The 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.

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In 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.

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A 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.

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