The hero of Old Man’s War is 75 years old. But at first glance, the ingredients in this book seem
even older. Few sci-fi plots are more over-worked than the space war with aliens—just look at H.G.
Wells or Orson Welles, or other storytellers who went to this now almost dry well one time too many.
In fact, almost every chapter in this book will remind you of something you've encountered before.
Even the writing and character development draw on well-known precedents.
Let me tell it to you straight. Old Man’s War is not one of the
new highbrow literary fiction works of the current day that mix
speculative concepts with Iowa Writers’ Workshop techniques.
Scalzi may have studied briefly with Saul Bellow, but his book
bears no resemblance to Herzog or The Adventures of Augie
March. The ethos and stylistic conventions at play here come
straight out of the pulp fiction tales of a now distant day. Nor will
you find any trendy cyberpunk or steampunk angle to seize hold
of in these pages.
This is an adventure story, as old school as it gets. But, lordy,
what an adventure story!
I don’t know if you can teach storytelling skills of this caliber,
whether at the Iowa Workshop or inside Saul Bellow’s office.
The goal of this kind of writing is easy enough to describe.
The author must construct a novel in which each subplot and
interlude is compelling and infused with suspense. Familiar elements drawn from previous books
are inevitable, but each incident must come with a new twist or unexpected variation. Readers
should be enticed into anticipating certain development and resolutions, but you can’t give them only
what they expect—otherwise they lose interest. They should feel that they are treading on familiar
ground yet, at every moment, heading into something different and exciting…and perhaps
unnerving.
Yes, this is all easy to describe. But pulling it off is another thing entirely. And even rarer is the
first-time novelist who can achieve all this in a literary debut. In the realm of popular fiction, only
a handful of writers have achieved this—Ian Fleming in Casino Royale (1953) or Frederick
Forsyth in The Day of the Jackal (1971) and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone (1997) come to mind. Each of these authors worked within the tightest genre formulas,
yet made the conventions seem fresh and, well, a little less conventional than they were before
this bold new talent arrived on the scene.
The basic plot of Old Man’s War offers the first unexpected twist. Unlike every other war in human
history, the military encounter in Scalzi’s novel relies on senior citizen combatants. Savor the
opening paragraph:
“I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.”
Nice, no? And why do these oldsters abandon the senior center and handball court for a stint in the
military? The answer is simple: they believe that the army possesses technology to make them
young again. Why else would the authorities sign up recruits who have so little life in them?
When you spill the beans on your surprising switcheroo
plot in the opening paragraph, you better have more
surprises in reserve for your readers. And Scalzi does
just that. Yes, every step in this story has been told
thousands of times before. We get the recruitment office
scene, the mean drill sergeant interlude, the first test on
the battlefied moment. These could easily collapse
into a series of clichés and recycled set pieces. But
Scalzi never settles for serving up second-hand goods.
Even the love story, usually the weakest part of a sci-fi
story, is handled with deftness and imagination. I won’t offer a spoiler here, but I will say that Scalzi
comes up with an angle on romance and courtship that I’ve never encountered before, and integrates
it into his main plot with great skill.
Scalzi is quick to acknowledge his predecessors. Robert Heinlein offered the basic blueprint for
this type of book in his Starship Troopers (1959). And at least one response to Heinlein’s novel has
gained renown as a genre classic in its own right, namely Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War
(1974). But Scalzi’s novel has earned its place alongside these well-known works, and its
achievement may be all the more spectacular—after all, he needed to reinvent this storyline almost a
fifty years after Heinlein’s book, and more than a generation after Star Wars.
If you enjoyed any of these works, this book should be on your reading list. Just be forewarned. Old
Man’s War, despite the name, is not your grandpa’s sci-fi. Like the characters in this novel, it has
been rejuvenated.
Ted Gioia writes on music, literature and popular culture. He is the author of ten books. His most recent book is
How to Listen to Jazz (Basic Books).
Publication date: August 1, 2018
even older. Few sci-fi plots are more over-worked than the space war with aliens—just look at H.G.
Wells or Orson Welles, or other storytellers who went to this now almost dry well one time too many.
In fact, almost every chapter in this book will remind you of something you've encountered before.
Even the writing and character development draw on well-known precedents.
Let me tell it to you straight. Old Man’s War is not one of the
new highbrow literary fiction works of the current day that mix
speculative concepts with Iowa Writers’ Workshop techniques.
Scalzi may have studied briefly with Saul Bellow, but his book
bears no resemblance to Herzog or The Adventures of Augie
March. The ethos and stylistic conventions at play here come
straight out of the pulp fiction tales of a now distant day. Nor will
you find any trendy cyberpunk or steampunk angle to seize hold
of in these pages.
This is an adventure story, as old school as it gets. But, lordy,
what an adventure story!
I don’t know if you can teach storytelling skills of this caliber,
whether at the Iowa Workshop or inside Saul Bellow’s office.
The goal of this kind of writing is easy enough to describe.
The author must construct a novel in which each subplot and
interlude is compelling and infused with suspense. Familiar elements drawn from previous books
are inevitable, but each incident must come with a new twist or unexpected variation. Readers
should be enticed into anticipating certain development and resolutions, but you can’t give them only
what they expect—otherwise they lose interest. They should feel that they are treading on familiar
ground yet, at every moment, heading into something different and exciting…and perhaps
unnerving.
Yes, this is all easy to describe. But pulling it off is another thing entirely. And even rarer is the
first-time novelist who can achieve all this in a literary debut. In the realm of popular fiction, only
a handful of writers have achieved this—Ian Fleming in Casino Royale (1953) or Frederick
Forsyth in The Day of the Jackal (1971) and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone (1997) come to mind. Each of these authors worked within the tightest genre formulas,
yet made the conventions seem fresh and, well, a little less conventional than they were before
this bold new talent arrived on the scene.
The basic plot of Old Man’s War offers the first unexpected twist. Unlike every other war in human
history, the military encounter in Scalzi’s novel relies on senior citizen combatants. Savor the
opening paragraph:
“I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.”
Nice, no? And why do these oldsters abandon the senior center and handball court for a stint in the
military? The answer is simple: they believe that the army possesses technology to make them
young again. Why else would the authorities sign up recruits who have so little life in them?
When you spill the beans on your surprising switcheroo
plot in the opening paragraph, you better have more
surprises in reserve for your readers. And Scalzi does
just that. Yes, every step in this story has been told
thousands of times before. We get the recruitment office
scene, the mean drill sergeant interlude, the first test on
the battlefied moment. These could easily collapse
into a series of clichés and recycled set pieces. But
Scalzi never settles for serving up second-hand goods.
Even the love story, usually the weakest part of a sci-fi
story, is handled with deftness and imagination. I won’t offer a spoiler here, but I will say that Scalzi
comes up with an angle on romance and courtship that I’ve never encountered before, and integrates
it into his main plot with great skill.
Scalzi is quick to acknowledge his predecessors. Robert Heinlein offered the basic blueprint for
this type of book in his Starship Troopers (1959). And at least one response to Heinlein’s novel has
gained renown as a genre classic in its own right, namely Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War
(1974). But Scalzi’s novel has earned its place alongside these well-known works, and its
achievement may be all the more spectacular—after all, he needed to reinvent this storyline almost a
fifty years after Heinlein’s book, and more than a generation after Star Wars.
If you enjoyed any of these works, this book should be on your reading list. Just be forewarned. Old
Man’s War, despite the name, is not your grandpa’s sci-fi. Like the characters in this novel, it has
been rejuvenated.
Ted Gioia writes on music, literature and popular culture. He is the author of ten books. His most recent book is
How to Listen to Jazz (Basic Books).
Publication date: August 1, 2018
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Radical, unconventional and
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| Old Man's War by John Scalzi |
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his 50 favorite works of non-realist
fiction released since 2000. Featured
books will include works of magical
realism, alternative history, sci-fi,
horror, and fantasy, as well as
mainstream literary fiction that
pushes boundaries and challenges
conventional notions of verisimilitude.
Click here for the other titles
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Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian
Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian
Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian
Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Blind Assassin
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Bacigalupi, Paolo
The Windup Girl
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barker, Clive
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bierce, Ambrose
The Complete Short Stories
Blackwood, Algernon
The Complete John Silence Stories
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Brooks, Max
World War Z
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Butler, Octavia E.
Fledgling
Campbell, Ramsey
Demons by Daylight
Campbell, Ramsey
The Nameless
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chambers, Robert W.
The King in Yellow
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Cline, Ernest
Ready Player One
Crichton, Michael
Jurassic Park
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R.
Nova
Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Dickens, Charles
A Christmas Carol
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Egan, Jennifer
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fowles, John
A Maggot
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gardner, John
Grendel
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haig, Matt
The Humans
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
The Centauri Device
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Hendrix, Grady
Horrorstör
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Joe Hill
Heart-Shaped Box
Hill, Susan
The Woman in Black
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Houellebecq, Michel
Submission
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Never Let Me Go
Jackson, Shirley
The Haunting of Hill House
James, Henry
The Turn of the Screw
James, M.R.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Ketchum, Jack
Off Season
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
King, Stephen
Carrie
King, Stephen
Pet Sematary
Koja, Kathe
The Cipher
Krilanovich, Grace
The Orange Eats Creeps
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Lafferty, R.A.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Our Lady of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Levin, Ira
Rosemary's Baby
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Lindqvist, John Ajvide
Let the Right One In
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Lovecraft, H.P.
Tales
Machen, Arthur
The Great God Pan
Malzberg, Barry N.
Herovit's World
Mandel, Emily St. John
Station Eleven
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
I Am Legend
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Embassytown
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Moorcock, Michael
Behold the Man
Moorcock, Michael
The Final Programme
Morris, Jan
Hav
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada, or Ardor
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Wizard of the Crow
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
North, Claire
The First 15 Lives of Harry August
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Oyeyemi, Helen
White is for Witching
Percy, Walker
Love in the Ruins
Poe, Edgar Allan
Tales of Mystery & Imagination
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Rice, Anne
Interview with the Vampire
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Roth, Philip
The Plot Against America
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna
The Female Man
Saramago, José
Blindness
Sheckley, Robert
Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Silverberg, Robert
The World Inside
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Clark Ashton
The Dark Eidolon
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Straub, Peter
Ghost Story
Spinrad, Norman
Bug Jack Barron
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Stoker, Bram
Dracula
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James
Warm Worlds and Otherwise
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Tryon, Thomas
The Other
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Vance, Jack
The Dragon Masters
Vance, Jack
Emphyrio
Vance, Jack
The Languages of Pao
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vollmann, William T
Last Stories and Other Stories
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wallace, Edgar
King Kong
Walpole, Horace
The Castle of Otranto
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Weir, Andy
The Martian
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Wilson, Robert Anton & Robert Shea
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Wong, David
John Dies at the End
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Yamada, Taichi
Strangers
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Zelazny, Roger
This Immortal
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
My Year of Horrible Reading
When Science Fiction Grew Up
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
A Tribute to Richard Matheson
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
The Most Secretive Sci-Fi Author
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
The Puzzling Case of Robert Sheckley
The Avant-Garde Sci-Fi of Brian Aldiss
Science Fiction 1958-1975: A Reading List
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
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Fractious Fiction
Ted Gioia's web site
Ted Gioia on Twitter
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www.twitter.com/tedgioia
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Aldiss, Brian
Barefoot in the Head
Aldiss, Brian
Hothouse
Aldiss, Brian
Report on Probability A
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Blind Assassin
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Bacigalupi, Paolo
The Windup Girl
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barker, Clive
Books of Blood, Vols. 1-3
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Bierce, Ambrose
The Complete Short Stories
Blackwood, Algernon
The Complete John Silence Stories
Blish, James
A Case of Conscience
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Brooks, Max
World War Z
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Bunch, David R.
Moderan
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Butler, Octavia E.
Fledgling
Campbell, Ramsey
Demons by Daylight
Campbell, Ramsey
The Nameless
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chambers, Robert W.
The King in Yellow
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Cline, Ernest
Ready Player One
Crichton, Michael
Jurassic Park
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Delany, Samuel R.
Nova
Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Dickens, Charles
A Christmas Carol
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Egan, Jennifer
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Farmer, Philip José
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fowles, John
A Maggot
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gardner, John
Grendel
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haig, Matt
The Humans
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
The Centauri Device
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Hendrix, Grady
Horrorstör
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Joe Hill
Heart-Shaped Box
Hill, Susan
The Woman in Black
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Houellebecq, Michel
Submission
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Ishiguro, Kazuo
Never Let Me Go
Jackson, Shirley
The Haunting of Hill House
James, Henry
The Turn of the Screw
James, M.R.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Ketchum, Jack
Off Season
Keyes, Daniel
Flowers for Algernon
King, Stephen
Carrie
King, Stephen
Pet Sematary
Koja, Kathe
The Cipher
Krilanovich, Grace
The Orange Eats Creeps
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Lafferty, R.A.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Our Lady of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Levin, Ira
Rosemary's Baby
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Lindqvist, John Ajvide
Let the Right One In
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Lovecraft, H.P.
Tales
Machen, Arthur
The Great God Pan
Malzberg, Barry N.
Herovit's World
Mandel, Emily St. John
Station Eleven
Mann, Thomas
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seventy-fifth birthday. I
visited my wife’s grave.
Then I joined the army."
visited my wife’s grave.
Then I joined the army."
