Science Fiction 101

  We're back, with an episode about the great British SF writer John Wyndham . On many occasions we've found ourselves talking about his books - such as The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos - but now we attempt to do them justice with a closer look. Items mentioned in today's show: Amy Binns' biographical study of John Wyndham, Hidden Wyndham , is reviewed here More about the John Wyndham books we discuss: Stowaway to Mars (1936), The Day of the Triffids (1951) , The Kraken Wakes (1953) , The Chrysalids (1955) , The Midwich Cuckoos (1957) , Trouble with Lichen (1960) . Visit the real-life Triffid Alley , London Listen to the faithful 1980s BBC radio drama version of The Chrysalids , adapted by Barbara Clegg Read about the modern TV adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos The reader's guide to The Day of the Triffids The Locus Awards finalists have been announced, as have the Hugo Award finalists ...whereas the Nebula Award winners have already be...

We had some serious technical issues with this episode, so what you're about to hear is a bit of a patchwork, with variable technical quality and some parts we had to re-record. However, we think the information content makes it a good listen...   In this latest episode of Science Fiction 101 , we travel back in time to review the Christmas 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine.   Galaxy was the magazine which led the science fiction field in the 1950s, bringing to the genre a greater concern for humanist themes, sociology, psychology and social satire. Among its successes were the first publication of Ray Bradbury's "The Fireman" (soon expanded into Fahrenheit 451 ) and the first appearance of Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man . We review the December 1951 issue from cover to cover - we even review the book reviews and the ads!   If you want to read along with us, you can find the whole issue online at the Internet Archive , here .  The stories we revie...