TOP 10 SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS TO READ IN SUMMER- English Seasonal SF

[@HighNFiber]

Your "Top" lists always make my wallet sweat.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

LOL. My wallet gave up sweating a long time ago, it's cold and empty- always!

[@peterflom6878]

I've never thought about which books go with which seasons. Interesting as usual

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks Peter, good to hear from you. I did a Winter one round about last November, since there are so many Ice Age returns type novels and I love summery, British SF.

[@brettrobson5739]

Enjoyed the video. Took me a while to get around to watching it because I'm over the whole "summer reads" thing coming from the northern hemisphere. It's effing freezing in Sydney at the moment. When I leave the house I'm wearing a trench coat and gloves!

[@carpermanluke876]

What a lovely garden

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Not mine, I should add, but a friends'.

[@holydissolution85]

Thank you..." In Solitary " especially caught my eye.. Two Ballards, companion books, not SF, : " Cocaine Nights" & " Super - Cannes" ( good summer read for mediterranean vacation 😎 )

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, those were the last two truly great Ballards - I have signed firsts of both, Ballard himself insisted that HarperCollins give me a free copy ahead of publication and it reached me signed by him. 'Super-Cannes' is in my book '100 Must Read Science Fiction Novels' and my argument is that it is SF because of the way that Ballard changed the genre and how the Modern world changed people's consciousness, but I was really just seeing what I could get away with. 'In Solitary' is not in the same league as Ballard, but worth reading. Garry's mainstream novels are his bext, but I'll be covering them soon on the channel.

[@danielschwarzenbach931]

sf and a beer. That's my heaven! Best regards from Switzerland!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, it does not get any better than that!

[@SolarLabyrinth]

I live in Florida so I am going to need more recommendations. It's basically 50 weeks of Summer reading with a random two week cold snap when I can fit in everything else.

[@athoszubiaur2144]

hi steve. i'm only getting to this video now as i'm slowly trying to go through your backlog. alas, there's only so much time! wondered if i would see engine summer on your list but maybe not too surprised as, ironically, it's kind of more an autumn book as always, i love your suggestions and have put several titles on my endless list of books to find and read. it's been fun looking for titles in the bookstores here in vegas (there aren't many!) but you never know what treasures you will find. i came across a fairly good copy of richard mckenna's casey agonistes just this morning. score!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Nice. I have mentioned 'Engine Summer' in at least one of my vids, also 'Beasts', my fave Crowley.

[@CinePhill]

Another great Video Steve! I need to read the Coney and Kilworth, love the Ballard, Priest, Wyndham and Aldiss all great stories. Definitely something I’ve been obsessed with since my teens is the Psychedelic English Summer.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Hey Phil, yes, the Coney and Kilworth would resonate. They are minor compared to the other writers you name there, but Garry particularly wrote some very, very fine stuff in the 80s, video coming, watch out for it on his work.

[@chocolatemonk]

Good morning! Although we are in the dead of winter and I am sitting in darkness; your influence added Road to Corlay and Custodians to my TBR. Going to search your catalog for winter books as I know you will have me covered.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

There is a Winter SF video from late 2022- 'Ice Times' - Top Ten SF novels to Read in Winter.

[@personmcpersonperson2893]

Awesome video, as expected.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

You're very kind, cheers!

[@ianjohnson263]

Looking forward to this one. Going to watch it later….

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Wait until you see the setting...

[@paulcampbell6003]

Always happy to hear you talking about Brian Aldiss 🤗 Read almost all of his fiction and a good chunk of his non-fiction too. During the last quarter century of his life I had the great pleasure of meeting him four times at conventions - including having lunch with him for an hour at SF Worldcon in Glasgow in 2005. Great writer and a wonderful human being! 😌

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, I met him a few times and he was charming, lovely man and a great character.

[@leakybootpress9699]

An interesting selection of titles. I've read all of them except the Eric Brown. I think I rate Coney as highly as you do and, yes, he should be more celebrated than he is. He may not have been quite as good a stylist as Aldiss and Cowper, but he was far better than any of the younger SF writers of today. For what it's worth, I link The Unlimited Dream Company back to Ballard's early novels, like them, it's a novel of transformation and I can see it's roots in those four early "disaster" novels... although, of course they were not a disaster for their protagonists. Keith Roberts never talked about his childhood or his family, not even when he was drunk. He only shared one anecdote about his father, a cinema projectionist, and that was about a "supernatural" occurrence Keith witnessed in the cinema where his dad worked. I had the impression that Keith had an obsession with a particular girl when he was young, possibly in Kettering, possibly at art college, but that his feelings for that girl were, as you said, not reciprocated. Whoever she was, she crops up in various guises throughout his fiction, and I know he continued to be attracted to similar types, my own youngest sister included. That soured his ability to form lasting relationships for the rest of his life. Couple that with his own fierce intelligence, of which he was well aware, which led him to believe most others (but not me of course, hahaha) were idiots, and it's not surprising that he effectively became socially dysfunctional. Corrections Cowper's "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" was included in the paperback edition of The Road to Corlay you briefly fluttered onscreen, so the Complete White Bird of Kinship sequence is available in that rather beautiful Orbit set. Brian Aldiss never edited The Oxford Mail, he was literary editor for a while though.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yeah, I know I fluffed the Aldiss Mail thing. Didn't realise that 'Piper' was in the Orbit 'Corlay', thanks for that. The personal anecdotes re Keith are always fascinating to me....I'd love it if someone in the know did a biography. Sort of theing I'd love to tackle myself, but I feel someone who knew him would do a far better job....and he called Chris Priest an idiot of course, but probably ruefully, since Chris was complimenting him on 'Pavane'. For me KR remains the most personally fascinating British SF writer, because of the personality and how this can be seen in the work, which remains magnificent, I feel.

[@leakybootpress9699]

​@@outlawbookselleroriginalIt proves I was paying attention. Hahaha!

[@kufujitsu]

A great list of English SF by legendary writers. I've read some of them - the Cowper novella wasn't included in Pan's "The White Bird of Kinship" trilogy, but it was included in the first volume of Orbit's trilogy of the same name. Not sure why Pan chose not to include it....(unless they thought readers wouldn't like coming across the same story twice (in the Custodians collection, & the trilogy)

[@SFVintageCollector]

Seasonal reading with a beer and new authors - whats not to love!

[@der_stefaner]

Picked up the paperback copy of "In solitary" you showcase in the video by chance last year, just because I liked the cover. Now you made me read it (in one sitting, in summer 🙂) and it's amazing! Thanks for all the work you put into your channel. Learned so much about SF already and my to be read list keeps on growing

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Glad you liked it. Garry did some good SF- try 'The Night of Kadar' next.

[@nickroberts8116]

Some great recommendations here again, picked up a Kindle copy of Grey Beard and The Chalk Giants for under a fiver and also managed to track down a paperback of British Summertime, happy days !

[@JackMyersPhotography]

I had to pause the video and head off to Amazon to order a few of these, and I’m looking forward to reading them. Thank you for the excellent recommendations and your insight into what makes all of these books such great potential reads; it is as always appreciated. My TBR will outlive me, but honestly I think my TBR will outlive modern society at this point.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Cheers Jack- I think my TBR is in the same situation....

[@sd-ho8uu]

Another great list of books to pick through, and nice to see The quiet woman getting a mention, something of a forgotten Priest. On the subject of British SF writers, I wondered if any of your videos touch on the works of Edmund Cooper, now out of print and very much out of fashion, there are some classics in there.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I briefly mentioned 'The Cloud Walkers' in one of my videos. I've not read him for years and yes, his work has been OP since the early 80s and he's now very out of favour, presumably for the anti-feminist sentiments of some of the books. He definitely needs reappraising.

[@rickkearn7100]

Great setting for this presentation. As no doubt intended, it evokes the feeling of summer so well! Couldn't agree with you more regarding "very measured and carefully done, which is the mark of British SF..." at the juncture where you were speaking of Richard Cowper. Thanks so much for these reviews, OB, once again my literary horizon is greatly expanded! Cheers.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, a friend let me use her space for this, it just seemed like the perfect thing to do.

[@KCreading-Writing]

Another fantastic video, Stephen! Seems the UK is having more of a summer than we are. Anyway, a stellar stroll through several titles I had not heard of. But rocketing to the top of my "To Find" list is Starship Summer. I'm drawn to SF on the seaside, one of the better examples is the manga Tropic of the Sea. Thanks for the great recs.

[@AStrang3r]

An interesting list. I only have a couple from it and half of it is new to me. I think I'll re-jig my reading list to incorporate a few of these. Great stuff.

[@northof-62]

Great list. Thx for your talk. . . . (FInally got Chocky ordered from your country. Shipping from the US is from expensive to outrageous ATM.)

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, shame in this direction too. The postage jumped up some years back both ways and it really put me off buying for a long time, but occasionally you have to bite the bullet and just do it...

[@leemason6897]

Your continued advocacy of the sublime Keith Roberts is extremely gratifying, his is a name sadly neglected elsewhere. I'm no completist, sadly enough, but I have a lot of his work, from Anita to Kaeti. Looking forward to a video specifically on him. Will you be covering his art as well as his writing?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

This is more difficult as I'm not a critic of fine art in any way, though I love Keith's work. I was discussing this yesterday with one of the country's most experienced collectors and dealers- we were speculating on how much of his art survived and where it went, the fate of his own archive of file copies of books etc being well known (lots have come on the market in recent years - Hyraxia have a set of his ms for sale and three friends of mine were involved with publishing his small press works). On that front, copies given by Keith to other writers have been coming on the market, as have books given to Keith by other writers- I have been looking at how affordable these associational books are to collect. I'll be shooting the rest of the KR video next week if things go according to plan and I'm eager to stream it from early July. There will be another one later, as there is so much to say and his work is challenging, so I have to articulate it beyond what I'll cover in the work in progress.

[@allanlloyd3676]

That is quite strange. I started that Cornell book and failed to get into it, even though I have read and enjoyed much of his other work. There is a series of short novels about the Witches of Lychford which I think was only released as downloads so you may not have seen them. They are very English and well observed and great fun to read. One of the main characters is a female vicar who is trying to reconcile her faith with her friends who happen to practice witchcraft. I think Paul is married to a village vicar, and there are many funny personal touches. His comic work featuring Marvel's Excalibur is excellent and very funny. I like The Chalk Giants very much, but have only read it once. It is one of the most painful books I have ever read. I just don't want to put myself through it again. I'm not sure how much of Keith's personal life we can interpret from his books. He has been praised for his portrayal of young girls and he does write them in a very convincing way. Do you know his autobiographical book Lemady? He just writes about travelling around from pub to pub in his vintage sports car with a young female companion, and I found it a very troubling book. I don't think I would have liked the man. There was a strange mixture of arrogance and self pity, as if he was bitter that his talents were not recognised, and I could see why he fell out with people.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Hi Allan - as I said, I didn't get on with the Cornell first time around, but enjoyed it the second. I can imagine he'd write Excalibur well, actually, I can see how it would fit his style. 'Chalk Giants' is painful, agreed. 'Lemady'? Yes, I've read all of Keith's books, read the ones from 1980 on as they were published. What you divine rings true with everything I've heard from people who knew him and public statements from other writers and publishers he knew. A very troubled man, but I think his work is important in many, many ways- as I'm sure you do- and one of these is in the bitter sadness of the terribly lonely. The opening section of CG is for me simply magnificent and I'll say I wish it had continued that way, but I can see why it wouldn't have sustained.

[@thekeywitness]

That Ballard novel is one of my faves.

[@mathewguglielmi8451]

I read Chocky last year and thought John Wyndham's story was very evocative of childhood and how children think and develop. A great read and charming story. I want to read it again.

[@michaeldaly1495]

Lovely stuff. I've never read Keith Roberts but I have several of his now on my 'to be read' pile. After I burn through CP, Colin WIlson, Robert Silverberg, etc, etc. Say, how DO you find time to read so much? Have you a time-extending machine in the basement or something?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I've always read a lot and all of the books in this video- just as one example from the channel- are books I read for the first time decades ago. Re-reading a book is easier, of course, in most cases and I can usually regain a sense of the detail quite quickly. Also, I spent years copywriting book reviews for catalogues, magazines etc before writing my books. Also, because I talk about books all day long sometimes in my job and have done for almost 40 years - plus most of my serious friends are very booky too- you just develop a way with these things. I grew up on a mountain in Wales with no other kids nearby, so reading and re-reading was a major pastime for me when growing up, I just find it natural. Re Keith, there will be a full-blown video soon and I'd say tackle 'The Furies' and 'Pavane' first. Also, bearing in mind the comments you made a while back re Silvberg's handling of some female characters- and bearing in mind I don't believe in trigger warnings- you may well find some of his depictions of female characters not to your taste, but it's worth bearing in mind that this is just fiction. Keith's protagonists are often broken men who have problematic relationships with women, as I believe he did himself. The other side of that coin is that he focused on leading female characters much more than any other male British SF writer I can think of and was most of the time sympathetic.

[@michaeldaly1495]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Thanks for that info, fascinating. Regarding Silverberg, I imagine that when he was writing, publishers and editors would encourage sex in the storylines and in fairness, it's pretty easy to just speed-read through the more trashy bits, no big deal. And regarding your childhood, you were lucky (in a sense) you grew up in a time when SF was a significant cultural phenomenon and not just a form of comfortable escapism. Reading clearly has played a massive role in your life, long may you enjoy it and continue to share your knowledge.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@michaeldaly1495 Yes, the old 'sex sells' angle. He also - like Barry Malzberg- wrote softcore porn under pseudonyms late 50s early 60s which was de rigeur for jobbing authors as the magazines collapsed and paperback sales boomed. Also, in American New Wave, taboo-breaking was king and sex was the main element of this. Silverberg was the main line that SF took from the old fifties style and into US New Wave- not PKD as another prominent booktuber has suggested, as Dick himself was somewhat skeptical of the New Wave, despite making contributions to it by default because of his concerns. Silverberg was, in my view, a key writer in this bridging of old and new. I did grow up in very different times, which did help my appreciation of books. At some point I'm going to do a video or three about where SF has been since the 80s and where it is going- or not. Thanks as ever, Michael, for your insights and comments.

[@danieljette8007]

You're making me so happy. Reading SF with a beer in nature. I would be envious were it not for the fact that I was planning to do the same today in my own canadian landscape (a lot of hay in fact in my back door ). I was not able to but there will be other lights, other days. Strange when you think about it that it is more pleasing to read SF in nature than on a spaceship.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

There's a verity in that- SF that fails to accomodate nature is a bit like Futurism, which pretended to hate the past and yet celebrated itself on Capri- see my Capri videos- a place where man and nature blend ideally.

[@martinspencer1618]

I thought Coney was Canadian. Is "Hello Summer, Goodbye" the one with the creature that can freeze ponds to catch animals that have stepped in them? Must have read it over 40 yearsa ago.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, the Ice Goblin I think it's called. Coney lived in Canada for quite a while, but was English.

[@DanielRumbacher]

really nice video. (sorry for my english, i am no native speaker) i marked everything in this video as "to read". i think i will start with starship summer and british summertime. do you have any idea where i can get them as ebooks?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Well, as you don't indicate which part of the world you live in, recommending ebook sources is hard. But I'd start with Amazon and Gollancz Gateway, though the Brown is probabably an Ebook from PS Publishing- and your English is fine.

[@emeraldeelentertainment8988]

Hey Steven, I've had an interest in reading some of your SF recommendations. Are there any recommendations you'd make to teens looking to get into SF too? I have a brother who's considered reading some.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Hi - put it this way, there are a LOT of people online and elsewhere recommending books, usually based on their own subjective enjoyment of them, but that's usually a poor starting point. I've been recommending books to people as my job for 39 years and it's not easy- people have different ideas, different expectations and it's impossible to suggest/recommend unless one can get a handle on their taste- so my counter-question would be 'What books has he read that he has enjoyed -of any kind?'. That's what I ask my customers as that's the starting point. Also, there are important factors such as age, reading ability and the fact that for a few decades now young readers have grown up with internet, mobile phones, 24 hr TV, DVD etc, which means that attention spans and/or literary sophistication varies. So let me know what he's read and enjoyed (I need titles and authors) and I'll see what I can do. Films and TV shows enjoyed helps as well as a taste indicator.

[@holydissolution85]

If I may intrude : You can't go wrong with Jack Vance.. ( Planet of Adventure / Tschai series & Dragon Masters , Miracle Workers, Last Castle for starters ..) Dan Simmons's Hyperion books & of course Herbert's Dune That should make a SF fanatic of any teen ... 😁

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@holydissolution85 -Well, I would disagree re 'Dune', but I think my main point is that if you're going to get a young person into SF- or anyone for that matter- you have to have context of their taste and background. Like I said, this is what 39 years of bookselling has taught me. You and I may go for Vance and Simmons- both great choices objectively speaking- but you can't make assumptions about what young readers are like now. They vary wildly and enormously and effective recommendation is trickier than people think, I'd say.

[@holydissolution85]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal I tried to take that into account... these seem like safe bet for me, but as you said : times & tastes change

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@holydissolution85 -That's the thing; it's actually become harder and harder to recommend books to younger readers, as their consciousness and connection with reading is often so different from older generations. There are exceptions, of course, but I generally believe that the average 16 year old reader now is usually 5 years behind what they would have been 25 years ago- not in ability, but in sensibility and patience.

[@vintagesf]

Chocky is one of my favourite Wyndham novels. I think it is because I can identify with the father. Reading The Outward Urge right now. I suspect you may cover it in your future video but I think I understand why Lucas Parke (pseudonym for Wyndham) was listed as a co-author. In short, marketing. Looking forward to reading Cowper and revisiting Roberts in Pavane. I’ll try The Chalk Giants later.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I like all of Wyndham's novels a lot- he was the first author I read everything by - with the exception of 'The Outward Urge', funnily enough, which although I've read it several times, has never done it for me- it seemed very old fashioned to me even when I first read it as a kid and hadn't read much SF. Lucas Parkes was described at the time as 'a technical collaborator', but those were two of Wyndham's names, as I'm sure you know. Definitely read 'Pavane' before 'The Chalk Giants', as you have to love his work to really get 'CG' as it's quite experimental in many ways. The best Cowper is probably 'The Twilight of Briareus', but I covered that in my Winter SF video last November. The Wyndham I cover in the upcoming video doesn't include 'Outward', but lesser known material.

[@vintagesf]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Looking forward to your video. Last week I finished Foul Play Suspected and maybe a year ago read Stowaway to Mars, both Modern Library editions.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@vintagesf -Thanks for this, did not realise FPS had been reissued this month and it's out of stock at the publishers already, but I've managed to order a copy from a good online retailer. Shame there is still no UK edition- I can now re-edit my video to allow for this, great news. So good to chat with someone who is as passionate about Wyndham as I've always been, we are clearly Brothers of the Beynon Harris Cult!

[@vintagesf]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Fortunate conversation. Glad I could help. Modern Library also has a Kindle version of Plan for Chaos. I was hoping they would issue it in paperback but no such luck at this point. It may be my next Wyndham read. Looking forward to the video!! BotBHC. Secret handshake and decoder rings?

[@themojocorpse1290]

I must say I loved this !some of my favourites Aldiss wyndham coney . Rereading day of the triffids now but had never read chocky ordered it yesterday as it happens. Greybeards a great read and hothouse . Ps loved pastel city was going to read the glamour next but may just have to go through priests stuff from start to finish as suggested 🫡

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I definitely recommend the chronological approach with CP- obviously every writer has moments in their early work that don't match up to mature writing, but with someone like Chris, jumping in at the deep end of his 80s work isn't for everyone.