The
Wellsian: The Journal of the H.G. Wells Society
Olaf
Stapledon, a socialist
and an early and expansive visionary of the future evolution of
humanity, of which socialist world government was just a first step
Isaac Asimov,
a Marxist in his youth, and democratic humanist in his maturity, author of more than 300
books including the Marxism-inspired Foundation series
Asimov FAQ - doesn't
discuss the Futurians group that Asimov was a part of
The Futurians
- a Marxist SF fan organization that included several youths who later
became prominent SF writers, such as Asimov and Fred Pohl
H.P. Lovecraft, a socialist
and author of the many "Cthulu" horror novels and short stories
David Brin,
self-styled "cheerful libertarian" and author of the
provocative novels Earth
and the Uplift series. His book The
Transparent Society argues that absolute privacy may be
undesirable.Brin co-founded the Reading
for the Future organization.
John
Brunner, a British socialist SF writer, author of the classic SF
social commentaries, the overpopulation-themed Stand on Zanzibar,
Shockwave Rider (the novel that proposed the idea of software worm
as a terrorist weapon), and ecological The Sheep Look Up.
Emma Bull & Steven Brust -- Freedom &
Necessity (1997)
"Bull is a left-liberal and Brust is a Trotskyist fantasy writer. F&N
is set in the 19th Century of the Chartists and class turmoil. It's been
described as "the first Marxist steampunk" or "a fantasy
for Young Hegelians.'" (Abstract by China
Mieville)
Octavia Butler -- Survivor (1978)
"Black American writer, now discovered by the mainstream after
years of acclaim in the SF field. Kindred is her most overtly
political novel, the Patternmaster series the most popular. Survivor
brilliantly blends genre SF with issues of colonialism and racism."
(Abstract by China
Mieville)
Eugene Byrne and Kim Newman,
authors of Back
in the USSA, an alternative history in which American became a communist country,
and 60s counter culture types are fighting for perestroika
Philip
K. Dick -- A
Scanner Darkly (1977)
Could have picked almost any of his books. Like all of them, this deals
with identity, power, and betrayal, here tied in more directly to social
structures than in some other works (though see Counter-Clock World and
The Man in the High Castle). Incredibly moving. (Abstract by China
Mieville)
Doris Lessing,
a South African expatriate, political radical, and author of the many
novels including speculative fiction Canopus in Argos series
Simon Louvish author of The
Resurrections, an alternate history, based on the premise that Rosa Luxemberg survived
to lead a successful Communist revolution in Germany in 1923.
Norman Spinrad, a leftist author of the classic Agent
of Chaos, a reflection on democracy and totalitarianism, and the
1990s Russian Spring, an optimistic projection of a Russian
renaissance
Bruce Sterling,
a "Viridian" Green, author of Schismatrix,
and other works
Michael Swanwick, author of the meditation on technology and fascism, Jack
Faust, the ecological In
the Drift, and the depiction of a completely collectivized Earth facing
an individualistic space culture, Vacuum
Flowers
Kurt Vonnegut,
self-described socialist, author of many, hilarious novels with wry social
commentary
Warren Wagar, author of A
Short History of the Future, which projects the rise of global
capitalism, its replacement by world government, and then the
decentralization of society