The Orphans is a cinematic sci-fi audio drama about survival in a harsh universe: castaways on a hostile world, A.I.s with unprecedented emotions, strangers who share faces, love and loss in a far-flung future. Each season explores a new vantage point in an ever-expanding and inter-connected galaxy!
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The journey to space begins inside the mind. Ezra Keaton is a candidate for the Odyssey Project, a mission to retrieve a source of renewable energy from Saturn’s moon Titan that could save life on Earth. But he’s started experiencing frightening hallucinations that may link back to the Project. The sudden, inexplicable death of a colleague spurs him to investigate, but how can he uncover the truth if he can’t trust his own mind? WAKE UP: A Slingshot Story is a three part podcast event from L ...
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From GE Podcast Theater and Panoply, The Message and its sequel, LifeAfter, take listeners on journeys to the limits of technology. In The Message, an alien transmission from decades ago becomes an urgent puzzle with life or death consequences. In LifeAfter, Ross, a low level employee at the FBI, spends his days conversing online with his wife Charlie – who died eight months ago. But the technology behind this digital resurrection leads Ross down a dangerous path that threatens his job, his ...
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Welcome to Camp Cryptid, hosted by Erica Fett. Come hang out for tales of cryptids, the paranormal, and all things horror and sci fi.
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SAYER is a narrative fiction podcast set on Earth’s man-made second moon, Typhon. The eponymous SAYER is a highly advanced, self-aware AI created to help acclimate new residents to their new lives, and their new employment with Ærolith Dynamics. New episodes release every other week.
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When an experiment in a time much like our own goes horribly awry, Dr. Sally Grissom finds herself stranded in the past and entrenched in the activities of a clandestine branch of the US government. Grissom and her team quickly learn that there's no safety net when toying with the fundamental logic of the universe.
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In the 1980s, there were only 63 Black films by, for, or about Black Americans. But in the 1990s, that number quadrupled, with 220 Black films making their way to cinema screens nationwide. What sparked this “Black New Wave?” Who blazed this path for contemporaries like Ava DuVernay, Kasi Lemmons and Jordan Peele? And how did these films transform American culture as a whole? Presenting The Class of 1989, a new limited-run series from pop culture critics Len Webb and Vincent Williams, hosts ...
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The Wednesday Season 2 Official Woecast
1 Here We Woe Again: Jenna Ortega, Creators Al Gough & Miles Millar 31:46
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LikedBE WARNED! This podcast will contain spoilers for Wednesday Season 2, episodes 1-4. Join host Caitlin Reilly each week as she takes you deep into the twisted world of Wednesday with an amazing group of guests! And producer Thing will be helping out to make sure everything goes to plan - well, mostly, anyway... In this episode: Jenna Ortega peels back the layers on the new tension between Wednesday and Enid. And that terrifying vision! Plus… Series showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar reveal why they made Morticia Addams such a central character in this season, and what it means for Wednesday. Whether you’re a normie or an outcast, the Wednesday Season 2 Official Woecast will be the place for all things Nevermore! For more juicy details about Wednesday Season 2, head over to Tudum.com to get all of the latest updates. 1:15 Preparing for Season 2 3:25 Evolving Wednesday’s look for Season 2 4:12 Addams clan expands for Season 2 6:12 Joanna Lumley joining the cast 7:38 Wednesday and Enid's Friendship 9:00 Wednesday’s Vision 10:50 Jenna is a Producer 13:45 Al and Miles introduction 14:03 Wednesday takes down a Serial Killer 15:05 Intergenerational Relationships & the Addams Women 17:48 Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia in Season 2 20:48 Wednesday and Enid’s relationship 24:04 Steve Buscemi joining the cast 26:19 Wednesday’s popular! 27:45 Boy with the Clockwork Heart stop motion sequence…
#135 Take these broken wings: Windhaven (1981) by George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle
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Content provided by Andy Johnson. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Andy Johnson or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
On the constantly stormy planet of Windhaven, elite messengers take to the skies using flying rigs made from the remnants of an ancient starship. But who deserves to wear the wings?
George R. R. Martin is one of the world's best-selling novelists, and Lisa Tuttle is a multi-award winning author and a regular critic of new SF and fantasy work. Back in the 1970s, they collaborated on stories in Analog magazine, which were later extended into a fix-up novel - Windhaven (1981).
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167 episodes
ShareManage episode 453512025 series 2812810
Content provided by Andy Johnson. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Andy Johnson or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
On the constantly stormy planet of Windhaven, elite messengers take to the skies using flying rigs made from the remnants of an ancient starship. But who deserves to wear the wings?
George R. R. Martin is one of the world's best-selling novelists, and Lisa Tuttle is a multi-award winning author and a regular critic of new SF and fantasy work. Back in the 1970s, they collaborated on stories in Analog magazine, which were later extended into a fix-up novel - Windhaven (1981).
Get in touch with a text message!
For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.
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Classic SF with Andy Johnson
1 #167 The thing itself: science fiction and its aesthetic 9:45
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedScience fiction is famously difficult to define. In 1952, the writer and editor Damon Knight famously wrote that "science fiction is what we point to when we say it." But what if what we point to is just the surface, just an aesthetic, and what really matters is what is underneath? This episode is a brief exploration of what I see as the important gap between two linked, but different things: the living, breathing genre of SF, and the host of images that it has spawned and carried with it through the years - its aesthetic. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #166 Four futures: The Ace Double novels of Margaret St. Clair (1956 - 1964) 15:02
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedThis is an exploration of four short novels by a neglected female writer of SF who sought to subvert the genre from within. One happy development in recent years is the growing awareness of the contribution of women writers to the development of classic science fiction. Today, writers like Leigh Brackett, C. L. Moore, and Andre Norton are fairly well known in genre circles. Readers and explorers of past decades continue to rediscover women writers, and to- hopefully - bring their work to greater prominence. Today's focus is on one such writer - Margaret St. Clair . The Ace Doubles line was a long-running and now highly collectible fixture of western, crime, and SF publishing from 1952 to 1978. Published in the unusual dos-a-dos format, they bound together two novels, generally by two different authors. Of the eight novels that St. Clair published, half saw print in this special format - one of them joined with an early book by Philip K. Dick. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #165 After two catastrophes: The Uncertain Midnight (1958) and The Cloud Walker (1973) by Edmund Cooper 10:08
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedEdmund Cooper is hardly a familiar name today, but he was once a significant presence on the British science fiction scene. For 23 years, he reviewed new SF books for The Sunday Times, and one of his short stories was adapted into the 1957 film The Invisible Boy - which featured the second screen appearance of Robby the Robot, introduced in the more famous Forbidden Planet. More relevantly, Cooper was also a novelist who had an abiding interest in post-nuclear war scenarios. This episode examines two novels with quite different approaches to this theme - one is his 1958 debut (under his own name) The Uncertain Midnight , and the other is his 1973 late-career highlight The Cloud Walker . Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #164 The world outside: Non-Stop (1958) by Brian Aldiss 7:51
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedThe generation starship is a classic concept in science fiction. Other stars are hugely far away, and our spacecraft are slow - why not condemn several generations of our descendants to live on board ship, in the hope of reaching a new world in hundreds of years' time? What could possibly go wrong? Brian Aldiss, who became a major figure in British SF, made his novel debut with a unique exploration of this theme. Non-Stop , published in 1958, is a generation ship classic and also a superb example of how writers can deploy a chain of conceptual breakthroughs, transforming their characters' view of the world. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #163 Mind of the ocean: The Jonah Kit (1975) by Ian Watson 7:58
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedBack in episode 131, we looked at The Embedding , Ian Watson's startling debut novel published in 1973. Watson was soon to ascend to new heights, winning the BSFA Award for Best Novel for his second effort, 1975's The Jonah Kit . Like his debut, this is a kaleidoscopic, multi-threaded novel set in multiple countries and asking big questions about consciousness, intelligence, and the nature of the universe. What does all of this have to do with the sperm whale? Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #162 The back of beyond: Way Station (1963) by Clifford D. Simak 8:11
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedThe backwoods of Wisconsin may not seem like the likeliest place for humanity's future in the stars to be decided, but only outside of a Clifford D. Simak story. Wisconsin was his preferred setting, particularly the woodsy Wisconsin of his youth. With his novel Way Station , he parlayed this nostalgic affection into the 1964 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #161 Cognitive shock: five concepts to enhance your science fiction reading 15:45
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedRather than looking at a specific work of classic SF, this episode takes a wider view. It's my personal introduction to five concepts which I think can help enhance your science fiction reading, to boost your understanding and appreciation. Most of these concepts are highly specific to SF, and represent aspects of what makes it a unique genre with its own particular traditions and effects. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #160 Illusion, USA: Time Out of Joint (1959) by Philip K. Dick 7:49
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedScience fiction icon Philip K. Dick is such a well known figure now - over 40 years after his death - that it is possible to lose sight of the struggles he faced in his career. Back in the 1950s, he longed to break into the mainstream fiction market but was frustrated at every turn. His lifeline was Ace Books, for whom he produced a string of short novels. Time Out of Joint , which takes its title from a line in Hamlet, was one of Dick's efforts to escape his situation. Published in hardcover in 1959, and belatedly in paperback a few years later, it is an SF novel which was intended to help him break into a new market. While this was a failure, this novel of deception and paranoia is a precursor to some of the writer's most celebrated works. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #159 Built-in obedience: Nekropolis (2001) by Maureen F. McHugh 6:55
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedScience fiction has seen many audacious heroes who use their wit and guile to overthrow dictatorships, bring the truth to light, and save the world. While this kind of wish fulfilment has its place, so too do stories in which protagonists know only too well that they cannot change the status quo. Maureen F. McHugh made her name with a story of this type, with her 1992 debut novel China Mountain Zhang . In 2001's Nekropolis , McHugh built a story around another outsider protagonist, this time living in a bleak vision of near-future Morocco. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #158 Built different: The Rod of Light (1985) by Barrington J. Bayley 7:43
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA soulful sequel to The Soul of the Robot (1974) In episode 119, I took a look at The Soul of the Robot from 1974, the best-known novel by the little-known British SF author Barrington J. Bayley. As I continue to explore Bayley's strange, anarchic works, it is time to address his only sequel. Published in 1985, just before Bayley went on a long hiatus, The Rod of Light continues the adventures of the bronze-black robot Jasperodus, the only one of his kind to be blessed - or cursed - with a soul. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #157 Spirit and science: The Shadow Hunter (1982) by Pat Murphy 7:55
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA clash of the deep past and the near future Featured in episode 107, Pat Murphy's 1986 novel The Falling Woman was one of my favourite reads of 2024. This episode covers her debut novel, The Shadow Hunter , originally published in 1982. While fairly obscure, it is every bit as good as The Falling Woman , and arguably deserves to be seen as a classic of the early 1980s. In this story of clashing worlds, a time machine is used to drag a young Neanderthal boy hundreds of thousands of years into his future. His arrival into a ecologically and spiritually degraded world is used by Murphy to explore the costs and perils of technological, cultural, and commercial progress. By colonising the moon and the asteroid belt, and building vast gleaming cities, how does humankind impoverish itself? Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #156 Superstructure: The World Inside (1971) by Robert Silverberg 8:17
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedConfinement and culture shock in a hyper-urban world Recent projections suggest that the human population will peak somewhere around 2085; it could even occur, according to some models, as early as 2060. But what would society look like if it was governed by an obsessive push to increase population - to strain against every social and ecological obstacle? Originally published in 1971, The World Inside is Robert Silverberg's exploration of extreme human population growth and density. It is set in the 24th century, at a time when the world government is close to achieving a population of 75 billion. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #155 Fork in the road: The Two-Timers (1968) by Bob Shaw 8:05
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA personal struggle with cosmic consequences Some people are their own worst enemy - that's particularly true for John Breton. One night, he finds himself confronted with an identical, rival version of himself - who has crossed over from another timeline. Originally published in 1968, The Two-Timers is the second novel by Bob Shaw, a follow-up to his debut Night Walk which was covered in episode 129. Both a painful exploration of a collapsing marriage, and an SF story about a threat to the integrity of the universe, this book combines the domestic and the cosmic with powerful effect. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #154 Trial by fire: Rite of Passage (1968) by Alexei Panshin 6:54
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedComing of age on a hollowed-out asteroid The critic Algis Budrys said of this novel, "one feels a real shock as one realizes that Panshin after all has never been a girl growing up aboard a hollowed-out planetoid". He was praising Rite of Passage , Alexei Panshin's 1968 novel which went on to win the Nebula Award for Best Novel while up against tough competition. A part of the first series of Ace Science Fiction Specials edited by Terry Carr, Rite of Passage is both a powerful coming of age story in a science fiction setting, and a challenging allegory for the world economic system. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #153 Scarcity and abundance: Ring Around the Sun (1953) by Clifford D. Simak 8:57
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA tall tale of impossible products, mutants, and parallel Earths Clifford D. Simak explores the parallel worlds theme to intriguing, energetic effect in his 1953 novel Ring Around the Sun . In this tall tale, originally serialised in Galaxy magazine, a young writer discovers that he has the power to visit many alternate versions of the Earth, each unsullied by human hands. One of these worlds is already in use, however, to make seemingly impossible products that threaten to topple the world economy. The protagonist must discover the secrets about himself, and protect our world from devastating retaliation by the big business interests that depend on scarcity. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #152 The last city: Cinnabar (1976) by Edward Bryant 7:52
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedEntropic tales from the end of time It is a bit of a truism to say that people are entranced by imagining the end of the world. But what about the end of time? In this immensely distant scenario, entropy has had its way with the universe, life has withered away, and all change and incident has ceased. A true entropic scenario leaves little room for story-telling, and so SF writers tend to cheat, finding ways to keep some eccentric humans alive at the end of time. Cinnabar is a 1976 collection of linked stories by the US author Edward Bryant. Set in the last city on a ruined Earth, it is a showcase for Bryant's speculations about the deep future of humankind, and for his New Wave writing style. What does Cinnabar have to say about a world seemingly without a future, and a city run by a suicidal AI? Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #151 Ancient mistakes: Look to Windward (2000) by Iain M. Banks 8:09
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedThe Culture is run by Minds - AI constructs of immense computing power, some of the greatest intelligences in the galaxy. But no amount of intelligence can prevent you from making mistakes. The sixth novel in the Culture series by Iain M. Banks, Look to Windward was first published in 2000. It deals with effects of mistakes made by the Minds. As part of Banks' extended examination of the topic of intervention, it particularly focuses on an attempt to mould the future of a race of cat-like aliens, with resulted in disaster. The Chelgrians were plunged into a brief but appalling civil war. Now, the Culture may be about to feel the consequences. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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Classic SF with Andy Johnson
1 #150 The First Classic SF with Andy Johnson Q&A 24:04
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedAnswering listener questions about all things classic SF. Can you believe it, it's episode 150! To mark this milestone, this episode is a special Q&A. Questions and answers take a tour of Ursula K. Le Guin, J. G. Ballard, Dune (1965), book collecting, getting started with Philip K. Dick, the "cosy catastrophes" of John Wyndham, and more. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #149 Celebration of wounds: Crash (1973) by J. G. Ballard 9:15
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA shocking collision of warped sexuality and twisted metal "I wanted to rub the human face in its own vomit - and force it to look in the mirror." With these words, J.G. Ballard described the aim of his 1973 novel Crash . A harrowing descent into a bizarre subculture of damaged outcasts whose sexual fetishes centre on the car crash, the novel is Ballard's disturbing diagnosis of the 20th century. The writer described it as a "deranging book to write", which made him hate himself because he felt he was "dealing in deadly things.. like a sort of arms salesman." Welcome to a tour of an unsettling vision of the highways and byways of a concrete dystopia, and a novel which is science fiction of a unique kind - a deranged hellscape of the here and now. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #148 Out of the darkness: Flowers for Algernon (1966) by Daniel Keyes 9:11
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedFlowers for Algernon is a science fiction classic which crossed over into the mainstream. Originally published in novel form in 1966, Daniel Keyes' only fully-fledged SF book not only won a Nebula, but was adapted to film, and frequently appeared on school curricula. It has even been called "arguably the most popular SF novel ever published". Welcome to a landmark story of intelligence, compassion, and what it means to be a good person. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #147 Armed to the teeth: The Jagged Orbit (1969) by John Brunner 8:16
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA plea for human connection in a computerised world The reputation of John Brunner rests largely on his four "tract novels" published between 1968 and 1975. Complex and imposing, they are fictional explorations of issues and crises facing society in the latter part of the 20th century. Originally published in 1969, The Jagged Orbit is the second of these novels and Brunner's follow-up to Stand on Zanzibar - the first British novel to win the Hugo Award. In a declining United States in 2014, racial animosity is stoked and exploited to sell military weapons to anyone who can afford to buy. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #146 Digging up the future: Icehenge (1984) by Kim Stanley Robinson 12:35
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA moving meditation on revolution, knowledge, and human longevity Kim Stanley Robinson has been a major fixture of American SF for 30 years. Best known for his Mars trilogy from the 1990s, each of his recent novels has been a major event, and he is a particularly important figure in climate fiction. This episode takes a look at an early and lesser known book by KSR. Icehenge was first published in 1984, and consists of a wide-ranging tour of the future of our solar system. Over the course of three linked novellas, Robinson examines the thorny topics of revolution, knowledge, and human longevity. All are linked to the structure of the title, a giant mysterious artefact discovered on the surface of Pluto. Also in this episode: responding to a listener message about Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel (1954), Andy Weir, and the film Phase IV (1974). Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #145 Heavy weather: Mission of Gravity (1954) by Hal Clement 8:37
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedThe classic which helped to define hard science fiction Whatever your definition of "hard science fiction", Hal Clement's 1954 novel Mission of Gravity is sure to meet it. Rich with meaty discussions of the hard sciences, and written with a stern adherence to scientific plausibility, Clement's third novel is one of the definitive works of hard SF. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #144 Beating the odds: The Grand Wheel (1977) by Barrington J. Bayley 7:00
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedIn which life, the universe, and everything are just a game In his 1976 novel The Garments of Caean , Barrington J. Bayley applied his unique approach to a space opera centred on clothes with strange powers. For his next trick, as critic Rhys Hughes put it, "having swept through a stellar Savile Row", Bayley "turned his sights on Monte Carlo". The Grand Wheel is another odd space adventure, in which its gambler protagonist infiltrates an organisation that might be willing to risk the future of the human species on the turn of a card. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #143 The enemy within: The Second Trip (1971) by Robert Silverberg 8:30
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA controversial psychological SF novel of crime and rehabilitation The Second Trip is a 1971 novel by Robert Silverberg which incorporates aspects associated with both the US and UK conceptions of the New Wave. This episode looks at this disturbingly intense work of psychological science fiction, in which two minds battle for control of one body. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #142 Tipping the scales: Dreamsnake (1978) by Vonda N. McIntyre 7:27
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA unique and moving feminist post-apocalyptic tale To win the Hugo Award for Best Novel is one thing, but to secure the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Locus Awards is another thing entirely. Vonda N. McIntyre's 1978 novel Dreamsnake did exactly that, becoming one of the most acclaimed science fiction books of the late 1970s. This episode explores what made this feminist post-apocalyptic novel significant in 1978, and why it retains its power today. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #141 A horrorshow cure: A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess 9:00
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like Liked"When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man." Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange was as controversial as it was profitable. Its depiction of a dystopian near future terrorised by ultraviolent teenage gangs made a startling impact on release in 1971. The film was an adaptation of a book that was nearly a decade old. This episode explores Anthony Burgess' 1962 book A Clockwork Orange . Included in David Pringle's list of the 100 must-read science fiction novels, it is an anomalous venture into SF by Burgess, who was then better known for his humorous novels. This landmark book came to dominate the author's reputation, with its linguistic invention, philosophical themes, and brutal violence. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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1 #140 Plucked from the past: Picnic on Paradise (1968) by Joanna Russ 6:26
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedA feminist subversion of SF adventure on a snowbound world. Joanna Russ was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy best known for her strident feminist perspective. Her most acclaimed book is The Female Man from 1975, in which several women - each from their own parallel universes - confront misogyny and patriarchy. In Picnic on Paradise (1968), Russ' debut novel, a thief from ancient Tyre is recruited to save the day on a holiday planet plunged into a "commercial war". Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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Classic SF with Andy Johnson
1 #139 In the days of their strength: Pavane (1968) by Keith Roberts 8:55
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedExploring a unique alternate history and a classic of British SF. It is the late 20th century - but not as we know it. There is no electricity, let alone nuclear energy. Steam-powered road trains are the fastest means of transport. And England is run not from London, but from Rome. This is the world of Pavane , a unique alternate history by Keith Roberts, published in 1968. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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Classic SF with Andy Johnson
1 #138 Death is no obstacle: The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977) by John Varley 8:45
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Play Later Play Later Lists Like LikedHundreds of years from now, there is not a single human being on Earth. The species has been exiled to the moon, Mars, and other worlds of the solar system. A powerful alien race has reserved the planet we think of as "ours", and given it over to the real intelligent life: dolphins and whales. Fortunately, humankind has mysterious friends in high places, who offer powerful technological fixes. John Varley's debut novel The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977) is a story of a changed and changeable human future in which transplants are trivial, body modification is easy, and death is optional - but in which our species may be running out of time. Get in touch with a text message! For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz . To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here .…
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