The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

We are soliciting nominations for the July 2020 read for books published during the period 1960-1979, which is roughly "The New Wave". (Any SF book published in that period is OK to nominate.)

SF novels or short story collection/anthologies that have not previously been read by the group are eligible. Please check the previously-read bookshelf & the nomination rules for further clarification before nominating a book.

Previously nominated books from this period are on this bookshelf. You are free to re-nominate them or pick a different one. More qualifying authors & books can be found in this folder.

Please add your nominated book title as a clickable link directly to the goodreads' book page, with author and year, so it looks like this:
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2015
(If you can't create book links, please include the URL to the book.)

Tell us why you chose the book that you're nominating. Books require seconding to make it to a poll. Each member is allowed to make one nomination & second one other book other than their own.

We'll close this nomination thread on the 15th of May, in order to have plenty of time for poll(s) and then for acquisitions of the winner(s).

Nominated and seconded:
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven
Pilgrimage: The Book of the People by Zenna Henderson.
Treason by Orson Scott Card.
The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey.
They Walked Like Men by Clifford D. Simak

Nominations awaiting seconds:
This Perfect Day by Ira Levin Nomination withdrawn. (Someone has seconded it after I withdrew it. So, re-nominate it if you wish.)
Clewiston Test by Kate Wilhelm. (Also in collection The Clewiston Test / The Infinity Box / Welcome, Chaos)

I nominate Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, first published 1977, Hugo award nominee

I'll second that pick. I read it many years ago soon after it it was published and remember enjoying it very much. It's about time for me to reread it.

I nominate This Perfect Day by Ira Levin.

This is the same author as "Rosemary's Baby", "The Boys From Brazil" and "The Stepford Wives".

It looks like most of you have not read this, but about 5 of my "friends" has read it and rated it highly.

I nominate They Walked Like Men by Clifford D. Simak (1962) because I own it for over 3 decades now and never got around to read it.

Gabi wrote: "I nominate They Walked Like Men by Clifford D. Simak (1962) because I own it for over 3 decades now and never got around to read it."

Great book. I read it back in October 2017 and gave it five stars. I wrote a review that begins: " I'm a big Simak fan and I'm surprised I missed this one. I'm sure Simak had his tongue at least slightly in his cheek when he wrote this and the results are terrific." I won't include anymore since it includes many spoilers but you can read it on the book page if you are interested.

Looking at our nominations for this period which you can find here I find too many good choices.

Right now I'm torn between nominating Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers by Harry Harrison & Treason by Orson Scott Card.

The first is a social satire of The Black Star Trilogy by John W. Campbell Jr. which owes an awful lot to The Skylark of Space which we're reading now. I haven't read it in decades, but thought it was a lot of fun.

Treason is my second favorite novel of OSC's right behind Ender’s Game. I liked it a lot in text, but then listened to it as an audiobook some years ago & it was really, really good in that format. I think it was here where OSC said he always read his books aloud & if the words didn't flow well, he rewrote.

I'll make up my mind eventually.

I'm going to nominate


Pilgrimage: The Book of the People by Zenna Henderson

Henderson's "The People" stories are highly regarded and have been influential on many authors.

Just curious about Zenna Henderson's book: while the book is from 1961, the stories in it are I guess dated earlier, pre-60s, before our nomination period

Oleksandr wrote: "Just curious about Zenna Henderson's book: while the book is from 1961, the stories in it are I guess dated earlier, pre-60s, before our nomination period"

I think we generally allow that. If the book itself was first published in the period, it is OK. The voters will decide, assuming it first gets a "second" from someone.

As far as I can tell, this book is only available as a used paperback. No kindle, no audio. So voters should keep that in mind. (I haven't yet checked availability of the other nominations.)

Jim wrote: "Great book. ..."

Are you giving it a "second" ?

I'll quit dithering & nominate Treason by OSC.

Ed wrote: "...As far as I can tell, this book is only available as a used paperback. No kindle, no audio. So voters should keep that in mind. (I haven't yet checked availability of the other nominations.)"

The stories in Pilgrimage: The Book of the People can also be found in Ingathering: The Complete People Stories which is available as a hardcover, new or used, and I believe also as an e-book.

Since nobody seconded it, I'm withdrawing my nomination and instead nominating The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey.

I've only read her Pern stories, and that was when I was a kid. So I'm curious to revisit her work.

I hope we get some more nominations and seconds. If not, it will be a very short poll.

Ed wrote: "Since nobody seconded it, I'm withdrawing my nomination and instead nominating The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey..."

I'll second that. I've been wanting to reread that. It's been decades.

It's a pity if we lose interesting nominations this way. I second Pilgrimage: The Book of the People. Maybe rethink the seconding system.

I second the Ira Levin one, This Perfect Day.

Lautaro wrote: "I second the Ira Levin one, This Perfect Day."

Thanks, but I had already withdrawn the nomination. You can re-nominate it if you wish, and one of us may second it.

Leo wrote: "Maybe rethink the seconding system."

I don't much like the system, but we decided to give it a try. So I'll stick with it this time and see what happens.

As it has been on my shelf for some time i would like to nomimate The Clewiston Test by Kate Wilhelm. I can't find the individual link but this is the collection I have, The Clewiston Test / The Infinity Box / Welcome, Chaos. The Infinity Box is also from this period so happy to change nomination if anybody has a preference for this one instead.

ok so, I second They Walked Like Men, seems good enough to give it a read.

Jo wrote: "As it has been on my shelf for some time i would like to nomimate The Clewiston Test by Kate Wilhelm. I can't find the individual link but this is the collection I have.."

I second this. Since Jo offered to select any of the books in that collection, I coose Infinity Box, because it is available on Kindle. It is a collection of stories. I recently read her story "Baby you were great" and enjoyed it.

sorry, am new into all this stuff. I don't get it, it wasn't supposed to close the nominations phase on the 15th of May?

Lautaro wrote: "sorry, am new into all this stuff. I don't get it, it wasn't supposed to close the nominations phase on the 15th of May?"

You're right. Ed & I are both terrible about remembering exact dates & my schedule has been pretty weird with the lock down. Feel free to let us know when we've goofed.

ok, thanks :)

I goofed. I thought yesterday was the 15 th. But I was wrong, so ignore my "second". I'll keep it in mind fir next time.

Oh who am I kidding. I can't keep anything in mind that long.

The poll is up & invitations sent. You can find it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Final day for the poll. Right now "Lucifer's Hammer" has 10 votes & "The Ship Who Sang" has 8. The rest are straggling along with only 27 votes total. Last month 78 voted. What's up?

Jim wrote: " The rest are straggling along with only 27 votes total. Last month 78 voted. What's up?"

Usually this happens when there is no mail, but I checked, there has been one...

Sorry, I forgot. Just voted.

Something to think about before you start reading "Lucifer's Hammer"

4,000th comet discovered by ESA and NASA Solar Observatory

On June 15, 2020, a citizen scientist spotted a never-before-seen comet in data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO -- the 4,000th comet discovery in the spacecraft's 25-year history.

That's a lot of comets to worry about !!

The last known impact of an object of 10 km (6 mi) or more in diameter was at the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. That means chances of another in our lifetime are less than one in ten thousand. Bummer, isn't it?

I'm more concerned about being struck by lightning. According to National Geographic, "The odds of becoming a lightning victim in the U.S. in any one year is 1 in 700,000. The odds of being struck in your lifetime is 1 in 3,000." Caution: don't think too much about that quote. It might stop making sense. science.howstuffworks.com says "Over 1,000 people get struck by lightning every year in the United States, and over 100 of them die as a result of the strike." That's better worry material!

Still, it's fun to think about possible comet strikes.

Kyk wrote: "The last known impact of an object of 10 km (6 mi) or more in diameter was at the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. That means chances of another in our lifetime are less ..."

Maybe we should add "Fire in the Sky: Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth" by Gordon L. Dillow as an adjunct to reading "Lucifer's Hammer".

"One of these days, warns Gordon Dillow, the Earth will be hit by a comet or asteroid of potentially catastrophic size. The only question is when. In the meantime, we need to get much better at finding objects hurtling our way, and if they’re large enough to penetrate the atmosphere without burning up, figure out what to do about them."