – The Martian Chronicles# Robert A. Heinlein – The Puppet Masters# John Wyndham – The Day of the Triffids# Bernard Wolfe – Limbo (NH)# Alfred Bester – The Demolished Man# Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451# Arthur C. Clarke – Childhood’s End# Charles L. Harness – The Paradox men (NH)# Ward Moore – Bring the Jubilee (NH)# Frederik Pohl & C.M. Kornbluth – The Space Merchants# Clifford D. Simak – Ring Around the Sun# Theodore Sturgeon – More than Human# Hal Clement – Mission of Gravity# Edgar Pangborn – A Mirror for Observers (NH)# Isaac Asimov – The End of Eternity# Leigh Brackett – The Long Tomorrow (NH)# William Golding – The Inheritors (NH)# Alfred Bester – The Stars My Destination# John Christopher – The Death of Grass (NH)# Arthur C. Clarke – The City and the Stars# Robert A. Heinlein – The Door Into Summer# John Wyndham – The Midwich cuckoos# Brian W. Aldiss – Non-Stop# James Blish – A Case of Conscience# Robert A. Heinlein – Have Space-Suit — Will Travel# Philip K. Dick – Time Out of Joint# Pat Frank – Alas, Babylon# Walter M. Miller – A Canticle for Leibowitz# Kurt Vonnegut – The Sirens of Titan# Algis Budrys – Rogue Moon# Theodore Sturgeon – Venus Plus X# Brian W. Aldiss – Hothouse (NH)# J.G. Ballard – The Drowned World# Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange# Philip K. Dick – The Man in the High Castle# Robert Sheckley – Journey Beyond Tomorrow (NH)# Clifford D. Simak – Way Station (NH)# Kurt Vonnegut – Cat’s Cradle# Brian W. Aldiss – Greybeard (NH)# William S. Burroughs – Nova Express# Philip K. Dick – Martian Time-Slip# Philip K. Dick – The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch# Fritz Leiber – The Wanderer# Cordwainer Smith – Nostrilia (NH)# Philip K. Dick – Dr Bloodmoney# Frank Herbert – Dune# J.G. Ballard – The Crystal World# Harry Harrison – Make Room! Make Room!# Daniel Keyes – Flowers for Algernon# Roger Zelazny – The Dream Master# John Brunner – Stand on Zanzibar# Samuel R. Delany – Nova# Philip K. Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?# Thomas M. Disch – Camp Concentration# Michael Moorcock – The Final Programme (NH)# Keith Roberts – Pavane (NH)# Angela Carter – Heroes and Villains# Ursula K. Le Guin – The Left Hand of Darkness# Bob Shaw – The Palace of Eternity (NH)# Norman Spinrad – Bug Jack Barron (NH)# Poul Anderson – Tau Zero# Robert Silverberg – Downward to the Earth# Wilson Tucker – The Year of the Quiet Sun (NH)# Thomas M. Disch – 334# Gene Wolfe – The Fifth Head of Cerberus# Michael Moorcock – The Dancers at the End of Time (NH)# J.G. Ballard – Crash# Mack Reynolds – Looking Backward from the Year 2000 (NH)# Ian Watson – The Embedding (NH)# Suzy McKee Charnas – Walk to the End of the World (NH)# M. John Harrison – The Centauri Device# Ursula K. Le Guin – The Dispossessed# Christopher Priest – Inverted World (NH)# J.G. Ballard – High-Rise# Barry N. Malzberg – Galaxies (NH)# Joanna Russ – The Female Man# Bob Shaw – Orbitsville (NH)# Kingsley Amis – The Alteration (NH)# Marge Piercy – Woman on the Edge of Time (NH)# Frederik Pohl – Man Plus# Algis Budrys – Michaelmas (NH)# John Varley – The Ophiuchi Hotline# Ian Watson – Miracle Visitors (NH)# John Crowley – Engine Summer# Thomas M. Disch – On Wings of Song# Brian Stableford – The Walking Shadow (NH)# Kate Wilhelm – Juniper Time (NH)# Gregory Benford – Timescape# Damien Broderick – The Dreaming Dragons# Octavia Butler – Wild Seed# Russell Hoban – Riddley Walker (NH)# John Sladek – Roderick and Roderick at Random (NH)# Gene Wolfe – The Book of the New Sun# Philip Jose Farmer – The Unreasoning Mask# Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle – Oath of Fealty# Michael Bishop – No Enemy but Time (NH)# John Calvin Batchelor – The Birth of the People’s Republic of Antarctica# William Gibson – Neuromancer Well, I have read a total of seven books on this list, which further proves that I am not as well read as I think I am. And that makes me sad… How well did you do?

World in the Satin Bag

Ask the Bloggers: The Rewards of Blogging – SMD Version

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I’m not a selfish guy, so I thought I would repost SMD’s response to several of my Ask the Bloggers questions while he is away. You can see other responses at my blog, Grasping for the Wind, but for now, enjoy SMD’s. What has been your most rewarding moment as a blogger? Probably the most rewarding moment for me is when someone (anyone) says they enjoy my blog. I can’t imagine anything more rewarding than that, even if it is one person. I don’t hear it often (which sounds bad, but all bloggers realize that most readers don’t comment in the first place), but it’s nice when it happens. I’ve heard it about my blog novel and a few times about the actual blogging aspect. I actually really love receiving emails from random people telling me they enjoyed reading. It makes me feel good. I encourage people to email me about whatever. Seriously. I’d rather spend my email time replying to useful emails than going through spam. Other rewarding moments are when people link to me, either in a blogroll or directly, or whenever an author agrees to do an interview with me. I also feel somewhat rewarded just by the fact that my blog is almost 2 years old. A lot of bloggers have been at this for longer than I have, and I’ve grown a lot as a blogger (or I think so), but it feels great to have succeeded in keeping at it for so long. I don’t know if I ever truly thought I would remain so dedicated, but I absolutely love my blog and the process of blogging. It’s exciting and fun. What’s not fun about talking about what you enjoy most? So, that’s my answer to that.

World in the Satin Bag

I Have Returned!

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This is going to be a really fast update post. I’m back from Oregon and a lot of things happened while I was gone (things not related to my vacation of course). I received four rejections for four different short stories, had some guest bloggers post some interesting material, and came home to a huge stack of books, the vast majority of which are for the Gaylactic Spectrum awards (of which I’m a judge). So it was all rather interesting. I have a lot of things lined up for posting over the next few days, particularly things related to world building month. So stay tuned! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

World in the Satin Bag

Ask the Bloggers: How did you get your start? – SMD Version

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I’m not a selfish guy, so I thought I would repost SMD’s response to several of my ask the Bloggers questions while he is away. You can see other responses at my blog, Grasping for the Wind, but for now, enjoy SMD’s. What got you started in blogging, and why did you choose to become an SF book reviewer? I guess technically my blogging started long before I created http://wisb.blogspot.com/. I had a LiveJournal that I used to babble about my personal life, but I stopped that after about six months when I realized that whining and complaining about life wasn’t really all that interesting. Besides, I got over that stage and came to the conclusion that there was no point being depressed and upset all the time when you could spend your days being happy (or at least try to be). So I stopped blogging for a while. Some time later I started getting the urge to write a novel noticed that some folks were doing blog novels. After looking into it I thought, “What the heck. Why not try one of these things?” I did, creating WISB (which went through several name changes beforehand). I spent almost a year writing and posting The World in the Satin Bag and babbling about science fiction, fantasy, etc. After I finished the novel I decided to keep blogging and plan a second book, and I’ve been doing it all for almost two years now. As for doing reviews: I started doing them randomly on my blog, decided I liked it, and ended up becoming involved with SQT’s blog (http://fantasyscifibookreview.blogspot.com/) doing reviews. Now I review for small presses and the occasional big press and it’s fantastic. Not sure why I chose to become involved, though. I enjoy reading and enjoyed writing the reviews. There’s always that side of you that goes, “Hey, I get free books.” That’s always a perk. I also have the fortune of reading new works I might not have seen in the bookstore or maybe never would have picked up in the first place (and should have). Once I got involved I couldn’t stop. I love small presses. Some of the best works I’ve ever read have come from such places. Hopefully I’ll get to keep doing this too. It’s opened up a few doors for me, I think (such as becoming a judge for the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards and speaking directly with writers/authors/publishers).

World in the Satin Bag

Debut Showcase: The Gargoyle

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(This is Tia, guest-blogging from Fantasy Debut, where I often showcase debut novels like this one.) The Gargoyle(Amazon UK, Canada)by Andrew Davidson (website, other website)HardcoverDoubledayExcerpt (also available as PDF) Blurb:The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul. A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne’s care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished. Gosh, I don’t know what to think about this one. The narrator doesn’t sound like he’d be very likable at first; maybe he is compelling otherwise. But the idea of the carefully planned suicide made me sit up. One 0f the websites is burnedbylove.com, and you might think that I linked there mistakenly; I did not. Scroll down to see the relevance to this novel.

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