SF² Concatenation

Wishing all our regulars, and even those passing through,
all the very best for the New Year.

Yes, our home page colour this season is brown now that the summer leaves have fallen with the temperate northern hemisphere autumn.

Site news: A few of us were at this year's SF Worldcon in Glasgow.
                     (Huge thanks for publisher hospitality for some of our team by Gollancz,
                     Orbit and Tor. ☺)

                     Our site's page count has now topped 3,000.

HELP SF Convention reporters wanted

We are seeking to expand our convention reports of national SF conventions beyond Britain. If you would like to contribute a report then feel free to contact office [at] concatenation [dot] org for a one-page con-reporter's guide.

December 2024 news

2000AD is releasing its first annual for 24 years! And it is in the proper format of annuals of old. The 2000AD 2025 Annual is out 27th November 2024.

January 2025 news

The Sci-Fi London film fest is back for 2025!  Last year, due to Cineworld closing the community cinema venue, the event was truncated to a single day event of shorts. This year it is back to a four day event at a new venue just north of central London.  It will be held 19th - 22nd June, 2025, at the Picturehouse Cinema, Finsbury Park, London.  Finsbury Park has a rail and underground/metro station just around the corner from the venue (which, if you are visiting and want an extra day of central London tourism, makes for a good base, less expensive than central London accommodation).  There are plenty of hotels near-by such as the Farringdon Travel Lodge.

New up...

We have the final of our four 'Best of Nature 'Futures' short, short SF stories of the year.  These are delightful little SF tales. If you want to check out past stories in this series the Best of Nature 'Futures' archive is here.

For details of / links to the new content, scroll down to beneath 'Most recently added' below.

Forthcoming

Early January sees our advance-posting an update to our annual Best SF of the previous year.  So if you want to know ahead of our next season's edition (mid-January) then check out the previous link early in the month....  And why should you care?  Well, scroll down that page to see previous years.  All years see some of our past choices go on to be short-listed and even win major SF awards later in the year... So, this annual, team survey has form.  What larks!

Mid-January 2025 we will have our 'spring'* season edition. Regulars will recall that our autumnal one included the season's full news page, with its Film News;  Television News;  Publishing News;  General Science News  and  Forthcoming SF Books from major British Isles SF imprints for the season, among much else.  There is a lot to unpack here with many links to YouTube trailers and other videos, so take time to sit down at your PC or with a laptop or pad, and dive on in.
* 'Spring' season here being the northern hemisphere, academic year spring.

Separately, we have a couple of stand-alone articles (including detecting putative starships' warp drives) and convention reports (including Eurocon and the virtual Glasgow Worldcon).  Plus there is the usual tranche of stand-alone book reviews.  Something for every SF enthusiast and/or science bod.

                ☺

Most recently added

v34(6) 2024.12.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series

• Fear of the Dark (1-page PDF short story) - Stephen Battersby
  When the nature of dark matter was discovered, it came with a problem...!
   
• The index to all of the Concatenation selection of Nature 'Futures' stories.
• The guidelines for prospective 'Futures' SF short stories authors.

v34(6) 2024.11.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series

• The Nana Inheritance (1-page PDF short story) - Amanda Helms
  The deathbed of your beloved grandmother isn’t really the place where you should decide who inherits her brain, but that’s what we did...
   
• The index to all of the Concatenation selection of Nature 'Futures' stories.
• The guidelines for prospective 'Futures' SF short stories authors.

v34(5) 2024.9.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Autumn 2024

• Newscast for the Autumn 2024. This includes within it many key sections. See also the master newscast link index that connects to all its SF/F genre and science news sub-sections. (Facebook alert for this autumnal edition here. Spread the love.)
   
• How common are exo-Earths with water? – Jonathan Cowie
  Is the lack of watery, inner rocky planets an early Fermi filter? New science sheds possible light.
   
• Contabile ³₄: Triple Time – Peter Tyers
  Britain's 34th Annual UK Filk Music Convention reviewed.
   
• Levitation – The 2024 British Eastercon – Arthur Chappell
  Britain's national convention reviewed.
   
• Glasgow – The 2024 SF Worldcon – Tim Atkinson
  What's it like to attend a Worldcon for the first time?
   
• From engineer and SF fan to astronomy – Mark Paice
  Taking up astronomy as a hobby.
   
• Ten years ago exactly. One from the archives:
  My 25 years of Eurocons & ESFS – Roberto Quaglia
  After a decade as the European SF Society's Vice-Chair, Roberto reflects on a quarter of a century of Eurocons.
   
• Twenty years ago exactly. One from the archives:
  Robert Sheckley interviewed
  The SF author and Grandmaster reveals his influences, format preferences, idea sources and comments on working collaboratively.
   
• Thirty years ago exactly. One from the archives:
  More than Human: Colin Greenland, Charles Stross, Norman Spinrad & Tony Chester
  A panel discussion from the British Mexicon 5 convention in 1994.

v34(3) 2024.9.15 -- Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews

• The Last Gifts of the Universe - Riley August
• The Tainted Cup - Robert Jackson Bennett
• The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands - Sarah Brooks
• Ancient Images (2nd review) - Ramsey Campbell
• The Nameless - Ramsey Campbell
• Echo of Worlds - M. R. Carey
• Those Who Dwell in Mordenhyrst Hall - Catherine Cavendish
• Red Side Story (2nd review) - Jasper Fforde
• A Promise of Peridot - Kate Golden
• Fight Me - Austin Grossman
• The Descent (2nd review) - Paul E. Hardisty
• Oracle - Thomas Olde Heuvelt
• Doctor Who: The Evil of the Daleks - Frazer Hines
• Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road - Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
• The Collapsing Wave - Doug Johnstone
• In the Lives of Puppets (3rd review) - T. J. Klune
• Daughter of Calamity - Rosalie M. Lin
• The Three-Body Problem (New edition) - Cixin Liu
• The Silverblood Promise - James Logan
• Beyond the Hallowed Sky (2nd review) - Ken MacLeod
• Beyond the Reach of Earth (2nd review) - Ken MacLeod
• Star Wars: The Living Force - John Jackson Miller
• Judge Dredd: A Penitent Man - Kenneth Niemano & Tom Foster
• One Eye Opened in That Other Place - Keanu Reeves & China Miéville
• The Murder Road - Simone St. James
• The Night Alphabet - Joelle Taylor
• The Night Alphabet (2nd review) - Joelle Taylor
• Alien Clay - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Alien Clay (2nd review) - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Service Model - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Service Model (2nd review) - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Service Model (3rd review) - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Some Desperate Glory - Emily Tesh
• Someone You Can Build A Nest In - John Wiswell

v34(5) 2023.9.15 -- Non-Fiction SF & Science Fact Book Reviews

• Quantum Drama: From the Bohr-Einstein Debate to the Riddle of Entanglement - Jim Baggott & John Heilbron
• Ptolemy, The Book of Astronomy in Antiquity: A New Introduction - Christian C. Carman (editor)
• New Worlds Profiles - John Carnell & David Langford
• Charge: Why does gravity rule? - Frank Close
• Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse - Jonathan Morris, Simon Guerrier & Una McCormack
• This Volcanic Isles: The violent processes that forged the British landscape - Robert Muir-Wood

v34(4) 2024.7.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series

• Forgotten: A life disconnected (1-page PDF short story) - João Ramalho-Santos
  Deciding to live off-line is easy isn't it? Just unplug from the internet... Only, our life and lives are now so fundamentally interconnected that being off-line means anonymous invisibility. That will be fine, won't it...?
   
• The index to all of the Concatenation selection of Nature 'Futures' stories.
• The guidelines for prospective 'Futures' SF short stories authors.

v34(3) 2024.4.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Summer 2024

• Newscast for the Summer 2024. This includes within it many key sections. See also the master newscast link index that connects to all its SF/F genre and science news sub-sections.
   
• Article on Britain's New Worlds magazine – Jonathan Cowie
• SF Worldcon publications policy – Peter Tyers
• British Fantasycon 2023 – Ian Hunter
• Glasgow: An introduction for visiting SF folk – Ian Hunter
• The English dictionary for visiting Americans – A UK Worldcon resource
• 33rd Festival of Fantastic Films 2023 - Great Britain – Jonathan Cowie
• Gaia 2024 - Annual whimsical SF and/or science snippets and exotica
• Ten years ago exactly. One from the archives: The Anglo-Romanian Science & Science Fiction Cultural Exchange Re-visited
• Twenty years ago exactly. One from the archives: The Greg Bear interview
• Twenty years ago exactly. One from the archives: SF, Globalization and China – Lavie Tidhar
• Thirty years ago exactly. One from the archives: When the Children Read Fantasy – Terry Pratchett
  (Spread the love: Facebook edition alert here for comments / likes / shares.)

v34(3) 2024.4.15 -- Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews

• The Book of Doors - Gareth Brown
• The Lonely Lands (2nd review) - Ramsey Campbell
• Floating Hotel - Grace Curtis
• Crucible of Chaos - Sebastien de Castell
• Play of Shadows - Sebastien de Castell
• Saturnalia - Stephanie Feldman
• Red Side Story - Jasper Fforde
• Dawn of Onyx (2nd review) - Kate Golden
• Doctor Who: The Giggle - James Goss
• The Descent - Paul E. Hardisty
• Orphans of the Sky - Robert Heinlein
• Lamb - Matt Hill
• These Burning Stars - Bethany Jacobs
• In the Lives of Puppets (2nd review) - T. J. Klune
• Incacerat - Gareth Marenghi
• Relight My Fire - C. K. McDonnell
• Relight My Fire (2nd review) - C. K. McDonnell
• Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder - Mark Morris
• The Mountain in the Sea (2nd review) - Ray Nayler
• One Eye Opened in That Other Place - Christi Nogle
• The Sky Vault - Benjamin Percy
• The Mars House - Natasha Pulley
• Machine Vendetta - Alastair Reynolds
• Poster Girl - Veronica Roth
• Doctor Who: The Star Beast - Gary Russell
• High Vaultage - Chris Sugden & Jen Sugden
• The City of Stardust - Georgia Summers
• The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennett, Witch (2nd review) - Melinda Taub

v34(3) 2023.4.15 -- Non-Fiction SF & Science Fact Book Reviews

• Harry Potter Official Christmas Cook Book - Elena P. Craig & Jody Revenson
• The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies - John Scalzi
• Selfish Genes to Social Beings - Jonathan Silvertown
• Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes - Rob Wilkins

v34(2) 2024.3.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series

• Change Your View: The world is just enough (1-page PDF short story) - Matt Tighe
  It is the end of the world, there is not much left. Yet there is still money to be made...
   
• The index to all of the Concatenation selection of Nature 'Futures' stories.
• The guidelines for prospective 'Futures' SF short stories authors.

v34(1) 2024.1.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Spring 2024

• Newscast for the Spring 2024. This includes within it many key sections. See also the master newscast link index that connects to all its SF/F genre and science news sub-sections.
   
• Fantasy: Realms of Imagination - The New British Library Exhibition
• The new Waterloo Doctor Who guided walk - Jonathan Cowie
• The 2022 Loscon 48 - Heath Row
• 2023 SF Film Top Ten Chart and Other Worthies
  (All archived annual film charts are indexed here)
• SF Convention Listing & Film Diary with links to con sites and film trailers
• Ten-ish years ago. One from the archives: Films from the Mummy's Tomb -Tony Chester
• Ten years ago exactly. One from the archives: LoneStarCon 3 – The 2013 SF Worldcon - Peter Tyers
• Twenty years ago exactly. One from the archives: The 2003 French National Convention - Alain de Bussy
  (Facebook Alert for this edition should you wish to spread the love with a like or share in the event you feel it appropriate (have fellow SF fan followers).)

v34(1) 2024.1.15 -- Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews

• Winter's Gifts - Ben Aaronovitch
• Conquest - Nina Allan
• Creation Node - Stephen Baxter
• Bridge - Lauren Beukes
• The Lonely Lands - Ramsey Campbell
• Scarlet Traces -- Sequel to the War of the Worlds - Ian Eddington & D'Israeli
• The Seventh Son - Sebastian Faulks
• Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars - Phil Ford
• Doctor Who: Warriors’ Gate and Beyond - Stephen Gallagher
• A Dawn Of Onyx - Kate Golden
• Doctor Who: The Zygon Invasion - Peter Harkness
• Silent Key - Laurel Hightower
• What The River Knows - Isabel Ibanez
• Bride of the Tornado - James Kennedy
• In the Lives of Puppets - T. J. Klune
• Translation State - Ann Leckie
• The Kindness - John Lindqvist
• The Blue, Beautiful World - Karen Lord
• Beyond the Reach of Earth - Ken MacLeod
• Hopeland - Ian McDonald
• Doctor Who: Kerblam! - Pete McTighe
• The Black Feathers - Rebecca Netley
• Promise - Christi Nogle
• A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories - Terry Pratchett
• Bonesmith - Nicki Pau Preto
• Airside - Christopher Priest
• A Sword of Bronze and Ashes - Anna Smith
• One - Eva Smith
• The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennett, Witch - Melinda Taub
• Lords of Uncreation - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Doctor Who: Planet of the Ood - Keith Temple
• The Curious Affair of the Missing Mummies - Lisa Tuttle
• Robo-Hunter: Planet of the Robots - John Wagner & Ian Gibson
• The Best of Roger Zelazny - Roger Zelazny

v34(1) 2023.1.15 -- Non-Fiction SF & Science Fact Book Reviews

• Word Monkey - Christopher Fowler
• Hauntings: A history of ghosts and where to find them - Neil Oliver
• Predicting Our Climate Future - David Stainforth

v33(7) 2023.12.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series

• Dragon Riders of CERN: Learning to fly (1-page PDF short story) - Rachelle Wright
  Once more, humans are blindly encroaching on the dragons' realm... It has to stop.
   
• The index to all of the Concatenation selection of Nature 'Futures' stories.
• The guidelines for prospective 'Futures' SF short stories authors.

v33(6) 2023.11.15 -- A new story from the Nature Futures series

• Aleph: Personal questions (1-page PDF short story) - Lavie Tidhar
  This story came out last year before this year's (2023) explosion in artificial intelligence (AI). But AI is not 'Artificial General Intelligence'. What would that first conversation be like?
   

v33(5) 2023.9.15 -- New Columns & Articles for the Autumn 2023

• Newscast for the Autumn 2023. This includes within it many key sections. See also the master newscast link index that connects to all its SF/F genre and science news sub-sections.
   
• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny... A close look reveals... – Arthur Chappell
• When did the first human evolve? A SETI approach illuminates – Jonathan Cowie
• Conversation – The 2023 British Eastercon – Arthur Chappell
• The Sci-Fi London 2023 Film Fest – Jonathan Cowie
• Pemmi-Con – The 15th North American Science Fiction Convention – Sue Burke
• 18 Years Ago - One from the archive: Glasgow - for visiting SF folk (This is very dated and we hope to have an update for 2024)
  (Spread the love: Facebook edition alert here for comments / likes / shares.)

Full 'What's New' list