movies let filmmakers make truly creative movies by thinking outside the bounds of our time and societies, and there are plenty more ground-breaking stories waiting on bookshelves for a chance to be explored on screen. The recent success of Denis Villeneuve’s 2021
Dune, an
adaptation of Frank Herbert’s space epic, shows that even the most complex and lore-heavy sci-fi books can be translated well on screen, and sci-fi settings make for particularly awe-inspiring visuals. Although
2022 saw a sci-fi slump
, there are many books that could get the industry back on track, with ideas that would make for fantastic movies.As well as new success stories like
Dune
, some of the
best sci-fi movies
were adapted from classic books. Both
Blade Runner
and
Total Recall
were based on Philip K Dick’s works (though given catchier titles), while HG Wells, George Orwell, Isaac Asimov, and sci-fi pioneer Mary Shelley were also among the giants of literature to have seen their novels adapted. Sci-fi literature tells readers things about themselves, and makes them ask questions about their society, technology, and what the future could hold. Adapting them can create exciting, subversive, and thought-provoking films.
The Dispossessed, By Ursula Le Guin
The Dispossessed
, presents a unique utopia and dystopia, and tells the story of an idealist scientist who travels from the anarchist world to a capitalist one. The character development of Shevek, the physicist who is left aghast by his first taste of a capitalist society, is tied to the book’s dual setting. It would lend itself to a very cinematic approach, immersing viewers in the worlds and showing, rather than telling, Shevek’s uneasy journey through them.
Neuromancer, By William Gibson
William Gibson coined the terms “cyberspace” and “meatspace”, and his hugely influential work (and very
confusing sci-fi story
), is arguably the original cyberpunk novel. There could be no
Matrix
without
Neuromancer,
which follows hacker Henry Case’s chaotic journey in virtual and physical worlds, meeting powerful AIs. There is a lot of appetite for well-done, thoughtful cyberpunk franchises, with the
Blade Runner
sequel and
Altered Carbon
series seeing success, and no other work encompasses the genre’s ideology and tropes as well. Wholly original, action-packed, complicated, and deeply weird,
Neuromancer
is mind-bending and psychedelic on screen
.
The Forever War, By Joe Haldeman
is a high-concept and action-packed novel about a future war against aliens. While pulpy at times, it doesn’t glorify war, instead showing its hollowness and the despair of its soldiers. Haldeman wrote a grittier take on a war novel after fighting in Vietnam. The battle scenes would make for a thrilling action movie, but one that also critiques the tropes of such movies, giving it a more interesting spin. A movie has apparently been in the works for a while, with Ridley Scott slated to make it in 2008. However, it seems to have stalled, with news drying up after
Warner Bros. got the rights in 2015
.
The Tiger Flu, By Larissa Lai
The Tiger Flu
deserves to be made into what would be one of the most thought-provoking sci-fi movies around.
Embassytown, By China Miéville
Miéville’s intriguing and subversive take on confrontation with aliens completely different from ourselves would make a tricky but rewarding movie, providing audiences with huge depths to dive into. The main character lives in a human enclave of an alien city, surrounded by a species so different from humans that it’s impossible to communicate with them. It’s an idea that sounds a little similar to
Arrival
on its surface. However,
Embassytown
is more thoughtful and creative. This kind of high-quality, high-effort sci-fi deserves to be on screens, if nothing else than as an antidote to the Marvel-ization of the genre.
5 We, By Yevgeny Zamyatin
published in 1924, did
1984
before George Orwell did (and they did it better). It explores a nightmarish future world of authoritarianism, surveillance, and a rejection of the animal natures of humanity, with people even being given numbers rather than names (the protagonist is called D-503). Zamyatin’s writing in part reflected his own experience of repression; his book wasn’t allowed to be published in the USSR until 1988 (via
NY Times
).
We
is already being made into a Russian movie, but an English language one can also give it a wider reach and give audiences a more absurdist-tinged perspective on sci-fi dystopias.
4 He, She And It, By Marge Piercy
Considered a feminist fiction classic, as well as an intriguing sci-fi novel, this cyberpunk adventure follows a woman called Shira, who programs a cyborg named Yod after a bitter divorce. Comparisons are drawn between Yod and the Golem of Prague, another artificial man, from Jewish folklore. The relationships between the characters, especially between Shira and Yod, form the core of the plot, and would add a lot of human drama to a movie. A film would also be timely as He, She And It addresses questions about artificial life (which is more relevant than ever as AI gains ground).
3 The Left Hand Of Darkness, Also By Ursula Le Guin
In another Hainish novel by Le Guin, a Terran called Ai visits a planet where people are what Le Guin calls “androgynous” until they want to mate, where they take on a sex. It’s a concept Le Guin used to challenge readers’ conceptions and assumptions surrounding gender and sex, and she explored this further in a companion short story. As well as its high-concept premise, The Left Hand of Darkness is also a tense journey through a snowy wasteland, making for a solid sci-fi adventure film with an intellectual heart.
2 Kindred, By Octavia Butler
great time travel movie
as it would avoid issues caused by having to drag on plot points and invent new ones in order to fill multiple seasons of a show. In
Kindred,
Black protagonist Dana is transported back in time against her will to a 19th-century US plantation and becomes enslaved. It’s a tense, dark story that also puts ideas of power under a microscope, so has a lot to offer to movie audiences.
1 In The Heart Of The Valley Of Love, By Cynthia Kadohata
Adjacent to science fiction rather than hard sci-fi, this is an off-beat, intimate novel about a teenager’s life in a future America that has been shaped by pollution, water shortages and widening gaps between rich and poor. It’s meandering, muted and sparse plot-wise, following protagonist Francie’s life and relationships. The dream-like writing and setting in the Californian desert would make for a beautiful and melancholic indie sci-fi movie, and it has a unique, intangible quality that would mean it would stay with viewers long after they left the theater.
