Alas, Babylon appeared in 1959, when clouds of nuclear fear hovered over humanity. People built bomb shelters on their property and stocked them with water and canned food. Schools conducted duck-and-cover drills. Citizens were urged to keep their radios tuned to their CONELRAD stations. Sputnik, a primitive Russian satellite, orbited the planet, a harbinger of doom.

Pat Frank’s novel centers on the town of Fort Repose, Florida, where everybody knows everybody. The doctor makes house calls....

Autism gets a lot of news coverage these days. Woody Brown’s debut novel Upward Bound gives us a personal insight into autism and how the world appears to people like himself.

Upward Bound is a fictional daycare center for dysfunctional adults. One of them, named Walter, was able to complete high school with a lot of help from his mother. But his inability to speak prevents him from advancing further. Jorge, a giant of a man, has an inexplicable obsession with a Mr. Potato Head doll. Tom’s...

Novels about machines taking over the world are common. Glenn Dixon’s novel combines that premise with a humble little machine that wants to help humans, not dominate them.

Scout is a robotic floor vacuum that is part of a fully automated House. All household features, from the electronics to the variable wall color, are under the control of Watch, which is attached to the homeowner’s wrist. Watch is linked to the Grid, which controls everything in the world, including Scout, her kitchen...