This short yet ambitious sci-fi novel somehow perfectly captures the reality of living through the COVID-19 pandemic... by pondering the simulation hypothesis via time travel.
Tag: science fiction
Philip K. Dick · Ubik
Possibly PKD's strangest and most chaotic novel, Ubik is a labyrinthine, existential story that feels like being caught in an unsettling nightmare you're not sure you'll wake up from.
Octavia E. Butler · Kindred
Part science fiction, part historical novel, part (neo) slave narrative, Butler's most famous novel is a memorable, emotionally effective, and engrossing commentary on the legacy of slavery.
Philip K. Dick · Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
What sets this dystopia about identity and perception apart from others is the intersection of a paranoid police state with shallow celebrity pop culture.
Ken Liu · The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories
A collection of stories mostly at home in the sci-fi, speculative fiction, and silkpunk genres which often deal with Asian heritage and the difficulty of balancing Eastern and Western cultures.
Richard Matheson · I Am Legend
This short, bleak, heart-wrenching, gritty, soul-crushing novel just about revolutionized the horror and sci-fi pop culture landscape, and is, itself, legendary.
Ted Chiang · Exhalation: Stories
Chiang's long awaited second collection features nine poignant and thought-provoking stories with his signature compassionate, empathic touch—confirming that he's one of the most highly decorated SFF writers ever for good reason.
O. E. Butler · Lilith’s Brood (Xenogenesis Series)
Formerly known as the Xenogenesis series, this omnibus edition collects Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago. It's thought-provoking and sometimes dense post-human science fiction that explores a variety of themes in regards to sexuality, gender, race, eugenics, and colonization.
Ira Levin · The Boys From Brazil
In this wild ride of a genre-defying novel—part speculative fiction, part thriller, part sci-fi, all based on real historic figures—Levin explores a far-fetched but chilling what if?-scenario.
Ted Chiang · Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang writes sci-fi stories about the inner space and ideas, focusing on patterns of mathematics, linguistics, and neuroscience, which leads to more abstract themes of good, evil, God, and what it means to be human—and at what point we cease to be such.