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Category: science fiction

Becky Chambers, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, which I found completely delightful, is the fourth of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarer novels. The first novel in the group, The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet (2014), initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, was nominated for six literary prizes, including the Arthur C Clarke Award and the Women’s … Continue reading Becky Chambers, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within →

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Kate 21stC, Becky Chambers, community life, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, science fiction, space opera, the life of the times Leave a comment October 8, 2022

J D Beresford, A World of Women

I reviewed the new MIT press edition of J D Beresford's Goslings (US title: A World of Women) for Strange Horizons. It's good!

Kate 20thC, community life, dystopia, Edwardian, feminism, getting published, J D Beresford, nature, political / social commentary, science fiction, the life of the times, the world of work, thriller, vaguely horror Leave a comment February 23, 2022

Read With Pleasure

I did enjoy reading these, but I haven’t got a whole blogpost’s worth to say about each of them. Please accept these brief paras in the spirit of strong recommendation. Una McCormack, The Greatest Story Ever Told I bought this from NewCon Press, one of a trilogy of themed novels about a populated Mars, with … Continue reading Read With Pleasure →

Kate 20thC, 21stC, Colm Tóibín, community life, Edwardian, essays, Harold Nicolson, historical romance, humour, Lawrence Durrell, letters, literary history, nature, passion and secrets, Patrick Campbell, political / social commentary, R A Dick, science fiction, sea stories, the life of the times, Thomas Hardy, travelogue, Una McCormack, wartime 7 Comments February 4, 2022

A run of bad reading luck

I’ve had a run of bad luck with books recently, a long string of flingings on the floor, duds that drove me again and again to (for example) Terry Pratchett and Barbara Pym to remind myself of what good writing was like. Here are some of the failures, the Xth in an occasional series. Cixin … Continue reading A run of bad reading luck →

Kate 20thC, 21stC, fantasy, history, science fiction, wartime 5 Comments February 9, 2020

To the recycling!

Another in my popular series of mini reviews in which I grumble about books on a scale from furious bitterness to indifference. You can read more of these, and find links to others, here. Today I clear out the books on the meh end. Susan Schwartz, Byzantium's Crown I enjoyed the premise for this fantasy … Continue reading To the recycling! →

Kate 20thC, 21stC, community life, detective, fantasy, historical romance, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, science fiction 6 Comments November 5, 2019November 5, 2019

Christina Dalcher, Vox

Update: Vox won the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award on 16 September 2019! The title of this very good thriller is a little misleading: the word 'Vox' (Latin for the voice of, as in 'vox populi', the voice of the people), doesn't appear anywhere in the novel. I was hoping for some time that it would … Continue reading Christina Dalcher, Vox →

Kate 21stC, Christina Dalcher, dystopia, Margaret Atwood, passion and secrets, political / social commentary, science, science fiction, sociology, technology, the life of the times, thriller, vaguely horror Leave a comment August 11, 2019September 17, 2019

Raging aggravations

Another in an irregular series of reviews of books I have not enjoyed. Links to earlier episodes are at the end. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, Beyond the Northlands. Viking Voyages and the Old Norse Sagas This book, bought at the British Museum’s bookshop, was so promising, with such a good pedigree: an exciting young(ish) scholar; a … Continue reading Raging aggravations →

Kate 21stC, biography, community life, D J Taylor, Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, feminism, getting published, history, literary history, memoirs / diaries, middlebrow, middlebrow studies, myth, outdoor adventure, political / social commentary, S I Viehl, science fiction, space opera, the life of the times, the world of work 3 Comments July 12, 2019July 12, 2019

Avengers: Endgame.

HERE BE SPOILERS. Avengers: Endgame is not a film you can talk about in detail without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, so please don't read on if you get upset by spoilers. I MEAN IT. I don't yet know if I liked the whole film or not. I was very bored in … Continue reading Avengers: Endgame. →

Kate 21stC, action and explosions, comic strip caper, community life, fantasy, graphic novel, humour, myth, outdoor adventure, political / social commentary, science fiction, space opera, technology, the world of work, thriller, thriller, time travel, vaguely horror, wartime, western 5 Comments April 26, 2019

Becky Chambers, Record of a Spaceborn Few

This is the third in a series (but not necessarily a sequence) of novels about humans who fled a dying Earth and lived for centuries in their spaceships, looking for a new home. The first novel, The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet, takes place on a spaceship, and the second, A Closed and … Continue reading Becky Chambers, Record of a Spaceborn Few →

Kate 21stC, baroque and dramatic, Becky Chambers, community life, nature, political / social commentary, post nuclear holocaust, science fiction, space opera, the life of the times, the world of work 1 Comment April 2, 2019April 1, 2019

Canadian sff: Sleeping Giants, and Bloody Rose

Two mini reviews of science fiction and fantasy novels by Canadian writers, of Sylvain Neuvel's Sleeping Giants, and Nicholas Eames' Bloody Rose. Sleeping Giants I enjoyed this a LOT. Partly it was the plot: gigantic metallic pieces of what appears to be a body are found buried in remote, and less remote, locations on Earth. … Continue reading Canadian sff: Sleeping Giants, and Bloody Rose →

Kate 21stC, baroque and dramatic, community life, drinking, fantasy, humour, Nicholas Eames, outdoor adventure, parody, political / social commentary, science fiction, Sylvain Neuvel, Terry Pratchett, the world of work, thriller, vaguely horror Leave a comment December 17, 2018

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