Not another post-apocalyptic western: Leigh Brackett’s The Long Tomorrow

I buy Gollancz’s SF Masterworks editions because I trust their editors to provide me with the best sf from the past century. I don’t expect their reprints to be classics all the time, but I do expect a decent read. Leigh Brackett’s The Long Tomorrow was a disappointment, but had a whumph in its tail. … Continue reading Not another post-apocalyptic western: Leigh Brackett’s The Long Tomorrow →

John Wyndham’s Trouble with Lichen

Trouble With Lichen is John Wyndham's most explicit exploration of the uselessness of modern women’s lives. When I reread it, for what must have been the 50th time, I was surprised to see that it was first published in 1960. It reads at least a decade older than that, maybe even fifteen years, since it shares many of the plot points … Continue reading John Wyndham’s Trouble with Lichen →

Gender-neutral military service in Elizabeth Moon’s Once a Hero

Elizabeth Moon writes sf about the space navy, making combat and military command truly gender-neutral: I did a podcast on her back in 2012. I first came across Moon when she co-wrote volumes 1 and 3 of a space trilogy with Anne McCaffrey, called Sassinak and Generation Warriors. I was powerfully struck by these novels because … Continue reading Gender-neutral military service in Elizabeth Moon’s Once a Hero →

James Blish: A feminist gets angry

I finished reading James Blish’s really excellent space opera novel Earthman, Come Home (1955) in a towering anachronistic feminist rage. The novel is exciting, expertly-paced and has rightly been acclaimed as one of the truly innovative masterworks of science fiction. The edition I have – the 2010 SF Masterworks edition, as it happens – gives … Continue reading James Blish: A feminist gets angry →

Male scientists save the world in Fred Hoyle’s The Black Cloud (1957)

There is so much to say about The Black Cloud: let me count the ways. (1) It’s written by one of Britain’s most pioneering, persistent and celebrated maverick physicists, Fred Hoyle. (2) It’s a fine novel in the tradition of British science fiction that speculates what would happen if (the then) present-day society had something … Continue reading Male scientists save the world in Fred Hoyle’s The Black Cloud (1957) →