I'm the author of the sf thriller Horizon. I'm also publisher at coeur de lion publishing and a past editor of Aurealis - Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine from 2001 to 2004. I hosted 30 episodes of the Terra Incognita Speculative Fiction Podcast, and edited and published Dimension6 the free Australian speculative fiction electronic magazine from 2014 to 2020.
This link opens in a pop-up window
After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn't understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers …
An ex-corporate enforcer, Hakan Veil, is forced to bodyguard Madison Madekwe, part of a colonial audit team investigating a disappeared …
It has a dark past—one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen …
"How do you stage a mutiny when you're only awake one day in a million? …
Part riff/ update on Anderson's Tau Zero, part its own glorious thing and all of it enjoyable.
Part riff/ update on Anderson's Tau Zero, part its own glorious thing and all of it enjoyable.
This is the way the world ends. Again.
Three terrible things happen in a …
Yes, it is that good.
Keeping It Real is a science fiction novel by British writer by Justina Robson, the …
Not really my cup of tea.
Tiamat's Wrath is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey, the pen name …
James SA Corey postponed the release of Tiamat's Wrath so they could concentrate on getting it right. It was worth the wait. Persepolis Rising (book 7) was a difficult book, bringing in a significant time jump for the lead characters and ending on a huge downer with the crew of the Rocinante fragmented: some captured, some on the run. One of the strengths of Tiamat's Wrath is how these characters - isolated and in difficult circumstances - pull themselves up to a position where they can strike back. This is one of the strongest books in the series with brilliant plot and character reveals throughout.
James SA Corey postponed the release of Tiamat's Wrath so they could concentrate on getting it right. It was worth the wait. Persepolis Rising (book 7) was a difficult book, bringing in a significant time jump for the lead characters and ending on a huge downer with the crew of the Rocinante fragmented: some captured, some on the run. One of the strengths of Tiamat's Wrath is how these characters - isolated and in difficult circumstances - pull themselves up to a position where they can strike back. This is one of the strongest books in the series with brilliant plot and character reveals throughout.
Well-written on a line by line level, but the 'one-step-forward-two-steps-back' plotting and homogenized multiple first-person points of view protagonists (who have little in the way of agency) ultimately make it unsatisfying.
Well-written on a line by line level, but the 'one-step-forward-two-steps-back' plotting and homogenized multiple first-person points of view protagonists (who have little in the way of agency) ultimately make it unsatisfying.
Welcome back to the brash, brutal new world of the twenty-fifth century: where global politics isn't just for planet Earth …
The first Book of the Change, The Silent Invasion, channelled classic YA speculative fiction like the Tripods and Tomorrow series and ended with one hell of a cliffhanger. See my earlier review on Goodreads.
The Buried Ark picks up the action immediately after the end of Book 1. Callie is in the Zone and penetrates deeper into the nightmarish landscape with her less than trustworthy companion. The people that exist there are terribly altered. Author James Bradley is clearly riffing on The Invasion of The Bodysnatchers but manages to turn it into something darker, which is no mean feat.
Of course the deeper horror of the Books of the Change is that the Zone is a corollary for the climate change we see accelerating around us, and which is turning our ecosystem into something just as inhospitable. It's a truth the young readers of these books will have to confront …
The first Book of the Change, The Silent Invasion, channelled classic YA speculative fiction like the Tripods and Tomorrow series and ended with one hell of a cliffhanger. See my earlier review on Goodreads.
The Buried Ark picks up the action immediately after the end of Book 1. Callie is in the Zone and penetrates deeper into the nightmarish landscape with her less than trustworthy companion. The people that exist there are terribly altered. Author James Bradley is clearly riffing on The Invasion of The Bodysnatchers but manages to turn it into something darker, which is no mean feat.
Of course the deeper horror of the Books of the Change is that the Zone is a corollary for the climate change we see accelerating around us, and which is turning our ecosystem into something just as inhospitable. It's a truth the young readers of these books will have to confront in the too-near future. Speculative fiction often deals with what is happening in the real world today, and Callie is the perfect avatar for the upcoming generation who - we hope - will be able to solve the problems left them by so-called adults.
Within this uncomfortable framework, the action in The Buried Ark is relentless as Callie finds unwelcome truths about the Zone's denizens and herself before becoming embroiled in a plan to halt the Change with deadly consequences for everyone on the planet.
The ending of Book 2 is one of the most gutsy pieces of writing I've seen in a long time, doubling down on Book 1's cliffhanger and then some. Where Book 3 will take us, I have no idea, but I'm buckled in and ready for the ride.
"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be …
