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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 29/09/2026

China continues to absolutely crush it where book design is concerned. Some UK classic SF authors in translation, represented in the huge Eslite store in Suzhou.

Chinese edition of The Player of Games (1988) by Iain M. Banks

Chinese edition of Concrete Island (1974) by J. G. Ballard

Chinese edition of Non-Stop (1958) by Brian Aldisa

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 11/09/2026

This week the Manics announced their first live album, recordings of 2014 shows in which they played The Holy Bible in full. My book is my own take on every Manics song to date, including the ones on that harrowing 1994 masterpiece.

The upcoming Manic Street Preachers album, The Holy Bible Live.

Numerous hardcover copies of Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song by Andy Johnson, on a table at the launch event

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 04/09/2026

Interestingly, Blish feels compelled to clarify that the Vulcan that Spock is from is not the proposed planet between Mercury and the Sun, despite that idea being disproved in 1919.

From Wikipedia: 1846 lithography about the solar system. Detail: The hypothetical planet Vulcan circling the sun at close distance.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 03/09/2026

Next up, a gift from @gareth.entertainium.co: Star Trek 1 (1967) by James Blish, which adapts seven scripts for TOS S1 into short stories. Amusingly, Blish apparently had not seen any Star Trek at the time...

A copy of the 1972 Corgi UK edition of Star Trek 1 (1967) by James Blish. McCoy, Kirk, Spock, and Scotty are pictured above a huge "1", with a small USS Enterprise in front of it.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 31/08/2026

J. M. Gandy's 1830 painting of the Bank of England: "a cutaway axonometric" which depicts the structure "both seemingly in ruins and under construction". Almost all of Sir John Soane's work on the Bank was demolished after 1925.

"A Bird’s-eye view of the Bank of England", an extremely detailed watercolour painting of the Bank of England as it was in 1830, depicted in "cutaway axonometric". Painted by Joseph Michael Gandy (1771 - 1843).

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 31/08/2026

Finally getting around to reading my copy of Nifft the Lean (1982), Michael Shea's scarce fantasy collection, which I snagged in the Hague last year for €4. 🧵

A DAW first printing of Nifft the Lean (1982) by Michael Shea, pictured with other books in The American Book Center, the Hague, the Netherlands.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 30/08/2026

Received a fair chunk of the Dorsai series by Gordon R. Dickson today as a belated birthday gift. Also got the first new omnibus of James White's Sector General series.

Late 1980s Sphere printing of Tactics of Mistake by Gordon R. Dickson

Late 1980s Sphere printing of Soldier, Ask Not by Gordon R. Dickson

Late 1980s Sphere printing of The Spirit of Dorsai by Gordon R. Dickson

Late 1980s Sphere printing of Lost Dorsai by Gordon R. Dickson

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 07/08/2026

The four illustrations by Virgil Finlay (1914 - 1971) for the novelette version of Hawksbill Station, published in the August 1967 issue of Galaxy.

A crazed man imagines a woman he has made coming to life in a Virgil Finlay illustration for "Hawksbill Station" by Robert Silverberg.

Jim Barrett in a Virgil Finlay illustration for "Hawksbill Station" by Robert Silverberg.

Strange creatures in a Virgil Finlay illustration for "Hawksbill Station" by Robert Silverberg.

A time traveling figure in a Virgil Finlay illustration for "Hawksbill Station" by Robert Silverberg.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 06/08/2026

Eight covers for late-1970s editions of Robert Silverberg novels (including Hawksbill Station) by artist Paul Alexander (1937 - 2021).

Paul Alexander cover art for the Robert Silverberg books To Live Again (1969) and The Book of Skulls (1972).

Paul Alexander cover art for the Robert Silverberg books Downward to the Earth (1970) and A Time of Changes (1971).

Paul Alexander cover art for the Robert Silverberg books To Open the Sky (1967) and Hawksbill Station (1968).

Paul Alexander cover art for the Robert Silverberg books The Masks of Time (1968) and (1974).

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 05/08/2026

Playing Soul Reaver recently encouraged me to return to Darksiders Warmastered Edition (2016), which happily now has a photo mode following a recent update.

In Darksiders, protagonist War looks at three statues in an ominous chamber.

In Darksiders, protagonist War confronts the bat-like boss Tiamat on a rainswept rooftop.

In Darksiders, protagonist War runs across a rocky outcrop in the Ashlands section of the game.

In Darksiders, protagonist War rides his horse Ruin and fires the Mercy pistol at the Stygian, a giant worm boss in the Ashlands section of the game.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 29/07/2026

This week I polished off the 2024 remaster of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999). Definitely an interesting and atmospheric game, albeit one which is highly obtuse at times. I can't imagine getting through it without a guide.

Raziel stands above the Lake of the Dead in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Raziel running out of a chamber in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Raziel looking at the corpse of his brother Dumah in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Raziel gazes into a time portal in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 29/07/2026

This vandalism is a form of "destructive scanning". In more recent SF, Alastair Reynolds imagined that the future plutocrats of the planet Yellowstone would do this to their own bodies, as a means of mind uploading. It doesn't go well for them.

From the Revelation Space wiki: "The Monument to the Eighty is a series of shrines and memorials dedicated to the original 80 people who agreed to have Calvin Sylveste copy their consciousnesses into digital form (“brain-mapping”). The original version of this digitization destroyed the organic bodies and minds of the subjects, meaning that the digital copy was the only consciousness remaining. Over the months following digitization, many, if not all, of the 80 digitized consciousnesses deteriorated and crashed as well, resulting in the complete deaths of the subjects."

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 11/07/2026

If Turkey is trying to give NATO leaders some Castor Troy swag they've got to step up their game.

Castor Troy's box from John Woo's Face/Off (1997), containing two gold-plated pistols, a pack of Chiclets, cash in a gold money clip, and a lot of drugs

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 22/05/2026

Four covers for The Inheritors by the illustrious and mostly mysterious artists William Gross (1955), unknown (? after 1993), uncredited (2011), and uncredited (2015).

1955 cover by William Gross for The Inheritors by William Golding

Uncredited cover art for for The Inheritors by William Golding

Uncredited 2011 cover art for The Inheritors by William Golding

Uncredited 2015 cover art for The Inheritors by William Golding

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 20/05/2026

Just after I said I had no plans to seek out Adrian Tchaikovsky's chunky novels, what do I find?

Paperback edition of Children of Time (2015) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Paperback edition of Children of Ruin (2019) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 11/05/2026

One lunchtime acquisition today: the most recent omnibus of Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time trilogy (1972 - 1976), to replace my rather disheveled 1980s copy.

Gollancz "Michael Moorcock Collection" edition of The Dancers at the End of Time omnibus by Michael Moorcock. The novels were originally published between 1972 and 1976

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 10/05/2026

"The novel’s relatively dry prose recalls Arthur C. Clarke and the later work of Liu Cixin." Snippet of episode 193 of the pod, focusing on Stanislaw Lem's Fiasco (1986), his gloomy final novel of first contact.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 09/05/2026

New acquistions today: three vintage Penguin SF books (50p for the lot) and one of Banks' few non-Culture SF novels.

1963 Penguin edition of A Case of Conscience (1958) by James Blish, using detail from the painting L'oeil du silence (The Eye of Silence) by Max Ernst (1944).

1966 Penguin edition of Deathworld (1960) by Harry Harrison, using Citron by Pavel Tchelitchew for cover art

1968 Penguin edition of the collection Somewhere a Voice (1965) by Eric Frank Russell. Cover by Richard Hollis, "using a photograph by Carl Strüwe from Formen des Mikrokosmos"

2005 Orbit paperback edition of The Algebraist (2004) by Iain M. Banks. Cover design by Blacksheep

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 07/05/2026

Four very diverse late-1980s covers for Fiasco, by artists John Alfred Dorn III (1987), Giuseppe Mangoni (1988), Tim White (1988), and "Mynott" (1989).

Cover art for Stanislaw Lem's Fiasco (1986), by artist John Alfred Dorn III

Cover art for an Italian edition of Stanislaw Lem's Fiasco (1986), by artist Giuseppe Mangoni

Cover art for a Portuguese edition of Stanislaw Lem's Fiasco (1986), by artist Tim White

Cover art for a 1989 UK Orbit edition of Stanislaw Lem's Fiasco (1986), by artist "Mynott" (this is the only artwork so credited on ISFDB).

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 20/04/2026

Three covers for Alien Embassy (1977): one by Dean Ellis from 1978 and two uncredited ones for 1979 and 1993 UK editions.

1978 cover art for Alien Embassy by Dean Ellis

Uncredited 1979 cover art for Alien Embassy, for the Panther edition

Uncredited cover art for the 1993 VGSF edition of Alien Embassy

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 19/04/2026

Episode 192 of the podcast is now very likely live in your podcast vendor of choice - here's your snippet, on the strange future envisioned by the late Ian Watson in Alien Embassy (1977).

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 13/04/2026

Four covers for Fury: Ley Kenyon (1954), Richard Powers (1958), Larry Kresek (1972), and uncredited (1981).

Cover art for the 1954 UK edition of Fury (1947); art by Ley Kenyon

Richard Powers' cover art for a 1958 edition of Fury (1947), published by Avon under the largely meaningless title Destination Infinity

1972 Larry Kresek cover art for the 1972 Lancer edition of Fury, which has an introduction by co-author C. L. Moore.

Uncredited cover art for the 1981 edition of Fury, by this point a "famous classic."

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 11/04/2026

Speaking of SF cover art, I missed artist Jim Burns' birthday yesterday. Here's probably my favourite of his, thrilling scale and imagination for Greg Bear's novel Eon (1985).

Jim Burns' cover art for Greg Bear's novel Eon (1985). Various disc-shaped spacecraft fly towards a vast, pyramidal structure inside an immense, seemingly infinite macrostructure.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 10/04/2026

Link cards for my site are currently broken, so here's a pig-ugly post promoting this week's essay on Fury (1947) by Henry Kuttner and (an uncredited) C. L. Moore. www.andyjohnson.xyz/home/under-t...

The 1954 edition of Fury (1947) by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore in front of a rendering of Venus

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 31/03/2026

Four exciting SF purchases from Bath over the weekend, originally published between 1947 and 2025. Two are often not seen or presented as SF.

2019 Gollancz Golden Age Masterworks edition of Fury (1947) by Henry Kuttner (and C. L. Moore, uncredited)

1977 Faber and Faber printing of The Inheritors (1955) by William Golding

2002 Bloomsbury edition of Riddley Walker (1980) by Russell Hoban

2025 Solaris paperback edition of The Fourth Consort (2025) by Edward Ashton

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 30/03/2026

I have a few copies of my book Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song remaining. If you'd like to purchase a signed copy directly from me for the Manics-curious in your life, please let me know.

A copy of Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song on top of an envelope, with a blue pen next to it

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 20/03/2026

Quite like the procession I stumbled into in Palermo in 2023; we followed the Madonna della Mercede out to the sea where (to our surprise) there was quite a fireworks display. Amazing, unexpected evening.

Fireworks by the sea in Palermo during the feast of Madonna della Mercede, September 2023

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 20/03/2026

Four covers for The Shockwave Rider with artwork by Murray Tinkelman (1976), Eddie Jones (1979), John Higgins (1988), and Barclay Shaw (1989).

Cover for the 1976 Ballantine edition of The Shockwave Rider, art by Murray Tinkelman

Eddie Jones' cover art for the 1979 German edition of The Shockwave Rider. Another (earlier) version of this art exists which omits the Christ figure and has different cloud formations visible below. This was used on the 1977 Orbit edition.

John Higgins' cover art for the 1988 Methuen edition of The Shockwave Rider

Barclay Shaw's cover art for the 1989 Del Rey edition of The Shockwave Rider, depicting Nickie Haflinger incarerated at the opening of the novel

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 20/03/2026

Picked up slightly battered but readable copies of Greg Bear's Eon (1985) and its sequel Eternity (1988) - £1 for the pair.

The Legend edition of Eon (1985) and the Gollancz VGSF edition of its sequel Eternity (1988), both by Greg Bear.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 14/03/2026

Some conspicuously non-SF purchases in Oxford today.

Recent Picador edition of Child of God (1973) by Cormac McCarthy

Gollancz paperback edition of The Blacktongue Thief (2021) by Christopher Buehlman

Gollancz paperback edition of The Daughters' War (2024) by Christopher Buehlman

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 12/03/2026

Thoroughly enjoyed launching MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG at Curio in Oxford last night, very grateful to everyone who came along!

Andy visible between audience members, talking about Manic Street Preachers

A copy of Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song next to a tiny rubber duck, on a tall table

Three boxes of cupcakes, each with a topper showing either the cover of the book, or the cover of a Manics album

Andy poses with a copy of the book, next to an abstract painting

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 10/03/2026

One SF purchase today - the 1985 edition of Brian Aldiss' first collection Space, Time and Nathaniel (1957), with quite lovely cover art by Vincent di Fate.

The 1985 edition of Brian Aldiss' Space, Time and Nathaniel (1957), with quite lovely cover art by Vincent di Fate. In deep space, a spacecraft travels near a large space station with two pinkish planets visible.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 06/03/2026

Pleased and grateful to see my book launch for Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song featured in the indispensable @oxfordclarion.bsky.social!

Manic Street Preachers Song by Song (£), Wed 11 Mar, Curio Bookshop. 344 songs in a single book launch. Everything must go!

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 05/03/2026

No essay or podcast ep this week, as I'm away in north Wales. One SF purchase today - next in line for my run through the Culture series, it's Surface Detail (2010) by Iain M. Banks.

Paperback copy of Surface Detail (2010) by Iain M. Banks

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 27/02/2026

Here's your clip of the episode they (Spotify) wanted to ban (!), on the background to Karin Boye's dystopian novel Kallocain (1940).

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 22/02/2026

"Their community is steeped in Latin scripture, but has its own saints, rites, and rituals. In the surprisingly funny 'Fiat Homo', Miller exploits this for some dark humour, in one instance articulating the logic of nuclear deterrence in the language of the Bible."

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 22/02/2026

Some top-tier SF purchases in Oxford yesterday, especially Al Reynolds' latest in hardcover for £3 and the beautiful first art book by Philippe "Manchu" Bouchet for a fiver.

A copy of Science (Fiction), the first art book by Philippe "Manchu" Bouchet (2002). Published in France by Delcourt, it has an introduction by Gérard Klein. The text is largely in both French and English.

Hardcover copy of Halcyon Years (2025) by Alastair Reynolds, published by Gollancz.

Slightly tatty SF Masterworks copy of Jem (1979) by Frederik Pohl.

2020 British Library edition of The Man With Six Senses (1927) by Muriel Jaeger, part of the BL's Science Fiction Classics line.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 21/02/2026

The word is out! Posters have gone up this week for the launch of MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG on 11 March at Curio Books and Culture. It'll be secure, as it's inside a former bank vault.

A poster reading:

Curio presents

Book launch

Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song

With author Andy Johnson

Curio Books and Culture

March 11 at 7pm

The interior of Curio Books and Culture, an underground bookshop inside a former bank vault on Little Clarendon Street in Oxford, UK. There are blue walls, a wooden floor, a rug, and many books in stacks and bookcases.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 21/02/2026

Just one week to go until the release of MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG! andyjohnson.xyz/manics

NEARLY 70,000 WORDS

OVER 300 SONGS

15 ALBUM ESSAYS

1 WEEK TO GO

Plus the cover of Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 21/02/2026

Four editions of A Canticle for Leibowitz, the credited ones being by Gary Viskupic and the spectacular wraparound by Peter Jones.

Cover of the 1965 Bantam edition of A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) by Walter M. Miller Jr. Cover artist unknown. Note that the novel is already described as "the famous science fiction classic".

Cover of the 1978 J. B. Lippincott edition of A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) by Walter M. Miller Jr. Art by Gary Viskupic.

Wraparound cover art for the 1998 Bantam Spectra edition of A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) by Walter M. Miller Jr. The cover art is by Peter Jones, and was originally painted for a 1979 Corgi edition.

Uncredited cover art for the 2014 Brazilian edition of A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) by Walter M. Miller Jr. Translation into Brazilian Portuguese by Maria Silvia Mourão Netto. Published by Editora Aleph.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 19/02/2026

Interior art by Hannes Bok for "Stepsons of Mars" (Astonishing Stories, April 1940) by C. M. Kornbluth, Richard Wilson and Dirk Wylie writing as "Ivar Towers". This would make a great album cover.

Black and white magazine interior illustration of a person holding a long rifle, impaled by a slim, barbed spear - apparently floating in space?

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 14/02/2026

Just two weeks to go until MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG is out! More info and preorder options at andyjohnson.xyz/manics

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 10/02/2026

On this day in 1992, Manic Street Preachers released their debut album Generation Terrorists. In MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG, read my assessment of "one of the most spectacularly over-ambitious debut albums ever made." More info and preorders at andyjohnson.xyz/manics

GENERATION TERRORISTS
RELEASED 10 FEBRUARY 1992

"ONE OF THE MOST SPECTACULARLY OVER-AMBITIOUS DEBUT ALBUMS EVER MADE"

Plus the covers of Generation Terrorists and Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song on a pink leopard print background

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 08/02/2026

Clip from podcast episode 185, on Ice and Iron as climate fiction rooted partly in the discredited 1970s notion of global cooling, and its use of Fortean events.

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 07/02/2026

Nearly 70,000 words, over 300 songs covered, 15 album essays - and only 3 weeks until MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG is out. More info and preorder links at andyjohnson.xyz/manics

Nearly 70,000 words - over 300 songs - 15 album essays - 3 weeks to go!

Plus, the cover of Manic Street Preachers: Song by Song in front of an image of a bookshop interior

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 06/02/2026

One SF acquisition today: New Model Army (2010) by Adam Roberts. Now up to four of his without yet having read any...

Gollancz paperback edition of New Model Army (2010) by Adam Roberts

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 05/02/2026

Four covers for Ice and Iron by Laszlo Kubinyi (the first edition), Darrell K. Sweet, and Peter Elson. Plus, the non-pictorial Gollancz hardcover, which annoys me as they all do.

Cover for the first edition of Ice and Iron (1974) by Wilson Tucker, art by Laszlo Kubinyi. Published by Doubleday

The UK hardcover first of Ice and Iron by Wilson Tucker, published by Gollancz in their classic, ultra-low effort non-pictorial yellow design

Cover for the 1975 Ballantine paperback edition of Ice and Iron. Cover art by Darrell K. Sweet

Cover for the 1977 Arrow Books UK paperback edition of Ice and Iron, with cover art by Peter Elson

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 02/02/2026

"A manic satire bursting at the seams with more, more, more of everything." Clip of podcast episode 184, on John Sladek's The Müller-Fokker Effect (1970).

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 31/01/2026

I have a book coming out and would really appreciate you spreading the word! MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG is published by Fonthill Media and out on 28 February. A complete, concise guide to every song from 1988 to 2025. More info and preorder: www.andyjohnson.xyz/manicssongby...

MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG

By Andy Johnson

Out February 28 February 2026

Preorder now

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Classic SF with Andy Johnson @andyjohnson.xyz · 30/01/2026

Newly acquired: the 1977 Arrow edition of one of Wilson Tucker's last novels, Ice and Iron (1974).

A copy of the 1977 Arrow edition of Ice and Iron (1974) by Wilson Tucker. In the cover art by Peter Elson, a man in red arctic gear waves down a futuristic yellow aircraft at a facility in a frozen environment

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