THE CANON 2
(of Genre Fiction)
Subjective Perception! Alien Demons!
Abstract Horror! Feminist Utopias!
Evil Dystopias! Afrofuturism!
Space Opera! Eugenics! Magic Guides!
Private Eyes! Space Amazons! Robot Laws!
Narnia! Middle Earth! Psychic Detectives!
Feral Kids!
Pod People! Teleporting! Psycho Killers!
Alien Messiahs! Tesseracts! Ape Planets!
Magic Realism! New Wave SF! Starchild! Contagion!
In chronological order, here are 50 key books where many of our modern legends come from...
▶ MUSIC PLAYER!
The Basics, Dept.:
1) This is an entry primer for Speculative Fictions.
2) This is an Alternate Lit List for alternative seers.
3) Feed your mind and your aspirations will follow!
in three subsequent jumps:
The Canon 1 focuses across 800 BC to 1950, from the early legends through the 19th Century Classics to the Pulp Magazine era.
The Canon 2 focuses mainly on the 1940s to 1970, from the Golden Age to the New Wave Of Science Fiction. It also spotlights female and multicultural authors who deserve more illumination.
The Canon 3 focuses on the 1960s to 2000s, from the New Wave Of Science Fiction to today.
- MOVIE
- TV show
- Book
- Comic
- Music
- Game
1)
THE BLAZING WORLD,
by Margaret Cavendish (1666)
The alternate dimension.
The Godmother of Science Fiction.
The Duchess of Newcastle, author and scientist, invents a parallel realm of talking animals who use submarines.
Leads to:
▷ ★ Actual submarines!
▷ Cavendish's vison of a female-led utopia anticipates the Female Utopias of 1970s Feminist writers by 300 years.
▶▶▶ Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865); Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1870) ▴; Lewis' 'Narnia' books (1954); The Blazing World in Moore and O'Neill's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (1999) ▴; Mieville's "Un Lun Dun" (2007) ▴; Hustvedt's novel "The Blazing World" (2014); Young's short film THE BLAZING WORLD (2018).
Also Read:
• "The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of Science Fiction Feminisms", by Helen Merrick (2009)
• "Le Morte d'Arthur", by Sir Thomas Malory (1485)
• "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha", by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1605)
• "Beauty And The Beast (La Belle et la Bête)", by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (1740)
• "The Mysteries Of Udolpho", by Ann Radcliffe (1794)
2)
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW,
by Washington Irving (1820)
Irving invents American Gothic.
Leads to:
Haunt.
▶▶▶ Quaker's painting "The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane" (1858); Reid's "The Headless Horseman" (1865); Jack Pumpkinhead in the 'Oz' books (1904); Doctor Syn, alias The Scarecrow (1915); Batman's foe, Jonathan Crane The Scarecrow (1941); the town in THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944); Clouzot's DIABOLIQUE (France, 1955); The Monotones' song "Legend of Sleepy Hollows" (1958); The Green Goblin (1964) ▴; Ghost Rider (1972) ▴; the headless motorcyclist on 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker' (1974) ▴; Vampirella vs. the Horseman (#56, Dec. 1976); Warren Zevon's song "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" (1978); the village haunts of 'Twin Peaks' (1990); 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?', "The Tale of the Midnight Ride" (S03, 1992); Mercyful Fate's song "Legend of the Headless Rider" (1993); Nearly Headless Nick in the 'Harry Potter' books (1997); Burton's SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999); King Vold in 'Hellboy' (2000); The Headless Knight from Yu-Gi-Oh! card games (2003); 'Charmed', "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell" (S06/E14, 2004); 'Princess Resurrection' anime (2005); The Scarecrow in BATMAN BEGINS (2005); the Horseman in Assassin's Creed video games (2012); 'Sleepy Hollow' series (2013) ▴.
Also Read:
• "Rip Van Winkle", by Washington Irving (1819)
3)
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge",
by Ambrose Bierce (1890)
What is reality? What is perception? What is time?
Leads to:
▷ The French film adaption "La Riviere du Hibou" gained international fame when broadcast on 'The Twilight Zone' (S05/E22, 1964).
▷ Other adaptations include: Vidor's silent film THE SPY (1929); 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' (S05, 1959); "Eerie" #23 (Sept 1969); the short film OWL CREEK BRIDGE (2008); the short film THE EXIT ROOM (2013).
▶▶▶ Subjective Perception:
Wells' "The Door in the Wall" (1906); Nabokov's short story "Details of a Sunset" (1924); Dali and Bunuel's UN CHIEN ANDALOU (Spain, 1929); Bunuel's L'AGE D'OR (France, 1930); Borges' "The Secret Miracle" (1944); Cocteau's ORPHEUS (France, 1950); Kurosawa's RASHOMON (Japan, 1950); Parker's DEMENTIA (a.k.a., Daughter Of Horror) (1953); CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962); Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963); DEATH BY HANGING (Japan, 1968); Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" (1969); BRAZIL (1985); BLISS (Australia, 1985); ANGEL HEART (1987); 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', "The Inner Light" (S05/E25, 1992) ▴; Morrison's "The Invisibles" comic (1994); Wolff's short story "Bullet in the Brain" (1995); Jarmusch's DEAD MAN (1995); 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine', "Hard Time" (S04/E19, 1996); Lynch's LOST HIGHWAY (1997) ▴; RUN LOLA RUN (1998); THE SIXTH SENSE (1999); Shirley's short story "Occurrence at Owl Street Ridge" (1999); Nolan's MEMENTO (2000) ▴; STAY (2005); INTO THE VOID (2009); INCEPTION (2010); 'Black Mirror', "Playtest" (S03/E02, 2016).
Also Watch:
• • LA RIVIERE DU HIBOU / An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1964)
4)
CAN SUCH THINGS BE?,
by Ambrose Bierce (1893)
Bierce splices the horror of Poe with the wit of Twain to create the modern horror short story.
Leads to:
Speculative Fiction anthologies.
▶▶▶
Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (1922); EC Comics' "Tales From the Crypt" ▴, "The Haunt of Fear", "The Vault of Horror", etc. (1950); 'The Twilight Zone' (1959) ▴; 'One Step Beyond' (1959); 'The Outer Limits' (1963); KWAIDAN (Japan, 1964) 'Night Gallery' (1969); Warren's "Creepy" (1964), "Eerie" (1966) ▴, and "Vampirella" (1969) magazines; DC Comics' "House Of Mystery" (1951) and "House of Secrets" (1956) ▴; 'Trilogy of Terror' (1975) with Karen Black; Dahl's 'Tales of the Unexpected' series (1979); 'Tales From the Darkside' (1983); 'Tales From the Crypt' series (1989).
5)
THE KING IN YELLOW,
by Robert W. Chambers (1895)
What lies beyond?
Chambers expands on Bierce, presaging Lovecraft.
(Only the first four stories reference the King In Yellow mythos.)
Leads to:
The gate to Hell.
▷ Chamber's use of short stories haunted by a peripheral extradimensional mad god impressed H.P. Lovecraft into developing his Cthulhu mythos.
▷ "The King In Yellow" stories have inspired mentions in the work of Raymond Chandler, Robert Silverberg, Robert Heinlein, James Blish, Lin Carter, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Stephen King, and Alan Moore.
▷ "The King In Yellow" gained popular revitalization with the success of HBO's 'True Detective' (S01, 2014).
▶▶▶ Blue Oyster Cult's song "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" (1976) and Toyah Wilcox's "The Packt" (1982) ▴; Metal songs by Anaal Nathrakh, Ancient Rites, and Root.
Also Watch:
• • 'True Detective', (S01, 2014) ▴
6)
THE TURN OF THE SCREW,
by Henry James (1898)
What lies beneath?
Leads to:
▶▶▶ Burnett's "The Secret Garden" (1911); du Maurier's "Rebecca" (1938) and Hitchcock's REBECCA (1940); THE UNINVITED (Br, 1944); UGETSU (1953); Britten's opera "The Turn Of The Screw" (1954); Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" (1959); THE INNOCENTS (1961); 'Dark Shadows' (1966) ▴; the prequel THE NIGHTCOMERS (1971); DON'T LOOK NOW (1973); Straub's "Ghost Story" (1979); THE CHANGELING (1980); Kate Bush's "The Infant Kiss" (1980); Crepax's "Giro di Vite" graphic novel adaption (1989) ▴; 'Star Trek: The Nex Generation', "Sub Rosa" (S07/E14, 1994); Capt. Janeway's holodeck programs on 'Star Trek: Voyager' (1995); Bailey's sequel "Miles and Flora" (1997); THE BLAIR WITCH (1999) ▴; THE OTHERS (2001) ▴; CRIMSON PEAK (2015); 'The Haunting of Bly Manor' mini-series (2020); THE TURNING (2020); THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER (2022).
Also Read:
• "Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly", by Joyce Carol Oates (1994)
The inverted short story.
Also Watch:
• • THE INNOCENTS (1961)
Clayton's film adaption.
• • THE OTHERS (2001)
• "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court", by Mark Twain (1889)
• "Of One Blood", by Pauline Hopkins (1902)
• "The Worm Ouroboros", by Eric Rücker Eddison (1922)
• "The Most Dangerous Game", by Richard Connell (1924)
7)
HERLAND,
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915)
She rules.
Gilman, most famous for the feminist essay "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892), imagines a secluded society of superwomen, self-sustained and ideologically progressive.
Leads to:
Utopian Amazon.
▷ Herland is an idyllic utopia hidden from men, forged and maintained by pacifist amazons. This is an exact template for Wonder Woman and Paradise Island/Themyscira.
▷ Gilman's parthenogenetic society anticipates Anderson's "Virgin Planet" (1959); as well as genderless realms like Sturgeon's "Venus Plus X" (1960), Le Guin's "The Left Side of Darkness" (1969) ▴, Moto Hagio's "Marginal" manga (1985) ▴, and Constantine's "Wraeththu" books (1987).
▶▶▶ Modern Amazon:
Moulton and Peter's "Wonder Woman" (1941) ▴; Galatia 9 and the Omegazons in "Starstruck" (1982); "Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld" (1983); 'Sailor Moon' (1991); Moore and Williams' "Promethea" (1999); Padme Amidala in STAR WARS (1999); 'The Legend of Korra' (2012); Garnet on 'Stephen Universe' (2013); "America" Chavez (2011); WONDER WOMAN (2017).
Also Read:
• "Moving The Mountains", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1914)
Essentially a conceptual prequel.
• "With Her In Ourland", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1916)
The even more crucial sequel.
8)
WITH HER IN OURLAND,
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1916)
Gilman prescribes feminist solutions for an equitable world that could still help us a century later.
Leads to:
▷ Feminist Utopias in the works of Elizabeth Mann Borghese, John Wyndham, Joanna Russ, Doris Lessing, and Suzy McKee Charnas.
▷ Gilman's heroine is an ambassador from matriarchal Herland offering ideas of equity to the patriarchal world. This prefigures Wonder Woman's similar mission ▴, and the cosmic expansion of it by Promethea ▴.
▶▶▶ Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" (1969); Joanna Russ' "The Female Man" (1975) ▴; Marge Piercy's "Woman On the Edge of Time" (1976) ▴; Slonczewski's "A Door into Ocean" (1986); Griffith's "Ammonite" (1992); the essay anthology "The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future" (2015).
Also Read:
• "Herland", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915)
9)
THE HEADS OF CERBERUS,
by Francis Stevens (1919)
Nexus point.
Stevens (Gertrude Barrows Bennett) creates a future dystopia before Zamyatin, as well as an alternate realm based on Fantasy before Lewis, and alternate timelines that need reversing. Phew!
Leads to:
▷ Inclusion:
Stevens was an early pioneer of women writing Science Fiction and Fantasy pulps, along with C.L. Moore, Clare Winger Harris, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Zenna Henderson. They ushered the way for Leigh Brackett, Katherine MacLean, Andre Norton, Margaret St. Clair, and more.
▶▶▶ Zamyatin's "We" (1921); Huxley's "Brave New World" (1931) ▴; Orwell's "1984" (1949); C.S. Lewis' Narnia' books (1954) ▴; L'Engle's 'A Wrinkle in Time' books (1962); 'Star Trek', "The City On the Edge of Forever" (S01/E28, 1967); STARGATE (1994) ▴; 'Quantuum Leap' (1989), 'Sliders' (1995), 'Fringe' (2008), and 'Continuum' (2012) ▴; MONSTERS, INC. (2001); Fforde's "Tuesday Next" novels (2001); Remender and Scalera's "Black Science" comic (2013); X-MEN: Days of Future Past (2014); SPIDER-MAN: Into the Spider-Verse (2018); DOCTOR STRANGE In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022).
10)
A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS,
by David Lindsay (1920)
Ambiguous allegory.
This surreal, symbolic, obtuse cross of "Pilgrim's Progress" (1678) and Dante's "Divine Comedy" (1320) anticipates the New Wave of Science Fiction by over four decades.
Leads to:
Rorschach test.
▷ Though barely available, the rare book impressed both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
▶▶▶ Similarly subjective journeys like:
Batai's "Story Of The Eye" (1928); Buñuel and Dalí's short film " Un Chien Andalou" (1929); Nin's "House Of Incest" (1936); Tutuola's "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (1954); Bergman's THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957); Burrough's "Naked Lunch" (1959); Lem's "Solaris" (1961); Carrington's "The Hearing Trumpet" (1961); Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963) ▴; Kubrick and Clarke's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968); Jodorowsky's EL TOPO (1970) ▴; Thompson and Steadman's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1971); FANTASTIC PLANET (1973) ▴; Lynch's ERASERHEAD (1977); Bloom's sequel "The Flight To Lucifer" (1979); 'Twin Peaks' (1990); Wong's 2046 (2004).
11)
"The Comet",
by W.E.B. Dubois (1920)
Will we soar together into the future with progress, or sink separately in regress?
The great activist and historian caps his book "Darkwater: Voices From Within the Veil" with this allegorical short story.
Leads to:
Afrofuturism.
▷ Music:
Sun Ra (1957) ▴; Jimi Hendrix (1967); Parliament-Funkadelic ▴ (1970); Earth, Wind, and Fire (1970); the Last Poets' song "Mean Machine" (1971); Herbie Hancock (1972); Grace Jones (1980); Prince's "1999" album (1982); Afrika Bambaataa (1982); Eric B and Rakim's song "Follow The Leader" (1988); Rammellzee and the Gettovetts (1988); Deltron 3030 (1999); Flying Lotus (2006); Janelle Monae (2007) ▴.
▷ Books:
Samuel R. Delany (1962); Octavia Butler (1976); Nisi Shawl (1989); "Snow Crash" (1994); Tananarive Due (1995); Nalo Hopkinson (1998); N. K. Jemisin (2004); Nnedi Okorafor (2005).
▷ Comics:
Black Panther (1966); The Falcon (1969); John Stewart, Green Lantern (1971); Nubia of Paradise Island (1973); Storm of the X-Men (1975); Tyroc of the Legion (1976); Sabre (1978); Cyborg of the Titans (1980); Monica Rambeau, Captain Marvel II (1982); Bishop of the X-Men (1991) ▴; Spawn (1992); the Milestone Comics company (1993); Mr. Terrific (1997); Afro Samurai (1998); Tesla Strong (1999); Mr. Miracle III (2005); Superman, Earth 23 (2009); Miles Morales, Spider-Man (2011); Batwing (2011); Ironheart (2016).
▷ Screen:
TOUKI BOUKI (Senegal, 1973); Mace, Guerrera, Val, Lando, Sana, Finn, and Tam in STAR WARS media; Borden's BORN IN FLAMES (1983); Sayles' BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET (1984); Onwurah's WELCOME II THE TERRORDOME (1994); HANCOCK (2008); ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011); BLACK PANTHER (2018); NEPTUNE FROST (Rwanda, 2021).
Also Watch:
• • "The Last Angel of History" documentary (1996)
> Sun Ra artwork by Pedro Bell, Seitu Hayden, and Tym Stevens.
12)
WE,
by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1920)
Absolute repression.
Counter to utopias like those envisioned by H.G. Wells, Zamyatin defines the possible dystopia from his disillusionment with Communism.
Russia censored him and exported him abroad, where he died.
Leads to:
▶▶▶ All future dystopias, such as:
METROPOLIS (1927); Huxley's "Brave New World" (1931); Orwell's "1984" (1949) ▴; Vonnegut's "Player Piano" (1952); ROLLERBALL (1975); Nolan and Johnson's "Logan's Run" (1967) ▴; Butler's "Parable of the Sower" (1993) ▴; BATTLE ROYALE (Japan, 2000) ▴; Collins' "The Hunger Games" (2008) ▴; FakePrez (2016).
13)
THE TRIAL,
by Franz Kafka (1925)
The Devil's in the details.
You've done nothing wrong. Run.
Leads to:
Bureaucratic Dystopia.
▶▶▶ Nabokov's "Invitation To a Beheading" (1935); Koestler's "Darkness at Noon" (1940); Camus' "The Stranger" (1942); Beckett's "Waiting For Godot" (1952); Laye's "The Radiance Of The King" (Guinea, 1954); McGoohan's 'The Prisoner' (1967) ▴; DUEL (1971); THE TENANT (1976); Shengelaia's BLUE MOUNTAINS Or, Unbelievable Story (Russia, 1983); Scorsese's AFTER HOURS (1985) ▴; the Coen's BARTON FINK (1991) ▴; Ishiguro's "The Unconsoled" (1995); STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006); Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE (2006); THE DOUBLE (2013); ENEMY (2014); O'Neill's "The Dog" (2014); The Process in '3%' (2016); 'Twin Peaks' The Return (2017); Agent K in BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017).
Also Watch:
• • THE TRIAL (1962)
Orson Welles' unsung classic.
14)
THE METAMORPHOSIS,
by Franz Kafka (1925)
Absurdist transmutation.
What is self? Where is empathy?
Leads to:
Bugging out.
▶▶▶ THE FLY (1958, 1986) ▴; Metamorpho the Element Man (1965); Burrough's "The Exterminator" (1973); Russell and Chayefsky's ALTERED STATES (1981) ▴; Crumb's "Introducing Kafka" (1993); Burns' "Black Hole" (1995); Estrin's extension "Insect Dreams: The Half Life of Gregor Samsa" (2002); THE MACHINIST (2004) ▴; BUG (2006) ▴; Olsen's inverted version "Anxious Pleasures: A Novel After Kafka" (2007); Swanton's METAMORPHOSIS (2012); SWAROOPA (Sri Lanka, 2017); Murakami's sequel short story, "Samsa in Love" (2017).
▷ Identity crisis:
Bergman's PERSONA (Sweden, 1966); Altman's 3 WOMEN (1977); Lynch's MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001), etc..
• "Lolly Willowes", by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)
• "Away From The Here And Now", by Clare Winger Harris (short stories, 1926-1930)
• "Winnie The Pooh", by A.A. Milne (1926)
15)
THE SKYLARK OF SPACE,
by E.E. "Doc" Smith (1928)
Have Warp Drive, will travel.
In the same issue of "Amazing Stories" as the first Buck Rogers tale, Smith invents faster-than-light space travel and the basics of Pulp science fiction.
(Also all the colonialist militarism that the Prime Directive would try to course-correct.)
Leads to:
Space Opera.
▶▶▶
Buck Rogers (1929); Flash Gordon (1934) ▴; Asimov's "Foundation" books (1951); EC Comics ▴; Captain Comet (1951); Martian Manhunter (1955); FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) ▴; Fox and Anderson's "Adam Strange" (1958) ▴; Broome and Kane's "Green Lantern" (1959) ▾;
'60s
Fox and Kubert's "Hawkman" (1961); Perry Rhodan (Germany, 1961); 'Doctor Who' (1963); Manning's "Magnus, Robot Fighter" (1963); 'Star Trek' (1966) ▾; Christen and Mezieres' "Valerian and Laureline" (1967); Delany's 'NOVA' (1968);Guardians of the Galaxy (1969);
'70s
'Gatchaman' (a.k.a., Battle of the Planets) (1972) and 'Space Battleship Yamato' (a.k.a., Star Blazers) (1974) ▴; comics like Killraven (1973), Cody Starbuck (1974), Warlock (1975), Monark Starstalker (1976), Star-Lord (1976), and Rocket Raccoon (1976); Metal Hurlant (1974) and Heavy Metal (1977) magazines; STAR WARS (1977) ▴; 'Battlestar Galactica' (1978); 'Blake's 7' (1978);
'80s
Jodorowsky and Moebius' "The Incal" (1980); Rude's "Nexus" (1981); 'Macross' (1982); Starlin's "Dreadstar" (1982); Lee and Kaluta's "Starstruck" (1982) ▾; Golden's "Bucky O'Hare" (1984); 'Red Dwarf' (1988);
'90s
Wing Commander games (1990); Morioka's "Crest of the Stars" books (Japan, 1996); 'Cowboy Bebop' (Japan, 1998) 'Farscape' (1999); GALAXY QUEST (1999); 'Andromeda' (2000);
'00s
TITAN A.E. (2000); Halo (2001) and Mass Effect (2007) games ; 'Firefly' (2002) ▴ and SERENITY (2005); Vaughan and Staples' "Saga" (2012) ▴; GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014) ▴; Okorafor's 'Binti' books (2015); Lee's 'Machineries of Empire' books (2015); Valente's comedy "Space Opera" (2018); CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019).
Also Watch:
• • STAR WARS (1977)
16)
BRAVE NEW WORLD,
by Aldous Huxley (1932)
The New Now.
Classist eugenics, designer drugs, zombie consumerism, the erasing of culture, a corporate fascism pretty and hollow.
Happening all around you now.
Leads to:
Consumer fascism.
▷ Bird Want Shiny Thing, dept.:
Where Orwell would posit that dystopia would overcome us with dark brutalist oppression, Huxley suspected we would submitt willingly to bright consumer seduction.
But, clearly, we'll just fall for anything.
▷ Madison Avenue madmen, celebrity culture, mallrats, Cocaine and Ecstasy, pre-fab Press, the end of book stores, phone-y flitwits, Idol contests, Citizens United, Corporate personhood, Big Pharma, the Koch brothers, Sinclair Broadcast Group...
▶▶▶ Captain America, the supersoldier (1941); Heinlein's "Beyond This Horizon" (1942); George Orwell's "1984" (1949); The X-Men (1963); 'The Twilight Zone', "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" (S05/E17, 1964); the Bene Gesserit and Kwisatz Haderach in Herbert's "Dune" (1965); 'Star Trek', "Space Seed" (S01/E22, 1967) ▴ and STAR TREK: The Wrath Of Khan (1982); SOYLENT GREEN (1973); Wilhelm's "Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" (1976); Lowry's "The Giver" (1993); GATTACA (1997) ▴; CODE 46 (2003); CHILDREN OF MEN (2006); 'Dark Angel' (2000); 'Dollhouse' (2009); NEVER LET ME GO (2010) ▴; 'Black Mirror', "Fifteen Million Merits" (S01/E02, 2011); DIVERGENT (2014) ▴; 'Incorporated' (2016); farming in LOGAN (2017).
17)
MARY POPPINS,
by P.L. Travers (1934)
Wondrous teacher.
Clearly inspired by the flights of Barry's "Peter Pan" (1906), Mary flies her on course. Spit spot.
The art for all eight books was by Mary Shepard.
Leads to:
▷ "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious":
The song from MARY POPPINS (1964) inspired tongue-twister phonetic Funk songs such as: Isaac Hayes' "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" (1969); Sly And The Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" (1970); Parliament's "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication" (1975); Prince's "Superfunkycalifragisexy" (rec. 1987).
(Also, Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheeseonionsonasesameseedbun.)
▷ Fantastic Youth Adventure authors like Ruth Stiles Gannett, Jane Langton, Mary Norton, Philippa Pearce, Catherine Storr, Joan Aiken, Madeleine L'Engle, Penelope Farmer, Elizabeth Enright, Natalie Babbitt, Tanith Lee, Penelope Lively, and Katherine Paterson.
▶▶▶ Lindgren's 'Pippi Longstocking' books (1945) ▴; MacDonald's 'Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle" books (1947); Seuss' "The Cat In the Hat" (1957) ▴; L'Engle's "A Wrinkle In Time" (1962); the 'Nurse Matilda' books (1964) and NANNY McPHEE films (2005) ▴; Fleming's CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (1968); Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (1964) and WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) ▴; BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (1971), based on Norton's 1940s books; Ms. Frizzle in 'The Magic School Bus' books and cartoon shows (1986); MRS. DOUBTFIRE (1993); Rowling's 'Harry Potter' books (1997); Pinkwater's 'Mrs. Noodlekugel" books (2012); SAVING MR. BANKS (2013); Yondu in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Vol. 2 (2017) MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018).
Also Watch:
• • MARY POPPINS (1964)
18)
THE HOBBIT,
by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)
Professor Tolkien redefines worldbuilding with conversational ease, lifting fairy tales into literature.
Leads to:
Fantasy Lit.
▶▶▶ C.S. Lewis' 'Narnia' books (1954); Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" (1968); Brooks' 'Shannara' books (1977); the Pini's "Elfquest" comics (1978); Gilliam's TIME BANDITS (1981) ▴; DRAGONSLAYER (1981); THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982); Pierce's 'Alanna' books (1983); LEGEND (1985); LADYHAWKE (1985); Jacque's 'Redwall' books (1986); LABYRINTH (1986) ▴; Jones' "Howl's Moving Castle" (1986); WILLOW (1988); Smith's "Bone" comics (1991); DRAGONHEART (1996); Gaiman and Vess' "Stardust" comics (1997); Murphy's SF retelling, "There and Back Again, by Max Merriwell" (1999); Nicholls' 'Orc' books (1999); SPIRITED AWAY (2001) ▴; DeCamillo's "The Tale of Despereaux" (2003); PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) ▴; Martin and Gilbert's "The Ice Dragon" kids book (2007 version); HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2010); BRAVE (2012); EPIC (2013); Jobim's Nethergrim' books (2014).
Also Watch:
Jackson's 'THE HOBBIT' trilogy:
• • AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (2012)
• • THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (2013)
• • THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (2014)
19)
THE BIG SLEEP,
by Raymond Chandler (1939)
Gumshoe.
Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" sketched the urban detective with Sam Spade.
But Chandler fully rendered him here as Phillip Marlowe.
Leads to:
Shamus.
▶▶▶ Some examples:
Eisner's "The Spirit" (1940); Spillane's Mike Hammer' novels (1947); Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL (1958); Stark's 'Parker' novels (1962) and POINT BLANK (1967); Godard's ALPHAVILLE (1965) and MADE IN THE U.S.A. (1966); 'Mannix' (1967); Ditko's polarities "The Question" and "Mr. A" (1967); HARPER (1966) and THE DROWNING POOL (1975); SOYLENT GREEN (1973); 'The Rockford Files' (1974); Polanski's CHINATOWN (1974); Kasdan's BODY HEAT (1981); Collins and Beatty's "Ms. Tree" comics (1981); Scott's BLADE RUNNER (1982) ▴; Paretsky's 'V. I. Warshawski' novels (1982); DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID (1982); McGregor and Colan's "Nathaniel Dusk" (1984); Moore and Gibbon's "Watchmen" (1986) ▴; Woo's HARD BOILED (1992); DEVIL IN THE BLUE DRESS (1995) ▴; L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997); THE BIG LEWBOWSKI (1998); DARK CITY (1998); Canales and Guarnidos' "Blacksad" (Spain, 2000); Brubaker, Rucka, and Lark's "Gotham Central" procedural comics (2002); The Animatrix', "The Detective Story" (2003); Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (2005) ▴; Feldman's "Asshole Yakuza Boyfriend" (2016); 'The Expanse' (2015); 'Jessica Jones' (2015).
Also Watch:
• • THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
Bogart. Becall. Because.
• • MURDER, MY SWEET (1946)
Dick Powell as Marlowe.
• • THE LONG GOODBYE (1975)
Elliott Gould as Marlow.
• • THE BIG SLEEP (1978)
Robert Mitchum as Marlow.
• "Judgment Night", by C.L. Moore (1940s stories)
• "The Little Prince", by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943)
20)
ANIMAL FARM,
by George Orwell (1943)
Anthropomorphic allegory.
This is a book for every adult, if there's to be any more children.
Leads to:
Beast fable.
▶▶▶ PLANET OF THE APES (1968) ▴; O'Brien's "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" (1971) and THE SECRET OF NIMH (1982); Adams' "Watership Down" (1972) ▴; Pink Floyd's "Animals" concept album (1977) ▴; Wangerin's "The Book of the Dun Cow" (1978); Spiegelman's "Maus" (1980+) ▴; Bell's 'The Books of the Named series (1983); Bluth's animated AN AMERICAN TAIL (1986); BABE: PIG IN THE CITY (1998); A BUG'S LIFE (1998); CHICKEN RUN (2000); Martel's "Beatrice and Virgil" (2010); ZOOTOPIA (2016).
Also Watch:
• • ANIMAL FARM animated (1954)
21)
SHADOW OVER MARS,
by Leigh Brackett (1944)
The Queen of Space Opera.
Burroughs and Bradbury have their famed Mars stories, but Brackett matches them with her Pulp adventures.
Leads to:
Female Space Opera.
▷ Authors:
Anne McCaffrey ▴, Ardath Mayhar, Lois McMaster Bujold, Elizabeth Moon, C.J. Cherryh ▴, Joan Vinge, Catherine Asaro, Marianne de Pierres, C.S. Friedman, Justina Robson, Margaret Weis ▴, Debra Doyle, Tanya Huff, Sharon Lee, Linnea Sinclair, Elizabeth Bear ▴, Ann Aguirre, Jo Clayton, Jacqueline Koyanagi, Becky Chambers, and Rivers Solomon.
▶▶▶ STAR WARS (1977); "Starstruck" (1982); 'Cleopatra 2525' (2000); "Saga" comics (2012); 'Killjoys' (2014); 'Dark Matter' (2015); 'Mars' (2016).
Also Watch:
• • RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
22)
BLACK AMAZON OF MARS,
by Leigh Brackett (1951)
Cosmic warrior.
Burroughs' Dejah Thoris was the template for all space amazons, but Brackett one-ups her with this fierce pirate.
Leads to:
Space Amazon.
▷ Leigh Brackett also co-wrote the screenplays for THE BIG SLEEP (1946), RIO BRAVO (1959), and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980).
> "Badass Women of the Pulp Era"
▶▶▶ Sci-Fi Amazons:
Big Barda of Apokalips (1971); Gamora and Nebula (1975); Ripley in ALIEN (1979) ▴; Padme Amidala, Luminara Unduli ▴, Barriss Offee, Ahsoka, Jyn Erso, Assajj Ventress, Leia Organa, and Rey in STAR WARS; Brucilla The Muscle and Galatia 9 in "Starstruck" comics (1982); Leeloo in THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997); Aeryn Sun ▴ and the women of 'Farscape' (1999); Zoe Washburne ▴ and River Tam on 'Firefly' (2002) and SERENITY (2005); River Song on 'Doctor Who' (2008); America Chavez (2011); Carol Danvers, CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019).
Also Watch:
• • THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
23)
"The People of the Crater",
by Andre Norton (1947)
The first published tale that launched her storied career.
Norton pioneered female authors in modern Fantasy.
Leads to:
Sword-and-Sorceress.
▷ Norton's "Witch World" ▴ led to Sword-and-Sorceress, a balance against sexism in Sword-and-Sorcery.
▷ Fantasy authors like Madeleine L'Engle, Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. Le Guin, Diana Wynn Jones, Vonda N. McIntyre, Joan D. Vinge, Noriko Ogiwara, and J.K. Rowling.
▶▶▶ Le Guin's flipped response, the 'Earthsea' books (1968); Jessica Amanda Salmonson's "Amazons!" anthologies (1979) ▴; Marion Zimmer Bradley's 28 volume "Sword and Sorceress" anthologies (1984) ▴; 'Xena: Warrior Princess' (1995) ▴; Moore and Williams III's Promethea (1999); Jenkin's WONDER WOMAN (2017).
24)
1984,
by George Orwell (1949)
Resist.
Orwell foretells how our worst regressions will destroy us.
Timeless, essential.
Leads to:
A reality near you.
▷ Big Brother:
Homeland Security, the National Security Agency, the World Bank, CCTV street cameras, data mining, phone tapping, Corporate personhood, 'Citizens United', Free Speech Zones, Voter IDs, anti-Net Neutrality, the corporate buyout of journalism, FakePrez, 'alternative facts', FOX News, etc.,...
▷ Screen:
ALPHAVILLE (1965); McGoohan's 'The Prisoner' (1967); Kubrick's adaptation of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971); Lucas' THX-1138 (1971); Gilliam's BRAZIL (1985) ▾; EQUILIBRIUM (2002); the 'reality' shows 'Room 101' (1994) and 'Big Brother' (2000); GATTACA (1997); THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998); MINORITY REPORT (2002); LAND OF THE BLIND (2006); IDEOCRACY (2006); the anime 'Code Geass' (2008); EAGLE EYE (2008); THE HUNGER GAMES (2012); ELYSIUM (2013); EQUALS (2015); THE LOBSTER (2015); SPECTRE (2015).
▷ Music:
Songs:
Rare Earth's "Hey Big Brother" (1971); Stevie Wonder's "Big Brother" (1972); The Jam's "Standards" (1977); Dead Kennedys' spoof "California Über Alles" (1979).
Albums:
Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" (1974) ▴; Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (1979); Subhumans' "The Day the Country Died" (1983); Eurythmics' soundtrack "1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)" (1984); Queensryche's "Operation Mindcrime" (1988); Radiohead's "Hail To the Thief" (2003) ▴.
▷ Print:
Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" (1953); Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" (1961); Burgess' "1985" (1978); Moore and Lloyd's "V For Vendetta" (1982); Dalos' "1985" (1983); Postman's "Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse In the Age of Show Business" (1985); Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" (1986); Sargent's "The Shore Of Women" (1986); James' "The Children of Men" (1992); Gibson's "Virtual Light" (1993); Gardner's "Inventing Elliot" (2003); "Superman: Red Son" (2003); Barry's "Jennifer Government" (2003) Moore and O'Neill's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier" (2007) ▴; Doctorow's "Little Brother" (2008); Murakami's "1Q84" (2010); Eggers' "The Circle" (2013).
Also Read:
• • "It Can't Happen Here", by Sinclair Lewis (1935)
Also Watch:
• • 1984 (1984)
25)
I, ROBOT,
by Isaac Asimov (1950)
Thou shalt not.
Asimov invents the rules governing robots in these short stories... in order to break them.
Leads to:
Protocol droids.
▷ ★ The modem company, U.S. Robotics.
▷ Robby the Robot in FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) ▴; COLOSSUS: The Forbin Project (1970); Roddenberry's 'The Questor Tapes' (1974); WESTWORLD (1973) ▴ and FUTUREWORLD (1976); THE TERMINATOR (1984); Bishop in ALIENS (1986); Data's positronic brain on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (1987) ▴; the 4 Laws for ROBOCOP (1987); THE MATRIX (1999); WALL-E (2008); the anime and film TIME OF EVE (2009); Halo (2001) and Portal 2 (2011) games; 'Äkta människor/Real Humans' (Sweden, 2012) and the English remake 'Humans' (2015); EX MACHINA (2014); Whedon's AVENGERS: Age Of Ultron (2015); 'Westworld' series (2016); Jeunet's BIGBUG (France, 2022).
▷ Alan Parsons Project's "I Robot" album (1977); Hawkwind's song "Robot" (1979).
▷ Sladek's "Roderick" (1980); Wagner's short story "Three Laws of Robotic Sexuality" (1982); the 4th Law in Dilov's "Icarus' Way" (1984); the 5th Law in Kesarovski's "The Fifth Law Of Robotics" (1983); Stross' "Saturn's Children" (2008).
Also Watch:
• • THE IRON GIANT (1999) ▴
• The "Foundation" books, by Isaac Asimov (1951-onward)
• "The Martian Chronicles", by Ray Bradbury (1950)
26)
THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE,
by C.S. Lewis (1950)
Portal.
The gateway to a Fantasy realm for adventurous kids.
Leads to:
Otherplace.
▷ Haggard's "She: A History of Adventure" (1887) inspired Lewis' The White Witch ▾, and Tolkien's Galadriel.
▶▶▶ Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" (1963); Cooper's 'The Dark Is Rising' sequence (1965); Paterson's "The Bridge To Terabithia" (1977) ▴; McKinley's 'The Blue Sword' books (1982); Wrede's 'Enchanted Forest' books (1990); Pullman's riposte, "The Golden Compass" (1995); Platform 9 3/4 in Rowling's 'Harry Potter' books (1997) ▴; Colfer's 'Artemis Fowl' books (2001); DeTerlizzi and Black's "The Spiderwick Chronicles" (2003); PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006); Charlotte Staples Lewis on 'Lost' (S04, 2008) ▴; Grossman's "The Magicians" (2009); Thomas' "Albion Emperilled" (2013); 'His Dark Materials' (2019).
27)
CHILDHOOD'S END,
by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
Next.
To every thing there is a season...
Leads to:
The change.
▶▶▶ Kubrick and Clarke's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) ▴; Pink Floyd's song "Childhood's End" (1972) ▴; Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) ▴; Eisner's graphic novel "Life on Another Planet/ or, Signal from Space" (1978); Brin's "Uplift" books (1980); both series of 'V' (1983, 2009); Cameron's THE ABYSS (1989); INDEPENDENCE DAY (1995); THE END OF EVANGELION anime (1997); 'Threshold' (2006); PROMETHEUS (2012); 'Extant' (2014); 'ASCENSION' mini-series (2014); the 'CHILDHOOD'S END' maxi-series (2015); 'Colony' (2016).
28)
THE DEMOLISHED MAN,
by Alfred Bester (1953)
Thought police.
Don't even think about it.
"And if my thought dreams could be seen/
they'd probably put my head in a guillotine..." -Bob Dylan
Leads to:
Empathic detective.
▶▶▶ Sturgeon's "More Than Human" (1954); Clifton's "They'd Rather Be Right" (1954); "Martian Manhunter" (1955); Dick's short story "Minority Report" (1956); The Mothers Of Invention song "Who Are The Brain Police?" (1966); Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" (1979); Kadare's "The Palace Of Dreams" (1981); the empathic detective Will Graham of "Red Dragon" (1981) and 'Hannibal' (2013) ▴; Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" (1987); the intuitive Agent Cooper on 'Twin Peaks' (1990) ▴; the psi-cop Alfred Bester on 'Babylon 5' (1994) ▴; MINORITY REPORT (2002) ▴; the put-on, 'Psyche' (2006); Reed's "Empathic Detective" novels (2016).
29)
FAHRENHEIT 451,
by Ray Bradbury (1953)
Killing culture = suicide.
The book that proved the stupidity of banning, censoring, redacting, and burning culture has been banned, censored, redacted, and burned over the decades.
Leads to:
Barbarism.
▶▶▶ Moore and Lloyd's "V For Vendetta" (1982) ▴; Brin's "The Postman" (1985); Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" (1986); Aja's FURIA (France, 1999); real life Iran in Sartrapi's "Persepolis" (2000) ▴; Moore's doc FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (2004); IDIOCRACY (2006); Zusak's "The Book Thief" (2005); THE BOOK OF ELI (2010) ▴; the library in ROBOT AND FRANK (2012); Hill's "The Fireman" (2016); FAHRENHEIT 451 (2018).
Also Read:
• "A Pleasure To Burn: Fahrenheit 451 Stories", by Ray Bradbury (2010)
Also Watch:
• • FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966)
Truffaut.
30)
THE LORD OF THE RINGS,
by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)
Modern mythos becomes Literature.
This is the second bestselling book of all time.
Leads to:
Fantasy Lit.
▷ Herbert's 'Dune' books (1965); Le Guin's 'Earthsea' books (1968); Moorcock's dark riposte, the 'Elric of Melnibone' books (1972); McKillip's "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld" (1974); Brooks' 'Shannara' books (1977); Ende's "The Neverending Story" (1979); King's 'The Dark Tower' books (1982); Kay's 'The Fionavar Tapestry' trilogy (1984); Martin's 'Song Of Fire and Ice' books (1996) and 'Game of Thrones' TV series (2011) ▴; Rowling's 'Harry Poetter' books (1997); Riordan's "Percy Jackson" books (2005); Lasky's "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" books (2003) and LEGENDS OF THE GUARDIANS (2010).
▷ Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" (1969), "Misty Mountain Hop" (1971), and "The Battle of Evermore" (1971) ▴; countless Metal anthems, Folk ballads, and Classical pieces.
▷ Wood's "Wizard King" comics (1967); Dungeons And Dragons board games (1974) ▴; STAR WARS (1977); Bakshi's WIZARDS (1977); Sim's "Cerebus" (1977); Richard and Wendy Pini's "Elfquest" (1978) ▴; EXCALIBUR (1981); Doran's "A Distant Soil" (1983); Smith's "Bone" (1991); "Magic: The Gathering" card games (1993); 'Babylon 5' (1994); World Of Warcraft online games (2004); ERAGON (2006); HELLBOY 2: The Golden Army (2008); THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013); Busiek and Dewey's "The Autumnlands" (2014); 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' (S02, 2017).
Also Watch:
Jackson's 'LORD OF THE RINGS' trilogy:
• • THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001)
• • THE TWO TOWERS (2002)
• • THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003)
31)
LORD OF THE FLIES,
by William Golding (1954)
Devolution.
This is not a childrens' book.
Leads to:
Childhood's end.
▶▶▶ Ōe's "Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids" (Japan, 1958); Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" (1962) ▴; Hinton's "The Outsiders" (1967); 'Star Trek', "Miri" (S01/E08, 1966); IF... (1968); Swarthout's "Bless the Beasts and Children" (1970); STRAW DOGS (1971); Ballard's "High-Rise" (1975) ▴; ALKITRANG DUGO (Philippines, 1975); ON THE EDGE (1979); U2's song "Shadows and Tall Trees" (1980); MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985); THE MOSQUITO COAST (1986); 'The Simpsons', "Das Bus" (S09/E14, 1998) ▴; THE BEACH (2000); THE KING IS ALIVE (2001); CITY OF GOD (Brazil, 2002); THIRTEEN (2003); the Others on 'Lost' (2004); Taylor' "The Republic of Trees" (2005); Collins' "The Hunger Games" (2008); Larkin's "The Shadow Girl" (2011); HIGH RISE (2015); Clarke's "Garden Lake" (2016); '3%' (S03, 2019).
Also Read:
• • "Heart of Darkness", by Joseph Conrad (1899)
Also Watch:
• • LORD OF THE FLIES (1963) ▴
• • APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
32)
VERTIGO*,
by Boileau-Narcejac (1954)
* First published as "D'entre Les Morts / The Living and the Dead".
Identity crisis.
Boileau-Narcejac was a pen name for Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud.
They also wrote the book that inspired Clouzat's DIABOLIQUE (1955), and adapted the screenplay for Redon's EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960).
Leads to:
Who's there?
▶▶▶ Bobby Previte's unused soundtrack song "Vertigo" (1958); Lem's "Solaris" (1961); the swipe HUIHUN YE (Hong Kong, 1962); Coppola's THE CONVERSATION (1973); Polanski's 's CHINATOWN (1974); Brook's parody HIGH ANXIETY (1976) ▴; De Palma's OBSESSION (1976); Demme's LAST EMBRACE (1979); Kasdan's BODY HEAT (1981); REAR WINDOW + VERTIGO = BODY DOUBLE (1985) ▴; L'APPARTEMENT (1996); Madeleine Ferguson on 'Twin Peaks' (1990); THE CRYING GAME (1991); Lynch's MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001); NE LE DIS A PERSONNE (a.k.a., Tell No One)' (2006); Almodovar's THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011) ▴; 'Chance' (S01, 2016); Anderson's THE PHANTOM THREAD (2017); Park's DECISION TO LEAVE/ (S. Korea, 2022); Park's DECISION TO LEAVE (S. Korea, 2022).
Also Watch:
• • THE MAN WHO CHEATED HIMSELF (1950)
Location connections that precede VERTIGO.
• • LAURA (1944)
Turnabout.
• • VERTIGO (1958)
Hitchcock takes the essence of the book and improves it.
33)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS*,
by Jack Finney (1955)
* First published as "The Body Snatchers".
You will be assimilated.
This veiled indictment of McCarthyism remains a relevant rebuke against conformity and repression.
Leads to:
I, pod.
▷ The book has been filmed four times, officially: Siegel's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956), Kaufman's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978), Ferrara's BODY SNATCHERS (1993), and Hirschbiegel's THE INVASION (2007).
▶▶▶ QUATERMASS 2 (Britain, 1957); 'The Twilight Zone', "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (S01/E22, 1960); CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED (1960); the 'Undermind' TV series (UK, 1965); 'The Invaders' (1967) ▴; 'Star Trek', "This Side of Paradise" (S01/E24, 1967) ▴; SHIVERS (1975); CONTAMINATION (1980); STRANGE INVADERS (1983); THE HIDDEN (1987); THEY LIVE (1988) ▴; the Borg on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (1989); 'The X-Files' (1993); THE FACULTY (1998); 'Invasion' (2005) ▴; THE WORLD'S END (2013); 'Intruders' (2014); THE CHANGED (2021).
Also Read:
• "The Puppet Masters", by Robert A. Heinlein (1951)
• "It Came From Outer Space", short story by Ray Bradbury (1953)
• "The Father-Thing", short story by Philip K. Dick (1954)
Also Watch:
• • INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
• • INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)
34)
THE STARS MY DESTINATION,
by Alfred Bester (1956)
Transporter.
Teleportation has existed in myth and folktales, but the 'jaunting' in Bester's novel epitomizes its use in modern Science Fiction.
Bester is on fire with a bold imagination and mature verve that bridges the Golden Age toward the New Wave.
Leads to:
Bamf!
▶▶▶ THE FLY (1958); the Transporter on 'Star Trek' (1966) ▴; the Boom Tube in Kirby's "New Gods" (1971); jaunting on 'The Tomorrow People' (UK, 1973); Nightcrawler of the X-Men (1975) ▴; 'Blake's 7' (1978); King's short story "The Jaunt" (1981); Simmons' "Hyperion" (1989); Crichton's "Timeline" (1999); Hiro on 'Heroes' (2006); JUMPER (2008) ▴; Aguirre's "Grimspace" (2008); 'Fringe', "White Tulip" (S02/E18, 2010); the Walk-On tech of "Starstruck" (1984/2017); Vibe on 'The Flash' (2014); Blink on 'The Gifted' (2017); 'Cloak And Dagger' (2018); 'Impulse' (2018); Number Five in 'The Umbrella Academy' (2019).
35)
ON THE BEACH,
by Nevil Shute (1957)
Our last days after a nuclear holocaust.
This was the first mainstream bestseller to convey the looming horrors of the nuclear age. Although rather sedately.
Leads to:
The end, of our elaborate plans, the end.
▷ Roshwald's "Level 7" (1959); Frank's "Alas, Babylon" (1959); Miller's "A Canticle For Leibowitz" (1959); Anderson's 'Maurai' books (1959); Key's "The Incredible Tide" (1970) which becomes Miyazaki's 'Future Boy Conan' anime series (1978) ▴; Brin's "The Postman" (1985); DuPrau's 'The City of Ember' books (2003); obliquely, Cormac's "The Road" (2006).
▷ DOCTOR STRANGELOVE, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) ▴; FAIL SAFE (1964); BBC's 'The War Game' telemovie, filmed in 1965, but withheld from public viewing for two decades; 'Ark II' series (1976); DAMNATION ALLEY (1977); Altman's QUINTET (1979); MAD MAX II/THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981); 'The Day After' telemovie (1983) ▴; THE LAST BATTLE (1983); THE TERMINATOR (1984); THE QUIET EARTH (1985); MIRACLE MILE (1988); video games like Wasteland (1988) and Fallout (1997); THE ROAD (2009); the Mushroom War on 'Adventure Time' (2010); 'The Last Ship' (2011) 'Electric City' web-series (2012) ▴; SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD (2012); SNOWPIERCER (2013); Honeywell's "The Ship" (2015).
Also Watch:
• • ON THE BEACH (1959)
• "The Once And Future King", by T.H. White (1958)
• "Flowers For Algernon", short story by Daniel Keyes (1959)
36)
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE,
by Shirley Jackson (1959)
The kingdom of hell is within.
Shirley Jackson brought psychological depth and literary acumen to Horror, transforming the medium beyond shocks into existential angst.
Leads to:
Inner demons.
▶▶▶ ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) ▴; Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) ▴; King's "The Shining" (1977); Straub's "Ghost Story" (1979); THE LADY IN WHITE (1988); THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999) ▴; Danielewski's "House Of Leaves" (2000); THE RING (2002); Oyeyemi's "White Is For Witching" (2009); MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (2011); THE WOMAN IN BLACK (2012) ▴; HEREDITARY (2018); 'The Haunting of Hill House' maxi-series (2018); THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER (England, 2022).
Also Read:
• "The Turn of the Screw", by Henry James (1898)
• "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson (1948)
Also Watch:
• • THE HAUNTING (1963)
Robert Wise's adaption of the book.
37)
PSYCHO,
by Robert Bloch (1959)
We all go a little mad sometimes.
Leads to:
Serial killers.
▷ Preceded by:
Hitchcock's THE LODGER: A Story Of The London Fog (Br, 1927); Zola's "La Bête Humaine" (1890) and the film LA BETE HUMAINE (France, 1938); Powell/Pressburger's BLACK NARCISSUS (Br, 1947).
▷ Ed Gein:
The 1957 murders by serial killer Ed Gein directly inspired Bloch's book "Psycho", and then later films like DERANGED and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (both 1974), as well as Harris' "The Silence of the Lambs" (1988).
▷ Polanski's REPULSION (1965); The Sonics' song "Psycho" (1965); BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (England, 1965); 'Star Trek', "Wolf In The Fold" written by Robert Bloch (S02/E14, 1967); "Rose And The Thorn" (1971); DePalma's SISTERS (1973) and DRESSED TO KILL (1980) ▴; Brooks' HIGH ANXIETY (1976); THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE (1976); Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978); the underrated PSYCHO II (1982); Russell's uncut version of CRIMES OF PASSION (1984) ▴; the underrated PSYCHO III (1986); Jodorowsky's SANTA SANGRE (1989) ▴; Ellis' "American Psycho" (1991); Palahniuk's "Fight Club" (1996); Aronofsky's BLACK SWAN (2010); Soderberg's SIDE EFFECTS (2012); the series 'Bates Motel' (2013) ▴; SPLIT (2016).
Also Read:
• "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of PSYCHO", by Stephen Rebello (1990)
Also Watch:
• • PSYCHO (1960)
• • PEEPING TOM (1960)
38)
NAKED LUNCH,
by William S. Burroughs (1959)
"Now I, William Seward, will unlock my word horde..."
Absurdist collage junkie nightmare insect exorcism body dissolution scream dream.
Leads to:
Collage Lit.
Jimmy Page, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Kurt Cobain
▷ Burroughs and Paul McCartney made tape loops in 1966. Paul's sound loops were used in "Tomorrow Never Knows" on 'Revolver'. Burroughs is in the crowd on the 'Sgt. Pepper' cover (1967) ▾.
▷ He also did music collaborations with Laurie Anderson, Material, Ministry, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Sonic Youth, and Kurt Cobain ▴.
▷ Music:
Steppenwolf borrowed the phrases "born to be wild" and "heavy metal" from Burrough's "Nova Express" (1964); Dylan's book "Tarantula" (1965); Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" album (1969); Bowie's cut-up lyrics, such as the "Diamond Dogs" album (1974) ▴; band names like Soft Machine, Nova Express, Steely Dan ▴, Thin White Rope, The Mugwumps, The Insect Trust, Clem Snide, and Nova Mob; Joy Division's debut song, "Interzone" (1979).
▷ Print:
In the wake of Joyce, Burroughs bridged experimental writing to authors like Vonnegut, Pynchon, and Acker.
▸▸▸ Kerouac's "Visions Of Cody" (1959); Selby's "Last Exit To Brooklyn" (1964); Spinrad's "Bug Jack Barron" (1969); Ballard's "The Atrocity Exhibition" (1970); Delaney's "Hogg" (1969/pub.1995); Reed's "Mumbo Jumbo" (1972); Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" (1973); Acker's "I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac: Imagining" (1974); Moore and Sienkiewicz's "Shadowplay: The Secret Team" (1988); Yablonsky's "The Story Of Junk" (1997); Morrison's "The Filth" (2002).
▷ Screen:
Godard's ALPHAVILLE (1965); Cronenberg's VIDEODROME (1983); Von Trier's THE ELEMENT OF CRIME (1984); the Nova Express magazine in Moore and Gibbon's "Watchmen" (1986) ▴; Van Sant's DRUGSTORE COWBOY (1989); Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE (2006); Carax's HOLY MOTORS (2012); Hawley's 'Legion' (2017); Morrison's 'Happy' (2019).
Also Watch:
The Beats in film versions, in this order.
• • KILL YOUR DARLINGS (2013)
• • ON THE ROAD (2012)
• • HOWL (2010)
• • NAKED LUNCH (1991)
• • HEART BEAT (1980)
• "A Canticle For Leibowitz", by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1960)
• "Witch World", by Andre Norton (1963)
39)
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND,
by Robert Heinlein by Robert Heinlein
Grok and roll!
John Carter of Mars becomes Jesus of Nazereth, and sets you free to be yourself.
Leads to:
Divination.
▷ ★ The invention of the waterbed!
▷ Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters, the psychedelic bus, and their communal lifestyle and philosophy (1964) ▸▸▸ The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967); Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" (1968); The Who's "Magic Bus" (1968); Woodstock (1969).
▶▶▶ inverted in Tevis' "The Man Who Fell To Earth" (1963); Paul Atreides in Herbert's "Dune" (1965) ▴; "I Grok Spock" buttons (1967); Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" (1969); songs by The Byrds, Blackburn and Snow, and U2; Dr. Manhattan in "Watchmen" (1986); Moore and Totleben's "Miracleman: Book III, Olympus" (1987) ▴; Leeloo in THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997) ▴; Neo in THE MATRIX (1999); Morrison and Quitely's "All-Star Superman" (2005); SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006) ▴.
40)
SOLARIS,
by Stanislaw Lem (1961)
Beyond comprehension.
Are we even capable of understanding an alien universe, or the abstract within us?
Leads to:
Alienation.
▶▶▶ 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968); Tarkovsky's STALKER (1979); Aronofsky's PI (1998); ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004); Kiernan's "The Dry Salvages" (2004); THE FOUNTAIN (2006) ▴; Boyle's SUNSHINE (2007); Jones' MOON (2009); the indie film LOVE (2011); Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE (2011) ▴; Caruth's UPSTREAM COLOR (2013) ▴; 'Extant' (2014); VanderMeer's "Annihilation" (2014).
Also Watch:
• • SOLARIS (1972) ▴
• • SOLARIS (2002)
➤ "Ground Control to Major Tom": THE LONELY ASTRONAUT Movies, with Music Player
41)
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE,
by Anthony Burgess (1962)
Punked.
If you're the disease, is the cure worse?
Leads to:
Thug life.
▷ Albums like Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" (1972) ▴, Die Toten Hosen's "Ein Kleine Bisschen Horrorschau" (1988), Sepultura's "A-Lex" (2009), and Lana Del Ray's "Ultraviolence" (2014); // band names like Heaven 17, Ultraviolence, Moloko, and Devotchkas; // songs by New Order, Medium Medium, The Libertines, Scars, Ramones, Stereo Total, and U2.
▷ Burrough's "Nova Express" (1964); Carroll's memoir "The Basketball Diaries" (1978); THE WARRIORS (1979); Miller's MAD MAX (1979); Hoban's "Riddley Walker" (1980); inverted in Moore and Lloyd's "V For Vendetta" (1982); Martin and Hewlett's "Tank Girl" (1988); ROMPER STOMPER (1993); Welsh's "Trainspotting" (1993); NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994); KIDS (1995); LA HAINE a.k.a., Hate (1996) ▴; AMERICAN HISTORY X (1998); FIGHT CLUB (1999); Scorcese's GANGS OF NEW YORK (2003); SCUM (2006); TSOTSI a.k.a., Thug (South Africa, 2006) ▴; THIS IS ENGLAND (2007); Tech Boy's goons in 'American Gods' (S01/E01, 2017); Hawley's aesthetic in 'Legion' (S01, 2017).
Also Watch:
• • A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) ▴
Kubrick. McDowell.
42)
A WRINKLE IN TIME,
by Madeleine L'Engle (1962)
Field trip.
Time, science, spirit. And Aunt Beast.
Leads to:
Time keeps on slipping, slipping.
▶▶▶ THE FLIGHT OF DRAGONS (1982); Duane's "High Wizardry" (1990); Farmer's "The Eye, The Ear, and The Arm" (1994) ▴; Funke's "Inkheart" (2003) ▴; Stead's "When You Reach Me" (2009) ▴; Sedia's "The House of Discarded Dreams" (2010); Valete's "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" (2011); Hope Larson's graphic novel "A Wrinkle In Time" (2012) ▴; Nolan's INTERSTELLAR (2014); TOMORROWLAND (2015); Bouwman's "A Crack in the Sea" (2017); Riazi's "The Gauntlet" (2017).
▷ Sawyer reads it on 'Lost' (2004) ▴.
Also Watch:
• • A WRINKLE IN TIME (2018)
DuVernay's adaptation.
43)
PLANET OF THE APES*,
by Pierre Bouelle (1963)
* First published as "La Planete des Singes".
Damn it all to hell.
The author of "The Bridge Over the River Kwai" (1952) throws a future fastball.
All hail Caesar.
Leads to:
Re-evolution.
▶▶▶ Japanese series like 'Spectreman' (1971) and 'Time of the Apes' (1974); Kirby's "Kamandi" (1972) ▴; Roddenberry's 'Genesis II' (1973), 'Strange New World' (1974), and 'Planet Earth' (1975) TV pilots [which later led to the 'Andromeda' series (2000)]; 'Planet Of The Apes' live-action TV show (1974); GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1974) and TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1975); 'Return To The Planet Of The Apes' animated show (1975); inverted in ALIEN NATION (1988) ▴; Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 2 game (2001); Hefner's "Gates" webcomic (2011).
Also Watch:
• • PLANET OF THE APES (1968) ▴
Rod Serling refines and improves the book.
• • CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (1972)
Revolution Ape Style Now.
The excellent Prequel trilogy:
• • RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011) ▴
• • DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2014)
• • WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (2017)
44)
DUNE,
by Frank Herbert (1965)
The other Bible.
Herbert crosses Asimov's "Foundation" scope with Tolkien's epic anthropology to redefine modern science fiction.
The bestselling SF book of all time.
Leads to:
Ultimate worldbuilding.
> "Why I See DUNE In Everything"
▷ Tatooine, Spice mines of Kessal, Krayt Dragon, Sandpeople, Jawas, Jabba the Hut, the Jedi, and Luke in STAR WARS (1977) ▴; desert world and worms in STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Khan (1982); Jakku, sandtraps, Nightwatcher worms, Pole-snakes, Jedi visons, and Rey in STAR WARS: The Force Awakens (2015).
▷ Concept albums by Dave Matthews, Richard Pinhas, Klause Schulze, Zed, and Dun; Iron Maiden's song "To Tame A Land" (1983).
▷ Zelazny's "Lord Of Light" (1967); Niven's waterless 'Known Space' stories (coll. 1975); Jordan's 'Eye of the World' books (1990); Bakker's 'The Prince of Nothing' books (2004); Frank Herbert in Malmont's "The Astounding, The Amazing, And The Unknown" (2011); .
▷ Screen adaptations:
Lynch's DUNE (1984); the mini-series 'Dune' (2000) and 'Children Of Dune' (2003); Villeneuve's DUNE Part 1 (2021); 'Futurama': "Parasites Regained" (S08E04, 2023).
Also Watch:
• • Jodorowsky's DUNE (2013) ▴
Documentary about the aborted 1975 film, which led to ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER.
45)
LOGAN'S RUN,
by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (1967)
The future belongs to the young. But tick-tick...
Leads to:
System error.
▶▶▶ Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (1968); Levin's "This Perfect Day" (1970); THX-1138 (1971); Fassbinder's WORLD ON A WIRE (1973) ▴; ROLLERBALL (1975); the TV series Logan's Run (1976); Nolan's sequels "Logan's World" (1977) and "Logan's Search" (1980); TRON (1982) ▴; THE RUNNING MAN (1987) ▴; ROBOCOP (1987); GATTACA (1997); EQUILIBRIUM (2002); THE ISLAND (2005); the band name Jessica 6; IN TIME (2011); THE MAZE RUNNER (2014) ▴.
Also Read:
• "The Most Dangerous Game", short story by Richard Connell (1924)
Also Watch:
• • LOGAN'S RUN (1976)
46)
DANGEROUS VISIONS,
edited by Harlan Ellison (1967)
Space Opera gives way to the literary, the experimental, and counterculture values.
Judith Merril and Harlan Ellison were among the first to champion and compile this speculative renaissance. This is a primer.
Leads to:
▷ New Wave authors like Norman Spinrad, Joanna Russ, Michael Moorcock, Judith Merril, Samuel R. Delaney, Carol Emshwiller, Phillip K. Dick, James Tiptree, Jr., Roger Zelazny, Ursula K. Le Guin, Thomas Disch, Sonya Dorman, and Phillip Jose Farmer.
▷ Paralleled by Speculative Fiction writers like J.G. Ballard, Harlan Ellison, Kurt Vonnegut, and Thomas Pynchon.
▷ The adult illustrated fantasy magazines Metal Hurlant, Heavy Metal, 1984 (later 1994), and Epic Illustrated.
▷ The introspective, abstract, postmodern, anti-hero, sociopolitical outlook of the Counterculture and the New Wave influenced films like:
PLANET OF THE APES (1968), EL TOPO (1970), A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971), THX-1138 (1971), THE OMEGA MAN (1971) ▴, CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (1972), SILENT RUNNING (1973), FANTASTIC PLANET (1973), SOYLENT GREEN (1973), THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973) ▴, ZARDOZ (1974), LOGAN'S RUN (1976), STAR WARS (1977), ALIEN (1979), HEAVY METAL (1981), OUTLAND (1981), BLADE RUNNER (1982), THE MATRIX (1999), THE FOUNTAIN (2006), DISTRICT 9 (2009) ▴, OBLIVION (2013), ELYSIUM (2013), UNDER THE SKIN (2013), UPSTREAM COLOR (2013), BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017), and ANNIHILATION (2018) ▴.
Also Read:
• "England Swings SF: Stories of Speculative Fiction", Various authors, edited by Judith Merril (1968)
A collection of the British wave authors.
47)
THE THIRD POLICEMAN,
by Flann O'Brien (1967)
Stream of consciousness.
Absurdist humor, cyclical surrealism, and underlying edge.
Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan) wrote the book in 1940, but timid publishers rejected it. Published posthumously in 1967, the academia forged from the counterculture embraced it.
Leads to:
Head trips.
▷ Written in 1940, it anticipates Beckett's "Waiting For Godot", and postmodern creators like Flannery O'Connor, William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Jean-Luc Godard, Stanislaw Lem, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Monty Python and Terry Gilliam, Ishmael Reed, Thomas Pynchon, David Lynch, Moebius, Michel Foucault, Alan Moore, T. Coraghessan Boyle, the Coen brothers, Peter Greenaway, Kathy Acker, Darren Aronofsky, and Spike Jonze.
▷ The book began selling again when Ben Linus read it on 'Lost' ▾.
▶▶▶ Surreal journeys:
Peixoto's LIMITE (Brazil, 1931); Cocteau's ORPHEUS (France, 1950); Resnais' LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD (France, 1961); Fellini's JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (Italy, 1965); Godard's WEEKEND (France, 1967); The Beatles' 'Magical Mystery Tour' (1967); The Monkees' HEAD (1968) ▴; THE BED SITTING ROOM (1969); John Cooper Clark's punk rap "Ten Years In An Open Neck Shirt" (1978); Monty Python's MEANING OF LIFE (1983) ▴; THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (1994); BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999); AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999); DONNIE DARKO (2001); 'Life On Mars' (UK, 2006/US, 2008); STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006); ENTER THE VOID (2009); WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (2009); Abrams and Dorst's "S. [Ship of Theseus]" (2013); THE FORBIDDEN ROOM (2015).
Also Watch:
• • Monty Python's MEANING OF LIFE (1983)
48)
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE,
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967)
An allegory of Columbian history in the dreamlike epic of one family.
The influence of Marquez's use of poetic lyricism and magic realism is incalculable.
Leads to:
Dreamreal.
▶▶▶ Fuentes' "The Old Gringo" (1964); Allende's "The House of the Spirits" (1982); Hernandez's 'Palomar' stories (1983); Allen's PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985); THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR (1988); Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" (1988) ▴; FIELD OF DREAMS (1989); Esquivel's "Like Water For Chocolate" (1989); 'Twin Peaks' (1990) ▴; THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN (1995); King's "The Green Mile" (1996); O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU (2000); CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000); AMELIE (2001) ▴; Martel's "Life of Pi" (2001); BIG FISH (2003); Lethem's "Fortress of Solitude" (2003); Fuller's 'Wonderfalls' (2004) and 'Pushing Daisies' (2007); Diaz's "The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao" (2008); BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012) ▴; Gamian's "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" (2013); Yanique's "Land of Love and Drowning" (2014); Oyeyemi's "What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours" (2015); THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017); 'Lodge 49' (2018); CLARA SOLA (Costa Rica, 2022).
Also Watch:
• • AMELIE (2001)
• • BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012)
• "The Last Unicorn", by Peter S. Beagle (1968)
• "The Ship Who Sang", by Anne McCaffrey (1969)
49)
CAMP CONCENTRATION,
by Thomas Disch (1968)
IQ coup.
Government experiments on conscientious objectors: a satire. Coming to a Gitmo near you.
Disch's fierce farce and acerbic intelligence is a timeless warning, with surprises and laughs.
Leads to:
Experimental breakdowns.
▶▶▶ THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975) ▴; JACOB'S LADDER (1990) ▴; the true story A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001); THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS (2009); THE KILLING ROOM (2009); SHUTTER ISLAND (2010); BANSHEE CHAPTER (2013) ▴; 'The OA' (2016); Laura in LOGAN (2017).
Also Watch:
• • CHARLY (1968) ▴
Based on Keyes' "Flowers For Algernon".
50)
NOVA,
by Samuel R. Delaney (1968)
Dismissed as too retro-Space Opera during the New Wave, Delaney's book helped pioneer multiculturalism in Sci-Fi, neo-Space Opera, and Cyberpunk.
Leads to:
A Big Bang of new creators.
▷ Afrofuturist creators like Octavia Butler ▾, Nalo Hopkinson, Nnedi Okorafor, Tananarive Due, and Nisi Shawl.
▷ Openly gay SF creators like Joanna Russ, Elizabeth Lynn, Thomas Disch, David Gerrold, Nicola Griffith, and Geoff Ryman.
▶▶▶ Inclusion:
Delany's multi-cultural approach opened the door for better representation in future works.
McGregor and Gulacy's "Sabre" (1978) ▴; Gibson's "Neuromancer" (1984) ▴; Sayles' THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET (1984); LaForge, Worf, and Guinan on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (1987); Capt. Sisko commanding 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (1993); Morpheus in THE MATRIX (1999); the short film PUMZI (Nigeria, 2010) ▴; Michael Burnham on 'Star Trek: Discovery' (2018).
51)
DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?,
by Philip K. Dick (1968)
Dystopic Noir.
Running the razor's edge between human and machine.
Leads to:
Heavy Metal magazine goes mainstream.
▷ William S. Burroughs had adapted an unused screenplay of Nourse's SF novel "The Bladerunner" (1974) called "Blade Runner: a movie" (1979), which Ridley Scott used as the title of his "Androids" adaptation.
▶▶▶ Scott's BLADE RUNNER (1982) ▴; Gibson's 'Neuromancer' trilogy (1984) and the Cyberpunk genre; Miller's "Sin City" (1991), and Miller and Darrow's "Hard Boiled" (1990) ▴; Snatcher (1988), Manhunter: New York (1988), and Shadowrun (1989) video games; GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995); I.K.U. (2000); EQUILIBRIUM (2002) ▴; Morgan's 'Altered Carbon' trilogy (2003); NATURAL CITY (South Korea, 2003); I, ROBOT (2004); Nolan's DARK KNIGHT trilogy (2005); the animated RENAISSANCE (2006); Scalzi's "The Android's Dream" (2006); 'Almost Human' (2013); Swedish series 'Akta Manniskor/a.k.a., Real Humans' (2012) ▴ and its British remodel 'Humans' (2015); BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017); 'Altered Carbon' (2018); Jones' MUTE (2018); the sequel comics "Blade Runner 2019" (2019) and "Blade Runner 2029" (2020); 'Blade Runner: Black Lotus' (2021).
Also Watch:
• • BLADE RUNNER (1982)
• • BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017)
52)
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,
by Arthur C. Clarke (1968)
"Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?"
-Gauguin
Transcendence.
Leads to:
Next.
▶▶▶ Full of stars:
Bowie's song "Space Oddity" (1969); Pink Floyd's song "Echoes" (1969); 'UFO' (1970); SILENT RUNNING (1973); DARK STAR (1974); Metal Hurlant magazine (1974); 'Space: 1999' (1975) ▴; Jack Kirby's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1976) ▴, "Machine Man" (1977), and "Devil Dinosaur" (1977) comics; STAR WARS (1977); STAR TREK: The Motion Picture (1979) ▴; THE BLACK HOLE, by way of "20,000 Leagues" (1979); ALIEN (1979); 'Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey' (1980/ 2014) ▴; 2010: OYSSEY TWO (1984); CONTACT (1997); Kon's MILLENNIUM ACTRESS anime (2002); MOON (2009); PROMETHEUS (2012); GRAVITY (2013); THE EUROPA REPORT (2013); INTERSTELLAR (2014); ARRIVAL (2016); AD ASTRA (2019); ETERNALS (2021).
Also Read:
• "The Odyssey", by Homer
• "2001: A Space Odyssey", by Arthur C. Clarke (1968)
Also Watch:
• • 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) ▴
The greatest films should only be seen on the big screen.
➤ 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - Its Transcendent Influence on all Pop Culture, with Music Player
53)
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE,
by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
and other living things.
Life is a prism of moments.
Leads to:
Faceted.
▷ Vonnegut's cross-temperol narrative was considered 'unfilmable, and too confusing for the masses'.
In truth, since Cubism, collage and montage are the best expressions of the post-modern world.
▸▸▸ SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE (1972); Welles' THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (filmed 1970s/rel. 2018); THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974); ANNIE HALL (1977); Pink Floyd THE WALL (1982) ▴; SIESTA (1987); SHORT CUTS (1993); PULP FICTION (1994); THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995) ▴; 12 MONKEYS (1995); RUN LOLA RUN (1998) ▴; MEMENTO (2000); 21 GRAMS (2003); the six seasons of 'Lost' (2004); I'M NOT THERE (2007) ▴; MR. NOBODY (2009); CLOUD ATLAS (2012).
▷ The fictional author Kilgore Trout is referenced in works by Philip Jose Farmer, Salman Rushdie, Larry Niven, and Alan Moore.
▷ Le Guin's "The Lathe of Heaven" (1971); Dick's "A Scanner Darkly" (1977); Irving's "The World According To Garp" (1978); DeLillo's "White Noise" (1985); Moore and Gibbon's "Watchmen" (1986); Sacco's graphic novel "Safe Area Gorazde" (2000); Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" (2003); Egger's "What Is The What" (2006).
Also Watch:
• • SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE (1972)
The 'unfilmable' filmed.
54)
THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS,
by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)
Le Guin's celebrated award-winner builds a literate Fantasy world as deftly as Tolkien and Herbert, while opening the door to challenging gender assumptions.
Leads to:
New You.
▷ The concept of the Ansible, an instantaneous communicator across vast distances, was borrowed by many authors like McCaffrey, Card, Moon, Donaldson, and Simmons, as well as 'Doctor Who' and 'Stargate'.
▷ Le Guin's complex mix of anthropology, sociology, and literate Fantasy forecast works like Vonda N. McIntyre's "Dreamsnake" (1978) ▴, Joan D. Vinge's "The Snow Queen" (1980), and George R.R. Martin's "A Game Of Thrones" (1996).
▷ Le Guin's notion of the fluid Being beyond simple binary gender assumptions is also explored in: Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" (1972); Varley's "Eight Worlds" stories (1974); Lynn's 'Tornor' books (1979); Dax on 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (1993) ▴; Captain Jack Harkness on 'Doctor Who' (2005) and 'Torchwood' (2006) ▴; Robinson's "2312" (2012); CLOUD ATLAS (2012) ▴; 'Sense8' (2015).
55)
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN,
by Michael Crichton (1969)
Virus.
Crichton's science procedural invents the standard: a morphing contagion, hazmat suits, advanced labs, forensic suspense, and viral apocalypse.
Leads to:
Pandemic.
▶▶▶ King's "The Stand" (1978) ▴; Cooke's "Outbreak" (1987); the Black Oil on 'The X-Files' (1993) ▴; 12 MONKEYS (1995); OUTBREAK (1995); Vaughn and Guerra's "Y: The Last Man" (2002) ▴; BLINDNESS (2008); CONTAGION (2011); 'Helix' series (2014) ▴; del Toro's 'The Strain', by way of "I Am Legend" (2014); DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2014); the series 'Fortitude' (2015); the mini-series 'Station Eleven' (2021).
Also Watch:
• • THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (1971)
• • 'The Andromeda Strain' miniseries (2008)
The Golden Age and the New Wave of Science Fiction were paralleled by Comic Strips, Classic Films, and the Silver Age of Comics.
Taken together, their ideas forged much of our Pop Culture today.
KEY FILMS:
• • FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940) ▴
• • PINOCCHIO (1940)
• • THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940)
• • THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
• • HERE COMES MR. JORDAN (1941)
• • THE WOLF MAN (1941)
• • CAT PEOPLE (1942)
• • THE JUNGLE BOOK (1942)
• • THE BIG SLEEP (1946) ▴
• • A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (Br, 1946) ▴
• • IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) ▴
• • BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946) ▴
• • MIRACLE ON 34th STREET (1947)
• • DESTINATION MOON (1950)
• • THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951)
• • THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) ▴
• • UGETSU (Japan, 1953) ▴
• • WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)
• • GOJIRA / Godzilla (Japan, 1954)
• • THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954)
• • SEVEN SAMURAI (Japan, 1954)
• • THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955)
• • INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
• • FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) ▴
• • THE RED BALLOON short film (France, 1956) ▴
• • THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957)
• • THE SEVENTH SEAL (Seden, 1957)
• • THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958)
• • THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (Japan, 1958)
• • THE FLY (1958)
• • VERTIGO (1958) ▴
• • PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)
• • BLACK ORPHEUS (Brazil, 1959) ▴
• • THE TIME MACHINE (1960)
• • EYES WITHOUT A FACE (France, 1960) ▴
• • PSYCHO (1960)
• • THE INNOCENTS (1961)
• • CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)
• • LA JETEE short film (France, 1962)
• • THE BIRDS (1963)
• • THE HAUNTING (1963)
• • DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
• • FAIL SAFE (1964)
• • ALPHAVILLE (France, 1965)
• • LA DECIMA VITTIMA / The 10th Victim (Italy, 1965)
• • FAHRENHEIT 451 (Br, 1966)
• • THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (Italy, 1966)
• • FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966)
• • YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (Br, 1967) ▴
• • BARBARELLA (1968)
• • NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
• • ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) ▴
• • CHARLY (1968)
• • PLANET OF THE APES (1968)
• • 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
• • THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (1971) ▴
KEY SHOWS:
• 'Space Patrol' (1950)
• 'Adventures of Superman' (1952)
• 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' (1955)
• 'The Twilight Zone' (1959) ▾
• 'The Avengers' (1961)
• 'The Jetsons' (1962)
• 'The Outer Limits' (1963)
• 'Doctor Who' (1963) ▴
• 'Astro Boy' (1963)
• 'The Fugitive' (1963)
• 'The Addams Family' (1964)
• 'Jonny Quest' (1964) ▴
• 'Star Trek' (1966) ▴
• 'Mission: Impossible' (1966)
• 'The Invaders' (1967)
• 'The Prisoner' (1967)
KEY MAGAZINES:
• "Weird Tales" (1923)
• "Amazing Stories" (1926)
• "Startling Stories" (1939)
• "Planet Stories" (1939)
• "Famous Fantastic Mysteries" (1939)
• "New Worlds" (UK, 1946)
• "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" (1949)
• "Galaxy Science Fiction" (1950)
• "Famous Monsters of Filmland" (1958)
• "Creepie" (1964)
• "Eerie" (1966)
• "Vampirella" (1969)
• "Cinefantastique" (1970)
KEY COMICS:
• "Little Nemo In Slumberland" by Winsor McCay (1905)
• "Krazy Kat" by George Herriman (1913)
• "Tintin" by Herge (1927) ▾
• "Captain Easy" by Roy Crane (1933)
• "Terry and the Pirates" by Milton Caniff (1934)
• "Prince Valiant" by Hal Foster (1937)
• "Flash Gordon" by Alex Raymond (1937)
• "The Spirit" by Will Eisner (1940) ▴
• "Wonder Woman" by William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter (1941) ▴
• "Captain Marvel" by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck (1941) ▴
• "Plastic Man" by Jack Cole (1941) ▴
• "Miss Fury" by Tarpe Mills (1941)
• "Donald Duck" by Carl Barks (1943)
• "Pogo" by Walt Kelly (1948)
EC Comics,
by William Gaines, Al Feldstein, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, Bernie Krigstein:
• "Weird Science" (1950) ▴
• "Weird Fantasy" (1950)
• "Tales From the Crypt" (1950)
• "The Vault Of Horror" (1950)
• "The Haunt Of Fear" (1950)
• "Shock SuspenStories" (1952)
• "The Haunt Of Fear" (1950)
• "Piracy" (1954)
• "Weird Science-Fantasy" (1954)
• "MAD" magazine (1955) ▴
• "Incredible Science Fiction" (1956) ▴
• "The Flash" by John Broome and Carmine Infantino (1956) ▴
• "Adam Strange" by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino, and Murphy Anderson (1958)
• "Green Lantern" by John Broome and Gil Kane (1959)
• "Justice League of America" by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky (1960)
• "Fantastic Four" by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (1961)
• "Thor" by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (1962)
• "Barbarella" by Jean-Claude Forest (1962) ▴
• "Blueberry" by Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud (1963)
• "Magnus, Robot Fighter" by Russ Manning (1963)
• "Batman" by John Broome and Carmine Infantino (1964)
• "Dr. Strange" by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (1963)
• "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." by Jim Steranko (1966) ▴
• "Corto Maltese" by Hugo Pratt (1967)
• "Valerian and Laureline" by Pierre Christen and Jean-Claude Mezieres (1967)
• "Deadman" by Arnold Drake and Neal Adams (1967) ▴
• "Corto Maltese" by Hugo Pratt (1967)
• "Pravda" by Guy Peellaert (1967)
• "Silver Surfer" by Stan Lee and John Buscema (1968)
Underground Comix,
• "Zap Comics", (1968) ▴
by Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Stanley Mouse, Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin, Robert Williams
• "It Ain't Me, Babe", (1970)
by Trina Robbins, Barbara 'Willy' Mendes, Nancy Kalish, Carole Kalish, Lisa Lyons, Meredith Kurtzman, Michele Brand
(in order according to the list)
50 More Books That Created Pop Culture
by Tym Stevens
Rockabilly! Psyche! Soul!
Jazz! Reggae! Soundtracks!
Punk! Funk! Surf!
Bernard Herrmann, The Byrds, Temptations,
The Sonics, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd,
Stevie Wonder, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin,
David Bowie, Steve Miller, Parliament,
Cheap Trick, Ramones, BuzzCocks,
The Jam, Joy Division, Sham 69,
Toyah, R.E.M., U2, Vangelis
Eric B + Rakim, Grimes,
and many more!
© Tym Stevens
See also:
• The Canon 1: 50 Books That Created Modern Culture, with Music Player
• The Canon 3: 50 Recent Books That Created Modern Culture, with Music Player
• 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - Its Transcendent Influence on all Pop Culture, with Music Player
• How STAR WARS Is Changing Everything!
• The Big Bang of STARSTRUCK: The Roots and Branches of Lee and Kaluta's Space Opera
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