Terence Eden. He has a beard and is smiling.

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Book Review: To Be Taught, if Fortunate by Becky Chambers

· 300 words


A strange star and moon hang over an alien planet.

At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different…

Book Review: Amatka by Karin Tidbeck

· 1 comment · 300 words


Book cover - the title Amatka repeats over and over and over again.

Vanja, an information assistant, is sent from her home city of Essre to the austere, wintry colony of Amatka with an assignment to collect intelligence for the government. Immediately she feels that something strange is going on: people act oddly in Amatka, and citizens are monitored for signs of subversion. Intending to stay just a short while, Vanja falls in love with her housemate, Nina,…

Book Review: How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

· 450 words · Viewed ~208 times


Book cover featuring three dots surrounded by circles.

For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, Sequoia Nagamatsu's debut is a wildly imaginative, genre-bending work spanning generations across the globe as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a devastating plague. Dr. Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter’s research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting p…

Book Review: Alien 3 - The Unproduced Screenplay

· 500 words · Viewed ~243 times


A grim alien menace.

The first-draft Alien screenplay by William Gibson, the founder of cyberpunk, turned into a novel by Pat Cadigan, the Hugo Award-Winning “Queen of Cyberpunk.” William Gibson’s never-before-adapted screenplay for the direct sequel to Aliens, revealing the fates of Ripley, Newt, the synthetic Bishop, and Corporal Hicks. When the Colonial Marines vessel Sulaco docks with space station and milit…

Book Review: Sinopticon

· 1 comment · 500 words


Spaceships flying over a Chinese city.

A stunning collection of the best in Chinese Science Fiction, from Award-Winning legends to up-and-coming talent, all translated here into English for the first time. This celebration of Chinese Science Fiction — thirteen stories, all translated for the first time into English — represents a unique exploration of the nation’s speculative fiction from the late 20th Century onwards, curated and t…

Book Review: Sundiver - David Brin

· 2 comments · 400 words


A multicoloured doughnut spaceship approaches the sun.

In all the universe, no species has ever reached for the stars without the guidance of a patron — except perhaps mankind. Did some mysterious race begin the uplift of humanity aeons ago? And if so, why did they abandon us? Under the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for the most momentous voyage in our history, a journey into the boiling inferno of the sun... to seek our destiny i…

Book Review: Assassin's Orbit by John Appel

· 350 words


Book cover.

Murder makes unlikely allies. On the eve of the planet Ileri's historic vote to join the Commonwealth, the assassination of a government minister threatens to shatter everything. Private investigator Noo Okereke and spy Meiko Ogawa join forces with police chief Toiwa to investigate - and discover clues that point disturbingly toward a threat humanity thought they had escaped. A threat that…

Movie Review: TENET

· 1 comment · 350 words · Viewed ~201 times


Men with guns on a movie poster.

What if Red Dwarf were given a big budget and re-made "Backwards"? I'm only teasing a little bit! It is impossible to do a good Time Travel story. The closest I've experienced is "This Is How You Lose the Time War" which, similar to TENET, has sort-of-spies chasing each other through time. Most sci-fi movies are an excuse to advertise the prowess of the special effects team - and TENET is no…

Book Review: The Computer’s Voice - From Star Trek to Siri by Liz W. Faber

· 1 comment · 600 words


A circuit board embossed with a vocal wave form.

A deconstruction of gender through the voices of Siri, HAL 9000, and other computers that talk Considering Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Her, and more, Liz W. Faber explores contentious questions around gender: its fundamental constructedness, the rigidity of the gender binary, and culturally situated attitudes on male and female embodiment. Going beyond current scholarship on robots and…

Book Review: The 22 Murders Of Madison May - Max Barry

· 450 words


Yellow book cover.

Felicity Staples hates reporting on murders. As a journalist for a mid-size New York City paper, she knows she must take on the assignment to research Madison May's shocking murder, but the crime seems random and the suspect is in the wind. That is, until Felicity spots the killer on the subway, right before he vanishes. Soon, Felicity senses her entire universe has shifted. No one remembers…

Book Review: Agency - William Gibson

· 1 comment · 250 words


A black woman - as seen through blurred glass.

Verity Jane, gifted app-whisperer, has been out of work since her exit from a brief but problematic relationship with a Silicon Valley billionaire. Then she signs the wordy NDA of a dodgy San Francisco start-up, becoming the beta tester for their latest product: a digital assistant, accessed through a pair of ordinary-looking glasses. “Eunice,” the disarmingly human AI in the glasses, soon man…

Book Review: Black Sci-Fi Short Stories

· 2 comments · 600 words


Book cover.

This is a delightful collection of short stories. It starts with a scholarly introduction to the history of Black Sci-Fi. And, for once, Black isn't just limited to mean "African American". We get a panoply of authors - both modern and historic. Some of the historic stories - especially W. E. B. Du Bois' The Comet - are wonderful. A hundred year old sci-fi that is still as relevant today as it…