Classic SF with Andy Johnson
Exploring classic science fiction, with a focus on the 1950s to the 1990s.
Classic SF with Andy Johnson
Latest Episodes
#198 Down to the wire: The Fountains of Paradise (1979) by Arthur C. Clarke
What is 36,000 kilometres long, made of a super-strong material that doesn't exist yet, and replaces rocket launches? It can only be a space elevator, a speculative mega-engineering project that has been a fixture of science fiction since 1979....
#197 Prisoners of the past: Hawksbill Station (1968) by Robert Silverberg
During Robert Silverberg's well-known peak period from 1967 to 1976, he put his own spin on various familiar SF tropes, from psychic powers to robots. One that he returned to frequently was time travel, and Hawksbill Station is ...
#196 Winter of the world: Greybeard (1964) by Brian Aldiss
20 years ago, Alfonso Cuaron's film Children of Men was released to some acclaim. Today, its depiction of a decaying, paranoid UK is often described as chillingly prescient. Less discussed is the central concept - of a sterile world, a...
#195 Immortality and morality: The Dancers at the End of Time (1972-6) by Michael Moorcock
This episode returns to the work of Michael Moorcock, and to one of his many trilogies - the playful, baroque books that make up The Dancers at the End of Time. Strongly influenced by the writing and art of the 1890s, these are ...
#194 Where we come from: The Inheritors (1955) by William Golding
Fateful encounters in the long dawn of early humanityNeanderthals seem to have been a recurring theme here lately. They have shown up in Pat Murphy's The Shadow Hunter (episode 157), in Stephen Baxter's Mammoth trilogy (episode 1...
