KATE WILHELM
One of the most versatile and razor-sharp writers of the New Wave era.
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (1976): Winner of the Hugo, Locus, and Jupiter Awards. Following a catastrophic ecological collapse and global sterility, a wealthy family turns to cloning to preserve human survival. Wilhelm crafts a chilling, multi-generational psychological study exploring individuality versus absolute conformity.
“The Planners” (1968): An incisive, clinical commentary on bioethics and human empathy. A detached scientist runs intelligence-boosting drug trials on caged monkeys – and on a disabled child and convict – while his own personal life quietly unravels alongside them.
The Infinity Box (1971): A contented family man discovers he can enter the mind of the woman across the street – seeing through her eyes, feeling what she feels, and ultimately controlling her completely. Wilhelm strips the mind-reading trope of any pulp glamour to deliver an uncomfortable study of power, violation, and moral erosion.
“Forever Yours, Anna” (1987): A brilliant graphologist is hired to analyze a series of letters from a woman named Anna—letters that, impossibly, reach him across time. A clever, deeply moving cross-temporal love story.
AVRAM DAVIDSON
)ne of speculative fiction’s most eccentric and brilliantly audacious authors.
“Or All the Seas with Oysters” (1958): Winner of the Hugo for Best Short Story, this tale is set in a mundane urban bike shop where the shop’s owner makes an unsettling discovery about the structural lifecycle of inanimate objects. One of the most memorable and unsettling metamorphic concepts in SF.
“The Golem” (1955): An artificial being engineered to conquer humanity has the distinct bad luck of wandering onto the front porch of an elderly Jewish couple. A masterful blend of theology, folklore, and sharp cultural humor.
“Now Let Us Sleep” (1957): Humans on a colony world discover a docile, defenseless alien species—and methodically drive them toward a quiet extinction. Deeply dark, poignant, and sobering.
“The Sources of the Nile” (1961): Eerily prophetic about modern influencer culture and trend forecasting, this novelette follows a man who uncovers the literal, unconscious source of all American consumer trends and seeks to exploit it.
JAMES H. SCHMITZ
A master of space opera, alien ecologies, and inventive psi powers.
The Witches of Karres (1966): Expanded from his 1949 novelette, this comic novel follows Captain Pausert, a well-meaning space trader who rescues three young sisters from slavery, only to discover they are psi-powered “witches” from the planet Karres. An early archetype of the beloved chaotic space family trope.
The Demon Breed (1968): A brilliant biochemist single-handedly thwarts an invasion by the amphibious aliens on the ocean world of Nandy-Cline Recognized for its cool-headed heroine, vivid worldbuilding, and psychological insight.
Grandpa (1955): This ecological adventure centers on a young colonist stranded on a massive alien lifeform resembling a giant lily pad. It showcases Schmitz’s gift for grounded alien biologies, clever problem-solving, and subtle environmental themes.
Lion Loose (1961): When space pirates hijack an orbital hotel, a deadly, intelligent alien apex predator escapes its enclosure. Operative Quillan and industrial spy Reetal Destone must navigate the hostile human factions while tracking a beast that is nearly impossible to stop. A propulsive adventure-thriller.
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