by Stanislaw Lem (1961)
When psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at the research station hovering above the oceanic planet Solaris, he finds the crew deranged and terrified by physical phantoms materialized from their deepest, most shameful memories. Stanislaw Lem crafts the definitive meditation on the terrifying impossibility of truly understanding an alien intelligence.
J.R.R. Tolkien
In the peaceful Shire, Frodo Baggins inherits the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron. Accompanied by a diverse fellowship of men, elves, dwarves, and hobbits, he embarks on an epic quest across Middle-earth toward the fires of Mount Doom.
Margaret Atwood
In the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that has overthrown the United States government, women are stripped of all rights, and the few remaining fertile females are forced into sexual servitude as Handmaids.
Ursula K. Le Guin
A human envoy is sent to the icy world of Gethen with the mission of facilitating its inclusion in a growing intergalactic confederation. But Gethen is unlike any world he has ever known: its inhabitants are ambisexual, possessing no fixed gender. To survive political scheming, Genly must make an impossible trek across the Karhide glacier with a disgraced politician.
Frank Herbert
Twelve years after becoming Emperor, Paul Muad’Dib finds himself trapped by his own prescience and the unstoppable galactic jihad waged in his name as conspiracies brew in the shadows of his imperial palace.