Book picks similar to
The Alien Condition by Stephen Goldin


short-stories
science-fiction
fiction
short-story

Bloodchild


Octavia E. Butler - 1984
    Butler’s shattering meditation on symbiosis, love, power and tough choices. It won the Hugo, Locus, Nebula and Science Fiction Chronicle awards and is widely regarded as one of her greatest works.Years ago, a group known as the Terrans left Earth in search of a life free of persecution. Now they live alongside the Tlic, an alien race who face extinction; their only chance of survival is to plant their larvae inside the bodies of the humans.When Gan, a young boy, is chosen as a carrier of Tlic eggs, he faces an impossible dilemma: can he really help the species he has grown up with, even if it means sacrificing his own life?Perfect for fans of the thrilling Arrival and the works of Ursula Le Guin.

All You Zombies


Robert A. Heinlein - 1959
    It further develops themes explored by the author in a previous work, "By His Bootstraps", published some 18 years earlier.

The Test


Sylvain Neuvel - 2019
    Twenty-five chances to impress.When the test takes an unexpected and tragic turn, Idir is handed the power of life and death.How do you value a life when all you have is multiple choice?

How to Talk to Girls at Parties


Neil Gaiman - 2007
    "It'll be great.""No, it won't," I said, although I'd lost this fight hours ago, and I knew it."It'll be brilliant," said Vic, for the hundredth time. "Girls! Girls! Girls!" He grinned with white teeth.

"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman


Harlan Ellison - 1965
    A rebel inhabits a world where conformity and punctuality are top priorities and the Ticktockman cannot accept the Harlequin's presence in his perfectly ordered world.

The Golden Apples of the Sun


Ray Bradbury - 1953
    He saw the skin peel from the rocket beehive, men thus revealed running, running, mouths shrieking, soundless. Space was a black mossed well where life drowned its roars and terrors. Scream a big scream, but space snuffed it out before it was half up your throat. Men scurried, ants in a flaming matchbox; the ship was dripping lava, gushing steam, nothing!Journey with the century's most popular fantasy writer into a world of wonder and horror beyond your wildest dreams.Contents:- The Fog Horn (1951)- The Pedestrian (1951)- The April Witch (1952)- The Wilderness (1952)- The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl (1948)- Invisible Boy (1945)- The Flying Machine (1953)- The Murderer (1953)- The Golden Kite, the Silver Wind (1953)- I See You Never (1947)- Embroidery (1951)- The Big Black and White Game (1945)- A Sound of Thunder (1952)- The Great Wide World Over There (1952)- Powerhouse (1948)- En la Noche (1952)- Sun and Shadow (1953)- The Meadow (1953)- The Garbage Collector (1953)- The Great Fire (1949)- Hail and Farewell (1953)- The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953)

The Aliens


Murray Leinster - 1959
    and so, they knew, were the Aliens. When two expanding empires meet... war is inevitable. Or is it...?

The Secret Life of Bots


Suzanne Palmer - 2017
    Autonomous maintenance robots take on a much larger role in saving a spaceship from aliens than the ship's human crew could have ever suspected.A science fiction story first published in Clarkesworld, Issue 132, September 2017.

Memento


Amie Kaufman - 2020
    The advanced AI system was supposed to protect a fleet of survivors who’d escaped the deadly attack on Kerenza IV. AIDAN was supposed to be infallible. But in the chaotic weeks and months that followed, it became clear that something was terribly, terribly wrong with AIDAN…

The Egg


Andy Weir - 2009
    A short story about the universe and your place in it.

The Seeds of Time


John Wyndham - 1956
    For the ten short stories collected here, John Wyndham turns his imagination to, among other subjects, body-snatching, time-travel and mind-travel, and the the tricky business of interplanetary colonization.

The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex


Tamsyn Muir - 2020
    For the bookish academics of the Sixth, every secret is a mystery, and every mystery is a puzzle to be solved or a paper to be published. Deep in the bowels of their house, one such secret is about to reveal itself. The study of the famed academic Donald Sex, sealed since the moment of his death, is about to open, and archivists are ready to dissect what he left behind. They are not ready for the macabre surprise that awaits them.Enter Palamedes Sextus and Camilla Hect, age thirteen.

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 132 (Clarkesworld Magazine #132)


Neil ClarkeSara Saab - 2017
    Brym"Little /^^^\&-" by Eric Schwitzgebel"The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer"Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics" by Jess Barber and Sara Saab"Möbius Continuum" by Gu Shi, translated by S. Qiouyi Lu"Bonding with Morry" by Tom Purdom"Warmth" by Geoff RymanNON-FICTION"Artificial Wombs and Control of Reproductive Technology" by Stephanie M. Bucklin"Occult Agencies and Political Satire: A Conversation with Charles Stross" by Chris Urie"Another Word: The Dream of Writing Full Time" by Kelly Robson"Editor's Desk: Home for the Month" by Neil Clarke

Everything but the Squeal


John Scalzi - 2008
    if you’re one of the lucky few to live in the new, ecologically-minded city-states that dot the landscape. Outside their walls, in the “wilds” -- the rotting suburbs and exurbs of America -- things have become rather more precarious. Benjamin Washington is a kid in New St. Louis, who is on the verge of getting the boot into the wilds if he doesn’t take a job. In a last-ditch effort, he takes the only gig available to him: Biological Systems Interface Management... which is to say, he’s about to become a high-tech pig farmer. It’s a letdown for Benjamin, who has always expected better things for himself. But then comes the day when New St. Louis is under attack, from without and within. The only person standing between attackers and their goal is one young pig farmer, who never even wanted to be there... but who now has to make a choice whether to co-operate with the intruders, or make a stand for his city.

Legion


Brandon Sanderson - 2012
    As the story begins, Leeds and his 'aspects' are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society"--From publisher's description