Reading


Recommended by

John Kessel




Here is a reading list I give to my students in writing and science fiction classes. I have been teaching fiction writing, science fiction and fantasy classes at North Carolina State University since 1982. I have been publishing sf and fantasy stories and novels since the late 1970s.

Science Fiction Reading List for Those Who Don't Read SF

These books may not suit every taste; some require more familiarity with science fiction than others, but if you are willing to give them a chance I think you will find them quite interesting.

Novels Short Stories

Ballard, J.G.

  • The Atrocity Exhibition
  • Crash
  • The Unlimited Dream Company

    Bishop, Michael

  • No Enemy but Time
  • Ancient of Days
  • Brittle Innings

    Bisson, Terry

  • Voyage to the Red Planet

    Crowley, John

  • Beasts
  • Engine Summer
  • Novelty

    Dick, Philip K.

  • The Man in the High Castle
  • Ubik
  • Dr. Bloodmoney
  • Martian Time Slip
  • Valis
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

    Disch, Thomas

  • Camp Concentration
  • 334
  • On Wings of Song

    Emshwiller, Carol

  • Carmen Dog

    Haldeman, Joe

  • The Hemingway Hoax

    LeGuin, Ursula K.

  • The Dispossessed
  • The Left Hand of Darkness

    Malzberg, Barry

  • The Remaking of Sigmund Freud
  • Herovit's World (non-SF about an SF writer)

    Miller, Walter M.

  • A Canticle for Leibowitz

    Pangborn, Edgar

  • Davy

    Robinson, Kim Stanley

  • The Wild Shore
  • The Gold Coast
  • Pacific Edge

    Russ, Joanna

  • The Female Man

    Shepard, Lucius

  • Green Eyes
  • Life during Wartime

    Shiner, Lewis

  • Deserted Cities of the Heart

    Silverberg, Robert

  • Dying Inside
  • Downward to the Earth

    Sturgeon, Theodore

  • More than Human
  • Venus Plus X

    Tevis, Walter

  • The Man Who Fell to Earth

    Wolfe, Gene

  • The Fifth Head of Cerberus
  • Free Live Free

    Wilhelm, Kate

  • Listen, Listen

    Willis, Connie

  • Lincoln's Dreams
    		• Bisson, Terry
  • Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories

    Disch, Thomas

  • Fundamental Disch
  • Getting into Death

    Emshwiller, Carol

  • Joy in Our Cause
  • Verging on the Pertinent

    Fowler, Karen Joy

  • Artificial Things

    Kress, Nancy

  • Trinity and Other Stories
  • The Aliens of Earth

    LeGuin, Ursula K.

  • The Wind's Twelve Quarters
  • The Compass Rose

    Shepard, Lucius

  • The Jaguar Hunter
  • The Ends of the Earth

    Silverberg, Robert

  • Born with the Dead
  • Capricorn Games

    Tiptree, James

  • Her Smoke Rose Up Forever

    Wolfe, Gene

  • The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories
  • Gene Wolfe's Book of Days

    Wilhelm, Kate

  • Somerset Dreams and Other Stories
  • Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang

    Willis, Connie

  • Fire Watch
    • The Pure Quill & Classics

    These books are either much more genre-oriented or are interesting because of the influence they've had on later writers. They can appeal to outside readers but you may have to accustom yourself to some alternative standards of excellence.

    Novels Short Stories
    Asimov, Isaac
  • The Caves of Steel

    Bester, Alfred

  • The Demolished Man
  • The Stars My Destination

    Gibson, William

  • Neuromancer
  • Count Zero
  • Mona Lisa Overdrive

    Gibson, William and Bruce Sterling

  • The Difference Engine

    Haldeman, Joe

  • The Forever War

    Harness, Charles

  • The Paradox Men

    Heinlein, Robert

  • Beyond This Horizon
  • The Door into Summer
  • Double Star
  • Citizen of the Galaxy

    Kelly, James Patrick

  • Look into the Sun
  • Wildlife

    Knight, Damon

  • A for Anything

    Leiber, Fritz

  • The Wanderer
  • The Big Time

    Shelley, Mary

  • Frankenstein

    Stapledon, Olaf

  • Star Maker
  • Last and First Men
  • Sirius
  • Odd John

    Sterling, Bruce

  • Schismatrix
  • Islands in the Net

    Wells, H.G.

  • The War of the Worlds
  • The Time Machine
  • The Island of Dr. Moreau
  • When the Sleeper Wakes
  • The Invisible Man
  • First Men in the Moon
    		• Asimov, Isaac
  • Earth Is Room Enough
  • I, Robot

    Bester, Alfred

  • Starlight

    Gibson, William

  • Burning Chrome

    Heinlein, Robert

  • The Past through Tomorrow

    Knight, Damon

  • The Best of Damon Knight

    Smith, Cordwainer

  • The Rediscovery of Man

    Sterling, Bruce

  • Crystal Express
  • Globalhead

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