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| S |
| • "Sailing to Byzantium" •"The Saliva Tree" • " Salvage" •"Sandkings" • "The Sandman" •"Saturn Game" •"Saucer of Loneliness" • A Scanner Darkly •"Scanners Live in Vain" • "Schrödinger's Kitten" • "Schrödinger's Plague" • "Schwarzchild Radius" • Second Foundation • "Second Variety" •"Secret Place" •" The Sentinel" •"The Seventh Voyage" •"Sex And/Or Mr. Morrison" • "Shall the Dust Praise Thee?" •"The Sharing of Flesh" • "Ship of Shadows"•"The Ship Who Sang" •The Silver Chair • Silver on the Tree •"Slow Life" • Slow River • "Slow Sculpture" • "Snow" • Solaris • So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish • "Soldier, Ask Not" • Something Rotten • "Something to Hitch Meat To" • "Song for Lya" •"Souls" • "Spectre General" • "Speech Sounds" • Speed of Dark • "Spelling God With the Wrong Blocks" • Spin •"Stable Strategies. . ." • "Standing in Line With Mister Jimmy" •"Stardance" • Star Maker • Starman Jones • Starship Troopers • "Start the Clock" • "Story of Your Life"• Stranger in a Strange Land • "Strange Wine" • The Subtle Knife •"Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" •"Sur" •"Surface Tension" •"Surviving" • |
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| "Sailing to Byzantium" |
| by Robert Silverberg First published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, February 1985 winner of the Nebula for Best Novella |
| Preview: Charles Phillips, a human from 1984, finds himself in the 50th century and among a race of vaguely-Mediterranean-looking people who maintain a rotating roster of reproductions of five cities each anchored in a particular time. |
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| "The Saliva Tree" |
| by Brian W. Aldiss First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 1965 Collected in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume III Winner of a Nebula for Best Novella |
| Preview: In East Anglia in the late 19th century, the young socialist Gregory Rolls notices that a fireball crashes on the farm of his friend Joseph Grendon. Rolls, who is interested in Grendon's daughter Nancy, begins to notice strange doings on the farm. |
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| "Salvage" |
| by Orson Scott Card First published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, February 1986 |
| Preview: Nuclear war has destroyed the government; electricity is scarce. A young salvage truck driver decides to dive under the Mormon Sea to retrieve gold that he believes is still in the Salt Lake Temple. |
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| "Sandkings" |
| by George R. R. Martin See the Reading Guide |
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| "The Sandman" |
| by E. T. A. Hoffmann First published in Nachtstücke, Vol. 1, 1816 |
Preview: Nathaniel begins to believe that the optician Coppola is actually Coppelius, the man who might have caused Nathaniel's father's death. Clara, to whom Nathaniel is engaged, believes the demons are all in Nathaniel's head. Then Nathaniel falls in love with Olympia, who turns out to be an automaton. |
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| "The Saturn Game |
| by Poul Anderson First published in Analog, February 1981 Winner of a Hugo for Best Novella Winner of a Nebula for Best Novella |
| Preview: In the mid-21st century, a trio who are deeply involved in playing a high fantasy psychodrama, set off to explore Iapetus, a moon of Saturn. The fantasizing trio triggers a landslide and are badly injured. |
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| "A Saucer of Loneliness" |
| by Theodore Sturgeon First published in Galaxy, February 1953 |
| Preview: A flying saucer alights on a young woman and thereafter she is hounded for the message she received from the alien craft. |
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| A Scanner Darkly |
| by Philip K. Dick 1977 Film version 2006 |
| Preview: Drug dealer Bob Acrtor is also Fred, an undercover narcotics agent. But when Arctor's addiction to Substance D worsens, his mind begins to alternate between his two identities, and he loses the awareness that both Arctor and Fred are the same person. Then Fred is assigned to investigate Arctor. |
| "Scanners Live in Vain" |
| by Cordwainer Smith First published in Fantasy Book #6, 1950 Collected in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. I This story takes place within Smith's Instrumentality universe. |
| Preview: Martel is a Scanner, one of a group of men who voluntarily allow their nerves to be cut so that they are able to steer through space. Martel can only feel when he "cranches" periodically. The Scanners' sacrifice makes space travel possible. Then a method for traversing space without the need for Scanners is developed. |
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| "Schrödinger's Kitten" |
| by George Alec Effinger First published in Omni, September 1988 Winner of a Hugo for Best Novelette |
| Preview: A poor young Islamic girl sees in her visions the possible realities of her life. |
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| "Schrödinger's Plague" |
| by Greg Bear See the Reading Guide |
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| "Schwarzchild Radius" |
| by Connie Willis First published in Universe, ed. Byron Preiss, 1987 |
| Preview; An elderly German scientist recounts his relationship with physicist Karl Schwarzchild (1873-1916) while both served near the German front during World War I. |
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| Second Foundation |
| by Isaac Asimov See the Reading Guide to the Foundation and Robot Novels |
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| "Second Variety" |
| by Philip K. Dick Originally published in Space Science Fiction, May 1953 |
| Preview: In the aftermath of total war, the Soviet Union has destroyed most of the West. American bloc government and production have moved to the Moon. Claws, artificial forms of warfare, are turning the tide. Then the claws begin to design themselves to look human. |
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| "The Secret Place" |
| by Richard McKenna First published in Orbit 1, 1966 Collected in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. III Winner of a Nebula for Best Short Story |
| Preview: During World War II, geology student Duard Campbell is assigned to look for a uranium deposit in the Oregon desert. He befriends Helen, the sister of the dead boy who had found the original uranium sample. Helen takes to the desert and Campbell and shows him the "places" where she and her brother had acted out fantasies. |
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| "The Sentinel" |
| by Arthur C. Clarke See the Reading Guide |
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| "The Seventh Voyage" |
| by Stanislaw Lem See the Reading Guide |
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| "Sex And/Or Mr. Morrison" |
| by Carol Emshwiller First published in Dangerous Visions, 1967 |
| Preview: A little old lady waits to see her neighbor Mr. Morrison naked so she can determine whether he is a Normal or one of the Others. |
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| "Shall the Dust Praise Thee?" |
| by Damon Knight First published in Dangerous Visions, 1967 |
| Preview: On the Day of Wrath Jehovah descends to a desolate and lifeless Earth. |
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| "The Sharing of Flesh" |
| by Poul Anderson Winner of a Hugo for Best Novelette |
| Preview: An expedition from the Allied Planets is evaluating a lost colony regressed to primitivism to decide whther the colony is suitable to be civlized. Then a native murders a scientist and mutilates the body. When the pregnant widow seeks justice she discovers that at puberty young boys ritually share the flesh of an adult male. |
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| "Ship of Shadows" |
| by Fritz Leiber First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1969 Winner of a Hugo for Best Novella |
| Preview: The inhabitants of a ship believe it is haunted by vampires. |
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| "The Ship Who Sang" |
| by Anne McCaffrey First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1961 |
Preview: Helva, a deformed infant, becomes the encapsulated "brain" that controls a scout ship. Partnered with Jennan, a mobile human"brawn," she carries out missions for the Central Worlds. This story has spawned a full-length novel (The Ship Who Sang, 1969) as well as sequels and other novels set in this universe. |
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| The Silver Chair |
| by C. S. Lewis See the General Guide to the Chronicles of Narnia |
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| Silver on the Tree |
| by Susan Cooper See the General Guide to the Dark is Rising sequence |
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| "Slow Life" |
| by Michael Swanwick Originally published in Analog, December 2002 Collected in Science Fiction: Stories and Concepts, ed. Heather Masri |
| Preview: An astronaut on Titan begins to communicate with an alien lifeform. |
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| Slow River |
| by Nicola Griffith 1995 Winner of Nebula for Best Novel |
| Preview: In the near future heiress Lore Van de Oest escapes kidnappers and is befriended by Spanner, a blackmailer and con artist. After three years of living and working with Spanner, Van de Oest sets off on her own with a stolen identity in order to work in a poorly-run bioremediation plant that uses the patents that are the foundation of her family's wealth and to try to figure out why she had never been ransomed. |
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| "Slow Sculpture" |
| by Theodore Sturgeon First published in Galaxy, February 1970 Collected in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. IV Winner of a Hugo for Best Short Story Winner of a Nebula for Best Novelette |
| Preview: In a panic because she has found a lump in her breast, a young woman meets a man in an orchard. He cures her cancer with an injection of static electricity. |
Questions for Discussion:
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| "Snow" |
| by John Crowley See the Reading Guide |
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| Solaris |
| by Stanislaw Lem See the Reading Guide |
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| So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish |
| by Douglas Adams See the Reading Guide to The Hitchhiker's Trilogy |
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| "Soldier, Ask Not" |
| by Gordon R. Dickson Winner of a Hugo for Best Short Fiction |
| Preview: Tan Olyn of the Interworld News Netowrk journeys to the distant planet of St. Marie where, violating his neutrality, he manipulates the terrorist Blue Front n order to discredit and defeat the invading Friendly Forces. |
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| Something Rotten |
| by Jasper Fforde See the Reading Guide to the Thursday Next novels |
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| "Something to Hitch Meat To" |
| by Nalo Hopkinson First published in Skin Folk, 2001 Collected in Science Fiction: Stories and Contexts, ed. Heather Masri |
| Preview: Nancy, a strange little girl who is really a trickster figure, gives Artho the power to strip the surface from things. |
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| "A Song for Lya" |
| by George R. R. Martin First published in Analog, June 1974 Winner of a Hugo for Best Novella |
| Preview: Two psi-talents come to a planet to find out why the humans are converting to the native religion which calls for practiioners to perform ritual suicide by allowing themselves to be eaten by parasites. |
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| "Souls" |
| by Joanna Russ Winner of a Hugo for Best Novella |
| Preview: In Germany in the Middle Ages the Abbess Radegunde confronts a band of invading Norsemen. |
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| "The Spectre General" |
| by Theodore Cogswell First published in Astounding, June 1952 Collected in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. IIB |
| Preview: The Galactic Protectorate's infrastructure is breaking down because no one knows how to fix the machines. A battalion of the Imperial Space Marines, long isolated, continues to educate technicians though it has no actual machines to fix. In a search for a rebel commander, Colonel Krogson stumbles upon the Marine garrison and works out a partnership with its commander Colonel Harris. |
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| "Speech Sounds" |
| by Octavia Butler Winner of a Hugo for Best Short Story |
| Preview: A worldwide epidemic has impaired the ability to speak and to reason. In despair, Valerie, who can still speak but not read, starts on a journey to find her brother but is sidetracked by Obsidia, a man who can read and is willing to join her. |
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| The Speed of Dark |
| by Elizabeth Moon Published 2003 Winner of a Nebula for Best Novel |
Preview: In the mid-21st century, a high-functioning autistic must decide whether to undergo treatment to make him normal. Compare to "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes. |
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| "Spelling God With the Wrong Blocks" |
| by James Morrow First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 1987 |
| Preview: In 2059 on Procyon-5, a planet of androids, twin science missionaries attempt to persuade the androids that they were specifically created by the Harvard Universtiy sociobiology department. |
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| Spin |
| by Robert Charles Wilson 2005 Winner of a Hugo for Best Novel |
| Preview: Unknown aliens have enclosed Earth in a shield--known as the Spin barrier--which acts as a time discontinuity, slowing down Earth time so that in 30 Earth years 300 billion years pass in the universe. Dr. Tyler Dupress recounts life under the Spin and his involvement with twins Jason and Diane Lawton. Dupree works with Jason, an astrophsicist, to attempt to uncover the secrets of the Spin; Jason also pines for Diane who has joined an end-of-the-world religious cult. When an ambassador from Mars arrives, Dupree is in a unique position to make use of the Martian's knowledge about the possibly fate of humanity. |
| "Stable Strategies for Middle Management" |
| by Eileen Gunn See the Reading Guide. |
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| "Standing in Line With Mister Jimmy" |
| by James Patrick Kelly First published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 1991 |
| Preview: When parolee Ved Chiplunker violates curfes and is assigned to a Mexican work camp he is guided by Mister Jimmy, a portable artificial intelligence, to join a long line waiting to enter a pure white doorway into an unknown future. |
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| "Stardance" |
| by Spider and Jeanne Robinson First published in Analog, March 1977 Winner of a Hugo for Best Novella Winner of a Nebula for Best Novella |
| Preview: Charlie Armstead, the video man for Shara Drummond, the first zero-gravity dancer, tells the story of her struggle to complete her masterpiece. |
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| Star Maker |
| by Olaf Stabledon 1937 |
Preview: A man transported out into the cosmos determines to discover humanity's place in the universe. He joins with other like-minded disembodied explorers from a myriad of worlds; they search for the Star Maker, a being from which they believe comes all of the universe. The observations of the strifes of other worlds are comments on the state of Earth in the decade before World War II. |
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| Starman Jones |
| by Robert A. Heinlein 1953 |
| Preview: Runaway Max Jones manages to get a position as a steward's mate on a spaceship. |
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| Starship Troopers |
| by Robert A. Heinlein 1960 Winner of the Hugo for Best Novel |
| Preview: In the 22nd century against the wishes of his father, Johnny Rico joins the Mobile Infantry and learns through his training and his service in the military to become a man. |
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| "Start the Clock" |
| by Benjamin Rosenbaum Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 2004 Collected in Science Fiction: Stories and Contexts, ed. Heather Masri |
| Preview: In the mid 21st century a virus causes humans to be physically stuck in their current ages. |
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| "Story of Your Life" |
| by Ted Chiang Originally published in Starlight 2, 1998 Collected in Science Fiction: Stories and Contexts, ed. Heather Masri Winner of a Nebula for Best Novella |
| Preview: As linguist Louise Banks learns the language of aliens in orbit around Earth, her thought patterns begin to change. |
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| Stranger in a Strange Land |
| by Robert A. Heinlein 1961; restored text, 1990 Winner of the Hugo for Best Novel |
| Preview: Valentine Michael Smith, raised by Martians, returns to Earth with special powers and a messiah-like message of peace. |
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| "Strange Wine" |
| by Harlan Ellison See the Reading Guide. |
| The Subtle Knife |
| by Philip Pullman See the General Guide to the His Dark Materials Trilogy |
| "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" |
| by Brian Aldiss See the Reading Guide |
| "Sur" |
| by Ursula K. Le Guin First published in The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 1982 Subtitled " A Summary Rport of the Yelcho Expedition to the Antarctic, 1909-10" |
| Preview: In 1909, nine women embark on a voyage of discovery to Antarctica |
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| "Surface Tension" |
| by James Blish First published in Galaxy, August 1952 Collected in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. I |
| Preview: A seed-ship from Earth, meant to colonize a distant planet, is stranded on a world covered by water. The crew uses germ cells to set up a colony of microscopic humans able to live in fresh water and leave with the colony a record of their origins. Eighteen generations later the microscopic colony decides to explore the world above the water. |
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| "Surviving" |
| by Judith Moffett First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1986. |
| Preview: Sally Barnes was a feral child who lived among chimpanzees between the ages of 4 and 13. When she comes as a young microbiologist to the community where psychologist Janet Morgan, author of a book about Sally, teaches, the two slowly develop a relationship. Janet wants to help Sally integrate her human and feral sides. Then Sally returns to Africa to uncover memories of her life in the jungle and the immediate aftermath of her return to human society. |
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