I’ve been a fan of Mike Ashley’s anthologies for the British Library (you can read my reviews here, here, here, and here). Yesterday’s Tomorrows: The Story of Science Fiction in 100 Books (2020) has a misleading title. It’s the story of SF in the UK from the late Nineteenth Century to the mid-Twentieth Century. I confess that dozens of these titles–especially the early books–were all new to me. Of course, once Ashley gets to the 1940s, more and more titles are familiar. I’m hoping Ashley produces another volume that continues the history of British SF from the mid-1960s to date. How many of these titles do you recognize? How many of these books have you read? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS — 10
INTRODUCTION: The Start of It All — 11
I. WELLS, WELLS, WELLS AGAIN — 21
- The Time Machine H. G. Wells (1895) — 23
- The War of the Worlds H. G. Wells (1898) — 26
- When the Sleeper Wakes H. G. Wells (1899) — 28
- The Country of the Blind and Other Stories H. G. Wells (1911) — 31
II. WARS TO END ALL WARS — 33
5. The Outlaws of the Air George Griffith (1895) — 36
6. The Invasion of 1910 William Le Queue (1906) — 38
7. When William Came Saki (1913) — 40
8. The Struggle for Empire Robert W. Cole (1900) — 42
III. DOOM AND DISASTER — 45
9. Crack of Doom Robert Cromie (1895) — 46
10. The Violet Flame Fred T. Jan (1899) — 48
11. The Purple Cloud M. P. Shiel (1901) — 50
12. The Machine Stops E. M. Forster (1909) — 53
IV. FUTURE’S NEAR AND FAR — 55
13. The Napoleon of Notting Hill G.K. Chesterton (1904) — 57
14. With the Night Mail Rudyard Kipling (1909) — 59
15. The Night Land William Hope Hodgson (1912) — 62
16. The Elixir of Life or 2905 A.D. Herbert Gubbins (1914) — 65
V. THE OLD AND THE NEW — 69
17. The Hampdenshire Wonder J. D. Beresford (1911) — 71
18. The Lost World Arthur Conan Doyle (1912) — 74
VI. ESCAPE OR REALITY? — 77
19. A Drop in Infinity Gerold Grogon (1915) — 79
20. The Terror Arthur Machen (1916) — 82
21. The New Moon Oliver Onions (1918) — 84
22. Meccania, The Super State Owen Gregory (1918) — 86
23. When the World Shook H. Rider Haggard (1919) — 89
24. A Voyage to Arcturus David Lindsay (1920) — 92
VII. BRAVE NEW WORLDS — 97
25. The People of the Ruins Edward Shanks (1920) — 99
26. The Secret Power Maria Carelli (1921) — 101
27. Theodore Savage Cicely Hamilton (1922) — 104
28. Number 87 Harrington Text (1922) — 106
29. Nordenholt’s Million J. J. Connington (1923) — 108
30. Ultimatum Victor MacClure (1924) — 110
31. Menace from the Moon Bohun Lynch (1925) — 112
32. Man’s World Charlotte Haldone (1926) — 115
33. To-morrow Alfred Ollivant (1927) — 117
34. Concrete Aalfrida Tillyard (1930) — 120
VIII. SUPER, SUB OR NON-HUMAN? — 125
35. The Blue Germ Martin Swayne (1918) — 128
36. Back to Methuselah George Bernard Shaw (1921) — 130
37. The Cheetah Girl Christopher Blayre (1923) — 134
38. The Clockwork Man E. V. Odle (1923) — 136
39. The Collapse of Homo Sapiens P. Anderson Graham (1923) — 139
40. The Last of My Race J. Lional Taylor (1924) — 142
41. The Amphibians S. Fowler Wright (1925) — 143
42. The Emperor of the If Guy Dent (1926) — 147
43. The Man with Six Senses Muriel Jaeger (1927) — 150
44. Kontrol Edmund Small (1928) — 153
45. The Ant Heap Edward Knoblock (1929) — 155
46. Brain Lionel Britton (1930) — 157
47. The Seventh Bowl Miles (Stephen Southwold) (1930) — 160
48. Brave New World Aldous Huxley (1932) — 163
IX. PHILOSOPHICAL SPECULATIONS — 169
49. The World, the Flesh and the Devil J. D. Bernal (1929) — 171
50. If It had Happened Otherwise J. C. Squire (1931) — 173
X. INTO THE COSMIC — 177
51. To-morrow’s Yesterday John Gloag (1932) — 181
52. Gay Hunter J. Leslie Mitchell (1934) — 182
53. Adrift in the Stratosphere A. M. Low (serial 1934; book 1937) — 184
54. Planet Plane John Beynon (1936) — 187
55. Crisis!–1992 Benson Herbert (1936) — 191
56. Star Maker Olaf Stapledon (1937) — 193
57. Out of the Silent Planet C. s. Lewis (1938) — 195
58. Sinister Barrier Eric Frank Russell (1939) — 197
XI. PREPARING FOR WAR — 201
59. Lost Horizon James Hilton (1933) — 203
60. The Peacemaker C. S. Forester (1934) — 206
61. The Strange Invaders Alan Llewellyn (1934) — 208
62. Land Under England James O’Neill (1935) — 210
63. Women Alive Susan Ertz (1935) — 212
64. Swastika Night Murray Constantine (1937) –215
65. The Hopkins Manuscript R. C. Sherriff (1939) — 217
XII. OUR DARKEST HOURS — 221
66. The Twenty-Fifth Hour Herbert Best (1940) — 224
67. Loss of Eden Douglas Brown & Christopher Sarpell (1940) — 225
68. Secret Weapon Bernard Newman (1942) — 228
69. The Golden Amazon John Russell Fearn (1944) — 230
70. Four-Sided Triangle William F. Temple (1949) — 232
XIII. POST-ATOMIC DOOM — 235
71. Death of a World J. Jefferson Farjean (1948) — 238
72. Nineteen Eight-Four George Orwell (1949) — 239
73. Time Marches Sideways Ralph L. Finn (1950) — 242
74. The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham (1951) — 244
75. The Last Revolution Lord Dunsany (1951) — 246
76. The Sound of His Horn Sarban (1952) — 248
77. The Magicians J. B. Priestley (1954) — 250
XIV. SCIENCE FICTION BOOM — 253
78. The Quatermass Experiment Nigel Knele (TV, 1953; book 1959) — 256
79. Journey Into Space Charles Chilton (radio, 1953; book 1954) — 258
80. Childhood’s End Arthur C. Clarke (1953) — 260
81. The Echoing Worlds Jonathan Burke (1954) — 264
82. One in Three Hundred J. T. McIntosh (1954) — 266
83. Alien Dust E. C. Tubb (1955) — 268
84. City Under the Sea Kenneth Bulmer (1957) — 271
85. Non-Stop Brian W. Aldiss (1958) — 273
86. Deadly Image (aka, The Uncertain Midnight ) Edmund Cooper (1958) — 276
87. Hospital Station James White (1962) — 278
88. Calculated Risk Charles Eric Maine (1960) — 280
89. A for Andromeda Fred Hoyle & John Elliot (TV, 1961; book 1962) — 282
XV. OLD WORLDS FOR NEW — 287
90. Facial Justice — L. P. Hartley (1960) — 289
91. The Drowned World J. G. Ballard (1962) — 291
92. The World in Winter John Christopher (1962) — 294
93. Memoirs of a Spacewoman Naomi Mitchison (1962) — 296
94. Telepath Arthur Sellings (1962) — 298
95. To Conquer Chaos John Brunner (1964) — 300
96. The Dark Mind Colin Kapp (1964) — 303
97. Doctor Who David Whitaker (1964) — 305
98. FROOMB! John Lymington (1964) — 308
99. The Sundered Worlds Michael Moorcock (1965) — 310
100. The Garbage World Charles Platt (1966) — 313
Select Bibliography — 317
Acknowledgements — 319
Index — 321
I know of about 40 and I have read perhaps 18 of them, the H. G. Wells, E.M. Forster and a lot from the mid 40’s on.
Steve, that’s an impressive number! I’m hoping Mike Ashley does a Volume 2.
From my visits to London I believe that most of these books are forgotten. I saw only the latest titles available in bookstores.
I’ve read probably all of the later titles in your list, starting with no 69 and my favourites are all the titles starting with 80, the Wyndham, Clarke and of course Tubb.
I’ve always liked the British style, often preferred it to the American, but don’t really know why.
Wolf, the Brits specialized in disaster SF. No one could beat them at that sub-genre!
As soon as I read Michael Dirda’s review yesterday I knew you would be all over it. I like Ashley’s anthologies too. I haven’t read a lot of them – I know about 40, have read The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds by Wells, the Hodgson, Brave New World, Lost Horizon, 1984, A Voyage to Arcturus, Day of the Triffids, Childhood’s End, Hospital Station, The Drowned World.
Jeff, Dirda and I have similar tastes.
I’d say an unimpressive 13, but the count is iffy because there are several I’m just not sure of. Take Lindsay’s “A Voyage to Arcturus”. I’m sure I started it but think I got bored and gave up. And there are a few others in that category. However, given the ones I’m sure of and the reputations of the authors, I’d say it’s a pretty impressive list.
Michael, it took me a couple of tries to finish A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS. Historic…but dull.
I agree. I bought it in the ’70s when it was reprinted in paperback, but I found it slow going too..
Apparently these are discussions of the works, not the works themselves, judging by the number of pages shown. While I’ve read a number of the books, a volume devoted to discussion of them wouldn’t be of much interest to me at this time.
Rick, YESTERDAY’S TOMORROWS is a wonderful reference book. I’ll be ordering a number of these books in the weeks ahead.
Some very good books here, George, along with a lot of books that have some historic value but little reading value. The list includes 34 books I am not familiar with — about ten of those by authors I have heard of/read. Some on the list appear to be real yawners. There’s a lot of books that I would call fantasies rather science fiction.
Anyway, I have actually read 24 from this lilst and have probably fifteen more hanging around here somewhere. The book I would most like to read is SWASTIKA NIGHT.
Jerry, you’re right about “historic value but little reading value.” That’s why a second volume of books from the mid-Sixties to date would be more interesting (to me at least).
Have read only four: The Lost World, Brave New World, Lost Horizon, 1984. The last one is so real that i’ll hesitate to categorise it simply as SF.
Neeru, you could almost classify 1984 as an Alternative Reality novel. Very powerful.
Alternate Reality would pretty much be sf. Given what it owes to contemporary novel DARKNESS AT NOON and more distantly to sf novel WE…solidly in the Let’s Not Do This Any More, As We Already Do To Too Great an Extent school of sf.
Todd, my favorite ALTERNATE REALITY TV show last year was LOVECRAFT COUNTRY.
First of all, I hope that stupid grocer’s apostrophe in the word FUTURES is not in the text of the book itself.
I’ve read The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, some other Wells short stories, The Machine Stops, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, With the Night Mail, The Lost World, Brave New World, Star Maker, Out of the Silent Planet, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Day of the Triffids, Childhood’s End.
And Hodgson’s The House on the Borderland and The Boats of the Glen Carrig (both supernatural horror), several by Eric Frank Russell (Wasp, Dreadful Sanctuary, Three to Conquer), Aldiss (Hothouse, The Saliva Tree, The Interpreter), Wyndham (The Midwich Cuckoos, Web), Bulmer, Fred Hoyle’s The Black Cloud, Colin Kapp’s The Patterns of Chaos, some Doctor Who books.
I’m disappointed that he didn’t also include Stapledon’s Last and First Men. I remember being fascinated by that future history.
Andrew, I’m with you on Stapledon’s LAST AND FIRST MEN. It’s a unique future history that deserves a wider audience.
WHEN WILLIAM CAME was the first I read…as a Saki fiend from my exposure to his short horror fiction early on, I picked up the hefty complete works volume for the first time when I was about 10yo.
Todd, I discovered Saki when I was around 12 years old. Like you, I picked up that complete works volume a binged my way through it.
George, I wish you were on Facebook. I posted this review to our group, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Fiction. I plan to nominate it for a group read the next time we have nominations for reading a best of the year annual. We usually discuss one short story a day from three types of anthologies.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/472875506624413
Jim
Jim, thanks for the nomination. I plan to post a review of the Sixth Series in early June. I’m enjoying this project. Just 19 more volumes to go!