#84. ARSLAN By M J Engh

Published : 1975
Pages : 303
Overall Mark : 7/10

General Arslan sweeps into Kraftsville, Illinois as the conqueror of America and Russia, which is no small achievement for a warlord from the tiny state of Turkistan. And then the charismatic and utterly ruthless Arslan sets about changing the world from his base in the town. For Franklin Bond, the principal of the Kraftsville school, this is the beginning of a crash course in power, politics, compromise and ambivalence. For Hunt Morgan, one of his students, it's a lesson in humiliation, subjugation... and love.

M J. ENGH (1933-)
As well a being a science-fiction writer, Mary Jane Engh is also a Roman scholar. Her other works of science fiction include Rainbow Man and Wheels Of The Winds and she is also the author of, among others, In The Name Of Heaven: 300 Years Of Religious Persecution. In 2009 she was named Author Emerita by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

VERDICT
This is an impressive work that is even more relevent today than it was when it was originally published. The book almost expertly shows both sides of the story, and it's very rare that we are forced to take sides at any time. This Dystopian (or Utopian - depending on your point of view) novel is forceful and passionate and makes for interesting and uncomfortable reading.

#83. THE FEMALE MAN By Joanna Russ

Published : 1975
Pages : 207
Overall Mark : 6/10

Joanna's world is recognisable; it's very much like our own. So is Jeannine's - except that in hers the Second World War never happened, the Great Depression is still going on, and inequality is even more rampant.

But Janet's world is rather different. On the planet Whileaway there is no problem of relations between the sexes because there is only one. Janet is unfettered, she is free to lead her life as she wants, as an able and competent being, as a female man.

JOANNA RUSS (1937-)
Born in New York, Joanna Russ was educated at Cornell University and Yale Drama School. After teaching at several universities she became a full professor at the University of Washington. She won the Nebula Award in 1972 for her short story, 'When It Changed' and the Hugo Award in 1983 for her novella 'Souls'. She received the Pilgrim Award in 1988 for her SF criticism.

VERDICT
I struggled through this book and couldn't really get to grips with what Russ was trying to achieve through her confusing narrative and multiple-worlds (obviously, I know this was a feminist piece, but the message was a little shallow, or perhaps too deep). It may be that, by trying to be radical at a time when such novels weren't being written, Russ has simply confused issues and dated the content of the book and, although she has paved the way for other authors to explore similar paths in a more successful way, this is not as expertly executed as it could - and indeed should -  have been.

#82. THE BODY SNATCHERS By Jack Finney

Published : 1955
Pages : 226
Overall Mark : 7/10

When Becky Driscoll turns up at Dr Miles Bennell's consulting rooms after hours one August evening and tells him that her cousin Wilma doesn't think that her Uncle Ira is really her Uncle Ira, this is just the beginning of a nightmare for the sleepy town of Mill Valley. As the number of similar stories multiplies, Mile discovers the horrific truth. Aliens are taking over the bodies and minds of his friends and neighbours... Jack Finney's chilling story is the classic novel of alien invasion.

JACK FINNEY (1911-1995)
Born in Madison, Wisconsin and brought up in Chicago, Jack Finney worked in the advertising industry before his first short story won a competition in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1946. He contributed stories to a number of magazines and moved to California. Apart from The Body Snatchers, which has been filmed several times as The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, he is best known for his time-slip novel, Time And Again.

VERDICT
Another novel that is probably more famous for its movie versions, this claustrophobic exploration of not being able to trust those closest to us is at times compelling and at others a little hammy and half-hearted. Though the characters may not act in a sensible way when confronted by space pods, the concept is engaging and makes for good escapist reading.

#81. THE FOOD OF THE GODS By H G Wells

Published : 1904
Pages : 209
Overall Mark : 8/10

Professor Redwood and Mr Bensington were unprepossessing men, leading lived of eminent and studious obscurity, scientists working away from the public gaze. Then they discovered Herakleophorbia, a substance that could nourish a possible Hercules. And became responsible for the most important development in the evolution of man. For they had found the Food of the Gods, and a new kind of human, intellectually and physically superior, became a wonderful and terrifying possibility.

H. G. WELLS (1866-1946)
Born in Bromley, Kent, the third son of a shopkeeper, Herbert George Wells was apprenticed to a draper before becoming a teacher-pupil at Midhurst Grammar School and winning a scholarship to study under T.H. Huxley. He became a hugely influential figure of international renown.

VERDICT
This book is probably most famous for the movie version in which people are devoured by giant rats, but that isn't the be-all and end-all to the premise. The idea is that people need more food so a supplement is discovered that can expand said food to feed the populace, but some people start feeding it to their children and accidentally create a race of giants. The treatment of these giants is what forms the basis of this satirical book, which in many ways is one Wells' best.

#80. HELLICONIA By Brian Aldiss

Published : 1985
Pages : 1303
Overall Mark : 6/10

A planet orbiting binary suns, Helliconia has a Great Year spanning three millenia of Earth time : cultures are born in spring, flourish in summer, then die with the onset of the generations-long winter.

The Helliconia trilogy, Spring, Summer and Winter, represent one of SF's greatest feats of world-building.

Helliconia Spring was the winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best SF novel in 1983 and the trilogy still stands as an exemplary example of the Planetary Romance.

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 Non-Stop; his Trillion Year Spree (1987, with David Wingrove), which won a Hugo award, remains the best history of SF.

VERDICT
If you can get passed the sheer volume of this trilogy you'll find a well thought through universe that Aldiss has clearly put a lot of thought into. Sadly for me this didn't really get going until Winter, by which time I'd already felt like the first two thirds of the book has been something of a waste.

#79. DHALGREN By Samuel R Delany

Published : 1974
Pages : 801
Overall Mark : 6/10

In the crippled city of Bellona two moons appear; a huge, blood-red sun rises; landmarks shift; time contracts; and savage gangs roam the lawless streets.

When the Kid wanders in Bellona, he finds the few people still there struggling to do what they can to survive But the Kid is blessed with great strengths and a huge capacity for love...

Hugely controversial, Dhalgren is Delany's most ambitious and popular novel.

SAMUEL R. DELANY (1942-)
Born to a prominent black family in New York, Delany published his first novel, The Jewels Of Aptor, when he was only nineteen. Among his other novels are Babel 17, Triton and Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand. He has also written a number of autobiographical works, including The Motion Of Light In Water. He has won four Nebulas and two Hugos and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2002.

VERDICT
This sounded promising when I started out to read it, but as it progressed it felt like it was just getting increasingly peculiar. There is no real story to speak of, what with the circular storytelling, and the concept that this book can be read as a loop and pretty much started at any point in the narrative sounds clever but just makes this book feel all the more laboured and unworthwhile.

#78. THE TIME MACHINE By H G Wells

Published : 1895
Pages : 125
Overall Mark : 7/10

At first, the far future looks like an enchanting place to the Time Traveller. The graceful Eloi appear to embody contentment, beauty and peace, and the Eden they live in seems to be free of suffering. But he soon comes to understand that the Eloi ar fragile creatures, desperately afraid of the dark, and with good reason. For the Morlocks live in the dark, and the Morlocks are to be feared. And the Time Traveller must venture into their subterranean world to find his way back to his own era.

H. G. WELLS (1866-1946)
Born in Bromley, Kent, Herbert George Wells was apprenticed to a draper before becoming a teacher-pupil at Midhurst Grammar School and winning a scholarship to study under T.H. Huxley. Through his trail-blazing works of science fiction, his prophetic imagination and his championing of socialism, science and women's rights he became a hugely influential figure of international renown.

VERDICT
In spite of being well ahead of its time, and paving the way for all science fiction literature in the years following, this story isn't that impressively written and can at times get a little repetitive and boring. Despite this weakness Wells does still manage to drag out what could otherwise be a few pages of scenery into an entire novella and comes up with some ingenious visuals.

#77. CHILDHOOD'S END By Arthur C Clarke

Published : 1953
Pages : 237
Overall Mark : 9/10

The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city - intellectually, technologically and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate poverty and end war. With a little rebellion at first, mankind agreed, and a golden age began.

But at what cost?

ARTHUR C. CLARKE (1917-2008)
Born in Somerset, but a long-time resident of Sri Lanka, Sir Arthur C. Clarke was the world's most famous SF writers. He wrote the scientific paper which established the principle of communications satellites and he collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

VERDICT
I loved this book about alien overlords who take it upon themselves to end all suffering on earth in exchange for a level of human stagnation, wherein nothing classed as progress can be said to occur on Earth. The twist in the tale happens some 50 years later when the true identity of the overlords is revealed, but where some writers would stop there, Clarke continues and brings us a very interesting look at human perception can lead to some sever prejudice which may or may not be warranted.

#76. THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU By H G Wells

Published : 1896
Pages : 186
Overall Mark : 7/10

When Edward Prendick is rescued after the shipwreck of the Lady Vain, he finds himself aboard a vessel carrying a menagerie of wild animals and their keeper, Montgomery. Nursed back to helath by Montgomery, Prendick is put ashore with the man and his beasts on an unknown island where he encounters Montgomery's master, the brilliant and sinister Doctor Moreau. And soon, Prendick discovers that the island holds a dark and terrible secret - Doctor Moreau has been playing God.

H. G. WELLS (1866-1946)
Born in Bromley, Kent, the third son of a shopkeeper, Herbert George Wells was apprenticed to a draper before becoming a teacher-pupil at Midhurst Grammar School and winning a scholarship to study under T.H. Huxley. Through his trail-blazing works of science fiction, his prophetic imagination and his championing of socialism, science and women's rights he became a hugely influential figure of international renown.

VERDICT
This is definitely one of HG Wells strongest novels, which has a perfect flow to its narrative and an imaginative yet believable storyline. Don't presume that this will just be another poorly executed great idea because this manages to take the idea of a mad scientist living on a monster inhabited island surprisingly plausible and well ahead of its time.

#75. CAT'S CRADLE By Kurt Vonnegut

Published : 1963
Pages : 203
Overall Mark : 9/10

Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale preys on our deepest fears of Armageddon. Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding fathers of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy. For he is the inventor of ice-nine, a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three eccentric children, to a crazed dictator, to madness. Hoenikker's death-wish comes true when his last, fatal, gift brings about an end that, for all of us, is nigh.

KURT VONNEGUT (1922-2007)
Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany, during the saturation bombing which devastated the city during WWII, an experience which formed the basis for the novel which made him a world-wide bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five. Cat's Cradle, first published in 1963, is his third novel.

VERDICT
This is a fun book that takes a sideways look at a possible nuclear future that is rife with the wit you'd expect from Vonnegut when he is at his best. It's a shame that more of his books aren't as solid as this one which, in spite of the fact that it doesn't have the best of endings, is a joy to read.

#74. INVERTED WORLD By Christopher Priest

Published : 1974
Pages : 303
Overall Mark : 8/10

The city is winched along its tracks through a devastated world. Rails must be laid ahead of it and removed in its wake. If the city does not move, it will fall behind the 'optimum' and into a crushing gravitational field. The alternative to progress is death.

The rulers of the city make sure its inhabitants know nothing of this. But the dwindling population is growing restive. And the rulers know that the city is falling further and further behind.

CHRISTOPHER PRIEST (1943-)
In a career spanning 40 years Priest has won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the World Fantasy Award and the James Tait Memorial Award and become on of the UK's most critically acclaimed author. Inverted World was published in 1974 and was his third novel.

VERDICT
This sounds like a really boring idea; a mobile city that has to keep moving or suffer destruction? What could you possibly write about that would fill up over 300 pages? Thankfully Priest makes this a suspenseful tale that is peppered with mystery and moments where we really feel for the characters who have their beliefs challenged at every turn.

#73. THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE By Philip K Dick

Published : 1962
Pages : 249
Overall Mark : 8/10

The Second World War has been over for seventeen years. America has been divided between the Nazis and the Japanese. And in the neutral buffer zone between the two superpowers lives the man in the high castle, the author of an underground bestseller, a work of fiction that explores an alternate world history in which the Axis powers lost the war. It's a rallying cry for all who dream of overthrowing the occupiers. But could it be more than that?

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 based on his stories.

VERDICT
This fascinating view of how the world of the early 1960s would be if the Axis powers had won World War II is remarkably clever, even using the idea of a novel being published within the book that tells the history we all know. Dick is at his most imaginative here, and doesn't fall into any of the usual traps of alternate historians by coming up with reasons for the change in history that actually make perfect sense. A wonderful book that forces us to question how close we were to the eventualities detailed here.