Collision Course

Although he would enjoy something of a cult status among some British fans, Bayley is probably one of the forgotten figures of the British New Wave, largely because of his combination of extravagant old-fashioned sf devices with a distinctly British gloom, the fine analytical detail of his novels dressed up as what Aldiss called âwide-screen baroqueâ. Yet he was one of the key players in Moorcock's transformation of New Worlds, and at his best his novels have a glorious madness all their own. Collision Course takes ideas about time from the work of 1930s theorist J.W. Dunne, then blows them up into a novel in which paradox piles upon paradox. Two different "presents" are moving towards each other across time, and the moment where they collide is when disaster is let loose.Why it's on the list: Barrington Bayley was something of a devil-may-care writer who loved to upend genre conventions, and this wildly unlikely time paradox story is a fine example of why he still attracts devoted readers.