The Prince in Waiting
by John Christopher (Hamish Hamilton, 1970; reprinted 1973)
Book one of a grim, post-apocalyptic fantasy trilogy to match Christopher’s Tripods series. The worldbuilding is astute, each chapter unhurried yet serving as a stepping stone for some significant stride forward (albeit the protagonist is left still to cross his personal Rubicon).
The Drop
by John Christopher, Galaxy (March 1953)
reprinted Science Fiction Stories, ed. Tom Boardman Jr. (Octopus, 1979)
SF short story where a clunky disquiet reveals itself as dystopia (masquerading as tightly regulated survival colonisation). Christopher hints at a greater storyline, and one can imagine this as a much longer work. The ending, however, proves a banal sort of twist.
The New Wine
by John Christopher
from The Twenty-Second Century (Grayson & Grayson, 1954); reprinted Best sf: Science Fiction Stories, ed. Edmund Crispin (Faber and Faber, 1955), pp. 168-182.
SF short story that starts off exploring the emotional ramifications of time dilation (for a couple soon to be separated), before segueing into a threnody on reckless, irreversible scientific experimentation (induced telepathy). Sombre food for thought, undermined by a token twist ending.
The Possessors
by John Christopher (Hodder & Stoughton, 1965)
![Book cover: “The Possessors” by John Christopher (Hodder & Stoughton, 1965) [Sphere, 1978 edition]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Christopher_Possessors.jpg)
The sort of novel whose publication in 1965 might well have informed Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis as they gravitated Doctor Who towards ‘base under siege’ stories. Christopher postulates an isolated setting and bleak alien invasion scenario, grimly explored through damaged characters.
Decoy
by John Christopher (Science Fiction Stories, July 1955)
Not much of a (short) story. Christopher’s world-building hints at a complex near-future society worthy of greater exploration, but the characters are presented as if the reader should already be familiar with them. The result is an untethered, over-simple tale of matchmaking.
Conspiracy
by John Christopher, Authentic Science Fiction Monthly 53 (Jan 1955) [Short Story]
When an eatery waitress picks one of her customers as a foreigner, he wants to know what gave him away. This short story appears at first a simple question of reality versus (SF invasion) paranoia, but Christopher adds his own little twist.
The Guardians
by John Christopher (Hamish Hamilton, 1970)
Fifty years on, this award-winning YA science fiction novel holds its value. The story and themes are serious—dystopian even—yet told in an engaging manner without the authorial artifice, irrational character behaviour and contrived sequel-mongering so prevalent in the genre nowadays.
The Death of Grass
by John Christopher (Michael Joseph, 1956); audiobook read by William Gaminara (Audible, 2011)
A straightforward but fluently written quest narrative, disquieting in its content. Christopher is something of a forgotten master, and posits an all-too-real apocalypse brought about by systemic crop failure. The plot twists grimly to follow humanity’s rapid and inevitable loss of civilisation.
Worldshaker
by Richard Harland (Allen & Unwin, 2009); audiobook read by Adrian Mulraney (Bolinda, 2012)
A book that calls to mind John Christopher’s ‘Wild Jack’. The theme of social awakening is not new but each generation of reader should learn to question assumptions of privilege. Harland’s steampunk milieu — extrapolated from Victorian class divisions — serves well as backdrop.
The City of Gold and Lead
by John Christopher (Macmillan, 1967)
The second instalment of John Christopher’s Tripods trilogy moves from quest narrative to absorbing, fully fledged science fiction as youngsters Will and Fritz infiltrate one of the aliens’ cities and learn the awful truth of the Masters whose tripods roam the Earth.