Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
Pushing Ice (2005) is a standalone novel. It is not set in Alastair Reynolds’ REVELATION SPACE universe and as far as I can tell it is not related to any of his other works either. On his website, Reynolds mentions that there may one day be a sequel though. Pushing Ice is space opera on an intimidating scale but, unfortunately, I don’t think it gets close to the best the REVELATION SPACE universe has to offer.
July 29th, 2016. Rob Weber´s rating: 3 | Alastair Reynolds | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
Century Rain (2004) is the first novel Alastair Reynolds published outside of his REVELATION SPACE setting. It combines elements of noir, hard science fiction and time travel with a dash of romance. Reynolds also experimented with noir elements in Chasm City and The Prefect (which I think is one of his best novels). The melding of noir and science fiction doesn’t work as well in Century Rain; this book is not one of Reynold’s stronger novels.
July 22nd, 2016. Rob Weber´s rating: 3.5 | Alastair Reynolds | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Escape from Kathmandu by Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson is primarily known as a science fiction writer, but that category doesn’t fit all of his work. For example, just before he published the novel A Short, Sharp Shock (1990), which could be labeled as surrealistic fantasy, he published Escape from Kathmandu, a collection of four linked novellas set in contemporary Nepal. Three of the novellas — Escape from Kathmandu, Mother Goddess of the World and The True Nature of Shangri-La — were printed in Asimov’s in 1986,
July 15th, 2016. Rob Weber | Kim Stanley Robinson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Dan Simmons has impressed with the variety of themes and settings he takes on in his novels. He has written science fiction, horror, historical novels, crime and literary fiction. The man’s a very versatile writer. Black Hills, like his previous two novels The Terror and Drood, could be considered historical fiction with a clear supernatural theme.
The novel tells the story of the Paha Sapa. His name means Black Hills in Lakota but it is only used by those he is most intimate with;
July 6th, 2016. Rob Weber | Dan Simmons | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we’ve read recently that we wanted you to know about.
“And Then, One Day, the Air was Full of Voices” by Margaret Ronald (June 2016, free at Clarkesworld or paperback magazine issue)
Dr. Kostia is a keynote speaker and panel participant in an academic conference. Her specialty is extra-terrestrial intelligence ― specifically, the analysis of some radio-like transmissions from an alien race called the Coronals.
June 27th, 2016. Tadiana Jones, Katie Burton and Rob Weber | A.J. Hartley, Ian Tregillis, Marion Deeds, Mary Robinette Kowal, T. Kingfisher | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Memory of Whiteness by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Memory of Whiteness is Kim Stanley Robinson’s third novel, after The Wild Shore and Icehenge. It’s a very unusual book, standing out in Robinson’s oeuvre. Much of his work deals with science and many of his characters are scientists. In this novel science plays a large role as well, but this time it is not so much the process and the ways it can change the world but rather the world view that is influenced by a scientific theory.
June 22nd, 2016. Rob Weber | Kim Stanley Robinson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson
Icehenge is Kim Stanley Robinson’s second published novel. It was published the same year as his first novel The Wild Shore, the first part in his THREE CALIFORNIAS triptych. The subject of Icehenge is very different from The Wild Shore. It would be selling the book short to say it is a first step towards his popular MARS trilogy because Icehenge is a very good novel in its own right,
May 20th, 2016. Rob Weber | Kim Stanley Robinson | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
When the Great Days Come by Gardner Dozois
Gardner Dozois is probably best known for his work as editor, for which he has won an unprecedented number of Hugo Awards. He was in the editor of Asimov’s for twenty years between 1984 and 2004 and has edited an enormous number of anthologies of all kinds, including The Year’s Best Science Fiction series, which is up to its 33rd annual edition. There have also been a series of cross-genre anthologies edited with George R.R.
May 13th, 2016. Rob Weber | Gardner Dozois | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
The Songs of Distant Earth is one of Clarke’s later novels, based on a shorter piece of the same name that he wrote in the 1950s. In the foreword Clarke states it is something of a response to the rise of what he calls “space opera” on television and the silver screen (he specifically mentions Star Trek, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas), which according to him are fantasy. I suppose one could see them as such if you stick to the narrow interpretation of science fiction.
May 3rd, 2016. Rob Weber | Arthur C. Clarke | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke & Frederik Pohl
In March 2008 one of the titans of science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke died at the age of 90. At the time he was working on The Last Theorem, a collaboration with another big name in science fiction, the slightly younger Frederik Pohl who died in 2013. Clarke’s health would not permit him to do the writing himself so much of the novel was written by Pohl based on an outline and notes by Clarke.
April 22nd, 2016. Rob Weber | Arthur C. Clarke, Frederik Pohl | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one