Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. Men, Martians, and Machines, Eric Frank Russell (1955)

From the back cover: “VOYAGE OF THE MARATHON. Even at the time when space ships were making regular voyages across the universe, the MARATHON was a remarkable craft. Powered by the Flettner system, its speed was so great that for the first time exploration of the outer galaxies was made possible.

MEN, MARTIANS AND MACHINES describes some of the great voyages made by the MARATHON. There was, for example, the planet which was solely inhabited by machines–survivors, perhaps, from a civilization in which the first machine-makers had perished. On another planet, the inhabitants had developed the power of hypnotism to a fantastic degree, so that the observer saw only what he was willed to see.”

Contents: “Jay Score” (1941), “Mechanistria” (1942), “Symbiotica” (1943), “Mesmerica” (1955).

Initial Thoughts: I’ve only indirectly explored a few of Russell’s visions. I selected this one as the Jay Score / Marathon sequence stories contain examples of early genre magazine non-white characters.

2. Forbidden Area, Pat Frank (1956)

From the back cover: “ONLY SEVEN AMERICANS KNEW WHAT WAS COMING. The time of the enemy attack was cunningly chosen–Christmas Eve in a nation sleeping in peace.

Death would rain down from giant bombers–horror, fire and destruction.

Only seven Americans–six men and one girl in a secret room in the Pentagon–knew absolutely, factually, and without the shadow of a doubt that the United States was about to be destroyed.

They knew there wasn’t much time left. They told the brass; they reported to their general. But nobody would listen to them.

AND TOMORROW WAS CHRISTMAS EVE.”

Initial Thoughts: Yes, this might not be technically SF. However, it’s a nuclear-themed thriller that might be in Frank’s “near future.” I recently read Frank’s Alas, Babylon (1959) and wanted to read a bit more of his work. I also adore the cover!

3. The Exiles Trilogy, Ben Bova (1980)

From the back cover: “EXILED TO THE STARS! They were Earth’s best and brightest: the brilliant young generation of scientists who were the last hope of an overburdened planet.

But their breakthrough in genetic engineering threatened the despotic World Government, and they were rewarded for their success by the cruelest punishment ever devised.

Banned from Earth forever, they turned their exile into humankind’s greatest adventure. They left behind a million years of evolution and embarked on a one-way voyage across the Universe!”

Contents: Exiles from Earth (1971), Flight of Exiles (1972), End of Exile (1973)

Initial Thoughts: I am aware that these novels are most likely bottom-of-the-barrel generation ship stories. To add insult to injury, my cover is misprinted at an angle. However, I am on a (misguided?) quest to read all pre-1985 examples of the subgenre. If you’re new to the site, here’s my index on the topic. Also, here’s my most recent installment of my series: Mari Wolf’s “The First Day of Spring” (1954) and Francis G. Rayer’s “Continuity Man” (1959).

4. Tom’s A-Cold, John Collier (1933)

From the inside flap: My edition came sans dust jacket. Couldn’t find a pristine edition within my price range. Alas.

Initial Thoughts: All I know about this one are a few brief mentions in Andrew Hammond’s Cold War Stories: British Dystopian Fiction, 1945-1990 (2017) and the substantial SF Encyclopedia entry that I’ll reproduce for you:

“Radically dissimilar to his most familiar work is Tom’s A-Cold (1933; vt Full Circle 1933), a remarkably effective Scientific Romance set in a 1990s Ruined Earth, long after an unexplained Disaster has decimated England’s (and presumably the world’s) population and thrust mankind back into rural barbarism, a condition out of which the eldest survivors, who remember civilization, are trying to educate the young third generation. The simple plot plays no tricks on the reader: the young protagonist, a born leader, rises through raids and conflict to the chieftainship, undergoes a tragedy, and reconciles himself at the novel’s close to the burdens of a government which will improve the lot of his people. Throughout the novel, very movingly, Collier renders the reborn, circumambient natural world with a hallucinatory visual intensity found nowhere else in his work. Along with Alun Llewellyn’s The Strange Invaders (1934), Tom’s A-Cold can be seen, in its atmosphere of almost loving conviction, as a genuine successor to Richard Jefferies’s After London (1885).”

Sounds great!

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