#60. RINGWORLD By Larry Niven

Published : 1970
Pages : 288
Overall Mark : 8/10

The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety mile in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense structure and have assembled a team of two humans, a mad puppeteerand a kzin, a huge cat-like alien, to explore it. But a crash landing on the vast edifice forces the crew on a desperate and dangerous trek across the Ringworld...

LARRY NIVEN (1938-)
Born in California in 1938, Larry Niven published his first SF story in 1964 and made an immediate impact. He has won four Hugos for his short fiction and both the Hugo and the Nebula for Ringworld, the most important novel in his seminal future history, Tales Of Known Space. He has also collaborated with Jerry Pournelleon, among other notable novels, Oath Of Fealty.

VERDICT
Yet another SF novel that successfully takes the idea of religion and pokes fun at it in an SF environment. Niven does this in an effective way by having humans visit Ringworld and discover a primitive society that thinks they are Gods. A well observed look at how some religions view their idols, and how a simple act can result in being accused of blasphemy.

#59. DYING INSIDE By Robert Silverberg

Published : 1972
Pages : 199
Overall Mark : 8/10

David Selig's life is not impressive: he has no job and no meaningful relationship. And yet, Selig has the power of a god, for he can read other people's minds. Although it has been a mixed blessing, this extraordinary ability defines his sense of self. But now, with the onset of middle age, his capacity to probe minds is fading and Selig is struggling to come to terms with the knowledge that he is dying inside...

ROBERT SILVERBERG (1935-)
Robert Silverberg published his first novel at the age of 20. For more than forty-five years he has been one of the most prolific, popular and critically acclaimed SF writers, nominated for more awards in the field than any other writer. His many novels include Downward To The Earth, Thorns, The Book Of Skulls and Roma Eterna.

VERDICT
This novel takes the gift of telepathy and grants it unto a lazy, greedy man. The concept itself is funny, but the ways in which Silverberg shows the lead character serves his own needs is fascinating and eventually becomes quite dark. The protagonists gradual loss of his power shows how much he has come to rely on it, and displays him as a worthless individual with no skills other than those granted him at birth. A solid morality tale which is as relevant today as it was in the 70s.

#58. THE PENULTIMATE TRUTH By Philip K Dick

Published : 1964
Pages : 191
Overall Mark : 7/10

World War III is raging - or so the millions of people crammed in their underground tanks believe. For fifteen years, subterranean humanity has been fed on daily broadcasts of a never-ending nuclear destruction, sustained by a belief in the all powerful Protector. But up on Earth's surface, a different kind of reality reigns. East and West are at peace. And across the planet, an elite corps of expert hoaxers preserve the lie.

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 Minority Report are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
Definitely not the usual novel you'd expect from Dick, this is a very political tale of a conspiracy to keep those protected underground during World War III working on amassing wealth for those left above ground in the new found peace. A clever conceit, though not as fun or character driven as many of Dick's other works.

#57. THE SIMULACRA By Philip K Dick

Published : 1964
Pages : 220
Overall Mark : 7/10

A few years from now, the President of the USA will be an android and his entire government a fraud. Everyone in the country is maladjusted. Doesn't seem possible, does it? Welcome to the world of Dr Superb, the sole remaining psychotherapist. Philip K. Dick tells a story of desperate love, lethal body odour and an attempted fascistic takeover of the USA and shows that there is always another layer of conspiracy beneath the one we see.

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 Minority Report are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
Dick's view of a future America - now joined with Europe - is an interesting one, filled with espionage and secretive lies that are kept from the public. The idea of the president secretly being a robot and his consort being played by an actress are funfilled and ribald, and the usual set of characters you'd expect from Dick are mixed together in such a way that brings them all together in the end, though a more conclusive finale might have made this a more appealing read.

#56. DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH By Robert Silverberg

Published : 1977
Pages : 213
Overall Mark : 8/10

The planet Belzagor is predominantly jungle, governed by the elephant-like alien nildoror and the bi-pedal sulidoror. Gundersen was last on Belzagor when it was the colonial planet Holman's World and he was an administrator. He has returned to meet old friends, his former lover Seena and the enigmatic Kurtz. Yet Gundersen is driven by an old guilt from long ago...

ROBERT SILVERBERG (1935-)
Born in 1935, Robert Silverberg published his first novel age 20. He has for more than forty years been one of the most prolific, popular and critically acclaimed SF writers, nominated for more awards in the field than any other writer. His many novels include the Nebula Award-winning A Time Of Changes, Thorns and Roma Eterna. He lives in California.

VERDICT
This sci-fi story about colonialism is both effective and thought provoking, filled with some great visual ideas and some warnings about treating those unknown to us as second class. Silverberg expertly manages to convey his ideas in a relatively small space of time, and what he creates is intriguing and definitely worthy of debate.

#55. TIME OUT OF JOINT By Philip K Dick

Published : 1959
Pages : 212
Overall Mark : 8/10

Ragle Gumm is an ordinary man leading an ordinary suburban life, except that he makes his living by entering a newspaper contest every day - and winning, every day. But he gradually begins to suspect that his world is an illusion, constructed around him for the express purpose of keeping him docile and happy. But if he is right, what is the real world like, and what is he actually doing every day when he thinks he is guessing 'Where Will The Little Green Man Be Next?'

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 Minority Report are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
This is a well written, witty story that uses the idea of a person being the centre of their own little universe, with everyone else simply being a player in their tale; and idea that has been imitated time and again since this first saw light at the tale end of the 1950s. From 'The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe' and to movies such as 'EDTV' and 'The Truman Show', it is clear that Dick has been something of an inspiration to writers of all forms over the years.

#54. THE SPACE MERCHANTS By Frederik Pohl and CM Kornbluth

Published : 1952
Pages : 186
Overall Mark : 7/10

It is the 22nd century, an advertisement-drenched world in which the big ad agencies dominate governments and everything else. Now Schocken Associates, on of the big players, has a new challenge for star copywriter Mitch Courtenay. Volunteers are needed to colonise Venus. It's a hellhole, and nobody who knew anything about it would dream of signing up. But by the time Mitch has finished, they will be queuing to get on board the spaceships.

FREDERIK POHL (1919-)
C. M. KORNBLUTH (1922-1958)
Frederik Pohl has been a professional SF writer and editor for 50 years. He won the Nebula Award for best novel with Man Plus and Gateway. He grew up in New York, but now lives in Chicago. C.M. Kornbluth was a leading SF writer of the 1950s, now best remembered for the novels he worte with Pohl. His wartime experiences damaged his health and he died of a heart attack aged 36.

VERDICT
This is a nice tale of how sales people could affectively take over the universe. By promoting the worst in life and downplaying the best, they could twist our views in whatever way they want, if only they had the power to do so. Pohl and Kornbluth's creation of a future where this has happened is both humorous and frightening, yet leads us down a path of redemption for at least one culprit of planetary pursuasion.

#53. THE DANCERS AT THE END OF TIME By Michael Moorcock

Published : 1993
Pages : 664
Overall Mark : 8/10

Enter a decaying far, far future society, a time when anything and everything is possible, where love blooms mysteriously between Mrs Amelia Underwood, an unwiling time traveller, and Jherek Carnelian, a bemused denizen of the End Of Time. The Dancers At The End Of Time, containing the novels An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands and The End Of All Songs, is a brilliant homage to the 1890s of Wilde, Beardsley and the fin-de-siecle decadents, satire at its sharpest and most colourful.

MICHAEL MOORCOCK (1939-)
Born in London in 1939, Michael Moorcock now lives in Texas. A prolific and award-winning writer with more than eighty works of fiction and non-fiction to his name, he is the creator of Elric, Jerry Cornelius and Colonel Pyat, amongst many other memorable characters.

VERDICT
AN ALIEN HEAT
A fun romantic time travel story with a future human rescuing his beloved from Victorian England. Very well written, and it proves that knowing about something isn't necessarily the same as experiencing it.

THE HOLLOW LANDS
Future human Jherek travels back again to Victorian England to find Mrs Underwood, but is faced with her husband and pursued by police as the lovers flee to the end of time - but take a wrong turn. Quite funny and enjoyable to read.

THE END OF ALL SONGS
Jherek and Mrs Underwood try to prevent the end of the world in the conclusion to the trilogy, and this makes for a witty and suitable ending to the tale.

#52. THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH By Philip K Dick

Published : 1964
Pages : 230
Overall Mark : 7/10

In the overcrowded world and cramped space colonies of the late 21st century, tedium can be endured through the use of the drug Can-D, which enables the users to inhabit a shared illusory world. When industrialist Palmer Eldritch returns from an interstellar trip, he brings with him a new, alien drug Chew-Z, which is far more potent than Can-D, but threatens to plunge the world into a permanent state of drugged illusion controlled by the mysterious Eldritch.

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 Minority Report are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
Dick creates a world of hallucinatory drugs and precognitive powers that is slowly falling apart due to the creation of another drug which produces images of the future that are frighteningly real and over which the user has no control. The loss of control that takes over many of the characters is something quite prevalent in Dick's later novels, and this - rather irronically - gives us a nice glimpse of what his future novels will become.

#51. THE SHRINKING MAN By Richard Matheson

Published : 1956
Pages : 200
Overall Mark : 8/10

Scott Carey has been exposed to a cloud of radioactive spray. Now he can no longer deny the extraordinary truth. Not only is he losing weight, he is also shorter. Scott Carey has begun to shrink. At first Carey tries to continue some kind of normal life. Later, having left human contact behind, he must survive in a world where insects and spiders are giant enemies. And even that is only a stage on his ultimate journey into the unknown.

RICHARD MATHESON (1926-)
The Shrinking Man, first published in 1956, stands alongside I Am Legend (also published as an SF Masterworks) as Richard Metheson's most important contribution to the genre, and was filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man. Matheson is the author of many film and TV scripts.

VERDICT
This is such a great book that really looks at the human condition and how something that sounds so simple as being smaller can change the attitudes of people towards you. Matheson starts the book off with the view that the shorter someone is the less respect they have, something of a social commentary really, but then delves into true sci-fi realms as Carey shrinks down to 7 inches and eventually shrinks so much he disappears from the world we know altogether. A fantastic fantasy that feels just as fresh today as the day it was first published.

#50. EON By Greg Bear

Published : 1985
Pages : 504
Overall Mark : 7/10

The Stone is a vast artifact - a hollowed-out asteroid - which has entered the Solar System from somewhere. Inside are a series of chambers to be explored. But the Stone contains more mysteries than can easily be understood. Within it, space and time are distorted, to a degree which only becomes apparent when scientists unlock the seventh chamber. The asteroid is longer on the inside than on the outside. The seventh chamber goes on forever.

GREG BEAR (1951-)
Born in 1951, Bear published his first story in 1967, and his first novel in 1979. Although his academic background is in English, he has established a reputation as one of the finest contemporary writers of scientifically rigorous SF. Blood Music won both the Hugo and Nebula awards in its first, shorter version. His other novels include Eon, The Forge Of God and Eternity.

VERDICT
This is a simple enough premise, with a hollowed out asteroid from the future entering Earth's orbit, andt he nations of the world fighting over who owns it rather than where it has come from. The science behind the asteroid sounds like something our od Doctor Who, but the overall size of the book itself (not to mention the sequels) makes the wonders that are described a little diluted for my liking.

#49. A FALL OF MOONDUST By Arthur C Clarke

Published : 1961
Pages : 224
Overall Mark : 8/10

Time is running out for the passengers and crew of the tourist-cruiser Selene, incarcerated in a sea of choking lunar dust while, on the surface, her rescuers find their resources stretched to the limit by the mercilessly unpredictable conditions of a totally alien environment. A brilliantly imagined story of human ingenuity and survival, A Fall Of Moondust is a tour-de-force of psychological suspense and sustained dramatic tension.

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 novel manages to keep the tension rising right up until the last page, and proves to be one of Clarke's most suspenseful books. Packed with enough action to make a Hollywood blockbuster jealous, this short yet detailed take is a must read for any SF or Clarke fan, and will not disappoint, though the epilogue did feel a little unnecessary.