Reviews of titles starting with A.
A Bag of Bedtime Tales is an anthology of diverse short stories set in a variety of worlds and genres. The stories are grouped into three sections, one series focuses on the fictional town of Durrington and the strange events that occur there, the next is firmly fantasy genre with stories set in...
A person brings a piece of themselves with them when they read a book. Your background, beliefs and current situation can all inform the story. There are books where it does not really matter who you are, but some books will hit home harder for those who feel a connection. A Better World by...
Popstars of the 60s dread their back catalogue going into the public domain. Their retirement fund has now been opened to everyone to listen to for free. If you think that is sad, please spare a moment for the poor authors who have long died and whose work is open to all. The likes of...
As the world tears itself apart in front of us, there is something comforting about reading a good dystopian novel. If we are going to go out, at least it will not be due to zombies, bombs, viruses or all the bees dying out. Then again, it could be all of these together. Once the nuclear fallout...
Horror is a wonderful genre full of fear, but it does not often scare me. I am not afraid of monsters that go bump in the night because I am a rational human being who knows they don’t exist. However, some horror does get to me; anything that threatens children or based on real life...
A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post apocalyptic science fiction novel by Walter M Miller. It is a strange story of a post apocalyptic monastery, which tries to save information about the time before the great destruction. The idea is good enough, but I can't say that I like what Miller has done...
A Choice of Gods is a science fiction novel by Clifford D Simak. The novel raises a number of very interesting issues including: Robot society structure and religion Human society reaction to removal of technology Man developing psychic powers to travel to the stars and interstellar...
Daniel Polansky is the author of the wonderful Low Town fantasy series, which shows how great a story-teller he is. A City Dreaming stretches these talents and more.
The book follows the life of M, a magically gifted drifter with a loose grip on morality and a quick, sharp tongue. He...
A Book that brings you Home: Becky Chambers’ A Close and Common Orbit.
It took me a while to work up the emotional energy to read Becky Chambers’ A Close and Common Orbit. This is Chambers’ second novel. Her first novel, A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet,...
H P Lovecraft’s shadow casts a long one over the horror genre. He developed new types of horrors that reverberate today; psychological and body horror are just two. What has changed is the way that people perceive horror. Whilst once upon a time...
A Crown of Swords is the seventh volume in Robert Jordans epic fantasy series, the Wheel of Time. Following on from the events in The Lord of Chaos, the book begins with the aftermath of the battle at Dumai's Wells. Elayne, Nyneave and Mat manage to finally locate the legendary "Bowl of the...
A Deepness in the Sky is the prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. Long awaited prequel to A Fire Upon the Deep. The stories are taking place in the same universe, but are otherwise not connected. I don't think that it matter what order you read them in – the important thing is...
A Disruptive Invention is a science fiction novel by Peter W Shackle. John Sykes is a young electronics engineer who is always coming up with new inventive methods but the discovery that leads to his greatest invention - as with so many other great inventions, was a complete accident. He has...
A Festival of Skeletons is a dark comedic fantasy novel by RJ Astruc. At such rare times of self-doubt, Sink usually fell back on his old adage: What I see I cannot change. But in the aftermath of the massacre it sounded somehow hollow. The merkind hadn’t been right but she hadn’t been far...
A Fire Upon the Deep is a science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge.
This is the first book, by Vinge that I've read and it couldn't have started much worse than it did or end much better. aFud starts off with a family crash-landing their space ship on an uncharted planet, the parents get...
Occasionally a book and a writer comes along that breaks rules left right and centre, but does so with panache and style that makes you tip your hat. The beginning of A Fistful of Clones clearly sets it out to be one of those books; an accessible science fiction comedy that...
To the uninitiated, the fantasy genre is stagnant. The same old dwarves and elves going on long journeys and then back again. Any fan of the genre knows that this is just not the case. The genre has evolved with society. The fantasy books of the 80s and 90s differ greatly from Tolkien...
A Good Old Fashioned Future is a collection of science fiction short stories written by Bruce Sterling. Seven stories and 250 pages by Bruce Sterling. I once started on Heavy Weather, but couldn't get into it, but I can easily say that that wasn't a problem with this one. Maneki Neko Strange...
A Head Full of Ghosts was first released last year and won the coveted Bram Stokers award for Best Novel. It's also received pretty much the finest compliment a Horror novel can receive when Stephen King said of the book:
Scared the living hell out of me, and I'm...
A Heist Too Far is a fantasy novel by Rob Knipe. Mallik is a skilled assassin who is very quick on his feet with an even quicker temper, he travels with Dick Swede (aka The Black Moustache) who is nearly famous as a highwayman and Jules Van Jives - a quickly bored elf with an unhealthy obession...
Graham Trevennan is one of those people who coast through life without great aspirations or desire to own the world (or even a secret hollowed out volcano). Having split with his girlfriend he's mooching about pretty aimlessly when he get's the shock of his life - secret lumps of rock, shady and...
Agustin de Rojas was a Cuban author of science fiction. Within that country he is thought of as a legend and has even been described as "Patron Saint of Cuban science fiction".
Agustin wrote A Legend of the future back in 1985, following his award winning novel Espiral (Spiral). El año...
A fantasy writer needs to be aware that they could fall into a rut. Another trilogy of books set in the same world, with similar characters doing similar things. This may appease those fans that fear change, but to drive themselves as a writer it is important to evolve; even if evolving within...
Synopsis:
Kex is the administrator of the Eidon Academy, a college with an interdimensional porthole on campus, and the intellectual center of a recently seceded Southern California. Roberto and his wife Sasha are busy acting out a bad campus novel, with infidelities and academic...
There are two ways to treat fairy folk in a fantasy novel. You can hide them, only the protagonist knowing that there is a secret world in the forest. Or you can embrace them. Make the likes of goblins and fairies' part of everyday life. In A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey, an accord...
Secrets are powerful. They can make or break someone. In the alternative Edwardian England of Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light there is a magical society of people who hide their powers. This is a big secret to keep, but there are others. Both Robin Blyth and...
Urban Fantasy is its own distinct genre from Fantasy as it takes the essence of swords, orcs and elves and brings them into an urban setting. Having read a lot of this sub-genre, it has increasingly become a victim of its own tropes. A lot of Urban Fantasy feels the...
A Memory called Empire is the debut of Arkady Martine, although reading the book you'd be forgiven for thinking she's been writing best-sellers for years.
The vast, interstellar Empire of the Teixcalaanli have appointed Mahit Dzmare as new Ambassador to the capital. When she arrives she...
And it came to pass in those days, as it had come before and would come again, that the Dark lay heavy on the land and weighed down the hearts of men, and the green things failed, and hope died.
For those who have been following the journey of Jordans' epic fantasy series, reaching this...
A Million Open Doors is the first volume in the Thousand Cultures series by the author John Barnes. When I started on this I was quite surprised; Barnes starts the story off in a tavern, with tales of sword fights and honour. Afraid that Barnes had hidden a fantasy behind the rather futuristic...
How do you like your science fiction and fantasy? I will admit to being someone who loves a simple and accessible tale, but the genres can offer so much more than this. There are few genres better equipped to take a reader to truly alien places, to worlds that feel like they were designed in a...
If you don’t laugh, you will cry. One way that people cope with bleakness is to try and find the funny things in life. Recent lockdowns would have been a lot harder for me without my family to keep me smiling. Diagnoses of terminal illness is no laughing matter, but you...
Yoss is one of the most controversial and successful of Cuba's science fiction writers. As well known for his rock-and-roll style as he is for his portrait of Cuba under Communism, his work is modern, dynamic and yet deep and thoughtful. A Planet for Rent is set in the near future where Earth,...
A Princess of the Aerie is the second volume in the Jak Jinnaka series by author John Barnes. It's hard to stay away from series, in this world. There are a lot of upsides to them and, as long as they stay fresh, the downsides are few. You know what you can expect, you are already wise to the...
A Quantum Murder is the second volume in the Greg Mandel Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton. Greg Mandel on his second case for Julia Evans and the Eventhorizon company. If you have any of the other two Mandel books you'll know what to expect. QM isn't quite as well written as Nanoflower, but it's in...
A Scanner Darkly is the only Philip K Dick novel that I have been the slightest bit reluctant to read so far - to say I am not a fan of drugs would be a vast understatement and Scanner is PKD's exploration into drugs. My youngest brother has waxed lyrical on a number of occasions about the novel...
I have not lived in the village I grew up in over twenty years, but I still talk about going home when I am visiting. Where I live now has been my home for longer, but there is something about those formative years that make a place always feel like home. I return to see family, but for some...
A Second Chance At Eden is a stand alone collection of short stories set within the Confederation Universe of the Nights Dawn Trilogy. Written by Peter F Hamilton. Seven stories in 430 pages (the typeface and line spacing is fairly generous in the hardcover version I have - the normal paperback...
Dan Shaper is a wreck, a private "fixer" who takes on jobs for those people who won't or can't go to the police. Constantly haunted by an event in his past life while working as a violent underworld enforcer the only way he can keep those crippling memories at bay is by a growing cocktail of...
A Slip of the Keyboard isn't quite an autobiography and yet in many ways it feels like one. It contains a collection of essays, articles, speeches and interviews by the author from 1963 up to the present day. It is the essence of Pratchett, his thoughts on writing, his development and lately his...
I've been reading Remic's stories for a number of years now. His Clockwork Vampire Series is heroic fantasy at it's very best.
What I didn't realise though was how much he has grown as an author since, that is until I discovered A Song for No Mans Land on Amazon.
...
A novel chronicling the beginning of the Stainless Steel Rat's career. Young Jim diGritz has only one abition in life, to become a master criminal. He intentionally gets caught trying to rob a bank so that he will go to jail where he can learn from the masters of crime, only to realize (too...
Artificial intelligence is an exciting field that could help enrich the lives of most people on the planet from simple things like shopping to making life more inclusive for those with disabilities. AI will also come with a human cost. Many of the jobs that we do today could...
They say that you should never meet your heroes, lest they disappoint, but I have met several of my favourite authors over the years and have always had a pleasant experience. I never had the chance to meet Sir Terry Pratchett which was a shame as he was, like for many readers of genre fiction,...
A Taste of Blood Wine is romantic. It’s chock full of smoldering description, intrigue and mystery, dark love, and all sorts of gossip and twists and turns.
The novel follows Charlotte, the daughter and lab partner of a scientist, as she rapidly falls for the vampire Karl. But then the...
The Space Wolves, those fiercely loyal and dependable Space Marines are sent to Propsero to enforce the Emperors justice after the Primarch of the Thousand Sons chapter makes a serious mistake that puts the safety of the very birthplace of humanity at risk.
The events of this story run...
This is the second in the series of books of short stories in the shadows of the apt world from Newcon Press written by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
You don't need to have read Tales of the Apt book 1, Spoils of War, to appreciate this one, but it would probably help if you were familiar...
Following the events of A Time of Dread, this book raises the stakes even further. Drem and friends flee the horrors at Starstone Lake. They must warn the Order of the Bright Star that a Demon has risen, but Fritha, the Demon's high Priestess has other ideas and is hot on their heels....
Like many science fiction fans, I have been swept away by the recent influx of Chinese writers that have been translated. Many of these writers are only new to us but have established careers back in China. The most prominent is the Hugo Award winning Cixin Liu. I have enjoyed the style...
I was a big fan of the X-Files series in it's earlier days, although towards the later end of the show running I got fed up with hundreds of new questions rising without any real answers to the many others. I understand from a perspective of belief this makes perfect sense but it is also...
A good thriller should grab you from the very first page. In the past decades Lee Child has become a master of this and the majority of his Jack Reacher books open at a canter. What would you do if when hitchhiking you got into a car with wrong people? Keep your head down and try to find a way...
Never judge a person till you've walked a mile in their shoes, the late Terry Pratchett might add "because then you're a mile away, and have their shoes". It's something we do all the time, form snap judgements about people and situations, often based on first impressions. Perhaps it's a genetic...
A surfeit of mandrake is a short story Anthology which includes elements of fantasy, science fiction, history poems and original artwork. Edited by Chaz Wood and written by a diverse group of Dundonian's. Surfeit - "An excessive amount of something" Mandrake - a plant belonging to the...
Abhorsen is a young adult fantast novel by Garth Nix and is the third volume in the Old Kingdom Series, following on from the events in Sabriel and Lirael. Prince Sameth and the Abhorsen in waiting Lirael are contemplating their next move at the Abhorsens house in the old Kingdom. Surrounded on...
I 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...
There is a surprising amount of Fantasy that is essentially an epic game of magical rock, paper, scissors. Various mages, witches and Gods all fighting each other with differing powers. They are strong against one power, but weak against another. The balance of the world rests on all these...
I've always said that Hutchinson is an under-appreciated author. His Europe series not only being an accomplished trilogy, but also somewhat prophetic given the UK's current realtionship with the EU.
Acadie is a step away from his near-future,alternative fiction series,...
Across Realtime is a science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. This is Vinge's first full length novel. For some strange reason, I've never gotten around to it before now. I'm not sure why, but maybe it has been a combination of fear that it couldn't live up to the expectations that A Fire Upon...
On our first trip to Mars I hope that they send the best equipped, those with the skills and temperament to handle any situation that may occur. If disaster struck I would hope that these men and women would tackle the challenge dispassionately in an attempt to survive the oncoming end with as...
Acts of the Apostles is a science fiction novel by John Sundman. I'm a bit less qualified to review this books, than normal, as it's part of a genre that I know next to nothing about, namely the conspiracy genre (if there's such a thing), or maybe it the techno-thriller genre, I don't know. But...
Cyberpunk has always concerned itself with the transformational relationship of man and machine. Times and technology changes, but the contemporary cyberpunk story is still concerned with this and Ada King by E. M. Faulds wholeheartedly embraces that essence whilst invoking new dystopian themes...
Adam Robots is a collection of science fiction shorts by the irrepressible author Adam Roberts. Each little story explores a different style, sub-genre or convention and yet each is quite clearly a product of the authors mind. There is a certain momentum to Roberts prose, a hustling and yet...
I found this book during a post Christmas hunt in my local Waterstones after receiving a number of gift vouchers. I had never read anything by the author (or indeed the publisher) but have seen the third novel in the series (the Immorality Engine) appearing around the web for a while.
...
This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I kind of stumbled across it by accident and I’m so glad I did. Jack Kilborn is a pen name for the author J.A Konrath, and this was his first novel writing under that name. It is a simple tale, wrote simply and in no way completely original...
After Atlas is Newman’s follow up to her science fiction debut, Planetfall. This story is not a sequel, instead it focuses on our future Earth, that has been left behind by the colonists on the Atlas mission.
This aftermath is the setting for a murder mystery plot involving a...
After the Flare is the second book in the series which describes the a near future Nigerian Space program. Since a massive solar flare wiped out much of the worlds electronics, Nigeria find themselves in control of one of the last working spaceships and functional spaceport.
Kwesi...
Against A Dark Background is a novel by the noted author of science fiction Iain M Banks. Yes, more Banks - Since Crow Road and Use Of Weapons he has definetly become one of my favorite authors. Against a Dark Background is Science Fiction at its best. Suspence, love, action and high-tech...
Aktiya The Ignition Sequence is a science fiction novel by JS Cooper. Julien suffers from raging nightmare's that leave him emotionally and physically drained, however when these turn into head splitting visions that seem to cause wierd things to happen nearby Julien seeks the help of a local...
Alien: It’s more than just a novelization of the movie.
Alan Dean Foster’s ALIEN is fantastic. That having been said, you can easily guess the direction of this book review. Normally, I do a formal review but this one just seemed to be stifled by a synopsis and straightforward...
WOW! I have not said that in a while and this reviewer surely did not expect that word to come from Alan Dean Foster’s 247-page novelization of Alien 3. Like so many—like millions— who were disappointed with David Fincher’s 1993 film, I did not expect Foster’s novel to change my mind...
There is no doubt that Tchaikovsky is a prolific author - I'm counting at least 38 novels and many novellas and short stories. Every few months, there seems to be a new book on the horizon. But that regularity of releases doesn't seem to impact the quality of his writing or the sharpness of his...
Alien Covenant - Origins is a prequel to the latest Alien story, describing the journey of getting the colony ship launched on it's ill-fated journey, bridging the gap between Prometheus and Alien Covenant.
Written by Alan Dean Foster - the author who has been writing about Aliens...
I've been a big fan of the Aliens series ever since I saw the first film back in the 1980's. I've read all the books, including the expanded universe (non-canonical) ones from Bantam, and more recently from Titan books. I've watched and read the Aliens vs Predator crossover...
I've always loved the Aliens films (well at least the first two), both films work for very different reasons. The first was totally ground breaking with it's unique style, examination of claustrophobia, fear - the combination of science fiction and horror that combined with some exceptional...
The second installment in the new Alien series by Titan books is quiet different from the first and doesn’t quiet fit in the way I expected. Yet, it delivers what any fan of the Alien franchise craves: insane amounts of Xenomorph action.
Alien: Sea of Sorrows takes place on LV178,...
It is not that the aliens in Alien are constantly evolving, it is that they are constantly adapting to the scenario they are in. We usually see them egging up humans, but if they landed in a world populated by cows it would only be a few days that a bovine Alien was ripping up the locals. Aliens...
Novelizations of movies are often jutted to the back of the bookshelf after one reading. Reviewers are critical, normally arguing that it is just an attempt to make money off a popular film franchise, and at times they do so justly. Yet, some novelizations often tell the story in a way film...
Steve Perry recruits his daughter, writer Stephani Perry, to conclude a separate storyline to one of the best SciFi franchises of all time. Filled with plenty of Xenomorph-action and a conclusion that no one would guess, Aliens: The Female War rocks hard and entertains like a champ!
Now...
Who doesn’t love the Alien series? But which subset are you talking about? Like any science fiction property, once you investigate it and expand upon it, the series begins to fragment. You have Alien, Aliens, Aliens vs Predator, Prometheus, and more. They are all the same universe but...
The Alien franchise can be seen as one of two things: an awesome series of Space based horror and action stories, or a textbook example of Corporate Malfeasance. The Aliens may be the most reoccurring characters, but the second is not Ripley, it is Weyland...
The story behind LV-426 is more terrifying than anything my childhood imagination lent after watching Alien and Aliens on VHS. Although before my generation, both Ridley Scott and James Cameron contributed to one of the most terrifying storylines in cinema history. And for this reviewer, it has...
There is no such thing as déjà vu, it is just your mind failing to process things properly. Even so, one day I was reading a book and was struck with a fearful sense of déjà vu. I could almost see what was going to happen next, it was unsettling. Was this a...
David Moody has been writing his Hater series (which has been optioned for a film by Universal Studios) since 2006, originally with the books Hater, Dog Blood and Them or Us. Then in 2017 he started from the beginning of the story again but from a totally different perspective with One of...
As I write this, the fifth book and first full-length novel in the Murderbot diaries, Network Effect, has won the Hugo award 2021 for best novel, already having won the Nebula and Locus. The series itself has also won the 2021 Hugo for best series. I guess I have some catching up to do. All...
Ray Cluley’s second collection (the first one being the critically acclaimed Probably Monsters) assembling seventeen dark short stories previously appeared in various genre magazines confirms the versatile character of this talented author in terms of plots, atmospheres and geographic...
Just a month into the New Year and already I've found a must read book. All the Birds in the Sky is the debut novel of Charlie Jane Anders who has been editor-in-chief of the popular SF site IO9.com for quite some time.
All the Birds in the Sky follows the paths of two very different...
Have you ever sat down and read some Fairy Tales to your children? Not the sanitised versions that we read today, but the originals. If you have, you gave the kids nightmares as these are stories not about happiness and magic but of...
There are places on the planet that are scary enough on their own. You would never find me plunging the depth of the deepest oceans or spending the night in an abandoned greenhouse somewhere in a wild forest. There are dangers aplenty without any monsters, ghoulies or manifestations. Add to this...
I will be honest—I was not thrilled about the idea of thinking about this book again in order to write a review. I was so bothered by the end of this series that I felt depressed about it for a week after I finished the novel.
I loved Divergent. I thought that Insurgent was a pretty...
It’s been awhile since I picked up one of Mr Laymon’s books and I was quite looking forward to reading this book. With this in mind I picked it up and started ahead. Now for those of you who aren’t aware Laymon was a very prolific writer right up to his death. His books ranged from short...
If you read enough Near Future fiction you will start to see a trend. The future is not orange at all but bleak and a little depressing. It could be giant robots, aliens or the undead. There always seems to be something around the corner that is more dystopian than utopian. I can take all...
Many stories end abruptly with our heroes achieving their goal. The girl marries the Prince, the good guys win the fight. We all know that in real life stories don’t actually end, they carry on regardless whether you got married or now sport a medal. At the end of The Return of the Jedi...
Alternate Reality Ain't what it used to be by Ira Nayman is a collection of news stories from alternate realities, as told by the intrepid reporters from the Alternate Reality News Service. The book is split into different sections for technology, relationships, games, politics etc. and...
Karin Tidbeck has written a number of short-stories, her first english Language collection (firmly rooted in Weird Fiction), Jagannath, was nominated for the World Fantasy award and short-listed for the James Tiptree Junior award. It also received wide-spread critical acclaim. Amatka is her...
The Golden Era of comic books began around the Second World War and into the 1950s. It was a time of nationalism as the World prepared for war and then a time of hope and optimism for the US in particular. The US was now the main world power and life was...
As a science fiction fan it has to be said that we are becoming increasingly lucky. Film and TV companies seem to have finally grasped that the genre is a gold mine for stories, and that when done right, these stories can attract a big audience.
American Gods is one of the more recent...
Among Others is about as different from any novel I have read than the Moon is from a piece of pie. It's not even a book I thought I would enjoy either, if someone had approached me and asked me to read a novel about a 15 year old girls account of her life in a boarding school - delivered in...
A long running series is a mixed blessing. You can return to the same characters over the books, but too often a series becomes stale quickly and the characters seem to live in statis were they never change. This can never be said of the excellent Rivers of London novels by Ben Aaronovitch...
Amortals is a science fiction thriller of high octane action and is the novel of Matt Forbeck, published by Angry Robot Books. The year is 2168 and Secret Service agent Ronan "Methusaleh" Dooley is hot on the trail of a vicious killer, but this case is a bit of a twist as the victim happens to...
Amped follows on directly from the events of Wired reviewed late last year. We rejoin the brilliant scientist Kira Miller who has discovered how to boost the human IQ to extreme post-human levels for short periods of time. With this extreme intelligence comes the danger that the same process...
Amped is a near future story that tells of the post-human singularity event, a world where humans are implanted with upgrades that make them capable of super-human feats. Fear of that which is different rears its ugly head and before long a new set of laws is put into place restricting the...
Billed as a ‘graphic novel, novel’ An Android Awakes tells the story, through pictures and words, of Android Writer PD121928 as it tries to produce stories that a publisher will accept before the submission limit on its programming runs out.
What we have here is an innovative...
Illustration ©2019 Francis Vallejo from The Folio Society edition of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys.
The asymmetrical sequel to Gaiman’s American Gods, Anansi Boys makes use of the same dramatic conceit, that Gods exist and walk amongst us. However, this...
Having watched plenty of True Crime documentaries I am often struck how loyal some friends and family are to the criminal. They have been convicted of the crime, but sometimes family just will not accept the outcome. Injustice is one reason, people do get sent down for something they never did,...
Haimey is the engineer aboard the Singer, an interstellar salvage vessel named after its shipboard Intelligence. Haimey is genetically modified for zero-G, and she has brain-enhancing implants that connect her to the rest of the crew and chemically manage her emotional state. Haimey, Singer, and...
Ancillary Justice has won more awards this year than any book before it. Not only that but the awards it has won are most of the major ones in science fiction. The Hugo, the Nebula, the BSFA, the Arthur C Clarke and the Locus award (for first novel).
It's clear to see that the...
And another thing is the sixth novel in the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series (created by the late great Douglas Adams) and has been written by the very successful author Eoin Colfer. The Hitchhikers Guide series stands as one of the greatest science fiction series of novels ever to grace...
This book, by Kiersten White, is a gender flipped historically based story of the early life of Vlad the Impaler or in this case, Lada Dracul.
White takes the bones of the historical accounts and layers it with a rich imaginings of characters and quirks, to give the reader some...
And some were human is a collection of short science fiction stories by Lester del Ray. If I tell you that this book contains nine of Lester del Reys finest stories, that they are copyrighted 1938-43, where published in Unknown and in Astounding Science Fiction (now Analog) and that the book is...
It sometimes feels that if you have read one fantasy novel, you have read them all. The same tropes crop up again and again. This may be comforting to fans of the genre, but people that dabble may soon become bored. Those of us in the know realise that there is a wealth of variation if you are...
Angel Souls and Devil Hearts is the second volume in the fantasy horror series "The Shadow Saga" by Christopher Golden. An Epic tale of Vampires, Sorcery and War... The Shadows have been living among us unknown for thousands of years and now revealed the ancient Vampire race must confront the...
Angel of Death is a contemporary fantasy / horror novel by author J Robert King. The Angel of Death for Chicago overseas a an area that stretches from lake county Indiana to Milwaukee, a vast sprawl of a metropolis. His task is to ensure that each person's death matches their lives as closely as...
In the fantasy that I usually read Regicide is usually the goal for the end of the book. In fact, I have read entire trilogies in which the protagonist is trying to kill a royal. You get the sense that Evan Leikam is going to tackle things a little differently in Anji Kills a King when the first...
I picked this book up after learning about it being short-listed and eventually winning the Arthur C Clarke Award. It's proof of not judging a book by its cover because I'd have completely passed it by sitting on a table, with its shockingly bright pink swirlyness and quote by Sheena Patel that...
I remember reading the short story "Red Reign" about 20 years ago, written by Newman and published in the Mammoth Book of Vampires. This short story formed the basis for the novel and it's been on my list of books to read for some time. The imminent re-release of the sequel "The Bloody Red...
Anno Frankenstein is a novel in the Pax Britannia series featuring the intrepid adventurer Ulysses Quicksilver. In this alternative universe, Magna Britannia is the undisputed superpower of the world whereas since the second great European war, Hitler’s Nazi party has been reduced to the...
Reviewed by Matt Karder. I have never been an ardent fan of short stories but this collection certainly is an exception. The flow within the prose is a major factor. Short sentences bursting with content focus the reader’s attention very effectively. A Worm In The Well & The Worm Turns The...
What is your plan for when the apocalypse comes? One of the best things about reading speculative fiction is that you get loads of clever ideas on exactly what to do should a meteor plummet to Earth or the undead rise from their graves. The truth is that your plan is to curl up and inevitably...
Anvil of Stars is the sequel to The Forge of God, written by Greg Bear. Sometimes reviewing a sequel is nearly impossible without spoiling the first book for people who hasn't read it. This is one of those times and I'm not going to try, so if you haven't read The Forge of God (tFoG) yet, don't...
Apocalypse novels are all the rage these days, and with good reason, as any rational person can sense that we are rapidly approaching some kind of great calamity. There are plenty of choices: climate change, rapidly depleting resources, drug resistant disease, or even a straight up revolution of...
Apocalypses & Apostrophes is a collection of short stories by the American author John Barnes. I think that I got the idea that Barnes is kind of weird around page 25 of Kaleidoscope Century, and nothing I've read since then has made me think otherwise. Apocalypses & Apostrophes confirms my...
Fantasy is one of my favourite genres for a reason. It is a genre that can tell epic storylines through several different characters and span the years. G R Macallister’s Five Queendoms trilogy does just that focussing on the female characters. This is a land dominated by powerful...
Architect of Fate is a Space Marine Battles Anthology which collects together 4 novellas that make up the series featuring the infamous greater daemon of Tzeentch, Kairos Fateweaver. A master of manipulation who schemes and uses his prodigious power to play with the fates of thousands, even the...
Young adult science fantasy is a story type that has existed in various forms since the 1950s. The writing quality can vary, but the intention – to convey a vision where humanity has become an interstellar society always fires the imagination of impressionable readers.
Architects...
The noir genre has an inherent problem, it has the feel of the 1940s and 1950s. You imagine black and white films, men in fedoras and women with cascading red locks. The lack of technology forced the central gumshoe to walk the streets and knock together heads to gather the...
Area 51 - also known as Dreamland, Paradise Ranch, Home Base, Watertown Strip, Groom Lake and Homey Airport - is one of the worst kept secrets in the world, a top secret government facility located within the Nevada Test & Training Area that even now, the US government refuses to admit...
Arm of the Sphinx is the second in the Books of Babel series by Josiah Bancroft and follows on from the events of Senlin Ascends.
Tom - who is now going by the name of Captain Mudd, continues his search for Marya. He has help, with the airship The Stone Cloud and it's motley crew. Since...
I've been a gamer and science fiction fan since the very first home computers become popular. From the days of the ZX81 and even before that with the Intellivision and Atari 2600. I've been playing games ever since. Like the authors first novel, Armada seems to speak to the older gamers out...
The global success of The Martian and its subsequent film adaptation, catapulted Andy Weir into the public eye. Whatever he chose to write next was always going to draw attention.
Set in our near future, Artemis is the story of Jazz Bashara, a young girl living on the moon. Struggling...
Artificial by Jadah McCoy is the authors debut and the first book in a planned series called The Kepler Chronicles. Set in 2256, the story unfolds on Earth’s first colony amongst the stars, the aforementioned Kepler.
As humanity traversed through the deep dark of space, they decided to...
Artificial Condition is the second book in The Murderbot Diaries, and the follow up to All Systems Red. It won the 2019 Hugo and Locus awards for best novella, and like the others in the series, has received a great deal of praise. It is highly recommended (but not imperative) you read All...
Colin F. Barnes’ Artificial Evil, Book One of the Techxorist Series introduces readers to a familiar yet new experience in post-apocalyptic literature. The series is ongoing, the author’s website reveals book four as “in progress” (as of July 2014). Currently, the three part series...
As Wonders Go By a wildly different book to most I've read. For a start it's narrated in the second person, there aren't many I've read that take this approach.
The protagonist is a woman of "loose morals", at large in Europe and looking for "adventure". She finds more adventure even she...
Ten weeks ago Homicide Detective Sailor Doyle worked on his first ever solo case, a horrific double murder in a remote area of Virginia that almost finished him for good. Now he's recuperating from the physical wounds and mental trauma, the near death experience acting as a focus to overcome...
A unique twist on the time-travel tradition! A mix of genres amalgamated into something unforgettable. This is a read to be experienced with your brain’s switch flipped on.
From the book’s synopsis:
Dr. Pip Lipkin has lived for 12,000 years, incarnated many times as man,...
Editing a collection of short stories must be a task. Whittling down all the possibilities to just a few that represent a vision. The key is to make the subject matter attainable; stories about monsters in pubs or griffons on an aeroplane. Taking on all Asian Ghost Short Stories is an...
A parallel world action drama with everyone urgently following mission briefings and investigating crimes, Asks the Dream pitches the reader into the centre of a grey shaded struggle where the characters feel cleaner than the corporations they are taking orders from.
When it suits her,...
Shaun was very prolific in the Eighties, and with this novel you often wonder why he could have been so successful. The trick with Hutson is not to take him seriously both in his style and content and more often than not as an author also. There are all the usual clichés with Hutson’s work in...
Synopsis: Picking up where Artificial Evil concludes, Gerry returns to Earth and discovers that problems have only escalated in spite of everything previously achieved while saving City Earth. Petal’s story unfolds as the mysteries of her past unveil the complexity of our dystopian Earth....
Like every genre, there are several aspects to Horror that you can focus on. My preference is the supernatural, something big and scary, preferably not overexplained. There is another subgenre, one that is arguably far scarier. I call it the horror of the mundane. Those killers that live among...
At the Mountains of Madness is a novella set within the Cthulhu Mythos and written by HP Lovecraft. The Barren, windswept interior of the Antarctic plateau is considered completely devoid of life until an expedition from the University of Miskatonic find strange fossils of unknown creatures...
I am not someone that goes in for Conspiracy Theories, I just don’t have the energy for them. 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...
Reading about a dystopia is not as farfetched as it was once as we are living through a couple of ongoing ones as I write, but there is always space for a little more terror to add to the reality. What about a situation that is eerily possible? The sun belches out radiation daily and according...
Aurora Rising is a stand-alone novel written within the authors Revelation Space universe, set before other novels and before the cataclysmic event of the Melding Plague.
It's worth noting that Aurora Rising was published in 2007 as The Prefect. Reynolds fan's who are looking for a new...
Paul McAuley is a vastly under-appreciated author. His books are inspiring, hypnotic and inventive. Austral is all of these and more, a book set in a plausible, climate-changed future where the planet has a new continent with a partial thawing of the Antarctic. There are still vast vistas of ice...
Autumn was originally self published and given away by the author ten years ago, since then it has been read by hundreds of thousands of people and even turned into a film starring David Carradine and Dexter Fletcher. It's now published by those fantastic people over at Gollancz and I must say...
It's good to see that we are slowly getting used to living our lives in a pandemic / post-pandemic society. It's a tough time for most people (unless you happen to be a space faring billionaire) but we have vaccines and some promise that with enough people vaccinated, we should at least be able...
Carrying on right from where we left the survivors back in Autumn: The City, Purification takes us further down the Zombie survival road. Pretty much imprisoned within the underground Army base this small group sit and wait while on the surface the crowd of shuffling corpses is growing in size...
Autumn - The City is the follow up to the sensational zombie novel Autumn, promising the same power and subtle horror of the first. It takes a lot of guts to start a story again right from the beginning but told from a different perspective - a brave move that could have gone horribly wrong....
Science has taken humans to amazing places, prolonged our lives, made living better, but it has also created great harm. Have some diseases been developed in a lab then released, on purpose or by accident? Perhaps legitimate research led to tragic mistakes. In the world of Laura Elliott’s...
Axiomatic is a collection of science fiction short stories by Greg Egan. Most science fiction fans these days would agree what when it comes to hard science fiction, Greg Egan is one of the best. In ten years he has given us a good handful of novels, all every much driven by the laws of nature,...
Science fiction set in the near future, Azanian Bridges is a rough diamond, drawing on a variety of influences to deliver a real and wrenching story.
Our setting is an alternative South Africa, where Mandela was never released and Apartheid didn’t end. We follow two characters,...
Book of the month
