The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

It's back to the beginning time so we are looking for nominations pre-1950. This can be for a sci-fi novel or set of short stories. Nominations can be for any book that has not been previously read by the group. The bookshelf is split by decade for this period (here) so if you don't want to check all the decades feel free to make a nomination and I will let you know if it's ineligible as it has already been read.

Current nominations:
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
Somnium: The Dream, or Posthumous Work on Lunar Astronomy by Johannes Kepler
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
Gladiator by Philip Wylie
The Goddess of Atvatabar by William R Bradshaw
Star Begotten: A Biological Fantasia by H.G. Wells

I nominate _The Invisible Man_ by H.G. Wells.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Science fiction books written before 1950 that I haven't read but would like to is a very short list.

I nominate The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells, 1901

Hello everyone, have a nice 2017.

I will start this year by nominating one book that is considered the first scientific essays on lunar astronomy.

Written by Johannes Kepler in 1608, Somnium,

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

I am not sure if it's too scientific for the common reader, if necessary I may provide another suggestion.

Cheers...

Goreti wrote: "Hello everyone, have a nice 2017.

I will start this year by nominating one book that is considered the first scientific essays on lunar astronomy.

Written by Johannes Kepler in 1608, Somnium,

h..."

I've downloaded a sample to my Kindle and will have a look but as it is reputed as one of the first works of sci-fi, I will add it to the nominations.

I'm new in this group, but I'll go ahead and nominate Last and First Men.

Ed wrote: "I'm new in this group, but I'll go ahead and nominate Last and First Men.">

Welcome Ed, a good choice.

Goreti wrote: "Hello everyone, have a nice 2017.

I will start this year by nominating one book that is considered the first scientific essays on lunar astronomy.

Written by Johannes Kepler in 1608, Somnium,

h..."

Well I read the sample I downloaded on my Kindle and it turned out to be a whole 5 pages :-) These pages were fine, I guess we will find out if it gets more scientific later on if it wins next month's poll!

By a curious coincidence, I was just reading the chapter concerned with early stories of voyages to the moon in the book Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything.

In addition to Kepler's "Somnium", he discusses several related works. He does not consider these works as "science fiction". But that term is debated and I guess one could call them that. I'd say rather "proto science fiction" at best.

The most "scientific" thing about "Somnium" is simply the idea that from the moon, it would look like the Earth orbits around the moon. The actual trip to the moon is made by purely supernatural forces: a demon throws some people to the moon.

In The Man in the Moone by Francis Godwin, the trip is made using the power of geese, which habitually migrate there.

In A Voyage to the Moon also know as The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun by Cyrano de Bergerac, the trip is made by rubbing the body with beef marrow! This seems silly now, but was relatively scientific for its time as "it was widely believed that the waning moon sucked the marrow out of animals." "While Cyrano did not necessarily consider it a genuinely efficacious way to rise into the heavens, neither is it obvious that he is merely joking. Rather, like the authors of science-fiction narratives today, he wants only to clear a certain threshold of plausibility so that the reader will not just throw the book down in disgust."

Of these three, the book by Cyrano sounds like the most fun, though it was really more of a satire of current life than a scientific story. (The same can be said of some modern "science fiction".)

Ed wrote: "By a curious coincidence, I was just reading the chapter concerned with early stories of voyages to the moon in the book Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything.

In ..."

I like the idea of rubbing the body with beef marrow to go to the moon, if only that were true....

The proto-scifi books are always quite fun and I can imagine some of the tales were quite amazing at the time. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and Other Fantastic Stories which was a previous book here is also good fun - it is a collection of early stories with aliens, space-travel etc.

I'll nominate Gladiator by Philip Wylie. Hugo Danner is the product of science & the progenitor of Superman & most every comic book hero.

I nominate Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp

It's an early time travel novel. I picked it up on a whim from a 2nd hand bookshop and have been meaning to read it.

Not a nomination (we're only allowed one), but just a suggestion for the Wells voters: Star-Begotten is an excellent and overlooked novella of H.G. Wells. If it's not on your to-read then I recommend adding it.

Joel wrote: "I nominate Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp

It's an early time travel novel. I picked it up on a whim from a 2nd hand bookshop and have been meaning to read it. ..."

Joel - sorry we have already read Lest Darkness fall and it is a good read. Do you want to make another nomination?

In that case, I'll nominate Star Begotten by H. G. Wells :)

I like all the nominations so far. It's going to be hard to choose. :-)

I'm going to nominate The Goddess of Atvatabar by William R Bradshaw. One of the group members wrote a review of it in this thread here and it sounds so bizarre that I am going to have to read it at some point.

Jo - I can't help but notice my nomination hasn't been added to the list yet (Star Begotten by H G Wells)!

Joel wrote: "Jo - I can't help but notice my nomination hasn't been added to the list yet (Star Begotten by H G Wells)!"

Sorry - it's added. I do normally check the full discussion before I do the poll in case i've missed anything :-)

Thanks :)