Science Fiction and Fantasy (Part 5 of 'The Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Should Read')

"It is sometimes assumed that science fiction, fantasy and horror must mean spaceships, elves and vampires - Yet these three genres have a tradition as venerable as the novel itself. Fiction works through metamorphosis: in every era authors explore the concerns of their times by mapping them on to invented worlds, whether they be political dystopias, fabulous kingdoms or supernatural dimensions. Ballard's visions of "inner space", Orwell, Huxley and Atwood's totalitarian nightmares, Kafka's uneasy bureaucracies, Gibson's cutting-edge cool - all are examples of a literature at the forefront of the collective imagination. Every truly original writer must, by definition, create a new world. Here is a whole galaxy of worlds to explore." (Guardian)