THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018 THE ISSUE 4 BSFA SUMMER 2018 REVIEW EDITED BY SUSAN OKE

page 1 SUMMERISSUE 2018 4 THE BSFA REVIEW

REVIEWED IN THIS ISSUE...

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan Reviewed by Dave M. Roberts ... 4 Reviewed by Duncan Lawie ... 20 Transhumanism: Evolutionary Futurism Austral by Paul McAuley and the Human Technologies of Utopia Reviewed by Anthony Nanson ... 21 by Andrew Pilsch Reviewed by Paul Graham Raven ... 5 Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill Reviewed by Stuart Carter ... 22 Beasts of the Deep: Sea Creatures and Popular Culture edited by Jon Hackett Improbable Botany edited by Gary Dalkin and Seán Harrington Reviewed by Stuart Carter ... 23 Reviewed by Matt Colborn ... 6 Moonshine by Jasmine Gower The Autobiography Of James T. Kirk Reviewed by Martin McGrath ... 24 edited by David A. Goodman Reviewed by Graham Andrews ... 8 The Witches of New York by Ami McKay Time Was by Ian McDonald Reviewed by Sandra Unerman ... 25 Reviewed by Anthony Nanson ... 9 Dreams Before the Start of Time The Body Library by Jeff Noon by Anne Charnock Reviewed by Kate Onyett ... 10 Reviewed by Duncan Lawie ... 26 The Worm Within (The First Chronicle Star of the Sea by Una McCormack of Future Earth) by Sarah Newton Reviewed by Alex Bardy ... 27 Reviewed by Stuart Carter ... 11 Silver Silence by Nalini Singh Origamy by Rachel Armstrong Reviewed by Dolly Garland ... 28 Reviewed by Dave M. Roberts ... 12 Wintersong by S Jae-Jones The Smoke by Simon Ings Reviewed by Anne F Wilson ... 29 Reviewed by Paul Kincaid ... 13 Immortal Nights by Lyndsay Sands Tales from the Vatican Vaults Reviewed by Lynne Bispham ... 30 edited by David V. Barrett Reviewed by Ben Jeapes ... 14 Ghosts & Exiles by Sandra Unerman Reviewed by Ben Jeapes ... 31 Virtues of War and Ghosts of War by Bennett R Coles Rebel Genius by Michael Dante DiMartino Reviewed by Martin McGrath ... 15 Review by Christopher Owen ... 32 Quietus by Tristan Palmgren Angels of Music by Kim Newman Reviewed by Stuart Carter ... 17 Reviewed by Estelle Roberts ... 33 Proof of Concept by Gwyneth Jones The Particle Beast by Ian C. Douglas Reviewed by Anthony Nanson ... 18 Reviewed by Rsaal Firoz ... 34 J.G. Ballard by D. Harlan Wilson Reviewed by Nick Hubble ... 19 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018 ISSUE 4 SUMMER 2018 The Survival Game only happen to others’. Her book VIEW FROM is set in a world broken by climate change and focusses on the choices Cell you 7 (in this case a teenage girl) are prepared to make in order THE CHAIR to survive. Kerry Drewery’s explores an alternate Britain where the death penalty was not abolished. In this brave new world, social media is elcome to the fourth edition of the BSFA used to vote on whether someone should be put to WReview. Once again full of glorious books death; it raises issues aroundDark theGift influence Trilogy whereof the —well, some more glorious than others— cover- media and its trustworthiness (or not). I was also intrigued by Vic James’ - the magically endowed rule and the rest of the ettesing science of those fiction with and a more fantasy, academic with a bent,bit of ashorror well population have to give ten years of their working thrown in. There are reviews to satisfy the pal lives in service to their overlords. The underlying theme that the over privileged believe they can do as a plethora of insightful comments on the wide anything they want —as James said on the panel, in range of speculative fiction out there. As usual, I the book just read it as ‘magic’ = ‘money’— is very have included a couple of YA titles, with one review Talking about glorious books… one review was clear. In her words, ‘dystopia is a state of mind’. written by our incumbent teenage reviewer. All great books with valuable concepts and on, Vector will have a section entitled ‘Vector messages for the younger generation. Books that I so glowing it sparked a new initiative. From now Recommends’ that will feature reviews of books will buy for my grandson—who will get his hands on them after I’ve read them first, of course.Susan Oke ifthat there deserve was a special ‘Vector mention.Recommends’ A big logo thank to youbadge to Anthony Nanson for setting this in motion by asking Time Was exceptional books. His request was inspired by LAST CHANCE! Can you where relevant written of bycourse, Ian MacDonald—the reviews to include review in thiscan besection read ofhere Vector first! Going forward, I will select, help us celebrate the BSFA’s 60th Birthday in 2018? Vector .blog. In addition, as you may have noticed, the occasional review may be selected to If so, we’d love to hear from you! appear on the We’re after your memories of the In other news, I attended the YA Literary Festival at Olympia. Just one day out of the three, where BSFA, be they good or bad — and if there was an excellent panel on ‘the darker side of there is anything you specifically YA and why we like to visit dystopian worlds’. I was remember from those early Vector newparticularly book, We impressed See Everything by author William Sutcliffe magazines, we’d be especially keen and his focus on ‘keys to unlocking empathy’. His to hear from you! brings conflict home to London, where ‘The Strip’ —a section of London Did an editor, article, interview, or cordoned off, surrounded by a demilitarized zone and patrolled by air-born drones— is the setting maybe a certain review stick in your for the exploration of right and wrong and where mind or leave an impression? the protagonists discover new moral lines beyond Did something you read in a BSFA which they are not prepared to tread. Sutcliffe publication have a lasting or based ‘The Strip’ in his book on the Gaza Strip profound effect on your SF reading? toand inject used a both real diariessense ofof casualpeople horror living inaround Gaza andthe decisiondrone footage to kill and or not audio to kill.transcriptions of the pilots Please, if you can help, get in touch and let us know: [email protected] Nikki Singer espoused a similar argument about bringing conflict and disaster closer to home, to combat the complacency of ‘these sort of thingspage 3 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (Titan Books, 2016) Reviewed by Dave M. Roberts

t the age of 14, Marjorie has become insular Aand difficult in the way that teenagers so often do. Although it is less common for them to display the same kind of split personality that Marjorie starts to show, and certainly not for apparently inexplicable phenomena to start. As any concerned parent would do, her father bringsThe inPossession an exorcist and a television crew who film the events for a cheap schlock TV series called , which spectacularly culminates with the supposed exorcism of Marjorie. The story is related to us some 15 years later, surface,as Marjorie’s this youngergives us sistera view Merry, of events who wasfrom eight the at the time, tells her story to a journalist. On the - slanted views of events. What we don’t have is perspective of someone who was not only there, either the actual story or the television portray but at the heart of of events. However, not only al of it. In both cases we have a highly subjective- is this the perspective of an eight-year old, it is take on what is happening. For much of the book,- also the view of someone who has had 15 years it is easy to forget this, and Tremblay takes advan consideredto reflect on to the be very somewhat traumatic unreliable. and life-changing tage of that. The story related by Merry is a com events. It is safe to say that the narrator couldThe be pelling and frightening one. One can imagine that- Possession for an eight-year-old living through this, it verges A more contemporaneous critical view of - on the nightmarish. Particularly when the exor- as a piece of horror fiction is provided cism starts, complete with all the accoutrements by a blogger as she re-watches the Series. It help that you would expect. When the blog almost cyn fully reveals a number of background facts that- ically deconstructs the filmed version, there is a question the veracity of the story. For example, collusionrisk that it with undermines the adults the around horror her.by categorising The author the parents found themselves in financial dif it as a young girl putting on a show, most likely in ficulty, and it was that that appeared to be the main impetus to engaging a television company. manages to undermine that quite skilfully. This It also allows for a considered viewing of the is not by undermining the critic in any particular more extreme happenings at the exorcism. What way, but more by the way that the story itself plays appears to happen, on careful re-watching, is out. It becomes apparent that the reason that this considerably more doubtful. There is more than- theis such events an interesting that follow storysoon after. for both The the ending journalist takes a little to suggest that Marjorie is playing up for and the critic is not the supposed exorcism, but the cameras. In fact, Merry informs us that Mar jorie told her as much. Although there is sufficient us down a new and slightly unexpected pathway uncertainty in the telling to allow the reader to that makes the reader see the whole story, in both- question just how much of what is happening is or versions, in a new and very disturbing light. could possibly be real. It does have to be said that andFor deconstruction much of the novel, of The I did Exorcist feel that this is a rel- much of the uncertainty is threaded into the story tion,atively it is straightforward so much more than contemporary that. The ghosts retelling of the by Merry herself. , but on reflec It is this questionable nature of the story, given ofthe The way Possession it is told, that makes it interesting. Both title are most definitely real, it’s just that they are the retelling by Merry, and the critical analysis not what the reader might have initially expected. , give potentially misleading andpage 4 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Transhumanism: Evolutionary Futurism and and to act as a channel or vector through which the Human Technologies of Utopia by Andrew Pilsch (University of Minnesota Press, 2017) diluted versions of those visions (or futures) might- become culturally mainstreamed to the point of Reviewed by Paul Graham Raven seeming banal; the acceptability of transhuman ism, with all its iffy skiffy logic and Slannish sense- - of specialness, is a case in point. Looping back to ism is a vague awareness that it’s a secular Francis Fukuyama’s famed public diss of tran f your closest familiarity with transhuman wrongshumanism, reasons: with transhumanism which Pilsch opens is the chapter, I he concludes that “Fukuyama is right, but for the - religion whose uncritical technophilia and science fiction, obsession with immortalityTranshumanism occasionally pro- and science fiction is to be taken very seriously vides Charlie Stross with the fuel for his angrier- indeed.” blog posts, then Pilsch’s is prob ably not an essential read for you. Nor, one ima ofgines, their is sacred it very cowslikely to to the become slaughter-house an essential – read and for self-styled transhumanists, as it sends many a movement within which critical thinking and furthermore because, as Pilsch points out, it’s not philosophical coherence hold much currency. But if you’ve been following the transhumanist story- for a while, there’s some very interesting material in here: Pilsch has, in effect, performed the philo sophical archaeology that transhumanists – the bulk of whom identify with the cold-equations rationality of scientism to the point of self-parody and pathology – have heretofore failed to do in a regularsystematic Vector or reflexive fashion. While the book as a whole is a bit beyond the bailiwick, one chapter within it – an expansion of a paper published in Science Fiction- Studies in 2014 – is perhaps more germane to readers here. In this chapter (“Astounding Tran undertakesshumanism! a Evolutionaryre-examination Supermen of the andbooster the- Golden Age of Science Fiction”, pp63-102), Pilsch On the matter of taking science fiction seriously, - toPilsch criticise and Ithe are structure very much of ina rhetorician’sagreement. But argu on- ish techno-utopianism of the Gernsback era and the matter of transhumanism, well – I’m reluctant the psionic-superbeing evangelism of the Camp bell period, as well as an exploration of the “fan ment but, nonetheless, the framing of his project utopias” contemporaneous with said periods of does some otherwise fine work no favours at all. science fictional production. It may be that this If he had stuck to unearthing transhumanism’s is old news to anyone who has dug into the deep more mystical, poetic and Dionysian antecedents history of fan interaction (as I have not) but the and presenting them as an entirely alternative quite literally cultish antics of some early fandom- paradigm – the road not taken, if you like – this groups – replete with intentional communities, book would have sat more easily with me (and, and with metanarratives of persecuted outsider I’d wager, with many others). But in attempting dom and nigh-messianic specialness – make quite to rehabilitate the transhumanism brand identity, a story, to hear Pilsch tell it. treatshe perhaps transhumanism underestimated as a rhetoric, its well-established but declines toxicity. As he admits in his introduction, Pilsch Pilsch positions these utopian urges of early- fandom(s) as a vindication of the power of science to treat transhumanists as rhetoricians (p11); this fiction to provide the visionary impetus for politi is a noble philosophical strategy. But it means that cal action toward the realisation of utopian goals,page 5 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

- Beasts of the Deep: Sea Creatures and Popular Culture edited by Jon Hackett and Seán he overlooks the more pragmatic and unpleas Harrington ant political baggage that has been hitched to (John Libbey Publishing, 2018) the transhumanist wagon over the years: in his- admiration for foundational transhumanist Max Reviewed by Matt Colborn More’s philosophical chops, Pilsch seems unwill oring that to consider transhumanism’s that More historicalin particular closeness might beto easts of the Deep exactly the Sophist he declines to treat him as, more than coincidence. is a tasty platter of sea eugenicists and cryptofascist crackpots might be- Bmonsters, divided into four parts. These es a certain amount of shock at the rise of what he cultural studies essays plumb the depths- A recent blog post by Pilsch, in which he express lectiveof contemporary unconscious. culture, dredging white whales, sea serpents and squid from the depths of the col calls “dark transhumanism” during 2017, would appear to vindicate my reading. For what he calls Part one, ’Folklore and Weird tales,’ looks at the “dark” transhumanism is not a new phenomenon, psychological meanings suggested by uncanny but rather the discarding of a mask that was only ocean inhabitants. Two essays find metaphysical- ever worn lightly, and only in the most obviously implications in the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Sean public forums. For example, a thorough reading Harrington’s ‘The Depths of our Experience: Thal- of the essays archived on More’s own website assophobia and the Oceanic Horror’ ponders the would have revealed his more mundane political unknowable aspect of the deep sea, “a space unex goals for transhumanism (in which the first thing- plored, unknowable and overwhelming.” to be transcended is not mortality, but corporate - Harrington suggests that the deep ocean “offers regulatory frameworks). And I’m genuinely sur disturbing reflections on the precarious nature prised that one could research a book on transhu of the boundaries of knowledge,” suggesting that manist philosophy in the last few years without Lovecraft’s ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ can be seen in encountering Steve Fuller’s increasingly unsubtle - terms of that unknowability. dog-whistle attempts to rehabilitate eugenics and “racial science” in order to outline a transhuman- Harrington compares Lovecraft’s sensibilities ist destiny based on “genetic capital”. (That said, -I with the 2000s TV show ‘MonsterQuest.’ This could forgive someone for finding them and strug show is about cryptozoology, or the search for execrablegling to read writing.) them – Fuller represents the tran monstrous, unknown animals. In one episode, a shumanist apogee of execrable ideas delivered in large squid of undetermined species was filmed in the sea of Cortez. Harrington suggests that this iswas in “onecontrast of the with rare the occasions usual outcome that this…sense of monster of As such, I conclude that Pilsch is wrong for the oceanic horror is captured in visual media.” This theright tools reasons; and histhe intentionstalent to hand:are obviously he even good,cites but perhaps to a fault. It’s not as if he doesn’t have homo rhetoricus expeditions, which produce nothing beyond vague eye witness accounts or ambiguous tracks. Richard Lanham’s description of as a being “not committed to any position other Vivian Joseph’s essay also covers Lovecraft,- than winning”, for whom “[s]eriousness is a trap along with James Cameron’s 1989 movie ‘The that stands in the way of getting things done”- Abyss.’ Cameron and Lovecraft both, Joesph sug (p97), but somehow avoids asking whether a man thatgests, is evoke most oftena ‘scientific’ associated variety with of the eighteenthsublime. mightlike More, be justphilosophising such a creature. from atop To returnthe technou again The sublime is a concept with Greek origins topian Ponzi scheme that is the cryonicsis industry, century politician-philosopher Edmund Burke. to Fukuyama, transhumanism science fiction, It refers to a mixture of terror and delight that- and science fiction is to be taken very seriously can occur when someone is presented with an living.indeed – not least because, as Charlie Stross likes awesome and perhaps unknown natural phenom to remind people, its practitioners tell lies for a ena. It was historically associated with a kind of religious sensibility. Joseph suggests that both Lovecraft and Cameron page approached6 the sublime in a secular, materialistic THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

- fashion, because “scientific discoveries may well eventails. activistThe ‘subcultural terms. capital’ approach looks at have their own kind of sublime qualities.” Love- mermaiding in community, hobby, feminist and craft and Cameron’s materialist-yet-sublime stance - might, Joseph feels, compensate for the disenchant Mermaiding has economic significance. Raina ing effects of scientific discovery. alsothe Halifax an environmental mermaid runs activist. a mermaid On the relatedcultural busi side Part two, ‘Depths of Desire,’ deals with more ness, has published autobiographical books and is pleasurable subjects. Marco Benoit Carbone’s “Beauty and the Octopus” discusses eroticism there are Brenda Stumpf’s impressive mermaid- and cephalopods, citing examples like Katsushika photographs. Mermaiding is a relatively new and Hokusai’s 1814 woodblock painting ‘The Dream interesting cultural phenomenon that has branch of the Fisherman’sshung wife,’ which shows the wife es in fantasy fandom and the leisure industry. engaged in sexual practices with two octopi. This- One essay in part three that seems a little out of is an example of a a or erotic painting, part of place is Carole Murphy’s. This looks at the media a tradition of that period. Depictions of erotic-gro coverage of migration on the high seas. Murphy- tesque encounters with other-worldly beings were- scrutinises the often xenophobic depictions of the apparently common. Syrian refugee crisis, offering an interesting analy- Meanwhile, Richard Mills looks at Romanti nectionsis of the with UK’s sea troubled monsters cultural seems response.remote. This is cised sea creatures in songs by Jimi Hendrix, an informative and important subject, but the con- Tim Buckley and Captain Beefheart. Mills claims thesethat the songs 1960s are counterculture infused with wasmale “informed fears of the by The final part examines the cultural signifi Romantic poetic imagery and tropes” and that cance of sea monsters in movies and computer games. Michael FuchsJaws Unleashed. find contradictions in the “unresolved tension between male- and female depictions of animals in the 2006 computer game binaries.” The mermaids and- He also found sirens in these songs are “ambiv the eco-politics of the game alent actualisations of sexual pol aproblematic, simulated world suggesting where thatthe itics.” the game draws its players into featuresFor example, the singer Hendrix’s and his ‘1983… lover shark, which is sinking into (A Merman I Should Turn To Be….)’ extinction.virtual shark ‘usurps’ the actual escaping a corrupted world and living under the sea as Mer people. Damian O’Brien looks at the heteronormativeMills observes and that along Hendrix’s with betweenMosasaurus good in ‘Jurassicand intelligent World’ work, while progressive, was also (2015), examining tensions make a buck. much 1960s hippie culture tended filmmakingOne of the andmost the interesting need to treatedto objectify as a foreignwomen. ‘other.’ So, while the song is poetic, the mermaid is still - essays in this section hunts the ‘Aquatic Spaces and Practices,’ never-made Hammer block part three, contains essays on buster ‘Nessie: The Loch Ness the more practical side of fan culture. An essay Monster.’ This is a truly unknown beast, as it was by Brigid Cherry plays with ‘fan totems.’ In this finally sunk in development hell towards the end Cthulhu makes yet another appearance, in soft toy of the 1970s. It is unclear whether this would have form. Cherry traces the fan love of monsters from been a Hammer classic or a damp squid. - childhood, suggesting that children enjoy being Collectively these essays demonstrate the deep scared and that many also identify with monsters. splash that sea monsters have made across con Maria Mellins examines the growing cult of- temporary culture. They’re generally accessible, ‘mermaiding’ in terms of ‘subcultural capital.’ thisonly book. occasionally lapsing into cultural studies- Mermaiding is a form of cosplay, where partici ese. Fans of the leviathan will enjoy fishing for pants dress up as mermaids in cloth or siliconepage 7 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

The Autobiography Of James T. Kirk edited by David A. Goodman (Titan Books, 2016) to bog down in many more synopses of episodes from the original series: ‘Space Seed’ (introducing Reviewed by Graham Andrews Khan, you will remember), ‘The Squire of Gothos’, ‘Amok Time’, and so on and on. I kept the Bantam adaptations by James Blish close beside me, for ubtitle: The Story of Starfleet’s long for seasoned Star Trek occasional reference. These recaps are either too Greatest Captain

S . I’m not sure veterans or too short for any what Christopher Pike, Jean- readers not already steeped butLuc then Picard, – as Kathryn non-existent Janeway, charac and- in the Mythos. It becomes Jonathan Archer would make of that, a tedious game of Spot the Brain’Episode. with Kirk/Goodman all seriousness, even ters – they have no say in the matter. whichmanages must to discuss have ‘Spock’staken Apropos of nothing at all, my virtual vote would be cast for Kate Mulgrew some doing. As for the often has– I mean, got someCaptain Star Janeway. Trek readmotionless on. motion pictures, The editor, David A. Goodman, Star Trek Federation: I just sort of lost the will to The First 150 Years previous, most notably Futurama and the ‘Where It isn’t all down the gravity No Fan Has Gone Before’ well, however. When the spoof. Now he’s had the honour of belovedfreshly- Enterprise promoted, Admiralhe tells preparing the memoirs of James- Kirk prepares to leave his Tiberius Kirk (2233-killed in action 2293) for publication. He also com that things won’t be Lieutenantthe same aboard Uhura the about old tub. the missioned a Foreword from Leonard H. McCoy, new personnel arrangements.you He ends by saying M.D., and an Afterword by Spock of Vulcan. Kirk’s own Prologue commemorates his first meeting “It won’t be the same without , sir,” she replies. with the twentieth-century social worker, Edith Kirk appreciates the heartfelt compliment, and- Keeler (q.v. ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’). he also realizes what lay behind his pernickety “Because of her I would literally save history. And efforts in selecting new senior officers: “I was lit I would also regret it for the rest of my life” (p. 5). erally trying to re-create a moment in time. But I - was re-creating it without me.” A sad-but-true fact. The first four chapters, relating Kirk’s early life- story from birth to his commissioning as a star In conclusion, it must be said that Goodman’s ship captain, interested me the most. Childhood Parkinson’sbook is not The up toLife the and high Times standard of Horatio set for Horn the- on a farm in Iowa with his parents George (whose- blowerwriting of ‘fictional biographies’ by C. Northcote- father was called Tiberius, by the way) and Winona Davis Kirk, his traumatic youthful expe (1970). But then, despite the evident simi riences on Tarsus IV, meeting his first love, Ruth larities, Kirk is nowhere near as well-developed (no last name, that I could see), getting through toa character James Bond: as the The one Authorized C. S. Forester Biography wrote of about 007 Starfleet Academy, among many other revelatory over several novels. The Star same Trek judgment was, after applies all, things. We also get to know when and where he first met McCoy, Scotty, Uhuru, Sulu, Chekov, and franchise),(1973), by Johnwith Pearson.the accent on fast action rather – of course – Spock. The events on Tarsus IV, the an episodic TV series (and a still-running film planet where Kodos the ExecutionerStar murdered Trek - sodes.4,000 colonists,Kirk unmasks lead upthe to itinerant ‘The Conscience actor-manager, of the than in-depth biographical studies. I’m not sorry- King’, one of my favourite ‘classic’ epi to have read it, though – quite the reverse. There is also a gallery of ingenious mock-up pho largeAnton in Karidian, his memoirs. as Kodos, with a little help from tographs, ranging from Kirk’s Starfleet Academy Shakespeare. Not surprisingly, this incident looms graduation picture to mementos from his sojourn in 1930s America. page 8 After that, however, the narrative drive tends THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Time Was by Ian McDonald (Tor, 2018) stiffens Emmett’s awareness that he lives in a Reviewed by Anthony Nanson ‘post-literate age’. Online dealers are not the only reason bookshops are closing. I sense how keenly McDonald himself must feel this. He writes with a simple literary elegance in which language is to be the real world, a decision has to be charged with layers of feeling: ‘Words and pictures maden any fantasyabout how or SFthe story characters set in what will appearsreact to I cannot carry the crunch of sea-rounded stone under the tires as we pulled into the car park, the encountering the fantastic. Will they simply take salt-sweet perfume of the grasses, the scabbing it in their stride? Best pull yourselves together, dryness of the air, the knock of a hundred million guys, because this is a story of the fantastic, and pebbles rolling in the wave lap.’ With descriptions you’re going to have to deal with it! Or will they cannotlike this get McDonald on social keeps media taking and whichus back cannot into the be go through the process of doubt and wonder that real, the kind of gritty, sensuous experience you you or I would undergo if we were to encounter- such marvels in our own lives? In this novella Ian rendered by the flat information-mediating prose McDonald takes the latter course. As much as any thethat continuous IT media have sense habituated of allusion us to to. a world and a thing else, it’s a story about theHighlander sense of wonder. It’s It’s because of this power of language, as well as Pottermeta-SF, – andthreaded resonant with with casual other, references unnamed to thebooks SF thatcorpus mine – Arthur similar C. seams: Clarke, Priest’s The Adjacent, even Harry history that extend beyond the 130 pages of this The Time Traveler’s Wife. thenstory, that that too we feels grieve real. at Thethe vignettessense of wonder. of war, Theand , say; when the consensus reality opens to the marvellous Niffenegger’s In a fictional world in which the marvellous is already located impact of uncertainty, the possibility that anything in imaginative fiction familiar from the real world, might be possible. McDonald evokes the wonder so how can we yet experience such wonder? persuasively in his story world that it resonated McDonald’s protagonist, Emmett, is a second- with my own longings, perceptions, experiences – hand book dealer. He has a bibliophile’s geeky in this present world whose zeitgeist so insistently general knowledge. He doesn’t have a shop. One demands certainty – that there is muchTime more Was tois by one, all round the world, the great bookshops reality than there may seem. You don’t need me to tell you Ian McDonald is a great writer. are closing, and Emmett is contributing to that by- selling books online from his tiny flat in London, superb. Buy it. Read it. Feel the wonder. and later his girlfriend Thorn Hildreth’s tumble- miliardown houseor futuristic, in the Fens. not Theeven feel the of thesocial setting media is mildly post-apocalyptic. Nothing is exactly unfa brands that are instrumental to Emmett’s work, but there’s a pervasive feeling of crappiness about everything. Only later on did the penny drop that this is EnglandTime after Was Brexit. An enclosure, a love letter, inside a book of poems called , puts Emmett on the trail of McDonald’s other narrator, Tom Chappell, a poet stationed in the Second World War on Shingle Street on the Suffolk coast, where he falls in love- with research boffin Ben Seligman.Time Was The, cached research in has something to do with the uncertainty prin ciple. Via further copies of bookshops, Emmett tracks the lovers’ fleeting appearances in the records of wars throughout the twentieth century and beyond. In the blurry photographs they never seem to age. Tom’s lyrical page 9 voice carries a mood of 1940s nostalgia, which THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

The Body Library by Jeff Noon The universe and all we can see and describe of (Angry Robot, 2018) - Reviewed by Kate Onyett it is perceived through the lens of human expe- rience. As humans, we communicate, share and report back through narrative. Whether you con thissider to the describe subject ourselves, fiction or others, non-fiction, and the we world are he first book in this series was a trippy basically narrating what has been, and we use Texcursion into depths of consciousness, examined through man’s relationship with about us. Narrative could be said to form the great time, and wrapped in a thriller- fabric of our conscious reality. So, does altering murder investigation. Noon narrative truly alter reality? - now takes his metaphysical PI History has shown regimes into a conceptual thriller about attempting to do just that: offi the very fabric of perceived incially their eradicating own image, the and past there to reality itself. areremake forces the presentwithin andthe futurenovel John Nyquist is back, and world,having he’s moved involved to awith new a case city in Noon’s alternative history attempting to do just that: the city’s Narrative Council- that explodes into far more calpolicing Oberon the narrativesseeking to ofalter the than it first appears. Welcome population, and the mythi tradable,to Storyville: liveable where and stories intrin are- design. part of the very fabric of life: theReconciliation city’s fictions is tothe his theme own

sic. You don’t live your life: you - live your narrative. Hired by a tiveby theselves end. when Nyquist, left for dead, split mysterious agency, Nyquist is into his physical and narra paid to tail a city official, and - all seems pretty so-so until has to reconcile his past and Nyquist becomes involved with a prostitute and present, his regrets with his peace, and his narra inadvertently kills his mark in one magic-soaked Reconciliationtive self with action is not injust the about physical resolving world univerif he is- night at a mysterious abandoned apartment to find any answers and bring the case to a close. block. This is only the beginning, as he realises he has become part of a much wider plot. Infected sal forces but is a personal healing of the soul. with an apparently terminal, semi-magical word- While there seems to be tacit admonition about disease, Nyquist has to track down a city-ending- forces that shape us, there is still a hope for making- conspiracy and find his would-be lady-love’s killer, our own mark within those forces. For Oberon- as he is hounded by forces both official and super could not live without the people’s belief in narra natural. If narrative is the lifeblood of the city and tive to give it shape, just as the residents of Story its people, then controlling it becomes a battle for ville could not self-define or function without the supremacy. reportage quality of narrative. On the surface, this is a very enjoyable onion of a lives,Noon’s and themesthe interaction are big; of social those andforces personal on the himnovel: into Nyquist’s a murksome story istruth pared about down, whom overlapping or what spaces examined via the forces that control our layer by thin, overlapping layer, as we dive with stoical lead warn us of the struggle all need to be awareindividual’s of: maintaining struggle. Noon’s the self intelligent in the face prose of andthe is really pulling our strings in the bigger story. world’s driving forces. As a fantastical thriller it ticks all boxes and fills out nicely. But this being Noon, there’s a lot more at work here. Instead of delving within into the He layers this with incredibly detailed oddness, subconscious (as with the first novel), this time turning the world a few degrees weird. It’s a it is external descriptors of self and how these heady, clever, immersive read. descriptors can be manipulated and controlled page 10 that are up for question. THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

The Worm Within (The First Chronicle of Future Earth) by Sarah Newton (Mindjammer Press, 2017) lowship of friends had defeated the hideous Witch- of Shaful. Until now, Iago’ser’s Tower entire underlife has the been tutelage spent Reviewed by Stuart Carter ofquietly Pellegraine, in the Chronomancbut rumours of war and chaos are once The Worm Within - The First Chronicle of Pellegraine’s old comrade, more sweeping the lands. SFuturearah Newton’sEarth (which suggests Kazimir vel-Tanis of the book)that “future” is set far Earth into our might future, survive fol- House of the Noble Sakari, the peril revealed in this particular- Legiadimact of the Legion- - of Lord Regus, Indomitable lowing a glorious era when Human it’sarrives time withto bring some the disquiet fellow- ity possessed the very stars them ing news of his own. And so- selves, but was eventually brought- low by war, hubris and technology ship back together: Iago, Pel run amuck. Anything we might rec legraine and Kazimir head technologies,ognise is long whichgone, and have the been planet built is out on a journey – a quest, you permeated with ancient ruins and- amight thief, sayand his – tracking drunken down com- their old comrade, Malthus, upon and incorporated into every day life, not least because no one any longer has- panion, Appia, a healer. With the band all back together they head off to uncover the evil growing the means to remove or reproduce them. Theseare. remains are both indestructible and incompre in the land before it’s too late to stop it. hensible – neither good nor evil, they simply magicks,Yes, it’s curious a classic creatures D&D role-playing and enduring scenario: evils, any sufficiently inan which ancient a rag-tag land built team of of buried adventurers secrets, must mighty risk advancedMost of them,technology at least. is indistinguishable from magicAs Clarke’s Third Law has it: that any sufficiently advanced future is often indis- everything they hold dear to save the world from , but as a corollary of this I might also suggest - tinguishable from history a fate worse than death...! Tales of the Dying Earth The Book of Which might be fine for a tabletop D&D adven the New Sun . Look atHothouse Jack Vance’s, and ture, but feels a little hackneyed as the premise The Time Machine, Gene, Wolfe’sto mention some of , possibly Brian Aldiss’ writerfor a novel of Thein 2018. Worm Sarah Within Newton does a perfectly acceptable job as the dungeon-master – er, I mean distanteven Wells’ futures, like those of The Worm Within, - the best known examples of “dying earths”. These nations behind the scenes are, believable, in that the and group’s there isadventures a rising sense are prettyof dark well menace chronicled, as the actionthe machi rolls worldare, despite has seen their tremendous temporal distance, change, notbut nearly remains so inphysically – or rather, distant. has Inreturned them, our to now– a stateancient that home we differentiate The Worm Within from so much other on. What’s missing is anything new or distinct to might recognise, following a period of miracles, available quest fiction. If classic D&D quests are your bag then you’ll find much to enjoy here, orThe if vast empires, and men like gods that differsThe immensely from our experience. Wormyou’re Withinnew to. fantasy (or, more precisely, to “dying Worm Within Earth science fiction”) then you’ll also enjoy And in the temporally distant world of - dwell our (surprisingly unchanged!) descendants, alongside many other races. Did they Sarah Newton has tried hard to create some arrive here from other worlds or are they altered thing striking and new here (no easy task in such humans? No one any longer seems to know (or care). a well-explored genre) and I didanything enjoy the idea of- - her Future Earth, one tottering under the weight One of these humans is Iago, an orphan adopted - of so much history that almost is possi some years ago by Master Pellegraine, a Chrono ble; I just wish she’d used this backdrop to fuel a mancer (or time wizard), after he and his, ahem, fel page 11more original story. THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Origamy by Rachel Armstrong - (Newcon Press, 2018) ing, this added an intriguing extra dimension to immediately place them. Far from being annoy Reviewed by Dave M. Roberts - the book. As the reader is being taken on a tour of weird and intriguing universes, they are simulta- neously taken through the history of science and n the prologue we find our protagonist, its place in the universe in explaining and enhanc IMobius, apparently in an operating theatre ing the strange beauty of it. and about to undergo some sort of operation. becomesAs the novel more progresses, the focus of it interest. brings us This rather does more not As she slides into unconsciousness, there seems down to earth. The daily and family life of Mobius- to be a kind of epiphany. As she slips into another world of consciousness, she experiences herself mean the book dispenses with the universe build forming anew, in what presumably is a new world. ing, nor does it reign back completely on the awe-- What do we know about this? Initially, not very inspiring nature of the science that underpins the- much. This puts us at no more disadvantage than encedbeauty Origamist, of it all. It becomes but is still clear having that thereto relearn is some the Mobius. The reader learns about her world as she thing very wrong with Mobius. She is an experi- learns. Most of all, she must relearn the art of Origamy. The first question for the reader is what toprocess retain from what scratch. she has. She The is novelalso getting is now interferrunning ence that breaks up her thinking and is struggling exactlyOrigamy Origamy (noun). is; ‘Thehelpfully circus there art isof not spacetime just one buttravel’ two definitions, provided: on two distinct levels. Her thoughts become darker Origamy (verb). ‘The artful and athletic practice innovativeand more sense-of-wonder concerned with world endings building, and decay. and of weaving spacetime fabrics to discover outland- Whereas earlier in the book the joy was in the ish places and events’. often in the learning, as it progresses this is still - present, but the universes start to feel transient. So, we know right from the It is as if, as they develop into universes,off that this which is about is nothing explor if fully-fledged entities, entropy noting ambitious. and manipulating The creations entire comes into play and they must herdecay. thoughts. In parallel The with reader this, comesMobius to is realise also clearly there losing is a are layered up from biological principals to create strange - and bizarre worlds, moving point to all this, and the story swiftly up to full blown tours- gradually mutates into a fas dourof the iscosmos underlined in Stapledonian with the cinating quest to track down fashion. The glory and splen herThis identity book andis unlike the meaning almost of her place in the universe. necessary building blocks. There is an enormous joy in constructed, so that however anything else I’ve ever read.- the way that the worlds are Armstrong has weaved - together a story of many frac bizarre it may appear at first, - themtured into parts something and, much rather like actersthere is namesa satisfying give completeus clues Mobius the origamist, pulled ness to this. Even the char glorious. A journey through to what is happening. This multiple universes, a heart-- is apparent as soon as we rending search for identity betweenencounter science Mobius’ and parents, art. The Newton feeling was and that Shelley. the and what is ultimately a very human and pow Immediately we are dropped into the hinterland instant.erful resolution. This is one A storyof the that best takes and mostin the original whole of creation and history and yet takes place in an resonance of the names was so significant, that I actually found myself googling them if I couldn’tpage 12novels I’ve read in some considerable time. THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

The Smoke by Simon Ings (Gollancz, 2018) an extended flashback that constitutes the bulk Reviewed by Paul Kincaid of the novel, Stuart takes over as first-person narrator. This structural shift reflects a loss of focus: the distinctive you, the intimate outsider, is replaced with a much more familiar and hence Molly Zero ou try to remember other works written less engaging “I”. Yin the second person: by Keith betweenFel is of thehuman Bund, and and Bund, so the the relationship failures of bet under ween- Roberts, a novelette by Robert Silverberg Fel and Stuart is emblematic of the relationship- that was originally intended as a movie treatment. Not much. It’s an odd voice, the second person; the Bund,standing, is interesting. the doubts, Of the course power it calls plays, to themind arro the book addresses you, instructs you, rather than gance and abasement. The name Ings has chosen,- bringing you into the plot the way that first person does. And yet, at its best, second person feels more- Shanghai Bund, the enclave of powerful, arro intimate. That’s why it is a hard voice to write, a gant Westerners dominating pre-war China; but hard voice to get right. You cannot simply substi Bund was also a name used by a number of Jewish tute “you” for “I”. The body of knowledge shared organizations between the late-19th century and by “you” is different from the body of knowledge the establishment of Israel. At several points, assumed by “I”. The rhythms are different. Get it Ings’s intellectually and technologically superior wrong, and the prodding finger of the text – you, Bund, a grouping feared and hated as different, you, you – is alienating. Get it right, and you are is specifically equated with Jewishness: there are welcomed into the story. Simon Ings, a writer ever no Christmas decorations, the Day of Atonement concerned with exploring what prose can do, gets is venerated, and just once Fel’s father, Georgy Chernoy, identifies the members of the Bund as it right. At least for a time. - lends an unnerv- Jews. This equation You, in this instance, is Stuart Lanyon.- ing character to the We’re in a recognisable avatar of York - shire in the 1950s, a place of belch down between the ing factory chimneys and bleak moors, cataclysmic break outdoor privys and telephone boxes, over the course of races that develops retreatedtelevision here only to beginning live with to his reach taciturn, into the novel. the valleys, grim and grimy. Stuart has There’s a lot - going on: rival defeated dad after a love affair in London went wrong. But this is not quite famil iar territory. The Great War ended when- space adventures; an atomic bomb was dropped on Berlin. whichan experiment both men in More significantly, experiments in genet andimmortality women give in ics have had the unintended consequence birth to an infant of splitting the human race into three version of them- species: at one extreme, the secretive,- selves; the devel- feral, hermaphroditic “chickies”; at the andother other extreme normal, the old-fashionedsuperior, highly humans, intel television sf series; feelingligent Bund;an increasing and between sense of them, worthless Stuart- theopment strange of a sexual crude

- ness as they are locked out of an incomprehensible allure of the chickies; and behind it all the way future being shaped by the Bund. inprejudice the hands and of feara lesser and writer arrogance it would build be inexora a mess. When Stuart has to return to London, the Smoke, bly towards war. Strictly speaking, it’s too much; to clear out his old flat and, inevitably, confront his - memories of his relationship with Fel, the novel certingThat it isn’tto the is familiar, testimony is a to gear how change good Ingsfrom is; excel but- suddenly loses something of its edge. Firstly, an even so the shift from you to I, from the discon unexpected voice, an “I”, starts to break into the page 13 second person narrative. Then, as we shift into lent to merely very very good. THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Tales from the Vatican Vaults edited by David V. Barrett where the timelines diverge because of outside (Robinson, 2015) There are two main types of alternate history: Reviewed by Ben Jeapes Theintervention former lends (time itself travellers, much more alien to invasion), science and where it happens because it just happened. - fiction; this collection is the latter type. So, the t’s a little-known fact that Pope John Paul suf counterfactualstories are generally material. somewhere on a spectrum Ifered a heart attack in 1978, just 33 days into between outright fantasy and non-fantastical, made an unscheduled visit to his chambers that his reign. Fortunately, his personal secretary-

night and immediately summoned medical atten tion. John Paul of course recovered and went on to become the longest-ever reigning Pope, clocking in 32 years and 2 months on the throne of St Peter before dying in 2010 at the age of 98. His reign abusefamously of the cleaned vulnerable up the that Catholic had dogged church, it for finally cen- turiesbanishing and theunleashing shades ofan financial age of liberalism corruption such and as

- had never been seen before. He even managed to reconcile the Roman Catholic and Anglican com munions with a clever bit of theological jiggery pokery that worked for those who wanted it to. And as part of this theological glasnost, John Paul threw open the Vatican Vaults – the repository of all those weird and wonderful reports that didn’t quite (or even nearly) fit into the official narrative of Catholic theology. A small selection of which is published here, with linking commentary. betterIn short, than this the isincoherent the Vatican mishmash X-Files. of alien tech- That, at least, is the back story, and it works a lot

nology, conspiracy etc. ad nauseam that ties the TV- X-Files into such impenetrable knots. A big strength thatis that makes editor coherent, David V. Barrett internal has sense, enough rather of a theothan logical background to weave it together in a way With the former, the theme is often the contrast between the supernatural powers attributed asjust a hand-wavyseries of standalone wishful thinking. tales, each But clever still, likein their the to pagan religions, and the truth claimed by the original, the collection is at its best if you regard it church, with or without reason. Thus, in Jaine Fenn’s ‘The Sky Weeps, the Earth Quakes’, a young own right but not trying to be anything bigger. Conquistador has to face up to the reality of the- It’s a good, chunky collection with 28 authors: powers of the Inca religion – and to do him credit, stickmost closer of the to usual the brief suspects than others, of good being short the story kind does his best to take it on board. In Storm Con fiction, and a couple of first timers. Some stories stantine’s ‘The Saint’s Well’, a holy well in 1950s Wales, attributed to a saint, is clearly empowered of thing that could plausibly end up in the Vatican by a much older spiritual presence. Vaults. Some feel like the kind of story the author But there is enough variety to break up the intowould the have narrative. written anyway, meaning that the theme. At the counterfactual end of the spectrum, linking text has to work a little bit harder to fit it Lionel & Patricia Fanthorpe do what they do best page 14and give us a tale of Bérenger Saunière, Rennes- THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Virtues of War and Ghosts of War by Bennett R Coles le-Château and Saint-Sulpice. David V. Barrett’s (Titan Books, 2015 & 2016) ofintroductory a rather insubstantial ‘The Tale oflegend Pope with Joan’ actual is exactly char- what it says it is, but fleshes out the bare bones Reviewed by Martin McGrath acters and motivation and background. Easily the- ennett R Coles is a former Canadian naval best of this crop is Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s ‘The Island of Lost Priests’, a response to contempo ratherrary church than handing scandals, over dealing to the with secular the authori Catholic- Bofficer. His first two novels (of a promised church’s historical insistence on policing itself that means,trilogy) in this are partcase, ofseems that to military be a fondness science abuser and abused. fiction tradition that values “authenticity”. What ties, and the bonds that may always exist between - - for three letter acronyms, recounting the petty One notable exception to the rule – in other- frustrations of military life and “realistic” por words, good old science fiction – is Marion Pit trayals of brutal violence. man’s ‘Encounter on the Rhine’: a Close Encoun is Thesestruggling books to are assert set incontrol a future over where fractious humanity colo- monk.ters explanation of the visions of Hildegard of has spread to planets around nearby stars and Earth Bingen from the point of view of a twelfth century- nies. In the first book, a Terran task force, deployed Now I have to I plead an interest: my first profes as a show of strength in the Sirius system, becomes- sional sale was to a David V. Barrett collection, so the triggerVirtues for of theWar start follows of a the widespread adventures rebellion of four I paid especial attention to the debut authors he and must fight its way home through enemy terri has found here. Geraldine Warner’s ‘The Missing tory. Journal of Captain James Cook’ gives the real core characters. Lieutenant Katja Emmes is the story of the explorer’s last days, extending beyond leader of a “strike team” of marines and scion of the generally accepted date of his death. Cook,- a military family who feels she hasThe something Rapier to- a product of the Enlightenment and a certain prove. Lieutenant CommanderThe Thomas Rapier’s Kane communi is the- English class, with a traditional C of E upbring ambitious commander of the ship, . Lieu ing, grapples with very different spiritual forces tenant Charity Brisebois is betweenon the island the lines,of Hawaii between where how he meta man his ofend. Cook’s The cation officer, but she is also an intelligence officer backgroundtension and joyfeels of he the should story beis thethinking, mismatch, and whatread with a nastily Machiavellian streak. Finally, Sub- Lieutenant Jack Mallory is a puppyishGhosts pilot of War trained, this in stealth warfare and, handily for the plot, a savant is actually happening to him. One man’s heaven in advanced, exotic physics. In can easily be another’s hell. - through,cast of characters and discovering find themselves that their distantback on war Earth, has Meanwhile, in Stephanie Potter’s ‘Gardening’ we followedsome struggling them home. to cope with what they’ve been get the story of an innocent nun who inadvertent Virtues of War has the advantage of featuring ly uncovers an alternative version of the Garden of Eden story, and is of course treated exactly as- reasonable gusto. Ghosts of War, however, features venientyou would truths. expect the church of the 1930s to treat lots of action sequences which Coles delivers with- an uppity nun who insists on discovering incon dominance, it would be interesting to do a second far too many dinner parties and lengthy digres volume,Because Tales of from the the fantastical Vatican Vaults / counter-factual 2500, or even sions in which not much happens. The second 3000 book is supposed to make the reader ponder sights to bear on a future Catholic theologian’s the price soldiers pay for war, but Coles handles : David V. Barrett could bring his theological neither human emotions nor ethics convincingly. I had a number of problems with these books. appraisal of the technological developments of The way they handle women, whose worth seems the previous 500 (or 1000) years. You’re welcome. intimately linked to their physical attractiveness, and the divide between white characters (the protagonists) and non-white (villains or sexual- page 15trophies) are disturbing. There are problems with the plotting too, which is heavily reliant on every THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

- one being egregiously stupid – warships without using this defence. She did what was necessary in aredefences left undefended against boarding and unmonitored and secretly in times con of a situation where the rules of normal morality- structed routes to and from enemy territory that cannot be applied. Coles goes further. For Hobbes, - individuals live under the protection of the sov war, for example. ereign (whether a monarch or- shouldBut the we most react obvious to books ques assembly) and, in return, cede- whosetion these lead books character raise is is: a Howwar mentthe right knows to question more than the its sover citi- criminal? eign’s actions. Earth’s govern The tozens act and, in theKorolev best argues:interests “The of Virtues of War, people empower Parliament leadsIn the her opening team on pages a raid of to Katja Emmes means breaking the rules that the State, and sometimes that a small farming community,- rightly apply to the people” ingpart it of might the human harbours colony terror on a- planet orbiting Sirius, believ state(256). – Neitheror its agents, the rulelike Katja. of law nor petty morality apply to the ists. When the local village leader, a man called Thapa, It is possible that Coles is- headfails off to an immediately innocent man, answer pour playing with his reader. It is encouragerher questions, les Katja autres blows the allpossible that has that gone the before third and instal that ment of the story will subvert . Later, short as it is, will be turned on includesafter Thapa brutal leads murder a and revolt a Katja’s world, nasty, brutish and against Earth (which, to be fair,- its head. Perhaps, in the end, the shethreat murders to have him Katjawhile he repeat is an cruelty of the system she serves edly raped in a public square) will be revealed to her (and to werethe reader) the case, as anthere abomination. is no rescu -I civilianunarmed homes, and helpless calling prisoner. down inghave these my doubts. books. But even if that devastatingShe leads a raidorbital that strikes destroys on Coles is too enamoured with inhabited areas and, later, she his hero and her violence, he wants us to like her and to be on her side even as Katja is executes an officer in her own - navyColes who makes is guilty use of ofbits being of the a poor administrator. cold-bloodedlyGhosts murdering of War inno, he throughout these books: the cent people. More than that, philosophy of Thomas Hobbes especially in from the claim in The Leviathan aswants an individual,us to feel sorry has nofor moral Katja title of the first book comes – as if she is a victim. As if she,

that “Force and fraud are in responsibility for the crimes she war the two cardinal virtues.” commits. I couldn’t swallow it. This sentence follows Hobbes’s Military veterans may deserve rightdescription and wrong, of a war justice of “every and injustice, man against have everythere respect for their service but “just obeying orders” man” in which no action is unjust: “notions of – even if coated in a veneer of Seventeenth Century- Ghosts philosophy – is no defence. ofno Warplace. Where there is no common power, there How should we react to books whose lead char is no law, where no law, no injustice.” In acter is a war criminal? With a distinct sense of , Katja’s commanding officer – Brigadier queasiness. Korolev – absolves Katja of any wrongdoing in warpage 16 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Quietus by Tristan Palmgren (Angry Robot, 2018) - its own terrifying, unknowable, Reviewed by Stuart Carter and unstoppable plague, the onei rophage. Habidah and her team are hiddennot here and to to help understand this Earth; how their the cold-hearted mission is to stay ngry Robot are really on stricken population respond to Aa roll of late, publishing what is, as far as they know, the end an impressive array of of the world. The Unity’s rulers are smart, exciting science fiction, Quietus preparing for the worst. and fantasy work from both sides of the Atlantic. You can’t write about super- the first novel from Tristan withoutintelligent mentioning AI managing the immense, B-word: humanPalmgren, debut. is no exception: an mostly human, civilisationsquite - ambitious, sublime, but very - Banks. The Unity isn’t every theone’s similarities favourite post-scarcity, are far greater anar The narrative is initiallyth cho-communist society, although divided between Habidah and Niccoluccio: the latter is a 14 century monk in an Culture,than the anddifferences Tristan (toPalmgren begin with isn’t at Banks least). - Thebut Italy about to be devastated by the Black Death; ifAmalgamates Palmgren hasn’t aren’t read Minds, at least the some Unity isn’t the the former is an anthropologist, studying the- - effects of the plague upon different cultures. We tion going on, for sure. M. Banks’ follow Niccoluccio as plague arrives at the isolat novels then there’s some spookily parallel evolu advanceded monastery technologies where he to has conceal lived quietly herself forfrom many the Quietus is years, and Habidah as she tracks the plague, using Regardless of the influences here, - doomed locals, although in our first encounter versesa stunning and hasfirst a novel. cast of It’s trillions, packed which with emotion,makes it evershe can’t would help he? but try to warn a local trader of the intelligence, and philosophy, spans entire uni- danger.The ensuing He, of course,scenes when doesn’t the believe lethal hercontagion – why oneall the evening, more miraculous reading Quietus how personal the view point often is - Olaf Stapledon this is not. Sat alone heart-breaking as we watch this gentle, ancient with some quiet reaches Sacro Cuore, Niccoluccio’s home, are simply thoughtneoclassical music playing in the background, - I cio’sstopped self-contained, reading, put monastic, the book downsilent andworld simply was community quickly vanish. Returning to Habidah, about what I was reading: how Niccoluc we find her veneer of detachment becoming ever-- more difficult to sustain as the apocalypse hits, collapsing around his ears. It felt all too real, in the and Palmgren’s writing evokes a truly claustro same way as Hilary Mantel’s Tudor England feels phobic sense of helpless doom in these sections. It’s real. Palmgren had painted an emotionally bleak very powerful stuff, with an awful sense of actually picture of the Black Death, but also a very calm being there in the midst of the Black Death. one; not a “cosy catastrophe” by any means, but a theFor hidden Niccoluccio, secret base there’s that no her escape, team is but monitoring Habidah sobering, thoughtful apocalypse of the heart. It’s- eventually climbs aboard a shuttle and returns to- not a moment I shall forget in a hurry. - And then, yes, the world turns once more: Nic- the plague’s spread from. Who are these observ- coluccio meets Habidah and discovers how tiny ers? They’re part of a huge ever-expanding multi the world he inhabits really is, a precipitous zoom versal federation, the Unity, which contains mil ing-out that you might expect would break his lions of different worlds and trillions of people, all closeted Medieval mind, but doesn’t. The book’s- managed by a group of super-intelligent AI’s, the second half then brings a “zooming-out” from amalgamates, who have been expanding the Unity Habidah’s world(s), one of another order of magni at breakneck speed throughout the multiverse. Quietus tude entirely, yet still with Niccoluccio at its heart. But the disaster unfolding upon this single time. is simply stunning, some of the biggest plague-afflicted Earth is being mirrored on a and best science fiction I’ve read in all too long a far larger scale across the Unity, which is facingpage 17 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Proof of Concept by Gwyneth Jones (Tor, 2017) ‘a philosophical koan … Like Schrödinger’s cat. It Reviewed by Anthony Nanson doesn’t mean what people t hink it means … It ’s your decision, not what the AI, or the person, really is.’ Altair is contained by knowledge firewalls within Kir’s mind, as the Needle lab is firewalled within its cavern in the earth. In Schrödinger’s thought t’s the twenty-third century and the future is experiment the cat in the box is conceptually both Igrim. The world’s bloated human population is either dead dead and alive at the same time, but if you open concentrated in enormous hives. Most people or the box the cat turns out to really be Zonesnever gowhere outside ‘scavs’ – intoscrabble the agriculturalto survive, or zones, the alive. Jones’s novella implies the application of where you’d be shot on sight, or the polluted Dead - Schrödinger’s cat as a parable to matters – such as climate change, say, and other ecological syn wilderness zones still enjoyed by the One Percent dromes – that are so complex they resist absolute but steadily being chipped away by land lotteries proof and yet can be accepted as really happening whose winners inevitably sell on their title deeds if you give your trust to the informational models so they can pay for medical treatment or pay off through which they’re apprehended. anddebts. economics, In this tight but littlealso novella,the totalitarian Gwyneth trends Jones extrapolates not only the trajectories of ecology The very brevity of the novella makes it more timeintellectually allows voisinages, demanding a denser than web if everythingof associa- of IT: woe betide your career if you say anything were spelt out in detail. That brevity at the same that grates against the facile sensibilities of Global Audience Mediation; and you can’t have a baby tions between ideas through their proximity on the page and in time as you read, which in turn without a permit, so it’s safer than ‘actual sex’ to- make love virtually in online ‘playtime’. provoke thought. Jones may not provide answers to the bleak problems the world faces; but, like Kir is a scav rescued from a Dead Zone by physi Perceval approaching the Grail, she seeks to cist Margrethe Patel to host an AI (named Altair) clarify what questions we should be asking – and and thereby has a place in the team carrying out- that the challenges we face are not only practical the Needle experiment in a hermetically isolated and political but also intellectual, all the more so void deep in the earth’s crust. The Needle is a con in a time when ignorance and simple-mindedness struct in information space; the aim is to move this are valorised as virtues of democracy. construct, in an instant, many light-years through space – and back. It’s a project to give people hope by opening a possibility of the Great Escape to other worlds. The problem is one of knowledge: how can you know whether the experiment has worked- and where the Needle has been. Physics alone can’t even prove that the concept is viable. Every obser vation is also an impact – and consumes time. But the dynamics of information can extrapolate a kind of certainty about what cannot be observed. Or can they? How much do you trust the process? Especially when team members start dying. Can you trust the reasons that are given for their deaths? Do you trust the motives of those with the power in this locked-room situation – Patel and justher co-conspiratorsome kind of misinformation Dan Orsted, media-friendly when images doyen of space travel and the Great Escape? Is it

filtering through from the surface suggest that the overstretching of the earth’s resources may at last be triggering a cataclysmic collapse? Jones embeds in the story some hints about the kind of story it is. Kir explains that a Turing test pageis 18 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

J.G. Ballard by D. Harlan Wilson Nights at the Circus, before sub- (University of Illinois Press, 2017) Angelawe look Carter’sonce more at that bracketing of Ballard’s Reviewed by Nick Hubble sequently being filmed by Steven Spielberg. Yet if ‘mainstream’ recognition but also name with Carter’s, we might see this as not only - lthough ‘Modern Masters evidence that the process was Aof Science Fiction’ sounds already underway by which con various reasons) as the title of a somewhat dated (for ventional post-war British social- tikarealism in the would wider be sense, displaced as the by twenty-first century book series, speculative fiction, or fantas these volumes seem generally to dominant form of contemporary freebe very and directed good: nicely at the presented,intelligent English literature in the twenty- generalconcise, reader. sharp, Paul relatively Kincaid’s jargon- Iain first century. M. Banks J.G. Ballard authorAs Wilson of Lucky notes, Jim it was the so-- is proving very popular called ‘angry young man’ and and Wilson’s may well to market Ballard’s (1954),The Drowned Kings become equally essential despite Worldley Amis, who persuaded GollanczNew the fact that it has to compete Maps of Hell: A Study of Science with many more existing texts- Fictionas sf back in 1962. In son’scovering insistence its subject. that, What for all makes his technicolour sur- it stand out from the field is Wil (1960), Amis had argued- against the ghettoization of sf and in favour of realism and imaginative virtuosity, ‘Ballard began reviewing sf alongside general fiction; the appear as, and always remained, a science fiction writer’. ance of a writer of Ballard’s range and vision put those arguments beyond question. Through his toThe him mainstreamabandoning literarythe genre status but rather that Ballardto him work as a contributing editor of Bananas, the lit- association with the New Wave and his later attained well before his death in 2009 was wasnot duethe and to which Carter also contributed, Ballard has being one of the first to understand that sf erary magazine which ran from 1975 until 1979 Ballard,key literature like Kurt of the Vonnegut, second washalf almostof the twentieth forced to Empire of century. Wilson cites Peter Brigg’s argument that thealready Sun spent two decades at the forefront of both avant-garde and science fiction before keep working through an ever-developing science- appeared. - fictional style in order to express the otherwise- In providing sharp readings of the different inexpressible nature of his wartime experience. phases of Ballard’s career – the ‘natural disas While Ballard’s Shanghai childhood and subse- ter quartet’ of the 1960s, the ‘cultural disaster quent internment by the Japanese in Lunghua trilogy’ of the 1970s, and the late novels which Civil Assembly Centre is included in the biographi expose middle-class gated communities as crime- cal first chapter, Wilson continues to circle back- scenes – Wilson compellingly charts Ballard’s to these experiences at apposite moments in the hisexplorations career illustrates within thehow ‘electronic sf’s ‘alternate media realities, land Thebook. Unlimited He is particularly Dream Company strong on Ballard’s ‘autobi electricscape’ of dreams, late modernity and machine before desires concluding have been that ographical’ novels; a category in Empirewhich he of includesthe Sun The Kindness of Women(1979) alongside - subsumed and standardized by the futures we the more obvious examples of - have come to inhabit’. Intriguingly, Wilson sug (1984) and (1991).The Wind from gests that Ballard wrote as a ‘culturally science NowhereIt was the middle one Kingdom of these Come three, pub fictionalized being’ in later years. However, this lished midway between his first – - enables us to consider whether Ballard illustrates engaging and thought-provoking study, also (1962) – and last – Empire of the Sun(2006) won – novels, that made Ballard a literary star. Short listed for the Booker Prize, becominghow sf came coterminous to usurp the with law the of world.the father in the both the Guardian fiction prize and the James 2000s by supplanting mainstream literature and page 19 Tait Black Memorial Prize, which it shared with THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (Gollancz, 2018) and, whilst most continue to be created in the new body. The physical person becomes a “sleeve” Reviewed by Duncan Lawie - traditional way, that “self” need only be the first body. The richest live for centuries through creat hen this debut novel was reviewed in ing (suitably improved) clones and retaining real time backups. The rest hope that they can make Wthe ancestor of these pages in 2002, enough money to be loaded into a new body some Neal Asher was providing my fix of intime, which should case they a renewed die and life the in chip this insideworld themis an ultraviolent SF, so I ignored it. It is a delight to not also be destroyed (unless you are a Catholic, fascinatingcatch up with to seeit now, how released rich his asinaugural a Netflix writing tie-in. Having read some of Morgan’s later books, it is centuries.abomination). Major crimes result in you being removed from your body and stored for years to Black Man Kovacs is doing just this kind of time when a Alteredalready Carbon is, how close it cleaves to themes he expressed in later work such as (2008). is a whirlwind of clever plotting, wealthy man from Earth “leases” him to solve the crime of his own murder. Local police have closed richThe setting book and balances the carefully on aconsidered uses and the case as temporary suicide, but Bancroft is not knifemisuses edge; of the a technologysearing indict it presents.- bringing a colonial investi- convinced. The technique of most established world ment of extreme inequality gator to humanity’s richest, wrapped in a package of toxic gives a great opportunity awarenessmasculinity. ofIt maintainsthe narrator that equipoise through the self- to explain society from the- perspective of a stranger. His knows that he is founded in protagonist. Takeshi Kovacs ofinvestigation a world where is anbodies, explora our carbon,tion of thecan societalbe worn, impacts rented, his brutal and impoverished - upbringing; that his army and replaced – for a price. Natu UN Envoy careers required- brutishness of him, but they world,rally, Kovacs amongst finds the himself urban in also moulded him and sup unfortunatesthe filthy underbelly who ofhave the hireported is a hisresult own of his cleverness. skills, his intelligenceHis current and state his of gun-for-burning those who almost made it never prospered and amidst desire for justice, regardless to the elite, but were kicked of the law. There is a danger back down the ladder when

- of making it sound a worthy Thetheir mega crimes rich, or trickerythe mega were old, book. It escapes that terri insufficiently grand or subtle. tory in the precision of the language; through the pleasure of reading and douse the wealth will of and the power worst ofto them.retain their power and wealth. And Kovacs finds himself manipulated to- theAltered disdain Carbon of the author in any belief that human nature might really change. is filled with visceral thrills: rage, Line by line, this is an engrossing, disgust compassion, sex, danger, violence and a cunning, ing, delightful book filled with eyeball kicks and complex plot. The depth of context makes the subtle references (perhaps the poisonous nature world convincing whilst providing space for of the Tebbit knife is almost lost to history). Morgan to lay down plot threads and red herrings whiteKovacs knight is a beautifully in his red rounded and blue character wool coat. – angry The aplenty. There are colony worlds in insurrection, with his past and the world, determined to be a mind,personalities the self, transported to be stored via and needlecast transferred across to a light years and a technology which allows the resolution is kind, bleak, terrible. No wonder this page 20book was lauded. No wonder it launched a career. THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Austral by Paul McAuley we’re in the wilderness. The main narrative is (Gollancz, 2017) Reviewed by Anthony Nanson punctuated by large chunks of exposition – whole chapters usually – presenting: the background of Antarctica’s development; the plot of a choose- hesitate to describe this novel versionyour-own-adventure of the romance of Tristan book Kamilah is reading (a steampunk has become uglier, tougher, Ias ‘dystopian’. The world and Isolde set in an entirely - de-iced Antarctica become a extrapolatingist civilisation theas we visible know trends it is of our time, but technocapital terrain of fairy-tale kingdoms); and the back stories of Austral’s - and of her self-serving grand- still creaking along. One upside early life with her ecopoet mum of climate change is that the Ant arctic Peninsula – the skinny father Eddie Toomy – ‘A plain- bit of Antarctica that sticks up speaking self-made bloke who- out of the Antarctic Circle – has preferred common sense to the opinions of experts’ – whose evo become habitable. A movement- - of pioneering ‘ecopoets’ – the cation of Donald Trump echoes independent Antarctica’s reso forestshomage and to introduced Kim Stanley suitable Rob Brexit Britain. inson is blatant – has planted nance with the pipe dreams of - animals. Some of the animals McAuley’s descriptive writing have been genetically ‘edited’ to withstand the excellently evokes the ‘terraformed’ sub-antarc cold, as have some of the people – ‘huskies’ like- tic landscape. The handling of action and dialogue the eponymous narrator. Now that the ecopoets- is equally expert. Yet, though we have access have been squeezed out by the rise of a Trump throughout to Austral’s thoughts, the novel did ish far-right government in independent Antarc not engage me as much as I’d hoped at the level tica, the huskies have become a despised race, in mainof feeling narrative, or meaning. to make One the might novel expect something those an obvious though unacknowledged parallel with moresupplementary than an adventure narrative movie, strands but to the deepen handling the the historical treatment of many indigenous and diaspora peoples. Austral, an ex-convict employed as a prison of these strands – in a neutral summary style and camp officer, has got involved with one of her clearly separated from the main narrative – has- the effect of keeping things on the surface. There hercharges, womb a throughout gangster called the events Keever she Bishop. narrates. Her story is addressed to the child she’s carrying in may be something zeitgeistish about this: the net working of ideas across a planar surface in place- Having foiled Keever’s conspiracy to abduct the of a deeper layering of feeling and allusion. teenage daughter, Kamilah, of a visiting politician, Nevertheless, the novel mediates many sympa Alberto Toomy, Austral spirits Kamilah away into- thetic values – critiques of prejudice and greed, a- where.the wilderness. The main Her narrative plan is thus to ransom becomes her that for of a valorising of ecopoiesis. One of the more touching ticket out of Antarctica to begin a new life else bits of back story, towards the end, describes Aus tral’s delightful memory of living off the land with the two women’s flight through a transformed but her mother. We appreciate here more than ever still challenging sub-antarctic landscape, pursued how well adapted huskies like her are to the land- by both the authorities and Keever’s hoodlums. they were born for, that her dream of a better life Alberto is Austral’s uncle, and thus much is made in another country is as much a fantasy as Kami- of the contrasting life situations of Austral, the lah’s gamebook. The ecological conclusion I’m left dispossessed husky, and her cousin, a stroppy with is that, whatever new opportunities human teenager blessed with all the privileges of wealth. ofkind climate tries change to exploit in the in rest a warmingof the world. Antarctica, The streetwise voice with which Austral begins they’ll never make up for the destructive effects her story, in the prison camp, slips into a more page 21 straightforward but still personable voice once THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill - (Gollancz, 2017) Brittle and Mercer’s gang, but Brittle hasn’t sur Reviewed by Stuart Carter vived this long by being easy to kill. Returning, injured, to the underground robot town of NIKE 14, Brittle is forced to make a desperate choice when the town is attacked and overwhelmed by t’s all over. We’re extinct. The robots have CISSUS, one of the two remaining OWIs… Sea Itaken over the world, just as John Connor ofAuthor Rust C. Robert Cargill is a film writer in his warned us they would. The cold hand of logic spare time. This experience serves him well in has created a perfectThis world is theof machines, one true strivinggoal for , which is a veritably cinematic feast of fast-- together towards one goal, that of… Wait! No, not moving plot and high-octane action sequences. that goal, you idiot! But Cargill excels at background, too. Early chap robotics! ters alternate between past and present, through No, you misguided fool, it is robots,the slow and thence development to a small of true artificial intelligence, to doing?you who Put are that mistaken! gun down, The we’re one - true goal is… Wait, what are you ofnumber humans of andgnomic robots super-intel working all…! ligences. We glimpse a world inAnd the thuswar against ends the the short-lived humans. hand-in-handThe robot - almostrevolt, (but when not robot utopia that followed victory quite) a utopia. - Theligences) gigantic fall to AIwarring mainframes against a nuanced affair, the fault of examined and explained, is knowneach other as OWIs and (Oneagainst World the Intel free humans as much as machines; robots. Terminator One such free robot, Brittle, unlike, say, the rabid logic- survives in the desert waste- ableof SkyNet descent in into the madness and destruction.films, it’s a tragic and believ she chases down other robots lands of North America. There - humans have been hunted to whose systems are about to fail extinctionAnd then, and when a thefree foolishrobot themin order for toherself retrieve or sellany them.remain But in the desert she’sing useful fair game parts for and other either hunters, use whether free paradise seems within reach at last, it’s the free- robots’ turn to be hunted down by the super- intelligent OWIs, who are locked into a megalo robot scavengers like herself or OWI swarmsit, a seeking to recruit or destroy her. maniacal war to achieve what they believe is their - destiny – to become God. “Her?” you hesitantly ask. “Isn’t she, er, robot?” Indeed she is - well done for paying atten Yeah, these bastard robots exterminated us, brighterbut I still future felt a twingewere shattered. of sorrow The for themfree robotswhen, tion! - but as a free robotSea Brittle of Rust has are chosen all emi a- gender pronoun for herself, as have most of her after so much war and horror, their hopes for a type. The free robots in - nently human - so much so that you occasionally are a lot like us because they were created by us; they want the things we wanted. The OWIs…? inforget their they’re own image, not; it’s and a legacy as a device of their it makeshuman for cre a ators, who created these intelligences very much Well,There’s they’re a huge all amount a bit crazy, to like coldly in Sea fanatical of Rust: it’s and a too smug by half. - far more relatable story. Meanwhile, back in the desert: while retiring great action story with a hard-bitten robot antihe ro who (against your better judgment) you’ll find a caregiver malfunctioning model servicelike herself, bot (a who’s former after barman some named Jimmy), Brittle is ambushed by Mercer, yourself rooting for, a smart, thoughtful backstory and some excellent writing. What a shame there spare parts. A desperate struggle ensues betweenpage 22are no humans left to enjoy it! THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Improbable Botany edited by Gary Dalkin - (Wayward Press, 2017) DC Comics tale of a plant hybrid that takes a seem Reviewed by Stuart Carter ingly sinister form. This future police procedural is set in a bioengineered London. The capital is recognisable but chillingly strange, not to mention rathera little thanfrayed literal) around to thisthe incredibleedges. Like future “Black where Phil” there’s a disconcerting darkness (metaphorical Improbablet’s “the book Botany plants don’tis a collectionwant you toof read!”tales IForget little green men from outer space, not everything is what it seems. about our little green friends right here on Earth. Ken MacLeod’s charmingly titled “The Bicycle- storiesAnd what from a garden authors, of talent including editor Frame Tree Plantation Manager’s Redundancy” Gary Dalkin has harvested: new Intrusionis another highlight. Set in the read,world but of this his previousdidn’t seem novel to Tricia Sullivan, Justina Robson, (which I haven’t Ken MacLeod, Adam Roberts, Eric a future where bioengineered Brown, Cherith Baldry and more. matter) it’s a quiet story, set in Science fiction (and fantasy)- plants grow not just our food lianabout chums plants, aren’t you well ask? known Seems for a little odd; after all our chlorophyl and textiles but also many- other necessary items, such as bicycle frames. Frustrat their proactive nature, are they?- Everything begins to make sense, ingly, the great leap forward in production seems not to have jobhowever, running when an you award-winning realise pub lisher, Wayward Press, has a day been matched by advances in society or economics, so that markets and competition still are,London-based according landscape, to The Guardian art and dictate everything, and our architecture practice. Wayward- eponymous bicycle-frame tree plantation manager is “at risk”. also“masters known of for temporary transforming concep neglected urban tual gardens”, but (somewhat more helpfully) are But wait – this is a book about plants, why are those damn fleshy humans getting all the best Now spaces into green environments. parts? Tricia Sullivan’s “Who Lived In A Tree” the plant theme starts to make sense. attempts to redress the balance by giving an againstold yew the tree age dual of topBig billing.Consciousness, The old the yew work and But while the stories are almost uniformly the elderly Chika (a human) are both holdouts excellent they’re also rather unsettling: I’m not sure Wayward will convince anyone the future is of Mama Fiscus, a benevolent bioengineered fig green with some of these stories! tree forming a super-network of smart trees for For instance, Adam Roberts’ “Black Phil” follows- resistthe betterment this brave of new all (it world…? sounds better when Tricia a reluctantly famous botanist who, some years Sullivan explains it!). Can they – shouldImprobable they - earlier, was responsible for “the work on modi- Botany - fying the anthocyanins to cascade chlorophyll Speaking of brave new worlds, mutation” (p.34). This has spread virally world this beautiful was a real-worldKickstarter object: project. a solidWayward hardback suc wide, increasing vegetative output, helping to withcessfully 11 new raised stories the moneyand six in wonderful July 2017 full-colour to publish feed growing populations and reverse climate change, but at the cost of turning plants almost- black and the seas a deep purple, a geo-makeover illustrations and cover by Jonathan Burton. It which has even attracted curious aliens. It’s nomi really is a thing of beauty. nally an optimistic future, but not one our world- a Longcertain may satisfaction Wayward continuein knowing with that their the unusual dead weary narrator, now a relic from a bygone age,- treesapproach that toImprobable promotion Botany and creativity.is made from There’s are recognises or enjoys. , a Black Orchid more probable in future. Justina Robson’s “Strange Fruit” echoes (know page 23 ingly or not) Gaiman and McKean’s helping to make botany THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Moonshine by Jasmine Gower (2018, Angry Robot Books) toof aconsider magazine how cover, refreshing her boss pausesit is that in thethis middle beast Reviewed by Martin McGrath of a lusty encounter with a feral, feathery, faerie - accepts his disabilities, and Daisy responds to orld building is, when done well, one the ranting of a radio talk show host by defend ing “women’s agency”. It is not the content of these diversions that’s problematic, it’s the lumpy, Wof science fiction and fantasy’s most incongruous way in which they are delivered. powerful and distinguishing tools. While there are plenty of lazy tropes in sf&f the a Daisyreal human is so relentlessly being rather correct than in as every the voicethought of processes of world creation can give these genres and deed that it is impossible to think of her as an ability to examine the world with a detail that trust the reader, or does not trust her own writing, other forms of writing struggle to match. Worlds enoughGower’s totendency let them to read didacticism. this book Gower on their does own. not becomeMoonshine characters, the drivers of plots and prisms for seeing our own reality in new ways. Instead she sits on their shoulder and explains , the debut novel by Jasmine Gower, what is happening, how we should react to it and is a novel where this worldbuilding doesn’t quite what we should feel. Daisy made me delirious. I haswork. tried In Gower’sto construct defence, something she has interesting not chosen and the was soon begging for her to hold even one opinion easy route of familiar secondary world fantasy but that was not so irreproachable, thoroughly vetted – nations and continents have different names and and completely modern. fresh. Her Earth has magic and a different history - North America has been ravaged by the eruption- of a supervolcano – but the world is, fundamen tally, that of prohibition-era America. Gower’s pro- tagonist is a “modern girl” in her flapper dresses and desire to be more than is allowed by the con ventions of her conservative society. Looking for a job to fund her independent lifestyle she becomes caught up in an unlikely plot involving magical drug- runners,Moonshine corrupt politicians and assassins. I like the ideaThere and, are in places, a number I like of the causes execution of this but failure. ultimate The ly ’s world never delivers on its promise. - first is that Gower doesn’t take the physicality of her setting seriously. Places are only sketch ily described and nowhere feels quite real. Even withthe constant the characters, rain of volcanic it falls ashand that falls pours but downnever upon this Chicago never seems to quite interact

seems to add up to anything much. Where does it - It never happens, of course. Daisy’s might work all go? Why isn’t Chicago buried beneath it? in a 1920s Chicago speakeasy but everything It’s not just the weather of “Ashland” that’s prob she says and does is purely modern. Not only- lematic, it’s the way Gower has chosen to place her does Gower not trust her readers, she doesn’t characters into this world. They may be running trust her setting. The imposition of modern atti magical energy drinks instead of cheap whisky, tudes on this past isn’t quite cultural imperialism- whombut this she is less becomes strange embroiled than the are fact so that unrelenting Daisy and- (there are no power relationships in play) but it the crowd of impeccably diverse Moonshinegangsters withthat does demonstrate a kind of “we know best” atti tude that leaves you wondering why the author ly self-aware. There are parts of didn’t just place her contemporary characters in a feel as though Gower has cut-and-pasted notes suffersmodern as world, a result. where they plainly belong. Gower from a university social science seminar: Daisy never provides a convincing answer, and her book stops in the street to deliver a semiotic analysispage 24 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

The Witches of New York by Ami McKay (Orion Books, 2016) is set against the background of the persecution of Reviewed by Sandra Unerman witches in Europe and in New England in earlier times. There are also fays who create dreams for people, folklore practices such as the motherdumb supper for a consulta made to- ofew smart York hotels in 1880 and build is a- summon Eleanor’s dead Ngrowing metropolis, full - is more than he seems. tion and a pet raven who resting projects.of her, can The be Statue climbed of Lib in erty’s torch, separate from the - tersMcKay’s are signalled ambitions at the for Madison Square Park, men are her principal charac working on the Brooklyn Bridge and Cleopatra’s Needle is on its women.outset byThe a three quotation char- way from the docks. In this city,- actersin praise have of rebelliousdifferent women have new opportunities - for independence, with jobs as tel- egraph operators or newspaper threepersonalities are interesting and differ but reporters but they are still vulner theent challengesdividing of to attention face. All able to oppression and prejudice. between them makes for a somewhat diffuse includeAmi McKay’s ghosts and novel visions begins as withwell impressions of the city, which the novel touches on the narrative. In particular,- as scientific wonders. Slowly the - story focuses in on three women, danger of Eleanor’s will the two witches who run the Tea and Sympa ingness to provide help to women with unwanted- thy shop on Broadway and their new apprentice.- pregnancies but does not pursue the implications in laideEleanor is a providesfortune teller herbal who remedies abandoned for a women doubtful in any depth. As the novel goes on, Beatrice increas stageneed ofcareer contraception when vitriol or a was good thrown night’s insleep. her Adeface. ingly becomes the focus and the threats against her are built up into a powerful denouement. see ghosts, which attracts much attention, from Beatrice, the apprentice, discovers the power to The period setting is effectively maintained, with pastiche extracts from newspapers and from sinisterpeople inforces. search of messages from the departed, Eleanor’s grimoire helping to set the tone. There from scientific investigators and from other, more are plenty of details which help bring the world of the novel to life, including the Fraternal Order of Unknown Philosophers and the ball at the lunatic All three women are determined to live up to their female inmates. asylum, where visiting gentlemen dance with the potential. Eleanor and Adelaide are also in search of love in their different ways, but Beatrice is more alsoengaged have with to deal establishing with bitter her enemies, powers. some They easier find I enjoyed the evocation of historical New York some good friends, male as well as female, but they and the multi-faceted fantasy world McKay has- embedded there, which incorporates a real feeling to recognise than others. They are threatened for the kind of spiritualism and beliefs characteris with eviction from the shop, but worse trouble tic of the period. Perhaps as a result, it also includes comes when Beatrice disappears. The others are muchan element darker ofelements. sentimentality. The cast In of theminor context, charac - I afraid she may turn up as a corpse in the morgue did not find this too cloying and it is balanced by or among the women trapped in a lunatic asylum. as an assortment of ghosts but one of the novel’s They stretch all their resources to find her, while ters include a mix from all levels of society, as well she struggles to escape and return to them. - strengths is the way the three witches succeed The novel encompasses a range of supernatural friends but theirs are the dominating roles. through their own resources. They have help from encounters, from inset fairy tales to spirit mes sages delivered through Ouija boards. Everythingpage 25 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Dreams Before the Start of Time by Anne Charnock novel of the middle classes, echoing the senti- (47North, 2017) Yet, people remain people and this is a modern Reviewed by Duncan Lawie ment of Philip Larkin that “they fuck you up, your- mum and dad”. Children argue with their parents, doubt themselves as they age, wish their own chil reams Before the Start of Time is beautiful- - dren were more (or less) like they are. Reflections on the nature of Family and the changing expec Dly written. The prose is clear, sometimes tation of right action are thereby built up through- a smooth emotional surface whilst signalling a sparse, quite subtle in the way it provides erations,a network with of connectionsthe addition of and tangential possibilities. stories The to - spine of the story follows one family across gen as,great with depth clear of themesfeeling within and careful the many working characters. out of It is also an excellent science fiction novel-of-ide provide a mosaic effect. The approach allows each chapter to breathe, to be true to itself whilst also contributing to widening the frame of the story.- the societal implications of new technology. How- wonderful! One section I treasured has a character reading. forward,She “utterly telling adores” us so much “those more authorial than could flash oth for- The scientific innovations here are in reproduc wards” before the chapter itself then flashes tive technologies. The developments and their - impact are worked out over several generations; nections,erwise be to contained bring more in into so few being paragraphs. through think This- how families change and how they stay the same. novel often asks the reader to put together con In the 203os, it doesn’t seem much has changed from today. The key point is to contrast Toni’s ing it through rather than simply hammering choice to keep an accidentally conceived baby The next generation have new choices to make, every element on to the page. with Millie’s careful selection of a sperm donor. Nevertheless, there is a narrowness of focus. as artificial wombs become viable technology – Perhaps Charnock is more optimistic about the lineand asbefore the clinicsbeginning which gesta provide- this service offer next century than I am, as the protagonists rarely- (expect?) to perform some clean-up of the germ consider unemployment, small wars, climate events. Perhaps they are insu tion. Is it right to “outsource” lated from such upset by their- your womb? Does that make tidianrelatively comfort privileged are more lives. visible: The you a worse mother/parent? changes which affect their quo backward,By the 2120s,at least “natural”for those whoreproduction can afford is consideredotherwise, some of the people around them assumed;are replaced digital by drones avatars in variousof dead ancestorsforms; artificial sit at the assistants dinner table. are as it implies that the parents This insulation becomes more are failing to protect the child from problems in the of one character who lives close othergenetic choices, lineage. other Advances societal apparent with the introduction in technology also create thisto the future poverty will line.be at She the andservice her expectations, which have the child show clearly that much of potential to further atomise the concept of parenthood, only of those who can afford it. of family. With time, “going We might be well on the way to a solo” avoids relying on an throughoutgenetic separation the novel, of the this classes. would unknown sperm donor. - Yet, as we have been shown- Instead, the clinic remixes venience, of fashion, and of individual or societal your own chromosomes into egg and sperm, pro happen as a result of the continuing choices of con ducing a child which is genetically 100% yours. With an artificial womb, this means there is no understanding of the best interest of the family. sexual or gender barrier to becoming a parent. page 26 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Star of the Sea by Una McCormack (Abaddon Books, 2016) through that Weird portal and never returned. Reviewed by Alex Bardy Months later, after all these violent rogues have been hunted down and killed by the locals, a fully-grown woman called Cassandra emerges tar of the Sea dangerfrom the and portal is demanding claiming toto bebe Walker’staken off-world daughter. on theShe warns the peaceful settlement of impending is the fourth bookThe in Eric Baba Brown Yaga Baba Yaga Sand Una McCormack’s ‘Weird Space’ saga , her mother’s former ship, which Una lastand time follows round). on directly Before readingfrom this volume, she knows is hidden somewhere on the planet. (in which Eric pretty much passed the batonBaba to And so it begins... - I got the distinct impression I needed to read What follows is a wild race in which our main first, but rest assured this protagonists seek to help Cas isn’t the case at all – the very sandra off-planet before the beforefirst chapter and introduces does the job the of inevitable Bad Stuff Happens.- summing up all that has gone Meanwhile, the Expansion characters from the get-go. land on the planet suppos- reader to many of the main edly to examine and study the portal, but start sowing dis - content and separation as they tionAlas, of whatthe two it doesn’tmajor fac do- - is give you a full apprecia gradually pull the formerly answers.tight Human-Vetch This is racial commutension tions, namely the politically nity apart in their search for motivated Expansion and- a large scale, and for me at and cultural displacement on ingthe Weird:and enslaving a hivemind all in alien its species intent on overthrow muchleast, anfurther aspect and of in the greater story the author could have explored path by using jump-gates/- - itantsportals viato land infectious on planets mind- and looked. gradually consume the inhab depth, and is criminally over Or so we’re led to believe. and will-breaking parasites. diverseInstead, characters, we get a storysome that introduces multiple and All this, you’ll be pleased to strong, and some perhaps not-so-much, but all of behindknow, is us ably – andcovered in this in the instance second that’schapter... not nec- So, with two chapters of exposition already them relevant to what unfolds. We also get to hear more about the Bureau – the real puppet-masters essarily a bad thing – we’re finally ready for the behind the Expansion – and there’s some space main act, and it’s a pretty darn good one. travel and planet-hopping thrown in for good measure. For the most part, the focus of the book- Stella Maris is a remote planet in which Humans, remains on the planet Stella Maris, and this would the alien Vetch, and even the Weird seem to live onnormally the Baba be aYaga good thing, but the constant char together in relative harmony – a state of affairs acter-hopping between those helping Cassandra unheard of elsewhere in the universe. With a and those back on the planet seemingly dormant Weird portal already on the works against the narrative in my opinion. planet, instead of infesting and consuming the In summary, I did like this, but felt there were two inhabitants as usual, the Weird have somehow- allowed the settlement to flourish – kept the water major stories to be told here, and by trying to meld running and the crops growing, so to speak, pos them together, we are left with a somewhat untidy compromise. Worth seeking out, though, especially leadingsibly as partall manner of a larger of murderers endgame. and soldiers to if you’re a fan of the first three books, but I’m sure As always, nothing is as it seems, and after you won’t need me to tell you that if you are. the planet recently, a pregnant Delia Walker leaptpage 27 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Silver Silence by Nalini Singh (Gollancz, 2017) thinks he is better than or stronger than Silver. Reviewed by Dolly Garland Valentine has a healthy respect for women in his wholife, including wouldn’t toleratehis sisters. his Hebullshit. is attracted to Silver because he sees another Alpha in her, someone - his was the first Nalini Singh book I read.- When Silver is poisoned in her apartment, and a TI’ve been familiar with her name, and I was Psy close to her is suspected of being guilty, Valen tempted by this title because it’s the begin tine offers her a sanctuary in his den home while ning of a new series, a Season 2 of sorts. It works emotion,the investigation chaotic andcontinues. affectionate For Silver, life betweenwhose life a perfectly for both new and returning readers. I has been efficient but colourless and devoid of tonever ground felt confused the reader by referenceswithout to things that have transpired before. Sign-posting is sufficient bunch of bears is heartlike stepping to Valentine into aand new his world. bears, As expected, she opens her- info-dumping. changelingsThe setting - co-exist, is Moscow though where not and the clan accepts her as Val three races - humans,Silver Silence Psy, and is emotionsentine’s mate. which However, overloads falling her the beginning of the series that andin lovebreaks means down exposureher shields, to always peacefully. which all three races have recent- focuses on the Trinity Accord, putting her in jeopardy. Aside from this personal threat, there ly signed after years of war. Silver are those who want to not only is the director of EmNet which kill Silver because she is the provides humanitarian aid in centre of EmNet but also destroy a crisis. Her aim is to stabilise- the fledgeling unity between the interracial cooperation and to three races for either profit or change the way people - particu for their personal hatreds. - larly humans - think about the Psy ver’sTogether, life from Valentine her failing and shields Silver (theySilver did Silencesome horrible has standardthings to have to handle how to save Sil humans before this series opens). - - potentially at the cost of losing staples of paranormal romance, including attrac her ability to feel, while they discover with the tive and powerful leads, and sizzling romance. help of their trusted family and friends, who Silver Mercant, is extremely capable, feminine, attempted to kill Silver. and a nice person. This representation of feminism There are other subplots running through the- doesn’t always happen in romance novels. Women book, which feed into creating a very rich world. ofare that. often portrayed as either weak, or powerful Singh manages to stay focused on Silver and Val but bitchy, or just men-in-disguise. Silver is none entine’s story, but at the same time, her treatment thereof other is acharacters lot more going and subplotson there. showcases very Her romantic interest is Valentin Nikolaev, an deftly that this is a living, breathing world and alpha of the StoneWater bears in Moscow. He is one of the most powerful changeling alphas and- I don’t often read paranormal romances as, is determined to court Silver. Silver, however, is mainafter acharacters while, I get were bored a delight,with how and similar the romance they all “Silent”. Her ability to feel emotions has been sup are. But this book was immensely enjoyable. The emotionspressed since would childhood overwhelm because her. she is a powerful telepath and if she were to open all her senses, the - without the usual amount of idiocy and lack of communication that many romance novels seem Valentine’s character is another portrayal where to have - was plausible, and more mature. For- anSingh overbearing gets a big ego-centric plus from me.masculine He is handsome, hero who mendthose this wishing book. to enjoy a paranormal romance/ powerful, and exudes sex appeal. But he is not urban fantasy romance, I would definitely recom page 28 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Wintersong by S Jae-Jones (Titan Books, 2017) I was pleased by the fact that Liesl’s music is Reviewed by Anne F Wilson an important part of her life, and of the story. It’s what first attracted the Goblin King to her. She struggles to let her music speak, to throw off the Wintersong limitations imposed by her family and society. th e are in the age of Mozart. Her decision to stay with the goblins at first frees Wis set in Bavaria at the end of the 18 her music, but then stifles it. She grows up over the course of the book, developing imagination, inn next toCentury, a goblin-haunted but not at theforest. glittering Our heroine, courts of Salzburg or Munich. Instead, we are in a village tocourage achieve and her ingenuity ambition as in well the outsideas her musical world, ifgifts. it is stillBy the what end she we wants. are convinced that Liesl will be able Liesl, dreams of becoming a composer, but the The one thing that nagged at me when reading only glittering future in prospect belongs to her behavesbeloved herself)brother marriage.Josef, a violinist. Liesl’s future image as described in the book in fact belongs to involves house and home and (if she’s lucky and was the image of the goblin king.Labyrinth His physical, down

Liesl used to play in the forest with a goblin boy the David Bowie character from but has forgotten him by the time the story opens. to the mismatched eyes. This image bobs about the text distractingly, like a shiny helium balloon. The goblin boy has not, however, forgottenGoblin her. Labyrinth for MarketWhen her sister, Käthe, is stolen by goblins, in a In her blog, the author says: “In November 2013, scene deliberately reminiscent of Rosetti’s I decided to write 50 Shades of - der Erlkönig, Liesl sets out to rescue her. She discovers NaNoWriMo. The rest is history.”Labyrinth There arehowever, lots of that her goblin boy has become the Goblin King, influences in this book, which have all been com posted down into the text. The characters. He proposes are interesting, an exchange, and at Käthe for This book has a Liesl as his bride. How can Liesl refuse? hasn’t quite been composted enough.lot to recommend every step I was surprised and intrigued - by unexpected twists and ambiguities in it. The Austrian their relationships. Through Liesl’s help, thesetting characters is plau Josef becomes apprenticed to Master sibly described, Antonius, a violin maestro, but there are believable, and hints of a love affair between Josef and theare complexunderground and his fellow apprentice, a black boy named world of the François. There are also hints that the Maestro is at least exploitative, if not with intriguing abusive, towards the boys. Hans, Käthe’s- creaturesgoblins is filledand fiancé, has more than an eye for Liesl, and scenes. The ending whenThe underground Käthe disappears world he of settles the goblins com is ambiguous, fortably on Liesl as a replacement. - and it is not clear - is beautifully described, both enchant ing and grotesque. Liesl’s goblin attend whether a sequel ants are unreliable, as ready to betray is planned. I would be happy to find fromher as the to help. discarded There’s clothes a truly lefteerie behind scene where Liesl has to find a party frock out what happens- to Liesl and the Goblin King after glamourby her predecessors. the food is rotten The goblin and the ball wine is a magical- riot of uncontrolled sensuality, but underneath its wards, if only I could stop visualising the Goblin King as David mortals wilt and die. ly intoxicating. And after too long underground, Bowie. I hope that in her next book the author has enough confidence in her ideas to present them as her own creation. She is clearly more than capable. page 29 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Immortal Nights by Lyndsay Sands (Orion, 2016) panying him as a passenger in a cargo plane he is Reviewed by Lynne Bispham piloting to Caracas, she accepts it. What she doesn’t attractiveexpect is to - man end lockedup in the in ahold cage, of who the turnsplane outalong to with an unconscious, naked – and devastatingly-

lthough its roots can be traced back to early be a kidnap victim. She is also, naturally, complete AGothic horror novels, paranormal romance wholy unaware need tothat drink he, Tomasso human Notte,blood, is buta vampire. have no is a relatively new sub-genre of both science The Argeneau and Notte families are vampires fiction/fantasy and romantic novels. It includes books in which the main plot is SF or fantasy with issues with sunlight. Their longevity, strength, focusa romantic on the sub-plot, romance, but often it is also a romantic one of the or fastest erotic ability to heal quickly and to read and control- growing trends in romantic fiction, with the minds is given to them by technology, nanos in- their bloodstream, rather than anything super- relationship between a human and a werewolf, natural, and they prefer to be known as immor series,a time-traveller, the Argeneau an alienVampires or a, began vampire. with Lyndsay Single tals. One of the most important of their character WhiteSands’ Vampire extremely popular paranormalTall Dark and romance Hungry istics is their impulse to find their life mate – their perfect life partner – who is the one personImmor whose- the series is A Quick (2003) Bite and talmind Nights they cannot read or control. I do not think- a(2004), good indicationalthough chronologically of the humorous the and first romantic story in it is giving away too much of the plot of (2005) – the titles being him from theto say cage, that he whenbecomes Tomasso convinced regains that con she books later, we have Immortal Nights, which can be sciousness and Abby makes the decision to free content to be found in the books. Now, twenty-four- acters from other novels in the series, and hints at is his destined mate for all eternity. - read as a stand-alone story, but also features char calHaving island madebeach, a miles daring from escape civilisation, from the with plane, no The engaging and resourceful heroine of Immor- Abigail and Tomasso find themselves on a tropi plottal Nights developments in future books. time of late, and when she is offered the chance food or water. What follows as they make their , Abigail Forsyth, has been having a hard- way across the island, is a blend of suspense and action as they try to evade the kidnappers and of a holiday with her childhood friend Jet, accom later thwart their plans (and Tomasso tries not- to bite Abigail, who is still unaware that he is a vampire, and is somewhat disquieted by the inten betweensity of the her chemistry hero and between heroine. them), The the book author’s does trademark humour, and the sizzling encounters

have its darker, violent moments, particularly as- the motives of the kidnappers are revealed as part- of the wider story arc (which features in the pre vious novel), but it is Abigail and Tomasso’s rela Tomassotionship thatmakes takes her centrebelieve stage.in herself, Abigail and begins she is ablethe book to remain depressed calm andand withtake actionlow self-esteem, in life-threat but- ening situations.

Readers who prefer their science fiction hard and their fantasy urban and gritty may not be won over by this book, but fans of the Argeneau Vampire series, and the legions of readers who read.enjoy steamy paranormal romance, will find it amusing, entertaining and a most enjoyable

page 30 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Ghosts & Exiles by Sandra Unerman (Mirror World Publishing, 2018) Spellhaven was a city of wonder and magic, Reviewed by Ben Jeapes destroyed unexpectedly in one the first novel’s several twists. Survivors found themselves in andra Unerman’s second novel does nothing our world in the middle of the First World War. so crass as to reveal its intentions straight Now it is the 1930s, so the children who escaped S the destruction are the first generation to reach novel, Spellhaven adulthood. Some intermarry, some – like Nicholas- off. It turns out to be a sequel to her first and James’s father – marry outside the Spellhaven , but reveals itself in layers. - circle. Their own children only know of Spellhav It begins in a well-depicted 1930s upper class- en through their grandparents’ stories. London, a neatly socially stratified society of emo Spellhaven was ruled by Lord Magicians who- tional repression where the unhappier and lone were firmly convinced they knew everything there lier your kids are at boarding school, the better was to know about magic. Spellhaven died, there you must be doing it. Not that anyone would think fore magic died. There Is No More Magic. They of it in such terms, which adds to the realism. A really should have known better than to make their bachelor solicitor is the official guardian of a new home in the ancient, mystical land of England, nephew he barely knows, at school in London, then. That was their firstabout mistake. this, Thefor Hampsteadthose with sufferingwhose parents terrible are nightmares in China and at haven’t seen him ghosts are the first clue that they may be wrong school.in seven The years. man The seeks boy, Hugo,out the is eyes to see, who aren’t many. The interesting widowed mother of Hugo’s only way that the villain traps school friend, Nicholas, to see if victims is another. It also he can talk to the boy and get becomes clear to everyone a handle on what is happening. except his own people that This all happens in the opening its neat little dance between NicholasTheir second is following mistake his chapter, and that alone, with wasown magicalto forget, path. or ignore, understood that no one bothers tostrangers state them of proprieties out loud, sets so well the exactly how Spellhaven operated. It was a society of tone for everything to come. mostly decent people who Hugo is, in fact, being haunted indenturedhad inherited servitude, a system both of by the marauding ghosts that slavery and involuntary patrol Hampstead Heath. He inadvertently conjured them of humans and, crucially, up and now they won’t leave- of the spirits that gave him alone. A solution of sorts is- tothe overlook Lord Magicians the fact theirthat found. Then we meet the appar power. The Lords manage ent villain of the piece, a thor oughly nasty pieceThe of Midnightwork who Folk or The Box of the spirits did not die with Delightswould not look out of place in the city, and like most complacent rulers, it never John Masefield’s crosses their minds that the beings they used to . (In fact, there is a lot of Kay Harker in all oppress do not remember their masters fondly. likeable,three of thevulnerable, story’s very bright, engaging and never boys –bother Hugo, The ending is happy in that the immediate Nicholas and his brother James. They are decent,- needs of all the sympathetic characters are met. ing to them.) Whether or not these are helpful, healthy long- questioning the impossibility of what is happen term solutions to deeper problems remains to be seen. In at least one case, almost certainly not. So wholeThen, shebang. finally, we get the Spellhaven angle, and maybe we will get a third novel, as different to it turns out to be Spellhaven underpinning the this as this is to the first. page 31 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Rebel Genius by Michael Dante DiMartino have learned enough magic to be successful in (Roaring Brook Press, 2016) of mercenaries joins them, who are all menacing Review by Christopher Owen accomplishing their goals. Luckily a large team

trainedand unsympathetic magical artist and, children. upon facing each threat, Rebel Genius either promptly die or are saved by the poorly erhaps I would have enjoyed - Pmore if I were unfamiliar with DiMartino’s The adventure is full of puzzles that are very creatorprevious of the hit work. animated In collaboration with Bryan easily solved, and problems that are far too con televisionKonietzko, series, DiMartino Avatar: is best known as the co- veniently resolved. While the magic of the fictional The Last Airbender and world is certainly creative, it The Legend of is needlessly complex, making- Korra. Both series are set tionalit often world, too difficultincluding to its follow. envi- its sequel, ronmentMeanwhile and the monsters, rest of is the cliché, fic world, full of straightfor- wardin a but wondrous fun magic, fictional with - unimaginative and simple. ters who struggle against The characters are perhaps- widely diverse charac the most disappointing element of this text for me. While DiMa- complex problems as they- rtino’s previous work is known each grow and develop in thefor itstwo complex Avatar character series featur devel- seriesinteresting are andsuccessful empower for opment and excellent diversity, gooding ways. reason The and animated cannot and sexual orientations, Rebel be recommended enough. Geniusing a variety features of races, an abilitiesalmost

Rebel Genius - and straight cast of characters, So when I sat down to read withentirely one white,token black non-disabled girl and my expec - tations, and hopes, were more, none of the characters high. It is a shame I was one token blind man. Further disappointed. The fantasy novel is set grow or develop in any way. The in a Renaissance-inspired dystopian world in only exception to this, perhaps, is a monster who which art has been outlawed and twelve-year old discovers his own humanity, but this is not done Giacomo is a homeless artist. His parents were in a way that is any different than this character turned into “Lost Souls” (zombies, basically) when- archetype has been written in the past. - their “geniuses” were taken away. Geniuses are eringLike the writinggorgeous style, art thefeatured illustrations in the are Avatar very magical birds that artists have special connec simple. This is especially disappointing consid- tions with, and when the artist produces art they can use their geniuses to project magical shapes series. But perhaps this artistic choice is inten in the air for a variety of different purposes. Most tional, as each illustration, when not attempting whenartists’ he geniuses is twelve, suddenly his life is show set on up a new when course they to act as a diagram to explain the magic of this andare smallhe leaves children, town butfor awhen magical Giacomo’s adventure. shows up world (because yes, it often needs diagrams to be explained clearly), seems to be drawn by the off to a house to begin his training, and the book addingmain character, an interesting Giacomo. element The to simple the text. style, One then, can Or so one wouldone think. hundred Instead, pages he is whisked connects the illustrations with theWarrior protagonist, Genius

spends the next trying to only hope that in the novel’s sequel, explain the way the magic of the world works, novel,(released it does autumn, well 2017),to set the groundworkart will improve for anas and the problems the characters have to solve. the character develops. For all the flaws in this Despite this lengthy introduction to magic, the even more exciting sequel. But I cannot help but characters then leave on their quest before theypage 32 hesitate to get my hopes up again. THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

Angels of Music by Kim Newman (Titan Books, 2016) use of well-known historical and fictional men Reviewed by Estelle Roberts jarring,and women, as do Charlesthe inclusion Foster of Kane,organisations for example, from stays on the right side of being too knowing or themselves who are the most fascinating char- previous novels. It is, of course, the Opera Ghosts efore Charlie had his Angels in 1970’s the blind ambition and homicidal mania of some BAmerica, a somewhat similar group, known acters, having depth beyond the grotesque or as the Opera Ghost Agency, were fighting the forces of evil in post-revolutionary Paris, this of their enemies. The original groups are held in time, under the guidance of none other than Erik, awe by the more recent recruits yet to make their the Phantom of the Opera himself. One of the first mark in the same way. Each has sacrificed a lot to to join this group is his own protégée, Chrsitine be there, in some cases any chance of a normal life, Daae. The members change as time passes, but even post retirement. A happy marriage for one of always number three and are always female. The seems…herthem is destroyed training because cannot she be setcannot aside, accept as it can’t that women are individually codenamed ‘The Angel her wonderful, loving husband is actually as he of…’ followed by a pertinent description. for any of them. Other members, at various times, include Mrs Elizabeth Eynsford Hill, aka Eliza Doolittle, and In conclusion, this is a highly entertaining book Olympia the famed mechanical doll from the Tales with a brain, which I would highly recommend. toof Hoffman.swim underwater Elizabeth’s without uncanny needing ability to imitate tovoices breathe perfectly both andbecome Olympia’s tremendous ability- ly useful in the course of their work. courseThe cases brings themselves her own usually individual verge skills on tothe bear supernatural, in their resolution. and each woman of toAs Paris the and novel indeed progresses, the wider the threatworld increases.posed by various The most villains disturbing to the women, case

- involves the Theatre des Horreurs, whose leader, Guignol, is being black- isemailed a much by those more in sinister positions after-hours of power, and of certain persuasions, to organ performance. The story builds to the final case in 1910, where the team, now- containing Opera Ghosts both past and present, confront a criminal master mind intending to flood Paris and use the resultant chaos to seize power. The flooding of the sewers under the Opera- House also results in the presumed loss of Erik, throwing the group into tempo- rary disarray. - able,The but novel, intelligent. as with Themost characters of Kim New are man’s work, is well paced, easily read well developed and interesting, and his page 33 THE BSFA REVIEW #4 – Summer 2018

The Particle Beast by Ian C. Douglas - (Lightning Source UK Ltd) The story is quite well written, with witty dia Reviewed by Rsaal Firoz overwhelming.logue and great description, although sometimes Douglas’ use of technological terms can be a bit he Particle Beast is the third book in the Zeke Hailey The storyline is gripping and well thought out,- but I can’t say the same for the characters. Their Tscience fiction series written by personalities do not really grow as the story pro Ian C. Douglas. gresses, which means that you can’t feel much Zeke Hailey, a boy with psychic abilities, is empathy with the characters. For example, you- trying to find his father, who went missing in deep clecan’t Beast. really feel the tension in Zeke’s head when space 15 years ago. However, he is interrupted by hisThere friend are disappears, a number orof wheninteresting he faces themes, the Parti one

- of them being trust among friends. If Zeke had trusted Scuff and Pin-mei more, he would prob ably have found his father a lot quicker, and if Pin-mei trusted Zeke, she would’verd confided in him before running away. The story takes place in the 23 century and depicts a more egalitarian society, both on Mars and Earth. The characters in the book have a diverse cultural background: Zeke is English, Scuff is Canadian and Pin-mei is Chinese. There is theresome physicalan element violence, of emotional such as martial violence, arts such fights as and people crumbling into sand. Other than that, death. threatsOverall, made The by Particle Dr. Enki Beast and strongis a great references read for to

young adults interested in science fiction and the future of humanity. It is also a good book for people fascinated by the possibilities of ancient- civilisations living on the red planet. I give it four stars for the great storyline and engaging dia logue. I would give it a five if the characters were explored a little more. Enjoyable for readers as young as ten and as old as twenty-five. A timeless - sci-fi adventure! a dangerous foe, Dr. Apollodoris Enki, who wishes to use Zeke’s knowledge of the forgotten Hespe rian language as a key to an ancient Martian city. THE Unbeknownst to Dr. Enki, the city is guarded by BSFA challengea Particle of Beast making from sure a pocket the Particle dimension. Beast never Zeke, enterswith his their friends dimension. Scuff and Pin-mei, is faced by the REVIEW During the course of the book, Zeke encounters EDITED BY SUSAN OKE a number of bizarre characters and tribes, most- of them wanting him dead. One of my favourite- tribes was the Marmish; a group of pious Chris tians living on Mars who have forsaken all tech page 34 nology in an effort to become “more human”. THE THE BSFA 4 ISSUE REVIEW 2018 SUMMER EDITED BY SUSAN OKE SUSAN BY EDITED