Alternative Reality
Alternative reality stories are set, as the name would suggest in an alternative dimension or reality, essentially a parallel universe where a self contained reality exist's outside of our own. In many cases the characters originate in our own reality and use a device such as a "portal" to travel to these other realities.
Books Reviewed
-
![Lost in TimeA G Riddle]()
Science FictionTime travel is fascinating, it is also some of the most fictional science fiction you will ever get. What has happened must have happened, lest you rip apart your universe in a paradox. The scientists in A. G. Riddle’s Lost in Time seem to have found a workaround as they send the worst criminals int...
-
![Quantum RadioA G Riddle]()
Science FictionI do not like to think too much about the Large Hadron Collider, I let better minds than mine consider hurtling atoms at each other at considerable speed to access some sort of God particle. I get nervous enough around the toaster. Other things go on at CERN too, the invention of the internet for on...
-
![Constance Verity Saves the WorldA Lee Martinez]()
Science FictionConstance Verity is anything but normal, blessed as a child to live an adventurous life, this may sound exciting, but the reality is much different. Now in her 30s, she is fed up with having to save the world all the time and just wants some normal downtime. By Constance Verity Saves the World , som...
-
![The ThisAdam Roberts]()
Science FictionSocial Media has changed the world we live in today by accelerating the polarisation of opinion. No longer is a debate a two-way conversation between people discussing their own point of view, but a slanging match in which neither side can see the others’ point of view. Until the last couple of year...
-
![The Doors of EdenAdrian Tchaikovsky]()
Science FictionAdrian Tchaikovsky has a talent for writing deep, meaningful scifi. He won the Arthur C Clarke award in 2016 for Children of Time and the 2019 BSFA best novel award for the follow-up Children of Ruin . There are few authors that can quite match his vision for non-human intelligence, or his flair for...
-
![The Ballad of Perilous GravesAlex Jennings]()
FantasyThe genre of Urban Fantasy is pathed with perils, which means that it should be perfect for Alex Jennings’ The Ballad of Perilous Graves . How do you make your modern fantasy stand out from the others without making it impenetrable for the reader? A unique location or voice works well. An author who...
-
![Three Eight OneAliya Whiteley]()
Science FictionAs a someone who studied history, I am fascinated by the past, but also the evolution of studying the past. History as we know it adapts and changes with the current way of thinking. Sometimes you must sit back and remember that things were different back then, that opinions and attitudes were just...
-
![CTRL+SAndy Briggs]()
Science FictionComputer Games used to be a child’s plaything, but as gamers grow older and are still playing this is no longer the case (if it ever was). As many gamers mature their reflexes deaden and will they one day even be able to pick up a conventional controller? Something like Virtual Reality may be the so...
-
![BrittleBeth Overmyer]()
FantasyFor any author magic is a tricky beast as you can easily paint yourself into the corner. You can make the magic too powerful, or you can develop a whole magic system that is unbalanced. Things become even trickier when you add those tricksy Fae. Fairy magic is all about breaking rules on a contract...
-
![The Midnight TimetableBora Chung]()
HorrorI have been lucky to work in some normal places in my life, but even I have been placed in spooky situations. Working late, I would walk home through the woods known as The Wilderness. Could there be a ghoul or a monster waiting for me behind a tree? I am too cynical to think so, but I could imagine...
-
![AbsyntheBrendan P. Bellecourt]()
Science FictionI have done my time at university where I drank too much and stayed out too late. Looking back now I can only think about my poor liver and the crazy never die attitude that many of the young have. I was never that adventurous and stuck to beer and whatever was on offer at the Student Union. I certa...
-
![The Redemption of Morgan BrightChris Panatier]()
I love to read books; they transport me to unfamiliar places. I will go there even if these unfamiliar places are dangerous like the Hollyhock Asylum found in Chris Panatier’s The Redemption of Morgan Bright . A story can transport you, as can characters, but sometimes the structure of a book does t...
-
![PromiseChristi Nogle]()
Science FictionI set a high bar set for science fiction short story collections that is in no way the fault of any modern author. Unfortunately for them I read The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury at an influential age. I rate a collection against the creepy science fiction/horror tones that Bradbury was able to cr...
-
![One Eye Opened In That Other PlaceChristi Nogle]()
Not all authors write short fiction and those that do, do not always have enough to fill a complete collection, never mind several. Christi Nogle is a talented short story writer as their previous collections have already shown. One Eye Opened in That Other Place is one of the trickier collections t...
-
![Lucky DayChuck Tingle]()
HorrorDo you believe in luck? Gambling sites and Casinos hope you do as you believe there is a chance that you will win big. You may just do that, but there is a reason some of the richest people in the UK own gambling websites, the house always wins. You may win big, but elsewhere someone is losing big,...
-
![Bodies of WorkClay Mcleod Chapman]()
HorrorWhat is art? It is a question I have to ask on occasion as I live with an artist. It is in the eye of the beholder, some of the stuff I see I would not look twice at, even top name artists are not to everyone’s tastes. Some are labelled outsider artists, those that have no formal training and use th...
-
![Attack SurfaceCory Doctorow]()
Science FictionI am not someone that goes in for Conspiracy Theories, I just don’t have the energy for t hem . Take for example the idea that nanobots are being injected into people so that the Deep State can track our every move. Why would they spend trillions of pounds on such technology when we are all pretty...
-
![SmokeDan Vyleta]()
FantasySmoke is a book that presents the idea - what if your stronger emotions were visible? People's Anger, Lust and Lies all visible as real smoke and soot that settles around them, permeating their clothes and the space around them. Within this world Children are born carrying "the seeds of evil" within...
-
![The RaveningDaniel Church]()
HorrorHorror comes in many shapes and sizes. The horror could be on this plane of existence, a creature that stalks you and your family through generations. It could be even closer to home, the horror of the mundane, the terror of ordinary people willing to do anything to achieve their goals, even if this...
-
![Marchs EndDaniel Polansky]()
FantasyKeeping it in the family sounds like a wonderful idea. Surround yourself with people you can trust, blood is thicker than water, but do family businesses work? Why do so many fail by the third generation? The first generation build the company from nothing, the second grow it further, the third – sq...
-
![The God GameDanny Tobey]()
Science FictionWhat if God was one of us? Just an Artificial Intelligence like one of us. Just a stranger on the internet, trying to wreak our lives. Anyone with a passing knowledge of the Bible will know that God can be a little tricksy. If that God can flood the world or demand you sacrifice your child, what wou...
-
![Oh God, the Sun GoesDavid Connor]()
General FictionGrowing up in Britain it can seem during certain times of the year that the sun has disappeared, but we all know it is still there, just behind many rain clouds in the few daylight hours of the winter. It would be a hugely different thing if the sun did disappear, for one, life on the planet would s...
-
![Shark HeartEmily Habeck]()
Science FictionIf I have said it once, I have it said a thousand times, science fiction is the best genre as it is so wide reaching. Stories can be grandiose, epic Space Operas with multiple characters on several planets. Or, stories can be personal affairs, titbits of speculative fiction that tweaks our own reali...
-
![Some Desperate GloryEmily Tesh]()
Science FictionStories are often told from the side of good, the plucky underdog who fights against the armies of evil only to be victorious, but what about a book told from the side of the agitators, the terrorists the anarchists? These are all labels and Emily Tesh sets out to prove in Some Desperate Glory that...
-
![Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to DieGreer Stothers]()
Fantasy has a rich history of heroes who fight against the odds to ensure that good triumphs over evil, but what about the cowards? What about the people who would rather live in peace and quiet faraway from the front and have no truck with prophecies, even if they are the centre of them? In Greer S...
-
![Monkey Around Jadie Jang]()
FantasyWatching television in the 70s and 80s was less about choice and more about just watching what was on. You only had four channels and not much catered for children, we would watch anything. Re-runs of The Land of the Giants or Star Trek became the bread and butter of Sunday viewing. It was not a...
-
![Dare to KnowJames Kennedy]()
Science FictionIf you could find out your exact time of death down to the last second, would you take up the option? For some it could be liberating, they will pack their lives until the last moment. For others, their death will become even more of a looming presence as it draws ever near. In James Kennedy’s Dare...
-
![Doctor Strange Dimension WarJames Lovegrove]()
Science FictionThere is a knack to adaptation, we have all seen a film made from a book. Many have read an adaptation of a film, but can you make a prose adaptation of a comic book? We see superheroes in the cinema every month, the action and colour sparks on the big screen, but bringing forth all that imagery in...
-
![Conan: Cult of the Obsidian MoonJames Lovegrove]()
FantasyWhat makes a good Conan novel? It seems like a simple calculation, a brawny barbarian, a massive sword, wine, woman, and violence. Mix the lot into a pot and you have a Conan adventure to be proud of, except it is not that easy. Conan lives in a vibrant and complex world that can be stodgy to read i...
-
![The Coming of GalactusJames Lovegrove]()
Science FictionThe Marvel Universe is jammed packed with famous storylines, but one of the biggest has always been the time that The Fantastic Four took on Galactus. It resonates because it has lasted since the 1960s and appears to be having a reimagining in the latest film. The Coming of Galactus by James Lovegro...
-
![Moon Over BrendleJeff Noon]()
FantasyThere is something magical about childhood, you do not need a genre novel to tell you this. Everything is new, experiences that will map the person that you are going to be and stay with you for a lifetime. If you are lucky, these will be good experiences and not bad ones. In the case of Jeff Noon’s...
-
![FluxJinwoo Chong]()
Science FictionTime travel is one of the most complex and difficult concepts to write in fiction. On the screen you can use visuals as shorthand to try and explain what on Earth is going on, but in fiction you are required to explain it all, or not. There is a choice. Do you go down the route of hard science and t...
-
![The Night AlphabetJoelle Taylor]()
Science FictionThere are books in a person’s life that helps to define their taste in genres. I was lucky enough in my teenage years to work my way through some of the classics of science fiction instilling a lifelong love of the genre. One novel that stands out among the best was Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Ma...
-
![The PassengersJohn Marrs]()
Science FictionCall me old fashioned, I am a little scared of the future. This is a sentiment that will hit many of us eventually. What is wrong with the way technology works right now? Do I really need to talk to my speakers or plug myself into the Matrix just to order a pizza? The idea of getting behind the whee...
-
![Starter VillainJohn Scalzi]()
Science FictionInheritance should never be something that you look forward to, but when you receive some, it can make a huge change to your life. I may be enough to pay a deposit on a house or pay for a child to go to university. It can also be a real pain in the bureaucracy. Think of the taxes that need paying, t...
-
![Dredd vs DeathJohn Wagner]()
Science FictionI read and listen to books in all formats, but still prefer the feel of paper in my hand. Audiobooks are great for the commute, but they are just not pacy enough for me, I read quickly, and a narrator often seems to go in slow motion even at 1.5 speed. 2000AD and Penguin Audio must know my brain as...
-
![Bound in BloodJohnny Mains]()
HorrorIf you are reading this, you have some interest in books, enough to read a review about one. Bound in Blood is not just a book, this is a book about books. Well at least a collection of spooky short stories about books, authors, libraries, and all things bibliophile. For those of us in the know, the...
-
![Mr BreakfastJonathan Carroll]()
FantasyBreakfast is my favourite meal of the day as I can indulge in some food I shouldn’t really be eating from sugary cereal to a full English breakfast. There are other more sensible options; porridge or bran flakes. The wonderful thing is that I can choose each day what I want. What I am unable to do i...
-
![Hellwegs KeepJustin Holley]()
HorrorI have always felt that the idea of travelling space is horrific enough without the thought of added monsters or manipulations of the mind. The only thing between you and the vast vacuum of space is a few inches of steel. When you arrive on a new planet, things are not much safer. The air may be bre...
-
![The Splendid CityKaren Heuler]()
FantasyUrban Fantasy has become a staple of the Fantasy genre in recent years, and you are as likely to find a book about a necromancer librarian or zombie private detective walking around a modern city as you are elves and dwarves in a version of the past. I thought I had seen it all; teddy bear detective...
-
![Loki: Journey Into MysteryKatherine Locke]()
FantasyAfter more than a decade of box office hits and TV shows even the more casual Marvel fan is starting to realise that there is a vast and rich world of lore that the comics have built up over the decades. The comics of Thor and Loki bring with them their own history, not only that written for the com...
-
![Mister MagicKiersten White]()
HorrorChildren’s TV shows will always have an evocative place in your memory, especially those half-remembered tales from when you were young. Your cognitive powers had not yet full formed, so your memory of the show comes in snatches like magic. For me it will always be Wizbit. I picture a strange triang...
-
![If We Cannot Go at the Speed of LightKim Choyeop]()
Science FictionStarting a new book can always be daunting, but I have a special trepidation for short story collections. They can be vast, full of stories that are loosely linked. Trying to find themes and remember all the stories can feel impossible when considering a review. However, you sometimes get a more cur...
-
![Birds in the Black WaterKodie Van Dusen]()
HorrorThe mind is a powerful tool. It can make a person do spectacular things but can also be their undoing. A trauma earlier in life can impact your day to day living. Perhaps talking to someone would help, be it a friend or a professional? Neviah is a counsellor who has a unique way of unpicking people’...
-
![Silent KeyLaurel Hightower]()
HorrorListen to your kids. It can be hard sometimes as they can speak absolute nonsense, but they also speak the truth, and they may need you to listen. Perhaps they wake at night and tell you that things are not right in the house, you can dismiss this as childish fantasies, but their fears could be base...
-
![ExposureLouis Greenberg]()
HorrorGoing to see live theatre can be an exhilarating experience of an excruciating one, both for the same reason. This is live and in front of you. As an audience you are experiencing the magic together, or if things go wrong, the disaster. There is a power in this as if the theatre company have a hold...
-
![Infinity GateM R Carey]()
Science FictionThere is a reason that you should avoid tackling the multiverse in a story as the very nature of them means that the possibilities are infinite. Every decision ever made split off to make two different pathways and so on. A story that spans multiple Earths will have to pick which ones to visit. Do y...
-
![The Midnight LibraryMatt Haig]()
FantasyWhat is your L imbo? Do you even believe such a place exists between life and death? I have always imagined that if it did exist it would be like a waiting area in which you have to make up for all t hose sins you did in life. For me, this will consist mainly of apologising to ants and spiders th...
-
![The 22 Murders Of Madison MayMax Barry]()
Science FictionObsession can be a powerful emotion and lead you down a dark path. Being stalked causes the victim so much fear, not only because they are having to deal with the reality, but also what might happen. In the case of Madison May, she does not know she is being stalked until it is too late. A strange m...
-
![Marc Spector Was Host to Venom?Mike Chen]()
Science FictionComics have a complex history with some storylines going back decades. Even the relatively new superheroes can have intricate lore. Moon Knight has had plenty of time to muddy the waters with almost 50 years of stories to look back on, but it is not the depth of the stories that make Moon Knight so...
-
![Faraway and ForeverNancy Joie Wilkie]()
Science FictionScience Fiction has been inspired by religion ever since it started being written, Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus even has the Greek Gods in the title. The word science may be in the title of the genre, but it is also a genre about wonder, about questioning the things around us. Science fiction a...
-
![When the Wolf Comes HomeNat Cassidy]()
HorrorI have had my fill of Vampires. They are the Primadonna of the undead world hogging all the limelight with their films and TV shows. They are also all over books. One of my family member’s entire book collection is just vampires. What about the other supernatural beings? A vampire's erstwhile enemy...
-
![Fractured InfinityNathan Tavares]()
Science FictionThink too long on the multiverse and your mind will explode. Every tiny action you take splits off into another multiverse, then extrapolate that with everything making tiny actions. There will be an infinite number of universes that only differ from the way you tied your shoelace that morning. Popp...
-
![Listen to Your SisterNeena Viel]()
HorrorI come from a large family and there is a special way that you can wind one another up. Years of experience and knowledge comes in handy when you are trying to annoy someone, you may not have seen each other for ages, but one shared experience can bring it all back in an instant. In a healthy family...
-
![Folk HorrorPaul Kane]()
HorrorThere is an art to the short story, and I can say from experience that Flame Tree Press have gotten it down. They have produced many excellent short story collections, and their new venture is the Beyond & Within series. In many ways these books are the same as their larger collections, handpicked,...
-
![The Zygon InvasionPeter Harness]()
Science FictionDoctor Who has saved the solar system on countless occasions and planet Earth even more than this, but some of these saves felt a little.... minor. Alien races trying their arm at taking over Earth with nary a plan worth writing on the back of a psychic beermat. Sometimes though the stakes are big,...
-
![The Butcher of the ForestPremee Mohamed]()
FantasyThere is a perfectly sensible reason why the concept of Fairy Woods exist. Back in the day, the land was covered in thick forests, any person that travelled too far from the village or well-trodden tracks could easily get lost and become victim to one of several predators from wolves to wild boars....
-
![The Lonely LandsRamsey Campbell]()
HorrorAs long as someone remembers a loved one, they are never truly gone. This could be done by visiting their final resting place or a special location that you used to go to together. It could even be a keepsake that reminds you of them. Looking at the object you can almost see their smile or hear thei...
-
![Bystander 27Rik Hoskin]()
FantasyThe past twenty years or so has seen a massive increase in the visibility of Superheroes. The likes of Superman , Batman and Spiderman have been around for decades, but the market is so rich that many niche properties are having their time in the sun. The boom has not only promoted Superheroes, but...
-
![Deep DiveRon Walters]()
Science FictionIf you had the chance to start over again from an early age and know what you do now, would you take it? A chance to live your life again; buy those shares in Apple, know some of the exam questions and football results? The answer for me is no. 80 years more life is not worth risking my family. What...
-
![The Eaters of LightRona Munro]()
Science FictionDoctor Who is the same, but also different, in each iteration and that is what makes the characters so interesting. The Twelfth Doctor is one of the latest incarnations and one that reflected on the Doctor’s past as much as the present. The humour was still there, but also more of the historic grump...
-
![The Last Phi HunterSalinee Goldenberg]()
FantasyI love fantasy, from the low to the high, but I love it even more when it is tackled in an interesting way. The Last Phi Hunter by Salinee Goldenberg has all the elements of High Fantasy, packed with more magic than a Paul Daniels Appreciation Society AGM, but this is not a book of wizards and elves...
-
![EdenvilleSam Rebelein]()
HorrorIt is important to choose the place of Higher Education that suits you. You may want to go to one of the old Universities of learning, taking with you high grades and a love of academia. You may want to go somewhere more relaxed or vocational. Where do you go if you are interested in creative writin...
-
![The Poorly Made and Other ThingsSam Rebelein]()
There is something to be said for designing a creative sandpit, a place that you can return to and play within. Rather than writing new characters in a new place every book, you can return to the known. A shorthand exists. However, this is a double-edged sword, you can end up recreating the same sta...
-
![Smoke EatersSean Grigsby]()
Science FictionFire fighter Sean Grigsby’s near future debut sees the world infested with dragons risen from beneath the ground. The wingless wyverns rise up to destroy cities and take lives, leaving only the shadows of people - ‘wraiths’ - behind. It’s up to the ‘smoke. Cole Brannigan, a patriotic, hard-working f...
-
![What If... Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were SiblingsSeanan McGuire]()
Science FictionAs comic book fans, we really are living in the best of days, not because there is so much content to read or watch, but because the artform is established. The concept of comics, superheroes and, in this case, Marvel are well enough known that we can play with the format. Marvel has been doing it f...
-
![KrakenShannon Eric Denton]()
HorrorIf pop culture has only taught me one thing it is that siding with the creatures from other realms is not a great idea. They tend to renege on contracts once they have what they want, usually via sucking your brain out through your nose. Also, the partnerships are not normally people you would want...
-
![Coup de GraceSofia Ajram]()
Science FictionPeople read for all sorts of reasons. I read to escape and have fun, my preference is for high action and laughs, but I understand that some people like to be challenged by their reading. This could be a complex Space Opera, or a piece of literature that tackles the life of a downtrodden mother in 1...
-
![The Seven Deaths of Evelyn HardcastleStuart Turton]()
Science FictionI am not an argumentative fellow and the only two full on blowouts I can remember are well within the geek sphere. Who was the actor alongside Harrison Ford at the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark and how does time travel work? I may have been wrong about Alfred Molina but I am right about time...
-
![RabbitsTerry Miles]()
Science FictionAre you playing the game? Made you look. The idea of a metagame that embroils a hero is not a new one, but it is hard to pull off. The amount of financial resources and secrecy that is required to convince Michael Douglas to jump off a building is beyond what the average person can afford, unless yo...
-
![Prison of SleepTim Pratt]()
Science FictionI love sleep and have a deeper appreciation of it since having a family. I find myself able to drop off in a second as I snatch any five minutes I can before being woken up again at 5 am. The number of naps that I have would not be advisable in the world of Zaxony Delatree as I may end up waking up...
-
![The Knife and the SerpentTim Pratt]()
Science FictionAs a child you read books and imagine that you may be that child who is whisked away on an adventure. Perhaps you will be the chosen one to be taken through a magical wardrobe or told you are a wizard. By the time you are studying for a PhD such flippancy is no longer part of your character, so how...
-
![The Imaginary CorpseTyler Hayes]()
FantasyWhere do dreams go when we forget them? Do they dissipate into the ether, or do they settle somewhere? This is the intriguing premise of Tyler Hayes’ The Imaginary Corpse , an alternative detective noir novel. How alternative? It stars a stuffed toy triceratops private investigator called Tippy who...
-
![The CabinetUn-Su Kim]()
Science FictionI love genre fiction that deals with people who have developed superpowers; X-Men , The 4400 , The Boys . All of them have ordinary people gaining extraordinary powers. Some become superheroes, other supervillains. However, what about those mutations that are a little naff? Do you deserve to be s...
-
![The Liar of Red ValleyWalter Goodwater]()
HorrorThere are many flavours of horror, but one that I prefer is American Gothic. There is something about the Deep South of America that mixes well with horror. It already feels like a foreign and mysterious place to many of us so when you add the notion of things that go bump in the night it seems to m...
Book of the month
