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 Cellyou 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 logothank 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 Possessionin 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 verysomewhat 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.