Ever since I read The Epic of Gilgamesh, I’ve had a hankering for diving into other ancient works that I have missed out on. Beowulf was the first such tale that came to mind. Not ancient in the anthropological sense, having been written somewhere between the seventh and tenth centuries CE, it’s nonetheless a work of seminal importance in western culture. I have known the broad strokes of the...

A fugitive robot running around the inside of a Dyson Sphere? Sign me the hell up! A sublime standalone sci-fi from Frasier Armitage. If you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know how much I’ve enjoyed Frasier Armitage’s work in the past. You can check out my review of his novelettes Rememory and Investation here. The cover for Cage of Stars instantly popped for me. It really looks...

It’s been a long time since I started reading this series, and it took me a lot longer to read this book than I thought it would. I started it back in October and then hit a reading slump that was in no way anything to do with the book. At one time I thought this was going to be the final book in the trilogy, but no, there’s more coming. This is some of the best modern sci-fi around, in my...

This is becoming somewhat of an annual tradition at this point. Reviews are often ephemeral, which comes across as rather paradoxical: Everything on the internet is there forever, but in the current landscape of heavy social media usage and algorithmic content feeds, review posts soon get buried. Sure they might receive a little boost when they’re initially posted, but they then fade into obsc...

I received a free advance reader copy/uncorrected proof of A Farewell to Humanity from the author. I also had the privilege of reading an early draft of this story that was much shorter and much lighter on details. I had really enjoyed that, and so when the offer came to read an ARC ahead of its release, I jumped at the chance. It has been fascinating to see how this story has changed in the...

This was the second of three vintage books I picked up on a trip to National Trust Ightham Mote last year. Their delightful little used bookshop had a locked glass cabinet of ‘rare’ and ‘vintage’ books which were reasonably priced. The first was the novelisation of RoboCop by Ed Naha which I read straightaway. The others were The Black Hole—the subject of this review—and Superman: Last Son of...

I will fully admit I bought this on a complete whim. I’ve heard a lot in passing about the Epic of Gilgamesh variously as a piece of ancient literature and the progenitor of the Great Flood myth in the biblical book of Genesis, but I didn’t know the story, and I fancied reading it for myself. This version by Stephen Mitchell seemed to be the most accessible to someone like myself with zero know...

I received a free advance reader copy/uncorrected proof of The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel from the author. I very much enjoyed the first book in this lunarpunk sci-fantasy series—The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern and its wildly imaginative night-living world, so I was very grateful when Jendia reached out to offer an ARC of the sequel and I jumped in straightaway. Serving up another helping...

Recently I reviewed Origins: The Secret Agent, the first of two short story prequels to The Magic Circle, that one giving backstory on Yevgeny, a key POV character from the main novel. Origins: The Hacker, goes back even further in time and follows the origin story of the main antagonist of the novel. I’ve said before how much I enjoyed The Magic Circle, so I was eager to jump into these short...

I really enjoyed reading The Magic Circle. I thought it was a really solid, action-packed adventure, mixing magic and sci-fi in a believable way. You can read my full review of it here. So naturally, eager for more in this universe, I was excited to delve into the two short story prequels, starting with Origins: The Secret Agent. I like the idea of these short prequels, as they allow the reader...

A Necromancer Called Gam Gam was one of my favourite books I read last year—An unlikely blend of knitting, kindness, and raising the decaying undead that took me on an emotional journey exploring loss and grief. So when The Wishing Stone was announced, I was so ready for another foray into this big warm hug of a world. And, spoilers for the review below, but I think this one really does top the...

A poignant and somewhat scarily prescient short story collection from Conrad Altmann. I had the privilege of beta reading one of the short stories—Luminite Ascending—that made it into this collection. That one was brilliant, and at the time I didn’t realise Conrad was looking to make a collection. So when Moral Laundry came out, I was really looking forward to checking out the other stories...

Gotta love long titles for short stories. On Demon Wrangling and Interpersonal Relationships Between Weary Immortals is certainly eye-catching and intriguing, and that’s what got me to pick it up. Also because I have read several of Rebecca’s short stories at this point and knew I was in for a treat. Vampyres and Witches make for strange bedfellows, and especially since I’ve been watching What...

A deliciously creepy yet cathartic dark fairy tale. Rebecca Crunden’s short stories and novellas are always a great time. I expected no different from Bailuchien, and I am pleased to say I was right on the money. Unfortunately at the time of writing this review, Bailuchien has been taken down temporarily, which makes posting the review to Amazon and Goodreads somewhat tricky (I literally can't...

A strikingly well-written prequel novella to B.S.H. Garcia’s Heart of Quinaria series. Continuing my read-through of SFINCS novellas, next up is B.S.H. Garcia’s From the Depths, which was a finalist in the second year’s contest. For ages I thought it was in the first one, but in putting together this review I realised that while Garcia had a book in SFINCS 1, it was From the Ashes, which I have...

A dark and melancholy fantasy novella from Timothy Wolff. First of all, let me just say that The Whisper that Replaced God is a hell of a title for a book. Kudos on that. And now, having read it and fully understanding the reference, it still hits really hard but in a much more poignant way. And the cover is brilliant as well. What a way to draw you in. This continues my read-through of some of...

I never know how much to say about short stories in reviews. They’re short, so the reviews should be short, too, right? If that’s a thing at all, I’m not sure this one bears that out! I’ve read some of Rebecca’s work before—You can read my reviews of Dust & Lightning and A Touch of Death here—and I’ve got plenty more of her books still to read. The Knight Saves the Dragon is a bit different...

An excellent blend of science fiction and magical fantasy with romance, and LGBTQIA+ and disability representation, from Barry Ryerson. I’ve been looking forward to reading The Magic Circle for quite a long time. The curse of being a mood reader! That being said, it still took me a while to read the book. That’s not a slight on the book at all, though. I’ve been busier than usual and I didn’t...

Historically I’ve not always been the biggest horror fan. Usually something has to get just the right mix of sci-fi and horror for me to be into it, like the Alien movies, Event Horizon, or Dead Space. Very rarely do I go in for some more traditional spooky ghost stories, and I’m happy to say that BestGhost was a great novelette to help me dip my toes into the genre...

Here we are at last: The end of Dune. Or, at least at the end of Frank Herbert’s original novels. I know there’s plenty of expanded universe stuff out there from his son, Brian, but I’ve heard enough about it to know it’s something I don’t really want to explore. It’s taken me four years to read this series—it’s a pretty leisurely pace, and I found I needed a long time between these books to...