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Last Updated: May 28, 2013 URL: http://libguides.mssu.edu/events Print Guide RSS UpdatesShareThis

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Why Sci-fi books in May?

May was chosen as Sci-Fi month in the library by our Access Services Librarian and Circulation Specialist because of the following May events:

May 3rd - Space Day

May 4th - Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!)

May 11th Twilight Zone Day

 

Denim Butts - Graduating Student Worker

Cover Art
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
Call Number: PR6005.L36 C45 1953c
ISBN: 0345444051
The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city--intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a golden age began.

But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads, will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?

 

Jessica Waldo - Student Worker

Cover Art
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Call Number: PR6052.U638 C5 1986
ISBN: 0393312836
Publication Date: 1995-04-17
Told through a central character, Alex, the disturbing novel creates an alarming futuristic vision of violence, high technology, and authoritarianism. A modern classic of youthful violence and social redemption set in a dismal dystopia whereby a juvenile deliquent undergoes state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation for his aberrant behavior.

 

Nancy Crabtree - Librarian

Cover Art
The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
Call Number: PS3503.R167 M3 1972
ISBN: 1451678193
The Earthmen came by the handful, then the hundreds, then the millions. They swept aside the majestic, dying Martian civilization to build their homes, shopping malls, and cities. Mars began as a place of boundless hopes and dreams, a planet to replace an Earth sinking into waste and war. It became a canvas for mankind’s follies and darkest desires. Ultimately, the Earthmen who came to conquer the red-gold planet awoke to discover themselves conquered by Mars. Lulled by its ancient enchantments, the Earthmen learned, at terrible cost, to overcome their own humanity.

 

Wendy McGrane - Library Director

Cover Art
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Call Number: PZ7.C6837 Hun 2009
ISBN: 9780439023528
Publication Date: 2010-07-01
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

 

Debbie Woodmansee - HR Training Specialist

Cover Art
Contact - Carl Sagan
Call Number: PS3569.A287 C6 1985
ISBN: 0671701800
Dr. Ellie Arroway, a radio astronomer, discovers a clear and unmistakably intelligent signal from outer space. This signal, and the significance of knowing "we are not alone," excites debate; fosters love, hate, and fear; and unifies mankind on a worldwide scale. Ellie remains scientifically skeptical and aloof from the controversy as she becomes involved with the politicians and scientists who hammer out a consolidated earthly response to the extraterrestrials' instructions for building a mysterious "machine." Is the machine good or evil? Is it from God? Or is it a doomsday machine?

 

Charles Nodler - Archivist

Cover Art
The Time Machine - H. G. Wells
Call Number: PR5774 .T5 1966
ISBN: 1453767525
After inventing a machine that moves through time, the Traveler leaves Victorian London and goes far, far into the future. At first, the world he discovers seems peaceful and prosperous. But as he looks below the surface he realizes that things are not exactly as they first appeared.

 

Scene from The Twilight Zone episode "The Obsolete Man"

Chancellor: You're a bug, Mr.Wordsworth. A crawling insect. An ugly, misformed, little creature, that has no purpose here, no meaning!

Wordsworth: I am a human being...

Chancellor: You're a librarian, Mr.Wordsworth.

 

Melissa Forsythe - Circulation Specialist

Cover Art
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Call Number: PS3572.O5 S5 1959
ISBN: 0385333498
An outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course there’s a catch to the invitation–and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell.

 

Whitney Hamm - Circulation Clerk

Cover Art
Dune - Frank Herbert
Call Number: PS3558.E63 D8 1977
ISBN: 0450042300
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family--and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what it undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

 

Victoria Miller - Student Worker

Cover Art
The Final Warning (Maxiumum Ride Series Book 4) - James Patterson
Call Number: PZ7.P27653 Fi 2008
ISBN: 0446194050
Join six extraordinary kids for their coolest ride yet . . .

In one of the world's most extreme environment - the freezing South Pole - Max and the flock are in serious trouble. The grotesque Uber-Director has put a price on their heads, and a worldwide auction for the genetically modified kids is about to begin. His mutant army is heading down south to track down the winged gang, and with no built-in function for mercy, the soldiers aren't about to take pity on anyone.

Oblivious to the Uber-Director's evil plans, the flock is on a special government mission to save the Earth. But in a brutal environment like the South Pole, being able to fly isn't always an option for escapingf rom your worst nightmares . .

 

Robert Black - Librarian

Cover Art
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein
Call Number: PS3515.E288 S8 1968
ISBN: 0441788386
Stranger in a Strange Land, winner of the 1962 Hugo Award, is the story of Valentine Michael Smith, born during, and the only survivor of, the first manned mission to Mars. Michael is raised by Martians, and he arrives on Earth as a true innocent: he has never seen a woman and has no knowledge of Earth's cultures or religions. But he brings turmoil with him, as he is the legal heir to an enormous financial empire, not to mention de facto owner of the planet Mars. With the irascible popular author Jubal Harshaw to protect him, Michael explores human morality and the meanings of love. He founds his own church, preaching free love and disseminating the psychic talents taught him by the Martians. Ultimately, he confronts the fate reserved for all messiahs.

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