The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

Nominations for April 2023 BofM are for Pre 1940: Proto & Pulp Era

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

Previously nominated books are on this bookshelf and this bookshelf . More qualifying authors and 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. We'll close this nomination thread on the 15th of February 2023 in order to have plenty of time for poll(s) and then for acquisitions of the winner(s).

Nominated:
She: A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard
Nordenholt's Million by J.J. Connington


Nominated and Seconded:
The Hopkins Manuscript by R.C. Sherriff
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr.
The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle

In case you missed the announcement, we decided to stop doing separate reads for pre-1920 and 1920-1940. Instead it is just pre-1940.

I'll nominate the anthropological/sociological sci fi, a product of pure colonialism and the fears of the outward unknown brought on by a paranoid colonial regime, of
She: A History of Adventure by
H. Rider Haggard
1887

I nominate the book on the very upper limit of the period - The Hopkins Manuscript (1939) by R.C. Sherriff. I've found out about it from this article https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...

There are e-book and audio versions

Second The Hopkins Manuscript

I nominate Nordenholt's Million by J.J. Connington.

There is a deadly disease spreading. But don't worry, a billionaire knows just what to do!

Ed wrote: "There is a deadly disease spreading. But don't worry, a billionaire knows just what to do!"

Is it about Twitter?

Just billionaires in general thinking they can fix the world. The problem isn't limited to just one of them.

By the way: I am not seconding the novel "She" because I have read an excerpt and was bored.

Some would question whether it counts as SF, but I let the voters decide whether to read it. It definitely influenced some SF works. And it was massively popular in its day. One of the best selling books of ALL TIME.

We've only had one novel "seconded". There is still a bit of time to nominate and second.

There are plenty of possibilities. Some of our earlier nominees include The Black Star Passes, The Gap in the Curtain, The First Men in the Moon, Etidorpha: The End of Earth, The Metal Monster, The Jameson Satellite, The Lunar Trilogy, Gulliver of Mars, Heart of a Dog, Anthem, Red Star, The Moon Pool, Stowaway To Mars, Odd John, The Lost Continent, The Coming Race, Frozen Hell, Cat Country : A Satirical Novel of China in the 1930s, The Artificial Man and Other Stories, The Runaway Skyscraper, The King in Yellow, The Poison Belt, The Whisperer in Darkness, Armageddon 2419 A.D., The New Adam, Tomorrow's Eve, Professor Dowell's Head, When the World Shook, Proud Man, The Feminine Future: Early Science Fiction by Women Writers ...

Oleksandr wrote: "I nominate the book on the very upper limit of the period - The Hopkins Manuscript (1939) by R.C. Sherriff. I've found out about it from this article https://www.was..."

Thanks for the review link. It worked, so I guess I'm not over my free quote yet. Not something I'd care to read, though. Sorry.

Peter wrote: "...Not something I'd care to read, though. Sorry. ..."

Well, it is currently our only seconded nomination. So, care to nominate or second something else?

Thanks for the list of nominees Ed. I must admit that I have trouble finding really interesting books from our oldest era. But, given this drought, I will nominate a book that inspired that great movie 'The Thing': Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr., 1938.

Leo wrote: "Thanks for the list of nominees Ed. I must admit that I have trouble finding really interesting books from our oldest era. "

I second Campbell's book. As for finding really interesting books from this period, I have a score on my TBR list, but they usually aren't translated into English and I doubt that ever be, except by an AI translator

I'll nominate The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle.

I second "The Poison Belt". Pretty short, but interesting.

I second https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

who goes there / JC

The April poll is up. Please vote until March 6, 2023. The poll can be found here:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

Who Goes There? won our April 2023 poll. Thanks to all those who participated! We will open the thread for discussion on April 1, 2023