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Hallowdene by  by George Mann
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Hallowdene is the second book in the Wychwood series, a crime thriller that weaves into the story supernatural elements. Elspeth Reeves is making a new life for herself in a quiet, sleepy village near Oxford, having escaped the hectic life of London. As a journalist for the local paper, she...

Article by Ant on 26th October 2018
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Hammered by  by Kevin Hearne
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Hammered is the third book in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles series, following the story of Atticus O'Sullivan, a 2,000-year-old druid who runs a bookstore in Tempe, Arizona.

The plot revolves around Atticus trying to defend himself and his store from the wrath of the Norse god...

Article by Ant on 2nd January 2023
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Harbinger of the Storm is the second volume in the Obsidian and Blood series of novels by Aliette de Bodard, and follows on from the events in Servant of the Underworld, both published by Angry Robot Books. One and a half years have passed since the events in Servant of the Underworld and the...

Article by Ant on 12th March 2011
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Set in an alternative world where the supernatural have the same rights as we do, Hard Spell is an urban fantasy novel by Justin Gustainis and follows the adventures of Stan Markowski, a detective of the Scranton PD’s Occult Crimes Unit. The "Supe" unit handles any crimes that have a...

Article by Ant on 24th June 2011
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Hard Time by  by Jodi Taylor
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The timeline is fragile. Stand on a butterfly in the Jurassic Era and you may end up returning to a world in which we all have seven arms – useful for multi-tasking. If time travel were available not everybody would respect the past and therefore, it needs to be policed. A subtle and...

Article by Sam Tyler on 21st October 2020
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Hardcase by  by Dan Simmons
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Hardcase is a detective fiction novel by Dan Simmons. Dan Simmons certainly gets around. He has written straight horror, epic SF, thrilling espionage and with this book he has opened a door the the hard-boiled Private Investigator genre. Hardcase is the first book in a series of books, about...

Article by TC on 26th April 2004
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Harmonica and Gig by  by RJ Astruc
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When a territory engineer dies in suspicious circumstances, three qverse experts are brought in to investigate. Initially the three hacks choose to work separately on the case, but as they continue their investigations they discover clues leading to some of the most powerful figures in the...

Article by Ant on 27th September 2011
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In Harrison's earliest memory he is three year's old. He is with his father on a boat that breaks apart in a storm off the California coast. He knows a chunk of metal sheared off his leg at the knee as his father sank into the water. So why does he remember tentacles and teeth?

...
Article by Nate Hawthorne on 20th March 2015
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Haunted by  by James Herbert
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Probably one of my favourites of the late Mr Herbert’s novels. The haunted was written at the end of a very successful decade of writing. Everything about the Haunted book is quintessentially Herbert and quintessentially English.

Herbert gets everything right with this book, there is...

Article by Arron on 9th August 2013
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Haunted Futures by  by Salome Jones
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Haunted Futures is a collection presenting the uncertain future in many guises. Originally funded as part of a kickstarter campaign and edited by Salome Jones it features short stories from authors including Warren Ellis, Jeff Noon, Tricia Sullivan and SL Huang (amongst others).

The...

Article by Ant on 11th April 2017
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Heads by  by Greg Bear
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Heads is a science fiction novel, written by Greg Bear. A hundred years in the future, Michael Sandoval is the manager at Ice Pit Station – a research station on the Moon. Two projects are taking place here. His brother in-law is trying to reach absolute zero in a small piece of copper. His...

Article by TC on 1st April 2001
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Heart of the Assassin by  by Robert Ferrigno
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The Butterfly Effect is a device used to explore alternative versions of our world. The simple action of a time travellers going back to the time of the dinosaurs and standing on a butterfly would alter everything that followed, ripples expanding from that one point. Robert...

Article by Sam Tyler on 2nd June 2020
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Hearts of Granite by  by James Barclay
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How do you shake up the familiar “war that never ends” trope? James Barclay has one answer; add alien DNA with lizards to create genetically modified dragons; then fly those dragons into the battlefield burning your enemies to a smoking crisp. If that wasn’t enough, he also...

Article by Sam on 9th October 2018
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Heartstone by  by C J Sansom
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Offer me a time machine and I would travel no further back than the 1980s. This would allow me to place loads of bets on sporting events I know the results to and invest in Apple Computers. You would not see me travelling hundreds of years into the future or the past, are you mad? The 1980s were...

Article by Sam Tyler on 7th February 2020
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Hell on Earth by  by Dafydd ab Hugh
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Continuing where Knee-Deep in the Dead stops, we find our two favorite demon-slaying, zombie-‘sploding action heroes faced with the reality that Earth has been invaded. The story that unfolds on planet Earth is one that could never be guessed and packs a particular charm that I have never seen...

Article by D. L. Denham on 30th October 2014
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Anyone who remembers those old Hammer Horror films (or indeed still watches them) will just adore this book, along with anyone else who loves a good story. In their hey-day between the 50's and 70's the Hammer films starred such great screen actors such as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee with...

Article by Ant on 15th February 2012
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Hellbent by  by Cherie Priest
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Hellbent sees the return of the sassy super thief Raylene - also known as Cheshire Red - who is back to her usual tricks, hired to retrieve a valuable magical artifact. This time however she is up against a very powerful Witch and must team up with x-Navy SEAL and fabulous drag queen Adrian...

Article by Ant on 18th November 2011
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Hellifax by  by Keith Blackmore
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Another episode is the Mountain Man series always brings a degree of eagerness; not only with knowledge that you just know the dialogue will be entertaining but in the authors wonderfully rewarding tone too; Hellifax is no exception.

Gus, the reluctant hero of the previous two Mountain...

Article by Ant on 2nd April 2013
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HellSans by  by Ever Dundas
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Typography has a larger role in your life than you may think. It is important to get the right font in the right place. No one wants to have Beware of the Cliff written in Comic Sans. Advertisers spend millions on typefaces to make a brand instantly recognisable. All these things are noble...

Article by Sam Tyler on 11th October 2022
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Hellstrom's Hive by  by Frank Herbert
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When anyone mentions the name Frank Herbert most people will instantly think of Dune, a novel that has achieved an incredible success but also overshadowed anything else Herbert created since (Dune was only his second published full novel). It must have been a frustration that none of his works...

Article by Ant on 26th August 2011
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I 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...

Article by Sam Tyler on 12th December 2023
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Hex by  by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
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Thomas Olde Heuvelt won last years Hugo award for his novelette The Day the World Turned Upside Down. Reading Hex I can see why.

The idea is incredible — A woman named Katharine is killed as a witch in the 16th Century and then begins haunting the woods around the village of Black...

Article by Ant on 1st May 2016
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Hexed by  by Kevin Hearne
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Hexed is the second book in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, a series of urban fantasy novels featuring the adventures of Atticus O'Sullivan, a two-thousand-year-old druid who is trying to keep a low profile in modern-day Tempe, Arizona.

The story picks up where the first book,...

Article by Ant on 1st January 2023
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Hide by  by Kiersten White
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As an adult it is easy to forget how exhilarating hide and seek was when you were a child. That crackling of electricity in your chest as you huddle in a hiding place waiting to get caught. The heightened senses as you hear the footsteps of the seeker drawing closer. The sense of relief as they...

Article by Sam Tyler on 26th May 2022
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Highfire by  by Eoin Colfer
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Dragons get a bad press. They may have been known to ransack a few villages and eat people, but if they were left alone, they would not bother you. They are, of course, extinct now. If one or two of them remained where would they hide? Somewhere remote enough to be away from crowds carrying...

Article by Sam Tyler on 27th January 2020
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Him by  by Geoff Ryman
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People like to read for differing reasons. Some like to be entertained, whilst others like to be challenged, if you are lucky, you will get a book that will do both. Taking on an alternative history of the New Testament is challenging enough, but making the main protagonist a woman who says that...

Article by Sam Tyler on 7th December 2023
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Hogfather by  by Terry Pratchett
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The first Pratchett book that I've read in a long time. I kind of overdosed on Pratchett a few years ago and haven't read anything of his for a while. As it often is with Pratchett's books, they are rather hard to describe or even retell – it's very easy to fail miserably to convey just what...

Article by TC on 1st February 1999
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Honeycomb by  by S B Caves
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Before a drug is allowed onto the marketplace, it must undergo rigorous tests. Firstly on animals and then eventually on humans. These tests will determine what side effects there are, and in many cases, there will be side effects. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? If a wonder drug saves...

Article by Sam Tyler on 8th July 2024
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Hooded Man by  by Paul Kane
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Hooded Man collects the three novels Arrowhead, Broken Arrow and Arrowland (along with a short story set between the first and second books), all of which are part of the shared post-apocalyptic universe known as the "Afterbright Chronicles" - which includes this years SF Book of the year...

Article by Ant on 13th August 2013
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Hope Island by  by Tim Major
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Kids love them or fear them. It may seem a little odd to be scared of infants, but if anyone else screamed at you with a psychopathic rage you would probably take a step back. On their own they can be manageable, but in a group, they...

Article by Sam Tyler on 28th May 2020
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Horns by  by Joe Hill
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Ignatius Perrish awoke with the usual hangover symptoms that accompany a drunken night of debauchery - raging headache, bad breath... and a pair of horns growing from his temples. Ig had it all, a privileged upbringing, a caring family, a famous dad and the love of the beautiful, vivacious...

Article by Ant on 13th July 2011
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Horror Library is a successful series of horror anthologies which thanks to Dark Moon Books is now finally available in Kindle format.

The latest book in the series is a  huge volume assembling twenty-seven tales selected by the new editor Eric J Guignard, who also introduces the...

Article by Mario Guslandi on 6th September 2021
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Hounded by  by Kevin Hearne
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Hounded is the first book in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, a series of urban fantasy novels that follow the adventures of Atticus O'Sullivan, a 2,000-year-old druid living in modern-day Arizona. The story begins with Atticus, who has managed to keep his true identity and magical...

Article by Ant on 31st December 2022
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There are authors that you love because you can pick up one of their books and know what you are going to get, like putting on your favourite pair of comfortable slippers again. There is also that rarer breed of author that you love, maybe even a little bit more. Those authors that will not be...

Article by Sam Tyler on 23rd January 2024
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How Like a God by  by Rex Stout
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When you enter midlife, you must watch out that you do not get lost in the past. Past glories that may have been, lovers that were or could have been. There is a reason that some people drift into a crisis, seeing the grass could have been greener had they picked a different path. When you are...

Article by Sam Tyler on 10th June 2024
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I have read a lot of speculative fiction that shows humans going crazy if a major event happens; a pandemic has rioting in the street or the voice of God echoing from the heavens leads to a rise in suicides. Perhaps it is a British thing, but I think that we would just shrug our shoulders and...

Article by Sam Tyler on 25th August 2020
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Any house of a decent age is haunted. There are no spectres, but there are ghosts of memories, the people that lived and died there over the years. I grew up in a house that was once a Victorian police station and then a Greengrocers. As I moved out, my parents stayed. When they left, instead of...

Article by Sam Tyler on 18th January 2023
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Hull Zero Three by  by Greg Bear
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A starship hurtles through the empty void of space towards an unknown destination, it's purpose and history lost in the midst of time. One man finds himself ripped from his dream of a new home and partner and awakens to the freezing cold and dark halls of Hull Zero One, a place that seems full...

Article by Ant on 28th November 2011
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Following the news, it feels like the world is going to hell in a handcart. Put aside any politics and there is enough going on environmentally to worry most people. The idea of the oceans rising, smog filling the skies and animals dying out whilst the infrastructure of...

Article by Sam Tyler on 30th April 2021
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I'd probably be best beginning this review by mentioning that Humpty Dumpty in Oakland isn't actually science fiction. It's a realist work of dark comedy. For some reason whatever miss-guided fool wrote the wikipedia entry for this book called it "non-science-fiction". Surely...

Article by Ant on 17th August 2015
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Hunt for Valamon by  by DK Mok
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Hunt for Valamon is a fast paced epic fantasy tale that manages to portray a number of genre tropes in a fresh and exciting way. The strong authorial voice of the writing quickly draws the reader in, the almost conversational tone of delivery actually put me in mind of Terry Pratchett. The...

Article by Aaron Miles on 7th May 2015
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Hyperion by  by Dan Simmons
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Hyperion is a science fiction novel by the author Dan Simmons. This is the first book that I've read by Dan Simmons, but definitely not the last - actually I've already started on the sequel. Hyperion is the tale of a bunch of pilgrims, on their way to the Time Tombs on remote planet...

Article by TC on 25th February 1999
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