I admit, this isn't exactly a new release. In fact, as far as I can tell, Monster Poems was published in 1976 at the latest. My copy dates back to 1977 (my mom wrote the year along with my name on the inside cover) and, to be honest, I had completely forgotten about this book. … Continue reading My Favourite Book of 2020 (and 1977) →

This book is billed as a look at how artificial intelligence will affect "crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human". The author, Max Tegmark, is a physicist and M.I.T. professor, so you can be sure he's got the brains and experience to give a good survey of current AI research … Continue reading Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0 →

This is a triple review--a Mexican standoff, if you will--between Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman and a Viking horde (backed up by nearly a dozen translators). I'll give you one guess who wins. In the first corner, we've got Hollywood heavyweight (he played Sherlock Holmes' older brother, Mycroft, in recent films) Stephen Fry with Mythos, a … Continue reading Fry vs. Gaiman vs. Erik the Red →

Set in Nigeria in the 2050s and 60s, Rosewater is a hugely imaginative twist on alien invasion filled with psychics, angels, fungi and even a couple of refugees from what used to be the United States. This is the first book in a sci-fi trilogy by Tade Thompson and it has won a slew of … Continue reading Rosewater by Tade Thompson →

A book that changed how I perceive forests. A couple of weeks ago I visited a nearby area of ancient woodland. Ancient woodland is a rare habitat in the UK, covering only about 2% of the land area (according to the Woodland Trust), so I considered myself lucky to have a decent-sized patch closeby. I … Continue reading Chopwell Wood, or Irony is in the Axe of the (be)Holder →

Located on the Scottish Border in northwestern England, Cumbria was (and still is) a sparsely populated county. One curious byproduct of Cumbria's low population density was that, through the middle ages, the tiny chapels in outlying thorpes and thwaites did not have license to bury the dead, so bodies had to be transported to larger … Continue reading The Corpse Roads of Cumbria by Alan Cleaver and Lesley Park →

DISTAFF: NOUNA staff used in spinning.Of women and women’s work.An anthology of women’s stories woven through time and space.courtesy of the Distaff website Distaff is a new anthology of science-fiction short stories born out of discussions by several female authors on the forums of the SFFChronicles. Beyond it being sci-fi, there is no common theme … Continue reading Distaff–A New Sci-fi Short Story Anthology →

Proxima is, ostensibly, about humanity's first attempts at colonizing a planet in a different solar system. I say "ostensibly" because, really, the story is also about tensions between the United Nations, which has control of Mercury and part of Mars, and China, which controls part of Mars and parts of the asteroid belt. Oh, it's … Continue reading “Proxima” by Stephen Baxter →

Uprooted is a tale that, in many ways, is very familiar. Rooted (hee hee, I made a pun!) in Eastern European folk-lore, it has a fairy-tale quality that will feel almost natural to many readers. The story also deals with common themes: an apprentice chafing under a close-minded master, good country peasants ignored by decadent … Continue reading “Uprooted” by Naomi Novik →