Children of the Dog Star
by Ken Catran; dir. Chris Bailey (TVNZ, 1984)
6-part children’s SF series with a vibe similar to Chocky or Children of the Stones (and like those programmes most effective in the eerie setup phase). The young actors do quite well and the New Zealand setting is refreshing. Memorable theme music.
If Only They Could Talk
by James Herriot (Michael Joseph, 1970)
audiobook read by Nicholas Ralph (Macmillan, 2020) [as part of “All Creatures Great and Small”]
![Book cover: “If Only They Could Talk” by James Herriot (Michael Joseph, 1970); audiobook read by Nicholas Ralph (Macmillan, 2020) [as part of “All Creatures Great and Small”]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Herriot_If-Only-They-Could-Talk.jpg)
Gentle memoirs of a young vet in 1930s Yorkshire. While Herriot’s story has been adapted into films and TV series, this first book retains its own distinct charm through humorous self-observation, setting, and the three principal characters, well voiced here by Ralph.
The Mad Metropolis
by Phillip E. High (Ace, 1966)
reprinted as “Double Illusion” (Dobson, 1970)
While the central premise remains relevant—humanity entrusting itself to an AI but installing a kill switch that sends it crazy—High’s execution is amateurish, adding layer after extraneous, unpolished layer to turn an intriguing short story idea into a flabby novel.
Triplet
by Timothy Zahn (Baen, 1987)
Zahn finds a fresh way to mix fantasy and SF but becomes too caught up in worldbuilding and posing scenario-specific problems for his characters to solve. The actual story is little more than advanced role-playing, the high-stakes threat just another intellectual exercise.
Till Death Do Us Part
by John Dickson Carr (Hamish Hamilton, 1944)
audiobook read by Kris Dyer (Soundings, 2022)
A thoroughly ingenious locked room murder mystery, but one in which the author focusses too much on obfuscation. The narrator stumbles from confusion to confusion while the detective (Gideon Fell) skirts the main issue and sits pretty but silent on the solution.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
by Edwin A. Abbott (Seeley & Co., 1884)
audiobook read by James Langton (Tantor, 2009)
A mercifully short ‘mathematical’ SF novel in which a square, learning of the hitherto unknown third dimension, narrates the workings of his own two-dimensional world. Flatland is readable as a (late 19th Century) social satire, but the story has little intrinsic appeal.
The Murder at the Vicarage
by Agatha Christie
(Collins Crime Club, 1930); audiobook read by Joan Hickson (Lamplight Audiobooks, 2015)
The first Miss Marple novel is inventive enough, though for much of the book Marple herself is sidelined and the detection takes place via committee. Joan Hickson is a curious choice of audiobook narrator, given that Reverend Clement is the viewpoint character.
The Bug Wars
by Robert Asprin
(New English Library, 1980) [first published St Martin’s Press, 1979]
![Book cover: “The Bug Wars” by Robert Asprin (New English Library, 1980) [first published St Martin’s Press, 1979]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Asprin_Bug-Wars.jpg)
Beneath the horribly pulpy title lies a well-measured, almost cerebral piece of military SF. All the characters are insectoid, yet they engage the reader every bit as much as Earthly protagonists would, their committed hive mentality evoking western perceptions of Asian soldiers.
Thou Shell of Death
by Nicholas Blake (Collins, 1936); audiobook read by Kris Dyer (Bolinda, 2015)
A marked improvement on the first book. Nigel Strangeways appears from the outset and isn’t so abstruse in puzzling out the murder(s). Still, he remains slow on the uptake—less dazzling detective, more scatter-brained dilettante bumbling his way through a crossword puzzle.
The Hunting of the Snark
by Lewis Carroll (Macmillan, 1876); ill. Chris Riddell (Macmillan, 2016)
Carroll’s nonsense poem is unevenly paced and awkward in metre, more memorable for creatures spoken of in passing than for the narrative of the hunt itself. Riddell illustrates for children, but the language and allusions are suggestive of a more adult whimsy.