• The End of Eternity © 1955
• Fawcett Crest (1971)
• 192 pages

Reading 50 year old science fiction is an entertaining experience. Not only do you have to envision the future with the author, you have to view it through a dated lens.

Asimov’s The End of Eternity is a great example of classic science fiction. You get an archetypal mystery/love story mix set in a world of time-travel.

Asimov’s science-fiction creativity is superb. How, for example, did he think up a time-travel system energized by the power of our sun in the distant future as it goes nova? The paradoxes that are always explored in time-travel books are well worked into the mystery.

Unfortunately, the character development is as bad as the science-fiction is good. These people feel like little more than artificial devices invented to carry the plot forward—which, of course, they are.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, this book provides a few interesting hours of escape.

• The Outward Urge © 1959
• Penguin
• 187 pages

You can enjoy The Outward Urge on a couple different levels. On the surface, it’s a collection of short stories about humanity’s exploration of space. Dig a little deeper and a couple sub-themes stand out. These stories cover 200 years of the history of the Troon family to show how the desire to explore can follow a family line. The stories are also thinly veiled rhetoric on how human infighting undermines technical acumen.

On another level altogether, you can read this series of stories that were written over a decade before humans landed on the moon to examine the hopes and dreams of a generation. This was written when our own solar system was still so full of habitable promise.

Some of the short stories are better than others. The first story has a cowboy flair to it, while the last episode deals with the human effects of cryogenic freezing. I picked up this book because I enjoy Wyndam and wanted a light read. I found that, plus a little extra.

• Star Begotten © 1937
• Mannor Books
• 173 pages

Do you remember The War of the Worlds? This is a sequel, of sorts. In War, the Martians were defeated by their vulnerability to earth’s ecosystem. Star-Begotten explains plan B. What if, instead of invading earth, they used interplanetary rays to subtly change humans into their own spiritual children?

This book is a lot more about philosophy than plot. If you assume that the Martians are technologically as well as morally superior to humans, how would their benevolent rule change the course of the planet?

Star-Begotten is an interesting period piece, exploring optimism and fear on the eve of World War II.

• The Case Against Tomorrow ©1957
• Ballantine Second Printing 1965
• 152 pages

There’s so much to love about golden-age science fiction like: detective stories with robots, martians with green skin, and dystopian views of the future that have proven true in ways the author didn’t quite foresee. This collection of Pohl’s short stories extrapolates the damning trends of 1950s culture into twisted visions of the future where, for instance, work becomes a holiday for consumer-weary citizens.

Unfortunately, this collection of short stories and novelettes is mediocre. There are weak stories mixed in with the innovative ones, bringing down the overall quality of the volume.

I’m still glad I read it. Pohl is a giant in the evolution of science fiction. I suspect, however, some of his other titles may outclass this collection.

• Martian Chronicles © 1958
• Bantam (1980)
• 181 pages

Ray Bradbury is lauded as one of the best science fiction writers of the 20th century. I’ve only read a couple of his books now (including the famous Fahrenheit 451), but I would have to agree. Put him and the dearly departed Asimov together in a room, and the very nature of reality might shift!

This collection of short-stories is framed by the meta-narrative of humanity’s first encounter with Mars. The stories are tragic and thoroughly human, laying bare the depravity that lies in the human soul.

Bradbury covers  a gamut of themes: racism (both human-martian, and human-human), government censorship, war, the transitory nature of human existence, and even environmentalism. The stories themselves are incredibly diverse. The only thing that remains constant is the quality and imagination that underpin each tale. Here’s an example: one of the stories features an automated house as the main character—yet he makes it work, evoking pathos in the process!

I found  this book in a box of golden age science fiction reprints at a yard sale. It’s reinforced an old adage: never judge a book by its cover—buy a book on the strength of the name. This won’t be the last Bradbury book in my collection.

• Chocky (Puffin Books) © 1968
• Penguin (1970)
• 154 pages

Chocky’s a fine science fiction tale. In it, a boy named Matthew begins to have conversations with an imaginary friend—who turns out to be more than imaginary. The back cover states that the friend, “was far too intelligent and frightening” to spring from the mind of Matthew alone.

This story pulls you in from the first couple pages. There’s an element of potential horror surrounding the plot that makes it compelling. There’s a some depth here, too. It’s interesting to hear about the family dynamics of Matthew’s mother. Wyndham could have made much more use of that side-story.

On the whole, this book ranks just slightly above average. The climax was a bit of a let down for me. Still, I love Wyndham, so it was a pleasant read. If you’re not a Wyndham fan, there are other more interesting books to begin with.

• Neuromancer © 1984
• Ace Books
• 271 pages

I decided to brush up on my sci-fi history by reading this archetypal Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick award winning Cyberpunk novel. I’ve already read Pattern Recognition and Spook Country, so I knew a bit of what to expect. What I found was Gibson in his raw unpolished brilliance. You would expect a twenty-five year old book about the future to feel dated. However, aside from a few exceptions, it felt remarkably current. This novel lives up to its reputation.

The prose is dreamlike, blurring the lines between action and reflection—much like the plot blurs the lines between real and virtual reality. You need to pay attention while reading it to keep track of the characters, but the payoff is worth it. The story stays with you once the book’s back on the shelf.

Few things are more satisfying than reading a classic that exceeds your expectations.

• Watchmen © 1995
• DC Comics
• 416 pages

This was the first graphic novel I’ve read—and I’m hooked. This was a superhero story unlike anything I’ve read before. Most of the superheroes had no “super” in them at all. The cast was a mixed up group of people who used to get a kick out of dressing up and fighting crime (with one rather blue exception).

The writing has depth. I loved the way Moore used parallel stories from different media to inform the main plot. This, led to characters who felt like real people. The cast is flawed, and you’re never quite sure who to be sympathetic towards.

The ending . . . well, to quote the dearly departed Robert Jordan, “RAFO”.