January saw the end of two of my favorite events of the year, The 2015 Sci Fi Experience hosted here at Stainless Steel Droppings and Vintage Sci Fi Month hosted by Andrea at the Little Red Reviewer. I will wrap those up after the break.
As these two science fiction related reading events come to a close, another one has begun.
The Definitive 1950’s SF Reading Challenge, hosted on the World’s Without End website as part of their Roll Your Own Challenge project, is a challenge based on the work of one of my online friends, James Wallace Harris.
Using a database that collates rankings from a wide variety of online sources, Harris has created definitive lists of books for several different decades. This challenge utilizes his rankings for the decade of the 1950’s.
The challenge is to read a book from each of the ten years, beginning with 1950, in chronological order, chosen from the books in Harris’ database. Though you do not have to predetermine the books you will read, I had a fun time creating my tentative list. The books, in order of publication (and hence reading order), are:
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. 1950. Reviewed here.
Between Planets by Robert A. Heinlein. 1951.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. 1952. This will be a reread.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 1953
The Stars Are Ours by Andre Norton. 1954.
Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton (writing as Andrew North). 1955.
Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein. 1956.
Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein. 1957.
Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein. 1958.
Immortality, Inc. by Robert Sheckley. 1959.
There are obviously a lot of repeated authors in the mix. My choices were made in part by an ever-growing desire to read books that I already own. In addition, I have long been a fan of Robert A. Heinlein’s early and mid-period work and have become a fan of Andre Norton’s work since first trying her out a few years back. Any excuse to read more of their fiction is a good excuse to me.
This one is going to be fun, and will spread out throughout the entire year, so there is no pressure to read through the list quickly. Worlds Without End is a great resource for reviews and book discussions and they welcome your reviews there as well.
If you are curious, check it out. Would love to have you join in.
And stay tuned, I will soon be announcing a challenge that I am hosting from the WWE site. To give you a hint: it combines my passion for book cover illustration with my passion for genre fiction.
The 2015 Sci Fi Experience was possibly my favorite one yet. I enjoyed reading your reviews and have several that I still plan to read. Thank you for your participation, I hope you enjoyed yourselves.
This was the second year of beginning this in December and I like the format. My random reading tends to get very Science Fiction focused in November, so the Experience always starts early for me.
The books I read solely for The 2015 Sci Fi Experience were:
A Call to Duty ~David Weber/Timothy Zahn
The Martian ~Andy Weir
All Seated on the Ground ~Connie Willis
D.A. ~Connie Willis
Andromeda’s War ~William C. Dietz
Date Night on Union Station ~E.M. Foner
Alien Night on Union Station ~E.M. Foner
High Priest on Union Station ~E.M. Foner (
Tangled Up in Blue ~Joan D. Vinge
Special Thanks to Stephan Martiniere for the use of his art for the banner this year.
I am so happy that Andrea hosts this event every January. With the exception of this very odd year thus far, January is generally very cold and my desire to hunker down under a blanket with a work of classic science fiction is at an all-time high. Even though we had many Spring-like days in January, that feeling remained. Though I did not get to as many books as I would have liked, I enjoyed what I read and have gathered several other classics to my basement library to enjoy one day.
Books I read for Vintage SF Month (which also counted towards The 2015 Sci Fi Experience) were:
Pebble in the Sky ~Isaac Asimov
The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! by Harry Harrison
Assignment in Eternity by Robert A. Heinlein
Secret of the Lost Race by Andre Norton
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Thanks again Andrea for being such a great host. I look forward to joining you again in January 2016.
If you did a wrap up post for either of these events, or both, or simply have done a wrap up post for what you read in January 2015, regardless of genre, please feel free to add the link to your post below.
I had planned to participate in both yours and Andrea’s events, but I guess my plate was too full with the normal review commitments. In any event, I’m glad you guys continue to host these events, because one of these days I WILL find time and will be all over it!
I know the feeling, Tammy. I was going all gangbusters with my reading at the start of the year, but mid-January things just got busy, busy, busy.
You are, and will always be, welcome to participate in any way that you can.
Thanks for the link to the Reading Challenge: I found out too late about your’s and the Little Red Reviewer’s, but I’m looking forward to this one. Found some cool books I hadn’t heard of before.
I didn’t personally care for F451 (my personal favorite distopia is Brave New World), but I look forward to reading your thoughts. I also chose Immortality Inc: very neat premise that hooked me.
This will be my first time for F451 and I’m looking forward to it. I am so fond of Bradbury’s short story structured novels (Dandelion Wine, The Martian Chronicles) that I will be interested what I think of this one.
WWE is a fun site for hosting challenges, and this one will be fun. Glad you are participating.
You present an interesting list for me. Of the books you’ve chosen, I have read 6 of them. I was a very active reader of SF back in my early teens, and 50’s SF was the rage back then. I’m particularly interested to hear your comments about Heinlein’s “Have Spacesuit Will Travel”, the very first SF book I ever read (not counting a few Scholastic Books issues such as the Danny Dunn series!). That book was like a first lover – you never forget your first! It is still a favorite, and I occasionally dig out my copy for an enjoyable and nostalgic re-read.
I had a really hard time not picking a bunch of books I’ve already read, Balta, because so many of them are books I consider favorites and I desperately want to read them again.
James Wallace Harris has often talked about how Have Spacesuit is his favorite Heinlein, and I’ve had other friends read and enjoy it, so it is high time I finally get around to reading it.
Interesting. I strongly suggest you pull one of your duplicate authors books, perhaps Heinlein’s TIME FOR THE STARS and plug in DORSAI! I think you’ll like it.
By the way, I’ve read better than 90% of the books on his 1950s lists.
The other thing I am attempting to do this year is read gifted books within a year of their being given…at least ones I put on my wishlist. Between Planets and Time for the Stars were Christmas gifts from my wife, and this copy of The Demolished Man was a gift from Jeff. I’ve also been dying to reread The Demolished Man, so this provides a great excuse. I actually read almost half of it before finding out about this challenge and then sat it down to read in its proper order.
Thanks for the WWEnd plug, Carl. JWH’s 50’s list is really great and I’m taking on the challenge too. I’m cheating a little bit with Day of the Triffids that I read a few days before the challenge started. I’ll read the rest in sequence. I put The Martian Chronicles on my list based on your review and like you I’ve been wanting to read Has Space Suit for many years.
You are very welcome, I appreciate and admire the work that you do over there. It is a great site.
I was quite surprised by just how much The Martian Chronicles struck a cord with me. So good. I hope you enjoy it.
I remember when I used to be so good about joining all of your challenges. Sad I missed this one. Hopefully I will be back for Once Upon a Time!
I hope you do too, as Once Upon a Time would not be the same without you! Hope your 2015 is going well thus far.
You have an excellent list of Fifties SF! I think you’ll really like CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY. It’s one of Heinlein’s best novels.
Happy to hear it, George. I’m very excited about this entire list. I’m diggin’ Between Planets thus far.
I didn’t end up reading as much for either challenge as I had planned, but it has been fun reading through all the reviews that other people wrote for both. I agree about the December timing being awesome. This year I somehow missed it until December was almost over anyway, but next year I will be more on top of it I think.
Also thanks for the tip on the 1950s challenge. I bet I could get through a big chunk of my post-apocalyptic reading goals that way.
My desires are always much more ambitious than time allows, Nikki, so I completely understand.
You are welcome, I hope you join in the 50’s event, it is going to be fun.
I’ve just spent three hours at WWE. I’m hooked. Signed up for the 1950s challenge (user name: Sisimka) It’s a fantastic opportunity to read all those books I always meant to read, you know? So many classics of the genre right there.
I’m going to do a post detailing the books I’ve chosen for the challenge as well. Not sure if I should thank you for wasting more of my time or not…or adding another ten books to my shelves. 😀
WWE is great, isn’t it? I love that site. Thrilled that you are joining in the 50’s challenge! I’ll keep a look out for you over there.
You are welcome for the time wasting nonetheless! Look forward to your list.
Thanks Carl.
Not a good year for me. Next year it will be much better, I’m sure.
Sorry to hear that, but yes, I do hope things keep getting better and better for you, in all areas of your life.
So. Much. Heinlein. Carl. That’s like four Heinleins too many.
I kid. I overdosed on Heinlein last year, and I have another Heinlein coming up this year. An ’80s Heinlein, too. Probably not nearly as charming as your ’50s selections.