[ironprism]

Does anyone have suggestions on teaching SF to a group of 23 junior English honors students?

[Kamakhya]

I took a SF Lit course in college that was pretty good. One thing that I enjoyed about it was we would on occasion watch one of the movie productions of a book we read. It added a little extra dimension to the course.

[Llama]

Well, first you have to construct a reading list, no? Take a look at David Pringle's book on the 100 Best Science Fiction Novels, although note that it ends in 1985 or thereabouts.

Don't just touch on the grand old men of SF, namely Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke and Heinlein or kids will get the idea there's been no good sf written since 1950. Take time to explore the work of sixties authors like Harlan Ellison, Philip K Dick and Samuel Delany. Spend time on political sf, like the feminist works of Joanna Russ and Octavia Butler. Don't ignore cyberpunk -- Gibson's Neuromancer or Sterling's Schismatrix should be on any decent reading list.

[blahginger]

I took a sci-fi English course back in High School (1984 interestingly enough). The only books I remember reading from the course were

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

Brave New World is certainly very topical with the drugs and the genetic engineering.

[Hobbit]

Are we looking at short stories or novels here?

If stories, try: Science Fiction: 101 edited by Robert Silverberg. ISBN: 074341294X

Also: The Road to Science Fiction series, edited by James Gunn. Many of these though unfortunately are out of print. There are 6 volumes to date.
Vol 1: ISBN: 0451618505
Vol 2: ISBN: 0451618599
Vol 3: ISBN: 0451624270
Vol 4: ISBN: 1565048229

I know that volumes 5 & 6 are about, though - vol 5 (ISBN: 1565041577) looks at British Sf , vol 6 (ISBN: 1565041585) is a volume that looks at SF from round the world.


Actual novels: Good old traditionals (Ie: read safe, old but brief and well liked on the whole)

2001, Arthur C Clarke
(or Childhood's End, perhaps)

War of the Worlds, HG Wells (or the Time Machine, or the Invisible Man..)

One of Heinlein's juveniles - Red Planet, Tunnel in the Sky, Farmer in the Sky, Time for the Stars etc.

Asimovs - I Robot (stories) (or the Foundation novels, End of Eternity, Naked Sun).

More recently, Bruce Sterling - Islands in the net (for cyberhackers), many Philip K Dick (probably the Man in the High Castle for me, but you could try Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep for its Bladerunner links) and John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up, amongst others.

Others, in no order - Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham, Demolished Man, Alfred Bester, A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr, Snowcrash or The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.

There are others (many mentioned above!) but these'll get you started!

The Millennium SF Masterworks series are actually not a bad start.

Hobbit

[Bond]

It might help to actually know the tastes and familiarity of the students with the Sci-Fi genre. Did they choose it of their own volition? Are they planning to be writers? Are they snobs? Heard one guy say he dropped a sci-fi course because the teacher had said he would have included a viewing of Costner's The Postman if he could. Apparently he hated Costner movies. Would that be fine by you? I didn't like A Brave New World when I read it but I realize it has been helpful in not appearing too ignorant and being able to appreciate more a movie like Demolition Man. It has become a basis for reference. Is it just me or is it slowly replacing 1984?

[ironprism]

thanks for all the suggestions

Actually, this is a 55 minute lesson to inform the class what science fiction is all about. What are the most important things about the genre that they should know?

[Hobbit]

How are you going to fit it all into 55 minutes? http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

OK. Try some definitions of SF. You could try words derived from SF - robot, android, terraforming, waldo, cyberspace and link them to the books/authors they came from (erm - Capek, Heinlein, Jack Williamson, Gibson - I think! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif ) OR link to Films (Blade Runner to Dick, etc).

If we are looking at literary merits, you are clearly looking at stories with links to novels, etc. From the past HG Wells is perhaps your best bet - try this link!: http://www.4learning.co.uk/netnotes/dsp_series.cfm?seriesid=94

- with Heinlein or Asimov (or Clarke!) for the oldies. Bradbury is good, but not always SF.

More recent - that's harder. Perhaps Stephen Baxter for the recent hard Sf (he's done quite a few stories recently) and for the softer side - look at the Silverberg 101 anthology!

Hobbit

[Vitriol]

Maybe mention the effect tht the genre has had on the mainstream world; 1984, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse 5 and so on.

[Loque]

It's essential to make sure that they see that not all sci-fi is star trek and star wars, show them the range of books sci-fi covers