#36. NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR By Philip K Dick

Published : 1975
Pages : 225
Overall Mark : 7/10

First, Gino Molinari was assassinated by a political rival. Then he died of a heart attack. But now he is back, younger and more vigorous than ever, giving Earth new hope of survival in the war against the alien reegs. But is this really Molinari, or a robant masquerading as Earth's overlord? Whatever the truth, only he can save the Solar System - if he can stay alive long enough, or at least not stay dead for too long.

PHILIP K. DICK (1928-1982)
'One of the two or three most important figures in 20th century US SF' (The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction). Born one of twins - his sister died in infancy - he lived most of his life in California, and wrote more than fifty books in a career of prodigious productivity and achievement. The films Blade Runner and Total Recall are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
Philip K Dick manages to take his experiences with drug use and combine it successfully with his science fiction writings, possibly for the first time in his career. This is a thought provoking tale that gives us great characters, intriguing situations, and some wonderful moral issues to ponder over.

#35. PAVANE By Keith Roberts

Published : 1966
Pages : 279
Overall Mark : 7/10

1588: Queen Elizabeth is felled by an assassin's bullet. Within the week, the Spanish Armada had set sail, and its victory changed the course of history.
1968: England is still dominated by the Church of Rome. There are no telephones, no television, no nuclear power. As Catholicism and the Inquisition tighten their grip, rebellion is growing.

KEITH ROBERTS (1935-)
An influential figure in British science fiction both as writer and illustrator, Roberts published his first stories in 1964. He was for a while editor of the SF magazine Impulse, and painted covers for it and for its companion title, New Worlds. His other novels include The Furies, The Chalk Giants and Kiteworld.

VERDICT
This is not the best alternate history novel I've read, but it has its merits. The background as to why the world is how it is is detailed, and the series of short stories add up to a pretty good view of the imagined world of the author. Unfortunately the stories aren't consistently good, and the final chapter seemed, in some sense, to spoil what had come before. This is interesting, but there are better books out there.

#34. THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE By Arthur C Clarke

Published : 1979
Pages : 247
Overall Mark : 8/10

In the 22nd century visionary scientist Vannevar Morgan conceives the most grandiose engineering project of all time, and one which will revolutionize the future of humankind in space: a Space Elevator, 36,000 kilometres high, anchored to an equatorial island in the Indian Ocean.

ARTHUR C. CLARKE (1917-2008)
Born in Somerset in 1917, but a long-time resident of Sri Lanka, Sir Arthur Clarke is the world's most famous living SF writer: author of the scientific paper which established the principle of communications satellites, collaborator with Stanley Kubrick on 2001, and winner of numerous awards for his novels, including Childhood's End, The City And The Stars and Rendezvous With Rama.

VERDICT
This book takes a a silly idea - an elevator that can travel into space - and makes it seem so viable that you start to believe that it could actualyl be built. Clarke once again manages to make the unbelievable believable and gives us a tale that is both interesting and exciting, riddled with peril and thought provoking insights into the potential technological advances of the future.

#33. NON-STOP By Brian Aldiss

Published : 1958
Pages : 241
Overall Mark : 6/10

Curiousity was discouraged in the Green tribe. Its members lived out their lives in cramped Quarters, hacking away at the encroaching ponics. As to where they were - that was forgotten. Roy Complain decides to find out. With the renegade priest Marapper, he moves into unmapped territory, where they make a series of discoveries which turn their universe upside-down...

BRIAN ALDISS (1925-)
Aldiss served in the Far East during the Second World War, and later worked as a bookseller. He published his first SF story in 1954, and has been a leading figure in British SF ever since. His many other novels include Hothouse and the Helliconia trilogy; his Trillion Year Spree (1987, with David Wingrove), which won a Hugo award, remains the best history of SF.

VERDICT
Where some sci-fi books might be more well known, this starts off as a pretty impressive book about a society finally (yet slowly) discovering the truth about themselves. Aldiss does a good job on the whole (considering this was his first published book), but some of the writing is awkward at points and the ending feels far too abrupt for my liking.

#32. DR BLOODMONEY By Philip K Dick

Published : 1965
Pages : 304
Overall Mark : 7/10

Seven years after the day of the bombs, Point Reyes was luckier than most places. Its people were reasonably normal - except for the girl with her twin brother growing inside her, and talking to her. Their barter economy was working. Their resident genius could fix almost anything that broke down. But they didn't know they were harbouring the one man who almost everyone alive wanted killed.

PHILIP K. DICK (1928-1982)
'One of the two or three most important figures in 20th century US SF' (The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction). Born one of twins - his sister died in infancy - he lived most of his life in California, and wrote more than fifty books in a career of prodigious productivity and achievement. The films Blade Runner and Total Recall are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
This is simple tale of a community trying to cope after a nuclear disaster and the strange effects the fallout has had on them. As usual the strength in this tale lies in the characterisations Dick works so well into the narrative, and the details of mutations both physical and mental make these strange characters all the more interesting.

#31. THE CENTAURI DEVICE By M John Harrison

Published : 1975
Pages : 205
Overall Mark : 7/10

John Truck was to outward appearance just another lowlife spaceship captain. He peddled drugs when they were available, carried cargo when they weren't. But he was also the last of the Centaurans - or at least, half of him was - which meant that he was the only person who could operate the Centauri Device, a sentient bomb which might hold the key to settling a vicious space war.

M. JOHN HARRISON (1945-)
M. John Harrison's first story appeared in 1966, and he subsequently became closely involved in the magazine New Worlds. His classic Viriconium sequence is available in the Fantasy Masterworks series. His other novels include Climbers, The Course Of The Heart and Signs Of Life.

VERDICT
This everyman story is effective in its mission to create a character who seems ordinary but in fact holds the power of destruction itself in his very DNA. Harrison tries to make the book fun with its misremembered history and its protagonsit of ill repute, but this is more or less a poor mans version of The Stars My Destination with a slightly less irredeemable lead.

#30. A CASE OF CONSCIENCE By James Blish

Published : 1958
Pages : 185
Overall Mark : 8/10

The planet Lithia appears to be a paradise world, resembling Earth in the age of dinosaurs. The Lithians themselves are intelligent reptiles, twelve feet tall, gentle, with no conception of hatred, greed or crime. Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez, a Jesuit biologist, confronted with an apparent Garden of Eden, whose people have no idea of God, has to decided whether they are a divine creation or are in fact creatures of the Devil.

JAMES BLISH (1921-1975)
An immensely influential SF writer and critic, Blish was one of the Futurians, a group of writers who also included Isaax Asimov and Frederik Pohl. Among his other notable books are The Seedling Stars, Black Easter, and the Hugo-winning A Case Of Conscience. Blish moved to England in 1969, and died in 1975 at the early age of 54.

VERDICT
This parable concerning how the Church deals with cultures they have no pre-existing knowledge of was extremely controversial on its original release, but if you can look past that or even embrace it this is a well written and well thought through story that brings into question religious beliefs and proves that a conscoius belief in God may not be necessary to become a moral being.

#29. MAN PLUS By Frederik Pohl

Published : 1976
Pages : 215
Overall Mark : 8/10

Ill luck made Roger Torraway the subject of the Man Plus Programme, but it was deliberate biological engineering which turned him into a monster - a machine perfectly adapted to survivie on Mars. For according to computer predictions, Mars is humankind's only alternative to extinction. But beneath his monstrous exterior, Torraway still carries a man's capacity for suffering.

FREDERIK POHL (1919-)
A professional SF writer and editor for nearly 50 years. He first achieved fame for the series of novels he wrote in the 1950s in collaboration with C. M. Kornbluth, notably The Space Merchants and Wolfbane. He grew up in New York, but now lives near Chicago. He won the Nebula Award for best novel in consecutive years with Man Plus and Gateway.

VERDICT
I really enjoyed this novel which allows Pohl to really goes into detail about his view of the preperations for a Mars mission that spells the final hope for humanity, even when it pretty much puts and end to humanity as we know it. The characters manage to remain warm even when they have their humanity stripped away, and that is probably what makes this such a compelling read.

#28. MORE THAN HUMAN By Theodore Sturgeon

Published : 1953
Pages : 233
Overall Mark : 7/10

All alone; an idiot boy, a runaway girl, a severely retarded baby, and twin girls with a vocabulary of two word between them. Yet once they are mysteriously drawn together this collection of misfits becomes something very, very different from the rest of humanity. This intensely written and moving novel is an extraordinary vision of humanity's next step.

THEODORE STURGEON (1918-1985)
One of science fiction's most respected writers, Sturgeon published a large number of short stories and several novels, and was a hugely influential figure to subsequent generations of SF writers. More Than Human, his most famous work, won the International Fantasy Awars when first published in 1953.

VERDICT
Taking the concept of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, this impressive novel can at times feel daunting, but never confusing, and most of the time it is simply a tale of people triumphing over the weaknesses that people have placed on them by combining their efforts (in this case as a gestalt entity) and proving themselves to be far more than anyone could have ever guessed.

#27. TIMESCAPE By Gregory Benford

Published : 1980
Pages : 412
Overall Mark : 7/10

1962: A young Californian scientist finds his experiments spoiled by mysterious interference. Gradually his suspicions lead him to a shattering truth: scientists from the end of the century are using subatomic particles to send a message into the past, in the hope that history can be changed and a world-threatening catastrophe averted.

GREGORY BENFORD (1941-)
Born one of identical twins, Benford has pursued parallel careers in writing and science with equal success. He published his first novel in 1970; aside from Timescape, which won the Nebula Award for best novel, his works include Tides Of Light, Sailing Bright Eternity and Cosm. He is also Professor of Physics at the University of California.

VERDICT
This is an interesting idea, but the notion could have been explained in a more efficient way. Benford does an admirable job of describing the exact methods of scientists in all the time periods he describes, and keeps the story alive through its realism rather than using fantastic plot devices to further the story. Well worth reading, but only if you have the patients as the pacing is slow.

#26. UBIK By Philip K Dick

Published : 1969
Pages : 224
Overall Mark : 8/10

Glen Runciter is dead. Or is he? Someone died in the explosion orchestrated by his business rivals, but even as his funeral is scheduled, his mourning employess are receiving bewildering messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping and regressing in ways which suggest that their own time is running out. If it hasn't already.

PHILIP K. DICK (1928-1982)
'One of the two or three most important figures in 20th century US SF' (The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction). Born one of twins - his sister died in infancy - he lived most of his life in California, and wrote more than fifty books in a career of prodigious productivity and achievement. The films Blade Runner and Total Recall are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
This is a completely confusing book, but once you get to the part where things start to get explained it becomes very enjoyable. There are a few set ups at the beginning which don't immediately make sense but, as with most Dick novels, things eventually come together for a very rewarding conclusion.

#25. FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON By Daniel Keyes

Published : 1966
Pages : 216
Overall Mark : 9/10

Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone's jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental transformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.

DANIEL KEYES (1927-)
Bron in Brooklyn in 1927, ha has worked as a merchant seaman, editior and university lecturer. He has published two other novels, but Flowers For Algernon, originally a long short story which won a hugo Award, later expanded into a Nebula Award-winning novel, and adaptedas an Oscar-winning filme (Charly), is his best knwon work.

VERDICT
The idea of this book being written as a journal - gradually making the voice of Charlie Gordon increase in intelligence - is a fantastic idea and, as you reach the conclusion it becomes a very touching and upsetting tale of a man who couldn't fit in no matter if he were intelligent or simple because people couldn't accept him when he tried to improve himself.