The Stainless Steel Rat
by Harry Harrison (Pyramid, 1961)
Fifty-five years after its first publication, Harry Harrison’s intergalactic crime caper remains a fast, funny read. Nowadays it is much en vogue to cheer for the antihero, but for his time Harrison’s roguish ne’er-do-well ‘slippery’ Jim Di Griz was quite the trendsetter.
The Nimbin
by Jenny Wagner (Thomas Nelson, 1978)
Australian middle grade story The Nimbin shows that books don’t have to follow elaborate plot arcs or contrive to manufacture character conflicts and resolution. Instead it serenely explores its scenario: Philippa’s beach holiday turns unusual when she adopts a strange little creature.
Sentinels from Space
by Eric Frank Russell (Bouregy & Curl, 1952)
Even if the intrigue generated by Russell’s shadowy, casually powerful protagonist transpires to be greater than the underlying premise — a conceptual stunner, much alluded to but then minimalist in denouement — the story’s (xeno-)sociopolitical setting alone offers plenty of mileage for intelligent exploration.
Galactic Warlord
by Douglas Hill (Gollancz, 1979)
As an introduction to Hill’s ‘Last Legionary’ series (or to MG/YA SF in general) Galactic Warlord is hard to fault: the main character is austere but morally unambiguous and easy to cheer for; the threat is serious and the story clearly told.
Running Scared
dir. Peter Hyams (1986)
An underrated 1980s film that grows better with each rescreening. Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal form one of the all-time great partnerships as two bantering police officers looking to set the record straight before early retirement. SF fans will recognise Joe Pantoliano.
Winnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne (Methuen, 1926)
audiobook read by Bernard Cribbins (Bolinda, 2015)
Winnie-the-Pooh has never lost its appeal as a collection of gentle, safe children’s tales featuring loveable anthropomorphised animals with foibles. Bernard Cribbins upholds the tradition of making Piglet sound unspeakably annoying, but redeems himself by giving us Eeyore à la Geoff Boycott.
How to Fight a Girl
by Thomas Rockwell (Turtleback Books, 1987)
Whereas How To Eat Fried Worms flowed as a story, this sequel is little more than a muddled hodgepodge of preteen social issues: fighting amongst friends; family dynamics; the awkwardness of dating. Much of the plot is as confused as its protagonists.
Elephant in the Kitchen
by Winsome Smith (Ashton Scholastic, 1980)
No one character stands out as owning this story (where the eponymous pachyderm doesn’t participate all that much), but the tale of Cato the shrinking elephant and Sam the absentminded artist remains a fun — and not at all frightening — middle grade adventure.
Jonathan Creek, Series 3
(BBC, 1999-2000)
Although the mysteries still beguile and Alan Davies continues to charm in the leading role, Series Three of Jonathan Creek does feel slightly deflated. Little wonder that the show was subsequently rested for several years (before returning with a revamped character dynamic).
Pyramids
by Terry Pratchett (Corgi, 1989); audiobook read by Nigel Planer (Isis, 2002)
Pratchett’s Discworld series truly hit its stride in this, the BSFA-winning seventh book. Pyramids is a self-contained and ingeniously conceived, desert-dry satire on the type of human thinking that underpins religious folly. Nigel Planer is suitably droll in voicing the befuddled participants.