There’s a lot to be said for a strong authorial voice. Jeanette Ng’s debut novel, Under the Pendulum Sun is set in an alternate Victorian world where the fae are real. To match the setting, Ng employs a gothic voice akin ...
Read More »Damnation by Peter McLean: You’re about as deep as a puddle of piss
Peter McLean is back with another instalment of his entertaining Don Drake series. The rough-around-the-edges diabolist-for-hire continues to pine for his guardian angel, make stupid decisions, get himself into trouble, and generally fuck up whenever he possibly could. Three books ...
Read More »Tyranny of Queens: Maybe luck believes in me
The trouble with writing a spectacular opening novel of a series is that every follow-up is held up to a bar already set incredibly high. Of course, writing a smashing first instalment encourages readers to pick up any follow-ups, so ...
Read More »The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley
Can you think of any books that entirely populated by women? No? Well, now you’ll be able to name one. Kameron Hurley’s first stand-alone novel, The Stars are Legion, coming from Saga Press in the US and Angry Robot in ...
Read More »Dominion by Peter McLean: Diabolists, angels, and archdemons
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 ...
Read More »An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows
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 ...
Read More »Paige Orwin on writing urban fantasy without vampires and werewolves
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 ...
Read More »The Interminables by Paige Orwin
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 ...
Read More »The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
‘I spent a great deal of my life trying to be quiet and nice and not piss anyone off. I was miserable. It served no purpose. And they still came for me.’ The sad truth of the matter is that ...
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