I’m currently rebuilding the website as the old one got totally messed up when i was playing around with things (no idea what happened).
So i thought that while it was a total clusterfuck mess of SQL, i would take the opportunity to give it a whole new life and everything.
So if you go clicking on things you might find that very strange things happen. Don’t moan, i know a lot of things are broken, i’m working on it, it takes time.
I’ve got tons of old posts and pages from three websites that i’m working through and will be gradually posting all the stuff i want to keep on here while fixing all the broken things as i go through, one post, one page, at a time.
On top of doing all that, i will, of course, be continuing to add more new content and my latest posts will always appear directly below.
Or, if you prefer, you can also follow me on Twitter and Pinterest where i put a link to all new posts.
Enjoy
Painted Love — Rob Thurman
In the anthology, Carniepunk.
An enjoyable little story where our narrator, Doodle, follows a sociopath around a travelling carnival.
But all is not as it seems with Doodle, and it’s a really good twist to the ending. I’d definitely be interested in reading more stories from Doodle if Rob ever gets around to writing a series.
Rob’s Page
#robthurman
Mummy and George Go to the Park — Gaie Sebold
In the anthology, Nice Day for a Picnic.
I only got this anthology for Gaie’s story, as i’m quite the fan boy.
An interesting short in that it just implies something rather than spoon feeding you it. I believe the whole anthology is about strange picnics and if Gaie’s story is anything to go by i think i might just have a go at a few more of them when i feel like a quick read.
So the whole thing is just Mummy’s voice speaking to George as they go to the park for a picnic, which seems quite normal at first, but as Mummy keeps on speaking to George as they go through their park visit we begin to realise that things aren’t quite normal.
It’s certainly different, but really enjoyable.
Gaie’s Page
#gaiesebold
The Girl who Leapt Through Time — Yasutaka Tsutsui
There’s two short stories in this book and i’ll review each of them separately below.
The Girl who Leapt Through Time
A short while ago i read The Maid, which was my first trip into the writing of Yasutaka, and i thoroughly enjoyed it: so much that i decided to collect every book of his i could find and read them in published order. And so i began with The Girl who Leapt Through Time from 1967.
What doesn’t get a mention when approaching this book is that it’s a children’s book, i would perhaps place it around 11-12 year old level, so that’s something to bear in mind if you do decide to read it.
So it’s very simple writing and a rather simple story about some children having a bit of a crazy time with time travel and teleportation. I felt the best thing about this was it’s simplicity in it’s writing because as an adult you don’t have to think about anything and can just breeze along with the story itself, and it’s quite a good little story.
So yeah, i’m more than happy to have come back to Yasutaka’s earliest book that’s so far been translated into English. Definitely worth a read if you’re a fan of his writing, or if you just want a quick and easy read of some temporal sci-fi.
The Stuff that Nightmares Are Made of
This is quite a different story to the previous one. Once again, it’s another children’s book, but this time dealing with the theme of repressed trauma manifesting as unexplained fears.
Although it’s a book for children, i do feel that there’s a few things for most adults to learn here as well, especially parents, whose words and actions can create all kinds of unintended consequences for children.
And that’s me done with this book. The Maid was next in the original publishing time line of Yasutaka’s translated books, but i already read that, so next up will be Paprika, which i hope to get around to reading some time soon as i’m really enjoying Yasutaka’s writing.
Yasutaka’s Page
#japan #scifi #yasutakatsutsui
The Windup Girl — Paolo Bacigalupi
This book is awful.
Well, at least the first 12% of it was. It was so awful that i really just couldn’t be bothered to wade through any more of the trudging, depressing, miserable writing. I feel i gave it a fair go because if a writer can’t sort his mess out in the first 12% of a book then the book can be deleted as far as i’m concerned.
All we get are depressing characters that you really have no inclination for any level of empathy towards, you just wish they’d all go away and someone interesting turn up, but no one does. Just miserable, depressing people who drink alcohol and smoke and live in a kind of steampunk dystopia which hasn’t been explained as to how all this mess came about. In fact, it all just feels totally messy, disjointed and made up by someone who really hasn’t made any attempt at understanding whatever genre this is supposed to be.
So, at the end of 12%, NO THANK YOU!
Paolo’s Page
#paolobacigalupi #whataloadofcrap
A Change of Heart — Gaie Sebold
In the anthology, Wicked Women.
A quick trip to visit Babylon Steel, yeah, you remember her.
Sadly it’s just a short, but us Babylon Steel fans will take any words we can get from Gaie on this wonderful character.
This time Babylon takes on a necromancer, or two.
Super good, but just so wish Gaie would write a few more Babylon Steel novels.
Gaie’s Page
#fantasy #gaiesebold
Fury — Alastair Reynolds
Available in the collections, Beyond the Aquila Rift and Deep Navigation.
A super good story about the galactic emperor and his robot security assistant. And some koi carp as well.
I really enjoyed this, up there with Alastair’s usual interesting and very entertaining short-story/novella things.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
The Star Surgeon’s Apprentice — Alastair Reynolds
Available in the collections, Beyond the Aquila Rift and Deep Navigation.
A really good story that i so wished had gone on for longer. Reminds me a lot of the Ultras in Revelation Space.
Next up on Alastair’s timeline will be Soirée.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
Zima Blue — Alastair Reynolds
Available in the collections, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Zima Blue and Other Stories and the anthology, Love, Death + Robots: Volume One.
Another one i lost the review for when my old website died.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
Beyond the Aquila Rift — Alastair Reynolds
Available in the collections, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Zima Blue and Other Stories and the anthology, Love, Death + Robots: Volume One.
Another one of Alastairs moments playing with life suspension while in space flight. For those who have read all of the Revelation Space series you’ll know that this can cause really fucked up dreams and states of mind when you’re coming back out of suspension. Mix this state of mind with a spacers’ rumour that one day you’ll go so far you’ll end up beyond the Aquila Rift and you can really get a good head fuck going: with a nice twist at the end as well.
And the next book in Alastair’s publishing order will be Zima Blue.
Alastair’s Page
#scifi #alastairreynolds
Skin Magic — P. Djèlí Clark
You can find this in the anthology, Griots: Sword and Soul.
I was hoping for more of the similar and i wasn’t disappointed.
Once again we’re thrown right into North-African/Middle-Eastern folk lore kind of stuff with Djèlí’s incredible writing that just keeps dragging you along without a pause.
Djèlí’s writing is so refreshing, and i’m so looking forward to reading many more of his stories in the future.
Next up in the Djèlí timeline is Ghost Marriage.
P. Djèlí Clark’s Page
#fantasy #pdjeliclark
Fiction
. . .me thinks it’s a good time to re-read Asimov.
Fiction
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
