Modern Classics of Science Fiction

selected by Maxim Jakubowski

So you’ve read H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, John Wyndham, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert’s DUNE, Philip K. Dick, THE LORD OF THE RINGS and other established classics of science fiction & fantasy, enjoyed the verve of STAR WARS and AVATAR on the big screen and follow LOST, HEROES and BEING HUMAN on television and you still want more. But where to begin? More elves and vampires won’t satisfy your thirst for challenging ideas, action, believable characters, good writing and a sense of wonder.

Here is a selection of modern classics that you might not have come across yet, and which are guaranteed to keep you under their spell until the very last page. All masterpieces of the imagination in their own right and proof that entertainment and intelligent speculation can make good bedfellows. Science fiction & fantasy is not only about dragons, spaceships and things that bite in the night. Read most of these astounding books and you will be hooked. Worse things could happen!

Below is Maxim Jakubowski's list of Modern Classic science fiction writers. Click the author name to read his comment.

Neil Stephenson

Gene Wolfe

Brian W. Aldiss

Richard Morgan

Jack Vance

M. John Harrison

Orson Scott Card

William Gibson

Iain M. Banks

China Mieville

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Maxim Jakubowski on the Best of British Science Fiction...

There was a time when American science fiction and fantasy dazzled us: the golden years of Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov and so many writers whose pens effortlessly painted awesome galactic vistas with technicolor abandon. But the times they are a changin’ and for the past decade or so British authors have taken over the universe and are now the main providers of thrills, alien exotica and hypnotic if impossible parallel worlds.

Science fiction has never been about predicting the future but more about titillating the intelligence, questioning the whys and wherefores of the known (and unknown) universe, opening up new horizons, confronting how society changes both on a micro-scale or on a global palette. But most importantly it is about conveying a sense of wonder, whether depicting future worlds or taking us on on a trip beyond the frontiers of rationality or investigating human nature.

Let us not forget that, alongside Jules Verne, H.G. Wells was one of the pioneers of the genre in opening up the limits of the imagination. His contemporary children are rewriting the genre with vigorous abandon and we urge you to investigate all these new British writers, all of whom trip the light fantastic like no others before and explore what lies on the other side of reality. Tighten your seat belts for the rides of a thousand centuries.