What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XXV
- A selection of read volumes from my shelves
What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading or planning to read next month? Here’s the July installment of this column.
One of my favorite forms of SF scholarship is careful identification of a intellectual genealogy–tracing what an author read and engaged in dialogue with. Authors are readers. They also can’t escape references and textual traces of what they’ve consumed (or, of course, engagement with the world in which they lived).
I’ve read two interesting examples recently. The first, Carol McGuirk’s “J. G. Ballard and American Science Fiction” in Science Fiction Studies, vol. 49 (2022), is the perfect example of this type of scholarship. She traces Ballard’s engagement with SF, his earliest stories, and the various parallels an interactions between his work and American SF that he read (Galaxy Magazine, Theodore Sturgeon, Fritz Leiber, Robert Heinlein, Frederik Pohl, C. M. Kornbluth, Ray Bradbury, Judith Merril, Federic Brown, Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore, etc.). She argues that Ballard engaged in “retelling with a twist” (476). She writes that “early Ballard stories rework prior sf in moods ranging from measured homage to barbed repose to parodic photo-bomb” (483).
The second example is David Seed’s John Wyndham (2025). I did not realize that Wyndham’s works so systematically engaged with the SF ideas of H. G. Wells. Not only did Wyndham’s criticism frequently cover Wells’ SF, but his stories were littered with Wells reference, reformulations, etc. Seed indicates references to a vast range of both school reading and also personal favorite authors.
Both works reveal an author as a reader. Fascinating stuff!
Before we get to the photograph above and the curated birthdays, let me know what pre-1985 SF you’re currently reading or planning to read!
The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)
Ursula K. Le Guin’s City of Illusions (1967). I cannot say I remember much about this one! I read it in my late teens. I premise, aliens who do not execute but purge the mind of memories, sounds intriguing.Robert Silverberg’s A Time of Changes (1971). While most of the Silverberg I’ve read I’ve also reviewed on the site, I listened to this one as an audiobook. Not my absolute favorite of his but characteristically smooth and though-provoking despite its flaws.David R. Bunch’s Moderan (1971). One of the fantastically oddball authors in SF landscape. This collection is not to be missed! Unfortunately, never managed to write a review. Mordecai Roshwald’s Level 7 (1959). I thoroughly enjoyed this dissection of the psychological state of the cold war warrior, in this instance an inhabitant of a underground military facility. A gem of the 50s! What am I writing about?
Despite the stress that comes with teaching at the beginning of the semester, I wrote a lot in August. I reviewed Jack Dann’s fantastic collection of New Wave nightmares Timetipping (1980); resurrected my SF in translation series with Rachel S. Cordasco with our reviews of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s “Wanderers and Travellers” (1963, trans. 1966); and continued my series on pessimistic takes on space travel with John Wyndham’s “The Man From Beyond” (1934).
What am I reading?
I recently finished Ryan C. McIlhenny’s wonderful intellectual biography American Socialist: Laurence Gronlund and the Power Behind Revolution (2025). Gronlund’s The Cooperative Commonwealth (1884) is responsible for popularizing Karl Marx’s ideas in the United States, with his own distinctly Christian twist. Edward Bellamy’s utopian SF novel Looking Backward: 2000–1887 (1888) fictionalized many of Gronlund’s ideas.
As for history of science fiction, I finished David Seed’s John Wyndham (2025). I wanted to feature it in my interview series but I haven’t heard back from the author. Alas!
A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks [names link to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for bibliographical info]
August 16th: The influential editor and occasional author Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967). Shockingly considering my focus on post-WWII fiction, I’ve featured a few stories and authors from his magazines recently. See my review of John Wyndham’s “The Man From Beyond” (variant title: “The Man from Earth”) (1934) and my interview with Jaroslav Olša, Jr. about his book on Gernsback’s first “find”: Miloslav (Miles) J. Breuer.
August 17th: Rachel Pollack (1945-2023). I’ve only reviewed Alqua Dreams (1987). I’ve been meaning to feature her first three published SF short fictions in my ongoing series.
August 18th: Brian W. Aldiss (1925-2017). Another Joachim Boaz favorite. Check out my review of Hothouse (variant title: The Long Afternoon of Earth) (1962) if you haven’t already.
August 19th: Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991). Creator of Star Trek.
- Karel Thole’s cover for the 1971 edition of D. G. Compton’s Farewell, Earth’s Bliss (1966)
August 19th: D. G. Compton (1930-2023) crafted a fascinating range of SF novels — I recommend The Unsleeping Eye (variant title: The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe) (1973), Synthajoy (1968), and Farewell, Earth’s Bliss (1966) in particular. In 2021 he rightly won the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.
August 19th: Artist H. W. Wesso (1894-1948) was one of the iconic Astounding Stories artists.
- H. R. Van Dongen’s canvas for the 1979 edition of Jack Vance’s City of the Chasch (1968)
August 20th: Artist H. R. Van Dongen (1920-2010).
August 20th: Arthur Porges (1915-2006). I know little about his work. Seems to be prolific in the short form.
August 20th: Greg Bear (1951-2022). In my more expansive SF-reading days, I consumed Bear’s Darwin’s Radio (1999), Blood Music (1985), and Eon (1985).
August 20th: H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). If his work tickles your fancy, definitely check out Bobby D.’s wonderful website Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein. I’ve only read a few stories here and there.
August 21st: Anthony Boucher (1911-1968).
August 21st: Miriam Allen deFord (1888-1975). Check out my review of her collection Xenogenesis (1969).
- Ron Walotsky’s cover for the 1989 edition of Brian Aldiss’ Non-Stop (variant title: Starship) (1958)
August 21st: Artist Ron Walotsky (1943-2002)
August 21st: Lucius Shepard (1943-2014). I gapping whole in my SF knowledge… Sometimes I feel a bit intimidated by an author. And I think Shepard is that guy at the moment.
August 22nd: Ray Bradbury (1920-2012). Very much an author of my childhood — I remember road trips listening to audiobooks of The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951). I’ve covered a handful of his stories on the site: “Almost the End of the World” (1957), “The Highway” (1950), “The Pedestrian” (1951). and “The Strawberry Window” (1955).
- Ron Turner’s cover for John Russell Fearn’s Deadline to Pluto (1951)
August 22nd: Ron Turner (1922-1998). Sometimes I think his garish pulp covers are the only view of 50s SF some people have…
August 24th: James Tiptree, Jr. (1915-1987). A favorite of mine. I’ve covered the following: “A Momentary Taste of Being” (1975), “A Source of Innocent Merriment” (1980), “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” (1973), “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” (1976), and “Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death” (1973).
August 24th: Editor Bea Mahaffey (1928-1987).
August 24th: Orson Scott Card (1951-). Another author of my youth… I attended high school in a community with a substantial Mormon population. I was lent copies of Card novels by the dozen. Didn’t realize the connection at the time! In a group of “classic” authors that I have little desire to return to.
August 25th: Jeffrey A. Carver (1949-). I haven’t read any of his work. Let me know if there’s anything of his worth acquiring. Maybe Panglor (1980)?
August 26th: Gerald Kersh (1911-1968). I’ve only read “Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo?” (1953).
August 26th: Otto Binder (1911-1974). Published SF with his brother Earl (1904-1966) under the name “Eando” Binder. After 1934, Otto continued using the pen name without his brother.
August 26th: C. S. Forester (1899-1966), best known for his Horatio Hornblower sequence, also wrote a few science fiction stories!
August 27th: T. L. Sherred (1915-1985)
August 27th: Artist Frank Kelly Freas (1922-2005). I can’t say I’m the biggest Freas fan. Never cared for the fuzzy airbrush feel (with a few exceptions).
August 27th: Edward Bryant (1945-2017).
August 28th: Jack Vance (1916-2013).
- Burckhard Labowski and Regine Schulz’s cover for the 1983 German edition of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s Roadside Picnic (1972)
August 28th: Arkady Strugatsky (1925-1991).
August 28th: Vonda N. McIntyre (1948-2019). A favorite of mine — check out my review of her Hugo-winning Dreamsnake (1968) if you’re new to her work.
August 28th: Barbara Hambly (1951-).
August 29th: Don Wilcox (1905-2000). Wrote an important early generation ship story: “The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years” (1940).
August 29th: Thomas N. Scortia (1926-1986)
August 20th: Judith Moffett (1942-). Anyone read her fiction?
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