Books

Peter McLean’s first Burned Man novel, Drake, was my idea of the perfect holiday read. It was fun, easy to read, and just a bit unsavoury. A while ago, I read somewhere that people who swear a lot are generally considered ...

I’d never even heard of Jason Arnopp or his debut novel (outside writing for franchises) before hearing him talk on a panel about unreliable narrators. Ever since I read Poe’s The Telltale Heart as a teenager I have had an ...

No matter how many books I read, I never manage to stop judging books by their covers. After all, that’s the purpose of a cover, setting the expectations of the reader. I saw the cover of Revenger and I thought ‘Yes, ...

Having been a regular listener of the excellent Writing Excuses podcast for several years, it’s amazing that I’ve never read any of Mary’s novels before now. But Ghost Talkers felt like a good introduction, being a standalone fantasy novel. Not only ...

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is damn fun.While Becky Chambers’ debut might not have the most polished prose or general technical skill that an established SF writer, more science fiction novels should err on the side of ...

If there were ever a novel to have strong feelings about, this is it. I’m angry at this novel, disappointed by it, frustrated with it, and sucked in by it. The prose is so obnoxiously purple I want to wring ...

Having never come across Foz Meadows before, I approached An Accident of Stars with a mixture of trepidation and nervous excitement. What if I’m about to read the next SFF classic? Well, when it comes to Foz Meadows’ latest, that might ...

I have been making a concerted effort to read more short fiction. I’ve always struggled to read collections of short fiction in one chunk, finding that publishing on a weekly or monthly basis on-line the best way for me to ...

Guest post from Paige Orwin, whose debut novel, The Interminables, is out now, published by Angry Robot. Early on, I decided that I didn’t want any traditional fantasy creatures in The Interminables. No vampires, no werewolves, no figures taken from the mythology of ...

I have been making an effort to ensure I read more novels by women, particularly debuts. Thankfully, I’ve been finding more and more excellent books being published by my gender! We girls are doing our bit to ensure that SFF ...