#174 Reign of evil: Swastika Night (1937) by Murray Constantine
Published in 1937, Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night is a chilling depiction of a far-future fascist dystopia, in which the triumph of Nazism also represents oblivion for humanity and freedom. A precursor to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), this is an under-recognised and chilling vision of the future which is troublingly relevant today.Get in touch with a text message!For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
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#173 Hanging by a thread: the Society of Time trilogy (1962) by John Brunner
Originally published in 1962, John Brunner's Society of Time stories are set in an alternate Britain in the 1980s. It is 400 hundred years since the Spanish Armada was not defeated, and the Catholicism of the Spanish Empire rules much of the world. The Empire possesses the gift of time travel, though only a new pope is given the ultimate privilege of going back to witness the life of Jesus Christ...These fantastic stories follow the adventures of Don Miguel Navarro, an agent of the Society of Time tasked with protecting the integrity of the timeline. They are fine examples of Brunner's hugely entertaining and thought-provoking early work.Get in touch with a text message!For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
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#172 The endless plain of fortune: Orbitsville trilogy by Bob Shaw (1975 - 1990)
It was British science fiction writer Olaf Stapledon, not US physicist Freeman Dyson, who first imagined the "Dyson sphere" - an immense macrostructure which would enclose and harness the entire energy of a star. Beginning with his BSFA Award-winning novel Orbitsville (1975), Northern Irish SF writer Bob Shaw explored this dizzying concept in a trilogy of novels.This episode explores not only Orbitsville but also its belated sequels Orbitsville Departure (1983) and Orbitsville Judgement (1990).Get in touch with a text message!For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
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#171 Avatar of war: The Book of Elsewhere (2024) by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville
An unusual detour into contemporary SF, this episode is a look at the thoroughly strange The Book of Elsewhere (2024), a collaboration between Hollywood icon Keanu Reeves and British flag-bearer for the New Weird, China Miéville. The novel is a spinoff from Reeves' comic book series BRSRKR, about an immortal warrior with 80,000 years of bloodshed behind him.For his part, Miéville called the novel "a story of ancient powers, modern war, and one person’s quest to find mortality and purpose."Get in touch with a text message!For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
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#170 Solar Enemy Number One: The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester
The Count of Monte Cristo make not seem like the likeliest template for an SF novel, but Alfred Bester was able to take this 19th century French classic and turn it into the basis for his 1956 book The Stars My Destination. This frenetic, fast-paced adventure also begins with a kind of parody of the opening to Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. It's a hectic, baroque tale of revenge, and one of the most praised SF novels of the 1950s.Get in touch with a text message!For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
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