Texas Reads Science Fiction with WM Gunn
If we are to discuss science fiction (SF), we had better define it first. SF can be about space travel, visitors from another world, time travel (forward or backward), technology gone wrong, an evolved humanity (improved or regressed), or an altered home planet (dystopian).
I have been asked to write this article about SF writers from Texas. So, let’s identify Texas SF writers from different parts of the SF world. Let’s start with a true pioneer on the subject.
The Conan the Barbarian Stories (Robert E. Howard)
Robert Ervin Howard was an American writer who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres in the late 1920s and early 30s. Here’s something you probably did not know. He created Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre! Conan was a savage fighting to become king, surrounded by a circle of friends and enemies. Howard was born and raised in Peaster, Texas.
Tropic of Kansas (Christopher Brown)
Christopher Brown’s Tropic of Kansas is a dark study in a dystopian land. The United States of America no longer exists as a country. It’s broken — just faction territories at war with each other during a new time of political unrest created by a destroyed ecological system. Sig, an orphan, must cross the wasteland, once the heartland of the American Midwest, as he journeys to occupied New Orleans. He must survive citizen militias and dangerous drones. He is followed by Tania, a government investigator. Christopher Brown lives in Austin.
The Automatic Detective (A. Lee Martinez)
A. Lee Martinez’s The Automatic Detective offers a different twist to SF. Mack Megaton’s neighbors are kidnapped, and he is bent on finding them in Empire City. What started out as one missing family becomes a battle for the future of the Empire and every citizen who calls her home. Oh, by the way, Mack is a robot! Martinez was born in El Paso.
The Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells)
Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries tells of a future corporation that controls any actions not approved by the company. It is told from the perspective of a cyborg guard. A ‘Murderbot’ is hacked and slowly develops human emotions. Ms. Wells is from Fort Worth.
The Calendar (WM Gunn)
Lastly, a personal plug for The Calendar, which I released last year. Long-range monitors detect a massive rock plunging through space on a path toward Earth. Will it miss our planet, deliver a glancing blow, or destroy Mankind? And how will people react to an uncertain future? Or will they be told? The meteor is the overriding umbrella of the book, but it is more about how such a calamity impacts and changes interpersonal relationships. I’m from Arlington.
Let me end with a quote from one of the authorities on this subject, Rod Serling. “Science Fiction is the improbable made possible. Fantasy is the impossible made probable.”
WM Gunn lives in his hometown in Texas with his high school sweetheart bride of many years. His debut full-length novel, The Two Terrors of Tulelake, was released in October 2024, and The Calendar in March 2025. And The Walls Came Tumbling Down was released in June 2026.