Books Received

Haven’t done one of these for a while. Here’s the stuff that’s come in for Interzone, the BFAs and one or two other places.

Angel City by Jon Steele

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh

The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig

Tomorrow the Killing by Daniel Polansky

World War Z by Max Brooks

The People’s Will by Jasper Kent

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

God’s War by Kameron Hurley

The Adjacent by Christopher Priest

Theatre of the Gods by M. Suddain

The Bloodline Feud by Charles Stross

Slave State by Chris Kelso

The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen

Vurt by Jeff Noon

Pollen by Jeff Noon

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Slaine: The Grail War by John Smith, art by Nick Percival & Steve Tappin

Blood and Bone: a Novel of the Malazan Empire by Ian C. Esslemont

Across the Event Horizon by Mercurio D. Rivera

Misspent Youth by Peter F. Hamilton

The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu

Indigo Prime: Anthropocalypse by John Smith, Lee Carter, Edmund Bagwell

Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins

Play With Fire & Midnight at the Oasis by Justin Gustainis

Solaris Rising 2 edited by Ian Whates

Sea Change by S.M. Wheeler

The Peacock Cloak by Chris Beckett

Seoul Survivors by Naomi Foyle

Spectrums: Our Mind-boggling Universe from Infinitesimal to Infinity by David Blatner

The New Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

Sold for Endless Rue by Madeleine E. Robins

Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni

Burnt Island by Alice Thompson

Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter

City in the Dusk and other stories by Matt Colborn

The Warring States by Aidan Harte

The Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

Nod by Adrian Barnes

Hair Side, Flesh Side by Helen Marshall

Peel Back the Sky by Stephen Bacon

The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle

There is obviously not enough space to review everything and it should be stated that the absence of a review is no reflection on the quality of the book. Editing is a messy business and sometimes a great book will fall by the wayside for all sorts of reasons. Feel free to use the links to browse any of the books that look of interest.

Hope I haven’t missed anyone out. Apologies if I have; please let me know and I will rectify it.

Interzone 238

Artwork by Ben Baldwin

Interzone 238 will be published in a couple of days. This issue’s Bookzone will have reviews of the following titles:

The Kingdom of Gods by N. K. Jemisin (reviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller)

Lemistry: A Celebration of the Work of Stanislaw Lem, edited by Ra Page & Magda Raczyńska (reviewed by Andy Hedgecock)

White Tiger by Kylie Chan (reviewed by Lawrence Osborn)

Daylight on Iron Mountain by David Wingrove (reviewed by me)

The Cold Commands by Richard Morgan (reviewed by Paul F. Cockburn)

Kafkaesque: Stories Inspired by Franz Kafka, edited by John Kessel & James Patrick Kelly (reviewed by John Howard)

The Islanders by Christopher Priest (reviewed by Alan Fraser)

Manhatten In Reverse by Peter F. Hamilton (reviewed by Tony Lee)

In the Lion’s Mouth by Michael Flynn (reviewed by Paul Kincaid)

Songs of the Dying Earth, edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois (reviewed by Ian Sales)

The Joy of Technology by Roy Gray (reviewed by Ian Hunter)

You can see what else will be in this issue on Ben’s cover but for a more detailed look (including  interior artwork, story samples and lists of the the films reviewed) go here.

Vector 268

Artwork by the British Science Fiction Association

Vector 268 has no less than six articles on the late Diana Wynne Jones. There are also regular columns from Stephen Baxter, Paul Kincaid, Andy Sawyer and Terry Martin, and the start of a new series of articles on reproduction in science fiction. You will also find plenty of book reviews, including my review of David Wingrove’s Son Of Heaven. Use the links for further details.

 

This  mailing also has the latest issue of BSFA writer’s magazine, Focus 57, which has articles by Alastair Reynolds, David Rain, Paul Graham Raven, Gary Budgen, Christopher Priest, Keith Brooke, Lavie Tidhar, David L. Clemens and Dev Agarwal.

 

You should be able to buy this issue of Vector on its own but, to be on the safe side, join the BSFA.

Vector 266

The Spring edition of the BSFA critical journal is the first to be edited by Shana Worthen and has features from Terry Martin, Anthony Nanson, Andy Sawyer and Stephen Baxter; and summations of 2010 from Martin Lewis, Graham Andrews, Mark Connorton, Gary Dalkin, Alan Fraser, Niall Harrison, David Hebblethwaite, Tony Keen, Paul Kincaid, Jonathan McCalmont, Martin McGrath, Anthony Nanson, Martin Pots, Paul Graham Raven, Martyn Taylor, Sandra Underman, Anne Wilson, Ian Sales, Lynne Bispham, Alison Page and me. Jonathan McCalmont, in his review of 2010, says, “As with Interzone, the quality of non-fiction in Black Static is really superlative”. In fairness it should probably be pointed out that he does write some of the non-fiction in Interzone.

There are also lots of reviews, including Dave M. Roberts’s review of Music For Another World. He says that “This is a nicely varied theme anthology [...] also manages to maintain a fairly high standard throughout. On the strength of this collection, it is to be hoped that Mark Harding’s project with Mutation Press is a successful one.”  and picks out the stories by Cyril Symsa, Gavin Inglis, Aliette de Bodard, Chris Amies, Jackie Hawkins, David K. Hendrickson and Vincent Lauzon for special mention. He also says that ”My own personal favourite is probably Shostakovich Ensemble, The by Jim Steel. [...] The picture painted of the time is remarkably vivid”.

This BSFA mailing also comes with Focus 56 which includes articles on writing by Martin McGrath, Nina Allan, Terry Jackman, Aliette de Bodard, Elliot Summerhayes, Christopher Priest, Dev Argarwal, Gareth L. Powell, Gareth D. Jones and Gary Budgen. There is also poetry from Fay Symes, John F. Keane, K. Potter and Scott E. Green.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction 26

Gardner Dozois’s anthology (The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 22 in Britain) says of 2008, “Interzone had another strong year,” and it reprints three  stories:

Crystal Nights by Greg Egan (Interzone 215 )

His Master’s Voice by Hannu Rajaniemi (Interzone 218)

Butterfly, Falling at Dawn by Aliette de Boddard (Interzone 219)

The following stories receive honourable mentions:

The Endling by Jamie Barras (Interzone 215)

Greenland by Chris Becket (Interzone 218)

Poppyfields by Chris Becket (Interzone 218)

Africa by Karen Fishler (Interzone 217)

Corner of the Circle by Tim Lees (Interzone 218)

Little Lost Robot by Paul McAuley (Interzone 217)

Into the Night by Anil Menon (Interzone 216)

The Trace of Him by Christopher Priest (Interzone 214)

The Fifth Zhi by Mercurio D. Rivera (Interzone 219)

The Scent of Their Arrival by Mercurio D. Rivera (Interzone 214)

The Imitation Game by Rudy Rucker (Interzone 215)

Talk is Cheap by Geoff Ryman (Interzone 216)

The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain by Jason Sanford (Interzone 217)

When Thorns Are the Tips of Trees by Jason Sanford (Interzone 219)

Country of the Young by Gord Sellar (Interzone 219)

Everything That Matters by Jeff Spock (Interzone 219)

Far Horizons by Jason Stoddard (Interzone 214)

Endra – from Memory by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (Interzone 216)

And from the GSFWC:

The Behold of the Eye by Hal Duncan (Lone Star Stories 28)

Alice and Bob by Philip Raines & Harvey Welles (Albedo One 34)

And I am, of course, one of Interzone’s ‘ever-shifting editorial staff’. Sheesh.

Interzone 222

Artwork by Adam Tredowski.

On 14 May Interzone will equal a British SF magazine record when issue 222 is published. So far only New Worlds has published that number of issues but, barring the end of the world (or New Worlds suddenly starting up again), Interzone will have the record before the summer is out. I’ve got a great love of both magazines – if you’ve got a complete run of both you’ll have an excellent history of British post-war science fiction, not to mention a massive collection of some of the best short stories ever published.

And what is inside Interzone 222? Fiction from  Sean McMullen, Aliette de Bodard, Tim Pratt, Sarah L. Edwards, Nina Allan, and Kim Lakin-Smith, plus news’n'reviews from David Langford, Nick Lowe and Tony Lee. And the result of the Readers’ Poll. You did vote, didn’t you?

In the Bookzone this month Peter Loftus gives us a review of Paul Di Filippo’s Cosmocopia as well as a interview with both Paul and illustrator Jim Woodring. I seriously recommend taking a look at some of Jim’s artwork while you’re here. Other books reviewed this month are:

Lavinia by Ursula le Guin (reviewed by Lawrence Osborn)

Green by Jay Lake (reviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller)

The Accord by Keith Brooke (reviewed by David Mathew)

“It” Came From Outer Space by Christopher Priest (reviewed by Duncan Lunan)

Psychological Methods To Sell Should Be Destroyed by Robert Freeman Wrexler (reviewed by Paul Kincaid)

The City And The City by China Mieville (reviewed by Mike Cobley)

And Andy Hedgecock delivers a massive review of British SF anthologies (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction Volume 3, Subtle Edens, Premonitions: Causes For Alarm, Fantastic Bristol, and Subterfuge).

Interzone 220

artwork by Adam Tredowski

Interzone 220 should be out on January 5th.  In the Bookzone this time we will have:

The Physiognomy/Memoranda/The Beyond by Jeffrey Ford (reviews and interview by Rick Kleffel)

The Gabble And Other Stories by Neal Asher (review by Tony Lee)

Agent To The Stars by John Scalzi (review by Juliet McKenna)

The Engine’s Child by Holly Phillips (review by Mike Cobley)

The Magic: The Story of a Film/Real-Time World/Ersatz Wines by Christopher Priest (reviews and career overview by Andy Hedgecock)

Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale by Russell T. Davies & Benjamin Cook/The Torchwood Archives by Gary Russell/Doctor Who: Shining Darkness by Mark Michalowski/Doctor Who: The Doctor Trap by Simon Messingham/Doctor Who: Ghosts of India by Mark Morris/Torchwood: Pack Animals by Peter Anghelides/Torchwood: Skypoint by Phil Ford/Torchwood: Almost Perfect by James Goss (reviews by Paul F. Cockburn)

There are more reviews and commentary from Tony Lee (again), Nick Lowe and David Langford.

There’s also fiction from Jason Stoddard, Leah Bobet,  Gareth L. Powell, Eugie Foster, Rudy Rucker, and Neil Williamson.  I’m particularly looking forward to the stories from the last three for personal reasons.  As well as being my editor at The Fix, Eugie is a damned fine fantasy writer.  Neil is another member of the Glasgow SF Writers Circle and is far too talented for his own good.  And Rudy Rucker is Rudy Rucker.  The man is psychologically incapable of writing dull fiction.

From the cover inwards, this already feels like one of my favourite issues.

Interzone: the gift that keeps on giving.  Sign someone up here.