Science Fiction Reader

vintagesciencefictionbookcovers:

The Cosmic Computer (aka Junkyard Planet) by H. Beam Piper (1963)

Free for Kindle

Science Fiction Terror Tales (1955)

• Introduction, by Groff Conklin
• “Punishment Without Crime”, by Ray Bradbury
• “Arena”, by Fredric Brown
• “The Leech”, by Robert Sheckley
• “Through Channels”, by Richard Matheson
• “Lost Memory”, by Peter Phillips
• “Memorial”, by Theodore Sturgeon
• “Prott”, by Margaret St. Clair
• “Flies”, by Isaac Asimov
• “The Microscopic Giants”, by Paul Ernst
• “The Other Inauguration”, by Anthony Boucher
• “Nightmare Brother”, by Alan E. Nourse
• “Pipeline to Pluto”, by Murray Leinster
• “Impostor”, by Philip K. Dick
• “They”, by Robert A. Heinlein
• “Let Me Live in a House”, by Chad Oliver

*This is pretty difficult to find for a reasonable price. I have been trying to collect the stories from other collections instead.

Ship of Fools (2001)

aka Unto Leviathan

by Richard Paul Russo

Bartolomeo, the narrator, paints a broad picture of life on the Argonos, a ship wandering the universe for centuries. History, sociology, and religion are all explored in his description of the society and bureaucracy on the Argonos. Bartolomeo wants to be devoted to his captain, embroiled in a power struggle with the church (who else?), but the social structure where the privileged few profit from the labor of the masses ultimately disturbs him. He is also distracted by his feelings (one couldn’t really call it a romance) for Father Veronica, a female priest who ends up with him on the exploration team.

All of this becomes moot as the Argonos comes across first a massacred colony and then an alien spaceship that may or may not be responsible for it. The editorial review quote demonstrates just a bit of the horror and shock of the exploration crew that finds the remains of the colony. For the most part, though, the suspense is the exploration of the alien ship: it appears to be deserted, yet it is constructed oddly and even threateningly, and strange “accidents” and “illnesses” keep occurring among the crew. Yet this book never descends to the “jump out and say boo” level of B-movie aliens. It is mostly subtlety, which will keep you guessing until the end, and maybe even after. - from Steph’s Amazon.com review

*Selected for Halloween because of the supposed creepy/horror aspects

Origins (2010)

by Randolph Lalonde

It is the distant future and one man, Jonas Valent, is letting his life slip by. He is employed by Freeground station as a port traffic controller, a job he took after completing a tour in the military. His only real joy in life is his participation in true-to-life military simulations with a cadre of friends who come together regularly to defeat challenges made to test the brightest military cadets and officers alike. These restricted scenarios stand as an addictive preoccupation that is so enticing that they ignore the potential repercussions of breaking in to participate.

When someone betrays their identities to the Freeground Fleet Admiralty, Jonas and his friends are faced with a far greater challenge: to venture out into the more populated regions of the galaxy to acquire technology and knowledge. They are tasked with laying the groundwork for the Freeground Nation in their efforts to reconnect with the rest of humanity, and to secure the armaments they might need to defend themselves from encroaching enemies.

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins is a collected trilogy that chronicles the early adventures of an ambitious crew. Their leader, Jonas Valent, has the least to lose and everything to gain as he tells the tale of his first tour as Captain of a ship tasked with making allies and discovering new technologies for the good of his people. This simple mission becomes more complicated as the crew ventures further into the settled fringes of the galaxy. - from Amazon.com

*Currently free for Kindle.

The Future is Japanese (2012)

An attempt to bridge the gap between Western and Japanese SF and fantasy. Many of our Japanese contributors wrote pieces specifically for this project —their work is appearing in translation here before being published in their native language. And the Western writers, many of whom have some personal connection to Japan, pulled out all the aesthetic stops. Yes, there are virtual worlds and kanji and even a squadron of giant mecha, and the stories are as authentic as they are fantastical. SF writers have always explored strange new worlds —with The Future is Japanese, we explore our own.

— from the Introduction by Nick Mamatas

Includes shorts by Project Itoh, Issui Ogawa, Bruce Sterling, and 10 others.

Amazon has the hardcover release of John Scalzi’s new Old Man’s War entry The Human Division set for release Apr. 2, 2013.

Will you be reading The Human Division in its serialized format, or wait for the full book to release in physical form?

Make Room! Make Room! (1966)

by Harry Harrison

Set in then-future August 1999, the novel explores trends in the proportion of world resources used by the United States and other countries compared to population growth, depicting a world where the global population is seven billion, subject to overcrowding, resource shortages, and a crumbling infrastructure. The plot jumps from character to character, recounting the lives of people in various walks of life in New York City (population around 35 million).

The novel was the basis of the 1973 science fiction movie Soylent Green, although the movie changed much of the plot and theme and introduced [click through for film spoiler] as a solution to feeding people.

-wiki

Non-Stop (1958) (aka Starship)

by Brian Aldiss

Complain’s small tribe roam nomadically through corridors overrun by vegetation. After his wife is kidnapped, a tribal priest named Marapper encourages Complain to join a furtive exhibition into the unexplored corridors. It is Marapper’s belief that they are all living on board a moving space-craft, and that if they can reach the control room they will gain command of the entire, gargantuan vessel.

On their journey, the group encounter other tribes, of varying levels of sophistication. Complain is also briefly captured by humanoid ‘Giants’ of legend, who release him with no explanation.

Complain’s party eventually join the more sophisticated society of the ‘Forwards’. Here they learn that the space-craft is a multi-generational starship returning from the newly colonized planet of Procyon. In a previous generation, the ship’s inhabitants had suffered from an pandemic due to an alien amino acid found in the waters of Procyon. Law and order began to collapse and knowledge of the ship and its purpose was eventually almost entirely lost throughout the vessel. 23 generations have passed since this ‘Catastrophe’. - from wikipedia

Wikipedia Note: Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale gave the novel a mixed review, faulting “the shock ending [which] is abrupt and leaves so much unanswered.”