Classic SF with Andy Johnson
Exploring classic science fiction, with a focus on the 1950s to the 1990s.
Episodes
128 episodes since 2020
#128 Space and the mind: The Black Corridor (1969) by Michael Moorcock and Hilary Bailey
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...
September 16, 2024
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Episode 128
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7:22
#127 Science fiction in disguise: Inversions (1998) by Iain M. Banks
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...
September 05, 2024
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Episode 127
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8:42
#126 A very British disaster: The Day of the Triffids (1951) by John Wyndham
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...
August 29, 2024
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Episode 126
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8:43
#125 Future faith: Let the Fire Fall (1969) by Kate Wilhelm and Strength of Stones (1981) by Greg Bear
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...
August 23, 2024
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Episode 125
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8:20
#124 Moral hazard: Preferred Risk (1955) by Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey
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...
August 08, 2024
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Episode 124
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8:44
#123 In love with death: Rogue Moon (1960) by Algis Budrys
Originally published in 1960, Rogue Moon is an excellent novel by the Lithuanian-American author, critic, and editor Algis Budrys. If you read classic science fiction and encounter contemporary reviews of those books, yo...
July 30, 2024
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Episode 123
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9:05
#122 Suffering for art: Meridian Days (1992) by Eric Brown
A debut novel which deals with guilt, art, and suspicious happenings on a troubled colony founded on matter transmission.The British SF author Eric Brown passed away in March 2023. He first came to prominence through his short fi...
July 24, 2024
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Episode 122
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8:14
#121 Seeing is believing: A Wreath of Stars (1976) by Bob Shaw
What if we share our world with a different intelligent species, but are separated from them by a failure of perception? And what if that gap could be bridged by a new technology, a new way of seeing?That is the premise of Bob Shaw's 19...
July 17, 2024
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Episode 121
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8:16
#120 Cities at war: Oath of Fealty (1981) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
In a recent episode, we looked at Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, who formed the most important science fiction writing team of the 1950s. This instalment looks at a key book by a dominant collaboration of the 1970s and 1980s - Larry Niven an...
July 11, 2024
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Episode 120
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9:08
#119: A case of consciousness: The Soul of the Robot (1974) by Barrington J. Bayley
Barrington J. Bayley's novel The Soul of the Robot (1974) fits within the wider context of robot stories in SF - these include Isaac Asimov's influential tales from the 1940s, and the more subversive work of John Sladek in the 1980s. T...
July 05, 2024
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Episode 119
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8:37
#118 Schlock and awe: The Paradox Men (1953) by Charles L. Harness
Charles L. Harness' 1953 novel The Paradox Men was originally published under the title Flight Into Yesterday. It is a classic example of elevated pulp, which features swordfights, superpowers, voyages to the sun,...
June 27, 2024
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Episode 118
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7:47
#117: Man and machine: “A Meeting with Medusa” (1971) and The Medusa Chronicles (2016)
Originally published in the December 1971 issue of Playboy, “A Meeting With Medusa” is generally thought of as Clarke’s last significant shorter work. Notably, it won the Nebula Award for Best Novella the following year. It was a...
June 22, 2024
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Episode 117
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7:28
#116 End of days: The Forge of God (1987) by Greg Bear
In The Forge of God (1987), the Earth’s demise is an inevitability. Greg Bear’s novel of apocalypse was published when he was establishing himself as a leader of American hard SF in the 1980s. This is a sophisticated, chillingly ...
June 06, 2024
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Episode 116
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7:44
#115 Faith in the stars: To Open the Sky (1967) by Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg's To Open the Sky (1967) combines five pre-planned stories originally published in Galaxy magazine in 1965 and 1966, it is an interestingly structured piece of work published at a time when Silverberg was jus...
May 24, 2024
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Episode 115
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7:55
#114 A Thousand Worlds: Dying of the Light (1977) and Tuf Voyaging (1986) by George R.R. Martin
George R.R. Martin is easily one of the best-known, most successful, and wealthiest genre writers still working today - albeit slowly. While Martin is a giant of modern fantasy writing, even some of his ardent fans may not be aware that...
May 16, 2024
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Episode 114
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11:20
#113 A pair of Aces: The Atlantic Abomination (1960) and Sanctuary in the Sky (1960) by John Brunner
John Brunner was a startlingly prolific British writer of science fiction, whose reputation rests on four acclaimed books he published from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s. However, earlier in his career he wrote many SF adventures which while ...
May 07, 2024
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Episode 113
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10:14
#112 Empire in time: The Fall of Chronopolis (1974) by Barrington J. Bayley
Pure SF pulp, The Fall of Chronopolis (1974) is the fifth novel by British author Barrington J. Bayley. While it superficially resembles a space opera, it is really more of what could be called a "time opera". The Chronotic Empire...
May 01, 2024
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Episode 112
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7:34
#111 SF’s greatest partnership? Three novels by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth (1952 - 1959)
This special feature episode focuses on three novels written in partnership by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbbluth - The Space Merchants (1952), Gladiator-at-Law (1955), and Wolfbane (1959). Each unique in their ow...
April 25, 2024
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Episode 111
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17:34
#110 Outside context problem: Excession (1996) by Iain M. Banks
Winner of the BSFA Award for Best Novel, Excession (1996) is the fourth novel in Iain M. Banks ever-popular Culture series of SF novels. In this entry, the awesome power of the post-scarcity Culture civilisation is challenged...
April 17, 2024
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Episode 110
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8:13
#109 No brakes: Tau Zero (1970) by Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson's Tau Zero, published in 1970, is a landmark of hard SF which pushes out far further, beyond the Milky Way and into the frightening emptiness of intergalactic space. It also deals memorably with time dilation, and a vast ...
April 10, 2024
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Episode 109
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10:45
#108 Fashion victim: The Garments of Caean (1976) by Barrington J. Bayley
The Garments of Caean is a science fiction novel by the British author Barrington J. Bayley (1937 - 2008). It forms a part of his classic run of unusual and energetic books in the mid-1970s, and is included in guide 100 Must-R...
April 03, 2024
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Episode 108
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8:58
#107 Living with the dead: The Falling Woman (1986) by Pat Murphy
American fantasy in the 1980s is often associated with big, bloated series of novels steeped in Tolkien and Dungeons and Dragons. The Falling Woman is something very different. It isn't set in some imagined world stuck in the ...
March 27, 2024
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Episode 107
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8:17
#106 Raising Titans: Imperial Earth (1975) by Arthur C. Clarke
Imperial Earth is the second of three novels Arthur C. Clarke published during the 1970s - and of those three, it is the least well-known. The main focus of this episode is to assess this tale of 2276, which takes in the quincente...
March 22, 2024
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Episode 106
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13:43
#105 Pulling the trigger: Use of Weapons (1990) by Iain M. Banks
Use of Weapons (1990) is the third novel in the Culture series of science fiction novels by the much-missed author Iain M. Banks. Originally drafted in 1974, the book follows the interstellar supersoldier Cheradenine Zakalwe, an e...
February 23, 2024
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Episode 105
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10:37
#104 Finding a place in the future: China Mountain Zhang (1992) by Maureen F. McHugh
Maureen F. McHugh published her debut novel China Mountain Zhang in 1992 and it went on to win multiple awards. An impactful social science fiction story, the book is set in a 22nd century world in which China is the dominant superpowe...
January 30, 2024
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Episode 104
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13:42