Books like Ubik
30 science fiction books to read after Ubik, by Dick, Philip K., the closest match first.
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1. The Man In The High Castle
by Dick, Philip K.
- Same author
A novel where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan win WWII.
Philip K. Dick was one of the most idiosyncratic and successful writers in science fiction. Okay, he's probably better known these days for all the films that have been based...
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2. The Centauri Device
by M. John Harrison
- On the same lists
Do you know what they used to call cyberpunk in the 70s? "Hippie space opera", according to the New Worlds Magazine. At least that's what they called Harrison's third space...
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3. Martian Time-slip
by Dick, Philip K.
- Same author
Just as Ray Bradbury's Mars ignores both contemporary scientific knowledge about Mars and the colourful landscape of the planetary romance in order to create a Mars that is peculiarly his...
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4. 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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Culture book 2
5. Player Of Games
by Iain M. Banks
- On the same lists
Probably the best of Ian Bank's Culture novels. Strong characters and a light-hearted tone to the novel despite the "seriousness" of the actual plot make this an easy, addicting read....
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6. 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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7. 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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8. 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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9. 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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10. 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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11. 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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12. 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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13. 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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14. 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
15. 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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16. 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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17. 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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18. 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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19. 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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20. 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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21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
by Dick, Philip K.
- Same author
A novel that contains images that are Retro Futuristic, but is also a story about a post-apocalyptic Earth.
Set in a post-Nuclear War society, the future is pretty bleak. People are being encouraged to leave the planet for parts unknown and are being given an incentive, their own...
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22. 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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23. 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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Night's Dawn book 1 Start here
24. The Reality Dysfunction
by Iii, David R. George
- On the same lists
Space is not the only void... In AD 2600 the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a...
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25. 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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26. Starship Troopers
by Heinlein, Robert A.
- On the same lists
The world government in this future Earth is run by veterans and citizens must earn the right to vote and hold public office with federal service.
Book Flap Description A recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against humankind's most frightening enemy. ...
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27. Anathem
by Stephenson, Neal
- On the same lists
Wow, what a ride from beginning to end. True to a Neal Stephenson tradition, it ties a number of completely different ideas and themes together into a (somehow) working thread....
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28. 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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29. 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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Heechee Saga book 1 Start here
30. Gateway (1978)
by Pohl, Frederik
- On the same lists
Robinette Broadhead is rich, and he has a lot to feel guilty about. In sessions with his robot psychiatrist, he talks about how he got there: he won a lottery...
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 Ubik.
The shortlist
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