The best fantasy and sci-fi books that you’d have to prise out of my cold, dead hands

The moment I first opened The Lord of the Rings and saw the map, I was hooked. I was fourteen and needed a place to escape at the time, and Middle Earth was exactly where I wanted to be. Tolkien made a fantasy world feel so real that I took every step with Frodo and Sam. His words created the world in my head, and I spent many an hour at school daydreaming about what would happen next on the quest. I’ve read it at least eight times through my life, and at each reading I identify with a different character as I grow older. I’ve moved from Sam, through Aragorn to Gandalf. I just hope I don’t identify as Gollum on next reading!

Clarke is the master of the sci-fi short stories in my view, and this collection is a great example of his genius. My dog-eared paperback is over forty years old, and I pick it up often for both nostalgic and professional reasons. With evocative titles such as "The Nine Billion Names of God," "No Morning After," and "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth," these stories were just what my young, curious mind needed. In just a few pages, Clarke had an amazing ability to pull you into the world of the character and make you care. Both my children have read and enjoyed this book. Brilliant collection.

Oddly, this is a book I both love and hate at different stages of the story. It was the first title I brought from a book club, and the first I read after Tolkien. Obviously, there are similarities, but I loved the idea that someone from our world could be drawn into a fantasy world. Donaldson’s main character, Covenant, is not easy to like following that controversial scene early in the book. But Donaldson’s style kept me engaged—even when Covenant became extremely annoying and I found myself yelling at him to ‘stop your whining and get on with it!’ But the excellent world-building, a clever magic system, and intriguing supporting characters make this book very readable and one I have read a number of times. But while I’m still not 100% sure about it, I wouldn’t be parted from my old copy.

I first read Wyndham when staying at my grandmothers aged eleven during a long summer holiday. I devoured the books left there by my uncle, and Chocky was the one that ‘blew my mind’. The main character was a similar age to me at the time, and the thought that an alien could inhabit his mind was both scary and fascinating. I imagined what I would do if an alien had chosen me, and what I would do with the superpowers it might bring. I was halfway through writing my first book in 2010 when I suddenly realised it was this book that provided the inspiration—now that’s a sign of a good book. I re-read Chocky for the first time last year and found it evoked the memories of my late grandmother and my summers back in the 70s. 

I picked this up in a bookshop due to the cover as it stirred my curiosity. And when I read the first line, "I had reached the age of six hundred and fifty miles," I found myself walking to the cashier to buy it. This is quite an unusual premise by a quite unusual and versatile writer. It breaks a number of rules by switching from first to third person, but I found it worked. I found myself constantly trying to guess what was happening, and where it was going. That may not sound like a recommendation, but I found I couldn’t put it down without knowing why. And when the last chapter delivers the big twist, I turned back to page one and started it all over again! It then becomes a different book and is still enjoyable.