Welcome to our second Backlisted special of 2023. Today we’re joined by the best-selling writer Una McCormack, returning for a record-breaking ninth appearance, having most recently participated in the Christmas episode dedicated to Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield.
These specials are designed to fill the gap until the show proper returns in April. They differ from the usual Backlisted format in that they feature just one guest choosing a number of books in an area they know and care about.
This discussion covers five books that have inspired Una as a writer of science fiction from childhood onwards. The books are:
Sylvia Engdahl, The Far Side of Evil
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Octavia Butler, Bloodchild and Other Stories
Katharine Burdekin, Proud Man
Vonda N. McIntyre, Star Trek: The Voyage Home
* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.
* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit backlisted.fm
*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at patreon.com/backlisted
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin
The Lion and the Unicorn by George Orwell
How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard
The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer
Told by an Idiot by Rose Macaulay
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
The Fatal Englishman by Sebastian Faulks
Corregidora by Gayl Jones
The Lowlife by Alexander Baron
Something Happened by Joseph Heller
The Town House by Norah Lofts
Berg by Ann Quin
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
Lost Horizon by James Hilton
À Rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans
On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming
Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Lit Society: Books and Drama
Ex Libris
Write The Book: Conversations on Craft
Gulliver’s Travels
Just So Stories
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends