The summer of 1928 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever in moving,...

On a future Earth poisoned by global wars—amidst radioactive dust and neon signs beckoning people toward a sweet life in colonies on other planets—bounty hunter Rick Deckard must track down and ‘retire’ six fugitive androids: beings almost indistinguishable from humans. But as his investigation unfolds, Deckard begins to be plagued by doubts and questions—questions to which he has yet to...

*Summa Technologiae* marked the culmination of the classical era of future studies. In this book, Stanislaw Lem conducted a unique and bold technological analysis of civilizations. He examined the potential emergence of fundamentally new groups of scientific disciplines and completely rejected simple extrapolative models of the future. Written over forty years ago, the book remains entirely...

Is there life on Mars? Yes, there is—in Kurt Vonnegut’s science fiction novel *The Sirens of Titan*, the reader can visit not only Mars but also Mercury and Titan alongside the protagonist: Malachi Constant, a wealthy American playboy. On Mars, Malachi is transformed into ‘Uncle,’ loses his memory and everything he owns, and is forced to obey the orders of those who have implanted a chip in his...

H.G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer and a ‘founding father’ of the science fiction genre. Although H.G. Wells’s novels lack the trappings of the modern world—such as computers, space shuttles, and particle accelerators—they continue to be read with undiminished interest and will never disappear from bookshelves.

Sasha, a young computer programmer from Leningrad, is driving through the forests of Northwest Russia to meet up with some friends for a nature vacation. He picks up a couple of local hitchhikers, who persuade him to come work with them at the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy, or NITWiT. The adventures Sasha has in the largely dysfunctional Institute involve...