
Cover of Harrison’s Captive Universe
Many and Various GS Texts and those for the 2017 Trial
There are many lists of texts relating to the Generation Spaceship subgenre of Science Fiction. This is very similar to the lists of texts in this or that genre, or even Science Fiction itself. For instance, different writers argue for different starting points for the genre of SF, just as they do for … well, everything.
For those interested some strong contenders for a more accurate list are:
- Updates: (New Resource) List of Generation Ship Novels and Short Stories” Published April 30 2012 at <https://sciencefictionruminations.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/updates-new-resource-useful-list-of-generation-ship-novels-and-short-stories/>(Boaz, 2012)
- These lists include texts from Simon Carotti’s The Generation Starship in Science Fiction: A Critical History, 1934-2001 (2012),
but there are many more addendum to this list.
For instance, two excellent publishers recently noted:
- ‘Home, New Home – Five Books About Generation Ships’ (Tchaikovsky, 2015), and
- ‘5 Generation Ship Novels That Take Your on a Journey’ (Liptak, 2015)
Texts Used for the GS Project

Cover of Aldiss; Non-Stop
However, the plenitude of GS writings can not daunt the GS Project. Instead, texts chosen depend on the good sense of secondary teachers. That is not to say that there are not fantastic GS novels arriving all the time, it just means that they have to be assessed for use in the classroom for Year 9 (the focus area of this project) with an understanding that they fit into either the Australian Curriculum: English or related studies in Science, Digital Technologies and Visual Arts for the same cohort as a STEAM project.
Texts Used for 2017
Accordingly, a limited subset of GS texts are used, beginning with texts used for 2017 and then moving out to others, after considerable argument between teachers and students within the fertile subgenre of GS writings, according to the focus questions for the project.

Cover of Anderson’s Tau Zero
Resource List
Boaz, J. (2012) Updates: (New Resources) List of Generation Ship Novels and Short Stories. In The Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminators blog. Published April 30, 2013 at https://sciencefictionruminations.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/updates-new-resource-useful-list-of-generation-ship-novels-and-short-stories/
Caroti, S. (2011). The Generation Starship in Science Fiction: A Critical History, 1934-2001. Mcfarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6067-0.
Liptak, A. (2015) 5 Generation Ships That Take You on a Hourney. B&N: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog. Barnes and Noble.com. Published October 25, 2015 at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/5-generation-ship-novels-that-take-you-on-a-journey/
Tchaikovsky, A. (2015). Home, New Home: Five Books About Generation Ships. Published June 4, 2015 at http://www.tor.com/2015/06/04/home-new-home-five-books-about-generation-ships/. Tor.com. USA: Tor Publishing.