Sylvia Bishop

A fantasy ‘classic’ is a book that enables a new kind of story to be written, says fantasy scholar Matthew Sangster. He introduces five classics, and explains how they both build on and subvert our shared stock of stories to create wonderful new worlds – worlds that are not made to be admired from a distance, but rather to be lived inside, and shared.

Short sci fi deliver stories with more punch – it’s ‘concentrated fruit juice for the brain’, says author Karin Tidbeck. They talk us through their five top choices, taking in first encounters, space operas and multiverses along the way – all in perfectly crafted short novels.

Weird fiction uses the supernatural to throw all our experience into doubt, says author and academic Michael Cisco. He introduces us to five favourites, featuring everything from ghosts to fairies to cults – all subtly constructed, infused with real human feeling, and calculated to perturb.

The Arthur C Clarke award highlights six outstanding science fiction books every year. The judges look for books that reward re-reading and make them think, says chair of judges Andrew M. Butler. He introduces this year’s shortlist, taking in everything from time travel to heist novels: books that provoke questions, confront crises, and make us laugh.

H. P. Lovecraft has been hugely influential on many leading names in speculative fiction today, and is also frequently adapted – and frequently subverted. Jeffrey Weinstock, co-editor of The Age of Lovecraft, introduces five stories that best illustrate the themes and range of this influential figure: the anxieties, the typical Lovecraftian twists, and the ‘cosmic indifferentness’ that set his work apart.

Cyberpunk focuses on the near future, and on the impact of technology on human affairs, says Jared Shurin, anthologist and editor of The Big Book of Cyberpunk. He takes us from prescient writers of the past, up to those asking the same questions today: five stories from worlds that are plausible, challenging, and – above all – deeply human.

Gothic fantasy helps us explore what is hidden, disturbing and liminal in our own lives, explains author C.J. Cooke. She introduces her top five gloriously Gothic novels, featuring haunted houses, attic prisons, carrion crows, and ghost children – and an underlying exploration of personal and collective traumas.

Dark academia is a phenomenon with deep roots, says bestselling author Lev Grossman. He introduces five of the best examples, covering secret societies, gentleman scholars, boarding schools – and unforgettable descents into darkness. We have long told stories about forbidden knowledge: now, we make it look good.

There are two essential features of a vampire, says award-winning author Grady Hendrix: they look just like us, and they need us. Beyond this, they are highly adaptable, and have stood in for pandemics, economic exploitation, addiction, abuse, true crime and lust. Here, Hendrix introduces five novels that have shaped this complicated monster.

Mythological retellings bring us stories with timeless resonance, viewed through the lens of modern concerns, explains Francesca Simon. The bestselling author tells us about her five favourite retellings, and introduces her first adult novel and the rich world of folklore and legend that inspires it.