Classic SF with Andy Johnson: the 2025 roundup

As a companion piece to my top ten SF reads of the year, I have put together a comprehensive roundup of everything published on Classic SF with Andy Johnson in 2025. That comprises 42 essays, each with an accompanying audio version. As well as serving as an eligibility post - of course I would love to be nominated for the Hugo for Best Fan Writer! - this is also a handy point of access to everything I have written during the year.

Again, thank you for your interest in my writing on classic SF in 2025, and I hope to connect with you in 2026. 

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Book essays

These essays are my stock in trade and I published 37 of them during the year. Typically, they focus on one novel but less commonly I have written about short story collections or multiple connected books. The earliest book covered was published in 1937; the most recent in 2024.

January (5)

• Death is no obstacle: The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977) by John Varley
• In the days of their strength: Pavane (1968) by Keith Roberts
• Plucked from the past: Picnic on Paradise (1968) by Joanna Russ
• A horrorshow cure: A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess
• Tipping the scales: Dreamsnake (1978) by Vonda N. McIntyre

February (4)

• The enemy within: The Second Trip (1971) by Robert Silverberg
• Beating the odds: The Grand Wheel (1977) by Barrington J. Bayley
• Heavy weather: Mission of Gravity (1954) by Hal Clement
• Digging up the future: Icehenge (1984) by Kim Stanley Robinson

March (3)

• Armed to the teeth: The Jagged Orbit (1969) by John Brunner
• Out of the darkness: Flowers for Algernon (1966) by Daniel Keyes
• Celebration of wounds: Crash (1973) by J. G. Ballard 

April (4)

• Ancient mistakes: Look to Windward (2000) by Iain M. Banks
• The last city: Cinnabar (1976) by Edward Bryant
• Scarcity and abundance: Ring Around the Sun (1953) by Clifford D. Simak
• Trial by fire: Rite of Passage (1968) by Alexei Panshin

May (5)

• Fork in the road: The Two-Timers (1968) by Bob Shaw
• Superstructure: The World Inside (1971) by Robert Silverberg
• Spirit and science: The Shadow Hunter (1982) by Pat Murphy
• Built different: The Rod of Light (1985) by Barrington J. Bayley
• Built-in obedience: Nekropolis (2001) by Maureen F. McHugh

June (2)

• Illusion, USA: Time Out of Joint (1959) by Philip K. Dick 
• The back of beyond: Way Station (1963) by Clifford D. Simak

July (3)

• Mind of the ocean: The Jonah Kit (1975) by Ian Watson
• The world outside: Non-Stop (1958) by Brian Aldiss
• After two catastrophes: The Uncertain Midnight (1958) and The Cloud Walker (1973) by Edmund Cooper
  

August (2)

• Quantum uncertainty: Timescape (1980) by Gregory Benford
• Hollywood necromancy: Remake (1995) by Connie Willis

September (3)

• Solar Enemy Number One: The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester 
• Avatar of war: The Book of Elsewhere (2024) by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville
• The endless plain of fortune: Orbitsville trilogy by Bob Shaw (1975 - 1990)

October (3)

• Hanging by a thread: the Society of Time trilogy (1962) by John Brunner
• Reign of evil: Swastika Night (1937) by Murray Constantine
• Collision with the future: The Masks of Time (1968) by Robert Silverberg

November (3)

• Silicon and steel: The Reproductive System (1968) by John Sladek
• The new Argonauts: West of the Sun (1953) by Edgar Pangborn
• Walk like thunder: the mammoth trilogy (1999 - 2001) by Stephen Baxter

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Other essays

These five essays approach classic SF from a different angle, in one way or another. Included here are broader looks at the work of Margaret St. Clair and Ursula K. Le Guin, two pieces which reflect aspects of my thinking about the genre, and my top ten classic SF reads of the year (nine of which were covered in the essays above).

• Cognitive shock: five concepts to enhance your science fiction reading
• Four futures: The Ace Double novels of Margaret St. Clair (1956 - 1964)
• The thing itself: science fiction and its aesthetic
• Other ways to live: introducing the Hainish stories by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The ten best SF books I read in 2025
  

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Plans for 2026

In 2026 I aim to again keep up a nearly-weekly schedule of new essays, of the two broad types above. I am very likely to cover more work by John Sladek, Bob Shaw, Iain M. Banks, Edgar Pangborn, and John Brunner - as well as writers new to me. All articles will continue to have audio versions issued as podcasts, and I'll maintain (and hope to improve) the email newsletter.

I hope to join other podcasts as a guest contributor in 2026 (something I have not done before), so if you would like me to speak with you about classic science fiction, please get in touch. Similarly, I am open to contributing writing to other venues, so I would be happy to hear from you about this, also.