I read a lot of books. I love science fiction. I live in Britain. It should therefore come as no surprise that I have quite the extensive library of British science fiction books. Whether or not there is anything uniquely British about these books is a discussion for another time, because this is not a post of discussion, but one of celebration. Using carefully calibrated mathematics, I have selected the very best of British SF from my shelves. Hopefully you find something in here that you like the sound of.

The Rules

A couple of ground rules before we start. All the ratings I’ve used are my own personal scores for the books I’ve read, and I’m only including those I’ve read or listened to in the eight years I’ve been rating books. The other rules are as follows:

• Any author with a higher-than-average score will feature on the list. In this case, the average is taken to be three stars out of a possible five.
• Only books with a full rating will be taken into account. This means books I read earlier than 2017 will not be taken into account
• Only authors with three or more rated books will be taken into account This allows for a broader look at an author’s career.
• Only original works will be taken into account. I have previously created a ranking of Black Library’s authors, and there will likely be a follow-up for Star Trek novelists.

The Rankings

To my delight, there are ten authors on this ‘best of’ list. Please note that is is not deliberately a top ten, but has naturally fallen that way. Here they are, presented in order:

Jamie Sawyer (5) – Sawyer has two trilogies available. The Lazarus War I read on release, and The Eternity War scored a perfect five across the board. A potential third trilogy The Shadow War, may have never materialised, but each trilogy stands alone. One of the few British authors writing straight Military SF, Sawyer is a worthy addition to any bookshelf.

George Mann (4.43) – Mann has written widely, from Doctor Who and Warhammer 40,000 to folk-horror and science fiction. The series that catapults him onto this list is Newbury & Hobbes, my introduction to steampunk. recently completed, Mann’s steampunk detective series is a menagerie of pulp tropes and excitement that proves you can still have fun with alternative history.

Gareth L. Powell (4.17) – The Embers of War trilogy is some of the best space opera of recent years. A classic story of a ship and a crew, all damaged in their own ways, it’s character-driven sci-fi that just works. Powell has a fair few other works floating around, and is still writing in the space opera field. Having a number of bite-sized pieces makes Powell a very accessible author.

Adrian Tchaikovsky (4.06) – Possibly Britain’s most versatile author, the only problem with Tchaikovsky is knowing where to start. Children of Time is one of few books that stands a good chance of being a future classic, while Cage of Souls proves that standalone stories still have a place in the genre. As prolific as he is experimental, Tchaikovsky’s works also include a number of novellas that are well worth a look.

Emma Newman (3.75) – The Planetfall saga hearkens back to an earlier age of storytelling. Each novel in the quartet is a standalone, bound together by theme, universe, and the occasional character. Easily the most emotionally-engaged books in this list, Newman’s novels dive right into the core of the human experience, with results that go from enthralling to downright bleak.

Mike Brooks (3.67) – Perhaps best known these days for his tie-in works with Black Library, Brooks first came to my attention thanks to his Keiko trilogy. This fast and furious trilogy will be a welcome read for fans of Firefly and Dark Matter. brooks’ most recent original work was a fantasy trilogy, but I’ve got crossed fingers hoping he returns to science fiction sooner rather than later.

Stephen Baxter (3.58) – Standing at the forefront of Britain’s Hard SF movement, Baxter has achieved a lot in his thirty year career. From Raft through to The Thousand Earths, no one can match him for sheer scope of the imagination. Collaborations and reimaginings of other great novels only cement his place in the pantheon, with The Massacre of Mankind being the perfect sequel to The War of the Worlds.

Alastair Reynolds (3.25) – Though he has misses alongside the hits, when Reynolds is firing on all cylinders his work is truly magnificent. His YA-adjacent Revenger trilogy deftly balances old-school sensibilities with new-fangled ideas, and his short fiction is some of the best around. For a perfect sample of his work, look for the novella Slow Bullets. You won’t regret it.

H.G. Wells (3.22) – The grandfather of British science fiction, Wells still makes for compelling reading today. The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine are true classics, while The First Men in the Moon is tragically overlooked. Even in his lesser works, Wells displays an uncanny eye for how the future might unfold, with more than one prophecy having come to pass over the past hundred years.

Arthur C. Clarke (3.20) – No best of British list would be complete without acknowledging one of the greats. Clarke’s work may not have aged as well as others’, but there is no denying the role he had to play in the genre’s history. His novels are stronger than his short fiction, and are surely a must-read for anyone with an interest in how British science fiction made its way into the world.

If there’s any authors you think I’ve missed, just give me a shout in the comments and I’ll look into them.