PODCAST

Classic SF with Andy Johnson

Andy Johnson

Exploring classic science fiction, with a focus on the 1950s to the 1990s.

fiction science fiction

All Episodes

6:11

#135 Take these broken wings: Windhaven (1981) by...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/12/03

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 novelists, and Lisa Tuttle is a multi-award winning author and a regular critic of new SF and fantasy work. Back in the 1970s, they collaborated on stories in Analog magazine, which were later extended into a fix-up novel - Windhaven (1981). Get in touch with a...

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5:55

#134 Out of body experience: The Palace of Eternity...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/11/21

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 work, full of surprising developments and wild ideas. Welcome to a fast-moving tale that explores interstellar war, environmental destruction, and even the source of artistic inspiration.Get in touch with a text message!For more classic SF reviews, visit andyjohnson.xyz

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8:07

#133 A century of screams: Breakfast in the Ruins...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/11/14

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 96. This time, protagonist Karl Glogauer is split into many different lives, in which he becomes entangled, and increasingly guilty of, some of history's worst atrocities.Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews, visit andyjohnson.xyz

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10:28

#132 Retirement plans: Do Androids Dream of Electric...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/11/10

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 writer who started out publishing in Ace Doubles in the 1950s. To a significant extent, that wide acceptance has to do with the film adaptations of Dick's work, which began with Blade Runner - released shortly after he died.This episode focuses on the nov...

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9:28

#131 El Dorado of the mind: The Embedding (1973) by...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/10/28

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 most intellectually challenging and formidable British SF writers of the 1970s.This episode covers Watson's bracing debut novel The Embedding. Originally published in 1973, it is a startling combination of linguistics, anthropology, geopolitics, and first contact w...

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7:41

#130 Thousand island blessing: The Howling Stones...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/10/21

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, the two species create a benevolent, star-faring civilisation.The thranx are disappointingly absent from the sixth standalone book in the setting, The Howling Stones. What this 1997 novel does have is a pair of bickering xenologists, warlike lizard-lik...

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7:44

#129 Blind man's bluff: Night Walk (1967) by Bob Shaw

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/10/08

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, which is eminently readable and packed with intriguing ideas taken in surprising directions. Recently, I covered Shaw's excellent 1976 novel A Wreath of Stars, one of his most celebrated works. This episode covers his debut novel, the deft and excitin...

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7:22

#128 Space and the mind: The Black Corridor (1969) by...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/09/16

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 novels, certainly compared to his huge output of fantasy work, which he used to help support New Worlds financially.However, some of Moorcock's own SF novels are themselves significant contributions to the New Wave. The Black Corridor, written in uncredited collabora...

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8:42

#127 Science fiction in disguise: Inversions (1998)...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/09/05

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, experimenting with a radically different view of his post-scarcity setting. What does the Culture look like, viewed from a medieval society that is unaware that other worlds even exist?To catch up with my coverage of the series, listen to episode 90 for The State of the Art, 9...

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8:43

#126 A very British disaster: The Day of the Triffids...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/08/29

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, this influential classic piles not one, or two, but three catastrophes onto the world. The protagonist, Bill Masen, must navigate not only mass blindness and a mystery disease, but the iconic triffids themselves - mobile, venomous, and possibly intelligent plants with m...

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8:20

#125 Future faith: Let the Fire Fall (1969) by Kate...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/08/23

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 published in 1969, and is largely forgotten. Set in a near-contemporary world, it deals with alien visitation and a manipulative religious cult.Strength of Stones is an early novel by Greg Bear, published in 1981. It has a far-future setting on a planet colonised by religi...

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8:44

#124 Moral hazard: Preferred Risk (1955) by Frederik...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/08/08

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 landmarks in the development of social science fiction.In 1955, while that collaboration was ongoing, Frederik Pohl published another novel in partnership with a different author - Lester del Rey. That novel was Preferred Risk, another minor classic of social SF in which the ...

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9:05

#123 In love with death: Rogue Moon (1960) by Algis...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/07/30

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, you are sure to have heard Budrys' name. He was a major critic of SF for many years. However he was also a highly capable writer of his own fiction, both at short story and novel length. Rogue Moon is his best-known novel, a nominee for the 1961 Hugo Award which combines a lunar...

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8:14

#122 Suffering for art: Meridian Days (1992) by Eric...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/07/24

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 fiction in the 1980s. Following the publication of his first collection, Brown was given the chance to put out his first novel. This episode covers that book, Meridian Days. While it has been out of print since 1993, this is an interesting first effort from a writer who...

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8:16

#121 Seeing is believing: A Wreath of Stars (1976) by...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/07/17

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 1976 novel A Wreath of Stars. In his ninth novel, the Northern Irish writer combined his interest in optics with speculation about exotic particles and a grounded, African setting. This short, intriguing novel is all about perception, and how it can both divide a...

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9:08

#120 Cities at war: Oath of Fealty (1981) by Larry...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/07/11

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 and Jerry Pournelle. These right-wing hard SF authors worked together on numerous books, and even collaborated on fantasy at times. Their 1981 novel Oath of Fealty is an interesting fusion of their scientific speculations and their unsettling, libertarian...

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8:37

#119: A case of consciousness: The Soul of the Robot...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/07/05

Get in touch with a text message!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. The protagonist of Bayley's novel, the fully conscious robot Jasperodus, can be seen as a kind of middle ground between these two approaches. Featuring fallen empires, a strange mix of technologies, a war for control of Mars, and ...

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7:47

#118 Schlock and awe: The Paradox Men (1953) by...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/06/27

Get in touch with a text message! 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, and a strange furry creature that can speak - if only to speak the phrase "don't go..."The Paradox Men is featured in David Pringle's 1985 book Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels. This inclusion is arguably a key reason why Harness and his wo...

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7:28

#117: Man and machine: “A Meeting with Medusa”...

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/06/22

Get in touch with a text message! 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 also an early inspiration for two of Clarke’s successors in the British SF scene. 45 years after the novella’s publication, Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds delivered their novel-length sequel, The Medusa Chronicles.Taken toge...

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7:44

#116 End of days: The Forge of God (1987) by Greg Bear

Classic SF with Andy Johnson ·

2024/06/06

Get in touch with a text message! 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 believable, and scientifically rigorous view of the end of the world. Crucially, Bear is as interested in human beings as he is in the devastation that unfolds. Knowing the outcome does not undermine the emotive power of his huma...

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