Books like The Centauri Device
29 science fiction books to read after The Centauri Device, by M. John Harrison, the closest match first.
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1. A Time Of Changes (1972)
by Silverberg, Robert
- On the same lists
On the planet Borthan, the Covenant forbids selfhood: people are taught to be modest and to say "I" is obscene. Kinnall Darival, a prince who fled his family after a...
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2. The Heat-death Of The Universe
by Pamela Zoline
- On the same lists
Inner space, that touchstone idea of the British New Wave, was not about the psychology of the characters so much as it was contrasting the vastness of the human imagination...
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3. Bug Jack Barron
by Norman Spinrad
- On the same lists
One of the great taboos that the new wave broke was political engagement. This was an era when everyone engaged in politics, from Vietnam protests to feminist campaigns to Stonewall,...
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4. Barefoot In The Head
by Brian Aldiss
- On the same lists
It's hard to know which Brian Aldiss novel to pick out for a list like this. Should it be Greybeard with its aging population living on a sterilised Earth? Or...
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5. And Chaos Died
by Joanna Russ
- On the same lists
Inner space is about the ways that the mind encompasses the world, shapes the world and is shaped by it. The protagonist of Joanna Russ's second novel, And Chaos Died,...
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6. The Cornelius Quartet
by Moorcock, Michael
- On the same lists
The new wave can, all too easily, be presented as humourless, worthy stuff, but it was often exuberant, funny and full of vivid ideas. The best exemplars of this are...
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7. Camp Concentration
by Thomas M. Disch
- On the same lists
One of the developments in scientific thinking during the 1960s that new wave writers caught on to was changing ideas about the power of the mind. Much new wave fiction...
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8. England Swings Sf
by Judith Merril
- On the same lists
This was the anthology that effectively introduced America to the British New Wave. Merril had been living in Britain for a year, and was struck by the energy and enthusiasm...
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9. The Hieros Gamos Of Sam And An Smith
by Josephine Saxton
- On the same lists
"Hieros gamos" means holy marriage, and this is the story of an intense emotional bond that develops between the two characters at the heart of this extraordinary fable. The story...
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10. The Lathe Of Heaven
by Guin, Ursula K. Le
- On the same lists
Le Guin's novel is thought-provoking and explores culture, gender, and psychology on an alien world where gender is a choice.
For new wave writers the world is never a fixed, absolute, unchangeing place, but is, rather, ever changing and ever changeable depending upon how it is perceived, and those perceptions...
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Dayworld book 1 Start here
11. Dayworld
by Farmer, Philip Jose
- On the same lists
Philip Jose Farmer's career was revitalised by his engagement with the new wave. The taboo-defying fiction that he had already written in works like The Lovers (1952) suddenly became relevant,...
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12. The Müller-focker Effect
by John Sladek
- On the same lists
Although there were distinct differences between the new wave in Britain and in America, there were American writers, like Thomas M. Disch and Pamela Zoline, who were far more closely...
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13. Collision Course
by Barrington J. Bayley
- On the same lists
Although he would enjoy something of a cult status among some British fans, Bayley is probably one of the forgotten figures of the British New Wave, largely because of his...
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14. Warm Worlds And Otherwise
by James Tiptree Jr.
- On the same lists
James Tiptree appeared as if from nowhere in the late 1960s with a series of beautifully realised stories that yet revealed a dark imagination, particularly when it comes to matters...
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15. The Dream Master
by Zelazny, Roger
- On the same lists
Expanded from the Nebula Award winning novella, "He Who Shapes", this is a story about using dreams to both escape and change the world. Charles Render is the inventor of...
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16. Beyond Apollo -
by Barry N. Malzberg
- On the same lists
How do you turn a technology-heavy subject like the expansion of the manned space programme beyond Apollo, into an unreliable new wave text? By turning it into a novel within...
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Light book 1 Start here
17. Light
by M. John Harrison
- Same author
M. John Harrison's The Centauri Device (1974) was a new wave space opera that was acknowledged as a major influence by writers as varied as Iain M. Banks and China...
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18. Viriconium
by M. John Harrison
- Same author
A defining series in the Dying Earth sub-genre because of its use of metafiction.
A defining series in the Dying Earth sub-genre because of its use of metafiction.
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19. Dangerous Visions
by Harlan Ellison
- On the same lists
Throughout its history, many of the finest and most important works of science fiction have been short stories. Magazines and anthologies have been the lifeblood of the genre for at...
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20. Ubik
by Dick, Philip K.
- On the same lists
What is a best science fiction list without the inclusion of one of the greatest science fiction writers ever? Yes, I'm talking about Philip K. Dick, a man ignored in...
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Light book 2
21. Nova Swing
by M. John Harrison
- Same author
A far-future space opera by M. John Harrison, set on a world touched by the Event Horizon, where a detective and a smuggler follow strange visitors and stranger objects. It...
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Light book 3
22. Empty Space
by M. John Harrison
- Same author
EMPTY SPACE is a space adventure. We begin with the following dream: An alien research tool the size of a brown dwarf star hangs in the middle of nowhere, as...
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23. Licht - Die Trilogie: Drei Romane
by M. John Harrison
- Same author
With The Centauri Device, M. John Harrison provided the foundation text of the British Renaissance, or the New Space Opera, or both (depending on who you listen to). Then he...
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24. Inverted World
by Priest, Christopher
- On the same lists
He had reached the age of 650 miles. With its very first words, Inverted World tells us we are in a very different world. In fact, this is one of...
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25. The Atrocity Exhibition
by J. G. Ballard
- On the same lists
Whenever you put a list of books together, you'll always get disagreements. But this could well be the most controversial choice of all, because J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition has...
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26. Dhalgren
by Delany, Samuel R.
- On the same lists
NOTE: THIS IS #26 on the TOP 100 LIST. The first 1-25 entries are found on THE TOP 25 BEST SCIENCE FICTION LIST. Dhalgren is one of the peculiarities of...
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27. Pavane
by Keith Roberts
- On the same lists
Pavane is a sequence of linked stories set in the 1960s in a world in which the Spanish Armada had succeeded, Catholicism had defeated Protestantism, and the Church ruled Britain...
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28. Stand On Zanzibar
by John Brunner
- On the same lists
In the 1960s, when overpopulation was a common worry for the future, it was often said that the entire population of the world could stand on the Isle of Wight....
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29. Slaughterhouse-five
by Kurt Vonnegut
- On the same lists
Billy Pilgrim was unstuck in time. It sounds like a fairly conventional time travel story. But this is Kurt Vonnegut, and nothing he wrote was ever conventional. In fact, the...
Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to The Centauri Device.
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