Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction classic which crossed over into the mainstream. Originally published in novel form in 1966, Daniel Keyes' only fully-fledged SF book not only won a Nebula, but was adapted to film, and f...

A plea for human connection in a computerised worldThe reputation of John Brunner rests largely on his four "tract novels" published between 1968 and 1975. Complex and imposing, they are fictional explorations of issues and crises...

A moving meditation on revolution, knowledge, and human longevityKim Stanley Robinson has been a major fixture of American SF for 30 years. Best known for his Mars trilogy from the 1990s, each of his recent novels has been a major...

The classic which helped to define hard science fictionWhatever your definition of "hard science fiction", Hal Clement's 1954 novel Mission of Gravity is sure to meet it. Rich with meaty discussions of the hard sci...

In which life, the universe, and everything are just a gameIn his 1976 novel The Garments of Caean, Barrington J. Bayley applied his unique approach to a space opera centred on clothes with strange powers. For his next tr...

A controversial psychological SF novel of crime and rehabilitation The Second Trip is a 1971 novel by Robert Silverberg which incorporates aspects associated with both the US and UK conceptions of the New Wave. Th...

A unique and moving feminist post-apocalyptic taleTo win the Hugo Award for Best Novel is one thing, but to secure the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Locus Awards is another thing entirely. Vonda N. McIntyre's 1978 novel Dreams...

"When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man."Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange was as controversial as it was profitable. Its depiction of a dystopian near future terrorised by ultraviolent teenage gangs made a sta...

A feminist subversion of SF adventure on a snowbound world.Joanna Russ was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy best known for her strident feminist perspective. Her most acclaimed book is The Female Man fro...

Exploring a unique alternate history and a classic of British SF.It is the late 20th century - but not as we know it. There is no electricity, let alone nuclear energy. Steam-powered road trains are the fastest means of transport...

Hundreds of years from now, there is not a single human being on Earth. The species has been exiled to the moon, Mars, and other worlds of the solar system. A powerful alien race has reserved the planet we think of as "ours", and given it over ...

With another year drawing to a close, it's time to assess the ten best novels I read in 2024: all of them featured on the show at some point. Which books will make the cut? Also: my biggest reading disappointment of the year, some honourable me...

Dramatic climate breakdown is causing extremes of weather never seen before, and contributing to a succession of convulsive wars, with no end in sight. This isn't the 21st century - it's a unique entry in the tradition of the British catastroph...

On the constantly stormy planet of Windhaven, elite messengers take to the skies using flying rigs made from the remnants of an ancient starship. But who deserves to wear the wings?George R. R. Martin is one of the world's best-selling ...

This is a neccesarily brief episode - because there is much in this book that must not be spoiled. The Palace of Eternity is an excellent 1969 novel by the Northern Irish writer Bob Shaw. It is a fast-paced, dynamic piece of wor...

Breakfast in the Ruins is a sometimes harrowing experimental novel by Michael Moorcock. Originally published in 1972, the novel is a loose sequel of sorts to Moorcock's earlier novel Behold the Man - covered in episode ...

Since he died in 1982, Philip K. Dick has become, and has remained, one of the best-known science fiction writers of all time. He has recognition not only from established fans of SF, but also from more general audiences - very unusual for a wr...

Oddly, the British author Ian Watson may be best known today for his various novels in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. Long before he flirted with "the grim darkness of the far future", Watson carved a space for himself as one of the mos...

It's been over a year since we last covered a novel in Alan Dean Foster's expansive Humanx Commonwealth setting. In these far-future novels, humanity has allied with the insectoid thranx species, which resemble huge, intelligent ants. Together,...

In recent years, the reputation of the Northern Irish writer Bob Shaw has grown. He died in 1996, but left behind a large body of cleverly entertaining science fiction series, novels, and stories. Today, more readers are discovering Shaw's work...

The hugely prolific Michael Moorcock is credited with making a major contribution to New Wave science fiction, mainly due to his editorship of the pivotal British magazine New Worlds. Moorcock wrote relatively few science fiction novel...

The time has come to continue exploring Iain M. Banks' Culture series. Inversions is the fifth of nine novels, and also the last to be published in the 1990s. This time, Banks stretched himself further than ever before, experime...

No discussion of classic British science fiction could be complete without mentioning John Wyndham, and perhaps especially his 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids. A pioneer in the noble tradition of the British disaster novel, t...

This episode covers two quite different science fiction novels by two quite different writers, published more than a decade apart. What links them is their emphasis on religious themes. Let the Fire Fall by Kate Wilhelm was publ...

Back in episode 111, I took a trip back to the 1950s, and looked at three books written collaboratively by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. The first two of these, The Space Merchants and Gladiator-at-Law, are major landm...