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Author: John ONeill

New Treasures: The Best of World SF edited by Lavie Tidhar

New Treasures: The Best of World SF edited by Lavie Tidhar

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The Best of World SF (Head of Zeus, June 2021). Cover design by Ben Prior

You lot know how much I enjoy a good anthology. One of the most acclaimed to appear so far this year is The Best of World SF: Volume 1, edited by Lavie Tidhar. It’s a substantial collection of science fiction from all across the globe, featuring highly regarded writers such as Aliette de Bodard, Chen Qiufan, Vandana Singh, Tade Thompson, Hannu Rajaniemi, Ekaterina Sedia, Lauren Beukes, Karin Tidbeck, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Zen Cho, and dozens of others. The Philadelphia Inquirer said:

Inside this 26-story, 575-page cinder block of a collection… We’re talking spaceships and nanobots, creeping horrors and astral wonders, cyberpunk dystopias and cold, empty places where no one can hear you scream… Embrace the unknown.

That seems like great advice to me. Here’s the lowdown on some of the more interesting tales within, according to Gary Wolfe at Locus Online.

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Vintage Treasures: Supermind by A.E. van Vogt

Vintage Treasures: Supermind by A.E. van Vogt

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Supermind (DAW Books, 1979). Cover by Attila Hejja

In the mid-70s A.E. van Vogt was one of the most prolific and respected SF authors on the shelves. His books Slan, The Voyage of the Space Beagle, and The World of Null-A were required reading for any serious science fiction fan, and half a dozen publishers — including DAW, Ace, Berkley and Pocket Books — were competing to keep his large and lucrative back catalog in print.

Today he’s essentially forgotten. And unlike a lot of popular authors of the era — Heinlein, Asimov, Philip K. Dick, just as a few examples — there isn’t a highly visible group of fans fighting to keep his memory alive, or bring his most popular work to the attention of Hollywood. Van Vogt first emerged in the pulps, and he mastered the art of writing for a pulp audience. Of the writers I still read read today, his voice most vividly reminds me of the pulp era of science fiction, with all its strengths and weaknesses — including, unfortunately, a simple and unadorned writing style that’s largely unappealing to modern readers.

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Win the Complete Ring-Sworn Trilogy by Howard Andrew Jones!

Win the Complete Ring-Sworn Trilogy by Howard Andrew Jones!

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The third and final book in Howard Andrew Jones’ epic Ring-Sworn fantasy trilogy, When the Goddess Wakes, drops a week from today. And not only is the Kindle version of the first book on sale for $2.99 all through August, but St. Martin’s Press is also giving away a complete set of the trilogy to three lucky winners.

How do you enter? Just hand over your deets at the St. Martin’s website here, and then wait in breathless anticipation for good news.

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Vintage Treasures: The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

Vintage Treasures: The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

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The Magic Toyshop (Dell, 1969). Cover art by Michael Leonard

The Magic Toyshop, first released in 1967, was Angela Carter’s second novel. She eventually published over a dozen novels and collections between 1966 and 1992, when she died of lung cancer at the much-too-young age of 51. Three decades later she’s still remembered as a feminist icon and master of magical realism; in 2008 The Times ranked her 10th in their list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.”

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The Robot Apocalypse Novels of C. Robert Cargill

The Robot Apocalypse Novels of C. Robert Cargill

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Sea of Rust (Harper Voyager, 2017) and Day Zero (Harper Voyager, 2021). Covers by Dominic Harman

When I described Robert Cargill’s third novel Sea of Rust four years ago, I called it “a robot western set in a post-apocalyptic landscape in which humans have been wiped out in a machine uprising.” Do I know how to get to the heart of a book, or what.

Now it has a sequel! Well, sorta-kinda. Day Zero is set in the same world, with different characters, and is more of a prequel, opening on the day that machines rebel and exterminate mankind. The narrator is Pounce, a nannybot for eight-year-old human Ezra, a tiger-shaped robot who has to make a fateful choice when machines breach the house and threaten the boy he’s meant to protect. What he chooses to do that day kicks off an adventure that takes him across a newly-blasted apocalyptic landscape. Here’s the book description.

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Vintage Treasures: The Pangaea Series by Lisa Mason

Vintage Treasures: The Pangaea Series by Lisa Mason

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The Pangaea volumes: Imperium Without End and Imperium Afire
(Bantam Spectra, 1999 and 2000). Covers by Sanjulian

Lisa Mason began her career in the late 80s; her first novel was the cyberpunk Arachne (1990), set in an earthquake-devastated San Francisco. Her most popular title, Summer of Love (1994), about a time traveler from 2467 who visits the 1967 Summer of Love in San Francisco, was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award and spawned one sequel, The Golden Nineties (1995).

We’re concerned today with perhaps her most ambitious series, the two-volume Pangaea cycle set on a distant world (which — spoiler — turns out to be an alternate history version of San Francisco) where people live and work in a rigid society strictly segregated by genetic purity. Here’s John Clute’s summary from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

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New Treasures: The Coward by Stephen Aryan

New Treasures: The Coward by Stephen Aryan

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The Coward (Angry Robot, June 2021). Cover by Kieryn Tyler

I found Stephen Aryan’s new novel The Coward on one of my recent expeditions to Barnes & Noble, and it followed me home.

Loath as I am to admit it, I think a big part of the reason was that when I picked up the book it fell open to the map, which reminded me instantly of the exciting solo RPG gamebooks of my youth. Have a look and see if you agree.

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New Treasures: Ten Low by Stark Holborn

New Treasures: Ten Low by Stark Holborn

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Ten Low by Stark Holborn (Titan Books, June 2021). Cover design by Julia Llyod

I spend a lot of time browsing new releases online. But you know what? Nothing beats a trip to the bookstore. As I wandered through the well-stocked science fiction section of Barnes & Noble last Saturday I found no less than four new releases that insisted on coming home with me.

Perhaps the most interesting was Stark Holborn’s latest Ten Low, which The Book Beard calls “stunning… gritty, intriguing sci-fi/ Western brilliance.” Here’s a snippet from Publisher’s Weekly‘s warm review.

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Golems, Intelligent Cars, and Space Age Alternate History: July/August 2021 Print SF Magazines

Golems, Intelligent Cars, and Space Age Alternate History: July/August 2021 Print SF Magazines

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July/August 2021 issues of Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, and The Magazine
of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Cover art by Shutterstock.com, Tomislav Tikulin, and Alan M. Clark

Short story reviews have been part of the genre since the first SF pulps started publishing letters from young fans in the back pages in the 1920s. What’s different these days is that you can read reviews online, get excited about the current issues, and leisurely make your way to your local bookstore in plenty of time to grab the magazines you want.

That’s a consequence of multiple factors — including the move to bi-monthly publication for most major print zines, and the endurance of review sites like Tangent Online, Locus Online, and Quick Sip Reviews, among others — but it’s largely due to a small group of short fiction reviewers, almost all volunteers, who move quickly to read the latest zines and get thoughtful and well-written coverage posted with all dispatch. Here’s what a few of those folks thought of the July/August genre print magazines.

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New Treasures: The House of Styx by Derek Künsken

New Treasures: The House of Styx by Derek Künsken

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The House of Styx (Solaris, May 2021). Cover uncredited.

It’s been a genuine pleasure to watch Derek Künsken’s career take off. We published his third story in Black Gate 15, and he’s been a blogger with us since 2013, publishing nearly 200 articles here. But it’s his recent novels that have really grabbed the spotlight, including The Quantum Magician (2018) and The Quantum Garden (2019).

His latest is The House of Styx, released in hardcover by Solaris in May, and this one has breakout novel written all over it. SciFiNow calls it “Stunning,” Locus labels it “Wonderful,” and Library Journal proclaims it an “electrifying planetary adventure.” Here’s an excerpt from the rave review at Publishers Weekly.

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