A speculative-fiction reading index

Five verified, deeply researched books for one speculative-fiction idea at a time.

A publication about science fiction, fantasy, and horror organized around specific speculative ideas: five carefully verified books per subject, with real sources for every claim.

10 reading lists published · five verified books each

Written by Ilana Marsh · Halifax, Nova Scotia

Cover of the 2002 Perennial paperback edition of Replay by Ken Grimwood, showing eight repeated faces of a man over a red title panel.

Latest · Time loops in which only one person remembers

5 SFF Books About Time Loops in Which Only One Person Remembers

8 min read · August 14, 2026

More reading lists

Cover of the 2013 Gollancz SF Masterworks edition of The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, showing a Martian tripod firing a heat ray over a burning London skyline with Big Ben in the background.

First contact as colonial encounter

5 SFF Books About First Contact as Colonial Encounter

8 min read

Cover of the 1994 HarperPrism paperback edition of Permutation City by Greg Egan, showing a hand holding a small globe of Earth against a black background.

Mind uploading as death

5 SFF Books About Mind Uploading as Death

9 min read

Cover of the Tor Books 2003 edition of Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock, showing a masked, antlered figure emerging from dark green woodland.

Sentient trees

5 SFF Books About Sentient Trees

8 min read

Cover of the 1989 Orbit paperback edition of The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, showing a silhouetted figure standing on a stairway before a glowing blue archway.

Post-scarcity societies

5 SFF Books About Post-Scarcity Societies

8 min read

Cover of the 1985 Berkley Books edition of Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein, showing a young man at a control console beneath a looming mutant figure.

Generation ships

5 SFF Books About Generation Ships

7 min read

Cover of the Penguin Classics 2005 edition of The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells, showing a stylized wave, a silhouetted figure, an eye and a brain in overlapping panels of teal, yellow and red.

Uplifted animals

5 SFF Books About Uplifted Animals

8 min read

Cover of the 1993 Spectra paperback edition of Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, showing an astronaut figure above a red Martian landscape with a space capsule.

Terraforming

5 SFF Books About Terraforming

8 min read

Cover of the 1992 Del Rey/Ballantine paperback edition of Ringworld by Larry Niven, showing clouds over a curved landscape with a bright band of light running across the sky.

Dyson spheres and Dyson swarms

5 SFF Books About Dyson Spheres and Dyson Swarms

8 min read

Cover of the Warner/Aspect 2001 edition of The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke, showing a space elevator car ascending a cable above a curved Earth.

Space elevators

5 SFF Books About Space Elevators

8 min read