Classic SF with Andy Johnson

Andy Johnson
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Classic SF with Andy Johnson

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

  1. #137 The Ten Best SF(F) Books I Read in 2024

    DEC 19

    #137 The Ten Best SF(F) Books I Read in 2024

    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 mentions, and looking ahead to plans for 2025.Get in touch with a text message!For more classic SF reviews, visit andyjohnson.xyz

    17 min
  2. #136 Hell freezes over: Ice (1967) by Anna Kavan

    DEC 13

    #136 Hell freezes over: Ice (1967) by Anna Kavan

    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 catastrophe novel. Ice was written by Anna Kavan and published in 1967. It was the last novel by a uniquely talented, and uniquely troubled author. Similar in some ways to other disaster novels by authors like John Wyndham and J.G. Ballard, Ice differentiates its...

    7 min
  3. #135 Take these broken wings: Windhaven (1981) by George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle

    DEC 3

    #135 Take these broken wings: Windhaven (1981) by George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle

    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...

    6 min
  4. #134 Out of body experience: The Palace of Eternity (1969) by Bob Shaw

    NOV 21

    #134 Out of body experience: The Palace of Eternity (1969) by Bob Shaw

    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

    6 min
  5. #133 A century of screams: Breakfast in the Ruins (1972) by Michael Moorcock

    NOV 14

    #133 A century of screams: Breakfast in the Ruins (1972) by Michael Moorcock

    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

    8 min
  6. #132 Retirement plans: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick

    NOV 10

    #132 Retirement plans: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick

    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...

    10 min
  7. #131 El Dorado of the mind: The Embedding (1973) by Ian Watson

    OCT 28

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

    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...

    9 min
  8. #130 Thousand island blessing: The Howling Stones (1997) by Alan Dean Foster

    OCT 21

    #130 Thousand island blessing: The Howling Stones (1997) by Alan Dean Foster

    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...

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

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