-
Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell
Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell, is a cleverly plotted and thoroughly immersive alternative future in which you believe a monkey can fly a spitfire. With its well-drawn characters, page-turning intrigue, and clever plot twists—never mind, several neat surprises I never saw coming—it will have you chugging back the strong coffee way into the wee…
-
Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst
The world building in Race the Sands treads familiar ground and gives us an Egyptian style setting and culture, living along a great river—the Aur—surrounded by desert. A fabulous dressed fantasy city, the Heart of Becar, and the usual slew of towns and villages with people focused with making a living off the land. Where…
-
Red Noise by John P. Murphy
Oh dear, where do I start? Let’s get this one out the way first, billed as Kill Bill meets High Plains Drifter, RED NOISE is neither. It lacks the finesse, the heart, the emotion, and most importantly, the brutal action that peppered both Kill Bill and High Plains Drifter or any damn spaghetti western. RED…
-
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
This is a wonderfully written story about four young people, ranging in ages and backgrounds, set during World War Two, detailing all the horrors and ravages of war, and its effects on those struggling to survive. Vivid and sometimes, horrific moments punctate the spare prose of each character’s short chapters. The four main characters: Florian…
-
Q&A with author, Steph Broadribb
The first question has to be, how did a girl from Birmingham (in the UK) end up training as a bounty hunter, in the US? It was all in the name of research! Once I knew that Lori Anderson would be a bounty hunter I knew I needed to find out as much as I…
-
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
Nahri is a young woman living by her wits on the streets of Cairo, running lucrative cons and healing rituals and staying one step ahead of being caught. She knows nothing about who she is or where she came from, but knows she has a gift for languages, and can heal herself from just about…
-
The 70s Revisited
Today I want to talk about some of my favourite SciFi books from years gone by. In fact, two series by an author you just might never have heard of or ever read. Brian M. Stableford — The British-born Stableford has written well over 50+ novels, but I want to highlight two of his earlier…
-
Did I?
Ah, that is the question, isn’t it. Did I or did I not pre-order the new Commodore Callback flip phone. A wonderful retro Motorola style phone harking back to our innocent days before Apple burst our bubble and got us all hooked on so-called ‘smart’ phones, doom scrolling into the wee small hours of the…
-
Secrets of State by Matthew Palmer
This is a solid outing from Matthew Palmer, an author that knows his stuff. SECRETS OF STATE, is a thriller with all the right ingredients, that hit all the right notes. The characters are nothing new, but familiar territory is okay as long as there is enough elsewhere to make up for it. And while…
dandelion
a prolific weed