What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XXVIII

First update post of 2026! What pre-1985 science fiction adventures have you started this year? Any great reads? Disappointing ones? Intriguing discoveries? Here’s the November 2025 installment of this column.

• A selection of read volumes from my shelf

Exciting news! Rachel S. Cordasco, who occasionally joins me to review older SF short stories in translation, will soon launch Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine. As the announcement on File 770 states, “the magazine will come out 4 times per year (February, May, August, and November) and include columns on such topics as: interesting upcoming books and notable reviews, interviews with authors, translators, editors, translators talking about books they’d like to see in English, essays on Anglophone awards, databases, and publishers that should recognize translators/SFT, essays on Anglophone awards, databases, and publishers that should recognize translators/SFT, pieces on interesting translation conundrums, notes on what’s happening in other countries in SF. It will be available for free on Cordasco’s Speculative Fiction in Translation website.”

Missing from the list will be my reviews of vintage SF in translation! The plan is to have one review in each issue for at least the next year or for as long as I can keep up a schedule (schedules and I do not mesh). I’ve already tracked down some lesser known gems from German, Norway, and Italy.

The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)

What am I writing about?

While I have not had the most productive 2026, here are few notable reviews I’ve written recently in case you missed them: two interesting 50s short stories on race in America, Alan E. Nourse’s “Marley’s Chain” (1952) and Edward W. Ludwig’s “The Rocket Man” (1951); Fritz Leiber, Jr.’s Gather, Darkness! (1943, novelized 1950) and Gillian Freeman’s The Leader (1965); William Tenn’s collection Time in Advance (1958); and another installment on my survey of all pre-1985 generation ship stories available in English, Mari Wolf’s “The First Day of Spring” (1954) and Francis G. Rayer’s “Continuity Man” (1959).

As I mentioned earlier, I am writing reviews for Rachel’s online magazine on SF in translation. When they go live I’ll double-post them on the site and link the other goodies that are sure to grace the pages.

What am I reading?

I recently finished Matthew I. Thompson’s fascinating monograph On Life Support: Eco-Dystopian Cinema in the Long 1970s (2026). He explores the intersection of popular science works by Rachel Carson and Paul R. Ehrlich and dystopia SF film with ecological themes. If you missed my interview with Thompson, I highly recommend you check it out. The interview surveys the main theoretical premises of the work and the main films he covers. I should rewatch Soylent Green (1972), David Cronenberg’s Shivers (1975), and Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running (1972).

• Matthew I. Thompson’s On Life Support: Eco-Dystopian Cinema in the Long 1970s (2026). Photographed by me on a hike in Pembroke, VA.
  

A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks [names link to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for bibliographical info]

March 22nd: Raymond Z. Gallun (1911-1994).

• Johnny Bruck’s canvas for Perry Rhodan, #270: Ultimatum an Unbekannt (1966)

March 22nd: German cover artist Johnny Bruck (1921-1995). He’s easily one of the most prolific German cover artists.

March 22nd: Rudy Rucker (1946-).

March 23nd: H. Beam Piper (1904-1964). I recently (sort of) covered my first Piper story on the site: H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire’s “Hunter Patrol” (1959). I have another one planned this year.

March 23nd: Sheila MacLeod (1939-).

March 23nd: Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1947-). I enjoyed her Acorna sequence books (written with Anne McCaffrey) was a child. Most of her published solo work is outside my area of focus. I placed her novel The Healer’s War (1988-) on my Vietnam War-inspired SFF list.

March 23rd: Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-). I recently reviewed Icehenge (1984). I really enjoyed it. Perhaps more than his Mars Trilogy, albeit, they are very different books…

• David K. Stone’s cover for the 1978 edition of The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You (1978)

March 24th: Cover artist David K. Stone (1922-2001).

March 24th: Peter George (1924-1966).

March 25th: Jacqueline Lichtenberg (1942-)

March 26th: Edward Bellamy (1850-1898). Author of Looking Backward: 2000–1887 (1888), the highly influential utopian SF novel that inspired countless sequels and prequels and rebuttals by other authors.

March 26th: David J. Lake (1929-2016)

March 26th: K. W. Jeter (1950-)

March 27th: Artist Stanley Meltzoff (1917-2006)

• Still from René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (1973)

March 27th: Stefan Wul (1922-2003). A French SF author best known for writing Oms en série (1957), the source material for Fantastic Planet (1973).

March 27th: Helmut Wenske (1940-).

March 28th: A. Bertram Chandler (1912-1984)

March 28th: Cover artist George Ziel (1914-1982)

March 29th: Lino Aldani (1926-2009). I adored Aldani’s “Good Night, Sophie” (1963, trans. 1973). He represents one of the many reasons why Rachel’s magazine to promote SF in translation is such a great idea. Despite his ability to craft a masterpiece, only ONE additional short story exists in English translation.

• Walt Miller’s cover for the July 1953 issue of Astounding Science Fiction

March 29th: Artist Walt Miller (1928-2015).

March 29th: Artist Johann Peter Reuter (1949-).

March 29th: Mary Gentle (1956-).

March 30th: Artist Curt Caesar (1906-1974).

March 30th: Alice Eleanor Jones (1916-1981). While she only published five science fiction short stories, “Created He Them” (1955) is a 50s masterpiece.

• Art Sussman’s cover for the 1957 edition of Murray Leinster’s The Planet Explorer (variant title: Colonial Survey) (1956)

March 30th: Artist Art Sussman (1927-2008). Another underrated SF artist with a beguiling surrealist streat– I put together a post on his work in 2017.

March 30th: Chad Oliver (1928-1993). Most recently I covered his two generation ship stories: “Stardust” (1952) and “The Wind Blows Free” (1957).

March 31st: Marge Piercy (1936-). Dance the Eagle To Sleep (1970) is not to be missed!

April 1st: Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011).  I adored her work as a kid. I read everything I could get my hands on–even from the lowest points in her career i.e. the Acorna Universe sequence and co-written Dragonriders of Pern novels with her son.

April 1st: Samuel R. Delany (1942-).

April 2nd: Artist Mitchell Hooks (1923-2013).  One of the underrated SF artists of the 50s-70s in my view. For a lovely example, check out my recent review of William Tenn’s Time in Advance (1958).

• Murray Tinkelman’s cover for the 1978 edition of John Brunner’s The Squares of the City (1965)

April 2nd: Artist Murray Tinkelman (1933-2016). Another underrated SF artist… How can your forget his iconic cover for Brunner’s The Sheep Look Up?

April 2nd: Joan D. Vinge (1948-)

April 3nd: Noel Loomis (1905-1969).

April 3rd: Colin Kapp (1928-2007). As I’ve said before, “want to push my buttons? Recommend stories for me to read like Kapp’s “Hunger Over Sweet Waters” (1965). You’ll have to read my review (an exercise in snark) to find out why.”

• Jack Faragasso’s cover for the 1972 edition of The Thinking Seat (1969)

April 3rd: Peter Tate (1940-). One of those British New Wave authors I should read more of… Tate’s The Thinking Seat (1969) is on the burner for later this year.

April 4th: Stanley G. Weinbaum (1902-1935). Best known for his early classic “A Martian Odyssey” (1934).

April 4th: Artist Tim White (1952-2020).

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

#FundraiserPerk For the rare book collector we have a signed limited edition of AMONG STRANGERS by #RobertSilverberg personalized to you, your shelf will thank you! You also get the April Locus E-Issue and digital art.

Donate at http://locusmag.com/igg26 or through our bio!

#FundraiserPerk For the rare book collector we have a signed limited edition of AMONG STRANGERS by #RobertSilverberg personalized to you, your shelf will thank you! You also get the April Locus E-Issue and digital art.

Donate at http://locusmag.com/igg26 or through our bio!

#RobertSilverberg about writing #erotic novels in the 50-60's :

I Wrote 150 Porno Novels in Five Years
https://www.vice.com/en/article/sin-a-rama-excerpt-my-life-as-a-pornographer/

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Analog September 1976
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Born this Day:
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Worlds of IF: Science Fiction #179

The new issue of the venerable scifi magazine has launched. Cover art by Bruce Pennington; stories by Robert Silverberg, David Gerrold; two never-published-before Professor Jameson stories; "A Three-Dimensional Chessboard Universe" by me; and much more!

https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-IF-Science-Fiction-179/dp/B0G2D12K2D

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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)

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?

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

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