Author Archive: PaulineMorgan
Resurgence by C.J. Cherryh (book review).
In days gone by, when reading matter was all print, either in the form of books or magazines, publishing houses had more staff. Editors had the space to give their authors guidance in order to produce the best work possible for the benefit of all: reader, writer and publisher. As in so many walks of […]
Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy book 2) by Robert Jackson Bennett (book review).
To many, the term ‘fantasy’ means either an invented world where the technology level is mediaeval, the highest form being the forging of steel, or a contemporary setting peopled with supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves. True, a lot of fantasy can be encompassed by variations on these themes but sometimes the imagination of the […]
A Plague Of Swords (The Traitor Son Cycle book 4) by Miles Cameron (book review).
It seems strange to be reading about a very contagious plague sweeping across the civilised world at a time when one is doing just that in the real world. ‘A Plague Of Swords’ is the fourth book in what is sub-titled ‘The Traitor Son Cycle’. Seeing what has gone before, there is an impression that […]
Imaginary Numbers (InCryptid novels book 9) by Seanan McGuire (book review).
Authors are very good at hunting out little documented information and embroidering it to produce something potentially spectacular. It is rare for anything to be totally original, that comes with imaginative weaving of new approaches with the extant. A cryptid is an animal whose existence is unsubstantiated. Examples such as Bigfoot and Yeti are common […]
Bone Silence (Revenger trilogy book 3) by Alastair Reynolds (book review).
Space Opera was a term coined in the 1930s and related to fictional adventures set almost entirely off-planet. Spaceships ignored the problems of relativity and crossed huge voids in days or even hours. The majority of the characters were male, aliens were there to fight or subjugate and any woman was someone to be rescued. […]
Marked by S. Andrew Swann (book review).
The idea of alternative histories and parallel worlds are tropes that have been common in SF and fantasy literature for a long time. The thing that has changed over the centuries is the way the protagonists reach the alternative world. Initially, it would have been through dreams or magic. Now, more elaborate and often pseudoscientific […]
Thunderlord by Marion Zimmer Bradley & Deborah J. Ross (book review).
For anyone unfamiliar with the ‘Darkover’ series created by Marion Zimmer Bradley, it is Science Fiction with fantasy overtones. Although the earliest stories appear to be fantasy, as the series develops, it becomes clear that Darkover is a ‘lost colony’ much in the same way Anne McCaffrey’s Pern is. Over the centuries when contact with […]
The Unkindest Tide (An October Daye novel book 13) by Seanan McGuire (book review).
Selkies are the seal people of Gaelic, Scottish and Scandinavian folklore. While spending most of their time in the sea, they will come onto the land, shed their skins and take human form. The legends say that if a skin is found, the owner can coerce the Selkie into remaining human. Often Selkies are portrayed […]
Warbird by Jilly Paddock (book review).
What seems like a lifetime ago and is probably much more than that for some of the readers of this is if students wanted to watch a favourite TV programme, they had to gather in a communal area and share one small screen. That was how we watched ‘Star Trek’ when it first appeared. We […]
Shadow Captain (Revenger series book 2) by Alastair Reynolds (book review).
There are two schools of thought regarding space travel in fiction. One is to stick to the science as we know it and keep the space-going vessels below the speed of light, the other is to embrace the idea that we will eventually find ways to breech the light-speed barrier either by developing the technology […]
