Science Fiction and Other Suspect RuminationsWhat pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XXIV
- 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 June installment of this column.
I adore teaching American History for college credit. Every summer I ponder what to change and improve. And this year, I want to integrate a few science fiction stories!
My 1950s unit in the spring semester could be modified with a few science fiction short stories. Considering my ongoing fascination with media landscapes of the future, I want to integrate one story on fears over television and one on nuclear horror (which would fit nicely with a group of assignments I have using song lyrics about atomic panic). Feel free to suggest a story that you would include or wish was included in your own US college course (or advanced high school course). No novels unfortunately. I have access to a range of syllabi and a TON of ideas but I always love to hear your selections.
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?
I posted an extensive interview with Chukwunonso Ezeiyoke, author of Nigerian Speculative Fiction: The Evolution (2025). His book, the first ever on Nigerian speculative fiction, argues that the forces of canon creation in Nigeria (often with the soft power of the CIA) simultaneously obfuscated awareness of speculative voices and also prevented their popularity.
I will be continuing my interviews with authors of recent SF scholarship for two primary reasons: 1) I read a ton of SF scholarship and would like to share some of it with you 2) While I will not only cover books published recently, I would like to see more academic works received Hugo Award nods for Best Related Work. Jordan S. Carroll, whom I interviewed back in January, received a Hugo nomination for Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right (2024).
Continuing the big project I started this summer: I reviewed the second of 116 issues I plan on cover in my Galaxy Science Fiction magazine read-through. The second issue contained the magazine’s first masterpiece (in my opinion).
Finishing out my productive month, I posted full reviews of two novels: Zoë Fairbairns’ Benefits (1979) and George Hay’s Flight of the “Hesper” (1952) (for my generation ship series).
And a rare Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art post as well — The Flowering Bodies of Attilio Uzzo.
What am I reading?
After reading Chukwunonso Ezeiyoke’s Nigerian Speculative Fiction: The Evolution (2025) (above), browsed through the rest of the volumes in the Studies in Global Genre Fiction series out from Routledge Press. Agnieszka Gajewska’s Holocaust and the Stars: The Past in the Prose of Stanisław Lem (2012) jumped out at me. I plan on reading it soon.
I plan on a Galaxy issue this month as well. Beyond that, I’ll keep it under wraps. My fall semester stars tomorrow and all plans will be contingent on early semester exhaustion and stress.
A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks [names link to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database for bibliographical info]
July 13th: Monique Wittig (1935-2003). Known for her feminist SF novel Les Guérillères (1969)
July 14th: Christopher Priest (1943-2024). A favorite of mine — if he’s new to you check out the wonderful short stories in An Infinite Summer (1979). And if you want to read a novel instead, Inverted World (1974) ranks amongst my 70s favorites.
- Depouilly’s cover for the 1968 French edition of D. F. Jones’ Colossus (1966)
July 15th: D. F. Jones (1918-1981). I went ahead and put Colossus (1966) on my to acquire list. Adapted as Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970).
July 16th: Sheri S. Tepper (1929-2016).
July 16th: Robert Sheckley (1928-2005).
July 16th: Joseph P. Martino (1931-2022).
July 17th: Italian SF author Vittorio Catani (1940-2020). Other than one late story from 2014, everything he wrote remains untranslated into English.
July 17th: Influential French SF editor and author Michel Demuth (1939-2006). None of his fiction has been translated into English. He edited the French SF magazine Galaxie from 1970-1977.
July 18th: Editor Charles G. Waugh (1943).
- Concept art by Syd Mead for Blade Runner (1982)
July 18th: Syd Mead (1933-2019).
July 18th: Artist Gerry Daly (1957).
July 19th: Richard E. Geis (1927-2013). Influential fan voice (and writer of erotic novels)… loved to rail against hi-brow SF. I don’t think we’d have been on the same critical side of things.
July 19th: SF Critic and scholar Darko Suvin (1934-).
July 20th: M. P. Shiel (1865-1947).
July 21st: Italian and editor Ugo Malaguti (1945-2021). All of his work remains untranslated — alas.
July 22nd: Dean McLaughlin (1931-).
- Bodé’s cover for his graphic novel Sunpot (1971)
July 22nd: Artist Vaughn Bodé (1941-1975).
July 22nd: Eric C. Williams (1918-2010).
July 23rd: Katharine Burdekin (1896-1963). Known for Swastika Night (1937), which I acquired a few years back but have not read.
- Finlay’s interior art for Raymond F. Jones’ “The Memory of Mars” in Amazing Stories, ed. Cele Goldsmith (December 1961)
July 23rd: Virgil Finlay (1914-1971). The master of interior art line work — love his stuff.
July 23rd: Editor and author Gardner Dozois (1947-2018). I can’t shake the horror of “Horse of Air” (1970).
July 23rd: Artist Eric Ladd (1949-).
July 24th: John D. MacDonald (1916-1986). New to his SF? Check out “Flaw” (1949) and “Spectator Sport” (1950).
July 24th: Barry N. Malzberg (1939-2024). A favorite of mine… For a sense of his fiction, check out my reviews of Revelations (1972) and The Gamesman (1975).
July 24th: Gordon Eklund (1945-).
- Tom Barber’s cover for Amazing Stories (March 1976)
July 24th: Artist Tom Barber (1946-).
July 25th: Evelyn E. Smith (1922-2000). Still haven’t read any of her short fiction.
July 25th: Kendell Foster Crossen (1910-1981).
July 25th: Author and scholar Brian Stableford (1948-2024). His research on early French SF is indispensable. Less a fan of his functionalist adventure-oriented science fiction, so far…
July 26th: Aldous Huxley (1894-1963).
July 26th: M. John Harrison (1945-). If you’re new to his fiction, check out my reviews of The Committed Men (1971) and The Pastel City (1971). He’s another favorite of mine.
July 27th: Artist Mel Hunter (1927-2004).
July 27th: Sydney J. Van Scyoc (1939-2023). I featured her first three published short fictions for my series on female authors I should know more about: “Shatter the Wall” (1962), “Bimmie Says” (1962), and “Pollony Undiverted” (1963). The final of the three was particularly interesting.
- Adamov’s cover for the 1982 French edition of Vladimir Colin’s Babel (1978)
July 27th: French SF artist Philippe Adamov (1956-2020).
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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What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XXIII
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 May installment of this column. In my interview with Jarosl…
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