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No. 51 Luna: New Moon - Ian MacDonald
In Luna: New Moon, Ian McDonald has given readers the cities in the moon of our adolescent dreams. There are cities in tunnels, vast biodomes, miners on the dusty mare and even flyers. It is a diverse, colourful, multiethnic pantasmagoria. Sexuality is fluid, and everyone seems to be rutting when they are not fighting.
Luna is a dog-eat-dog libertarian realm, where air, water, data and bandwidth must be paid for by ones labour. Those that do not earn, will die. Luna is ruled in all but name by the Five Dragons, (Mackenzie, Sun, Vorontsov, Asamoah and Corta) who operate as cross between Robber Baron Capitalists and Cosa Nostra crime families. These potentates live lives of luxurious slendour, leavened with the everpresent threat of assassination or worse from their corporate enemies.
A newly arrived Jo Moonbeam, Marina Calzaghe is catapulted from poverty into the orbit of the Cortas, when she prevents the killing of Rafa Corta at a family party to celebrate the 'moon run' of 3rd generation Dragon Scion Lucasinho Corta. She is saved from starvation and suffocation, but plunged into the peril of a world for which she is initially unprepared.
This is first part of what will be a diptych, so the climax, and it is a tense and gripping ones does not resolve the conflict which has been brewing throughout. Nevertheless, it is a wild ride, and a strong contender for award status this year.
In Luna: New Moon, Ian McDonald has given readers the cities in the moon of our adolescent dreams. There are cities in tunnels, vast biodomes, miners on the dusty mare and even flyers. It is a diverse, colourful, multiethnic pantasmagoria. Sexuality is fluid, and everyone seems to be rutting when they are not fighting.
Luna is a dog-eat-dog libertarian realm, where air, water, data and bandwidth must be paid for by ones labour. Those that do not earn, will die. Luna is ruled in all but name by the Five Dragons, (Mackenzie, Sun, Vorontsov, Asamoah and Corta) who operate as cross between Robber Baron Capitalists and Cosa Nostra crime families. These potentates live lives of luxurious slendour, leavened with the everpresent threat of assassination or worse from their corporate enemies.
A newly arrived Jo Moonbeam, Marina Calzaghe is catapulted from poverty into the orbit of the Cortas, when she prevents the killing of Rafa Corta at a family party to celebrate the 'moon run' of 3rd generation Dragon Scion Lucasinho Corta. She is saved from starvation and suffocation, but plunged into the peril of a world for which she is initially unprepared.
This is first part of what will be a diptych, so the climax, and it is a tense and gripping ones does not resolve the conflict which has been brewing throughout. Nevertheless, it is a wild ride, and a strong contender for award status this year.
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No. 50 A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
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No. 49 Ancillary Mercy - Anne Leckie
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No 48 The Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
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No. 47 The Girl With All The Gifts - MR Carey
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No. 46 Dear Leader - Jang Jin-sung
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No. 45 Adventures With the Wife in Space - Neil Perryman
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No. 44 Plague - Michael Grant
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No. 43 The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
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No 42 The Just City - Jo Walton
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No. 41 The Water Knife - Paolo Bacigalupi
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No. 40 Bête - Adam Roberts
When Green activists implant computer chips into animals, giving them something which might be sentience, farmer Graham Penhaglion makes the news as the first person to kill a 'canny' cow. Adam Roberts' new novel follows the subsequent exploits of this typical Robertian protagonist - an angry whiny Englishman - as he copes with the social and economic upheaval caused as formerly domestic animals stake their claim to the English countryside.
When Green activists implant computer chips into animals, giving them something which might be sentience, farmer Graham Penhaglion makes the news as the first person to kill a 'canny' cow. Adam Roberts' new novel follows the subsequent exploits of this typical Robertian protagonist - an angry whiny Englishman - as he copes with the social and economic upheaval caused as formerly domestic animals stake their claim to the English countryside.
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No. 39 Dark Eden - Chris Beckett
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No. 38 Aurora - Kim Stanley Robinson
Robinson's newest novel is a detailed and forensic examination of the generation starship trope.
As the story begins, the Aurora is close to the end of its long journey, approaching Tau Ceti after a voyage of 200 years. The complex vessel is suffering from the twin threats of entropy and divergent evolution. Scientist Devi charges the Ship AI with telling the story of the voyage. Devi's daughter Freya is the main human POV character, There is great excitement amongst the colonists as the long awaited world, a moon of a gas giant is aproached, and the first outposts are established. But if everything went as planned, then there'd be no story....
It is a hard novel to review without spoilers,<spoiler> given that Robinson has the temerity to take the position that 'we re not meant to go to the stars', and proceeeds to demonstrate why this might be the case. There is a subtle authorial finger on the scales to support this hypothesis. Even more outrageous, after suffering a frightening setback, the crew cannot agree on whether to seek other oportunities, or to return to the bosom of mother earth. And following from this all too believable dissention, humans beings do some stupid things, and the AI to go full Napoleon to bring things back on an even keel. No human leader steps up to the plate...
I agree with Robisnon that the engineering problems of extended starfaring may be less complex than those of maintaing a biome or biomes in closed systems without any hope of backup. It is also very possible that exoplanets capable of supoerting indigenous life might be inimical to would-be colonisers. Likewise, the stability of the society will be of utmost importance. The weaknesses of the book are not in these areas
It's rather the handwaverey which introduces a convenient technological solution to the problem of wanting the already established characters tobe those who return to Earth, the rather tedious exposition as the reader learns of the Aurora through the senses of the Ship AI, as it gradually masters the narrative art, and the underwhelming finale, celebrating surfing on the beach, that prevent it from being a classic. </spoiler>
This is a worthy book. It is particularly so be cause it asks many questions of what might be perceived as Hard SF orthodoxy. The very fact that it has had so many arguing passionately is a sign of its quality.
Robinson's newest novel is a detailed and forensic examination of the generation starship trope.
As the story begins, the Aurora is close to the end of its long journey, approaching Tau Ceti after a voyage of 200 years. The complex vessel is suffering from the twin threats of entropy and divergent evolution. Scientist Devi charges the Ship AI with telling the story of the voyage. Devi's daughter Freya is the main human POV character, There is great excitement amongst the colonists as the long awaited world, a moon of a gas giant is aproached, and the first outposts are established. But if everything went as planned, then there'd be no story....
It is a hard novel to review without spoilers,<spoiler> given that Robinson has the temerity to take the position that 'we re not meant to go to the stars', and proceeeds to demonstrate why this might be the case. There is a subtle authorial finger on the scales to support this hypothesis. Even more outrageous, after suffering a frightening setback, the crew cannot agree on whether to seek other oportunities, or to return to the bosom of mother earth. And following from this all too believable dissention, humans beings do some stupid things, and the AI to go full Napoleon to bring things back on an even keel. No human leader steps up to the plate...
I agree with Robisnon that the engineering problems of extended starfaring may be less complex than those of maintaing a biome or biomes in closed systems without any hope of backup. It is also very possible that exoplanets capable of supoerting indigenous life might be inimical to would-be colonisers. Likewise, the stability of the society will be of utmost importance. The weaknesses of the book are not in these areas
It's rather the handwaverey which introduces a convenient technological solution to the problem of wanting the already established characters tobe those who return to Earth, the rather tedious exposition as the reader learns of the Aurora through the senses of the Ship AI, as it gradually masters the narrative art, and the underwhelming finale, celebrating surfing on the beach, that prevent it from being a classic. </spoiler>
This is a worthy book. It is particularly so be cause it asks many questions of what might be perceived as Hard SF orthodoxy. The very fact that it has had so many arguing passionately is a sign of its quality.
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No. 37 Lies - Michael Grant
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No. 36 The Annihilation Score - Charles Stross
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No. 35 Marx Was Right - Terry Eagleton
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No. 34 The Martian - Mike Weir
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No. 33 Fish Tales - Sherri S Tepper
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No. 32 Slow Bullets - Alastair Reynolds
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No. 31 The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume 9 - Jonathan Strahan Ed
This collection illustrates starkly the travesty of the Hugo nominees for short fiction imposed by Canine shenanigans.
This collection illustrates starkly the travesty of the Hugo nominees for short fiction imposed by Canine shenanigans.
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No. 30 Tracker - CJ Cherryh
A signal from the deeps of space sets the cat amongst the pigeons. Bren returns to the station with Cajeiri and Illisidi to wrangle the various factions and present a united front to the imminent visitors.
A signal from the deeps of space sets the cat amongst the pigeons. Bren returns to the station with Cajeiri and Illisidi to wrangle the various factions and present a united front to the imminent visitors.
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No. 29 The Rhesus Chart - Charles Stross
Everybody knows that vampires don't exist. That's the prevailing view in the Laundry. Bob Howard wonders just why everyone seems so adamant....
Everybody knows that vampires don't exist. That's the prevailing view in the Laundry. Bob Howard wonders just why everyone seems so adamant....
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No. 28 The Deaths of Tao - Wesley Chu
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No. 27 The Lives of Tao - Wesley Chu
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No. 26 The Goblin Emperor - Kate Addison
Maia is the despised halfbreed son of the emperor Varenechibel IV, exiled to an outlying estate under the sadistic rule of his abusive cousin. When the entire royal family is killed in a dirigible 'accident', Maia unexpectedly becomes emperor. He is babe in the woods, thrust into the maelstrom of court intrigue, where he has to pick up the threads and master his new environment, lest he succumb to coups, assassination or banishment.
It is a story about learning adapting and growing. A story of hope. Some say that this is not 'doing' anything, and have criticized the quiet and reflective tone as lacking in action. They miss the point entirely. There are any number of tales which glory in externalised conflict. A well written story, with a clearly 'good' hero whose struggle is internal, and with the self is a breath of fresh air.
Maia is the despised halfbreed son of the emperor Varenechibel IV, exiled to an outlying estate under the sadistic rule of his abusive cousin. When the entire royal family is killed in a dirigible 'accident', Maia unexpectedly becomes emperor. He is babe in the woods, thrust into the maelstrom of court intrigue, where he has to pick up the threads and master his new environment, lest he succumb to coups, assassination or banishment.
It is a story about learning adapting and growing. A story of hope. Some say that this is not 'doing' anything, and have criticized the quiet and reflective tone as lacking in action. They miss the point entirely. There are any number of tales which glory in externalised conflict. A well written story, with a clearly 'good' hero whose struggle is internal, and with the self is a breath of fresh air.
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No. 25 2015 Hugo Award Nominees - Best Related Work Category
- No Award
- “The Hot Equations: Thermodynamics and Military SF”, Ken Burnside (Riding the Red Horse, Castalia House)
- “Why Science is Never Settled”, Tedd Roberts (Baen.com)
- Letters from Gardner, Lou Antonelli (The Merry Blacksmith Press)
- Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth, John C. Wright (Castalia House)
- Wisdom from My Internet, Michael Z. Williamson (Patriarchy Press)
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No. 24 2015 Hugo Award Nominees - Graphic Story Category
- Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick, written by Matt Fraction, art by Chip Zdarsky
- Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal, written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Adrian Alphona and Jake Wyatt.
- Saga Volume 3, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples
- Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery, written by Kurtis J. Weibe, art by Roc Upchurch
- No Award
- The Zombie Nation Book #2: Reduce Reuse Reanimate, Carter Reid (The Zombie Nation)
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No. 23 Lock In - John Scalzi
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No. 22 Ancillary Sword - Anne Leckie
I enjoyed 'Ancillary Justice', but found the sequel less satisfying overall. With the mystery of Breq's identity and history revealed, the story marks time as the next move in Emperor Mianaai's warring and shattered hive mind is awaited. On an isolated system of Athoek, strategically important because of its location close to a number of wormhole gates, Breq is is now allied with a part of Mianaai, and must now navigate the byzantine politics of Athoek's station. The tone of the storytelling is close focused, terse and intense, and drives the narrative forward, keeping the pages steadily turning. As the middle chapter of the trilogy, it leaves many questions to be answered. I am eager to find out what hides behind the Gates, and just what the Presger are up to.
I enjoyed 'Ancillary Justice', but found the sequel less satisfying overall. With the mystery of Breq's identity and history revealed, the story marks time as the next move in Emperor Mianaai's warring and shattered hive mind is awaited. On an isolated system of Athoek, strategically important because of its location close to a number of wormhole gates, Breq is is now allied with a part of Mianaai, and must now navigate the byzantine politics of Athoek's station. The tone of the storytelling is close focused, terse and intense, and drives the narrative forward, keeping the pages steadily turning. As the middle chapter of the trilogy, it leaves many questions to be answered. I am eager to find out what hides behind the Gates, and just what the Presger are up to.
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No. 21 The Dark Between the Stars - Kevin J Anderson
It took me a week or so to wade through this monster. It is an easy and undemanding read, with plenty of action, and pretty much no surprises. The major plot points are telegraphed way in advance. It is a return to Anderson's 'Seven Suns' Universe, where following the resolution of the travails of that septology, a new menace from the Ildiran race's nightmares makes a return.
I'd recommend it for reading on a long flight or train journey, where page-turnability is more important than characters you can care about. Maybe KJH is the Dan Brown of SF.
It took me a week or so to wade through this monster. It is an easy and undemanding read, with plenty of action, and pretty much no surprises. The major plot points are telegraphed way in advance. It is a return to Anderson's 'Seven Suns' Universe, where following the resolution of the travails of that septology, a new menace from the Ildiran race's nightmares makes a return.
I'd recommend it for reading on a long flight or train journey, where page-turnability is more important than characters you can care about. Maybe KJH is the Dan Brown of SF.
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No. 20 The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Three Body Problem was added to the Hugo 'Best Novel' Ballot after Martin Kloos declined his nomination. It begins with a powerfully written prelude from the Cultural Revolution, where Ye Wenjie is introduced. We learn that she has reasons to despise the human race. Then she receives a mysterious warning from the stars, which gives her the opportunity to provoke a moral awakening of mankind. The bulk of the novel is from the viewpoint of passive 'good man' Wang Miao as he investigates a mysterious series of murders of prominent scientists. Wang Miao's best scenes are drawn during the VR game 'Three Body', which models the travails of a civilization beset by unpredictable and severe climatic variations. And turns out to be real. The final third of the story reveals a major plot twist, and a substantial infodump of physics neepery. There is enough here to raise the novel above the run of the mill, and although flawed, it is a worthy contender.
Three Body Problem was added to the Hugo 'Best Novel' Ballot after Martin Kloos declined his nomination. It begins with a powerfully written prelude from the Cultural Revolution, where Ye Wenjie is introduced. We learn that she has reasons to despise the human race. Then she receives a mysterious warning from the stars, which gives her the opportunity to provoke a moral awakening of mankind. The bulk of the novel is from the viewpoint of passive 'good man' Wang Miao as he investigates a mysterious series of murders of prominent scientists. Wang Miao's best scenes are drawn during the VR game 'Three Body', which models the travails of a civilization beset by unpredictable and severe climatic variations. And turns out to be real. The final third of the story reveals a major plot twist, and a substantial infodump of physics neepery. There is enough here to raise the novel above the run of the mill, and although flawed, it is a worthy contender.
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No. 19 Skin Game - Jim Butcher
Harry Dresden is in thrall to Mab, the queen of the faeries, and must collaborate with one of his worst enemies to secure a bauble from the vault of Hades himself.
A team is assembled, violence and mayhem ensue in pursuit of the heist. The plot twist which saves our hero is perhaps abit too convenient.
It is difficult to justify awarding the Hugo for best novel to the 15th book in a long running series. That said, I enjoyed reading the story, and did not feel that not being across the backstory was a great disadvantage.
Harry Dresden is in thrall to Mab, the queen of the faeries, and must collaborate with one of his worst enemies to secure a bauble from the vault of Hades himself.
A team is assembled, violence and mayhem ensue in pursuit of the heist. The plot twist which saves our hero is perhaps abit too convenient.
It is difficult to justify awarding the Hugo for best novel to the 15th book in a long running series. That said, I enjoyed reading the story, and did not feel that not being across the backstory was a great disadvantage.
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No. 18 2015 Hugo Award Nominees - Novella category
- No Award
- Big Boys Don’t Cry, Tom Kratman
- “Flow”, Arlan Andrews, Sr.
- “Pale Realms of Shade”, John C. Wright
- One Bright Star to Guide Them, John C. Wright
- “The Plural of Helen of Troy”, John C. Wright
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No. 17 2015 Hugo Award nominees - Novelette Category
- “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium”, Gray Rinehart
- No Award
- “The Journeyman: In the Stone House”, Michael F. Flynn
- “The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale”, Rajnar Vajra
- “Championship B’tok”, Edward M. Lerner
- “The Day the World Turned Upside Down”, Thomas Olde Heuvelt,
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No. 16 2015 Hugo Award nominees - Short Story Category
- Totaled - Kary English
- No Award
- A Single Samurai - Stephen Diamond
- On a Spiritual Plain - Lou Antonelli
- The Parliament of Beast and Birds - John C Wright
- Turncoat - Steve Rzasa
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No. 15 The Outcast Blade - John Courtney Grimwood
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No. 14 Dead Girl Walking - Chris Brookmyre
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No.13 The Mirage - Matt Ruff
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No. 12 One Fine day in the Middle of the Night - Christopher Brookmyre
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No. 11 Something Coming Through - Paul McAulay
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No. 10 Jaggy Splinters - Christopher Brookmyre
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No. 9 Bampot Central - Christopher Brookmyre
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No. 8 The Last Day Before Christmas - Chris Brookmyre
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No. 7 Brave New Worlds - John Joseph Adams
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No. 6 The Shining Girls - Lauren Beukes
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No. 5 With a Little Help - Cory Doctorow
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No. 4 Red Plenty - Francis Spufford
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No. 3 Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea - Guy Delisle
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No 2 Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea - Adam Roberts
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No 1. Deep State - Walter Jon Williams