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By: Andy Johnson
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  • Words about books, boardgames, music, film and videogames by Andy Johnson.
    © 2023 Andy Johnson
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Episodes
  • #147 Armed to the teeth: The Jagged Orbit (1969) by John Brunner
    Mar 6 2025

    A 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.

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    8 mins
  • #146 Digging up the future: Icehenge (1984) by Kim Stanley Robinson
    Feb 27 2025

    A 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).

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    13 mins
  • #145 Heavy weather: Mission of Gravity (1954) by Hal Clement
    Feb 20 2025

    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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    9 mins

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