News

The Other Side of the Surface by J.A. Lawrence

(ReAnimus Press, 2021)

Reviewed by Phil Nicholls

The Other Side of the Surface is a 624-page collection of 35 stories; however this includes a 70-page bonus story by James Blish and 92 pages advertising the back-catalogue of ReAnimus. This leaves Lawrence with 462 pages, which is still a decent length, but not the full 624 as it might appear. Lawrence introduces her stories as “voyages of the starship of my mind”. These voyages reveal many insights into her craft as a writer.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

The Question Mark by Muriel Jaeger

(The British Library, 2019)

Reviewed by Andy Sawyer

Published in 1926 as an “answer” to the utopias of Wells and Bellamy, Muriel Jaeger’s The Question Mark predates Brave New World in posing the question at the heart of Aldous Huxley’s novel: if it is indeed true that utopias are more “realizable” than was previously thought, how do we prevent their realization? The paradox here, of course, is that (as Wells knew perfectly well, but left it to others to grapple with) utopias are dynamic states, throwing up their own issues which may result in social fossilisation or the deliberate thwarting of the utopian impulse.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

Stolen Earth by J.T. Nicholas

(Titan Books, 2021)

Reviewed by Stuart Carter

Welcome, puny humans, to the smoking ruin of your future: where computers have risen up, overthrown their foolish human masters and laid waste to the Earth. The remnants of humanity are now crammed into thousands of tight metal boxes adrift across the solar system, leaving Earth at the mercy of six artificial super-intelligences and unreachable behind the Interdiction Zone, a fearsome ring of weaponry that keeps those nasty computers locked away, where they can’t do any harm.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction Volume One Ed. O.D. Ekpeki

(Jembifola, 2021)

Reviewed by Fiona Moore

African science fiction, fantasy and related genres are currently experiencing a long-overdue rise in visibility to global audiences. This is reflected in the publication of the first Year’s Best collection from the continent and its diaspora. The contents of this volume are of sufficiently high quality and breadth to encourage one to hope that this will be the first of many.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds

(Gollancz, 2021)

Reviewed by Ben Jeapes

Eighteen years since the last novel set directly in the Revelation Space storyline. Memories blur; you have vague ideas of what went before but that's all. This is fine because the narrator has deliberately buried his own memories and has to do a lot of recovering.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

Twenty-Five to Life by R.W.W. Greene

(Angry Robot, 2021)

Reviewed by Phil Nicholls

The background to Twenty-Five to Life is standard cyberpunk fare: the environment is trashed, sea levels have risen and the weather fluctuates wildly. The US Government has traded the bulk of the Midwest with China to cancel a balance of trade deficit, Texas declared independence from the Union and large parts of the South are dedicated refugee camps.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

Love. An Archaeology by Fabio Fernandes

(Luna Press, 2021)

Reviewed by Duncan Lawie

There are several absolute stand out stories in Love. An Archaeology and not a single dud. This is simply a wonderful collection. The shortest stories, at a couple of pages, still have room to be playful, to deliver a central image and to leave the feeling that they are just the tip of the iceberg. At a greater length, Fernandes has a tendency to break up his narrative into smaller chunks, sometimes creating tension through the ordering of elements or simply leaving gaps for the reader to fill. Several stories begin by foreshadowing the death of the protagonist, whilst one has a rather dark murderer. Half of the longer stories are told in the first person, creating even more room for an unreliable narrator.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

The Dreaming City (60^th Anniversary Edition) by Michael Moorcock

(Jayde Design, 2021)

Reviewed by Andy Sawyer

In the June 1961 edition of Science Fantasy magazine a story appeared which would change the shape of modern fantasy. On the suggestion of the magazine’s editor John “Ted” Carnell, Moorcock, who had already submitted a few sf stories to him, wrote a fantasy tale “as far from Conan or hobbit holes as I could make it.” This was the first appearance of the doomed albino Elric and his hell-blade “Stormbringer”.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

Artifact Space by Miles Cameron

(Gollancz, 2021)

Reviewed by Phil Nicholls

This is a hefty book, published as a 568-page trade paperback. Cameron has written a mighty story to match this hardback-sized tome.

Orphan Marca Nbaro achieves her dream of enlisting as a midshipper on the greatship Athens through the use of forged papers. Once aboard the vast Athens, she experiences all the joys and perils of being a junior officer in the Directorate of Human Corporations fleet. While learning her duties it becomes clear that someone is destroying the DHC greatships. Nbaro must fight to escape the legacy of her past and the current dangers to the Athens.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.

• Best Novel: Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shards of Earth
• Best Short Fiction: Aliette de Bodard, Fireheart Tiger
• Best Fiction for Younger Readers: Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow
• Best Non Fiction: Francesca T. Barbini (ed), Worlds Apart: Worldbuilding in Fantasy and Science Fiction
• Best Artwork: Iain Clarke, Glasgow Green Woman

Congratulations to all the winners.