The best science fiction exploring the dangers of discovering new worlds

This is, quite simply, excellent storytelling. Seven people go to Hyperion, each with their own tale to tell. They are going to the Time Tombs, which move backward in time, and where they will be confronted by the terrifying spectre of the Shrike. They know the dangers, but each is compelled to join the pilgrimage for reasons of their own. The author’s rich imagination gives immense depth and breadth to this tale, in which the stories of the seven travellers converge toward a tense climax. If you enjoy this book as much as I did, you’ll be pleased to know that there are three sequels.

Ian Banks is as well known for his science fiction as for his mainstream and literary fiction. This is the first book in his Culture series, in which the Culture is a galaxy-wide advanced technological society with complex attitudes to how it should interact with other civilizations. The Culture is at war with the Idrians. Consider Phlebas is the story of a mercenary lone operative on a quest to retrieve a stranded Culture AI mind from an abandoned world to further the Idrian cause. The problem is that he is not the only one going there to find it, and nobody is playing nicely – not even the stranded AI mind. The wide-ranging inventiveness, subtle humour, and gritty realism of this story makes for highly compelling reading.

When great science fiction strives for scientific credibility, and hits the nail on the head, you end up with a story like this. A hundred people arrive on Mars as the first colonisers, to begin the process of terraforming it for human habitation. The natural environment presents its own dangers, from low atmospheric pressure and unbreathable atmosphere to low gravity and destructive sandstorms. But the challenges don’t stop there. Not everyone has the same vision of the future Martian world, and the resulting conflicts threaten the whole project. The first book of a trilogy, this epic novel is a must-read for anyone who plans to make a new life on Mars.

Carl Sagan was a renowned ambassador for science, and his contributions to science were rivalled only by his contributions to science fiction. His novel, Contact, asks us to consider how we would react if we received a real communication from an alien civilization – particularly if it came with a blueprint for how to reach out to them. What kind of dangers come with contacting aliens about whom we know next to nothing, beyond the fact that their technology surpasses our own? This is a time-honoured question, and one which Carl Sagan addresses with a deep insight into human nature. If you enjoyed the movie, I guarantee you’ll love the book and, if you haven’t seen the movie, you’re in for a real treat when you read this.

This is a fascinating exploration of culture and personality, both human and alien. The breadth and variation in human culture is cleverly placed in context by the presence of alien cultures and, as we get to know them, we see not only how they differ from ours, but we get to question our own values and societal norms. The story is set on a spaceship which is used to build hyperspace tunnels. They agree to build a tunnel to open a cargo route to a far-off planet in an active war zone. The dangers of the journey, and of the task when they arrive, reveal the true personalities of the crew, and none of them come out of it unchanged.