First published 2018. Titan, paperback, 2018, pp 411, c.120,000 words. An entertaining space opera: big guns, faster-than-light travel and communications, weird aliens, disillusioned misfits. All the usual elements of the genre are here, so put your brain in neutral and enjoy the ride. A prologue gives the set-up: a war that is ended by a […]
Embers of War — Gareth L Powell Read More »
First published 1986. Voyager, paperback, 1998, pp 238, c.75,000 words. According to a biography of Clarke, one of his jobs was a futurist, and it is in this that he really excels. He clearly had a keen interest in physics and followed and understood the latest developments in that field. In this book, for example,
Songs of Distant Earth, The — Arthur C Clarke Read More »
First published 1968. Harcourt, paperback, 1990, translated by Louis Iribarne, 1979, pp 206, c,75,000 words. What a good writer Lem was. Here, there are some beautiful descriptive passages, original stories and an engaging hero who is neither a superman nor an idiot. The style is light hearted, but Lem explores some serious themes of space
Tales of Pirx the Pilot — Stanislaw Lem Read More »
First published 2019. Baen, paperback, 2019, pp 312, c.110,000 words. This book arose out of a symposium held by the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop in 2016. It is a collection of science fiction stories and essays on aspects of interstellar travel relating to how humans might adapt to allow them to flourish more easily in
Stellaris – People of the Stars — Les Johnson and Robert E Hampson (editors) Read More »
First published 1937. Millennium, paperback, 1999, pp 272, c.105,000 words (main text). In his foreword, Brian W. Aldiss says that Stapledon stated that ‘this [book] is not a novel at all’, and one can see why. The protagonist is not described and there is only one other named individual. The arc of the story is
Starmaker — Olaf Stapledon Read More »
First published 2002. Picador paperback, 2020, pp 338, c.95,000 words. This is a collection of eight fantasy short stories. It includes Chiang’s first published story Tower of Babylon, Story of Your Life, which was adapted into the very successful film Arrival, starring Amy Adams, and Liking What You See: A Documentary for which Chiang tuned
Stories of Your Life and Others — Ted Chiang Read More »
First published 2020. Gollancz paperback, 2021, pp 373, c.110,000 words. Set in the near future, the world has taken a dystopian turn where the very wealthy are in constant fear of kidnap for ransom, and almost everyone else is left scrabbling around to get by using whatever means. A young man seeks to escape from
Gallowglass — S. J. Morden Read More »
First published 2019. Gollancz paperback, 2019, pp 372, c.120,000 words. This is the sequel to One Way, and while it could easily be read as a standalone story, much context would be missed without reading them in order. While One Way was a slow burner, this starts at a cracking pace and maintains it right
No Way — S. J. Morden Read More »
First published 2000. Orbit paperback, 2007, pp 403, c.130,000 words. This is a fantasy novel set in Banks’ ‘Culture’, a far-future where humans have spread out across a portion of the galaxy and live lives free of the need to work for a living. They inhabit artificial structures called Orbitals which provide all the inhabitants’
Look to Windward — Iain M Banks Read More »
First published 1966. Faber paperback, 1975, pp 252, c.85,000 words. The sixth volume of science fiction stories edited by Crispin contains work by some of the masters of the genre: names like Ray Bradbury, J. G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss, James Blish, Fredrick Pohl. There are fourteen stories here, each by a different author, and there
Best SF Six — Edmund Crispin Read More »