Cwen by Alice Albinia
(Serpent’s Tail, 2021)
Reviewed by Nick Hubble
‘Why is “gynotopia” not listed as a word in either the OED or Merriam-Webster? Answer: Because men have erased such places from our memories.’ This putative pub quiz question, found on the back of a grocery bill along with a list of ideas such as giving every girl five acres at birth and a process of mandatory re-education for men aged seven to seventy-seven, is read out in court as part of the ‘Inquiry into Unfair Female Advantage in the Islands’ which is narrated in Cwen. The ‘Islands’ are an unnamed archipelago off the east coast of Scotland, whose culture has been transformed by a subtle programme of intervention in support of women led by former cabinet minister’s wife, Eva Harcourt-Vane. Her recent disappearance at sea during a storm has brought her social experiment to the attention of the UK media, leading to a frenzy of predictably sensationalist headlines, such as ‘FEMALE TAKEOVER OF ISLAND’S LEADERSHIP’ and ‘FEMALE EDUCATORS CAVORT TOGETHER NAKED’. The loose inquest format of the novel, in which the women Eva has worked with testify as to their collective motivations and achievements, invites readers to ponder whether it is indeed time both for a thoroughgoing overhaul of the patriarchy and to put gynotopia in the dictionary or, indeed, on the map.
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Review from BSFA Review 16 - Download your copy here.
The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
(Joe Fletcher Books, 2021)
Reviewed by Anne F. Wilson
The Beautiful Ones are the crème de la crème of Loisail society. Aristocrats from old money, they despise the merely rich. They are however prepared to be amused by entertainers such as Hector Auvray, a telekinetic stage magician. Hector meets Nina at a ball, and is unimpressed by her “square jaw, black hair and thin lips”. But in any case, Hector is madly in love with Valerie Beaulieu, Nina’s chaperone and sponsor into society. Valerie is a Beautiful One, and Nina will join her if she marries well. Ten years ago, Valerie threw Hector over to marry Nina’s wealthy cousin Gaétan, and Hector crossed the ocean to make his fortune in the continent of Iblevad. But now Hector is back, and he is still obsessed with Valerie.
The Cabinet by Un-Su Kim
(Angry Robot, 2021)
Reviewed by Kate Onyett
The book begins with a tall tale about a man alone and the lengths he took to populate his isolated days. It ends with a man alone and wondering if staying safe and isolated is worth it. The book started with a question, posed to the creative loner: what happened to make you this way?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Twenty-Five to Life by R.W.W. Greene
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.
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.
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