THE ISSUE 2 BSFA WINT ER 2017 REVIEW EDITED BY SUSAN OKE WINT ER ISSUE2017 2 THE BSFA REVIEW

REVIEWED IN THIS ISSUE...

The Weight of the World by Tom Toner Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones Reviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller ... 4 Reviewed by Dave M. Roberts ... 16

Then: Science Fiction Fandom in the UK The Shadowed Path: A Jonmarc Vahanian 1930-1980 by Rob Hansen Collection by Gail Z. Martin Reviewed by Andy Sawyer ... 5 Reviewed by Jared I. Magee ... 17 Revenger by Alastair Reynolds Reviewed by Paul Graham Raven ... 6 Camera Obscura by Lavie Tidhar Reviewed by Kate Onyett ... 18 The High Ground by Melinda Snodgrass Reviewed by Martin McGrath ... 7 Fair Rebel by Steph Swainston Reviewed by Nick Hubble ... 18 Swastika Night by Murray Constantine Reviewed by Anthony Nanson ... 8 Spellhaven by Sandra Unerman The Rift by Nina Allan Reviewed by Ben Jeapes ... 21 Reviewed by Gary Dalkin ... 9 An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows You Don’t Belong Here by Tim Major Reviewed by Nick Hubble ... 22 Reviewed by Graham Andrews ... 10

The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi Reviewed by Andy Sawyer ... 11 Reviewed by Christopher Owen ... 23

The Particle Beast by Ian C. Douglas A Study in Sable by Mercedes Lackey Reviewed by Rsaal Firoz ... 12 Reviewed by Estelle Roberts ... 24 Bridging Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan Reviewed by Graham Andrews ... 12 The Murders of Molly Southborne by Tade Thompson Crisis And Conflicts edited by Ian Whates Reviewed by Gary Dalkin ... 25 Reviewed by Stuart Carter ... 14 Terraforming: Ecopolitical Transformations Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Twenty and Environmentalism in Science Fiction Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and by Chris Pak Around the World in Eighty Days Reviewed by Anthony Nanson ... 26 by Jules Verne Reviewed by Alex Bardy ... 15 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

Outside of writing and editing, I work as an English VIEW FROM tutor. Amongst my students, there are a handful of enthusiastic creative writers. It is an honour to encourage and nurture these talented young THE EDITOR people. To that end, I would like to welcome a new volunteer to the community of BSFA reviewers: elcome to the Winter edition of the BSFA Rsaal Firoz. At 13 years old, he’s the youngest WReview. It’s that time of year again, when member of the team! As always, a big thankyou to our dedicated team few days of blissful sloth. On that theme, here of reviewers who give freely of their time, effort arelife kickssome uptasty a notchtitbits, before mouth-watering finally sliding morsels, into a and imagination. Without their hard work the succulent soupçons… too much? production of the BSFA Review wouldn’t be I guess you’re right. Let’s keep it simple. Here is a possible. If you’d like to join the team, send a sample of your work to me ([email protected]). enjoyment (sorry, couldn’t help it). Drag yourself All that remains is to wish you all a wonderful awayselection from of thebook ubiquitous reviews for TV your programming edification long and holiday break and an exciting New Year. enough to have a look—you won’t regret it.

We start our journey in the 147th century, take a walk through SF Fandom, hunt treasure with a Susan Oke to higher ground. Picking our way through a Nazi [email protected] dystopia,couple of bonereaders,we interrogate before the nature being forcedof belief to andflee come to the awful realisation that we don’t belong Are you interested in of Martian conquerors and the obliteration of middlehere. Time England. to go with Unfazed the flow by andthe facechallenge the horrors of a helping us celebrate the particle beast from a pocket dimension, we bridge BSFA’s 60th Birthday in 2018? facinginfinity humanity. only to find General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross If so, we’d love to hear from you! ready with his report on the crisis and conflicts On the Fantasy front, we’re challenged by an We’re after your memories of the engrossing twist on the werewolf myth, before BSFA, be they good or bad — and if wandering down the shadowed path and getting there is anything you specifically tangled up in a nineteenth century thriller mashup. remember from those early Vector magazines, we’d be especially keen while on the other an Edwardian rebel faces off againstOn one side,magical fair abductors. rebels fight Worldwalkers off a hoard of wanderinsects, to hear from you! into a strange world of intrigue, and colourless Alice must navigate a magical land where colour Did an editor, article, interview, or is currency. Elemental magic comes to the aid of maybe a certain review stick in your Sherlock Holmes, whilst poor Molly is cured with mind or leave an impression? a life of routine, endless slaughter. Did something you read in a BSFA publication have a lasting or assessment of the historical development of profound effect on your SF reading? On a more serious note, we finish with a critical Please, if you can help, get in environmentalAll the above produced, science offiction. course, by our wonderful touch and let us know! reviewers.

page 3 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

The Weight of the World by Tom Toner this, embark on a journey of their own, taking with (Gollancz, 2017) future. Reviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller them Eranthis’ child, also significant to the Empire’s To say that The Weight of the World is wide-screen baroque is to wildly understate things. Cordwainer e join Tom Toner in the 147th century, when Smith and Jack Vance have been invoked, and there is Whumankind as we know it has been trans- a strong hint of Dunsanyesque high fantasy about the formed, almost beyond recognition in some instances, Amaranthine Spectrum, even though it is also situated into a range of post-human breeds. They have spread in a post-singularity world familiar to readers of Iain across the universe, which is notionally under the Banks and other exponents of the new space opera. sway of the Amaranthine Empire and its Immortal And therein lies the problem. rulers. There is so much in play in Toner’s deeply allusive narration it takes an attentive reader to keep up with the labyrinthine story. I am too often reminded of other things, and those memories intrude a little too hard. This is a novel I can admire for its ambi-

The barrage of words and images is at times almost tootion muchwithout to necessarilyprocess; plot finding and story it a satisfactory seem a little read. too often secondary to language and imagery. Stunning as the prose is, I longed at times for more certainty as to where the story was heading.

Then: Science Fiction Fandom in the UK 1930- 1980 by Rob Hansen (Ansible Editions, 2016) Reviewed by Andy Sawyer

Some things do not change, however, and various here are not a few readers who have grown up individuals are jostling for control of the decay- T ing empire. Among them are Sotiris and Aaron the history of British fandom as nothing much to do with with sf who would see Rob Hansen’s mammoth Longlived, the latter revealed at the end of The Promise them. There are others (and I confess I’m one of them), - who sneakily turn to the index to see if they are men- tention is ownership of a mysterious weapon, the Soul tioned. And while I do have an interest, I can only do of the Child to be an artificial intelligence. Also in con my best to persuade the agnostics that this is an impor- he has less bargaining power than one might suppose. tant book; as important as any book coming out of an WitnessEngine, createdto their byvarious the human, activities Corphuso, is Lycaste, who a young finds academic press. Then isn’t exactly a history of science giant so beautiful that people once travelled to gaze upon him, and who is in truth rather naive. out of it). Nor is it about the readership of sf (although infiction some itself ways (though it’s the thenearest history thing of tosf aweaves history in of and sf- During the course of Promise of the Child, Lycaste reading in the UK that we have): “fandom” never was have committed murder. He exchanged his quiet life fled his home and inheritance, believing himself to (and is) a committed and articulate minority. for that of a wanderer, dragged across the universe by any sort of reflection of mass readership, but it was The half-century Then covers is the period in which has meanwhile formed an alliance with Aaron. In something that we can call “sf” crystallised as a genre TheSotiris, Weight and ofthen the his World confidant,, Lycaste’s Hugo seemingly Maneker. aimless Sotiris and grew to adulthood. It is also a period in which the journey continues, now in the company of Huereop, a mechanics of book and magazine publication, and the Vulgar, while his childhood friends, Pentas and Eran- ability of readers to communicate and share opinions, grew and changed radically. British fandom begins page 4 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017 with half a dozen people communicating with each even conscientious objectors, during the war.) We other via the letter-columns of US magazines and see fandom gradually picking itself up after the wartime trauma, and eventually the foundation of the the Theosophical Hall, Leeds in 1937. In 1980, when BSFA in 1958. We see squabbles and feuds and new with 14 people attending the first sf convention in the story on until the middle of the decade), a World sfthis convention book ends in (officially: Brighton a had pair upped of supplements that 14 by carry well aregenerations themselves attacking the target the of stuffiness younger andrebels. hidebound We see over 3,000. Fandom had grown conservatism of theirglorious elders silliness only tolike find the that“Knights they from a tribe in which it was possible of St Fanthony” and the even more to know everyone involved into a glorious acuteness of writers like subculture. And you, a member of the Walt Willis whose appearance on British Science Fiction Association the scene from Belfast in the 1950s are a part of this. raised fanwriting to a height it was It all begins in 1930 when Walter never to reach again.

Ilford Recorder, noticed a letter in because fandom and, especially, WonderGillings, Stories a trainee from journalist someone on who the fanzinesAbove all,became we see a training-ground science fiction, lived not far from him. They got together and the result was the Ilford such as Brian Aldiss, John Brunner, Science Literary Circle, nine people Michaelfor many Moorecock,of the field’s majorand Christowriters,- meeting in the front parlour of a pher Priest. It’s hardly an exaggera- middle-aged couple who never quite tion to say that just about every- - body associated with the Liverpool ings published the “minutes” of the meetingsrealised what in his this newspaper, was all about. and Gill his a professional writer. In fanzines letters to various sf magazines resulted in other British like Peter Weston’sGroup Speculation before we the see 1950s a new becamewave of fans following his example. The most notable was the ambitiously-titled “Universal Science Circle” of Liver- over. Vector itself is part of this history. science fiction being identified, defined, and argued pool, established by radio-ham Colin H. Askham, Les Then offers a picture of a pre-internet time which most certainly is not now. For any sf reader under thirty, this is the proverbial long time ago, in a galaxy jettisonJohnson “an and elderly four followers.lady who Gillings’had mistaken group us quickly for a far, far away. There are still, scattered throughout the Spiritualistcollapsed – circle”.part of Histhe visionreason, continued Gillings wrote,over the was next to country “sf groups” of six or a dozen people, meeting decade in various attempts to establish British science to discuss books or chat about sf, but they communi- cate via Facebook or other social media and are more likely to read webzines or blogs than paper fanzines. fiction magazines and form a national organisation.- - ingsHugo was Gernsback’s quick to establishmentjoin. The 1937 of convention the “Science included Fiction tion of their reading, rather than stories in which fans League” in 1934 encouraged more recruits and Gill tease“Fan-fiction” other fans. now is fiction written by fans in imita Then reminds us that the literary and polit- names who were to become central to the field: Arthur ical arguments in fandom are nothing new. But more C. Clarke, Eric Frank Russell, and E. J. (“Ted”) Carnell. 1942, and died a casualty of the paper shortage. thanReading that, Then shows that right from the start, people Gillings’ magazine Tales of Wonder staggered on until Hansen’s research, drawing upon a number of massive archives, most notably that of Vince Clarke, devote time to and argue about. While the characters one of the most important participants in the story, inthought this book science are people fiction some, was importantat least, of its enough readers to is thorough. He sets each section in the context of the times, and although this occasionally reads as if this good friends of mine in it) it is more than an exercise inwill nostalgia. remember I am (and not Iat certainly all sure that find readers the names of any of of events like World War Two, for the most part this other genre are able to celebrate their history in this issmall rewarding, group of revealing hobbyists snippets was specifically about the widerthe target lives way, and nobody with any serious interest in British of our participants. (It’s interesting to note that so account of the people who created it. science fiction can afford to be without Rob Hansen’s page 5 many early fans, like Gillings himself, were pacifists, THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

Revenger by Alastair Reynolds sights on revenge, and plots to take down Bosa and her legendary ship The Nightjammer once and for all… (Gollancz, 2017) and if you think she’ll accomplish that by playing nice Reviewed by Paul Graham Raven and taking the moral high road, well, think again. Fura is an enjoyably hard-nosed character, if rather t seems old sea-dogs can learn new tricks after all. a thin one: Revenger is very much an adventure story, and as such the characterisation stands in subservi- I ence to plot; the characters have exactly as much in the space, but Revenger sees him sailing a little closer to theWe’ll narrative likely neverwind, get swapping Alastair Reynoldsthe over-engineered out of deep way of motivation or backstory as is required to keep complexity that characterises his inimitable form of things moving, but little more. But I’m oddly pleased space opera for a slimmer, more nimble vessel. And yes, I’m getting the nautical puns out of the way up unrepentant, and giving her a vengeance storyline withoutby Reynolds’s any saccharine choice to redemptionmake her not at just the flawedclose. That but front, because Revenger is acknowledged to be a sci- might go some way to explain- maritime adventure – think ing why Revenger isn’t billed Forester’sence-fictional Hornblower slant on classicseries, as a YA title, a choice that Bernard Cornwell’s naval both surprised and pleased novels, that sort of stuff. me: surprised, because Fura’s bildungsroman, gritty as it is, Of course, “they’re like ticks most of the boxes on the regular ships, but in space!” YA manifest; pleased, because isn’t an original concept; space it suggests that we may have - moved past the use of conde- olds’s earlier novels very much scension for marketing pur- opera is marbled with it, Reyn included. The difference is in poses. Revenger is not a book the narration: sure, we’ve got for teenagers, but it is a book a vast, old storyverse littered that teenagers could enjoy, with the remains of preced- and is likely more accessible ing civilisations (the deep past as palimpsest, per Vance and super-dense style, which Wolfe), and we’ve got space- requiresto them than a workingReynolds’s knowl usual- ship crews hoisting sails to the edge of the sf reading proto- solar wind, buckling the swash cols to be fully appreciated. etc. But isn’t military Revenger One side effect of that nar- rative simplicity is a paucity stubble-jawed hero. fiction, and its protagonist is no of eyeball kicks, the tempta- - tion to go to town on descrip- dock world, sisters Adrana and Fura Ness run away to tive stuff must have been hard to resist. Another is Raised on a two-town boon sea – sorry, to space – ostensibly to earn their fading that the novel’s tone slips around a little bit, teetering father out of his debts. They both have the ability to between homage and pastiche... though that could be boneread – to commune with the alien skulls used by - spaceships to swap rumours and keep in touch over ness to treat her role like a rollercoaster. the vastness of deep space – and are settling well into plausibly put down as reflecting Fura’s bluff willing But I really didn’t care a whit – Revenger was a fun, fast read that hit all the space-adventure high notes while dodging the worst of the clichés. There’s also worlds,their first booby-trapped commission. and Their sealed captain up isbehind a treasure- force- hunter, trawling through “baubles” – ancient artificial the clear possibility (if not an outright promise) of more adventures for Fura, or at least more stories

afields different – for whateversort of scavenger, ancient or and alien the bric-a-brac dread pirate they adventure-centric universe with light-years of narra- Bosamight Sennen flog at swoopsa profit. in, But killing their offhaul most of lootof the attracts crew, tivefrom space the yet Congregation. to be explored… Reynolds and that’s has a setjourney up I’ll an and stealing Adrana away to be her new bonereader. gladly take ship for.

Saved by the sacrifice of her crewmates, Fura sets herpage 6 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

The High Ground by Melinda Snodgrass young-adult novels. Mercedes and Tracy are, of course, bound to fall in love – though their difference (Titan Books, 2016) in station means their love cannot be – and, of course, Reviewed by Martin McGrath both have misadventures due to their atypical status. The major problem with The High Ground is that for hen I was a child I loved the breakfast cereal around 350 pages nothing interesting happens in the W most mind-numbingly predictable fashion. The char- for breakfast, supper and, basically, whenever I could acters are insipid and generic and it’s very hard to persuadeReady someone Brek –to instant give me porridge a bowl. If that I’d had I would my way, eat care for people who, despite the supposed obstacles placed in their way, are obviously destined to succeed. in a moment of nostalgic weakness, I thought I’d revisit Mercedes may worry about whether she’s pretty myI might childhood have eaten obsession nothing and but made Ready myself Brek. a bowl.Recently, I’m enough or capable enough, but it is immediately clear not sure what my seven-year-old-self saw in the stuff, that of course she’s really beautiful and, of course, her but I can tell you that I was left wondering why anyone practical competence will be rewarded. Tracy might suffer from regularly spaced bouts of insecurity but he’s also obviously destined for greatness and bound wouldMy reaction eat this to flavourless, Melinda Snodgrass’s texture less, The pap. High Ground to outshine all of his higher-born classmates. That’s is more-or-less the same, except without the faint just the kind of novel this is. sense that my youthful memories have been betrayed. Fifty or so pages from the end, a half-baked plot The back cover of this volume introduces Snodgrass against Mercedes is revealed and there is some brief as an acclaimed novelist and scriptwriter of Star Trek: action. Snodgrass’s writing is glassy smooth, every feature that might snag the reader’s attention worn away. It is easy to consume, certainly, but it is taste- MartinThe Next in Generation.the Wild Cards This series is the and first her time novel I’ve Circuit come across her work, but she has written with George RR- nated for a Prometheus Award. less and bland: just like Ready Brek. (published in 1986 – the first of a trilogy) was nomi The High Ground (The Imperials Saga) in which humanity has largely abandoned the over-heated is the first Earth (of five) and in encountereda new series and conquered a variety of alien species to establish a “Solar Empire”, which has existed for long enough to begin to slip into decadence. The emperor of this confection has a problem: a family full of daughters but an inability to produce a male heir. His solution is to break with tradition and appoint Mercedes, his eldest daughter as his heir. To claim the throne, Mer- cedes must prove her ability to lead by becoming the infirst a vastyoung station woman orbiting to attend the andimperial graduate throneworld, from the Ouranos.empire’s elite military college, The High Ground, set Meanwhile, Thracius (Tracy) is the bright son of an impoverished tailor who has – much to his dismay

Tracy’s position as an intitulado – a student from outside– been the awarded aristocracy a scholarship – is not unique to The but High his lowborn Ground. status attracts scorn and maltreatment. Despite being sold as a “space opera” almost all of sequence) is a tepid school-based romance that weaklythis novel rehashes (barring material a brief prologuethat will andbe familiar a final action from a host of more dynamic and more engagingly written

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Swastika Night by Murray Constantine There are varied nuances of Nazi attitudes among the three other main characters: the Knight in posses- (Gollancz, 2016) sion of the book, the Englishman (Alfred) who dreams Reviewed by Anthony Nanson of revolution, and his dim-witted Nazi friend who early in the book savagely beats up a beautiful teenage boy whom he’s caught raping a 12-year-old Christian nd I believe that when all things are accom- girl. It will illustrate the moral complexities in play plished and the last heathen man is enlisted in ‘A if I explain that his motive for the beating is jealous rage that this 14-year-old boy has rejected his sexual again in martial glory to the sound of guns and aero- advances, that it’s a crime to rape girls under 16, but planes,His Holy to Army,the sound that of Adolf trumpets Hitler and our drums God will … And come I that it’s the most disgusting of transgressions to have believe in pride, in courage, in violence, in brutality, sex with Christians (who have taken the place of the in bloodshed, in ruthlessness, and all other soldierly long-vanished Jews as the despised other). Alfred and heroic virtues. Heil Hitler.’ As I was reading aloud tries to accept that the revolution must be of the spirit to my wife the Hitler Creed on the opening pages of not violence, yet he too has an impulse towards vio- Swastika Night, delighting in the parody, a woman lence. In this miasma of intellectual confusion, even sitting near us in the Christians have a debased version of the cafe got up and their faith, believing that only Christian left the room. Oh dear, did she think that no way is offered non-Christians I approved of such (i.e.men, Nazis) not women, to escape will damnation. find salvation and a creed? It was a reminder that when Most horrifying in this society is a text employs irony the place of women, seen as animals the reader has to be whose only purpose is to breed, and so able to comprehend ugly that men cannot love them in the that it’s ironic. way they love boys, and kept penned in Women’s Quarters where men come You’d have to be a to rape them when they feel the need. very naive reader to The feminist message is clear enough. think that Murray The stance towards homosexuality will Constantine’s make the modern reader more uneasy. (Katharine Bur- dekin’s) vision of a published 1937). The fact that norms world ruled by Nazi andFor thisassumptions book was writtenhave changed in 1935 since(first then complicates the aforementioned years was any kind challenge of decoding the layers of irony. ofGermany endorsement for 700 of It’s a dystopian work for sure, albeit Nazism. However, more a dialogue-driven novel of ideas in this society Nazi than a thriller, but what struck me is thought and values that this vision of Nazi supremacy lacks have penetrated so the intensity of terror, savagery, and mass murder - that in 1935 had yet to be enacted in history. Swastika tive sources of knowledge have been so thoroughly Night is not a literary masterpiece like its successors obliterated,deeply, even that among it’s not the easy ‘subject to unpick races’, andthe detail alterna of Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Man in the High Castle, to what extent any particular view that’s expressed but its return to print seems timely given the turn is ironic. The focus of Constantine’s interest is the to far-right nationalism we’re now witnessing even destruction of truth. Her plot turns on a secret book in countries that were once the bulwark against preserved from generation to generation of an aristo- fascism.

notcratic wholly (‘Knightly’) reliable, family, since its which author relates was anhimself alternative a Nazi andhistory had in to which rely on Hitler memory. was not God. Even this book is

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The Rift by Nina Allan (Titan Books, 2017) Reviewed by Gary Dalkin

The Rift is Nina Allan’s second novel, following or something close to it, being set in motion when thirty-something2014’s The Race. Serena The storyreceives unfolds a phone in the call present, pur- porting to be from her sister, Julie, who disappeared 20 years ago. Serena, who was then 14, divides her life into the period before 16th July, 1994, and everything after. The first of severalThe Rift rifts tells in the her story life. of the events around Julie’s disappearance, and the immediate aftermath,The first partas remembered of by Serena, and also Ser- ena’s meetings with the woman who claims to be, and who Serena accepts as, her long lost sister. This part–– the book is divided into three sections of roughly equal length––could almost come from a mainstream

Allan and we know things are going to get strange. thriller with the word ‘girl’ in the title. But this is Nina The central section of the book is Julie’s account, as told to Serena, of what happened when she disap- peared that July day. Julie set out to visit a friend, but Allan then adds extracts from various documents, on the alien world of Tristane. Here she lives with a couplefollowing who a act traumatic as her guardians––from event somehow their finds point herself of view, Julie says, she had already been with them for story.newspaper Some articles, of these diaries, works worksare by of authors fiction livingand non- on years. They believe that her stories of life on a planet fiction, which introduce an entirely new level to the imagination, where do these epistolary inclusions Julie suffered and which she can’t remember. Eventu- comeTristane, from...? but if Tristane is simply a figment of Julie’s called Earth are a reaction to an unspecified trauma ally, according to Julie, she returns to Earth as myste- The Rift is a complex book written in elegantly riously as she left. Unable to face her family, or report unfussy prose. It is about many things, coming of age, her return to the authorities, she begins a new life sexual awakening, identity, taboos, the nature of story with a new identity. And so almost two decades pass. and how we use it to interpret the world. The more The Rift addresses how Serena The Rift associated with deals with Julie’s story. On the surface it would appear identity and transformation have resonances with obvious,The final that third The Rift of is about trauma, mental illness science-fictional elements of - and false memories. Allan carefully constructs the world in June and her novella, Maggots, featured in the recentAllan’s anthologystory ‘Neptune’s Five Stories Trident’, High. published by Clarkes detail––dates, times, places––and odd ambiguities This is easily the most ambitious and rewarding novel so that it is both full of very realistic specific and resonances. It is a book that seamlessly mixes the book Allan has written to date. As good as The Race everyday and domestic with the disquieting, chilling was, The Rift feels more complete as a novel, deftly and alien. The world-building is superb. bringing various themes into what ultimately serves Julie thinks very much in terms of story: as a teen- as a sophisticated interrogation of the nature of ager writing essays about Blake’s Seven and Picnic at belief. Of what, given the evidence the world presents - us with, we decide we are going to believe, the com- ter called Cally, the same name as Julie’s female guard- promises we make with reality, and, under extreme ianHanging on Tirstane, Rock. In while the former the latter there addresses is an alien the charac never circumstances the beliefs some have no choice but to resolved disappearance of a group of teenage girls. hold if they are going to survive. page 9 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

You Don’t Belong Here by Tim Major everything – in the end. I was also impressed by the new twist on time travel that emerges after all the (Snowbooks, 2016) narrative dust has settled. And I think you will be, too. Reviewed by Graham Andrews On the debit side, the pace slowed down to a crawl every so often and I got a bit lost in the occasional verbal beautifully-written, cleverly unsettling puzzle- haze. It’s also hard to identify with the self-absorbed box of a novel.” I could do worse than let that Daniel Faint, who seems to have all the anti-social dis- “A graces. His twin brother, William, is not much better probably will. But here goes . . . than him, and perhaps even a whole lot worse. It’s the encomium from Adam Roberts stand by itself – and I quirky treatment of time-travel tropes that carries this Time-travel novels are not the simplest things to think-piece thriller through to overall success. write – and sometimes to read, as well. After all, as St. Augustine once asked: “What then is time? If no one asks me, I know. If I want to explain it to a ques- tioner, I do not know.” He did, however, conjecture that Time involves a constant passage from the future to the past, which “increases in proportion as the future diminishes, until the future is entirely absorbed and the whole becomes past.” But the future does not exist and the past no longer exists. The mind has three functions: expectation, for the future; attention, for the present; memory, for the past. The best thing to

and look the other way when a chronological glitch loomsdo with up time-travel ahead. Here stories ends isthe to wee go along thinky with bit. the flow You Don’t Belong Here saying to Daniel Faint, the aptly-surnamed hero – leading character, rather is– of the this first chrono-psycholog thing I felt like- ical mystery novel. I don’t like doing plot summaries, working on the principle that readers can be safely left to felt such things out for themselves. But I will set out the basic situation. To begin with, then, Daniel steals a time machine, which he has no idea how to operate. He takes it with him to a large Cumbrian manor house, where he is fortuitously employed as a caretaker. It isn’t quite in the Overlook Hotel class, but strange things do happen in-and-around there. Daniel in the lion’s den stuff, indeed. Faint seems to be under Tim Major is the author of two novellas: Carus & surveillance by Straw Dog-ish locals. His twin brother, Mitch - ed for a This is Horror Award), and Blighters: Invasion Probability DF might make for a good alternative title. from Beyond! (Omnium (Abaddon, Gathering, 2016). 2015, His which short was stories short-list have OrWilliam, it might is not.also in on the act – somehow. Report on appeared in Interzone, plus many other magazines You Don’t and anthologies. I wish Tim the best of luck with his Belong Here, particularly in the early chapters, where There is a touch of Robert Sheckley about worth waiting for, if You Don’t Belong Here is anything ram-Sheckley way (sorry about that). Like the trust- tonext go novel-lengthby. Novellas are work novels, of fiction. in my Itopinion. should But be then, well- Faint goes about testing ‘his’ time machine in a very who buy an alien-built spacecraft minus the instruc- tioning souls manual, in ‘The he conductsLifeboat Mutiny’ one not-thought-out (Galaxy, April experi 1955),- I still can’t bring myself to call Pluto a ‘dwarf’ planet. ment after another. It’s like jumping off a conceptual cliff with eyes tight shut. Having said that, however, Faint does make sense of everything – well, almost

page 10 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter Like many writers in the Wells tradition, Baxter (Gollancz, 2017) has frequently had enormous fun in imaginatively destroying the world around him. He excels himself Reviewed by Andy Sawyer here, with vivid and alarming pictures of oblitera- tion brought to regions which are the heart of Middle England and Metropolitan complacency. Julie is a t is 1921 and the world is recovering from the strong narrator, though Baxter splits the narrative IMartian invasion. A war that broke out in 1914 has not only her own account but what Frank, a medical Jenkins, the author of the narrative we know as The between various doctor viewpoint with figures. the army Julie during gives its us Warresulted of thein the Worlds German, calls domination together of Europe. Walter initial rout by the invaders, and some of the others involved – his other eyewitnesses later tell her. This gives us the full picture (and a Elphinstone who narrates most of dramatic one, well told and estab- thebrother story, Frank, Bert FrankCook, ‘sbetter ex-wife known Julie lishing a truly Wellsian disintegra- in Jenkins’ narrative as the “artiller- tion) though sometimes at the cost yman”, and others – to warn them of immediate impact. of the forthcoming Martian return. The Martians appear to have found a The spread of the narrative solution to the bacteria that defeat- to encompass not only Imperial Britain but the rest of the world is in a ring centred on the Bucking- necessary and allows for the story hamshireed them, and town fifty-two of Amersham. cylinders fall to add more echoes of the original: a young Australian Aboriginal Baxter ingeniously presents the character towards the end of the narrator of The War of the Worlds novel seems to give voice to the (whom we mistakenly think of as Tasmanians whom Wells points to early on as a symbol of our thirst man (so says a certain “Parrinder”, for colony and empire; a scene in oneH. G. of Wells) many – in-jokesas a flawed, which unreliable Wells scholars will rec- the USA shows us Julie’s young journalist friend Harry ognise) who has managed to alienate everyone in Lane writing Edisonades the story including his wife (now ex-wife), Carolyne 1898 “sequel” to Well’s novel Edison’s Conquest of Mars. (annoyed by his patronising description of her) and The inventor Thomas Edison(as inis Garrettactually P.brought Serviss’s in by Baxter in a cameo role designed to echo Serviss’s (and Julie, from the version of the story we know) think novel. sheJulie is. ‘s Baxter’s sister Alice, playful by noapproach means tothe viewpoint weakling extends Walter It is Julie’s account that is at the book’s heart. She, with to mentions of a man who is something of a bête-noir Alice, escapes the wreckage of London to Paris. Two years to Jenkins: a facetious squeaky-voiced author whose later she is summoned again by Walter and drawn into a name he feigns to forget noted for an essay called - something like “The Year Million Man” that seems to ed as an attempt to communicate with them. Here, the have forecast the Martian form. plan to infiltrate the Martian enclave in what is present The way Wells originally set up his structure of the start to appear, and we later learn much more about the solar system with Mars as the “older” planet preying Martianstwists, powered and their by plansJulie ‘s for insight the human and resourcefulness, race. It is back upon the less-evolved civilization of the “younger” in Middle England, as Bert Cook gives Julie and Verity, a becomes an important part of Baxter’s adapta- young woman from a community living in uneasy sym- tion. Julie comes across Venusians (“Cythereans”) biosis with the Martians, a tour of the pits where captive who have also been captured by Martians (“Lessing humans are stored for their blood supply, that the real has advanced excellent reasons for supposing that sense of nightmare confronts us. the Martians have actually succeeded in effecting a landing on the planet Venus” Wells/Jenkins wrote in succeeded once, in in returning to a - The Time Ships WellsSemi-official novel and sequels presenting to Wells its aftermath are legion. without Baxter sion). But there is another world beyond Mars that destroying the essential argument and immediacy of mighthis concluding have a viewpoint summary on of cosmic events affairsafter the . . .first inva the original. I think he’s done it again here. page 11 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

The Particle Beast by Ian C. Douglas away. The story takes place in the 23rd century and (Lightning Source, 2017) depictsZeke, she a morewould egalitarian have confided society, in him both before on Mars running and Reviewed by Rsaal Firoz Earth. Zeke is English, Scuff is Canadian and Pin-mei is Chinese, which gives the book a fairly diverse cul- tural background. There are some exciting martial he Particle Beast is the third book in the engaging T crumbling into sand. Zeke Hailey. It is a well-written story, with witty dia- arts fighting scenes, coupled with people occasionally loguescience and great fiction description, series written although by Ian Douglas’ C. Douglas, use Overall, The Particle Beast is a great read for young of technological terms can sometimes be a bit over- whelming. humanity. It is also a good book for people fascinated byadults the interestedpossibilities in ofscience ancient fiction civilisations and the livingfuture onof Zeke Hailey, a boy with psychic abilities, is trying - ryline and engaging dialogue. I would have given it a years ago. His search is interrupted by a dangerous the Red Planet. I give it four stars for the great sto to find his father, who went missing in deep space 15 foe, Dr. Apollodoris Enki, who wishes to use Zeke’s depth. Enjoyable for readers as young as ten and as old knowledge of the forgotten Hesperian language as a five if the characters had been explored in a little more key to an ancient Martian city. Unbeknownst to Dr. Enki, the city is guarded by a Particle Beast from a as twenty-five. A timeless sci-fi adventure! pocket dimension. Zeke, with his friends Scuff and Bridging Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan Pin-mei, is faced by the challenge of making sure the (Solaris, 2016) Particle Beast never enters their dimension. Reviewed by Graham Andrews During the course of the book, Zeke encounters a

number of bizarre characters and tribes, most of them wanting him dead. One of my favourite tribes is the ridging Infinity Marmish, a group Bline of hard-sf anthologies edited by my fellow of pious Christians Ulster-born expatriate is the latestauthor, in aJonathan potentially Strahan: infinite living on Mars who Engineering Infinity (2010); Edge of Infinity (2012); have forsaken all Reach for Infinity (2015); Meeting Infinity (2015). technology in an It takes me a while to get through an anthology since effort to become I don’t like to read the stories one after the other, espe- “more human”. The storyline is have habit of reading the head- and/or after- notes gripping and well beforecially with reading a ‘themed’ the actual anthology stories. Inlike any this case, one. Bridging I also thought out, but I Infinity can’t say the same - for the characters. thing that is a has rather ever loosely-themed existed, exists anthology.now, and will Infinity ever Their personalities exist.is well Therefore, – infinite –Bridging so, by definition, Infinity is itabout includes more every than do not really grow as the story Strahan makes a bold statement of intent in his Intro- progresses, which ‘just’ infinity. means that it’s broader, more inclusive, less centralized than when I duction: “Science fiction is always changing. It’s much much empathy for difficult to feel is exactly the same. It asks questions, it believes prob- the characters. For first encountered it, but a lot of what made it special example, we get no real sense of the tension Zeke must be feeling when his friend disappears, or when he faces bitlems of areromance. solvable, That’s and what it tries I see to in find these those stories, solutions and I the Particle Beast. hopein stories you willthat as are well.” filled with action, adventure and a There are a number of interesting themes, one It is not unknown for a book reviewer to be of them being trust among friends. If Zeke trusted buttonholed by someone who asks why that reviewer Scuff and Pin-mei more, he would probably have didn’t deal with one particular story in a collection or found his father a lot quicker, and if Pin-mei trusted anthology. My possibly self-serving reply is that it is page 12 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017 impossible to satisfy every reader’s could be expanded to individual taste or preference. Not novella-length. Karin only impossible, but unreasonable, - considering the usually available space. dias’ is a stave of tra- ditionalLowachee’s space ‘Ozyman opera that could be devel- Reviewers should be free to choose the oped into an ongoing tostories choose that their they own find suitablefavourite for stories close series – for Analog, fromtextual the analysis. contents-page Readers of are fare, also if freeand perhaps. when they buy the book in question. The three stand-out bought for this volume, Thoraiya I’ll start with the first story Strahan stories are ‘Parables Nothing’of Infinity’ (An (Robert Owo- Dyers ‘Induction’, which was a very Reed), ‘Travelling into wheezegood place to counter for him global to start. warming The ‘big by Birthdays’ (Ken Lui). human-madehard-science’ partvolcanic concerns activity a spiffing that Lui’smoyela), story and makes ‘Seven extracts sub surface lava and turns a nice coda to the anthology, with its Waters, a former astronaut who is the Stapledonian scope mainit into viewpoint ‘reclaimed’ character, land. returns Christian to and welcome opti- the east Caribbean island of Anquilla, mism. “We’ll colonize soon to be volcanically remastered by the rest of the galaxy. - Engineer in charge of the Valley Project (named after less worlds, we’ll endow them with every form of life, theMaata capital Irihaan, city). the Christian Chief Geotechnical has come to bid farewell to from Earth’s distant past to theWhen future’s we that find might life his dying grandmother, but he must also seek recon- have been on Europa {a home-from-a-long-lost-Earth - planet}. We’ll walk down every evolutionary path . . tion’ is a rich blend of dangerous applied technology . We’ll give those creatures who never made it onto andciliation an examination with his estranged of how complex half-brother, relationships Roy. ‘Induc are Noah’s Ark another chance, and bring forth the poten- developed from the past, through the present day, and so on into the future. As such, it is a template for most and Eve”. tial of every star in Raphael’s conversation with Adam - – if not all – of the stories that bridge infinity here. PentagonsHonourable of Hex’ mentions: (Allen M. ‘Six Steele). Degrees The only of real Separation stinker First off in the actual running order is ‘Sixteen Ques Freedom’ (Pat Cadigan) and ‘Apache Charlie and the interviewstions for Kamala with KamalaChatterjee’, Chatterjee. by Alistair She Reynolds. is a physicist The famous‘sixteen for questions’ the Chatterjee are asked Anomaly, and answered which involved during in the book comes from the two biggest ‘name’ authors: drilling a hole through the solar photosphere as part 1947,‘Mice e.g.Among “A wrenching Elephants’, force by Gregory rolled through Benford the and bridge. Larry TheNiven. walls It could popped. have Screeched. been written Cliff by felt George himself O. twisted.Smith c. of that, if you can. These interviews (by the members A support beam hit him and all was black.” The ideas of a peer‘helioseismological review panel?) study’. take place Pick overthe sunspots200 years out or are interesting enough, but indifferently set out. To so, from when Chatterjee was a graduate student in be fair, Benford and Niven may have meant to write a parody that went skew-whiff in the telling. There is a novel in here trying to get out, I believe, and Of the 15 stories in Bridging Infinity, according to my Mumbai to – well – finding that out is part of the fun. rough reckoning, there are 8 A’s, four B’s, 2 C’s, and I feel that way about many of the other stories, e.g. 1 D. I can’t – no, won’t – give you the title and author Reynolds might well have written it by this time. details. What I can say, however, is that Strahan has artful‘The Venus sf- mystery Generations’, fusion that by begins Pat Cadigan, with the and destruc ‘The- “still at least partly about solving problems”, but the City’s Edge’, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, which is an scalepresented upon uswhich with we stories will “have that prove to face science them” fictionis some is- of its builder and 600 construction workers. Or they tion of a half-completed ‘spindizzy’ city and the death page 13thing infinitely else again. THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

Crises And Conflicts edited by Ian Whates treachery when dealing with Johnny Alien. Can they be trusted? No, they bloody can’t! And Brookes is at (NewCon Press, 2016) pains to display his deep understanding of alien com- Reviewed by Stuart Carter puter thought processes (N.B. Perhaps a little too deep – mark this one down for observation). his anthology of 16 short stories, Crises And Conflicts, is being unilaterally deployed by T Civilian meddling led to a bloody fiasco at Wotan NewCon Press to celebrate their tenth year of Lieutenant Tade Thompson recalls the failure of the House for retired cyborgs. In ‘Decommissioned‘, First publishing. Covering the glorious genres of Space misguided attempts there to heal the wounds left by Opera and Military SF, these stirring tales from the the bitter war against invasion. Thompson’s assess- front line are sure to be glorious a testament to the ment of our heroic and patriotic cyborg-enhanced sol- heroic and patriotic efforts of our boys (and girls!) in diers is a depressing one, but their valiant struggles battle. against the invaders quite bring a song to one’s heart! Or are they? We Day In Paradise’ by enemy-of-the- - And what of the inexplicable inclusion of ‘Another- asked General “Thun ised depiction of an unfortunate but to give us his opinion people Amy DuBoff? Her fictional onderbolt” a selection Ross (retired) of the against the Selarks does our heroic included stories... andtrivial patriotic friendly forces fire incident no favours in the what war- soever. Do you want us to lose this Howdy, Limeys! war, Cockamamie Amy?? Lance Corporal Allen Stroud’s epic descrip- slips into the anthology as an examina- Captain Robert Sharp’s ‘Round Trip’ Commander’ kicks the theft of a long-range military transport tion of ‘The Last Tank tyres and lights the shiption fromof crisis, the Moonrather is than no joking conflict. matter, The and is traditionally a court martial elderly tank command- offence. However, the Captain’s account fires with reports of an er, transplanted to a of a bereaved hijacker’s attempting to new world and given win back his love may tug at the heart- - a tank, crewed by one final command: capable – but very raw heroismstrings of or a patriotism.few impressionable ‘snow – recruits. Their heroic flakes’ uninterested in the virtues of Bleeding heart liberal environmen- and patriotic battle talist claptrap infests every line of against overwhelming numbers of Johnny Alien to secure a colony world is Woman’. Fortunately, the heroic and patriotic soldiers it depicts squabblingAble Seaman eternally Nik over Abnett’s scarce ‘Arm resources Every war reporting at its finest. You’ll be queuing up to join across the ruined world are not fooled by this propa- the good fight after reading this one! ganda. Instead, these committed warriors epitomise - the glorious martial virtues of sisterhood and (even- In ‘Between Nine And Eleven’ Rear Admiral Adam ships Samurai 10 and Centurion 771 against the tually) brotherhood. Hurrah! invidiousRoberts reminisces Trefoil. A piece about of the heroic famous and victorypatriotic of Space war

Admiral’s unlikely musings on the sneaky nature of Well done, Chief Petty Officer Tim C. Taylor - your alienOpera, weapons, its effect both is somewhatpast and present, diluted but by if the you Rear can 435’report will on henceforththe costs and be benefitsa recommended of teaming text humans at the put this to one side and enjoy the exhilarating action Academyand AI together for teaching in combat the effects has of been grief accepted. and loss upon ‘Hill sequences it’s a rollicking piece of reportage! Staff Sergeant Michael Brookes knows a thing or two patriotism it more than makes up for in heroism. our brave boys. What ‘Hill 35’ unfortunately lacks in War’ is a heroic and patriotic look at the dangers of about cyber warfare. His report on ‘The Ten Second page 14 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Edwards, Janet, 40327664 - your case study ‘The Around the World in Eighty Days withWolf, a the damning Goat, andassessment the Cabbage’ of the isfoolish outstanding. inadequa It- by Jules Verne melds elements of ‘The Cold Equations’ style logic cies of diplomacy and all that jibber-jabber. But what a (MacMillan Collector’s Library, 2017) shame about that guy, York – a hero and a patriot, we Reviewed by Alex Bardy (initially) liked the cut of his jib. Sergeant Christopher Nuttall, your dissertation won’t insult the intelligence or integrity of any self- I - upon the interplanetary good work, soldier! politics in ‘Pickaxes and Shovels’ suming to think that any of you haven’t read at least would make old General Heinlein himself proud. Keep respecting fantasy or science fiction reader by pre Squadron Leader Whates – can we call you Ian? I would very much like to draw your attention to how markedlyone of these gorgeous important these works three of ‘sciencespecial editionsfantasy’, are.but Bloody fine job on the anthology! Well done! Also, your And all of them are available for an absolute bargain dulywarning received in ‘The and Gun’ noted. about Thank the chaoticyou for natureyour service, of the price, too: under £10 each. chain of command in battlefield situations has been Squadron Leader. Measuring approx. 6 x 4 inches (not much larger than A6), this is a petite collection of small hardbacks with Wergen Ambassadors’ is a seemingly dry and with golden gilt-edged pages that are surely deserv- ‘Tactics for Optimal Outcomes in Negotiations ing of a place on anyone’s bookshelf. The entire Mac- alien diplomatic protocols. Do not be fooled! Extensive Millan Collector’s Library collection is quite extensive, common sense report by Major Mercurio D. Rivera on- ly high levels of satire and possible traces of humour there, making these editions particularly relevant to withinanalyses this by report. our text Exercise boffins havecaution! revealed dangerous bothbut as the yet casual there collector are very andfew dedicated‘science fiction’ fan alike... titles in And last, but not least, the anthol-

Smithogy concludes sums up with a ‘Thenear-perfect Beauty of militaryOur Weapons’. career Commandant in the person Gavin of the patriotic and heroic Cain. An immortal, Cain’s progress in the art of war is admirable. From his early beginnings, rooting out possible communist sym- pathies in his brother, Abel, through many gloriously the far future, Cain’s con- famous battlefields and into- cable. If only there were moreflict credentials like him! are impec

But, joking aside, Crises And Conflicts is a great read, mixing the expected full-on crash-bang pyrotechnics with examinations of future soldiery, advanced or unexpected weapons and the human condition. War isn’t just about guns and violence, and Ian Whates has put together an apt, fun and thoughtful celebration of a decade of NewCon Press.

page 15 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

The adventures of Professor Mongrels by Stephen Otto Lidenbrock and his Graham Jones nephew, Axel (and their (Titan, 2016) guide, Hans), and of course, those of Captain Nemo and Reviewed by Dave M. the Nautilus are well known, Roberts but both books are still a treat to behold and read again, especially given these “Mtell me he was a were- editions are also beautifully wolf”. Soy Grandfathersays the unnamed used to illustrated throughout protagonist in the opening line. by French painter/artist, For him, these are just stories Journey his grandfather likes to tell to to the Centre of the Earth and entertain him. Stories of the Édouard Riou. Both Twenty Thousand Leagues scars he’s received and adven- Under the Sea have been tures he’s had. They provide treated to a sumptuous some substance and meaning to reprint/translation based life. His parents are both dead on 19th century texts, and and he lives a poor existence are accompanied by an with his aunt, uncle and grand- informed Afterword by Ned father on the edge of society. Halley detailing Verne’s The transformative moment early struggles with his comes early on, when the death of the grandfather leaves little doubt that the stories, at the very least, Extraordinaires’ series of works by Pierre-Jules Hetzel had a kernel of truth. infather, the periodical and covering magazine the publication Magazin d’Education of his ‘Voyages et de Récréation Alternating the story between the present day and Around the World in Eighty Days, in contrast, is not and the significance thereof. whatever he was being at the time. The vampire when relatingflashbacks, Trick the or Treating narrator or refers the student to himself when onlytalking as illustrated, but does have an Afterword by John Grant of his schooldays. Throughout the book, he appears as many things: biologist, mechanic, prisoner and so accompanying it. Perhaps predictably, John Grant- talks a lot about Verne’s role and influence on modern science fiction, and discusses how his personal politi present day. This affects a distancing of the narrator otherwise of progress and technological advancement, on. He only refers to himself in the first person in the cal beliefs imbued a sceptical view of the benefits or from his own identity as he searches for who he really genre to this very day. The darker overtones of Verne’s lateran aspect writing of are science perhaps fiction a precursor that has to permeated this change the in heis. Itdevelops is through his theseown understanding flashbacks that of we that develop world. an It attitude as the power and greed of American cultural isunderstanding safe to say that, of his for world, much and of his more childhood, significantly he has as imperialism slowly made its way across the Atlantic at much more distanced in tone than the more person- While not necessarily saying anything new, I did no real sense of his true identity. The flashbacks are that time, Grant surmises. al narrative of the present day. This, of course, only enjoy the Afterword in all three books, and it’s espe- serves to enhance the protagonist’s sense of detach- cially gratifying to see that Hetzel’s major role in ment from himself. This is a classic coming of age tale, as the protagonist has to examine his past to understand the present, helped‘steering’ to Vernemake towardsVerne the covering household new technologiesname he is and then come to terms with reality of that past. It today)and embracing is given due scientific credit for advances Verne’s subsequent (which clearly rise is a painful journey, both his parents are dead, and to prominence. it becomes increasingly apparent that his very exist- In summary, a great, gilt-edged collection of fantas- ence is closely tied to what happened to them. I found tic little books, well worth your time and money. it intriguing that, as he grows up, he has no inherent

on the part of the family to talk about it. It almost feels sense of ‘being a werewolf’, nor is there any attempt page 16 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017 that his grandfather’s stories were intended as much some of the more anaemic descriptions of those places, races, and events, if not out and out lost at times. appear, his grandfather seems to be the one person The strength of the anthology rests on its epony- more than the simple entertainments they at first who was actually trying to prepare him. Not simply mous namesake. Jonmarc Vahanian is an intriguing for the shock of his nature, but also from the shocking character. While Vahanian does, admittedly, resem- nature of his past. ble a great many golden-hearted-warrior-with-a- From the start, this is an engrossing twist on the dark-past types, Martin imbues him with an indelible werewolf myth. Not least because the way that they quality that makes a reader root for him and want to are presented, and their struggles on the fringe of society, it felt much truer than much of the genre. This may just be the best werewolf novel I’ve ever read. seeknow it comeeven moredown about around him. him In in the a dramatic,first short if piece, a bit predictable,“Raider’s Curse,” call readersto action dive for into the his young world, would-be only to

ineradicable draw is painted with skill and economy, The Shadowed Path: A Jonmarc Vahanian adventurer. From that first short story on, Vahanian’s Collection by Gail Z. Martin inevitably feel drawn to begin another. (Solaris, 2016) pushing a reader to finish each short piece just to Reviewed by Jared I. Magee

Arepetitive, often fragmented, and easily plodding. nthologies of short fiction are often inherently- ing the High Fantasy world of the Winter Kingdoms and theirThough sundry Gail inhabitantsZ. Martin has already a great published, many texts this antholexplor- origin story for one of the favourites from the series— protagonistogy is meant toJonmarc assuage Vahanian—while fan desire for a fully avoiding fleshed outthe pitfalls many anthologies have stumbled into. For fans of the series, experiencing Vahanian go from his adolescence to a descent into the compulsory dark period before becoming an ascendant master warrior with a keen sense of justice must be quite satisfying. For those that are unfamiliar with or unsentimen- tal toward Jonmarc Vahanian and the histories and stories of Martin’s world, these vignettes prove to be a bit less rewarding, though still crafted well enough to induce one into consuming the entire collection. The narrative does not go into the profound depths of world-building and character development that is In the end, lovers of High Fantasy will enjoy the char- by and large expected of successful High Fantasy. This acters, peoples, and interactions of The Shadowed Path: A Jonmarc Vahanian Collection, if for no other reason generally only thirty to forty pages in length. A reader than affection for and loyalty to the genre. Despite its cannotsuperficiality help but is understandable,wonder if the worlds, as each histories, short story geog is- - raphy, inhabitants, and, well, everything else about the ties, the characters, for the most part, transcend the sundry and all but unavoidable anthological difficul Winter Kingdoms is already concretely established in the other novels; if that is the case, then the somewhat and leave even the most critical reader thirsting for aforementioned failings of anthologized short fiction sparse dealings with places, races, and events that a bit more knowledge of the Winter Kingdoms and a are contained in this anthology would make a great desire to read the more complete tales that made this deal more sense to Martin fans that have knowledge delving into Jonmarc Vahanian a necessary endeavour time visitor to Martin’s worlds will feel confused amid of the entire Winter Kingdoms opus. A casual, first in the first place. page 17 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

Camera Obscura by Lavie Tidhar lashings of mad science, thriller noir, splatter horror, (Angry Robot, 2011; 2017) references (if Milady’s woozy recollection of her post- Reviewed by Kate Onyett torturescience reconstructive fiction, grindhouse surgery and is subtle not a popdelicate culture rip

would be pleased to ripping, shadowy thriller, from Robocop, then I’m a monkey’sknow uncle). that Mary this Berrylayer happy to name-drop famous lit- A cake has not even a erary creations like fan-boy happy- smidgeon of a soggy bombs, embroils from the get-go in bottom of disap- murder, fantastical mystery, space pointment. opera and Kung Fu. In a nineteenth century not so alike or unalike as The rich tapestry of our own, we are following Milady de Tidhar’s world could

period as a tall, proud Franco-Afri- definitely do with a can)Winter who (yes, is a‘tis hired she, gunremade of a for secret this book to gain insight reading of the first cabal of automata that runs France into the geopolitics from under the streets of Paris. Set of his nineteenth on a mission to retrieve an unknown century; a time of object ripped messily from the belly spying, suspicion and of an oriental courier, she discovers secret organisations instead an international struggle for (again, not so far off control over an interstellar scouting - device that gifts its human bearers cle period). But there isthe enough actual within fin-de-siè this madness. The clock’s ticking, as the to stand alone as a deviceunworldly has woken fighting up and prowess is drawing and superlatively adjec- huge and powerful inter-dimension- tivally-described al spaceships towards the Earth. romp. Fall in, let go, The camera obscura? A paean to the and relish. power of the projected image as something that, while metaphorically can draw us into another world, when combined with alien tech, can actually create a portal Fair Rebel by Steph Swainston through time and space. (Gollancz, 2016) The scope is epic, yet the structural conceits for this frankly bonkers confection are wonderfully under- Reviewed by Nick Hubble played, giving it a tone of credibility, even when the action goes wild. Milady is a trigger-happy detective ollowing a six-year gap, during which Swainston kept permanently and frustratingly in the dark by her masters; a situation not a million miles from any 50s F in order to work as a teacher, Fair Rebel marks the noir you care to name. at one point broke off her contract with Gollancz A quick glance at Tidhar’s oeuvre shows an author The Yearfifth offull-length Our War instalment(2004), No inPresent the Castle Like Time sequence. (2005), It Hebrew-punk (yup, apparently that’s a thing), and andfollows The onModern in order World from the first three novels, steeped in punk’d fiction: steam-punk, sci-fi-punk, he has gone all-out to create a multiplicity mash-up years after the events of the latter. As with all the pre- for this second book of a trilogy. Beginning with an (2007), being set some fifteen alternative universe/history base (America never - became a white-dominated colony nation, but is run landsvious Castle(the fourth fiction, novel, the main Above viewpoint the Snowline protagonist (2010) is instead by the Native American tribes. Oh, and lizard Jant, the flying messenger of the Emperor of the Four people from outer space rule Britain and her empire), episodes from his past). Jant’s arch and playful style ofand narration a short story can ‘Thebe seen Wheel in theof Fortune’ way that (2013) Swainston detail topped with layers of steam-punk and finished with page 18 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

combined action and sweep with emotional tender- unfamiliar with the series by having him demonstrate ness and moral complexity. Above all, Swainston’s rather deftly deals with the issue of filling in readers prose was characterised by a wit which encompassed tiresome before concluding: a full range from an old-fashioned Austen-like irony to how a dialogue with ‘new listeners’ might be rather

time since childhood, I immediately reread a novel You see? We could go on all day. The only solu- a very present-day louche knowingness. For the first tion I can think of, is to ask you guys who’ve As suggested by the Miéville blurb, Swainston was already heard it to let your mind wander for a bit. upon finishing it. associated with the New Weird at the time. There There’s a lot you can be doing – putting an edge are certainly weird aspects to The Year of Our War, on your sword, polishing your horse – while I place which are mostly related to Jant’s addiction to inject- the facts before the newcomers.

The basic premise of the sequence is straightfor- thating scolopendium, large doses of or the ‘cat’ drug as it transportis colloquially him referredto. Fur- ward: the Fourlands are threatened by hordes of thermore,to, and his experiencesthe novel was in the clearly multidimensional political albeit, ‘shift’ as huge voracious insects which eat anything and eve- rything in their path. In order to prevent the insects rather than the street politics of London’. However, overrunning his domains, the Emperor has sought withMendlesohn each successor described, volume ‘in theit became manner clearer of Olympus, that the out the greatest champions of all disciplines and had sequence was moving away from baroque weirdness and deeper into its richly imagined secondary world. rewarding them with immortality as part of his them compete to find the best in each category, before in 2010, Niall Harrison argued that retrospectively these heroes, the Eszai, also have to defend their posi- SwainstonReviewing mightAbove bethe seen Snowline alongside for StrangeJoe Abercrombie Horizons ‘Circle’ and tasking them to fight the insects. However, tions from challengers, who by victory over them can and others as at the forefront of the ongoing reinvigor- take their position and immortality. While the aris- ation of core commercial fantasy. What characterises tocratic Saker is the best archer in the Fourlands and has (until recently) been in the Circle continuously from its formation nearly 1500 years before the time of Fair Rebel, Jant is currently still under 250 having the streets of the city of Hacilith before taking the role ofgrown the Circle’s up first messenger, in the Darkling by defeating mountains the andincumbent, then on at the age of 23. Viewed purely in the context of this not untypical setup for a fantasy series, the impact and rapturous publication might appear surprising to those unaware ofreception it. While enjoyed it helped by thatThe Yearthe novel of Our was War published on its first in an elegant hardback edition, with a gorgeous cover including a prominently displayed endorsement from China Miéville (and only cost £9.99), it was Swain- ston’s writing and vision which swept readers and reviewers away. As Farah Mendlesohn proclaimed, of our critical world seems to be discussing the mergingreviewing of the genres, novel access for Vector to the 236, mainstream, ‘while the playing whole with the borders of fantasy, along comes The Year of Our War, a book which is about as solidly grounded in genre as it is possible to get, and which, far from being hackneyed, is breathtaking.’ BSFA members who bought the novel on the strength of Mendelsohn’s review – as I did – were rewarded with a novel that

page 19 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

such work according to Harrison is the way in which able to the Eszai and is now at the point of implosion. The same kind of unexpected political upheaval that fantasy settings [by] juxtaposing an idiom or thought rocked the UK and the USA in 2016 is about to turn patternit challenges we think ‘the conventionally of as modern with historicised a social natureorder we of the Fourlands upside down in the space of a single think of as hundreds of years out of date.’ summer. As the title Fair Rebel suggests, the discontent in the story is being led by a woman. In fact, there are two SongToday, of Ice following and Fire the, which success certainly of Game mixes of Thrones,modern women leaders: the aristocratic Swallow – formerly thoughtthe television (especially serialisation in the Lannister of George siblings) R.R. Martin’s with romantically but chastely entangled with Saker – who solidly medieval trappings, such fantasy is arguably has been repeatedly refused immortality as the best musician in the Fourlands, and Connell, radicalised World. There should be a huge potential market for through exploitation and then caught up in Swallow’s Swainston’sthe dominant series form and of yet, fictional far from entertainment the glorious indebut the plots. The inclusion of found texts – letters, newspa- of The Year of Our War, there has been little fanfare per articles – has always been a distinctive feature of for the appearance of Fair Rebel the Castle series and here Swainston uses this device trade paperback edition costing a whopping £18.99. to allow both Swallow and Connell to tell the key parts The sombre black-and-white incover a somewhat resembles flimsy a of their own stories, which illustrate how the recent funeral notice and rather undermines the potentially onset of modernity in the Fourlands has changed the upbeat connotations of the title. To be fair, this tone way people think and let loose nascent forms of femi- is in some respects appropriate to the content of the nist and class consciousness. Swallow’s bitter criti- novel – as discussed below – but even so I can’t help cisms of the behaviour of male Eszai expose some of the newly-visible patriarchal limitations of feudal A writer like Swainston comes along once in a blue moon;feeling ofGollancz all the shouldBritish havegenre made SFF writersmore of to an emerge effort. with them – they always seem overly loud and self- in the current century so far, she’s the one that I would important,organisation: but ‘He’s they likehave any no depth man. at I can’t all’. However, get to grips the put money on as still being read in the next. This is manner in which the novel ends with Connell in hiding

consider what we mean by “modern” … more force- as big as any of the immortals suggests that Swain- fullybecause, than as just Harrison about anyone points out,else’. Swainston asks us ‘to ston’sreflecting own on sympathies her realisation are with that the Swallow’s marginalised ego wasand The epigraph to The Modern World is taken from dispossessed. It is Connell, acutely aware of how the slightest misfortune can send poor people like herself the modern world’s more spacious way’. What would into a spiral descent from which there is no escape, itChaucer: entail to ‘He take let suchgo the a spacious things of way? yesterday/ That novel And endstook who expresses the most perceptive piece of social with Saker voluntarily giving up his immortality by analysis in the novel: engineering defeat to his own daughter in a challenge and choosing instead to take worldly power in Awia, This country is just people stuck in different the largest of the Fourlands. The staggering sense echelons, different classes, unable to escape them of human agency, not to mention strategic genius, no matter how hard they struggle, staring at each revealed in this bold move is somewhat undercut by others’ lives in bewilderment and disbelief. When - they spread their wings, all they can manage is to ling his wayward daughter while enacting his own fly round and round in a cramped cage. teenageJant’s reflection rebellion that against Saker the is Emperor.simultaneously But regardless control

of whether this is a profound or rather more mundane move, the clock starts ticking in what had seemed as Jant, who for all his efforts rarely manages to be moreOf course, than the no participant one flies roundobserver and of round the collapse as much of context of Fair Rebel ofa ageless timeless, order feudal since state. the founding The significant of the Circle temporal but the the hierarchical society to which he somewhat awk- is not the fifteen short centuries wardly belongs. Although he owes his own success On the surface, the social system is identical to that and extended life to the Emperor’s system, his fifteen long years of modernity inaugurated by Saker. upbringing and youthful experiences of the gangs of three volumes in the sequence but inside it has been Hacilith place him well to appreciate both what it is hollowedwhich readers out inhave a mannergrown familiar that is withsimply from inconceiv the first- like to be excluded by that system and the anger that this exclusion engenders. While his loyalties remain page 20 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017 with his friends, his understanding reaches across the end of Fair Rebel, to be released from lives of poverty various divides at play in the Fourlands. Alone among and servitude. Much as we have no way of knowing the Eszai, he understands the motivation of those how the similarly poised forces currently pulling like Connell and the possibilities for social revolu- post-referendum Britain apart are going to play out, tion that she represents. The rest are incredulous as rebels attack the Castle itself and even release insects within its grounds. Amidst these spectacular set- onour the only side means of the of angels finding while out the all fatethe timeof the hoping Fourlands that piece scenes, constructed with Swainston’s distinc- thewill inevitable be to fly round come anddown round isn’t liketoo hard.Jant: striving to be tive blend of elegance and visceral action, the ques- tion that begins to arise, as the Circle successively breaks – which happens when one of the immortals Spellhaven by Sandra Unerman long will Jant maintain his loyalty to the Emperor and (Mirror World Publishing, 2017) dies – and reforms with ever more difficulty, is how the feudal order? Reviewed by Ben Jeapes Modernity waits for no one, winged hero or not.

From what we know of the forthcoming sixth volume in the series, The Savant and the Snake, and the lim- pellhaven is a new take on the mortal-gets-abduct- ited-edition short story Aftermath (2016), set in the Sed-by-fairies theme, in that they’re not fairies – days after the events at the close of Fair Rebel, the they’re as mortal as we are – and Spellhaven is a place on Earth, an island city hidden by mists and magical economy in the Fourlands are about to become spec- wards; a cross between Portmeirion and Atlantis, tacularlyfinancial implicationsmanifest. The of pointrunning is clearlya perpetual coming wartime when ruled by magician clans in an uneasy truce with the the imperial social order is going to be torn apart by semi-feral Unseen spirits that make the place pos- sible, but also must be kept constantly placated. The recover past feudal glories from the insects and of the Unseen love novelty, so the Magician Lords are on peasantrythe conflicting such demands as Connell, of aristocratswho remains such at large as Saker at the to constant lookout in our world for anything that is new and entertaining. Thus, in the summer of 1914, musician Jane Fairchild

magical means she can’t resist to Spellhaven. The facts thatis judged it is 1914, to be with sufficiently all the baggage new and of that summoned particular by

immediately set up precisely the kind of young gel thatdate, sheand is. that Her we grandchildren first meet Jane will at probablya music recital,be the early adopters of Punk but her rebellion is restricted

rebelto unconventional with an anachronistic flute fingerings in-your-face and a desireattitude, to sheearn is her refreshingly own living. and Rather convincingly than an Edwardian: in-your-face a rebel by the standards of her society, but still bound by social conventions of the time (very easily feeling improperly dressed without a minimum two or three layers of clothing; a cool dislike of people with country accents …). - haven. On the one hand, she has what she’s always wanted:Conflicting the forcesfreedom come to tobe play musically once Jane adventurous, is in Spell earning her living by what she does best. On the other there is the inconvenient truth that she has been coerced there. The people of Spellhaven are an interesting dynamic – mostly ordinary, decent types who just happen to live in a grossly unjust and unfair

page 21 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

society. In this case the key injustice is that any out- An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows sider summoned to the city must accept a contract (Angry Robot, 2016) of service with one of the clans, or be imprisoned for twice the length of the contract they reject. Even the Reviewed by Nick Hubble people whom Jane adopts as more or less allies see nothing especially wrong with this. n Accident of Stars is a classic portal-quest fantasy But this is not a story either of a spirited young A woman making her escape from captivity, or set- Australian high school student, follows a mysterious tling into a bizarre form of Stockholm Syndrome. Jane womanin which though Saffron a crack Coulter, in the air a ‘long-boned into a strange and world lanky’ of does, as we would expect, start to pick up the basics intrigue, violence and magic. The woman she follows, of magic with the intent of using them against her captors. But then the novel takes an entirely unex- - pected turn halfway through, Gwen Vere, mentalso turns in the out complicated to be from politics Earth, ofbut Kena, she when Jane and a lot of dis- is an experienced ‘worldwalker’ with long involve placed Spellhavenites sud- helpingthe country make they a young now find man, themselves Leoden, the in. in our world. That key date of rulingIn fact, Vex. Gwen However, has played Leoden kingmaker has turned by denly find themselves back 1914 has paid dividends: it’s out to be ruthless and power hungry. He the middle of World War One, has killed his rivals for the throne and a fact which has gone unno- ticed in the city (even though being hunted. Saffron gets lost in a city we are told the Magician squarenow even while Gwen running and heraway associates from guards are Lords maintain houses and and then unwittingly draws the attention interests in cities like London of one of Leoden’s three marriage mates, and New York, which means Kadeja, the Vex’Mara, who has come to the a slight inconsistency in the tale, but not fatal). Now both Within hours of her arrival, Saffron has Jane and her former captors central fountain to perform a sacrifice. are out of place. Her captors of her right hand cut off and only lives no longer have any coercive becausehad all her she hair has beenand the rescued last two by another fingers hold over her, but at the same principal protagonist, Zechalia. time, Jane has nowhere to go. The plot is fast-paced and we move deftly through a Spellhaven is an intriguing novel with no easy series of set pieces, including the core scenes in which answers or way out, which means you can keep Saffron, acting as the injured Zechalia’s proxy, under- rereading it and drawing different conclusions every time. Jane is never going to be entirely happy and of Veksh. But what really holds the novel together is settled in life – but would she ever have been, even thegoes rich the ‘Trialand complex of Queens’ web in theof relationships neighbouring between country without her magical summons? the many diverse women characters. While the fact

series: that ending ambiguity is all you’re getting and themselves suggests that the book would work for a Refreshingly, it does not appear to be part of a it will keep buzzing at the back of your mind for days. YAthat audience, Saffron and the Zechalia sophistication, are young thematic and trying ambition to find The book does end with a snippet of Unerman’s next, and range of viewpoint characters make this a mature Ghosts and Exiles, a fantasy beginning in the 1930s: work of fantasy. Indeed, it is often the older women whether it’s a sequel of sorts, or entirely standalone, is impossible to tell, but I look forward to reading it. such as Yasha, the magnificently intransigent exiled knife-arm’,Vekshi matriarch, who steal and the Pix,scenes. the flamboyant Kenan courtier with ‘a wife, two husbands and a strong There is a real sense that An Accident of Stars is in dialogue with its genre antecedents. While references at both the beginning and end of the novel are made

to the iconic portal quests of ‘Alice and Dorothy and page 22 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017 the Pevensie children’, aspects of the different socie- Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi - (Puffin, 2016) tial feminist SF of the 1970s. The talk of motherlines inties Veksh depicted suggests are reminiscent Suzy McKee of some Charnas’s of the Holdfastinfluen Reviewed by Christopher Owen Chronicles (1974-99), while Kenan marriages to two or three others recall the relationship structures of New York Times Bestselling novel, Furthermore is Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) or Vonda McIntyre’s Dreamsnake (1978). A The Secret Garden and The Lion, The Nevertheless, the discussion of sexual politics feels Witchthe and first the middle-grade Wardrobe, the fantasy story follows novel by the Tahereh adven- very contemporary, which is not surprising consid- turesMafi. Inspiredof twelve-year-old by Alice Alexis Queensmeadow. Alice lives in Ferenwood, a magical land where colour SFF blogger who often focuses on issues relating to is currency and Alice, having pale, colourless skin, is ering that Meadows is genderqueer and a prolific gender and sexuality. After explanations of polyam- an outcast. ory, the Kenan mahu’kedet and the fact that Vekshi women simply don’t bind themselves in relationships, similarities to the systemic racism of contemporary America.This novel With presents a privilege-reversal a fictional world similar that hasto Blackmany- shouldSaffron’s only admission ever be boys that with on Earthgirls, never it’s mostly boy-boy ‘just or man’s Noughts and Crosses (Corgi, 2006), there is an girl-girl’one person sounds at a time’every and bit asthat barbaric lots of topeople the reader think as‘it intricate relationship between wealth, race and social it does to Zechalia. When Saffron wonders whether ideology. The more colourful a person’s skin (for example brown, auburn, magenta), the more people assume they have great magical power, and the more that‘men’ biology can serve is not the irrevocably Vekshi goddess destiny. Ashasa, she is told that it depends on what she means by ‘men’, implying world is full of colour and people with wonderfully In terms of racial politics, Saffron is white like the imaginativeaccess to opportunities magical powers. they then From have. the Theperspective fictional Vekshi and of colourless Alice, however, Ferenwood is as has to upbraid beautiful as it is cruel. Alice has no friends. herself not Alice has no support. Alice doesn’t belong. to be uncon- sciously racist At the age of twelve, every child of Ferenwood concerning the presents their magical powers to the commu- dark-skinned nity in a ceremony called The Surrender. They K e n a n s . Conversely, the higher the number, the more important the taskare thenthey givenare given. a score This between is a right one of passage, and five, a black, prefers - KenaGwen, to who her is cially join the community. Of all the children, means for every citizen of Ferenwood to offi native Britain one is chosen as the winner and given the most because of dis- important task of all. Alice is determined to win turbing memo- this task. But she has a problem: Oliver New- ries of Thatch- banks, the school bully who told their entire er and the class that Alice is the ugliest girl in all of Fer- Brixton riots. This intersec- father, the one person who truly appreciates enwood, is tasked with finding Alice’s missing tional com- and supports her, and Oliver needs Alice’s help plexity perme- to rescue him. ates all levels Alice has to choose between proving herself of An Accident to her society and helping Oliver rescue her of Stars including even the dreams of the charac- father from the dangerous land of Further- ters and promises well for the forthcoming sequel. If more. In Furthermore time and space work differ- you are looking for a new fantasy sequence to start ently, and there are many strange laws that are far reading, this is the one. too easy to break. Break the law and the punishments are severe: from imprisonment, to slavery, to death.

page 23 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

In Ferenwood magic is replenished in nature, in Fur- a medium, and Nan Killian, a psychic, both of whom thermore it is replenished through cannibalism. This are agents of the Elemental Fire Master, Lord Alder- is not a land of colour and beauty; it is a land of quick shifts into danger and sudden acts of violence. And it is in this land that the one person Alice loves most of Suki,scroft. a Theyyoung share girl they a flat rescued with two from highly an exploitative intelligent all, her father, is enslaved. andbirds, fraudulent Grey, a parrot, clairvoyant. and Neville, a raven, as well as In today’s current political climate, this is not a book The story has several strands, the main threads also to miss. This book is important, weaving political involving Dr John and Mary Watson, Masters of Air commentary seamlessly into imaginative storytelling. and Water respectively, and also, therefore, Sherlock Holmes. It is against Holmes’ extremely logical nature to accept the reality of such powers, but Nan does a onAlice a compellingis a fierce, confidentadventure. individual, No matter and which the choicesunique very impressive job of convincing him of her abilities, she has to make are difficult ones as she journeys- and he asks for her assistance at several points during tures always work against her, and she must constant- the novel. Sarah’s help, meanwhile, is sought by Mag- fantasy world she finds herself in, its rules and struc both social and institutional issues. claims to be haunted by spirits every night and unable ly fight for what is right in the dizzying complexities of todalena, sleep. a She melodramatic seems to have German the ability opera to cast singer, a spell who of extreme devotion over intenselyMafi’s writing and empathetically, style is joyfully able playful, to both with chillmany your fun anyone she wishes bonestwists and and break descriptions. your heart. At the Her same ability time, to demonstrate Mafi writes for as long as needed. real social issues through creative world building This gains her much makes this an incredibly interesting read, as each new in the way of expen- turn of the page brings forth deeper and more complex sive gifts from male ideas of privilege and oppression than the last. And yet admirers, but drives at no point does this subtle political commentary take a wedge between Nan you out of the immersive reading experience or slow and Sarah, when the down the book’s wondrous adventure. latter also appears hypnotised by her new employer and unin- series, Shatter Me, has been optioned for television Mafi’s New York Times Bestselling Young-Adult terested in her old friends. It is no sur- producer. Her next novel, Whichwood, was released prise, therefore, when September,by ABC Signature 2017. Studios, with Mafi as a consulting Magdalena is later dis- covered to have lorelei ancestry. A Study in Sable by Mercedes Lackey The other narrative threads involve a very danger- (Titan Books, 2016) ous individual who appears to be working for one Pro- fessor Moriarty and the doings of an untrained master Reviewed by Estelle Roberts resident in the countryside outside London. The novel is written in a highly readable style, is well Study in Sable is the eleventh novel in Mercedes paced and actually very enjoyable. The characters are ALackey’s fantasy series The Elemental Masters. mainly well depicted, and the reader does come to The series, set in the Victorian era, posits the exist- ence of those who, due to a personal overabundance they will escape any peril they may encounter. One thingcare about that did their jar fate, somewhat while being was thefirmly occasional confident use that of water), possess magical powers. These individuals are American idiom in combination with the characters’ trainedof one of to the control four maintheir element,elements assisted (fire, earth, by fantasti air and- 19th Century English speech patterns. Obviously, this cal familiars, unique to each magician. Their relation- is less of a problem in previous novels set in the United ship with these familiars is at the core of the students’ States. training and testing. All in all, this is a highly entertaining, if slightly This novel is centred around the paranormal escapist, read from one of our best known and very adventures of two young women, Sarah Lyon-White, popular fantasy authors. page 24 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

The Murders of Molly Southborne by Tade Thompson (Tor, 2017) Reviewed by Gary Dalkin

he Murders of Molly Southbourne is a short, sharp Tshock of a novella, and quite possibly you’ve never read anything like it. The titular Molly has a unique problem - whenever she bleeds, wherever the blood forfalls, a littlea replica while, or duplicatebut sooner ‘Molly’ or later will, will within turn anviolent, hour attemptingor a day, grow. to killThis the ‘Molly’ original will Molly. be placid, even friendly Fortunately, growing up on a farm, there are plenty of places to bury the bodies, and with a mother who agent, training in self-defence, and offence, is readily toappears hand. to be some sort of ex-Russian special forces After a disorientating prologue, the story turns to Molly’s past and tells the story of her childhood, her exploration of sex, and eventual leaving home for uni- versity,learning where the rules she ofbegins disposing research of ‘Mollys’, which hermight teenage offer some sort of explanation for her very strange life. rather than a postman, a truck rather than a lorry or van.jarring Just to incidental find that, details, for example, but they there add tois thea mailman alienat- ButThere in truth is a kindthe reader of scientific either explanation,accepts the situation or if not ing nature of Molly’s world. andexplanation, follows Molly’ssomething adventures, which passes or not. for Thejustification. result is a breakneck thriller, a sort of Buffy the Zombie Slayer Five Stories High, The Murders of Molly Southbourne meets Children of Men, but different. canLike be theread author’s in an hour novella or two ‘Gnaw’ and inis fast, the anthologyinventive, Molly herself is ruthlessly pragmatic, which given gripping, and in places completely mad. It certainly her situation is probably a necessity, and if you accept sticks in the memory, something of an original in a the premise then Thompson extrapolates from the word. There are moments when things just happen marketplace filled with forgettable replica fiction. andcore it idea is not with entirely ruthless clear efficiency,why, but then never given wasting Molly’s a state of mind at the time, this is understandable. Demonstrating how anything repeated enough times can become normal, the endless slaughter becomes, for Molly, routine, with rarely much sense of - some as many others, with a well-captured sense of Mollydanger. being Her lifetrapped finally and becomes exhausted as routine simply and by tire the business of living - just with rather more protective protocols and extreme violence than most of us are likely experience. Though this short book is deliberately unclear as to where it is set, it certainly feels far more like the UK than the US, but being published by Tor and therefore presumably edited by an American editor, it is a little page 25 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017

Terraforming: Ecopolitical Transformations especially relevant motif with regard to the concept and Environmentalism in Science Fiction of the chronotope because it collapses textual world- by Chris Pak building (imagined worlds) with representations of (Liverpool University Press, 2016) physical world-building. In Bakhtinian terms this involves the construction of a global chronotope (the Reviewed by Anthony Nanson planet to be terraformed) within a dialogic text that puts into play multiple interacting voices and their here is an obvious synergy between science relationships to the environment.’ Thus terraform- T - an ecological frame of reference), but it has not hith- ing is a form of ‘landscaping’, understood to encom erto fictionbeen pursued and ecocriticism as energetically (literary as one criticism might hope. with spaces to suit human purposes. Two other core con- pass both modification and interpretation of natural In an SF milieu fascinated by the advance of electronic cepts informing Pak’s analysis are: James Lovelock’s technologies, and rent between liberal defence of cul- tural diversity and politically regressive libertarian- seen physiologically as akin to a single organism; and ‘Gaia’ thesis that the Earth as a living planet can be ism, it’s easy for the environment to be forgotten. Just like in society at large. So this is a timely moment for stories of colonisation. the ‘pastoral’ as a literary form that SF has recycled in If the book has an overarching argument, I think it is an emergent sense that the megatextual dialogue of the publication of Chris Pak’s first monograph, which SF relating to terraforming has, over the past century, Eric Otto calls ‘the first study to trace the historical produced incrementally more sophisticated insight The topic of terraforming provides a clear focus development of environmental science fiction’. into various aspects of environmental ethics and poli- that brings in many themes of environmentalist and tics. Some day the ethics of terraforming other planets postcolonialist thought. The book is structured as a may become a real-world issue, but in our lifetimes terraforming serves mainly as thought experiment of which Pak presents some critical concepts apposite - tochronological the time period sequence in question of five meaty and then chapters, applies in these each tions on our own planet. Pak’s account begins with to analysing selected texts in detail. Underpinning pre-terraformingand metaphor reflecting stories back that on feature environmental geo-engineer ques- his analysis are certain pivotal ideas from Mikhail ing on Earth, as in Wells’s The Shape of Things to Come, - gism’, which bespeaks the ethical importance of culti- Bakhtin – most crucially Bakhtin’s theory of ‘dialo vating responsive engagement among a multiplicity of or rape-like ‘terragouging’ that reveals the Earth to voices. The novel as a form is well suited to advancing varioushave a sensitivity terraforming prefiguring narratives, Gaia he theory, examines as in ErnestConan dialogic understanding; but Pak expands the scope of Callenbach’sDoyle’s ‘When Ecotopia the World, which, Screamed’. though Later, set amidst in North the this by calling upon the notion, from Damien Brod- America and not really about terraforming, advances - SF texts. So, for example, we see in the early 1950s a forming stories. Everything then comes together in clustererick, of of aseminal ‘megatextual’ novels tackling dialogue the between same idea separate of col- ecopolitical ideas that influence the lineageMars of trilogy terra onising and terraforming another planet, but swing- – which is a tour de force of dialogism, both internal- thely, in last the chapter, engagement devoted between to Robinson’s different characters’ Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles a pastoral utopia - maying different be in reach ways if you in the can values truly embrace they mobilise: that which in Ray is edge of the SF canon; and in which the development Farmer in the Sky advocates ofviews, an open-ended and megatextually, utopian processthrough on Robinson’s Mars eventually knowl the heroic libertarian endeavour of the colonial fron- contributes to ameliorating the situation on Earth, tier;other; and Robert in The Heinlein Sands of in Mars Arthur Clarke undercuts whose problems of overpopulation are never going to Bradbury’s and Heinlein’s romanticism with an ironic be solved by mass migration off planet. yet still hopeful awareness of the foibles of human nature. Another concept from Bakhtin that Pak repeat- toFinally, Earth, as the in Terraforming twenty-first-century Earth – written terraforming by Jack - Williamsonstories examined nearly in sixty Pak’s years ‘Conclusion’ after he return coined the the focus term sion of dynamics of time and space. The deployment - ofedly chronotopes uses is the in ‘chronotope’ dialogic relations – a particular engages the expres par- ticularity of physical environments in the negotiation to‘terraform’ the Earth in as ‘Collision well as Orbit’other inplanets. 1942. Pak’sThis, introductogether tory definitions clarify that ‘terraforming’ can apply of values that underpin actions: ‘Terraforming is anpage 26 THE BSFA REVIEW #2 – Winter 2017 human beings to suit new environments – as a recur- ringwith corollaryhis emphasis of terraforming, on ‘pantropy’ made – the memodification realise that of whereas one may see the aim of terraforming as to adapt raw nature, whether on Earth or elsewhere, to suit human desires, we may also perceive human activity as having produced such alienating environ- ments on Earth that our planet needs some terra- forming to restore its ecology and habitability. Terraforming is an extremely erudite work. Pak does well in limiting his use of the kind of jargon that makes some contemporary criticism impenetrable, yet his prose style is rather dry, perhaps deferring to received notions that serious scholarship must convey an appearance of objective authority. The clarity of his argumentation is sometimes also muddied by slightly laborious phrasing – which Liverpool University Press might be expected to address with more assertive copy-editing in a book priced at £80. Nevertheless, this is an important book and will be essential reading for scholars of ecocriticism and of the development of ideas in SF.

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page 27 THE THE BSFA 2 ISSUE REVIEW 2017 ER WINT EDITED BY SUSAN OKE SUSAN BY EDITED