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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A 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.

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"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.

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A 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".

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Exploring 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.

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Hundreds 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.

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