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[[Category:New Reviews|Science Fiction]]==Science fiction==__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephen Mark NormanAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=Meklyan All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and the Fourth Piece of the ArtefactStephen Oram (Editors)|rating=35

|summary=Four billion years after our Sun has become a red giant and died, taking all life with it, there are still humans in the universe. How so? By man-made panspermia. When Earth's civilisation realised it couldn't master long distance space travel in sufficient time to avoid annihilation, it sent out DNA probes filled with bacteria far out into space, to planets in Opening up new ways of thinking about the temperate zones shape of solar systems; planets that could potentially sustain lifethings to come. And on eight planets, sustain life they did. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956202713</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Simon Morden|title=Equations of Life|rating=3|genre=Science Fiction|summary=ItI's a book ve heard it said that 'technology' is certainly not short what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of actiontechnology in my lifetime. We are not told I've kept up reasonably well with what 's advantageous to me but I'm left with the Armageddon event was, although aspects feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it are hinted atis - frankly - quite frightening. Perhaps that will become explained later in Of course, I could research the series. What we do know is that it has wiped out Japan, possibilities and one of the first victims of probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the event latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in London appears to have been the Congestion Charge as it is now a heaving metropolis with gridlock traffic (although this and the masses of people seem to mysteriously evaporate as the story unfolds)way I could understand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184149948X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Paolo BacigalupiSylvie Cathrall|title=The Windup GirlA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=3.5

|summary=Although only recently released in paperback in the UK, Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl has been gaining considerable critical acclaim across 'the pond'. Set in There are few greater joys than a future version of Thailand, it's an interesting take on the environmental meltdown scenario that has garnered it book which lives up to a couple of science fiction awards (the Hugo and Nebula awards) and was named as the ninth best fiction book of 2009 by Time magazinecompelling premise. No less than three And this is one of the review extracts used by the publishers in this edition liken Bacigalupi to William Gibsonthem. High praise indeed. Does it rise to these expectations?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0356500535</amazonuk>0356522776

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=K S Turner1803816759|title=Chronicles of Fate and Choice: Tumultus|rating=3|genre=Fantasy|summary=This is the follow up to [[Before the Gods (Chronicles of Fate and Choice) by K S Turner|Before The Gods]], a debut novel lauded for bringing a breath of fresh air to the world of speculative fiction and one of Bookbag's [[Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2009|top picks of 2009]]. Tumultus is the second of the planned trilogy and I was looking forward to seeing how the author would really cut loose now that readers were already familiar with the Shaa-kutu and the story of their link to the origin of the human race.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956224210</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewUnravelling|author=Tricia Sullivan|title=LightbornWill Gibson

|summary=In an alternate but contemporary United States, everyone uses Lightborn technology, or shine, as itIt's nicknamed2038 and Joe is a bored cop policing the wealthy and peaceful New York City. Providing entertainment, education Joe longs for a bit of adventure and self-knowledge, people live in the ultimate plugged-in societyto get stuck into some really gritty crime detection. And But then something goes horribly wrong with the Fall comesAI system that now runs everything, making life easier for many, and riots start to spread. Rogue AIs in Finally, Joe gets to do some real policing. In the shine field around aftermath of the city of Los Sombres start sending out bad shine rioting global pop star Suki is kidnapped and Joe is assigned to bring her home. Joe isn't the adults all go loco only one trying to save Suki - becoming violent Dylan, a British superfan and murderoustech nerd, is also on the case. What went wrong? Did the system fail or broken down and reduced to performing repetitive tasks over and over.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841494070</amazonuk>was it hacked? And how is Suki's kidnapping connected?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Philip PalmerB0CP95J1CG|title=Version 43Of Ghosts & Broken Promises|author=Mark Lingane|rating=4.5

|summary=Version 43 Ronan's not entirely sure why he decides to go to the party but his interest is piqued by the way it arrived. And it seems like a Galactic Cop, a cyborg law enforcement officer sent from Earth good opportunity to tackle an unusual murder case in Lawless City, a sort get out of sci-fi Baltimore on the distant planet of Belladonna. He gets sidetracked from his original objective room and decides to rid away from the planet of its evil gang bosses while online activities he makes a living at. So he's makes his way there. A huge war ensues in which all , dodging the bosses (and thousands of others) are killed, but it soon becomes apparent buses that the true rulers make up most of the planet are traffic and watching the dead eyed 'children' he has seen dining in the most expensive restaurants, the sinister 'ancien régime' local energy storage indicator lights. Should be enough power. Hopefully.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841499218</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Margaret AtwoodK P O'Donnell|title=The Handmaid's TaleVital Link (A Spark in the Ashes)|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=In the near-future USA that they call Gilead, society has changed. For the worse, of course. The population is dying out, and people who are capable of breeding the next generation are given a cherished status of Handmaid - gifted to any male of enough esteem, called a Commander, who balances the household with his wife and what is practically a walking womb. Other women get drudge work, or run horrid finishing schools for the Handmaids, or are packed off to what are reported to be polluted hellholes abroad, for laborious work for life. Men are restricted too - Handmaids are off-limits to everybody but their Commander, and those households are patrolled carefully by other eunuch types. It's up to our nameless narrator and main character, however, to show us just how cherished the status of Handmaid feels3.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099511665</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Iain M Banks|title=Surface Detail|rating=5

|summary=It VL-15, a prototype robot, is perhaps appropriate for a book that centres around the battle for the afterlife desperate to begin this review with a confession: this was my first encounter with Iain M Banks' Culture series of science fiction novelsunderstand who she is. At firstUnfortunately, before she could find any answers, I worried that this put me at a significant disadvantage as for the first 100 or so pagesworld ended, I spend most consumed in an apocalyptic war between the nations of the time being completely confused about what was going onDrexel and Renada. HoweverOver half-a-century later, as the strands started civilisation is starting to rebuild. Dr Amelia Wong is determined to come continue her father's legacy, building a world where machines and humans can live togetherin harmony, it became apparent that this is partly Banks' style but internal frictions and indeed external enemies might bring it's one all crashing down again. Craig Anderson, leader of a group of salvagers called the Exhumers, has his entire life turned upside down when he uses in his nonunearths a prototype combat robot: none other than VL-science fiction books too15 herself. Keep goingEven after being buried for 65 years, it does come together.her determination hasn't diminished in the slightest, and no errant machine, no savage human tribe and not even Drexel's ravaged ecosystem will stop her on her quest for answers…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841498939</amazonuk>B0CKRYFRZM

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=William GibsonEmily Tesh|title=Zero HistorySome Desperate Glory

|summary=Our world is not as it seems. We share it with aliens, zombies, demonic spirits, with ancient god-like entities that are all keen to eat our bodies and devour our souls. It''While Earth's lucky, thenchildren live, that we have the British secret service to protect enemy shall fear us, more specifically a top secret branch of the secret service called The Laundry. This organisation is so secret that even the bosses at MI6 don't know of its existence. The point of the Laundry is to keep all the myriad of terrors endangering the Earth at bay by the careful use of science, technology and magic, magic being a little known branch of applied maths.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841497703</amazonuk>}}'

{{newreview|author=Ian McDonald|title=The Dervish House|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=The reader is plunged straight away into Following the destruction of the busyEarth, bustling centre amongst a rare number of survivors, Kyr has been raised on Gaea Station – the home of the last scraps of Istanbul. And climate change appears humanity – and trained relentlessly to avenge her people and the world that should have arrivedbeen hers. In 2022 thousands of Istanbul's citizens died in a heatwave and nowAll her life, only three years later it's 'Thirty-three degrees she has been conditioned to fall in Aprilline, at seven in the morning. Unthinkable.' You can almost hear the collective thrum of all those air-conditioning units trying to make life bearable for the local peoplefulfil her duty and ensure that humanity perseveres.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0575080531</amazonuk>0356521834

 {{newreview|author=Jeff Somers|title=The Terminal State|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=In this future, desolate, post-apocalyptic world, the last thing Avery Cates wants to do is choose a side. The police are androids, artificial cases for clones of people who die in the making, and the other source of power is not much better. But it's them that pressgang him into joining their army. What little freedom and power he had as a lone gunman is lost, as he's given nanotech augments to make him a super-soldier. Which is bad news - as is the fact the two most powerful and hated people in Cates's universe are the very people who buy him from the army to do one last job - and they can be very persuasive about him accepting it...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498750</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Terry Dehart|title=The Unit|rating=3.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=We all know about the nuclear family, well now meet the post-nuclear family in Terry De Hart's brutal vision of a post apocalyptic America. We know the score; terrorists attack key US cities with nuclear devices, US retaliates on the nations supporting the terrorist. There is only one possible outcome, mass casualties and the breakdown of civil society leading to the rise of barbarism in a devastated landscape in the grip of a nuclear winter. Within this madness a family survives not knowing how much of the country or the world has been destroyed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841499331</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ken MacLeodM R Carey|title=The Restoration GameInfinity Gate

|summary=Lucy Stone works for I'm annoyingly picky when it comes to science fiction. Not because it's a videogame company in Edinburgh. She enjoys the job - particularly being one genre I dislike – nothing of the boys - and sort. My standards are high precisely because it's given her a sense of belonging that shehard genre to get right – and when it'd craved but never had. And then her mother calls. A CIA spooks bad, Amanda wants Lucyit's firm to rewrite their upcoming game to feature often terrible. But the mythology premise of Infinity Gate had me hooked. A concept this intriguing felt like a small exhigh-Soviet republic. Krassnia is where Lucy stakes gamble: if it was borndone well, where she lived for her first seven years, and where she spent the scariest day of her lifeit'd be fantastic. Amanda wrote a seminal work on Krassnian mythology and Lucy uses So this to reshape the game, knowing is where I sum up that it's likely to be used as a tool in a hoped-for colour revolutionpremise. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841496472</amazonuk>0356518043

 {{newreview|author=Chris Wooding|title=Black Lung Captain: Tales of the Ketty Jay|rating=4.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Things on board the Ketty Jay have never been as low. Darian Frey and his crew are even having trouble thieving from defenceless orphanages. So when the next token job-they-can't-refuse comes along, they fall under it's spell. An explorer has returned with tales of untold riches, courtesy of the most mysterious artefacts and treasures of an unknown civilization. The fact that the remains are those of an aircraft crashed in the most Arctic of rainforests, inhabited by the most evil beast-men monsters, is neither here nor there. The problems start with what they find there, which is worse than anyone could have expected - or indeed years ago, with a mysterious connection between the remains and the more unusual crewmember...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575085177</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Chris BeckettMichael Grothaus|title=The Holy MachineBeautiful Shining People

|genre=Science Literary Fiction|summary=In the near future, only Illyria city stands for science, technology and progress in a world dominated by religious fundamentalism of every faith (and then some). The city was founded as a haven for those intellectuals not possessing any such religious convictions, who advocated reason and logic instead, and were persecuted for their 'blasphemies' in the early stages of the upheaval. George Simling, the introvert protagonist But fearing something and second generation Illyrian, falls in love with a beautiful woman called Lucyhaving it come to pass are two different things. Unfortunately however, Lucy is actually a syntec, a robot ASPU: Advanced Sensory Pleasure Unit, a prostitute. As George obsessively visits her, he realises that she is starting And I'm willing to develop a level bet most of consciousness and self-awareness outside of her programming. Lucy is due for a routine mind-wipe so George decides what we fear will never happen, or we can take steps to flee with her to the technophobic outlands in order to save this newly discovered consciousnesschange it.''

''Beautiful Shining People'' revolves around the question of identity and acceptance. Of what it means to be human. Of what is real and what is artificial, and whether the development of technology is exciting or frightening.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848874626</amazonuk>191458564X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Pittacus Lore1739593901|title=I am Number Four22 Ideas About The Future|rating=3.5|genreauthor=Teens|summary=Meet John Smith. By all appearances he is the usual fifteen year old American kid, except for the fact he Benjamin Greenaway and his 'father' shift location every few months. John is certainly not his real name, but has to face up to reality - school bullies, hot girls and in fact any friends being unattainable with such a peripatetic lifestyle. 'Dad' stays at home, scanning the internet and all news sources, in order to protect the pair - for they are among the remaining dozen or so inhabitants of Lorien, living in hidden exile on Earth, but hunted by their enemies from yet another alien race. Can the fact they are permanently pursued grant them any peace - especially when 'John' is about to undergo some rather prominent alien-style puberty?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141332476</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Michael Cobley|title=The Orphaned Worlds Stephen Oram (Humanity's FireEditors)|rating=3.5

|summary=The planet Darien, once a lost outpost where earth colonists co-existed with the native Uvovo, is now the focal point of an intergalactic struggle''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Hegemony forces are in occupation mode, Earth is standing back reined in by inter-planetary politics, whilst planet-side local alliances are fighting back guerrilla-style. This is the least Instead of the galaxy's concernsflying cars, however. It might even get air-brushed out as a little minor difficulty in the history-bookswe got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to-cometrack grandma. There is a much bigger problem to worry about.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841496332</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Mira Grant|title=Feed|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=In 2014 the common cold was curedI've got a couple of confessions to make. So was cancer. But in their wake something terrible came – the two viruses used I'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to cure the ailments combined book. There's got to form be a terrifying plague that turned humans and large animals into very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the living deadworld-building. Now what It's left of the human race lives every day with beings who fascinate me: the fear that technology and the virus they hold dormant in their bodies could go into amplification, causing them to turnworld scape are purely incidental. People stay indoors So, stop meeting in crowdswhat did I think of a book of twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, and conduct most of their lives onlineI loved it. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>184149898X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Robert EdricMark Lingane|title=SalvageGalaxy

|summary=Some time about Spark, who is an elite pilot with the Space Academy, barely makes it through a hundred years hence and the predictions have come to passbattle alive. The sea levels have risen; the Gulf Stream has shifted its pathHis co-pilot was not so fortunate. Climate change has hit Britain with Waking from a vengeance. Global Warming coma that lasted years, he remembers little and is the misnomer; of course the temperatures are, on balance, warmerin no physical shape to resume his duties. Snow But Earth is something most people only hear or read aboutunder threat and he must. The real changeReturned by his superiors to the space station, howeverhe finds himself amid a last ditch attempt to save humanity - and not just from the alien threats against it, is the wetbut also from its own sins against itself.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0385617623</amazonuk>B09X3NZ76W

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tom HoltTade Thompson|title=Blonde BombshellFar From the Light of Heaven

|summary=The blonde bombshell in question in Tom HoltMichelle 'Shell's latest book of that name Campion is Lucy Pavlov. If you are reading this review in 2017 fulfilling her lifelong dream of course you will know who Lucy Pavlov isgoing to space. She's As first officer aboard the beautifulsleeper ship Ragtime, talented, wealthy, CEO of PaySoft Industries - the revolutionary operating system that is running on every computer in bound for the world. Of courseof Bloodroot, if that is indeed she will essentially be a babysitter for the case, then weship've got a problems AI captain. A very big problem. Because what Lucy doesn't know is that she is literally a blonde bombshell - well she knows However, when shewakes up at the end of her trip to find dozens of her passengers butchered and the Ragtime's blondeAI almost non-responsive, just not she begins to realise that her body is a shell for a bombfirst mission won't be going as smoothly as she hoped it would. A very big Down on Bloodroot, disgraced investigator Rasheed Fin and a very smart bombhis android partner Salvo are sent up to discover exactly what went wrong on the Ragtime. Meanwhile, but nevertheless a bomb. And sheformer astronaut and friend of Shell's been sent father Lawrence Biz takes a shuttle to Bloodroot, half-alien daughter in tow, to destroy see why the Ragtime has gone quiet, leaving behind the planetpoliticking and bureaucracy of Space Station Lagos. It kind What the five of makes Bill Gates seem OK them discover on the Ragtime has ramifications not just for Bloodroot, but potentially the time being.entirety of human space…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841497789</amazonuk>0356514323

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Scott WesterfeldClaire North|title=Extras|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=In Notes from the future city of this book, many people live with what is called a reputation economy. With everybody practically a cyborg, they're online permanently, using optical and brain implants to see everybody's status, output and more. Many people have hovercam companions, to make their own documentaries and film their own lives. They rely on metablogs to interact and keep their popularity up. They continuously spread their opinions and interests in order to become more well-known. A girl called Aya is struggling to get any renown, but things change, when she meets other people doing incredibly notorious things, but in complete secrecy and anonymity.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847389228</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Scott Westerfeld|title=SpecialsBurning Age

|summary=This book stands out in At its core ''Notes From the high-energyBurning Age'' by Claire North is a spy thriller, hard-edged sci-fi adventure/thriller genrewith as many double crosses, in that it covers two stories at the same interrogations and night timeescapes as Le Carre or Fleming. In one chapter we have Avery CatesHowever, practically as with the best gunnovels, it wears many masks and its most affecting one is that of a new and timely genre, cli-for-hire in his post-apocalyptic fi, or climate change fiction. North America, being told 's novel tells of a world devastated by climate change where humans have been forced to kill one start anew and live alongside nature without any of the most protected modern and important people left in the worldcorrupting "luxuries" (read: fossil fuels, by otherweapons of mass destruction, almost as important people, in the cruel mix of powerplays that make up the current politicsintensive farming). In the other corner There is Catesa growing unhappiness with this limiting world, being thrown in prison - and one of those basicgroup, hell-on-earththe Brotherhood, surrounded by miles of desert, prisons. Here, too, he will be told aims to master these processes no matter the cost to do jobs for other people..the Earth.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841497053</amazonuk>0356514757

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Orson Scott CardAdrian Tchaikovsky|title=Ender in ExileShards of Earth|rating=3.54|genre=Science Fiction|summary='Ender in Exile' is Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed, warped into an unrecognisable shape by the most recently published in moon-sized aliens known as the series set in Architects. Humanity is scattered, constantly fleeing as world after world falls to the universe of 'Enderarchitect's Game', a long standing and one of the best known series of science-fiction by Orson Scott Cardreshaping. It's been defined as an 'interquel'Then, fitting chronologically between 'Ender's Game' and just when they had the 'Speaker for human race on the Dead'run, the first two (and probably the best two) novels in the sequenceArchitects vanished. Technically speakingAnd so, 'Ender in Exile' actually fits in-between the last chapters memories of 'Ender's Game' the war fades, heroes are forgotten, and humanity begins to fracture and describes in more detail events outlined in the resolving sections of 'Ender's Game'fight among themselves. Confusingly for Idris Telemmier, a man genetically engineered to try and communicate with the uninitiatedArchitects, 'Ender in Exile' is also a sequel does not want to be remembered. But, when he and the 'Shadow crew of the Giant'salvage ship he calls home discover what appears to be recent Architect activity, a parallel sub-series suddenly he is thrust back into the spotlight. As he and his allies bounce from star system to star system, chased by alien crime syndicates, human secret police and rich slavers, he slowly begins to realise that the universe of the 'Ender's Game'. real war is only just getting started…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841492272</amazonuk>1529051886

 {{newreview|author=John Dickinson|title=WE|rating=5|genre=Teens|summary=Paul Munro has been disconnected from the World Ear in readiness for a mission that will last a lifetime. Sent to man a tiny station built at enormous effort and expense on a desolate moon in the outer reaches of our solar system, he will never be able to return. Gravity is one-tenth that of Earth and his flesh has wasted, his bones enbrittled without the strength of calcium. 'If he stood on the Earth now... his skeleton would splinter under his weight.' It took eight years to get there and the rest of his life stretches before him fearfully. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0385617895</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Ursula K Le Guin|title=The Left Hand of Darkness|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=It's hard to believe that ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' dates back to 1969: forty years on, it reads as well, or even better, then when it was originally written, and - deservedly - enjoys a classic status in the science-fiction canon, as well as being perhaps the best known sci-fi novel by Ursula LeGuin.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841496065</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Eoin ColferTerry Miles|title=And Another Thing ... Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three (Hitchhikers Guide 6) Rabbits|rating=34.5

|summary=Of all Welcome to the world of The Game. Or should that be the big books announced game, for this yearwhile it ought to be capitalised to high heaven, it never leaves lower case throughout this one must have raised more eyebrows than manybook. Why try and write a new HitchhikerIt's Guide also called Rabbits, although only as a slangy term for it – as far as anyone knows, it has no official title, no official source, no hard and fast structure, and to the Galaxy bookaverage person no obvious entry point. A bit like the game of life then. Yes, this is the game of life for a certain tribe of people – the fan of the conspiracy, when way before the endcomputer game, its creator Douglas Adams was proving quite hopeless at such a task? And why approach an Irishmanthe hack from the darkest of webs. People like our hero, Eoin ColferK, when named like that in the originals - tempered with their humour which could only least Kafkaesque manner possible. K and his bezzies are trying to be described as Monty Python doing a sci-fi Terry Pratchetthistorians of the game, and with their cups have studied amongst many things the most unique of high score boards, for the lists of tea who has successfully won the game are in the most peculiar places, and dressing gownsare still very short. However this time it's different. This time the game seems the most dangerous, nay lethal, could only be described as very English? Well the answer is most evident - Colfer broken it's ever been – morally and otherwise. Unfortunately for K, in trying to sort out what the game is a world-beater when doing, if it comes 's even being played, and how his loved ones might be kept safe, he is only to knocking up find out that the line between observing and learning about the game, and playing it, is a storyvery thin one indeed...|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0718155149</amazonuk>1529016932

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Simon Law C J Carey|title=Bringing Forth the End of DaysWidowland

|genre=Science General Fiction|summary=Imagine It's April 1953, and Adolf Hitler's schedule includes going to Moscow to attend the hell state funeral of Joseph Stalin then within weeks coming to London, parading around a dying worldbit, and watching over the sanctioned return to the throne of Edward VIII with his wife, less than a generation from nowQueen Wallis. For yes, Britain caved in the lead-up to the World War Three has been Two that certainly didn't happen as we know it, and gone - ended with conventional bombs galore but started by we are now a plague on all plant-lifeprotectorate – well, that removed all we share enough of the same blood as the oxygen from Germanic peoples on ''the planetmainland''s atmosphere. As But this is most certainly a resultdifferent Britain, the few survivors must live in airfor Nazi-tight houses with special oxygenating equipment styled phrenology, and ideas of female purpose, has put all of that gender into a caste system, ranging from high- brow office bigwigs to the drudges, and beyond those, right on down to the childless, the husbandless and the ultimate widows. Female literacy is actively discouraged. And in air conditioning - orthis puritanical existence, our heroine, Rose Ransom, they must have got in early is employed with a special biomechanical adaptation that allows them mobility the task of bowdlerising classical literature to take all encouragement for female emancipation out of it – after all, not every book can be banned, and independencenot every story excised immediately from British civilisation, but at and so they just get a freakish costhefty tweak towards the party line before they're stamped ready for reprint. WorseThat is her job, at least, religion has mutated - until the Jehovah's Witnesses are now the most violent gangfirst emerging signs of female protest come to light, rushing with their potential to nudge whatspoil Hitler's left of humanity towards its final judgment. Worse still - even worse than all of that - you're living in Crawleyvisit.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1608602036</amazonuk>152941198X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Peter Salisbury Everina Maxwell|title=Passengers to SentienceWinter's Orbit|rating=3.5

|summary=Human beings are spread across Prince Kiem is a famous political disappointment. He's outgoing, carefree, and has gotten into many drunken scandals over the galaxypast few years. The technology So when an important political alliance is to be arranged – one that allowed this is supposed to happen? Not faster than light travel, suspended animation or matter transfer but cloning. Want prevent an interplanetary war – no one expects him to start a new life elsewhere? Your mind and personality can be mapped as informationchosen for the role. Unmanned ships are sent to inhabitable planets across the furthest reaches Least of space and upon arrival, the automated cloning vats begin re-creating your body and entering your stored mind and personality dataall him.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0755211596</amazonuk>0356515885

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Philip Palmer Rob Winters|title=Red ClawHis Name Was Wren

|genre=Science FictionConfident Readers|summary=New AmazonIn September 1944 something came down in Oban Woods, home to some near the village of the most violent and deadly alien life imaginableHurstwick. It came down hard, is due to be razed to taking the ground in order to make way for human habitation. A team spire of scientists, led by the charismatic Richard Helmsvillage church with it, have been stationed on this planet under military protectiondestroying a stone shack, in order to study and catalogue leaving a wide trail through the flora and faunawood, but no trace of what it actually was. However, the computer super brain handling all German secret weapon was the technology has inconceivably turned on her human chargeslocal gossip, forcing soldier but there should have been an explosion and scientist alike to abandon base head quarters. As if the planet's hostile environment (including bouts of acid rain) were not enough of a threatcrater, the characters are also pursued by legions and there were neither of killer robots. Life expectancy does not look goodthose things.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841496243</amazonuk>B08KGVNVNB

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=K S Turner Mark Lingane|title=Before the Gods (Chronicles of Fate and Choice)|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|summary=''Before The Gods'' is presented as an enigma, wrapped in a puzzle and shrouded in mystery. The front is adorned by a beguiling image created by the author. A glance at the back cover serves only Note to tantalise rather than reveal what might be in store. ''This is where it all began. Everything. Love, hate, good, evil, us and them. This is before they were gods.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956224202</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Issui Ogawa |title=The Lords of the Sands of Time|rating=3|genre=Science Fiction|summary=We're in the third century, Japan. A queen and her young retainer are wandering to the edge of their territory, when a baddy appears - an alien seeming to be some local creature. Handily enough a saviour, warrior hero appears too, from way in the future, complete with talking sword, and saves the day. This incident is bad news for the queen to take back to court and discuss, but it's even worse for the messenger - sent on a one-way ticket from his own life, to advise of timelines that need saved - and the people that might just save Earth from this cosmic battle.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1421527626</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Hiroshi Sakurazaka|title=All You Need Is KillSelf: An Education

|summary=In Kry's world, the discovery that human cells replace themselves every seven years results in a global war between humans and invading alienscascade of medical "advances": in 2030 it's found that radiation can return cells back to their regeneration state seven years before, called Mimicsin 2035 it's possible to cure cancerous tumours but with the side effect of erasing seven years of memory, Keiji by 2045 the cosmetics industry is using the same technique to "de-age" their customers by seven years. In a society obsessed with image and youth, who needs memories?|isbn=B08LY8J4KS}} {{Frontpage|author= Christopher Paolini|title= To Sleep in a trooper at Sea of Stars|rating= 5|genre= Science Fiction|summary= On the beginning moon of his short career in a distant gas giant, Xenobiologist Kira Navárez is helping with the efforts to make the armyplanet habitable to human life. Despite his high-tech body armourHowever, hea discovery of an ancient alien bunker under the moon's not destined surface leaves her bonded with a strange alien entity. After the entity bonded to her loses control and kills half the staff of the research station, the United Military Command cruiser Extenuating Circumstances arrives in the system to last long - he's quickly deadtake Kira in for examination. But then he's quickly alive againThings go from bad to worse when the Extenuating Circumstances is attacked and destroyed by an alien ship, as somehow his life and she has to flee to the 61 Cygnus star system. She is rewound revived aboard the freighter Wallfish, crewed by Captain Falconi and a dayrag-tag bunch of misfits, and the news is grim. It only makes for prolonged horror for The same aliens that destroyed the rookieExtenuating Circumstances are now wreaking havoc across all of human-occupied space, but it happens again and again. Each time he gets only a better intelligence mythical weapon known as the Staff of what his destiny might have been - Blue can he learn enough each time round stop them. As the death toll climbs and more players are introduced into this war, Kira slowly begins to make realise that she may have had a difference, and greater hand in the conflict than she could've possibly break the loop?imagined…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1421527618</amazonuk>1529046505

 [[Category:Science Fiction]]{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jonathan Luna Laura Lam and Joshua Luna Elizabeth May|title=Girls Volume 1: ConceptionSeven Devils|rating=4.5|genre=Graphic NovelsScience Fiction|summary=EthanEris is one of the foremost operatives of the Novantae, we see with a greatresistance movement fighting against the ruthlessly expansionist Tholosian Empire – an Empire she was destined to inherit in her past life as Princess Discordia, broad comic stroke or sixwhom everyone believed has been dead for years. Clo, is not an ace pilot for the best when it comes Novantae, has a mission: hijack a Tholosian spacecraft to girlsgather information vital to the war effort. Letting his mouth run away with him too often, he Although she's less than pleased to discover that her former friend Eris is not very successful at relationshipsher partner on this mission. But let us look at what happens when he drives away from an altercation at Things get more interesting as the mission commences; aboard the ship are three defectors with a secret that could potentially cripple the local barEmpire. Eris's brother Damocles, and sees a gorgeous the runner- up heir to the Empire, is plotting to disrupt peace talks between Tholos and very naked - young woman standing in the middle last of the roadfree alien species.It's a race against time as the rebels move to put a stop Damocles' plans, with millions of lives hanging in the balance…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1582405298</amazonuk>1473231140

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Charles Stross Frederic Beigbeder and Frank Wynne (translator)|title=WirelessA Life Without End

|genre=Short StoriesLiterary Fiction|summary=In his introductionI looked at the calendar the other week, and disappointedly realised I have a birthday this year – I know, Stross explains that yet another one. It won't be one of the reasons he likes writing shorts stories is because they are major numbers, but the time when I have the ideal format in which to focus same number as Heinz varieties looms on the horizon. And then a particular concept few of the future big 0-numbers, and play around with itif all goes well, I'll be an OBE. (Which of course stands for Over Bloody Eighty. It doesn) Now if that't matter so much if s the idea extent of my mid-life crisis, I guess I have to be happy. Our author here doesn't ultimately work because neither use that exact phrase, but he might be said to be living one. Determined to find out how to prolong life for as long as he wants – he would like to see 400 – he hops right into bed with the reader nor assistant to the author has invested in it the way first geneticist he interviews, and they would in end up with a novel. ''Wireless'' thenchild, which is something of an experiment. Stross employs many different styles, tackles many different subjects and is very skilful at creating mood. His stories are least a strange blend way of continuing the technical life of his genes, and a motive to keep on going. But how can he get to not flick the archaic.'final way out' switch, especially when foie gras tastes so nice?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841497711</amazonuk>1642860670

{{newreview|author=Robert Buettner |title=Orphan's Triumph (Jason Wander)|rating=4.5|genre=Science Fiction |summary=One of the major problems with science fiction series is that the titles aren't always terribly imaginative. At first glance, the cover of ''Orphan's Triumph'' gives away exactly how the story is going Move on to turn out. It's great credit to Robert Buettner that what I expected wasn't what happened.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841497622</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Short Story Reviews]]