50 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Works Every Socialist Should Read

[Ichingcarpenter]

I don't know if I agree with his list but there are a lot of books I hadn't heard about.



This is not a list of the “best” fantasy or SF. There are huge numbers of superb works not on the list. Those below are chosen not just because of their quality—which though mostly good, is variable—but because the politics they embed (deliberately or not) are of particular interest to socialists. Of course, other works—by the same or other writers—could have been chosen: disagreement and alternative suggestions are welcomed. I change my own mind hour to hour on this anyway.


Sample reviews


Iain M. Banks—Use of Weapons (1990)

Socialist SF discussing a post-scarcity society. The Culture are “goodies” in narrative and political terms, but here issues of cross-cultural guilt and manipulation complicate the story from being a simplistic utopia.


Edward Bellamy—Looking Backward, 2000–1887 (1888)

A hugely influential, rather bureaucratic egalitarian/naïve communist utopia. Deals very well with the confusion of the “modern” (19th Century) protagonist in a world he hasn’t helped create (see Bogdanov)

.
Alexander Bogdanov—The Red Star: A Utopia (1908; trans. 1984)

This Bolshevik SF sends a revolutionary to socialist Mars. The book’s been criticized (with some justification) for being proto-Stalinist, but overall it’s been maligned. Deals well with the problem faced by someone trying to adjust to a new society s/he hasn’t helped create (see Bellamy).


Emma Bull & Steven Brust—Freedom & Necessity (1997)

Bull is a left-liberal and Brust is a Trotskyist fantasy writer.F&Nis set in the 19th Century of the Chartists and class turmoil. It’s been described as “the first Marxist steampunk” or “a fantasy for Young Hegelians.”


Mikhail Bulgakov—The Master and Margarita (1938; trans. 1967)

Astonishing fantasy set in ’30s Moscow, featuring the Devil, Pontius Pilate, The Wandering Jew, and a satire and critique of Stalinist Russia so cutting it is unbelievable that it got past the censors. Utterly brilliant.


More;

http://theweeklyansible.tumblr.com/post/20777236577/50-sci-fi-fantasy-works-every-socialist-should

[drmeow]

1. Thanks for posting this

I'm going to add at least some of them to my to read list (as much as I agree with the "know your enemy" concept, I just can't bring myself to read Rand).

[OrwellwasRight]

2. This list is missing Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut

His very first novel and probably my favorite. A true dystopian vision of a future in which people are in service to the economy instead of the economy being in service to people. Kind of like USA in 2015.

[bluedigger]

3. I remember grinding my way through Peake's Gormanghast trilogy in sixth grade or so.

It was not the next LOTR that I was expecting!

[Babel_17]

4. The Culture of Iain M. Banks

Great choice. Though, and I'm not going to post any big spoilers, The Player of Games is also about directly comparing the culture to ..... well, I'll just say the comparison was great, and the book really delivers.