Category: Books
Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu translated by Joel Martinsen (book review)
Another of renowned Chinese author Cixin Liu’s novels has been translated for our enjoyment by Joel Martinsen in the form of ‘Ball Lightning’, a hard-SF, physics-based tale of obsession, complicated mathematics and the force of nature. As soon as I started reading, I recalled the curiously formal tone of Cixin Liu’s work, which initially may […]
The Robot In The Next Cubicle by Larry Boyer (book review)
‘The Robot In The Next Cubicle’ by Larry Boyer will make you think of the automated voices that ring you up offering…well, whatever they try before you hang-up. The sub-title, ‘What You Need To Know To Adapt And Succeed In The Automation Age’ is a bit more revealing. In his brief history of the technology […]
Beneath The Sugar Sky (Wayward Children book 3) by Seanan McGuire (book review)
‘Beneath The Sugar Sky’ is book three in the ‘Wayward Children’ series by Seanan McGuire. Please don’t read this review without having read the first books in the series, ‘Every Heart A Doorway’ and ‘Down Among The Sticks And Bones’, as it may contain spoilers. We begin with Cora, a new girl to Eleanor West’s […]
The Military Science Of Star Wars by George Beahm (book review)
When I first saw the title of this book, I did a double-take: ‘The Military Science Of Star Wars’ by George Beahm. The what now? ‘Star Wars’ is a fantasy, it doesn’t even stretch to becoming Science Fiction often, a Campbell and Tolkien rip-off that tapped into a cultural need when the world needed it […]
The Moviemaking Magic Of Star Wars: Creatures And Aliens by Mark Salisbury (book review)
Growing-up watching ‘Star Wars’, I was often amazed at the quality of the creature-making and mask work that the series had. Don’t get me wrong, I was equally fascinated by the work of, for example John Friedlander on ‘Doctor Who’, but ‘Star Wars’ had an extra-special something. This is something that is presented in a […]
The 10c War: Comic Books, Propaganda And World War II edited by Trischa Goodnow and James L. Kimble (book review)
As you can tell from the title, ‘The 10c War: Comic Books, Propaganda And World War II’, this book sets out to explore comicbooks in World War 2 where even super-heroes stepped in and helped the war effort. As light reads, comics were also popular amongst the armed forces and carried in their backpacks. The […]
The Psychology Of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas (book review)
Imagine being part of a team that fulfilled its greatest imaginings. It’s a tight-knit group of female scientists who have applied their knowledge to making time travel possible. Imagine the trauma of being excluded through no fault of your own and being forgotten by your team who you thought were friends. Barbara, one of the […]
Gamer Nation by Eric Geissinger (book review)
With a title like ‘Gamer Nation’, author Eric Geissinger is more or less giving away the subject matter. The sub-title, ‘The Rise Of Modern Gaming And The Compulsion To Play Again’ means it doesn’t see the activity as being totally healthy. Oddly, I received this book at a time when I’d nearly completed the August […]
Vicious Rumer by Joshua Winning (book review)
Rumer Cross is the orphaned daughter of one of the world’s most feared assassins. Her mother, Celene, stuck around just long enough to curse Rumer so that everyone she loves is doomed to die and then ran off and got herself killed. Yet someone seems to think that Celene left Rumer more than just a […]
The Point by John Dixon (book review)
Set in the near future, John Dixon’s novel, ‘The Point’, is about Scarlett Winter. She’s born into a military family but with no desire to follow in her retired father or brother Dan’s bootsteps as she’s very much the rebel. She doesn’t even attend her parents secret graduation party for her, already planning to backpack […]
