There’s a long-standing British radio show that invites celebrities to pick the eight musical tracks, single book and one luxury item they’d want with them if they were stranded on a desert island. For Wyrd and Wonder, I gave this concept a fantasy bookish spin – for SciFiMonth, damn right we’re taking it into space…
Humanity spread out to the stars, abandoning our dying home world in waves. But Earth endured. Now it attracts scholars of ancient history and dilettantes seeking the violent delights only found on toxic backwaters. But the pit fights of the House hold danger for everyone in and out of the ring….
With Sinopticon, critically acclaimed writer and essayist Xueting Christine Ni has curated a unique exploration of China’s speculative fiction from the late 20th Century onwards. In advance of publication next week, she was kind enough to stop by for a chat about translation, curation and the Chinese science fiction scene.
The Dirty Dozen were the best, but half of them are dead and the other half hate each other. 40 years after disaster sent them their separate ways, an existential threat and a glimmer of redemption could get the survivors back together – unless their ancient grudges destroy them first.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish, and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s all about books, lists and sharing the love we have of both with our bookish friends. This week, I’m sailing slightly off-topic – debatably – because I want to talk about SFnal novellas for SciFiMonth.
November is here, which means the good ship SciFiMonth is blasting off with a crew full of SFnal-loving geeks to spend 30 days celebrating the joys and horrors of but what if? We’ll be reading, watching, listening, playing and above all chattering our way through all forms of science fiction all month long.
October has been a delightful month of downtime, kicked off with a long weekend catching up with my Mum in the Peak District and continued with two weeks exploring Ireland. It has been deliberately low-key, which extended to making reading and reviewing aspirational (if not quite making not doing either entirely guilt-free). My conclusion? I’d like some more time off please…
What? Oh! No, not – not you. You’re lovely. But one of my (admittedly intermittent) Spooktastic traditions is to divert from the strictly fictional into the fantastic realms of myth, (urban) legend and superstition. In past years I’ve talked about weird phenomena and haunts; this year I want to talk about curses.
I had very little idea what November has in store for us, but hang on to your hats, folks – I’ve been digging and next month is chock full of interesting SFF releases. If there’s always room for one more, these are the ones I’m considering…
Britain is in the grip of a global pandemic, but an older – and equally dire – threat is awakening up on the Wiltshire chalk. With only uncertain allies and limited resources at his disposal, Dan must unravel secrets from a time even the dryads can’t remember…
When Jess returns to Malaysia with her parents, she thinks she needs to figure out a job and how to finally tell them she’s in love with another girl. Instead, she’s hearing a voice in her head that wants her to confront a Forbes list business tycoon. Life is about to get even more complicated…
Welcome back to Spooktastic Reads, the autumnal mini-event that celebrates the darker side of fantasy. Over the next 13 days, I will be enthusing about haunts, folklore, urban legends and horror (and any other spooktastic fantasy I fancy) along with co-hosts Lisa and Jorie and our brave party of adventurers. I’m kicking off with a seasonal book tag…
Back in May, I took the Wyrd and Wonder challenge prompts and reworked them as a book bingo for anyone fancying a reading challenge. Of course I couldn’t resist doing the same for SciFiMonth! If you’re looking for a way to structure your TBR or just love filling boxes and entering a giveaway, look no further…
A year after the sack of Sleighthulme, Joron is riddled with disease and dismay. As the Black Pirate, he is dreaded throughout the Hundred Isles, but he is no closer to finding Meas. How far will he go for his shipwife – and will she forgive what he has done in her name?
Locked in the back room of a research institute where little work is ever done, Cabinet 13 holds secret files documenting cases of spontaneous evolution. When a bored office assistant picks the lock, his understanding of the world changes – but how will forbidden knowledge transform him?
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