Science Fiction

http://hellogiggles.com/top-10-weirdest-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-episodes There were a lot of them.

Dropping w-a-y behind in my reading of Asimovs. I ditched the print copy for the Kindle copy, and have found that spending most of my work day at a laptop, and spending the evening starting up close at another screen isn’t a particularly attractive proposition. Here’s the contents from the September 2012 issue (reviews as an when!) : William Preston. Unearthed. Another excellent piece of adventure writing with a retro-vibe to it. It starts off classilly : “It was in 1925, in a teardrop of land no map remembers, a land absorbed decades ago by other countries pressing from every side. I had come for work, a young woman sent by a man I met only once to tell the story of a people whose language I couldn’t speak.” The narrator is a young woman of native American descent, and we see her view on the indigenous tribespeople she is observing through that lens. When there is a dramatic roof-fall in a mine, the miners are dragged out – not physically damaged, but each a gibbering wreck. There’s clearly something strange, very strange underneath their feet. Thus arrives the son of the mine owner, known only as Little Boss, a man of many strengths and skills, and what follows is a touch of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger, H Rider Haggard and H P Lovercraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, as the young woman and the Little Boss have to dig deep to solve the problem and ensure that threat from both below the ground and from neighbours, is averted. Dale Bailey. Mating Habits of the Late Cretaceous. Bailey takes us back to Bradbury’s seminal time-travel tale ‘A Sound of Thunder’. Quite literally, as the couple taking a holiday back in time to the Cretaceous are in effect in a sequel, as the impact of the protagonist in that earlier story, Eckels, is referenced. Bailey also uses the phrase ‘a sound of thunder’ in the narrative. It is made clear from the start that due to the nature of the visit, no butterfly-wings are going to take place, and the travellers have a much more advanced technology at hand – no being constrained to walking on a specific path floating above the land, and with a technology that can spot danger and yanks the travellers back to their own time and safety before a T. Rex can say Raaaaaargh. (A missed opportunity though is Bailey not referencing the change of political landscape, or indeed, English language at the end of Bradbury’s story). The story focuses, as the title suggests, on the relationships of the characters. A husband and wife are taking the trip to try and save their marriage, with Gwyneth, the main character having a palpable sense of malaise and ennui about her. It’s steamy out there in the Cretaceous, and there is a handskome tour guide, and another married couple. An a Big Fuck Off T. Rex to highlight the tensions. More happens than in a whole batch of Steven Utley’s ‘Silurian Tales’ sequence, which is good. However, a quick google to found me reading a treatise on the Ray Bradbury story, and pulled out of that story is the paragraph describing the entrance of the T. Rex in that story, and I still remember reading that first 40 years ago as a spotty 13-year old in school, who was finding the set text book in English ‘The Stars and Under’, an SF anthology, far more to my liking than the usual Bronte, Shakespeare and Chaucer. Robert Reed. Noumenon. Another in Reed’s ‘Great Ship’ series, with xeno-researcher Mere travelling away from the ship to explore some worlds they are passing. She finds much more than she was expecting, and her story is intertwined with than of another person, the two stories meshing against a very big backdrop. Chris Willrich. Star Soup. Neat take on the post-fall of humanity trope. A visitor arrives in the remaining village on the planet Dimhope, and through his use of some advanced tech, he teases stories out of some of the villagers – full humans, and those that are less so. Regardless of their nature, strong elements of humanity come out from their stories,

Another excellent piece of adventure writing with a retro-vibe to it. It starts off classilly : “It was in 1925, in a teardrop of land no map remembers, a land absorbed decades ago by other countries pressing from every side. I had come for work, a young woman sent by a man I met only once to tell the story of a people whose language I couldn’t speak.” The narrator is a young woman of native American descent, and we see her view on the indigenous tribespeople she is observing through that lens. When there is a dramatic roof-fall in a mine, the miners are dragged out – not physically damaged, but each a gibbering wreck. There’s clearly something strange, very strange underneath their feet. Thus arrives the son of the mine owner, known only as Little Boss, a man of many strengths and skills, and what follows is a touch of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger, H Rider Haggard and H P Lovercraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, as the young woman and the Little Boss have to dig deep to solve the problem and ensure that threat from both below the ground and from neighbours, is averted.

Short, wry look at the risks of parenting in a connected world, where even children are not safe from advertising spam.

*Now that’s a Tumblr, ladies and gentlemen. http://screenshotsofdespair.tumblr.com/ *Somebody could teach a pretty good interaction-design course with this handy resource. Maybe somebody already is.

Another week, another poor soul washes up on the shoreline of one a string of isolated tiny desert islands somewhere in the Pacific. Misery, isolation, loneliness, and a constant struggle against the elements await them. But on the plus side, they do get their eight favourite comics to while away the hours with. This time round we have writer Lee Robson, whose most recent project; Babble was described by Zainab thus:  ”Babble is an intriguing book, one that benefits from Robson’s decision not to drown the text in swathes of characters and plot lines, making for a clear, streamlined tale. The choice of subject raises some thoughts over which to ponder: if language is a cornerstone of civilisation, are we not better for the diversity and richness of various tongues or is the fuel for knowledge and the need for instant blanket communication paramount? Robson and Cole have created a great comic here, with an ending that you’ll have to read to appreciate. Pick it up.” Robson’s based in the North East and has contributed to various UK publications and anthologies over the years; FutureQuake, Something Wicked and the Accent UK series of anthologies (Robots, Western, Predators, Zombies 2 and the forthcoming Victoriana). Babble was published in 2013 by Com.X to lots of reviews very similar to Zainabs. He has more more work set to appear in upcoming issues of Zarjaz and FutureQuake. And in a timely co-incidence, his artistic collaborator on Babble, Bryan Coyle, has just been nominated for a prestigious Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award. Desert Island Comics – Episode 60 – Lee Robson Asterix & Cleopatra by Goscinny and Uderzo I’ve owned a hardback copy of this since I was a kid. I can’t remember where I got it or who gave it to me, but I do remember being completely drawn into it in a way that a lot of comics like The Dandy and The Beano et al never had. Uderzo’s art was – and still is – amazing; it’s packed with so much detail, and, even now, I find myself marvelling at it and finding things I’d never noticed. Combined with Goscinny’s script (albeit the English translation from Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge), and all the jokes and silly character names, it’s a book I literally can’t imagine not having in my life. Transformers UK: Time Wars by Simon Furman and Andrew Wildman I make no excuses for my love of Transformers UK. The original strips produced for it by Simon Furman, Barry Kitson, Will Simpson, Lee Sullivan, Andrew Wildman and Geoff Senior amongst many, many others, quickly outstripped the US reprints in terms of quality. There’s a lot of great collections available, and, I’ll admit, I was torn between this one and Dinobot Hunt, but Time Wars just pips it. It was the culmination of a lot of UK storylines and had some brilliant moments that kept me on the edge of my seat (I mean, Optimus Prime vs Galvatron as the universe begins to tear itself apart!). This book – in fact, make that the whole series – still stands up as a great example of what can be done with licensed comics when the creators are let loose. The complete Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle Detective Comics run Slight cheat this one, I’ll admit, but, hey if I’m going to be stuck on that island, I can damn well take what I want, and I want to take this run. This was, for me, the definitive Batman run. The characters presented here encapsulated the whole mythos so perfectly. We had a Batman who was lithe, menacing and almost demonic; a hardboiled and tough as nails Commissioner Gordon, a prim and proper, but deeply caring Alfred and, frankly, some of the best character work on Tim Drake that’s ever been done. It also introduced some brilliant new villains and painted the characters – both good guys and bad guys – with a lot of moral grey areas. It’s a shame DC have never collected any of these issues, though. Dragon’s Claws by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior Dragon’s Claws is, basically, awesome. Razor sharp scripting by Simon Furman and

These lucky winners will receive a complimentary copy of Sergei Lukyanenko's The New Watch, courtesy of the cool folks at William Heinemann! For more info about this title: Europe.The winners are:- Jakub Gasior, from Warsaw, Poland- Lina Kaminskait?, from Vilnius, Lithuania- Janne Prusti, from Gothenburg, Sweden- Murray Lane, from Formby, Merseyside, England- Carla Ribeiro, from Sao Martinho de Mouros, PortugalMany thanks to all the participants!

Forbidden Fruit (Corine Solomon #3.5, Shannon Cheney)Ann AguirreKindle BookReview Copy Courtesy of Netgalley I see dead people. Okay, that’s a lie. I hear dead people—on an antique radio…So far, that talent hasn’t brought Shannon Cheney fame or fortune. Since the world remains unaware that magick is real, being Gifted largely sucks. Her boss is an asshole, she makes minimum wage, and she’s got a serious case of forbidden lust for a sexy cop named Jesse Saldana. He’s part Mexican heat, all Texas charm, and enough of a dirty cowboy to curl her toes. Too bad he’s set on resisting her wiles.To make matters worse, there’s this weird amnesia thing happening. She might think she’s going crazy, except Jesse’s got it too, and memory loss isn’t contagious like the flu. When Shannon pokes around, trying to put the missing pieces together, demonic retaliation is swift and potentially deadly. Jesse’s too much of a white knight to let her face danger alone, and she’s hoping he can’t resist the white-hot chemistry blazing between themAlthough this book is sat between Shady Lady and Devil’s Punch in the Corine Solomon series, Corine is not in sight as the story focuses on Shannon and Jesse after they lose their memories and their developing relationship. Shannon is no Corine. She is younger and more bolshie but despite her tough upbringing, she is less damaged in a way than Corine and much more hopefully over what she can build. She has never been hurt the same way as Corine and this really makes a difference in her chase of the cop-in-white-armor Jesse. I really loved the way both she and Jesse were able to start building a real relationship of equals – especially as I wasn’t sure of their new relationship when I read about it in Devil’s Punch.In addition to their relationship, both Jesse and Shannon are dealing with their bizarre amnesia. Neither of them are aware that Corine accidentally managed to wipe their memories of anything related to her so their recent past has a number of small holes which Shannon particularly would like resolved. As such she finds herself wrapped up with Demons who seem to be very interested in her for some reason. This adds a nice fission of danger and the unexpected to the story with Shannon’s gift to summon the dead not always the best to protect herself.The only bad thing in this story is that it feels like it ends a little suddenly with little resolution - the resolution really comes in Devil’s Punch. So although I loved getting to know Shannon better and really enjoyed her burgeoning relationship with Jesse, the lack of a resolution with regards to the demons and the amnesia made me feel the story wasn’t quite finished! I would definitely be interested in dropping in on Shannon and Jesse again soon though! Recommended for fans of Kelly Meding and Nicole Peeler. 7.5 out of 10

*If the guy had owned a mobile device, none of this would have happened to him. http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/05/17/a-visit-with-patrick-leigh-fermor-part-1/

REVIEW SUMMARY: A terrifying apocalypse for monster fans and survivalists that loses reader interest through plot holes and a weak main character. MY RATING: BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Red Rain creates a post-apocalyptic world for a bike-riding journalist to explore alone. MY REVIEW: PROS: Offers a fresh take on post-apocalyptic fiction; appeals to survivalist fans; scary; quick read. CONS: The implausibility of scenario and heroine’s survival tactics; passive conflict resolution. BOTTOM LINE: The story has promise, but the poor execution and attention to detail may kill the series for some readers. Extinction Point hits a sweet spot starting with the onset of a different kind of apocalypse than readers have seen lately.  Okay, maybe poisonous rain isn’t entirely unique, but the aftermath is strange, horrific and exciting to explore. Unfortunately, almost everything exciting about this book fails in the delivery. Extinction Point feels more like a Part 1 than it does a complete book. Ebook popularity makes issuing books in portions a sustainable model, but it is frustrating having to pay more to get past the opening act, especially when it is this short. Here are the major problems with Part 1 that may prevent reading Exodus (Extinction Point #2): Plot holes: It was very hard to believe that our main character would be the only survivor simply because she was in a coffee shop at the time of the rain. What about everyone else that was inside during the short rain? Did the military forget to pack their rain jackets? Apparently, either everyone else ran outside and stuck out their tongues for a taste, or some survived, but hid inside the whole time. The author alludes to this possibility that others must be hiding, but the lack of anyone going outside to explore felt like more of a plot convenience than a reality. Annoying lead character: Not only does she start the book acting like a snob, but her survivalist decisions continue to make you scratch your head. It’s hard to believe someone in a large apartment building in New York City would have trouble finding food. Raid the dead neighbors? No, their doors are locked…. She finds an axe and ends up breaking into one later, so it turns out that these New York City doors aren’t as indestructible as she thought. Then, because she never learned to drive — it’s not rocket science — she bikes around for supplies en route to her plan to bike from NYC to Alaska! There may be hesitancy to drive if you never have, but let’s get real here.  Then, she stops at stores, but doesn’t eat food or drink water there, instead just taking some for later. Why not replenish your body with what’s on site, so you don’t have to use your supplies later? Passive resolution: Even though the horror element was impressive in the set up, the execution amounted to what has been labeled a Cat Scare, where you have a build up of tension only to have an easy release where nothing bad happens to your character. She does very little to cause her own survival, and really, the enemy in this book is just plain stupid. I can’t get into more without spoiling, but our main character gets awfully lucky (in every instance). The worldbuilding is a great setup, and the action is well-written and tense, but enthusiasm for the series is let down by a weak character and too many questionable story logistics. Related posts: BOOK REVIEW: The Bones of the Old Ones by Howard Andrew Jones BOOK REVIEW: London Falling by Paul Cornell REVIEW: The Skyborn by Paul Collins