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Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, portrait of a worthless father
Had a weird thought about Frankenstein. I wonder if it counts as a first feminist novel as well as first Science Fiction? Mary's Mother was Mary Wollstonecraft, author of "A Vindication of the Rights of Women". Frankenstein has to be the most abusive and horrible parent to his child monster. You can almost here him saying, "Not my child!". A satirical look at the utter lack of male understanding on the topic of childrearing.
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City by Clifford Simak - A story of White Flight and Terror Spoilers ahead
This and I suspect subsequent editions contain a forward by Simak that explains his hatred for the City with its decaying downtown, surrounded by ghettos and other factors that made him write these stories starting about 75 years ago. So I'm not just deriving this from his fiction. This was a time when American government and industry began pushing suburbs as the wave of the future, of course only for white people. And even though this book covers thousands of years, with a world government based in Geneva, there is not a single character that doesn't have an English name as well as being mostly male. This book certainly follows that trend, people leave the cities for tiny isolated plantations run by robots and commute by using atomic aircraft, taking over farmland that was lost by farmers that lost out to hydroponics. This is a common theme in much of his writing, rural America is the best place to live.
There are several bizarre tropes that were popular in Astounding Science Fiction in the 40s and 50s and are present here. The first trope I will dub 'The Magic Brain', if you have the right brain, you will be a genius that knows it all, regardless of your access to education. Mutants are born with the 'Magic Brain' and even though they don't go to school or otherwise interact with society, they understand everything and can fix anything. Another example is one protagonist and his dog are transferred into the bodies of 'Lopers', dwellers on Jupiter, that have the 'magic brain' and almost instantly the dog starts spouting off about physics.
Another trope is instant mutation, ants start building a mechanized civilization after a couple of years of aide given by a mutant. Dogs with voice surgery pass on their traits to puppies(Lysenkoism!) and the animal kingdom starts talking to each other just, well why? In the meantime humans move to Jupiter to become Lopers except for a few who eventually die off or freeze themselves.
This was originally a series of short stories that were narrated by dogs, man's successor, that give a history of the human race's rise and fall. There are several golden age works that use the fall of mankind as a theme, Against the Fall of Night is one example among many. City is still readable but is showing its age. (less)
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I have mixed emotions about the retro-Hugos, even if they are classic, they don't age well for the most part.
Nemesis From Terra by Leigh Brackett
If Dashiell Hammett dropped A Princess of Mars into a pot of boiling water the results would this hard-boiled planetary romance. This is hard-core SF pulp with all the tropes and cliches that infest it. First meet the Chosen One and Great White Savior Rick of the Anglo-Saxon name(as well as many of the Terrans), a two-fisted, larger than life hero that will cast his shadow over Mars!(page 8) Then there's the love interest, tough girl Mayo McCall, She Who Must Be Rescued. Throw in some vaguely racist alien monsters and races and you have a typical stew for a pot-boiler. Will he get the girl and his bloody revenge, you can't make me talk copper!
Other authors tried the Burroughs' formula, Michael Moorcock, Philip José Farmer, Lin Carter, and of course Burroughs himself repeated until death, but this one ranks among the best. (less)