Classic SF with Andy Johnson – Details, episodes & analysis

With another year drawing to a close, it's time to assess the ten best novels I read in 2024: all of them featured on the show at some point. Which books will make the cut? Also: my biggest reading disappointment of the year, some honourable mentions, and looking ahead to plans for 2025.

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Dramatic climate breakdown is causing extremes of weather never seen before, and contributing to a succession of convulsive wars, with no end in sight. This isn't the 21st century - it's a unique entry in the tradition of the British catastrophe novel.

Ice was written by Anna Kavan and published in 1967. It was the last novel by a uniquely talented, and uniquely troubled author. Similar in some ways to other disaster novels by authors like John Wyndham and J.G. Ballard, Ice differentiates itself with its surreal qualities and troubling resonances with the author's own life - which was marked by tragedy and addiction. 

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The time has come to continue exploring Iain M. Banks' Culture series. Inversions is the fifth of nine novels, and also the last to be published in the 1990s. This time, Banks stretched himself further than ever before, experimenting with a radically different view of his post-scarcity setting. What does the Culture look like, viewed from a medieval society that is unaware that other worlds even exist?

To catch up with my coverage of the series, listen to episode 90 for The State of the Art, 93 for Consider Phlebas, 99 for The Player of Games, 105 for Use of Weapons and 110 for Excession. 

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In 2006, EA proudly presented a collected set of all of the Command & Conquer games released in the series' first decade. The second decade was far less successful, however, with a string of catastrophic failures and cancelled projects. This episode takes a deep dive look at the glittering diamond in the rough - the magnificently camp Red Alert 3, which is still a pleasure to play today.

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"Nobody gives Schwarzenegger a raw deal!" On April 1, Arnold's 1986 flop actioner directed by John Irvin will get another chance to impress, when it is added to Netflix. This episode takes a look at the film, arguing that it deserves the same cult status enjoyed by Stallone's movie of 1986, Cobra. It also recaps the strange story of Raw Deal's co-writer, and how the film's failure helped lead to the success of Total Recall in 1990.

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In 2003, the New York Times published an article casting judgement on which show was “the best spy series in television history.” The writer, Terence Rafferty, wasn’t thinking of the then-current hit series 24. He was writing about an obscure British series which had barely been broadcast in the United States - The Sandbaggers.  Exploring this unique and little-remembered series is fascinating for its low-key approach and its implications about the UK's place in the world.

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Resuming my exploration of the Hainish cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, I reach The Dispossessed (1974). One of her most acclaimed books, it won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. This brief recap looks at the book's exploration of radically different forms of social and economic organisation, set on the two worlds of Urras and Anarres.

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"An Action Canon" is a new series which looks at some of the best and most important action movies of all time, and explores why they have a crucial place in the genre's history. This first instalment focuses on Paul Verhoeven's subversive sci-fi action masterpiece RoboCop (1987), which is definitely the only movie by that name ever released.

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Funded by a hugely successful kickstarter in 2012, Shadowrun Returns is that rare thing - an RPG which can be finished in a modest amount of time. This short piece looks at the appeal of an RPG which is made to be completed, and not just dipped into.

Read my top games of 2020 published by Entertainium here.

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Kathryn Bigelow's 1995 cyberpunk thriller Strange Days was a major flop, and seriously damaged her career. Watched 25 years later to see in the New Year, the movie is more relevant and impressive than ever - despite an ending that seems overly hopeful right now.

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