Let’s kick off a new week with some news: I’m delighted to be taking part in the cover reveal for a new political tech thriller from sword-swinging physicist and financier Stewart Hotston…
spec fic
An elite group of the rich and unpleasant have been invited to remote Blackheath House for a party. But their hostess has an ulterior motive – and so do some of the guests. Some will die. Some will lie. And one will re-live the day until he figures out what’s going on…
It’s that time: announcing the 2019 nominees for the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards!
Cue: drum roll
Annnd: CHAOS
At the end of 2017, C of The Middle Shelf proposed a new set of informal awards: nominated, debated and awarded by a group of bookworms. We embraced chaos as our guiding principle, and we had so much fun we’re back for more. Welcome to the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards 2019.
Davy Higgins is the most wanted boy in Oxfordshire. The women of Wycombe don’t know why their leader needs him, but they’ll stop at nothing to bring him in. Father John’s men want to thwart Wycombe on principle. And Guz don’t want anyone else gaining an advantage. If only Davy knew what made him special…
This year saw lots of travelling and some intense deadlines that got in the way of me writing reviews in a timely fashion for everything I read. Still, it’s never too late for a quick look back at the ones that got away!
When the Sisters hit the Earth, they ended modern civilisation in minutes. Tidal waves wiped out coastal cities. The Long Autumn culled millions as oceans rose, crops failed and medicines ran out. 100 years later, opposing forces are trying to assert control over Britain’s scattered survivors. Welcome to the Aftermath.
It all started – as so many things do – with a proposal on Twitter: what would happen if a group of bookworms had a go at calling the best genre reads of 2017? Well, firstly an explosion of reading lists as our opinions cross-pollinated. Then an outbreak of glee. Finally, much Serious Debate. And now, at last, we can reveal our winners…
The American government imprisoned Aphra’s people and let them die in the desert, far from the sea. Now they need her help, and have an irresistible offer to make. But can outcasts ever truly win the trust of a government that persecuted them? And can they trust that government in return?
We’re entering the final phase of the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards. After the initial phase of nomination and debate, we ended up with 5 categories and 33 nominees. Now we’re down to the wire after six months of reading, discussing and voting: it’s finalist time. So who has made our final cut?
Seth has always lived for the future, but his musical partner Carter has his heart set on the past. When Carter pushes Seth to create a retro track that sounds straight out of the 20s, they unleash a memory of musicians past. The blues don’t forget, and the devil still lingers at the crossroads…
Time for another peek at the progress of the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards panel! Is it April already? Cue not so much chaos as panic (at least for this reader), as that means we’re halfway through the process – at least in terms of time, if not in progress… So how are we getting on?
Rex just wants to be a Good Dog. But Rex is no ordinary dog. Rex is a Bioform, engineered to fit a specific set of requirements: obedience, loyalty, leading his pack, killing his Master’s enemies. But if Rex’s Master is not a Good Man, how can Rex be a Good Dog?
Who needs enemies with friends like Rupert Wong’s? Following his unfortunate involvement in dragon murder and celestial war, Rupert’s is being seconded to London ‘for his own safety’. But his new Greek employers are at war too – and nobody is betting on Rupert surviving it.
One day, it was a remote stretch of American coastline, wild and beautiful. The next, it began to change. Now Area X is threatening more densely inhabited areas, and the secretive government organisation known as the Southern Reach wish to send in a twelfth expedition to try and understand it. But only one person from the first eleven expeditions ever returned…
