From Brian Aldiss to Arthur C Clarke, 1950s Britain was rich in fantastic science-fiction novels.
Here are 8 of the best…
It seems that every few years somebody announces science fiction is dead.
For that reason, British science fiction in the 1950s was incredible stuff.
How could novelists make sense of those strange times?
But, in either case, the fear of What if?
Heres a look at eight of the best of them.
InEquator, one of Aldiss earliest books, otherness really isnt a problem.
Whose hands are the right hands, anyway?
But if you havent read anything of his, maybe start with the triffids.
Its so much more complex and frightening than it sounds.
Blind humans are easy pickings, for both triffids and unscrupulous people who use the situation to gain control.
Masen must venture to find a place for himself that is safe from both threats.
Its a comedy about terrorism.
The thin thread that separates civilization from brutality crops up in a lot of science fiction of the fifties.
Which side of the divide would you stand on?
He wasnt afraid to hold controversial theories, or to speak out about them.
Its a unique perspective on science fiction.
Thats not the way it works, deep down, when the truth is its every man for themselves.
Theres not a ray of light to be found inOn The Beach.
They know it, and yet they go on doing their jobs and raising their children.
There is a choice a suicide pill provided by the vestiges of the government.
Some people take it, and some dont.
How can they confirm it dies painlessly?
At the cusp of humanity inventing viable space travel, aliens arrive and assume mastery over us all.
We dont see them, and it is impossible to effectively rebel against such advanced creatures.
Life on Earth begins to change in ways that could not be imagined.
ReadingChildhoods Endis a bit like looking down the wrong end of the telescope.
Nobody wrote about facing the unimaginable quite like Clarke, and this is one of his best.
