The best science fiction books according to the Last Tavern

On the occasion of Stanisław Lem’s birthday, the editorial staff of the Last Tavern decided to choose their favorite science-fiction books!

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Whether it’s a movie, comic book or book, I’ve never been a fan of space travel and science fiction. Star Wars or Aliens have never appealed to my taste. I definitely preferred the typical Lord of the Rings fantasy. One exception is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And I don’t mean a series or a movie in this case, but the first and original trilogy in five volumes by Douglas Adams. This humorous novel was so funny and absurd that I found it hard to tear myself away from it. I also reached for the next volumes immediately. And I found it quite late. All thanks to my wife, who is a fan of the series and said that I must also read. She was absolutely right! It’s hard not to like Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect and cheer them on as they travel through the universe. Though I liked Marvin the most of all the heroes, a job with perpetual depression. With a clear conscience, I recommend this position to everyone and see for yourself what a regular towel can do. And remember – 42!

– Piotr Markiewicz

Isaac Asimov Ja, robot

What is worth reaching for when you have a free moment and a wild desire for Sci-Fi? Of course, for an anthology of short stories! I remember that I was encouraged to join Asimov by a film with the same title as the collection of the aforementioned author, introducing me to the series Foundation. The book I, the Robot contains 9 stories in which we follow the development of machines and what results from their evolution. The functioning of robots is based on the three main laws of robotics, but these, as it turns out, can be interpreted differently than people would like them to. On the one hand, Asimov’s stories are extremely engaging, on the other hand, simply disturbing. I had a great time with them and I recommend them to everyone!

– Jarosław Trzpis

Isaac Asimov Fundacja

Ever since I started my adventure with reading, I have been a huge fan of fantasy. Both the less and the more classic. Kings, empires, elves and great conflicts. All of this has always been very attractive to me. At one point, however, I decided that it was time to check what was on the other side of the universe. I started with Herbart and Dune – everything seems to be right here, but it didn’t take me away. Then it found Dick – nothing was in its place here, and I find communing with his work a very interesting experience (especially The Man in the High Castle). Still, it wasn’t, and then I turned my steps towards the Asimov Foundation. On the one hand, it obviously shares the Dune problems, i.e. the motifs from them were later ground countless times, which should be treated as a compliment. Asimov, however, dressed his threads in a very accessible form – it is extremely easy to read. Another advantage for me is that the author was a scientist (doctor and biologist) and he presents his readers with a great deal of skill, the focal point of which is the emergence of a new science, aimed at saving the universe. I suspect he would be a great lecturer. What I really like about this author is also that, although the characters in the following volumes are loosely related to each other, the main idea and the style of the story are similar and are at a very high level. I heartily recommend it.

– Bartosz Jaworski

Stanisław Lem Invincible

The king of Polish science fiction in his own invincible person. Lem at its best. His book is actually a micro-story. Inconspicuous, but incredibly addictive. Through fast-paced action, amazing ideas, character creations and dialogues, it provides an overview of all the possibilities and prose skills of our compatriot. And there is something to admire. Lem deservedly stands on the pedestal of the greatest authors of the genre. First off, his book is just plain good. The adventures are interesting and original. They do not let you get bored, they keep you in suspense and the story is worth more than one screening. In addition, the reader learns that the writer is truly gifted. His knowledge, which is the basis and support for the novel, is enormous. Especially in the field of biology, chemistry, physics and astronomy. All descriptions sound plausible, everything is accurately and meticulously presented from start to finish. In places, the book resembles a scientific work. And he does it in a way that is digestible enough not to reject the reader. Moreover, Lem had a great talent for dressing complicated processes into simple words. The invincible is read (unfortunately) quickly, quite easily, and with bated breath and flushed face. For every fan of the genre and not only, it is a must-have. It is worth getting acquainted with, for example, Lem’s writing skill, where specialist knowledge and the ability to communicate information are combined with a great arrangement of the story. The novel itself is about the crew of the title spacecraft, sent in search of its twin unit. Superbly written heroes reach the desert planet Regis III, where contact with “Condor” has been lost.

– Wojciech Chmiel

Philip K. Dick Through a dark mirror

Like Stanisław Lem, Philip Dick is one of the legends of the science fiction genre. In fact, one could easily take a random title for this list – it was For the Dark Mirror, a story about madness and, in a sense, self-destruction of the main character, brought about by Substance A (in the original D). The story of Bob Actor alias Fred is also in some ways the autobiography of an author who had a problem with drugs for a while. What stuck most in my mind was the elusive feeling of digging into Bob’s thoughts, which sometimes made me doubt my own sanity. Or at least read back a few or a dozen pages all over again.

– Anna Domitrz

Frank Herbert Diuna

As a child, I read fantasy novels about dragons, wizards and magic. A little later came a fascination with science fiction, instilled by dad – a bookworm and an avid fantasy. I remember that one of the first books I read was Dune by  Frank Herbert, with yellowed pages and a crumbling cover. I admit that the first time the novel did not captivate me, but it undoubtedly attracted me to the genre of SF, which I have reached more and more often since then. A few years and a lot of books later, I returned to my bloated volume and only then was the genius of its history struck by me. In Duneit is not so much about presenting fantastic worlds and advanced technology as about certain universal truths that go beyond any genre framework. In his magnum opus, Frank Herbert skillfully interweaves theology, esotericism, history and philosophy, revealing a new look at the nature of reality and the world around us. The mysterious spice mined on the planet allows you to expand the limits of human perception and go beyond the limits of the mind to come to a deeply hidden truth. However, the answer to the question about reality is more complex than it may seem. In order to reach it, you must both overcome personal barriers and connect with the planet itself, its people and unique fauna, which hide an almost divine particle. Equally important motifs in the novel are, among others family battles, space travel and a clear ecological aspect, but there would be no room to describe them all. Frank Herbert’s work is undoubtedly one of those that eludes even the most detailed descriptions. The contribution of “Dune” to the development of the genre, however, is so huge that every self-respecting SF enthusiast should become familiar with its content, especially before the premiere of the latest film adaptation.

– Olga Tomczak

Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse number five

I like books that go beyond genre boundaries. Ideally, they should be interesting linguistically, non-chronologically, and somewhat deceive the reader. That is why I appreciate Lavi Tidhar, Sylvain Neuvel and Cixin Liu. Who knows if it all started with Kurt Vonnegut, namely Slaughterhouse number five, which in the old PIW edition was quietly at my house. I reached for it quite early and somehow it happened that it became one of the breakthrough readings for me.

The most important theme I remember from this book is, of course, time travel. Tralfamadorians, or aliens who kidnap the main character of the Slaughterhouse and keep him in their zoo, live non-linearly, although their time is limited. Instead, they can go back to any moment, visit old age before youth, repeat selected moments many times. It is a metaphor for plunging into memories, voluntary and not, as in the case of PTSD. After all, Slaughterhouse is a novel about war, definitely anti-war. Vonnegut expresses this attitude gently and ironically. This whole novel may seem a bit naive and simple-minded, like Billy Pilgrim, its protagonist. Meanwhile, it is a masterful text that devours deeply into heads and hearts. Having a pacifist message but not deceiving anyone, including the author that there will never be war again, and the old ones can be forgotten. A side effect of dealing with this novel will be time travel skills. It comes in very handy, I promise!

– Agnieszka Czoska

John Brunner Everyone in Zanzibar

The novel, written in 1968, telling the events of the distant future (for the author) of 2010, was not published in Poland until 2015. Reading science fiction about the times we live in is certainly a completely different experience than reading this book in the author’s modern times. However, John Brunner has so accurately predicted the direction in which humanity will develop that the vision is both fascinating and terrifying.

The novel Everyone in Zanzibar is distinguished by its structure, as the whole has been divided into 4 types of chapters intertwined with each other. In the “context” we find mainly quotes from books (real and fictional) explaining important concepts, “the here-and-now world” contains news and announcements from the world presented, “close-ups” are personal stories of seemingly unrelated characters, and ”Describes the main plot of the story. Thanks to this structure, the world of the novel seems to be fuller, and the understanding of the intricate dependencies that govern it becomes easier.

John Brunner’s book is timeless. It provokes reflection on the development of humanity, especially in the context of what the author correctly predicted. This is a demanding reading, with a slow pace and great detail of the story, but addictive and well worth your time.

– Ewa Zielińska

Mary Shelley Frankenstein

Pop culture likes monsters, especially literary ones. It is true that in modern books we have plenty of them, but not all of them are equally entertaining. So let’s start from the beginning. Frankenstein, whose originator is Mary Shelley, is considered to be the first science fiction novel. On the one hand, it is a story about the limits of science, on the other – about the (in) tolerance of otherness. Scientist Wiktor Frankenstein does not suspect that discovering the mystery of life and death can change a person’s life forever. When creating a monster, he is sure that this is a turning point for humanity. Indeed, the result of the experiment is significant in the context of the future of the world. What comes will be influenced by many factors, but it will not happen without human involvement.

– Ines Załęska