Science Fiction & Fantasy

August 2010

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Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Stone spring, Stephen Baxter. (2010)
"8,000 years ago Europe was a very different place. England was linked to Holland by a massive swathe of land. Where the North Sea is now lay the landmass of Northland. And then came a period of global warming, a shifting of continents and, over a few short years, the sea rushed in and our history was set. But what if the sea had been kept at bay? Brythony is a young girl who lives in Northland. Like all her people she is a hunter gatherer, her simple tools fashioned from flint cutting edges lodged in wood and animal bone. When the sea first encroaches on her land her people simply move. Brythony moves further travelling to Asia, where she sees mankind's first walled cities, that gives her the idea of using stone walls to keep the sea out. So begins a colossal engineering project that will take decades, a wall that stretches for hundreds of miles, a wall that becomes an act of defiance, and containing the bones of the dead, an act of devotion, a wall that will change the geography of the world and its history." (Amazon)

Zendegi, Greg Egan. (2010)
"Nasim is a young computer scientist, hoping to work on the Human Connectome Project: a plan to map every neural connection in the human brain. But funding for the project is cancelled, and Nasim ends up devoting her career to Zendegi, a computerised virtual world used by millions of people. Fifteen years later, a revived Connectome Project has published a map of the brain. Zendegi is facing fierce competition from its rivals, and Nasim decides to exploit the map to fill the virtual world with better Proxies: the bit-players that bring its crowd scenes to life. As controversy rages over the nature and rights of the Proxies, a friend with terminal cancer begs Nasim to make a Proxy of him, so some part of him will survive to help raise his orphaned son. But Zendegi is about to become a battlefield." (Amazon)

Wolfsangel, by M.D. Lachlan. (2010)
"The Viking King Authun leads his men on a raid against an Anglo-Saxon village. Men and women are killed indiscriminately but Authun demands that no child be touched. He is acting on prophecy that tells him that the Saxons have stolen a child from the Gods. If Authun, in turn, takes the child and raises him as an heir, the child will lead his people to glory. But Authun discovers not one child, but twin baby boys. Ensuring that his faithful warriors, witness to what has happened, die during the raid Authun takes the children and their mother home, back to the witches who live on the troll wall. He places his destiny in their hands." (Book jacket)

Absorption, John Meaney.(2010)
"600 years from now on the world of Fulgor, Roger Blackstone, son of two Pilots (long-time alien spies, masquerading as ordinary humans) aches to see the mythical Pilot's city of Labyrinth, in the fractal ur-continuum of mu-space. In 8th century Norseland, a young person called Wulf kills a man, watched by a mysterious warrior who bears the mark of Loki the Trickster God. In 1920s Zurich, Gavriela Silberstein enters the long, baroque central hallway of the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule where Einstein so recently studied. On a nameless world, not knowing his human heritage, a silver-skinned youth tries to snatch back an Idea, but it floats away on gentle magnetic currents. There are others across the ages, all with three things in common: they glimpse shards of darkness moving at the edge of their vision; they hear echoes of a dark, disturbing musical chord; and they will dream of joining a group called the Ragnarok Council." (Amazon)

Nights of Villjamur, Mark Charan Newton. (2009)
"An ice age strikes a chain of islands, and thousands come to seek sanctuary at the gates of Villjamur: a city of ancient spires and bridges, a place where banshees wail the deceased, cultists use forgotten technology for their own gain and where, further out, the dead have been seen walking across the tundra. When the Emperor commits suicide, his elder daughter, Rika, is brought home to lead the Jamur Empire, but the sinister Chancellor plans to get rid of her and claim the throne for himself. When reports are received that tens of thousands of citizens are dying in a bizarre genocide on the northern islands of the Empire, members of the elite Night Guard are sent to investigate. It seems that, in this land under a red sun, the long winter is bringing more than just snow." (Amazon)

Pilgrims, Will Elliott. (2010)
"Eric Albright is leading a normal life until a small red door appears under a train bridge near his home. Then a ghostly being wakes him in the dead of night with a message from another world: You are Shadow. In Levaal, the world between worlds, the dragon-gods grow restless in their sky prisons, and the great Spirits struggle to contain them. Vous, the world’s Friend and Lord, simmers in madness as he schemes to join the ranks of gods. He and the Arch Magee have almost won their victory over the Fress Cities, a Dark Age dawns. But Eric and his friend Case are now Pilgrims called to Levaal for a battle more ancient the petty squabbles of men." (Book jacket)

The good, the bad, and the uncanny, Simon R. Green. (2010)
"Things were going so well for P.I. John Taylor, that it was only a matter of time before everything hit the fan. Walker, the powerful, ever-present, never-to-be-trusted agent who runs the Nightside on behalf of The Authorities, is dying. He wants John to be his successor, a job that comes with more baggage, and more enemies, than anyone can possibly imagine." (Book cover)

Sandman Slim, Richard Kadrey. (2009)
"Working as a sideshow gladiator in Hell after being snatched by demons at the age of nineteen, James Stark escapes and returns to Los Angeles, where he plots to destroy the magic circle that stole his life." (Book cover)

The risen queen, Duncan Lay. (2010)
"Martil and his Rallorans are trying to gain control of the north for Queen Merren but winning hearts of the people is proving impossible when the bards have painted them as murderous barbarians. King Gello the usurper is planning to lead a massive army to crush the budding rebellion bur, even if a way can be found to defeat him, the Fearpriests stand ready to come to his aid." (Book cover)

The storm witch : a novel of Dhulyn and Parno, Violette Malan. (c2009)
"Mercenary Partners Dhulyn Wolfshead and Parno Lionsmane have returned to their Mercenary House to clear themselves of accusations of kidnapping and murder. But before they can resolve these charges, old friends are taken hostage by the Long Ocean Nomads, and they are forced to come to the rescue. As they set sail, Dhulyn is convinced they are journeying to Parno's death, which she has foreseen in numerous visions of a drowning at sea." (Amazon)

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