Sometimes a spaceship is just a spaceship The British Science Fiction Association holds regular events in London, usually on the last Wednesday of the month, at the Artillery Arms near Old Street. These events are free, and open to members and non-members alike. Keep an eye on the BSFA website for news of future events. […]
Joe is a private investigator tasked with finding Mike Longshott, author of the novel ‘Osama Bin Laden: Vigilante’ in this eerie book that perfectly nails the sense of dazed disconnect following the terrorist attacks in New York on 11 September 2001. As in ‘The Man in the High Castle’ ‘Osama’ (the book I’m reviewing, not […]
The first monthly Sci-Fi Session was held at Waterstone’s book shop in Gower Street, London on Monday 26 September 2017. Host Glyn Morgan (R) was joined by two science fiction authors whose work appears to be quite different: Adam Roberts (L) and Jeff Noon (centre). Adam is a lecturer in nineteenth century fiction at Royal […]
SF has always explored the boundary between dream and reality. In 2016, however, this liminal realm became political real estate, with the lamentable outcomes we are still coming to terms with. Some of the stories in this exemplary collection tackle these outcomes head on; with tales of a killer meteor named after the awful US […]
There are many factors that make the short stories in the extraordinary collection so compelling. One is that you aren’t quite sure what genre you’re reading, which makes the outcomes unpredictable. That you’re still not sure by the end is no failing of the author; rather it’s that he mixes a uniquely beguiling cocktail […]
‘The Beauty’ is a deceptively simple novella about the last men eking out a survivalist existence following the death from plague of their – and by implication all – women. The book’s sparse, elegant prose details the frictions and relationships of this truncated, hopeless little patriarchy as they stave off hopelessness with routine and the […]
Five minutes in and I’ve already copped off with a Dalek. Doing space – badly: I remember I’m scared of the TARDIS and think about phoning Mummy. Fearing mockery I do nothing. Stasis. With Nigel Farage The Millennium Falcon’s first pilot was this lady: Caesar makes a good point […]
This discussion between science fiction authors Drew Wagar and Stuart Aken at FantastiCon 2017 became a mini-masterclass in speculative writing, while also demonstrating there is no ‘right’ way to create genre narratives. The two authors appear to have much in common. They both write politically-informed science fiction, although Stuart also writes in other genres and […]
The first of Stuart Aken’s ‘Generation Mars’ books takes three major contemporary social drivers – capitalism, religious fundamentalism and liberalism – and transplants them to Mars following economic and environmental collapse on Earth. The story takes the innovative form of a study based on recordings made by representatives of all three drivers with the most […]
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