Science fiction, crime and historical novels tend to be categorised under those separate headings rather than taking their place as an integral part of mainstream literature. The Islanders, the latest book by Christopher Priest, whose novels include award-winning science fiction, explores themes of love and war in the midst of a reality both familiar and strange. Bestselling crime writer Mark Billingham’s latest Tom Thorne detective book, As Good As Dead, went straight to number one in the Sunday Times Bestseller list. Chaired by reviewer and critic Christian House, Billingham and Priest discuss why some branches of literature are confined by such labels and argue that, rather than being separate genres, they are very much part of our literary tradition.