#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.