The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

Nominations for the May 2020 read are for books published during the Pulp Era of SF, 1920-1939.

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

Previously nominated books are on this bookshelf. More qualifying authors & books can be found here.

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
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. Remember that books require seconding now. 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 September, in order to have plenty of time for poll(s) and then for acquisitions of the winner(s).

Hold for nominations...

Nominated books
Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan, nom by mod-Jim


Nominated & Seconded
Stowaway To Mars by John Wyndham, nom by Adrian, 2d by Ed
The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft, nom by Ronald, 2d by Rosemarie
Odd John by Olaf Stapledon, nom by Ed, 2d by Jen

Stowaway To Mars by John Wyndham 1935

Metropolis by Thea von Harbou 1925

The famous movie was based on this novel.

Papaphilly wrote: "Metropolis by Thea von Harbou 1925

The famous movie was based on this novel."

We already read this in September 2015, so pick another.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Ah Damn

Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan (1928) is the first Buck Rogers story, I think. It's actually a novella & the sequel The Airlords of Han was published the following year. They're often read together & here is one edition Armageddon 2419 A.D./The Airlords Of Han. Both are available for free from Gutenberg & Librivox.

Buck Rogers is kind of cheesy now, but was an important influence on a lot of SF that followed. One of my GR friends says in his review, "Holds up about as well as contemporary pulp fiction because that's what it was. The science is pretty fantastic, but it's like Star Wars or Star Trek: who cares?"

The Wikipedia article is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armaged....

Armageddon can be found here on Gutenberg.org
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32530...
& here on Librivox (There are 3 versions, but usually the latest is the best, so that's all I'm linking.)
https://librivox.org/armageddon-2419-...

Airlords can be found here on Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25438
& here on Librivox
https://librivox.org/the-airlords-of-...

Oh, I guess I'm just nominating Armageddon unless folks think we should read both.

I'm tempted by Swastika Night and It Can't Happen Here, but don't think I want to read them during a US presidential election!

Also tempted to nominate Black No More which I just read, though it is more satire than SF. (If Vonnegut's satires count, why not this?)

So many choices: Odd John, Pirates of Venus, Dwellers in the Mirage, ....

Swastika Night reminds me of The Handmaid's Tale, just by reading the description.

I've had It Can't Happen Here on my phone to listen to for a while. I can't stomach listening to it now, either.

I nominate H.P. Lovecraft's novella The Shadow Out of Time

The Shadow Out of Time is a novella by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories. The story describes time and space travel by mind transfer.

The novella is in the public domain and can be found online. One can buy a cheap ebook version if one wishes.

Ronald, somehow your post slipped by me. I've added it. Sorry for the delay.

We have a week left in the nominations, folks. The second message will be kept up to date, but for now we have 3 nominated books & no seconds, if I'm reading right.

Stowaway To Mars by John Wyndham, nom by Adrian
Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan, nom by mod-Jim
The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft, nom by Ronald

I'll second AShadow Out of Time.

I was thinking of doing the same :) just wanted to wait some more before seconding.

I nominate Odd John by Olaf Stapledon.

I second "Stowaway to Mars"

Nominated books
Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan, nom by mod-Jim


Nominated & Seconded
Stowaway To Mars by John Wyndham, nom by Adrian, 2d by Ed
The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft, nom by Ronald, 2d by Rosemarie
Odd John by Olaf Stapledon, nom by Ed, 2d by Jen

YES! ED -- I totally 2nd Odd John by Olaf Stapledon !!! Thanks. --Jen from Quebec :0)

Msg 2 & 17 updated with the second. 3 more days to nominate a book.

I see Ed set up the poll. You can find it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft won the poll, so we'll be reading it in November.

I didn't find this on Gutenberg or Librivox, but you can read it for free on Archive.org here:
https://archive.org/details/TheShadow...

Project Gutenberg Australia here:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500...

Jim wrote: "The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft won the poll, so we'll be reading it in November.

I didn't find this on Gutenberg or Librivox, but you can read it for free on ..."

Wikisource has The Shadow Out of Time here:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Sh...