Classic SF with Andy Johnson
Exploring classic science fiction, with a focus on the 1950s to the 1990s.
Podcasting since 2020 • 182 episodes
Classic SF with Andy Johnson
Latest Episodes
#182 Wish it was here: Last Letters from Hav (1985) by Jan Morris
The definitive travel guide to a place that never existedLike J. G. Ballard's Crash - featured in episode 149 - Last Letters From Hav is another novel which might challenge or expand definitions of science...
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Episode 182
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9:29
#181 Think fast: Brain Wave (1954) by Poul Anderson
The influential classic of enhanced intelligence with a breakneck paceAn early novel by Poul Anderson, Brain Wave (1954) is also a landmark science fiction story on the topic of intelligence enhancement. Unlik...
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Episode 181
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9:23
#180 The ten best SF books I read in 2025
It's time for the final episode of 2025! Find out which were the top 10 science fiction books I read over the course of the year, along with five honourable mentions. Plus, a brief reflection on how the year has gone, some plans for 2026...
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Episode 180
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19:48
#179 Walk like thunder: the mammoth trilogy (1999 - 2001) by Stephen Baxter
Published between 1999 and 2001, the Mammoth trilogy is a fascinating set of linked SF novels by Stephen Baxter. In reality, mammoths died out 4,000 years ago but Baxter imagines a different fate for them. Thoroughly researched and at ti...
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Episode 179
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8:49
#178 The new Argonauts: West of the Sun (1953) by Edgar Pangborn
A transitional 1950s novel of colonisationI'm somewhat sympathetic to Robert Silverberg's suggestion that the 1950s were the real "golden age of science fiction". In any case, that decade is notable for its fascinatingly transitio...
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Episode 178
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9:43
