This is what the great fantasy writer has to say about it:
This is not a list of the âbestâ fantasy or SF. There are huge numbers of superb works not on the list. Those below are chosen not just because of their qualityâwhich though mostly good, is variableâbut because the politics they embed (deliberately or not) are of particular interest to socialists. Of course, other worksâby the same or other writersâcould have been chosen: disagreement and alternative suggestions are welcomed. I change my own mind hour to hour on this anyway.
The list has its surprises:
Ayn RandâAtlas Shrugged (1957)Know your enemy. This panoply of portentous Nietzcheanism lite has had a huge influence on American SF. Rand was an obsessive âobjectivistâ (libertarian pro-capitalist individualist) whose hatred of socialism and any form of âcollectivismâ is visible in this important an influentialâthough vile and ponderousânovel.
And its delights...
Mikhail BulgakovâThe Master and Margarita (1938; trans. 1967)Astonishing fantasy set in â30s Moscow, featuring the Devil, Pontius Pilate, The Wandering Jew, and a satire and critique of Stalinist Russia so cutting it is unbelievable that it got past the censors. Utterly brilliant.