Besides the preceding classics, there are plenty of other British SF novels that won’t disgrace your shelves either…
The Coming Race (1871)
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
One of the proto-works of Brit SF, a tale of a subterranean civilisation.
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)
Robert Louis Stevenson
Another proto-SF tale in its dire warning of what happens when you mess with potions…
Last And First Men: A Story Of The Near And Far Future (1930)
Olaf Stapledon
A future-history of mankind, greatly admired in its day.
A Clockwork Orange (1962)
Anthony Burgess
Burgess’s hugely influential vision of a future where droogs get their kicks from ultra-violence.
The Final Programme (1968)
Michael Moorcock
The first of Moorcock’s novels to star his hipster as anti-hero, Jerry Cornelius.
Rendezvous With Rama (1972)
Arthur C Clarke
It’s tricky to pick just one Clarke novel, but here he’s at his most expansive and ambitious.
The Memoirs Of A Survivor (1974)
Doris Lessing
The Nobel winner’s most accessible science fiction novel, a mesmeric tale of endurance following disaster.
Helliconia Spring (1982)
Brian Aldiss
Aldiss masterfully works through his own depression in an epic chronicle of the vicissitudes of a far-distant planet.
The Prestige (1995)
Christopher Priest
Curious about slipstream fiction, writing that mixes elements of SF, fantasy and literary fiction? Look no further.
Flood (2008)
Stephen Baxter
Baxter tackles global warming in an allegorical tale that can be seen as a dire warning to us all.
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