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"Let it be understood, in the first place, that a science fiction story must be an exposition of a scientific theme and it must be also a story."
— editor Hugo Gernsback [1884-1967]
"Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not."
— Isaac Asimov [1920-92]
"Science fiction is literary fiction with the lid blown off." — Robin Winter
"The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it."
— Frank Herbert [1920-86]
short history of sci-fi
t e x t
h e r e
science fiction entry at Wikipedia
browse Science Fiction Bestseller Books at Amazon
search on keywords 'science fiction' {returns only 100+ titles} at Internet Movie Database
Internet Speculative Fiction Database [est. 1995]
official ISFDb website •
ISFDb entry at Wikipedia
Top 100 SciFi & Fantasy Novels List (as voted by ISFDb members)
The New York Review of Science Fiction [est. Sept 1988]
Authors of Science Fiction
 | "Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers" [1981] by Curtis S. Smith Palgrave Macmillan 11½x9 hardcover [10/81] out of print/many used |
 | "Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of The Major Authors From The Early Nineteenth Century To The Present Day" [1982] Edited by E.F. Bleiler
Charles Scribner's Sons 2nd edition 11¼x8¾ hardcover [1/99] out of print/used Charles Scribner's Sons 2nd edition 11¼x8¾ hardcover [1/99] out of print/used Scribner 11¼x8½ hardcover [4/82] out of print/used |
This section naturally became quite huge very fast, and so the coded data was cut to a Science Fiction Authors Page in Spring 2018.
top of page •
sci-fi pioneers •
XXth Century authors •
XXIst Century authors
Early and Selected Science Fiction Works
A lot depends on how you define 'science fiction', which depends in turn on definitions of 'science' and of 'fiction'; these early tales qualify mostly because
they are about traveling into or from space or visits to the Moon. The term for the genre was 'scientific romance' until changed to 'science fiction' in the 1920s.
 | "Voyages To The Moon" [1948] by Marjorie Hope Nicolson information on imaginary voyages by Lucian, Cicero, Plutarch, Rabelais, Cervantes, Milton, Donne, Swedenborg, Rousseau, Gray, Johnson, Kircher, Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, H.G. Wells, and C.S. Lewis Macmillan Company 8x5¼ pb [1960] - overpriced Macmillan Company 8x5½ hardcover [1948] out of print/used |
 | "Scientific Romance In Britain, 1890-1950" [1985] by Brian Stableford Scientific romance was influenced by speculative developments and fantasy writing and involved notions of utopia, fantastic voyages, and new scientific and technological achievements; these early scientific romances were to play an important role in the new genre of science fiction and proved especially prescient in advancing utopian ideas and fantastic scenarios that were validated in the early XXth Century. Fourth Estate hardcover [1985] out of print/used |
 | "Science Fiction of The 20th Century: An Illustrated History" [1999] by Frank M. Robinson Barnes & Noble 11x10 pb [10/99] out of print/40+ used Collectors Press 17¾x15 hardcover [10/99] out of print/many used |
 | "The Origins of Science Fiction: A Brief History of Science Fiction Before The Twentieth Century" [stories 2010] by Lance Chandler contains an Introduction and stories by Edward Bellamy, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells Kindle Edition from Minute Help Press [8/2010] for $1.99 {sic} |
 | "True History and Other Early Science Fiction Tales" [2013] Edited by David Lear
contains "The Dream of Scipio (Somnium Scipionis)" [circa 51 BCE] by Cicero; "A True History" and "Icaro-Menippus" [2nd Century CE] by Lucian of Samosata; "Urashima Taro" [8th Century Japan]; "The Tale of The Bamboo Cutter" [10th Century Japan]; "The Ebony Horse" and "The City of Brass" [from Arabian 'Thousand & One Nights', 1706]; and "Micromégas" [1752] by Voltaire [1694-1778] Kindle Edition from Firestone Books [2/2013] for $5.99 Firestone Books 7¾x5 pb [2/2013] for $19.99 |
 | "Scientific Romance: An International Anthology of Pioneering Science Fiction" [2016] Edited with Introduction by Brian Stableford more than two dozen early tales originally published between 1835 and 1924 by immediate literary predecessors, contemporaries, and descendants of Verne and Wells, focusing on the middle period, when the genre was at its most enterprising and exuberant; includes works by Grant Allen, S. Henry Berthoud, Walter Besant, Ambrose Bierce, Ernest d'Hervilly, John Davidson, Camille Debans, Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Epheyre, Edgar Fawcett, Émile Goudeau, George Griffith, Edmond Haraucourt, Julian Hawthorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Wm. Hope Hodgson, Jerome K. Jerome, Jack London, James Clark Maxwell, Edgar Page Mitchell, Eugéne Mouton, Fitz-James O'Brien, Edgar Allen Poe, Maurice Renard, J.-H. Rosny, Frank R. Stockton, and H.G. Wells Kindle Edition from Dover Publns [12/2016] for $9.99 Dover Publns 8¼x5 pb [1/2017] for $13.32 |
TEDxAuckland talk by Alexander MacDonald on "The Narrative Origins of Spaceflight" [Dec 2017]
MacDonald suggests that NASA's space programs were greatly influenced by early science fiction, including: Godwin's "The Man In The Moone" [1638];
non-fiction "The Discovery of A World In The Moone" [1638]; the 1657 moon tales of Cyrano de Bergerac [1619-55]; Edgar Allan Poe's "Eureka: A Prose Poem" [1848];
Jules Verne's "From The Earth To The Moon" [1865]; and "The War of The Worlds" [1898] by H.G. Wells [1866-1946]
watch TEDtalk video [8/2018 upload; 13:17] online at YouTube
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 | "Somniuma (The Dream): Sive Opus Posthumum de Astronomia Lunari" [1634] by astronomer Johannes Kepler [1571-1630] Written in the 1620s, published by Kepler's son in 1634; noted by both Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov as the first science fiction story ; framed as a dream, an Icelandic boy is trained by mathematician Tycho Brahe and returns home to his mother, who is a witch; she summons a demon who describes the island Levania (our Moon, '50,000 miles up in the aether') and its inhabitants - 20 pages of story, followed by 80 pages of Kepler's mathematical footnotes Kindle Edition from Nexum Ediciones [9/2013] for $4.99 CreateSpace 8x5 pb [5/2015] for $10.95 1965 edition, Translated & With Commentary by Edward Rosen Dover Publns 8½x5½ pb [9/2003] out of print/used Univ Wisconsin Press 9½x6½ hardcover [1967] out of print/used |
 | "The Man In The Moone: or, A Discovrse of A Voyage Thither" Written in the 1620s by Francis Godwin [1562-1633], and published in 1638 as by Domingo Gonsales; the second edition of 1657 bore the initials F.G. B. of H. {Francis Godwin, Bishop of Hereford}; designated the first science fiction story in the English language; a Spanish traveler trains geese to power a machine that flies him to the Moon, where he finds a Christian utopian society; text modernized for the Firestone editions Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [3/2012] for 99¢ Kindle Edition from Firestone Books [2/2013] for $9.99 Firestone Books 7¾x5 pb [2/2013] for $14.99 Logaston Press 8½x5½ hardcover [10/96] out of print/used |
 | "The Discovery of A World In The Moone" non-fiction [1638] by John Wilkins [1614-72]
120-page Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [5/2012] for FREE! 82-page Fili-Quarian Classics 11x8½ pb [7/2010] for $9.99 120-page HardPress Publng 9x6 pb [7/2010] for $22.95 available as free 266-page online flip-book at Internet Archive John Wilkins also wrote "A Discourse Concerning A New Planet" non-fiction [1640]
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 | "A Voyage To The Moon: With Some Account of The Solar World - A Comical Romance" [1657] by Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac [1619-55] Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [2018] for 99¢ Translation by Andrew Brown: Alma Classics 7¾x5 pb [7/2019] for $9.00 Gale Ecco Print Editions 9¼x6 hardcover [4/2018] for $22.95 available as free 219-page online flip-book at Internet Archive "Viaje a La Luna" Spanish Editions CreateSpace Spanish-language 10x7 pb [2/2016] for $7.95 CreateSpace Spanish-language 9x6 pb [5/2017] for $7.99 |
  | "The Comical History of The States and Empires of The Worlds of The Moon and Sun, Written In French by Cyrano Bergerac and Newly Englished by A. Lovell" [1657] by Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac [1619-55], Translated by Archibald Lovell in 1687 Kindle Edition from Didcot House [11/2016] for $2.99 CreateSpace 9x6 pb [12/2016] for $8.99 EEBO/ProQuest 9¾x7½ pb [1/2011] for $32.05 Folio Society 11¼x7½ hardcover [1991] out of print/used "Voyages To The Moon and The Sun" [1657] by Cyrano de Bergerac, Translated by Richard Aldington, Illustrated by Quentin Blake, Introduction by John Wells Orion Press 8½x5½ hardcover [1962] out of print/used "Les Etats et Empires de La Lune et Du Soleil" [1657] by Cyrano de Bergerac French-language Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [6/2019] for $3.40 Atlande French-language mass pb [2005] for $20.58 Introduction & Translation by Geoffrey Strachan [1976] New English Library Ltd mass pb [6/76] - overpriced New English Library Ltd mass pb [6/76] out of print/used |
 | "The Emperor of The Moon: A Farce" stageplay [1687] by Mrs. Aphra Behn [1640-89] Described as a Restoration farce; English version translated from the French version, which was translated from a Commedia Dell’arte version of Italy; plot involves a woman scientist who believes that there is a civilization on the Moon; she is blocking her daughter and her niece from marrying the men that they choose, so the game becomes convincing the woman that both men are from the Moon . . . Kindle Edition from Evergreen Books [6/2011] for $1.99 The British Library 9x6¾ pb [3/2010] for $14.99 Kessinger Publng 10x7 hardcover [9/2010] for $29.56 stageplay entry at Wikipedia • etext of the 1688 second edition free online at UPenn Digital Library recent productions include Shakespeare & Company's Rose Footprint Theatre in Lenox, MA in July & August 2016 and Hope Theater at University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon in February 2017 |
 | "Le Micromégas" [1752 novella] by Voltaire [1694-1778] The tale recounts the visit to Earth of an enormous being from a planet circling the star Sirius, with his less-gigantic companion from the planet Saturn • NOTE: The Penguin pb & Kindle editions contain both stories. 'Micromégas' story entry at Wikipedia "Plato's Dream" [1756 short story] by Voltaire [1694-1778] 'Plato's Dream' story entry at Wikipedia • read English online etext at Wondersmith fansite "Micromegas and Other Short Fictions" collection [2002] by Voltaire [1694-1778] Kindle Edition from Penguin Classics [2002 edition] for $9.99 Penguin Classics 7¾x5 pb [8/2002] for $12.99 |
 | "A Voyage To The Moon" [1827] by George Tucker [1775-1861] Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [5/2012] for FREE! Book Jungle 9¼x7½ pb [3/2010] for $4.58 Pinnacle Press 9¼x6 hardcover [5/2017] for $24.95 |
 | "Eureka: An Essay On The Material and Spiritual Universe (A Prose Poem)" [1848] by Edgar Allan Poe [1809-49] annotated Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [8/2015] for 99¢ annotated Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [7/2015] for 99¢ indep 9x6 pb [2/2018] for $4.99 CreateSpace 9x6 pb [11/2017] for $5.50 Kessinger Publng 9x6 pb [9/2010] for $16.76 book entry at Wikipedia • available as free online flip-book at Internet Archive |
 | "The History of A Voyage To The Moon" [1864]
The author has not been identified; the name 'Crystostom Trueman' refers to the narrator/presenter of a 'found' manuscript. The book tells of an 1854 voyage to the moon by an antigravity spacecraft, and was published several months before Jules Verne's classic "From The Earth To The Moon" Kindle Edition from Baen Books [2/2013] for $3.99 Black Cat Press pb [6/2009] for $30.00 |
  | "From The Earth To The Moon (De La Terre à La Lune)" [1865 novel] by Jules Verne Gentlemen at the Baltimore Gun Club fall into a discussion about whether a man-sized projectile launched from Earth could be landed on the Moon and whether human passengerss would survive that experience; soon bets are being made ...; the first book ends with the successful launch from Tampa Bay, Florida Kindle Edition from Heritage Illustrated Publng [3/2014] for 99¢ Bantam Classics mass pb [6/93] for $4.89 CreateSpace 9x6 pb [8/2015] for $3.99 Wildside Press 9x6 hardcover [8/2005] for $24.95 sequel "Autour de La Lune (Around The Moon)" [1869] aka "A Trip Round It" or "Circling The Moon" or "All Around The Moon" A closely-passing asteroid messes with the projectile's course, so that it does not land on the Moon, but only passes around the dark side; a corrective attempt to fire the projectile's rockets is timed badly and so it falls into the sea on Earth at horrendous speed; but after searching for several days, a U.S. Navy ship discovers the projectile afloat on the surface, with all three passengers in good shape. Kindle Edition from indep [6/2014] for $2.00 indep 9x6 pb [4/2017] for $6.99 CreateSpace 9x6 pb [4/2012] for $7.50 BiblioLife 9¼x6 hardcover [8/2008] for $18.97 |
"From The Earth To The Moon (Illustrated 1874 Edition): 100th Anniversary Collection" [2019]
Illustrated by Henri de Montaut, Translated by Louis Mercier - includes the sequel novel
unabridged version with the original cover and 80 black-and-white illustrations from the 1874 English edition
SeaWolf Press 9x6 pb [1/2019] for $11.95
combined editions, not for the 1874 Anniversary
Kindle Edition from MobileReference/Public Domain [3/2011] for FREE!
Wordsworth Classics 7¾x5 pb [8/2011] for $4.50
CreateSpace 9x6 pb [2/2013] for $5.99
Sagwan Press 9¼ hardcover [8/2015] for $27.95
 | "A Journey In Other Worlds: A Romance of The Future" science fiction novel [1894] by John Jacob Astor IV [1864-1912] A fictional account - both wildly imaginative and oddly prescient - of life in the year 2000, speculating about such outlandish things as solar power, space travel, and a worldwide telephone network. Seeking other habitable planets, the spaceship Callisto embarks on a tour of the solar system that takes it to Jupiter, a wilderness paradise, and Saturn, where secrets about the fate of man are revealed. Kindle Edition from HarperPerennial Classics [3/2012] for 99¢ CreateSpace 9x6 pb [4/2015] for $6.89 Pinnacle Press 9¼x6 hardcover [5/2017] for $25.95 book entry at Wikipedia • available as free online flip-book at Internet Archive |
 | "Journey To Mars The Wonderful World: Its Beauty and Splendor, Its Mighty Races and Kingdoms, Its Final Doom" novel [1894] by Gustavus W. Pope, MD [1828-1902] A shipwrecked U.S. Navy officer wakes up on a rocket ship to Mars, where he meets three races on the brink of civil war; the planet is being bombarded by meteors and the struggle is for who will control the means of survival . . . Wildside Press 9x6 pb [8/2008] for $31.35 Hyperion Press hardcover [6/74] for $23.25 Wildside Press 9x6 hardcover [8/2008] for $53.72 book entry at Wikipedia • available as free online flip-book at Internet Archive |
 | "Wonderful Adventures On Venus" aka "A Journey to Venus, The Primeval World: Its Wonderful Creations and Gigantic Monsters" novel [1895] by Gustavus W. Pope, MD [1828-1902] American Navy Lt. Frederick Hamilton and his love interest the Martian princess Suhlamia travel to Venus on a Martian 'ethervolt' spacecraft for 'exciting adventures, hairbreadth escapes, and perilous vicissitudes, among primeval monsters and semi-human creatures' neither Kindle nor books are available at Amazon (2020) book entry at Wikipedia • available as free online flip-book {starting at page 545} at Internet Archive |
 | "To Venus In Five Seconds: An Account of The Strange Disappearance of Thomas Plummer, Pillmaker" [1897] science fiction satire by Frederick T. Jane [1865-1916] "A handsome but not too bright medical student is transported to Venus and caught in a struggle between humanoids and giant bug-like creatures; he faces blinding sunlight, rampaging aliens, vivisectionists, and mind-numbing discourses on science in his quest to return to Earth!" CreateSpace 8x5 pb [12/2017] for $5.99 Hanse Books 8½x5½ pb [2/2020] for $18.90 author/book entry at Wikipedia • available as free online flip-book at Internet Archive |
"The War of The Worlds" [1897/1898] by H.G. Wells [1866-1946]
details (history, stageplays, books & ebooks, movies & TV, links, merchandise) on
Spirit of America Bookstore's "The War of The Worlds" 1898 Novel & Movies Page
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TITLE [YR] by greeen + maroon Kindle Edition from ... [9/00] for $0.00 PUB pb [8/00] for $0.00 hardcover [8/00] for $0.00 out of print/used |
 | "Gulliver of Mars" [orig 1905, reissue 1964] by Edwin L. Arnold [1857-1935]
Originally published in 1905 as "Lieut. Gulliver Jones: His Vacation" 211-page annotated Kindle Edition from indep [10/2018] for $3.39 Ace Books mass pb [1964] out of print/40+ used 92-page Blurb Books 10x8 pb [7/2020] for $10.43 |
 | "An Earth Man On Venus" [orig 1924, reissue 1948/1950] by Ralph Milne Farley [1887-1963] original title "The Radio Man"; tagline: 'Trapped on a planet of peril, he dared challenge its monster ruler'; comic book illustrated by Israel Escamilla facsimile Avon Periodicals 11x8½ comic book [8/2017] for $12.99 Avon text edition for Kindle from indep [1/2017] for $1.10 {sic} Avon mass pb [1950] out of print/used |
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 | "Earth Abides" [1949] by George R. Stewart [1895-1980] instant classic in 1949, won the first International Fantasy Award; described as one of the most provocative and finely wrought post-apocalyptic works of literature Kindle Edition from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt [1976 edition] for $9.99 Gollancz/S.F. Masterworks 7¾x5¼ pb [6/99] for $10.90 Fawcett mass pb [9/86] out of print/used Houghton Mifflin Book Club 8¼x5½ hardcover [1976] out of print/used |
 | "Captain Rocket" single-issue comic book [1951] by Kari A Therrian for P.L. Publng Co. five stories in 36 color pages: "The Graveyard of The Rocketeers", "Monsteroids of The Underworld", "Captain Rocket Meets The Mind Stealers", "Pirate of The Stratosphere" featuring Space Falcon, and "The Man Who Wanted A World!" featuring Aurora of Jupiter CreateSpace facsimile 11x8½ comic book [3/2015] for $12.99 |
 | "Space Story Omnibus" anthology [1955] non-fiction articles by Maurice Allward, fiction by Edward Boyd, illustrations by T.E. North, R.A. Branton & Bruce Gaffron William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. hardcover [1955] out of print/scarce |
 | "The Metal Monster" classic sci-fi novel [1957] by A. Merritt "A science-fiction masterpiece – the story of a robot world without a heart!" Kindle Edition from Amazon Digital Services [3/2011] for FREE {sic} Carroll & Graf Publng mass pb [4/93] for $4.00 Avon mass pb [6/76] out of print/used Hyperion Press Classics of Science Fiction 8¾x5½ hardcover [6/73] out of print/used |
 | "The Man Who Died Twice: A Novel About Hollywood's Most Baffling Murder" [1976] by Samuel A. Peeples A 1970's Los Angeles Police detective time-travels back to 1922 Los Angeles, and inhabits the body of Wm. Desmond Taylor, a Hollywood director who was murdered in real-life Hollywood in February 1922. The L.A.P.D. detective has the advantage of knowing lots of details about the case, from having read the police files, and just living in the Hollywood/L.A. area all his life. With Taylor's personality serving as a kind of alter ego, he tries to prevent Taylor (and himself!) from being murdered; other characters include director D.W. Griffith, media magnate Wm. Randolph Hearst, actor John Barrymore, actress Mabel Normand, and actor Rudolph Valentino Academy Chicago Publng 7¾x5¼ pb [10/84] for $16.00 Putnam 8¼x5¾ hardcover [1976] for $10.47 |
2017 list of the best time travel books at the Bookscrolling website
34 books found on 4 lists, 32 books found on 3 lists, 49 books on 2 lists, and 445 books on just 1 list.
 | "Of Jenny and The Aliens" [YA novel 2017] by Ryan Gebhart Teenager Derek meets Jenny at a wild end-of-the-world party but she has other priorities, so he asks for advice from a recently-arrived space alien . . . Kindle Edition from Candlewick Press [8/2017] for $10.99 Candlewick Press 8½x6 hardcover [8/2017] for $12.59 |
Collections & Anthologies & Guides
Doesn't take much imagination to see how this section grew rapidly and was cut to its own page in Spring 2016, then split again in Summer 2019.
click here
L i n k s
browse Science Fiction Bestseller Books at Amazon
Science Fiction Studies, the world’s most respected journal for the critical study of science fiction
![The AlienCon moves around: 2018 happened in Pasadena, CA [June 2018] and Baltimore, MD [Nov 2018] and 2019 happens in Downtown Los Angeles, CA [June 2019] and Dallas, TX [Oct 2019]](images/aliencon2019.jpg "The AlienCon moves around: 2018 happened in Pasadena, CA [June 2018] and Baltimore, MD [Nov 2018] and 2019 happens in Downtown Los Angeles, CA [June 2019] and Dallas, TX [Oct 2019]")
Cyber Film Festival at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
Science Fiction Film Festival at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
Outer Space Film Festival at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
"Space Patrol" TV Series Page at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
"Doctor Who" TV Series Page at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
here on the Science Fiction Pages at Spirit of America Bookstore
on Page 1: top of page • short history • authors of science fiction • early & selected sci-fi • links
on Page 2: top of page • works about sci-fi • movies & TV • plays, other media • image gallery • selected quotations
on Page 3: top of page • anthology series • non-series anthologies
on Page 4: Kindle Editions
on the Authors of Science Fiction Page at Spirit of America Bookstore
top of page • sci-fi pioneers • XXth Century authors • XXIst Century authors
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