#120. THE GODS THEMSELVES By Isaac Asimov

Published : 1972
Pages : 269
Overall Mark : 6/10

In the year 2100, the invention of the Electron Pump – an apparently inexhaustible supply of free energy – has enabled humanity to break free of the Earth and establish a foothold in the wider solar system. But the Electron Pump works by exchanging materials with a parallel universe, and such unbalancing of the cosmos has consequences. Now the race is on to prevent a vast nuclear explosion in the heart of the Sun – and the vaporisation of the Earth exactly eight minutes later...

ISAAC ASIMOV (1920-92)
Isaac Asimov was one of the most famous, honoured and widely read science fiction authors of all time. Born in Russia but raised in the USA, his career as an SF writer began in 1939 with ‘Marooned Off Vesta’, in Amazing Stories. His output was prolific by any standards – an a career spanning five decades, he wrote more than four hundred books, won six Hugos, two Nebulas and the SFWA Grand Master Award, among many others, and provided pleasure and insight to millions of readers. He died in 1992 at the age of 72.

VERDICT
Although this is an interesting idea – taking three different views on the use of a single product and how it could affect those that use it – it’s a little laboured in its execution. Asimov may be a man of many ideas, but this one gets a bit boring in places. If you take the idea at face value, however, this is a very clever one that creates three groups, all of whom believe that their invention will destroy one or more universes, all of which have the solution to the problem but are unwilling to use it. Worth a read, but it is a little long winded.

#119. TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG By Connie Willis

Published : 1998
Pages : 510
Overall Mark : 9/10

Ned Henry is a time-travelling historian who specialises in the mid-20th century. He’s also made so many drops into the past that he’s suffering from a dangerously advanced case of ‘time-lag’.

Unfortunately for Ned, an emergency dash to Victorian England is required and he’s the only available historian. But Ned’s time-lag is so bad that he’s no longer sure what his errand actually is – which is bad news since, if he fails, history could unravel around him...

CONNIE WILLIS (1945-)
Connie Willis has won, among many other accolades, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards for her writing, and was recently named an SFWA Grand Master. She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado.

VERDICT
This sort-of follow-up to Doomsday Book is just as good, though it is wittier and far less dramatic. It has all the suspense of the original without so much of the impending doom, and the characters are just as likeable and appealing. Willis manages to take an idea she has already tackled with extreme pathos and manage it with enough humour and knowing comedy to make this a brand new and just as rewarding experience. This is a must for any fan of sci-fi or Jerome K Jerome.

#118. WASP By Eric Frank Russell

Published : 1957
Pages : 180
Overall Mark : 9/10

The war had been going on for nearly a year and Earth needed an edge. Which was where James Mowry came in. If a wasp buzzing around in a car could distract the driver enough to cause him to crash, what havoc could one elite operative wreak on an unsuspecting enemy? Intensively trained, his appearance surgically altered, Mowry is landed deep in enemy territory. His mission is simple: sap morale, tie up resources, cause mayhem. In short, be a wasp.

ERIC FRANK RUSSELL (1905-78)
Eric Frank Russell was born near Sandhurst, where his father was an instructor at the Royal Military Academy. He was the first British writer to contribute regularly to Astounding Science Fiction, his first story, ‘The Saga of Pelican West’, appearing in that magazine in 1937. His novels include Sinister Barrier, Next of Kin, The Great Explosion and Wasp, generally regarded as his best novel: a witty and exciting account of a covert war in the heart of enemy territory.

VERDICT
This is a very tongue in cheek look at international terrorism, using the idea of an enemy alien race in place of a foreign power. Russell manages to build up the actions of the so-called wasp of the story, who infiltrates an alien planet and attempts to bring it down from within using underhand tactics such as spreading rumours, and leads us to a conclusion that shows just how futile the life of a spy can be. Great fun, and well worth reading.

#117. A CANTICLE FOR LIEBOWITZ By Walter M Miller Jr

Published : 1959
Pages : 319
Overall Mark : 8/10

In the depths of the Utah desert, long after the Flame Deluge has scoured the earth clean, the rediscoveries od science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of knowledge.

By studying the Holy Relics of the past, the Order of St Liebowitz hopes to raise humanity from its fallen state. But is such knowledge the key to salvation? Or the certain sign that we are doomed to repeat our most grievous mistakes...?

WALTER M MILLER JR (1922-96)
Walter M Miller grew up in the American south. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps a month after Pearl Harbour and spent most of the war as a radio operator and gunner, participating in fifty-five combat sorties over Europe. After the war he studied engineering before turning to writing. A Canticle for Liebowitz won the Hugo Award for best novel in 1961. His only other novel, Liebowitz and the Wild Horsewoman was published posthumously.

VERDICT
This is a compelling parody of how religion takes ideas from prior periods and puts them up on a pedestal, regardless of how important they really are. The idea that something as simple as seeing a man in the desert, or of someone finding some old paperwork of a revered individual, could lead to a religious following taking a new road. Conversely, this ends with what can only really be described as an immaculate conception in a form that isn’t even recognised by the religions of the future, but is probably the only true miracle of God portrayed in this highly intriguing comic novel.

#116. THE INVISIBLE MAN By H G Wells

Published : 1897
Pages : 144
Overall Mark : 8/10

Wells's great novel describes a man cast out of society by his own terrifying discovery. Griffin is a brilliant and obsessed scientist dedicated to achieving invisibility. Taking whatever action is necessary to keep his discovery safe, he terrorises the local village where he has sought refuge. Wells skilfully weaves together the elements of the story as the invisible Griffin gradually loses his sanity and, ultimately, his humanity.

H. G. WELLS (1866-1946)
The son of a shopkeeper, Wells began to publish fiction in the 1890s. The Time Machine, published in 1895, heralded an extraordinary period of 6 years in which he published almost all the 'scientific romances' which made his fame. An early member of the Fabian Society (from which developed the Labour Party), he was for the last four decades of his life a world-famous writer and thinker.

VERDICT
For those who have seen the many horror versions of this classic sci-fi novel, you might be surprised to read this, as it is more of a flat drama than anything else. Granted, Griffin’s obsession with invisibility does have elements of horror, but the main draw of this book is the psychosis that affects him, rather than the attacks on those who might discover his secret.

#115. THE SEA AND SUMMER By George Turner

Published : 1987
Pages : 364
Overall Mark : 8/10

2041 : In a dangerously overpopulated world, Francis Conway is Swill – one of the ninety percent who subsist on the inadequate charities of the state. Government corruption, official blindness and unchecked global climate change have conspired to turn his home – and those of billions like him – into a watery tomb. Now Francis seeks desperately to rise above his circumstances and escape the approaching tide of disaster. But here, at the end of everything, there is no higher ground...

GEORGE TURNER (1916-97)
George Reginald Turner was born in Melbourne in 1916. Prior to his career in SF, he was a critic and an established mainstream writer, winning the prestigious Mile Franklin Award for The Cupboard Under the Stairs. His first SF novel, Beloved Son, won the Ditmar Award – one of nine he accumulated – but he is perhaps best known for his stunning novel of climate change run amok, The Sea and Summer, winner of the 1988 Arthur C Clarke Award. He was named as a guest of honour for the 1999 World Science Fiction Convention but died before the event.

VERDICT
I actually found this book really enjoyable – the characters, though pretty standard, performed some interesting roles in this book about a future plagued by social division and ecological disaster. Turner gives us a story that takes class distinction to a new level and creates a world that is scarily possible in a world plagued by natural disasters as well as man made ones.

#114. THE GATE TO WOMEN’S COUNTRY By Sheri S Tepper

Published : 1988
Pages : 315
Overall Mark : 8/10

Women rule in Women’s Country. Males are segregated at an early age and live in garrisons, plotting futilely for the battles that must never be fought again. Inside the women’s towns, protected from marauding males, education, arts and science flourish. But for some, there is more to see. Stavia’s sojourn with the man she is forbidden to love brings into sharp focus the contradictions that define their lives. Soon, Stavia will face a decision – one that will change her world for ever...

SHERI S TEPPER (1929-)
Sheri S Tepper is the prolific author of many SF, fantasy and horror novels, and is particularly respected for her works of feminist science fiction. Her many acclaimed books include The Margarets and Gibbon’s Decline And Fall, both shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award, and Beauty, which was voted Best Fantasy Novel Of The year by readers of Locus magazine. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

VERDICT
As usual Tepper’s view of a female utopia has some interesting points, and the reveal at the end of the book makes what has come before seem even more unusual, but by creating a future society that models itself on ancient times she manages to convey a real feeling of history while simultaneously providing a look at a world that hasn’t yet come into being.

#113. SLOW RIVER By Nicola Griffith

Published : 1995
Pages : 321
Overall Mark : 9/10

She awoke in an alley to the splash of rain. She was naked, a foot-long gash in her back was still bleeding, and her identity implant was gone. Lore Van Oesterling had been the daughter of one of the world’s most powerful families... and now she was nobody. Now she has to hide. Then out of the rain walked Spanner, predator and thief, who took her in, cared for her wound, and taught her to reinvent herself. And now Lore worked for her.

NICOLA GRIFFITH (1960-)
Nicola Griffith is a British science-fiction author, editor and essayist. Griffith graduated from the Michigan State University Clarion science fiction writing workshop, in 1988, and has won the Nebula, the James Tiptree, jr, the World Fantasy and four Lambda Literary Awards. Although born in Yorkshire, she now lives in Seattle, in the USA.

VERDICT
This starts off very slowly, and goes back and forth explaining the main protagonist’s motivations which felt a little unnecessary at first, but eventually this becomes very engrossing and has some nice twists that you really don’t expect. This doesn’t really have that much of a sci-fi feel to it, but mystery and thriller fans will get a kick out of this look at the future of industrial espionage.

#112. TAKE BACK PLENTY By Colin Greenland

Published : 1990
Pages : 482
Overall Mark : 8/10

It is carnival time on Mars, but Tabitha Jute isn’t partying. She is in hiding from the law, penniless and about to lose he livelihood and her best friend, the space barge ‘Alice Liddell’. Then the intriguing Marco Metz offers her some money to take him to Plenty, and the adventure begins…

This fast-moving space adventure was the first novel to win both the BSFA and Arthur C Clarke Awards.

COLIN GREENLAND (1954-)
Born in 1954 and educated at Oxford, Colin Greenland is the author of a number of acclaimed sicence fiction and fantasy novels, including the BSFA and Arthur C Clarke Award-winning Take Back Plenty. He has contributed short stories to many anthologies and magazines as well as reviews of new fiction for the Guardian, Independent, and many other publications. He has also had stories broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

VERDICT
This is an entertaining story that creates characters that are both likeable and intriguing, but it does get a little bogged down and confusing towards the end. It's obvious why Tabitha became such a popular character, and why this book spawned spin-offs over the years, and fans of female-lead sci-fi will find this a fascinating and wonderful addition to their collection.

#111. ENGINE SUMMER By John Crowley

Published : 1979
Pages : 238
Overall Mark : 7/10

In the drowsy tranquillity of Little Belaire, the Truthful Speakers lead lives of peaceful self-sufficiency, ignoring the depopulated wilderness beyond their narrow borders. It is a society untouched by pain or violence, and the past is barely remembered. But when Rush That Speaks leaves his home on a pilgrimage of self-enlightenment, he finds a landscape haunted by myths and memories. The overgrown ruins reflect a world outside that is stranger than his people ever dreamed…

JOHN CROWLEY (1942-)
John Crowley was born in Maine in 1942 and grew up in Vermont, Kentucky and Indiana before moving to New York and taking up work in documentary films – an occupation he still pursues alongside his writing. The Deep, his first SF novel, was published in 1975 and was followed by Beasts, Engine Summer and Great Work of Time. With the publication of Little, Big in 1981 he won the World Fantasy Award and was shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula and BSFA Awards.

VERDICT
This is an odd novel that I couldn't really get into. The idea is original, and the characters motivations are interesting, but basically it is a road story that doesn't feel like it goes anywhere. It does have its merits, and in spite of not being a wholly orignal story, with some comparisons being made to Walter M Miller's A Canticle For Liebowitz, this does give an interesting perspective to a futre without technology, and that has forgotten how the world used to be.

#110. THE CALTRAPS OF TIME By David I Masson

Published : 1968 & 2003
Pages : 204
Overall Mark : 7/10

This collection is David I Masson’s only published book of fiction. Most of the stories here made their first appearance in New Worlds SF during the 1960s under the legendary editorship of Michael Moorcock. An apocalyptic battle at the edge of the unknown, the deadly fascination of voracious magma, a world where the weather expresses itself as mood. These are only some of the themes tackled with superb scientific speculation by one of British SF’s truly original voices.

DAVID I MASSON (1915-2007)
David Irvine Masson was born in Edinburgh from a distinguished family of academics and thinkers. Although his output was small and consisted of short stories, he gained a reputation as a writer of vigorous experimental SF. All of his short science fiction is published in the collection The Caltraps Of Time. He died in Leeds in 2007.

VERDICT
It's not easy to come to an overall conclusion when it comes to a book of short stories. Most of these stories are based on wordplay, as Masson was a huge proponent of languages, and as such some of them can be hard to get into, but the ideas are interesting and work best in short story form as a longer version of these stories could have been pretty tedious.

#109. UNQUENCHABLE FIRE By Rachel Pollack

Published : 1988
Pages : 364
Overall Mark : 9/10

In an America where the miraculous is par for the course, where magic and myths are as real as shopping malls and television game shows, Jennifer Mazdan listens to the modern storytellers recite the tales of the Founders.

But when strange things start to happen and Jennie becomes pregnant – from a dream – she enters a struggle which threatens her own life and causes her to question everything she has ever learned.

RACHEL POLLACK (1945-)
Rachel Pollack was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1945. She is well known as a science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot. She has been a great influence on the women’s spirituality movement and on women’s SF. Her novel Unquenchable Fire won the Arthur C Clarke Award in 1989. Rachel Pollack lives in New York.

VERDICT
This is a rare sci-fi novel that treats religion not as an oppressive force but as something that people accept in their everyday lives, even though the occurences are so unusual. Pollack manages to create a character who is very real, and even though her cirumstances are unusual you can really imagine what she would be like if you met her, and how she might react to other events, not just an apparent virgin birth.