In the literature of self-help, recovery and various strains of New Age spirituality, the word ‘God’
has increasingly been replaced with a less creed-driven alternative: the higher power. This phrase
entered the popular vocabulary in the 1930s, due mostly to the influence of Alcoholics
Anonymous. The term only appears three times in the Big Book that codifies AA beliefs and
practices, but accepting a higher power is at the heart of the organization’s method, and one of
the 12 steps to recovery.
Does this change in parlance from ‘God’ to ‘higher power’
really make a meaningful difference? Apparently it does
to a subset of the population—a survey shows that 8% of
people do not believe in the former, but accept the latter.
I suspect that for some, this leap of faith has been life-
changing, and enabled them to overcome personal frailties
and obstacles that, otherwise, might have been insurmountable.
I note that one of my favorite authors, Denis Johnson,
repeatedly dedicated his works to H.P., and I don’t think he
had Mr. Lovecraft or Hewlett-Packard in mind. Yet when asked
point blank about this matter, his response was "I don’t have
anything to say about theology."
Ah, leave it to science fiction to address a different angle of the
higher power question. The higher powers in sci-fi stories don’t
need any theology either. They have technology instead. They
just show up in their spaceship one day, and demonstrate through
their weapons and gizmos that they operate on a higher level than
the poor human race. This is no matter of myth, doctrine or parable,
but a plausible scenario that might actually occur some day. In the
words of Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu: "I’ve always felt
that extraterrestrial intelligence will be the greatest source of
uncertainty for humanity’s future. Other great shifts, such as climate change and ecological
disasters, have a certain progression and built-in adjustment periods, but contact between
humankind and aliens can happen at any time."
This is a well-worked field in the territory of science fiction, and at this late stage in the genre’s
history I had little confidence that Liu, or any contemporary, could come up with a fresh perspective
on the first contact story. But he has done just that in his Hugo-winning novel The Three-Body
Problem. And his breakthrough comes from a simple, but powerful insight. The aliens don’t even
need to send the spaceship. In fact, they don’t even need to appear in the story. The most
significant impact of first contact is merely the knowledge that the higher power exists. Once
humans accept that fact, everything changes. And homo sapiens themselves will be the source of
the change.
According to the theory of Bill Mathers of the RAND Corporation, (a fictional sociologist in The
Three-Body Problem) the moment humans acknowledge that this higher power exists, a kind of
switch is turned on in mass society. “Regardless of the content of the encounter, the results would
be the same….The impact would be magnified by the lens of human psychology and culture until it
resulted in huge, substantive influences on the progress of civilization.”
This kernel of insight underpins the drama of The Three-Body Problem. The book begins with
scientific enigmas. Certain observable phenomena no longer behave as they have in the past.
The full ramifications of these changes remain unclear, but a large number of physicists,
confronted with the new reality, have committed suicide. Others are behaving unusually.
Government agencies and military are now involved, but find their traditional tools and weapons
have little to offer in this new state of affairs.
Liu’s fertile imagination is on display as he provides
a bizarre range of hints and anecdotes that, at first
glance, appear disconnected and often inexplicable.
Why does a strange series of numbers, apparently
indicating a countdown, show up in photographs
taken by an eminent scientist? How does the cosmic
microwave, the background noise of the entire universe,
manage to fluctuate in an unprecedented manner at the
exact moment predicted by a renegade researcher?
Why are influential people in society playing an elaborate
video game that encourages them to solve the famous,
and perhaps insoluble, three-body problem? What
emergency situation has spurred Chinese and US
military leaders to cooperate in solving a problem that
no one wants to explain—or perhaps is capable of
describing?
Full disclosure: the plot of The Three-Body Problem involves more high level physics than I have
ever encountered in a work of fiction. But you don’t need to be Stephen Hawking to enjoy the
conceptual creativity involved here. Liu does a worthy job of explaining what can be explained, and
providing poetic comparisons when straightforward explication would prove too cumbersome. I
may never be able to comprehend how a proton unfolds into 7-dimensional space—and sincerely
hope that I won’t need that information in my day-to-day life—but Liu draws me into the process
with enough storytelling firepower to compensate for my sketchy background knowledge.
This novel is as clever on the small details of his plot as on the larger concepts at play in his tale.
An interlude involving an army of 30 million soldiers trying to emulate a binary computer with the
help of white flags and black flags is both preposterous and very amusing. The incident of a cult-
operated tanker ship captured with the help of a nanomaterial trap is like a James Bond movie
scene on steroids.
Alas, the writing doesn’t always live up to the concepts. The prose doesn’t have much grace, and
even when Liu sets up a scene that invites poetic description—for example, the many parts of this
book that take place in isolated natural settings—he is perfunctory in his descriptions. This is
especially odd in a book which places such emphasis on ecological issues. By the same token,
every character in the book is little more than a cardboard figure, building from a familiar
stereotype—from the tough-guy, chain-smoking cop to the opportunist political boss. Sometimes
these stick figures can be entertaining—Shi Qiang, the police detective, steals every scene he is
in. But they rarely achieve even a baseline degree of plausibility. It’s hard to care about these
individuals because they lack the depth of real people. Liu ought to spend some time reading,
say, Stephen King or Octavia Butler, where he can learn how genre authors use back story and
subplot to bring characters to life.
So this isn’t the book to read if you want to learn how sci-fi is merging with literary fiction in the
current day. This novel doesn’t reflect that important trend. But Liu may have achieved something
even more difficult. He has taken concept-driven speculative writing and introduced some whizz-
bang new concepts that you’ve never encountered before. That kind of imaginative leap cuts to the
very essence of the sci-fi genre, and is just as essential as metaphors and modifiers in grabbing
hold of readers of works of this sort.
And grab them he does. If you look to sci-fi for big ideas, this work will not disappoint. Cixin Liu is
the real deal, a storytelling visionary who can take on the whole universe in his schemes. By the
way, a film adaptation of The Three-Body Problem is in the works—in fact, five different film
projects based on Liu works are underway. So I anticipate that this genre lit sensation will soon
turn into a film brand franchise. I’m not sure that will improve the quality of Liu’s writing, but it will
certainly have an impact on his fame and influence.
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: September 7, 2018
has increasingly been replaced with a less creed-driven alternative: the higher power. This phrase
entered the popular vocabulary in the 1930s, due mostly to the influence of Alcoholics
Anonymous. The term only appears three times in the Big Book that codifies AA beliefs and
practices, but accepting a higher power is at the heart of the organization’s method, and one of
the 12 steps to recovery.
Does this change in parlance from ‘God’ to ‘higher power’
really make a meaningful difference? Apparently it does
to a subset of the population—a survey shows that 8% of
people do not believe in the former, but accept the latter.
I suspect that for some, this leap of faith has been life-
changing, and enabled them to overcome personal frailties
and obstacles that, otherwise, might have been insurmountable.
I note that one of my favorite authors, Denis Johnson,
repeatedly dedicated his works to H.P., and I don’t think he
had Mr. Lovecraft or Hewlett-Packard in mind. Yet when asked
point blank about this matter, his response was "I don’t have
anything to say about theology."
Ah, leave it to science fiction to address a different angle of the
higher power question. The higher powers in sci-fi stories don’t
need any theology either. They have technology instead. They
just show up in their spaceship one day, and demonstrate through
their weapons and gizmos that they operate on a higher level than
the poor human race. This is no matter of myth, doctrine or parable,
but a plausible scenario that might actually occur some day. In the
words of Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu: "I’ve always felt
that extraterrestrial intelligence will be the greatest source of
uncertainty for humanity’s future. Other great shifts, such as climate change and ecological
disasters, have a certain progression and built-in adjustment periods, but contact between
humankind and aliens can happen at any time."
This is a well-worked field in the territory of science fiction, and at this late stage in the genre’s
history I had little confidence that Liu, or any contemporary, could come up with a fresh perspective
on the first contact story. But he has done just that in his Hugo-winning novel The Three-Body
Problem. And his breakthrough comes from a simple, but powerful insight. The aliens don’t even
need to send the spaceship. In fact, they don’t even need to appear in the story. The most
significant impact of first contact is merely the knowledge that the higher power exists. Once
humans accept that fact, everything changes. And homo sapiens themselves will be the source of
the change.
According to the theory of Bill Mathers of the RAND Corporation, (a fictional sociologist in The
Three-Body Problem) the moment humans acknowledge that this higher power exists, a kind of
switch is turned on in mass society. “Regardless of the content of the encounter, the results would
be the same….The impact would be magnified by the lens of human psychology and culture until it
resulted in huge, substantive influences on the progress of civilization.”
This kernel of insight underpins the drama of The Three-Body Problem. The book begins with
scientific enigmas. Certain observable phenomena no longer behave as they have in the past.
The full ramifications of these changes remain unclear, but a large number of physicists,
confronted with the new reality, have committed suicide. Others are behaving unusually.
Government agencies and military are now involved, but find their traditional tools and weapons
have little to offer in this new state of affairs.
Liu’s fertile imagination is on display as he provides
a bizarre range of hints and anecdotes that, at first
glance, appear disconnected and often inexplicable.
Why does a strange series of numbers, apparently
indicating a countdown, show up in photographs
taken by an eminent scientist? How does the cosmic
microwave, the background noise of the entire universe,
manage to fluctuate in an unprecedented manner at the
exact moment predicted by a renegade researcher?
Why are influential people in society playing an elaborate
video game that encourages them to solve the famous,
and perhaps insoluble, three-body problem? What
emergency situation has spurred Chinese and US
military leaders to cooperate in solving a problem that
no one wants to explain—or perhaps is capable of
describing?
Full disclosure: the plot of The Three-Body Problem involves more high level physics than I have
ever encountered in a work of fiction. But you don’t need to be Stephen Hawking to enjoy the
conceptual creativity involved here. Liu does a worthy job of explaining what can be explained, and
providing poetic comparisons when straightforward explication would prove too cumbersome. I
may never be able to comprehend how a proton unfolds into 7-dimensional space—and sincerely
hope that I won’t need that information in my day-to-day life—but Liu draws me into the process
with enough storytelling firepower to compensate for my sketchy background knowledge.
This novel is as clever on the small details of his plot as on the larger concepts at play in his tale.
An interlude involving an army of 30 million soldiers trying to emulate a binary computer with the
help of white flags and black flags is both preposterous and very amusing. The incident of a cult-
operated tanker ship captured with the help of a nanomaterial trap is like a James Bond movie
scene on steroids.
Alas, the writing doesn’t always live up to the concepts. The prose doesn’t have much grace, and
even when Liu sets up a scene that invites poetic description—for example, the many parts of this
book that take place in isolated natural settings—he is perfunctory in his descriptions. This is
especially odd in a book which places such emphasis on ecological issues. By the same token,
every character in the book is little more than a cardboard figure, building from a familiar
stereotype—from the tough-guy, chain-smoking cop to the opportunist political boss. Sometimes
these stick figures can be entertaining—Shi Qiang, the police detective, steals every scene he is
in. But they rarely achieve even a baseline degree of plausibility. It’s hard to care about these
individuals because they lack the depth of real people. Liu ought to spend some time reading,
say, Stephen King or Octavia Butler, where he can learn how genre authors use back story and
subplot to bring characters to life.
So this isn’t the book to read if you want to learn how sci-fi is merging with literary fiction in the
current day. This novel doesn’t reflect that important trend. But Liu may have achieved something
even more difficult. He has taken concept-driven speculative writing and introduced some whizz-
bang new concepts that you’ve never encountered before. That kind of imaginative leap cuts to the
very essence of the sci-fi genre, and is just as essential as metaphors and modifiers in grabbing
hold of readers of works of this sort.
And grab them he does. If you look to sci-fi for big ideas, this work will not disappoint. Cixin Liu is
the real deal, a storytelling visionary who can take on the whole universe in his schemes. By the
way, a film adaptation of The Three-Body Problem is in the works—in fact, five different film
projects based on Liu works are underway. So I anticipate that this genre lit sensation will soon
turn into a film brand franchise. I’m not sure that will improve the quality of Liu’s writing, but it will
certainly have an impact on his fame and influence.
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: September 7, 2018
Check out our sister sites:
The New Canon
Great literary works
published since 1985
Great Books Guide
Reviews of current books
Postmodern Mystery
Experimental works of mystery &
suspense
Fractious Fiction
Radical, unconventional and
experimental fiction
The New Canon
Great literary works
published since 1985
Great Books Guide
Reviews of current books
Postmodern Mystery
Experimental works of mystery &
suspense
Fractious Fiction
Radical, unconventional and
experimental fiction
| The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu |
Essay by Ted Gioia
Ted Gioia is publishing essays on 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
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
| conceptual fiction Exploring the Non-Realist Tradition in Fiction |
To purchase, click on image
Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
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
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
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
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
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
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
Postmodern Mystery
Fractious Fiction
Ted Gioia's web site
Ted Gioia on Twitter
_____
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Millions
Big Dumb Object
SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Tor blog
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction
and its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials from
publishers, authors, publicists or other
parties.
All rights reserved
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
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
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
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
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
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
Postmodern Mystery
Fractious Fiction
Ted Gioia's web site
Ted Gioia on Twitter
_____
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Millions
Big Dumb Object
SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Tor blog
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction
and its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials from
publishers, authors, publicists or other
parties.
All rights reserved
| Liu's breakthrough comes from a simple, but powerful insight. The aliens don’t even need to send the spaceship. In fact, they don’t even need to appear in the story. The most significant impact of first contact is merely the knowledge that the higher power exists. |
