#86. THE PRESTIGE By Christopher Priest

Published : 1995
Pages : 360
Overall Mark : 8/10

Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier first clash in 1878 in a darkened salon at a fraudulent seance conducted by Angier. From then on the two young illusionists engage in an increasingly bitter and deadly feud on the stages of Victorian music halls. And each is driven to extremes by the mystery of an amazing illusion they each perform. For both, there is much more at risk than the mere workings of a trick, and the legacy of their hatred and obsessively guarded secrets will reverberate down the years.

CHRISTOPHER PRIEST (1943-)
Christopher Priest's widely acclaimed novels include Fugue For A Darkening Island, A Dream Of Wessex, The Glamour, The Extremes and The Separation. The Prestige was the winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and the World Fantasy Award, and was memorably filmed by Christopher Nolan.

VERDICT
This tale of on-going one-upmanship is wonderfully thought through and manages to bring some otherwise unusual notions to a Victorian setting. The idea of two magicians, so jealous of each other that they do whatever they can to find out the tricks behind each others performances makes for some intriguing and thought-provoking reading.

#85. THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE By William Gibson & Bruce Sterling

Published : 1990
Pages : 383
Overall Mark : 8/10

In London in 1855, the great steam-driven Babbage Engines power the Industrial Revolution because the age of the computer is already here, and the Indusrial Radicals and the scientists run things. But there's still treachery and intrigue at the heart of government and Sybil Gerard, fallen woman, Edward Mallory, palaeontologist, and Lady Ada Byron, compulsive gambler and mathematical genius, are unwittingly caught up in a conspiracy that could change the world...

WILLIAM GIBSON (1948-)
Born in America, William Gibson moved to Canada in 1968 after being rejected by his draft-board. He is the multiple-award winning author of Neuromancer, Count Zero, The Mona Lisa Overdrive, Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties and Spook Country.
BRUCE STERLING (1954-)
Born in Texas, Bruce Sterling is the author of, among others, Involution Ocean, Schismatrix, Islands In The Net, Crystal Express, Zeitgeist, and The Caryatids.

VERDICT
I was surprised that I actually enjoyed this book, seeing as I never really liked William Gibson's Neuromancer. My guess is that Bruce Sterling had more of the input into this combined effort, which does an interesting job of creating an alternate reality in which technology is steam driven. This is a well written piece and well worth adding to any respectable sci-fi collection.

#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.