Given the current extreme weather battering the UK, the time seemed very apt to give a plug to an excellent novel whose plot-line is chillingly familiar.

Flood by British hard-fiction author Stephen Baxter begins with the River Thames flooding in London and leads to a tale of global catastrophe. The follow-up, Ark, continues the story as the human race battles for survival.

The hard-fiction genre of books aim to use existing scientific theories but weave them into a piece of fiction. They're not about visits from aliens, or interstellar war, but instead focus on 'what might happen' by developing current scientific thinking. At the end of many stories, the author will divulge which bits of the book are real and which are made-up - and the bits that are real are often more incredulous than the fictitious bits.

If you have never read a science fiction book of any kind, Steven Baxter's books come highly recommended by Wireless Waffle and in many cases may not remain fiction for that much longer!