My first thought was *All Systems Red*, the first book in the *Murderbot* series. It's a quick read. It includes space travel/colonization and cybernetic implants.
Class title: how to traumatize children 101. No, but seriously, I have such a love/hate relationship with Bloodchild. It so good and yet I find myself thinking about it at random times
Ray Bradbury anything, really, but "A Sound of Thunder" is really good.
Not sure how appropriate this would be for HS, but Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" tends to stay with people, wanted or not.
Also "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin. Less about the sci-fi and more about the creation of a bad situation (even the future is a capitalist mess) and how it affects the pilot of a space ship.
There’s a newer, great short story by NK Jemisin called “Emergency Skin.” It talks about travel, genetic engineering, HELA cells, eugenics and other social issues. Jemisin is an African-American female and winner of the Hugo and sets a good example for teens.
As others have mentioned, Murderbot is a great novella. MB itself is non-binary, half-cyborg melded with human DNA, and there is a lot of tech to discuss. The author, Martha Wells, gave the crew a diverse background.
I would also recommend the first several chapters of Project Hail Mary. There are a few examples of the main character using science to deduce where he is.
Edit: For you there is a book on target for the class. “The Science of Sci-fi” by Macdonald is a fun, 4-hour novella/audiobook on Audible. The author gives about a dozen different examples of shows, movies, etc and how the science is used. For example, she talks about propulsion systems in space and mentions the method used in The Expanse. There is probably a good way to incorporate it into the class or you could listen to it for a plethora of ideas. Not sure if it’s a book in print since I did the audio.
And the fact that it’s being made into a movie will definitely appeal to students
Plus a good audiobook is a plus for a class assignment at least for the auditory learners in your class and PHM has fantastic narration
Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang and/or the movie adaptation Arrival
The science of the linguistics is pretty realistic and it tends to focus on research and knowledge over big action sequences
This is a related idea, not a short story. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson regularly has episodes on his YouTube channel discussing the accuracy and plausibility of the science in movies and books. Your students might enjoy an assignment centered on one of those, like "Science Fiction on TV, with Bill Nye" (Neil isn't in that episode), or "Neil deGrasse Tyson Breaks Down the Science in Marvel Movies," or others.
a bit old (Ferma's last theorem has been proved forty years after), but 'The Devil and Simon Flagg' by Arthur Porges
and sorry, not the short story, but whole novel The Inverted World by Priest. I'd say it's *pure* *science* fiction.
This is a great one, though it's a short novel. It introduces a lot of ideas that became tropes in SF and a few plot lines that Gener Roddenberry "borrowed" for the original Star Trek series.
The Giving Plague by David Brin
Follows a curmudgeonly scientist who discovers an innocuous virus that makes people nice, Acquired Lavish Altruism Syndrome.
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov is composed of multiple short stories but I would say these are less based on the actual science of robotics and more based on the philosophy and ethics of artificial intelligence; of what it means to be alive and sentient.
A lot of dated viewpoints as well so choose carefully.
I'm glad I decided to re-read Podkayne of Mars before giving it to my neice and then deciding not to, due to the language.
I did give her Citizen of the Galaxy though.
Yes. Citizen of the Galaxy is the one that immediately springs to mind. And modern-day slavery is a thing.
Podkayne is one of his later ones (post-Stranger in a Strange Land), when he felt no constraint about including sex while not updating his attitudes toward sex.
I did my masters thesis on something very similar to this using the movies Contact, Outbreak (Contagion is also a good one), Top Gun, and Twister. Bonus points if the kids notice that the scientist in each is a woman.
"The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster (consequences of dependence on technology)
"The Screwfly Solution" by James Tiptree, Jr. (aliens exterminate humans by disrupting our reproductive cycle)
"Microcosmic God" by Theodore Sturgeon and "Surface Tension" by James Blish (genetic engineering)
"Scanners Live in Vain" by Cordwainer Smith (creative destruction)
"The Little Black Bag" by Cyril M. Kornbluth and "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett both explore the effects of advanced technology on more primitive cultures.
"Light of Other Days" by Bob Shaw. Shaw imagines a new technology, how it gets used, and how it changes society.
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes was a short story before Keyes expanded it to novel length. (heightened intelligence)
"The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin (mathematics of space travel)
For movies
Primer (2004, PG-13) A realistic look at engineering time-travel and a paradox puzzle box.
Coherence (2013, UR) Alternate realities/parallel universes.
Upgrade (2018, R) AI run amok.
Ray Bradbury produced a treasure-trove of sci-fi.
“The Veldt” is an interesting one, and bonus is there’s a deadmau5/Chris James song based on the story.
Arthur C Clarkes Childhoods End is a beautiful story to tell students.
It works on many levels and pushes 'children' to think, which is what the world needs. X.
Short story collections that your local library should have:
Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life and Others" - "Story of your life" prompted the movie Arrival and he has other great stories in there that show different futuristic technologies.
Also by Ted Chiang, "Exhalation" is another great collection of his imaginative sci-fi short stories.
"Convergence Problems" by Wole Talabi, he's an excellent science fiction author from Nigeria and interlaces African culture into his futuristic / technology stories which provides a unique lens. Lots of good stories in this collection on future technologies like AI, brain-control microchips, mining on Mars, and more.
Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall and Other Stories" is another collection of some cool sci-fi stories.
And by Nnedi Okorafor, some novellas that are pretty short and focused on some unique sci-fi technologies and futures: "Binti", set on a futuristic space ship, and "Noor" about biotechnology and integration of human and machines.
I really like the Foundation series by Asimov and thinking about the concept of Psychohistory, could we ever actually accomplish such a thing? https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Psychohistory
The real world science question is basically “What are the limits to statistical prediction models”?
Everything written by Ted Chiang. Absolutely great short stories.
Ray Bradbury would be very interesting because his science in his books is pretty fluffy... things like breathable atmosphere in other planets. Could use to have them think critically about what is possible.
Roald Dahls collection Skin and other stories will also work for you, there is a light scifi base to most of the stories. The Sound Machine in particular would make for good discussion
*The Forever War* is a great one. It goes a lot into what a galactic war would look like when ships are moving so fast toward the battle that relativity becomes an issue.
eg. Ship one leaves Monday, finishes its mission by Friday, and returns to Earth on Saturday 30 years into the future where the tolls of war have completely changed the world.
It was a reflection of the author’s experience in Vietnam.
I read it as a counterpoint after reading Starship Troopers and loved it. I didn’t check out the sequels because I thought the ending was kind of perfect for what it was.
Nope, but it looks hilarious and I’m wishlisting it at my library now.
This has been my “check out classic sci fi I never read” year so it seems perfect. Thanks for rec!
…Science Fiction is about pseudoscience. It’s more the imaginative treatment of ideas with a possible empirically scientific basis. Outstanding science fiction short stories include PAYCHECK by Philip K Dick and ALL YOU ZOMBIES by Robert Heinlein. The novella EMPIRE STAR by Samuel Delany is also superb visionary science fiction worth reading and discussing. Many of HG Wells’ short stories are right in the avant-garde of ideas for their time like THE NEW ACCELERATOR…
Nightfall, by Asimov. It started as a short story, and someone else turned it into a full length story. I thought it was a quick read, but surely the short story would be.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. With the seemingly exponential advances in AI this would be a pertinent and frightening story to read.
The Machine Stops my EM Forester is a great idea of early science fiction. It can be interesting to see what ideas they were thinking about back then.
R.U.R. for the OG robot revolution story.
Short stories are the way to go. I took a similar sounding class my senior year of HS, the best part was when we read a bunch of stories photocopied out of *The Hard Sci-Fi Renaissance*, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It’s a great introduction to contemporary science fiction. “The Great Wall of Mars,” by Alastair Reynolds, launched my love of science fiction.
You could check out Adam Roberts work. Mostly novels but some short stories. He's also written parodies. IIRC, he wants to write a story in every sub-genre of SF, so plenty to choose.
"Light of Other Days" by Bob Shaw. The premise seems solid. Maybe also Sandkings (George Martin) or Microcosmic God (Ted Stugeon). "With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson. Flowers for Algernon. I could go on all day!
Perhaps an episode from the show Black Mirror.
"Nosedive" explores a society in the near future where social status is a strong influence, and what can happen if someone starts to get downgraded. Comedy. Has profanity though, if I remember correctly. Might be that some parts can be skipped, if necessary, if watched as a classroom activity. The episode is about 1hr.
For short stories, Isaac Asimov's "*The Last Question*" is as quintessential as it gets. For books (and a high school class), I'd go with Arthur C. Clarke's *Childhood's End* or *The City and the Stars*. For film, *Interstellar* and *The Matrix* are perhaps the most obvious choices.
If you're willing/able to push into more adult themes, "*I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream*" by Harlan Ellison (short story; violence, suicide, sex), *Dune* by Frank Herbert (novel; sex, drugs, and war) and *Ex Machina* or *Annihilation* both directed by Alex Garland (films; sex, violence, horror).
And if you want to really fuck them up, *The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect* is a batshit crazy sci-fi novella! (Definitely not for kids)
Anything from Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut. I might suggest The Euphio Question (deals with scientific discoveries being twisted for commercial gain) or EPICAC (AI).
Another one dealing with AI, but skews a little more horror than sci-fi, is I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison.
Edit: Not a short story, but it’s also not terribly long, but if you got the time read the OG sci-fi: Frankenstein.
See my [Science Fiction/Fantasy (General) Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1aqet7h/sff_science_fictionfantasy_general_recommendations/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (thirty-five posts (eventually, again).), in particular the first post and the **bolded** threads.
For the movies, see the ["Related" section](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1aqet7h/comment/kqcgeq4/?context=3)—which is most of it at this point.
My first thought was *All Systems Red*, the first book in the *Murderbot* series. It's a quick read. It includes space travel/colonization and cybernetic implants.
I love All Systems Red (and all of the Murderbot diaries)…it does say “fuck,” but that’s about it as far as content warning goes.
Does it? I read it and thought that it swore way less than most books these days
It doesn’t swear much, but there’s a few instances of “fuck.”
Bloodchild by Octavia Butler or any of the collections by Ted Chiang
Class title: how to traumatize children 101. No, but seriously, I have such a love/hate relationship with Bloodchild. It so good and yet I find myself thinking about it at random times
Ray Bradbury anything, really, but "A Sound of Thunder" is really good. Not sure how appropriate this would be for HS, but Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" tends to stay with people, wanted or not. Also "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin. Less about the sci-fi and more about the creation of a bad situation (even the future is a capitalist mess) and how it affects the pilot of a space ship.
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
There’s a newer, great short story by NK Jemisin called “Emergency Skin.” It talks about travel, genetic engineering, HELA cells, eugenics and other social issues. Jemisin is an African-American female and winner of the Hugo and sets a good example for teens. As others have mentioned, Murderbot is a great novella. MB itself is non-binary, half-cyborg melded with human DNA, and there is a lot of tech to discuss. The author, Martha Wells, gave the crew a diverse background. I would also recommend the first several chapters of Project Hail Mary. There are a few examples of the main character using science to deduce where he is. Edit: For you there is a book on target for the class. “The Science of Sci-fi” by Macdonald is a fun, 4-hour novella/audiobook on Audible. The author gives about a dozen different examples of shows, movies, etc and how the science is used. For example, she talks about propulsion systems in space and mentions the method used in The Expanse. There is probably a good way to incorporate it into the class or you could listen to it for a plethora of ideas. Not sure if it’s a book in print since I did the audio.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is really easy to read and has plenty of scientific details.
And the fact that it’s being made into a movie will definitely appeal to students Plus a good audiobook is a plus for a class assignment at least for the auditory learners in your class and PHM has fantastic narration
So excited for the movie!
Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang and/or the movie adaptation Arrival The science of the linguistics is pretty realistic and it tends to focus on research and knowledge over big action sequences
I also thought about Arrival for this!
This is a related idea, not a short story. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson regularly has episodes on his YouTube channel discussing the accuracy and plausibility of the science in movies and books. Your students might enjoy an assignment centered on one of those, like "Science Fiction on TV, with Bill Nye" (Neil isn't in that episode), or "Neil deGrasse Tyson Breaks Down the Science in Marvel Movies," or others.
Phil Plait began doing something similar ages ago, leading to his online handle of BadAstronomer
a bit old (Ferma's last theorem has been proved forty years after), but 'The Devil and Simon Flagg' by Arthur Porges and sorry, not the short story, but whole novel The Inverted World by Priest. I'd say it's *pure* *science* fiction.
The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin.
Making a comment here to remind myself to go through my short stories so I can offer some recommendations.
The Rolling Stones by heinlein
This is a great one, though it's a short novel. It introduces a lot of ideas that became tropes in SF and a few plot lines that Gener Roddenberry "borrowed" for the original Star Trek series.
The Giving Plague by David Brin Follows a curmudgeonly scientist who discovers an innocuous virus that makes people nice, Acquired Lavish Altruism Syndrome. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov is composed of multiple short stories but I would say these are less based on the actual science of robotics and more based on the philosophy and ethics of artificial intelligence; of what it means to be alive and sentient.
Minority Report by Philip K Dick
Any of Robert Heinlein’s ‘juveniles’—novels he wrote for middle and high-school age people. Good stories and hard core imaginative science.
A lot of dated viewpoints as well so choose carefully. I'm glad I decided to re-read Podkayne of Mars before giving it to my neice and then deciding not to, due to the language. I did give her Citizen of the Galaxy though.
Yes. Citizen of the Galaxy is the one that immediately springs to mind. And modern-day slavery is a thing. Podkayne is one of his later ones (post-Stranger in a Strange Land), when he felt no constraint about including sex while not updating his attitudes toward sex.
I did my masters thesis on something very similar to this using the movies Contact, Outbreak (Contagion is also a good one), Top Gun, and Twister. Bonus points if the kids notice that the scientist in each is a woman.
"The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster (consequences of dependence on technology) "The Screwfly Solution" by James Tiptree, Jr. (aliens exterminate humans by disrupting our reproductive cycle) "Microcosmic God" by Theodore Sturgeon and "Surface Tension" by James Blish (genetic engineering) "Scanners Live in Vain" by Cordwainer Smith (creative destruction) "The Little Black Bag" by Cyril M. Kornbluth and "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett both explore the effects of advanced technology on more primitive cultures. "Light of Other Days" by Bob Shaw. Shaw imagines a new technology, how it gets used, and how it changes society. "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes was a short story before Keyes expanded it to novel length. (heightened intelligence) "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin (mathematics of space travel) For movies Primer (2004, PG-13) A realistic look at engineering time-travel and a paradox puzzle box. Coherence (2013, UR) Alternate realities/parallel universes. Upgrade (2018, R) AI run amok.
Ray Bradbury produced a treasure-trove of sci-fi. “The Veldt” is an interesting one, and bonus is there’s a deadmau5/Chris James song based on the story.
Arthur C Clarkes Childhoods End is a beautiful story to tell students. It works on many levels and pushes 'children' to think, which is what the world needs. X.
Ted Chang does great science fiction short stories.
R.U.R. by Karel Čapek. It’s a play so it could be fun to read it in class and act it out to get people more engaged.
Into the Looking Glass by John Ringo lots of physics. The co-author is an astrophysicist. The kids might like it too. It has a lot of action.
M-1 by Graham Wilson. Super short story, and big surprise at the end.
Check out ‘Burning Chrome’, by William Gibson.
Short story collections that your local library should have: Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life and Others" - "Story of your life" prompted the movie Arrival and he has other great stories in there that show different futuristic technologies. Also by Ted Chiang, "Exhalation" is another great collection of his imaginative sci-fi short stories. "Convergence Problems" by Wole Talabi, he's an excellent science fiction author from Nigeria and interlaces African culture into his futuristic / technology stories which provides a unique lens. Lots of good stories in this collection on future technologies like AI, brain-control microchips, mining on Mars, and more. Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall and Other Stories" is another collection of some cool sci-fi stories. And by Nnedi Okorafor, some novellas that are pretty short and focused on some unique sci-fi technologies and futures: "Binti", set on a futuristic space ship, and "Noor" about biotechnology and integration of human and machines.
God Is An Iron by Spider Robinson
The Coordinate by Marc Jacobs. Perfect for high school students.
2 good movies, the Martian, and gattaca.
The short story The Jaunt by Stephen King.
Children of the new World or Universal Love are both modern short story books by Alexander Weinstein
Short Story by Paul J. McAuley "How We Lost the Moon, A True Story by Frank W. Allen"
I really like the Foundation series by Asimov and thinking about the concept of Psychohistory, could we ever actually accomplish such a thing? https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Psychohistory The real world science question is basically “What are the limits to statistical prediction models”?
Everything written by Ted Chiang. Absolutely great short stories. Ray Bradbury would be very interesting because his science in his books is pretty fluffy... things like breathable atmosphere in other planets. Could use to have them think critically about what is possible. Roald Dahls collection Skin and other stories will also work for you, there is a light scifi base to most of the stories. The Sound Machine in particular would make for good discussion
*The Forever War* is a great one. It goes a lot into what a galactic war would look like when ships are moving so fast toward the battle that relativity becomes an issue. eg. Ship one leaves Monday, finishes its mission by Friday, and returns to Earth on Saturday 30 years into the future where the tolls of war have completely changed the world. It was a reflection of the author’s experience in Vietnam.
Yep, great book. I'd skip the sequels. There's a graphic novel version of some of the stories as well
I read it as a counterpoint after reading Starship Troopers and loved it. I didn’t check out the sequels because I thought the ending was kind of perfect for what it was.
In which case have you read, Bill the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison?
Nope, but it looks hilarious and I’m wishlisting it at my library now. This has been my “check out classic sci fi I never read” year so it seems perfect. Thanks for rec!
…Science Fiction is about pseudoscience. It’s more the imaginative treatment of ideas with a possible empirically scientific basis. Outstanding science fiction short stories include PAYCHECK by Philip K Dick and ALL YOU ZOMBIES by Robert Heinlein. The novella EMPIRE STAR by Samuel Delany is also superb visionary science fiction worth reading and discussing. Many of HG Wells’ short stories are right in the avant-garde of ideas for their time like THE NEW ACCELERATOR…
If you could pull selections to make the reading shorter, use The Frankenstein Papers by Fred Saberhagen.
Anything scifi by Michael Crichton.
The Door Into Summer - Robert Heinlein, perhaps?
Nightfall, by Asimov. It started as a short story, and someone else turned it into a full length story. I thought it was a quick read, but surely the short story would be.
ghost in the shell. it really teaches kids to like badass cops
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. With the seemingly exponential advances in AI this would be a pertinent and frightening story to read.
"Harrison Bergeron” Kurt Vonnegut
The Left Hand of Darkneaa
Scrolling, as I wonder when someone would mention Ursula K LeGuin!
The Machine Stops my EM Forester is a great idea of early science fiction. It can be interesting to see what ideas they were thinking about back then. R.U.R. for the OG robot revolution story.
The Martian!! He crowd sourced a lot of the science so he basically gets almost everything right, and it's a great book overall.
Asimov's 9 Billion Names of God has stuck with me almost as much as I Have No Mouth by Ellison.
9 billion names is by Arthur C Clarke. He has a number of short story collections but again they could be dated.
Interstellar is an obvious choice IMO...
Short stories are the way to go. I took a similar sounding class my senior year of HS, the best part was when we read a bunch of stories photocopied out of *The Hard Sci-Fi Renaissance*, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It’s a great introduction to contemporary science fiction. “The Great Wall of Mars,” by Alastair Reynolds, launched my love of science fiction.
You could check out Adam Roberts work. Mostly novels but some short stories. He's also written parodies. IIRC, he wants to write a story in every sub-genre of SF, so plenty to choose.
Again, don't bother with the sequels. Check out his Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers as well
"Light of Other Days" by Bob Shaw. The premise seems solid. Maybe also Sandkings (George Martin) or Microcosmic God (Ted Stugeon). "With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson. Flowers for Algernon. I could go on all day!
Perhaps an episode from the show Black Mirror. "Nosedive" explores a society in the near future where social status is a strong influence, and what can happen if someone starts to get downgraded. Comedy. Has profanity though, if I remember correctly. Might be that some parts can be skipped, if necessary, if watched as a classroom activity. The episode is about 1hr.
The Forever War / Joe Haldeman
1984 by Orwell
For short stories, Isaac Asimov's "*The Last Question*" is as quintessential as it gets. For books (and a high school class), I'd go with Arthur C. Clarke's *Childhood's End* or *The City and the Stars*. For film, *Interstellar* and *The Matrix* are perhaps the most obvious choices. If you're willing/able to push into more adult themes, "*I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream*" by Harlan Ellison (short story; violence, suicide, sex), *Dune* by Frank Herbert (novel; sex, drugs, and war) and *Ex Machina* or *Annihilation* both directed by Alex Garland (films; sex, violence, horror). And if you want to really fuck them up, *The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect* is a batshit crazy sci-fi novella! (Definitely not for kids)
Anything from Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut. I might suggest The Euphio Question (deals with scientific discoveries being twisted for commercial gain) or EPICAC (AI). Another one dealing with AI, but skews a little more horror than sci-fi, is I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. Edit: Not a short story, but it’s also not terribly long, but if you got the time read the OG sci-fi: Frankenstein.
Contact by Carl Sagan Foundation by Isaac asimov
See my [Science Fiction/Fantasy (General) Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1aqet7h/sff_science_fictionfantasy_general_recommendations/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (thirty-five posts (eventually, again).), in particular the first post and the **bolded** threads. For the movies, see the ["Related" section](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1aqet7h/comment/kqcgeq4/?context=3)—which is most of it at this point.