Astounding is a history of the golden age of science fiction, specifically focussed on John W. Campbell Jr., L. Ron Hubbard, Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. And it is quite frankly, bloody brilliant. Continue reading
Category Archives: Science Fiction
Book review: Rosewater
The idea and the world the author created are great. The novel takes place in a city called Rosewater in Nigeria. The events span between about 2040 to 2066. Basically, the life of the main character Kaaro. Rosewater comes into being because an alien entity emerges from the ground. Continue reading
Book review: Gideon the Ninth
It’s kind of like a murder mystery in a creepy old house, but instead of normal people it’s necromancers and sword fighters. And the house is staffed entirely by skeletons and isn’t so much haunted as infested with arcane constructs and stuff like that. Continue reading
Book review: Velocity Weapon
So, the plot is that it’s 1000 years in the future, humanity has discovered how to make gates to far flung stars. There’s an inter-system beef between the planet that controls the gate and one that has to pay the tariff of using the gate. There’s a battle and a cold war. In the middle of it, is the rumour of a weapon that can destroy a planet. ALL FINE. Continue reading
Book review: To be taught, if fortunate
The novella follows four astronauts who travel to distant planets. They manage to adapt to the potential new environment while in transit in a ‘torpor’. Sometimes they just have more protection against UV, sometimes more muscle mass, sometimes, they glitter. Continue reading
Book review: A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe
The main story is a forced together crew, through various circumstances, to hunt for a legendary ship, the Harrow. They’re being chased by a super powerful mage, for some mysterious reason, but connected to the legendary ship. As the story progresses, things become clearly and far more dangerous. Continue reading
Book review: The Calculating Stars
The Calculating Stars is an alternative history, where a meteor destroys Washington DC. But even more devastating, it looks to be an extinction event, leaving humanity not a huge amount of time to try and save themselves. Continue reading
Book Review: Agent to the Stars
The story is pretty straight forward: a rather blob like alien race had decided the best way to introduce themselves to humanity was through a film agent. Continue reading
Book review: The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf
It’s at some distant point in the future, where ‘The Reckoning’ happened (which vaguely sounds like some catastrophic climate change and something else. It was a bit like Trail of Lightening in that it used (presumably) mythology from the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Continue reading
Book review: Exhalation
I remember first reading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang and being utterly amazed and blown away by it. I must have told lots of people about it and leant it out….and bought it again because I forgot who now had it Continue reading
