Author Archive: PaulineMorgan
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor (book review).
The Science Fiction field and especially fandom is a place where diversity is celebrated. We have long got over the pulp SF trope of all sentient aliens being automatically hostile and, in some novels, the aliens have behaved better and with more honour than humans. There is never going to be total harmony and, as […]
Single White Vampire (Argeneau Family book 1 or 3?) by Lynsay Sands (book review).
Knowing the best place to start is often a dilemma, whether the work in progress is a story, a novel or, in this case, a series of novels. Many authors will return to favoured characters and write about the events leading up to their first appearance in print. For Lynsay Sands ‘Argeneau Family’ saga, ‘Single […]
Ytterbium: EasterCon 2019 (convention report).
Despite initial appearances this is not a report on a rare metal but a personal perspective of the 2019 Eastercon held in the Park Inn at Heathrow, London from 19th to 22nd April. Ytterbium is element 70 in the periodic table and this Eastercon was the 70th post-war Eastercon, hence the name. Typically, this was […]
Hurricane: Hive Mind 3: by Janet Edwards (book review).
When the fans clamour for the next book before it can be scheduled by a mainstream publisher and an author writes faster than the big publishers can cope with, it makes sense to independently publish the books. For a newcomer to the writing business this could be a dangerous move but, when the quality is […]
Phoenix Falling (A Wildlands Novel) by Laura Bickle (book review).
So many novels incorporating supernatural elements tend to tread the same path by having their mythical creatures following in the footsteps of humans and migrating to cities. It is refreshing then to find the action almost entirely encompassing the wilds of America, in this case Yellowstone National Park. The focus for this set of novels, […]
A Quick Bite (Argeneau Family) by Lynsay Sands (book review).
A series of books, especially a long one (the 29th is due to be published this month) has to start somewhere. ‘A Quick Bite’ is touted as the first in the series. It is not the first to be published, it was the fourth. Writing books out of order presents problems. The first one is […]
Love Bites (book 2) by Lynsay Sands (book review).
With so many books having been written about vampires it seems difficult to come up with a new idea. This one has. ‘Love Bites’ is chronologically the second in a series about the Argeneau family. The whole family are vampires. This is explained to the female lead, pathologist Rachel Garrett, as being due to nano-technology […]
Higgs & Soap: Galaxy Delivery: Vol. 1 by Tony Cooper (book review).
Writing humour is very difficult as the audience for it is very variable. Not everyone appreciates the same kind of humour so tailoring it to a particular readership is an almost impossible task. As a result, it is best written for an audience of one, the author. With luck, there will also be others who […]
Final Girls by Riley Sager (book review).
In horror films, a common trope is to have a group of youngsters in a situation where they will be slaughtered one at a time by a maniac or a supernatural being, usually bloodily. The last scene is often of the last of the group fleeing the site of the carnage with the ambiguousness of […]
The Fell Sword (book 2) by Miles Cameron (book review).
Before the advent of computer games to occupy the waking hours of children, the imagination was allowed to create stories for the toys they played with. Even the Brontës honed their writing skills by creating a fantasyland, complete with maps as background to their tales. Many a potential author does this as a first step […]
