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Spring 2023
Film News
E.T. sells for US$$2,560,000 (£2.1 million)! The original E.T. model made by Italian Carlo Rambaldi for the Spielberg film was auctioned at Beverly Hills' Julien's Auctions. Also sold was a plaster model of E.T. that went fort £102,578.
Avatar: The Way of Water grosses US$1bn (£831m) at the global box office in just 14 days, becoming the fastest film to pass the milestone this year. However, this is a grossing figure and is not what the studio will receive after cinemas and distributors take their share. Avatar: The Way Of Water needs to gross US$2 billion to break even! There is a lot riding on its box office performance, as it is the first of four planned sequels, with future instalments coming in 2024, 2026 and 2028. Director James Cameron shot the third movie in tandem with The Way of Water, as well as "a little bit" of the fourth to ensure his child actors still looked the right age. You can see the trailer here.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is to see the Ben Affleck Batman. Last year, Ben Affleck confirmed his final appearance as Batman will be in DC’s The Flash slated for 23rd June (2023). Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the sequel to 2018’s Aquaman. You can see the Aquaman (2018) trailer here.
Godzilla vs. Kong sequel has a working title Origins. So this could well be a prequel that will explore the inception of the Titans and the ancient civilization that inhabited Hollow Earth? In Godzilla vs. Kong, the powerful primate journeyed into Hollow Earth to find a lizard-killing weapon he could use to show Godzilla who’s the king of the jungle. During this underground adventure, we learned that humans used to live in Hollow Earth many millennia ago, building colossal temples to worship Kong’s ancestors. In one particular scene, we even see a throne room with a small door in the base of a chair, indicating that humanity lived side by side with monsters in the past. The film is currently slated for 15th March 2024 (but you can expect that to slip). Meanwhile Apple TV+ is developing a Godzilla and the Titans series. You can see the Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) trailer here.
The Haunted Mansion re-make gains cast. This is a re-make of the 2003 film which in turn was inspired by a Disney theme park ride. It will be directed by Justin Simien from a screenplay by Katie Dippold. It now has a principal cast, namely: Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, Jared Leto, Danny DeVito, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Shooting is taking place. It is currently slated for an August (2023) release.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel sees the return of Mckenna Grace. Mckenna Grace reprises her role as Phoebe Spengler, granddaughter of original ghostebuster member Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis). Ghostbusters: Afterlife introduced an entirely new – and younger – cast of characters. The film followed a mother (Carrie Coon) and her children (Finn Wolfhard and Grace) as they left their lives behind to move into an old family house in Oklahoma. It’s there that the kids uncover the truth about their family - that their grandfather was a member of the Ghostbusters. As they dive further into their grandfather’s background, the children are swept up into the family business and soon find themselves busting some ghosts of their own… The new film apparently relocates back to New York. If the post credit addendum snippet at the end of Ghostbusters: Afterlife is anything to go by, it might signal the start of the forthcoming sequel film. In which case, it could be that the power for the ghost containment chamber is failing allowing ghosts from the original two films to escape If all goes well, note the 'if', the sequel film might just be out for December (2023). We cited Ghostbusters: Afterlife as one of the best films of 2021. Meanwhile you can watch the Ghostbusters: Afterlife climactic scene with the original Ghostbusters here.
The Leader character in Captain America: New World Order is cast. 'The Leader' will be played by Tim Blake Nelson. The film also sees a new Captain America actor with Sam Wilson. The newcomers to the Captain America franchise will share the screen with returning Falcon And Winter Soldier Danny Ramirez, back as Joaquin Torres (a military intelligence friend of Sam Wilson's). Captain America: New World Order is currently slated for a May 2024 release.
Megalopolis gains its cast. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather,1972, Bram Stoker's Dracula, 1992), the film's cast will include Shia LaBeouf, Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight and Aubrey Plaza. Coppola has been working to make Megalopolis for some years and was put on the back-burner after the real-life 9/11 in 2001. The film concerns an architect who wants to rebuild New York City as a utopia following a devastating disaster.
Zombie Town gains its cast. Zombie Town is based on the children's author R.L. Stine’s book of the same name. Marlon Kazadi and Madi Monroe will play the teen co-lead roles in the family adventure. Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase are also onboard. The film sees a quiet town is upended when young Mike and his friend Amy watch a horror movie called Zombie Town and unexpectedly see the title characters come off the screen and chase them… The film is slated for a limited cinematic release in 2023 before streaming on Hulu in the US and ABC in Australia.
Ursa Major gains its cast. Ursa Major is an SF adventure concerning a mother and daughter fighting for survival on an Earth-like planet, hiding from a group of relentless hunters with the added threat of an imminent and deadly storm approaches. But Natalie, now a teenager, has begun to question her mother’s decisions, her explanation of who there are, how they got here and what they need to do to survive… Mary Elizabeth (Birds of Prey, Gemini Man and Fargo) Winstead and Xochitl (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) Gomez will star. The Baker Brothers will direct.
Cloverfield 4 gains its director: Babak Anvari. Anvari is a relative newcomer. He was a producer and director of Wounds and executive producer of Monsterland, a Hulu exclusive show. The original Cloverfield (2008) was a slow burn not entering that year's top ten SF/F/H but ultimately made US$172 million worldwide with an estimated budget of US$25 million. Then 10 Cloverfield Lane (trailer here) grossed US$110 million world wide with an estimated budget of $15 million. Then we had the 2018, direct-to-Netflix The Cloverfield Paradox which was a bit of a stinker and flopped despite an estimated budget of US$50m. All of which means much rides on Cloverfield 4 for the future of the franchise.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' production has started and gets a tentative release date. The film stars Owen (It) Teague with Freya (The Witcher) Allan, Peter (The Orville) Macon, Eka (Jessica Jones) Darville and Kevin (Locke and Key) Durand. Wes (Maze Runner helmer) Ball will direct. The film is set many years after the events depicted in War For the Planet of the Apes and will likely see the enslavement of what is left of a mindless humanity. Shooting is underway in Disney Studios Australia. The film is currently slated for a May 2024 release. You can see the teaser here.
A Quiet Place: Day One tentatively slated for a 2024 release. The original aliens-who-hunt-by-sound invasion film opened months after the invasion, later jumping ahead to roughly a year in. Part II did begin on the first day, showing the Abbotts enjoying a normal day with their friends and neighbours before a mysterious meteor hurdles toward Earth. While we do see the immediate aftermath of the invasion, it is limited to the opening minutes of the film. This third offering returns to the original invasion. It won't end well… It is currently slated for a March 2024 release.
Deadpool 3 to see Wolverine, and a mean one at that. It has been four years since Deadpool 2. Hugh Jackman originally said Logan (2017) would be his last time in the role but now it looks like he will be back. Jackman has teased his Wolverine will be even 'angrier', dismissing the chance of a gentler version of the X-Men mutant under Disney's banner. The film is currently slated for a September 2024 release.
Blade to be the next addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Yann Demange is onboard to direct having replaced Bassam Tariq who had scheduling complications. Yann Demange previously directed the first episode of HBO’s Lovecraft Country having made his big-screen directorial debut in 2014 with ’71 which won him Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards. The vampire-slaying character was originally created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan, introduced in July 1973’s The Tomb of Dracula no. 10. Wesley Snipes played Blade across three films from 1998 through 2004, and he was played by Sticky Fingaz in a short-lived TV series. Currently, Mahershala Ali is tipped to star in the new re-boot. This, it is said, will feature a darker tone than earlier MCU projects. It is currently slated for a September 2024 release.
The Fantastic Four re-boot gains a director. Matt Shakman will direct. He previously directed the Nebula Award-winning WandaVision. The first official Fantastic Four adaptation was in 2005 came from director Tim Story and performed well at the box office. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Then the franchise bombed (9% on Rotten Tomatoes) with the 2015 Josh Trank re-boot. However, with the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the rights to the characters were returned to Marvel Studios, allowing for a fresh reboot. The debut of The Fantastic Four in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the film is currently slated to be released in November, 2024.
In The Blink of an Eye gets Andrew Stanton as director. Stanton is best known for his animation: A Bug's Life (1998), Wall-E (2008), Finding Nemo (2003) and its 2016 sequel, Finding Dory. He also co-wrote the scripts for Monsters, Inc. (2001) and all four films of the Toy Story franchise. He has, though, done live-action film with John Carter (2012). He has also directed live action TV including episodes of: Better Call Saul, Legion, For All Mankind and Stranger Things. In The Blink of an Eye is being touted as an SF epic. This film has long struggle to move on from just being a script; Colby Day apparently penned the original version over half a decade ago. It is reported as being inspired by: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar and Magnolia. It is said to use three plot lines spanning thousands of years and explore the entire history of the world and tackle the nature of life, love, hope and connection… So, much hype to live up to.
The latest Nosferatu gets a director and principal cast. It will be directed by Robert (The Witch & The Northman) Eggers. The principal cast includes Bill Skarsgard as the titular vampire, and Lily-Rose Depp as the main subject of the blood suckers' attention… While the 1922 F. W. Murnau, silent film did need an update, this was ably done with the Werner Herzog 1979 version. All of which begs the question as to why we need a new take? The bar is set high!
Cold Storage SF thriller gets a director and principal cast. The film follows a small team of people led by a bio-terror expert in a race against time to destroy a dangerous micro-organism before it escapes a research facility. Several decades ago, a highly infectious, constantly mutating micro-organism – capable of extinction-level destruction – was contained in a military facility. In the present day, the military has sealed the facility’s lowest sublevel, selling the remaining space to a self-storage company. As temperatures rise underground, the micro-organism finds a way to escape and, if left to spread, it will soon uncontrollably multiply around the world. The cast will include Georgina Campbell, Liam Neeson and Joe Keery. Jonny Campbell directs.
The next Star Wars film gets a director and writer. It will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and written by Damon Lindelof. Obaid-Chinoy’s has already directed two episodes of the first season of the Disney Plus series Ms. Marvel.
The Omen is to get a prequel film! 20th Century Studios is to make The First Omen which will be a prequel to the original 1976 Omen, that starred Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and Harvey Stephens. That film followed an American ambassador who comes to believe his five-year-old son is the Antichrist. That film saw three sequels and then a 2006 reboot. There was also a short-lived Damien television series. So 20th Century have grounds to think that more cash can be wrung out of the franchise. Tiger (Game Of Thrones) Free will star. Arkasha Stevenson will make her feature directorial debut and assist in the writing with Tim Smith.
The Bang! comic series is to become a Netflix film. The SFnal Dark Horse comics thriller of 2020 saw: a top secret agent with memories he couldn’t possibly possess; a mystery writer in her 60s who spends her retirement solving crimes; a man of action with mysterious drugs that keep him ahead of a constant string of targeted disasters; and a seemingly omnipotent terrorist organisation that might be behind it all… And they are all connected to one man: a science-fiction author with more information than seems possible, whose books may hold the key to either saving reality or destroying it. The script for Netflix's Bang! is written by the original comics' author Matt Kindt together with Zak Olkewicz who was behind Netflix's Fear Street 1978.
The Electric State is finally to become a Netflix film. The film is based on the Clarke (Book) Award short-listed novel (2018) by Simon Stålenhag. The Electric State sees an orphaned teenager travelling across a retro-futuristic American west with an eccentric drifter and mysterious robot, in search of her younger brother. This film has been in the offing for some time but anticipated costs put Universal off. Netflix has picked it up with the film’s new budget thought to be north of US$200 million (£174m). Millie Bobby Brown will star as Michelle the orphan. The script is currently being penned by Russo collaborators, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who also wrote the script for Avengers: Endgame, which the Russo Brothers directed. The Russo Brothers are helming.
Constantine 2 is in the works. It is expected to be a direct sequel to the 2005 supernatural thriller and will see a reunion of lead Keanu Reeves and director Francis Lawrence who directed the 2005 original. The character Constantine is based on the DC Hellblazer comics and a character that first appeared in Swamp Thing, John Constantine is a cancer sufferer, world weary, alcoholic detective who combats evil, righting supernatural wrongs… The character has seen renewed interest given the NBC series starring Matt Ryan who would, later on, join the CW’s Arrowverse, and even with The Sandman‘s Johanna Constantine, who was played by Jenna Coleman. ++++ You can see the Constantine (2005) trailer here.
Barbarella remake is in the works. Sydney Sweeney has been tapped to star in and executive produce for Sony Pictures. It is based on the 1968 classic that starred Jane Fonda as Barbarella that saw a 41st-century astronaut go on a mission to stop the mad scientist Durand Durand from using his positronic ray to bring evil back to our universe.
Godzilla sequel to have a November 2023 release in Japan and a likely 2024 British Isle release. Takashi Yamazaki to direct.
Nicolas Cage to star in Sand and Stones post-apocalyptic adventure. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic and sparsely populated world where Paul (Nicolas Cage) and his twin teenage sons, Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins), have managed to claw out an existence, yet live in constant fear. Until, confronted by imminent danger, they must execute a desperate plan to survive. Ben Brewer to direct.
Armor Wars TV series to become a film instead. The putative Armor Wars Disney+ series is to become a feature film from Marvel Studios instead. The series sees Tony Stark’s Iron Man armour technology falling into wrong hands. The TV series is based on a Marvel Comics plotline and stars Don Cheadle as James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, aka War Machine. Cheadle will star in the film. Apparently during development of the series that had been slated for this year (2023) but it was decided that the plot made more sense as a single two hour and a bit film than six parts dropped weekly on TV. However, you can see the series' concept trailer here.
Possible new Alien film may begin shooting? 20th Century Studios prospective new Alien film reportedly is beginning casting. Cailee Spaeny is in talks to star. Apparently Fede Alvarez is directing. Such is the progress that shooting may begin in a few months.
Bioshock may well become a Netflix film. The BioShock series of games from 2K began in 2007 and has globally sold more than 39 million copies. In that original game, gamers played as Jack, the lone survivor of a plane crash over the Atlantic Ocean in the 1960s. He discovers an underwater dystopia called Rapture, that was created by an eccentric business magnate Andrew Ryan. Rapture had seen better days, and Jack must battle a variety of enemies, like the super-powered, drug-addicted Splicers and massive, diving-suit-clad Big Daddies, to escape. However, Jack’s own mental state and the origins of his plane crash are far from what they originally seem… A sequel was released 2010. As for the Netflix film, Francis (Hunger Games, Constantine and I Am Legend) Lawrence is being touted as a possible director and Michael (Jungle Cruise) Green writer.
Stephen King's novel The Regulators may be a film. The Regulators (1996) is the story of the peaceful suburban life on Poplar Street in Wentworth, Ohio that is shattered one fine day when four vans containing shotgun-wielding 'regulators' terrorise the street’s residents, cold-bloodedly killing anyone foolish enough to venture outdoors. Houses mysteriously transform into log cabins and the street now ends in what looks like a child’s hand-drawn western landscape. Behind this sudden onslaught is an evil creature who has taken over the body of an autistic boy whose parents were killed in a drive-by shooting several months earlier… Bohemia Group has optioned the film rights. Previously, 2014, there was talk of a The Regulators TV series but it came to nothing.
And finally…
Short video clips (short films, other vids and trailers) that might tickle your fancy….
Film trailer download tip!: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts trailer out. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will take audiences on a 1990s globetrotting adventure and introduce the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the existing battle on earth between Autobots and Decepticons. It is slated to debut 9th June, 2023. You can see the trailer here.
Film trailer download tip!: 65 trailer out. After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly discovers he’s actually stranded on Earth…65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive. From the writers of A Quiet Place and producer Sam Raimi comes 65, an SF adventure starring Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, and Chloe Coleman. Written, directed, and produced by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods - the film is also produced by Sam Raimi, Deborah Liebling and Zainab Azizi. You can see the trailer here.
Film trailer download tip!: Barbie trailer out. OK, so Barbie is not SF but the trailer sure as eggs is… You can see the trailer here.
Short film download tip!: A neat, doctored The Batman (2022) trailer featuring the Adam West Batman and villains has been doing the rounds. It has been racking up millions of views. This video explains how it was made by the Corridor Crew SFX folk and then airs the trailer. You can see the 22 minute vid here.
Short film download tip!: Parallel Man short film. A dictatorial regime controls access to parallel Earths and controls several of them. Our Earth is next. A rogue agent flees across the multiverse with a device… You can see the 11-minute film here.
Want more? See last season's video clip recommendations here.
For a reminder of the top films in 2022 (and earlier years) then check out our top Science Fiction Films annual chart. This page is based on the weekly UK box office ratings over the past year up to Easter. You can use this page if you are stuck for ideas hiring a DVD for the weekend.
For a forward look as to film releases of the year see our film release diary.
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Spring 2023
Television News
Netflix bounces back. Having ended its growth last spring (2022) with a loss of 220,000 subscribers that followed on from a previous winter quarter loss, it has now seen a summer (2022) growth of 2.4 million subscribers. Netflix has been attempting to make the platform more enticing with the way it packages its shows, not as binge box set drops (indulged in by many during the CoVID-19 lockdowns) but regular weekly new episodes; an old-fashioned terrestrial TV model that seems to work. Of course regulars can still box-set binge, but they will have to wait until a whole season is out before they do that. Binging may have been fine during CoVID lockdowns, but less so now we are back to having a life, and a regular work/leisure schedule. Meanwhile, Netflix is continuing to invest in new content.
Disney+ scoops Doctor Who outside of the British Isles. Disney has announced that it will be the new home for upcoming seasons of the classic BBC science fiction series in the United States and around the world, a major streaming acquisition for a streaming service that’s already home to major franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars. Previously, you could access recent episodes on: ABC iview (Australia), HBO Max (U.S.), FuboTV (U.S.) and Google Play (U.S. store) and Ecclestone onwards on Netflix, iTunes or Amazon Prime. Those in the British Isles (Great Britain and Ireland) will still be able to access very recent episodes for free on the BBC iPlayer and see them as they are broadcast on the BBC. (Parts of western Europe, such as the Netherlands, may also be able to see BBC broadcasts.
Doctor Who Diamond Anniversary with brand new adventures and classic texts. BBC Audio are celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who by journeying with each Doctor in turn, from the series’ beginning to the present day. We’ll also be charting the history of the programme itself with Doctor Who at the BBC: The Collection and The Making of Doctor Who, and delving into the psychedelic realm of mid-1970s annuals with The Amazing World of Doctor Who. With a huge variety of readers, writers and characters, there’s something to delight the ears of everyone throughout 2023.
BBC Audio Doctor Who titles are published by BBC Studios and distributed by Penguin Random House Audio,. There are more than 400 Doctor Who titles available as digital downloads, with many also published on CD. Penguin Random House Audio have won awards including the British Book Award: Audiobook of the Year three years consecutively in 2020, 2019 and 2018; for The Testaments written by Margaret Atwood and read by Ann Dowd, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Mae Whitman, Becoming written and narrated by Michelle Obama, and The Book of Dust by Phillip Pullman, narrated by Michael Sheen, respectively.
Highlights include:
- New audio titles for Doctors 1-13, starting with the First Doctor in January and
culminating with the Twelfth and Thirteenth in December.
- Encounters with Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Silurians, Sea Devils, the Master, the Toymaker and a host of new adversaries.
- Adventures with Ian, Barbara, Vicki, Jamie, Zoe, Jo, Sarah, Harry, Tegan, Turlough, Peri, Ace, Clara and many other much-loved travelling companions – plus a few new ones.
- Readers including Maureen O’Brien, Jon Culshaw, David Troughton, Tim Treloar, Dan Starkey, Louise Jameson, Jamie Glover, David Banks, Katy Manning and many more.
- Two very special nostalgic releases based on legendary books from the 1970s: The Amazing World of Doctor Who and The Making of Doctor Who.
Scooby-Doo's Velma being re-imagined as South Asian, for the new series Velma, causes a social media backlash. Velma Dinkley will be South Asian in the forthcoming HBO Max series. Mindy Kaling, who will voice Velma and who is co-executively producing the series, was surprised at the social media response but unswayed. She also revealed that the forthcoming series will explore Velma's unresolved seΧual tension with a number of characters. You can see the series teaser here.
The Babylon 5 reboot has stalled but don't panic, just wait. The reboot has been a long time coming and last season we reported encouraging words from the CEO of the CW. However, the CW has now been bought by the Nexstar Media Group and so everything is up in the air. According to creator, J. Michael Straczynski, it means we wait, and it’s as simple as that…. So, hang on in there.
The Flash has been cancelled. The 15 episode Season 9, starring Grant Gustin, will be the last. It looks like the final episode will air weeks before the 23rd June release of Warner Brothers The Flash film starring Ezra Miller. The Flash, from Berlanti Prods. and Warner Bros. TV, has been a pivotal series for the CW. It was a spinoff from Arrow, and helped to establish the Arrowverse as a franchise. The Flash has been the most successful of the Arrowverse series and the longest-running too, beating Arrow‘s eight-seasons. It is not expected that the film will see any continuation of the series. With The Flashes completion, Superman & Lois and Gotham Knights, if it gets the ratings, as the only returning DC series for the 2023-24 season. Season 8 of The Flash, with 1.03 million viewers, ranks among CW's most streamed shows on its digital platforms. See the Season 8 trailer here and Season 9 fan made concept trailer here.
Resident Evil has been cancelled after one season. Netflix has decided not to order a second season of Resident Evil, its action horror series loosely based on the popular video game franchise. It did not perform well especially given its cost. It debuted at no. 2 in the Netflix streaming chart with an 72.7 million hours viewed for its opening weekend but failed to maintain from the second episode onwards when it fell out of the top ten. It scored 55% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 27% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. The series takes place in the year 2036, fourteen years after a deadly virus caused a global apocalypse, Jade Wesker (Ella Balinska) fights for survival in a world overrun by the blood-thirsty infected and insane creatures. In this absolute carnage, Jade is haunted by her past in New Raccoon City, by her father’s connections to the Umbrella Corporation and by what happened to her sister, Billie. See the season 1 trailer.
Paper Girls has been cancelled after one season. The series concerns four young girls on a paper round in 1988 somehow whisked to 2019, a 2019 where being outside of your own time is a crime… The series had SF, humour and an LGBTQ+ aspect. However it only stayed a month in Amazon Prime's top ten in Spain, France and Italy. It only lasted in the top 10 for one day in the British Isles, and did not breaking into the US Prime top ten at all. Season 2 was being planned when Amazon axed it. The show's makers are trying to find a new home for the series but don't hold your breath. See the season 1 trailer.
Westworld not only cancelled but has been removed from HBO. Westworld debuted in 2016 in the same setting as the 1973 film: a futuristic Western theme park where the exceedingly wealthy could play out any and all fantasies with androids known as Hosts. The series debuted in 2016 and has ended after season 4 despite reasonable viewing figures for seasons one and two, even if they had slumped in recent months, and despite there having been a season 5 planned that would wrap up all the plot threads. HBO Max and Warner Brothers Discovery+ have merged and there have been changes with the re-structuring and one issue with the show was its cost: its first season apparently had a U$100 million budget! Also apparently following its merger HBO is seeking US$3.5 billion in cost-savings. But why removal from the streaming service in addition to cancellation? The removal of shows from HBO Max means WB Discovery is able to save money in residuals paid to cast and crews of productions, on top of the money saved by not continuing with the shows at all. Having said that, such has been the show's success that it will likely reappear on another company platform before long. Season 4 trailer here.
The Nevers has been cancelled in the middle of its first season. The Joss Whedon-created SF drama will be pulled from streaming on HBO Max. Some of the remaining first season episodes that have been made might air on another platform. Like Westworld above, it to has been removed from HBO Max. Season 1 trailer here.
The Midnight Club has been cancelled after its first season. The Midnight Club was an adaption of the books of author Christopher Pike. It's about terminally ill teens living at Brightcliffe Hospice – a place with many a supernatural mystery to it… Its first episode, of ten in the first series, broke the world record for most jump scares in a TV episode. The cancellation came after the show's executive producers, Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy, left Netflix for a for Amazon Studios. There had been plans for a second season and there are many more Christopher Pike novels to mine, so it is just possible that the show might return(?). See the season 1 trailer here.
The Young Constantine series is in doubt. The series was being developed by J. J. Abrams. Warner Brothers Discovery has announced that a sequel to their 2005 Constantine film was in development. With Keanu Reeves and original director Francis Lawrence are set to return. This is likely to put a stop to the Young Constantine series that had been proposed.
The Rings of Power season 2 has begun filming in Great Britain. Season 1 was shot in New Zealand but filming has moved to the UK for season 2 as it is more cost-effective and also it is where Amazon Prime is creating a multi-show hub.
Loki season 2 sees Ke Huy Quan join the cast. One of Ke Huy Quan's first parts was in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and recently he starred in Everything Everywhere All at Once. In the Season 1, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his female counterpart – and first true love – Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) confront the mysterious mastermind behind the Time Variance Authority (TVA), a man known as He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors). By the end, Sylvie fractures the timeline into the multiverse by killing He Who Remains, after she boots Loki into another reality entirely, one in which his TVA ally Mobius (Owen Wilson) doesn’t even recognise him… Loki was renewed for season 2 by Disney+ last the same day as the Season 1 finale. Loki is Disney+’s most-watched Marvel series.
Superman & Lois season 3 sees a new Jonathan Kent. Jordan Elsass, who had played the role of Jonathan is not returning for personal reasons: Michael (Spin) Bishop takes his place. Part of the Arrowverse, “Superman & Lois” follows the famed superhero (Tyler Hoechlin) and his wife, journalist Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) as they raise their two teenaged sons, Jordan (Alexander Garfin) and Jonathan (Bishop). The show’s third season production has begun in Vancouver. It continues on from season 2 with a chaotic merging of Earth and the Bizarro World. See the season 2 trailer here.
Love, Death and Robots has been renewed for a fourth season. Netflix has renewed adult-skewed animated anthology series for the fourth time. That its viewing figures have held and that it is a 12 times Emmy-winning series would have nothing to do with it. The nine new episodes will range from uncovering an ancient evil to a comedic apocalypse. See the season 3 trailer here.
The Lazarus Project has been renewed. Sky has ordered a second season of the time-twisted action and espionage series set in Britain about a team that prevents national extinction-level threats. You can see the season one trailer here.
For All Mankind has been renewed for a fourth season. The series imagines an alternate history where Russia beat America to the Moon. Since season two, season three moved us through the 1990s with a new goal, Mars, so what lies ahead in the 21st century now that the show has moved to 2003? See the trailer for season three here. Apple TV+ airs.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur has been renewed for a second season. This news comes ahead of the first series' premiere next month (February 2023). The animated series is Based on Marvel's comic books and follows the adventures of 13-year-old super-genius Lunella Lafayette and her 10-ton T-Rex, Devil Dinosaur, whom she accidentally brings through time into present-day New York City. Equipped with Devil's fierce loyalty and brawn, the loving support of her family and best friend Casey, Lunella sets out to make a difference and protect her Lower East Side neighbourhood from danger. You can see the opening theme music sequence here.
Outer Range has been renewed for a second season. The Amazon Prime, modern-day, SF western show sees Josh Brolin as Royal Abbott, a rancher who is fighting to protect his family and discovers a mystery at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness. The Abbotts are coping with the disappearance of daughter-in-law Rebecca (Kristen Connolly) and are pushed further to the brink when the Tillersons, the gaudy owners of the neighbouring profit-driven ranch, make a play for their land. An untimely death in the community sets off a chain of events that come to a head with the arrival of a mysterious black void in the Abbotts’ west pasture… You can see the season one trailer here.
The Sandman has been renewed for a second season. Neil Gaiman's adaptation of his own comic series 10-episode first season came out last summer (2022) and its viewing figures in three months have been such that it was renewed after just three months. Season 1 trailer here.
Good Omens second season is to air this summer (2023)! We reported on Amazon green lighting Neil Gaiman's series a second season back in 2019. Since then we have had the CoVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. During this Neil Gaiman, Michael Sheen and David Tennant produced Good Omens: Lockdown. And now that the pandemic is over, shooting the second season has taken place and is set to air this summer. Meanwhile you can see Good Omens: Lockdown here. Previously covered related story: Gaiman's Good Omens attracts attention of religious fundamentalists.
The forthcoming Time Bandits series gains its principal cast. The series has been a long time coming. It was announced in July 2018 that Apple had a deal to develop a television series version of the Terry Gilliam film, with Gilliam set to serve as executive producer. In March 2019, Taika Waititi joined the project, set to co-write and direct the first two episodes. In July 2022, Waititi stated the series would be 10 episodes. And now we have the principal cast. Lisa (The Comeback) Kudrow will lead. She is joined by: Kal-El (Unseeing Evil)Tuck, Charlyne (Knocked Up)Yi, Tadhg (Conversations With Friends) Murphy, Roger Jean (You Don’t Know Me) Nsengiyumva, Rune (Eddie the Eagle) Temte, Kiera (Martyrs Lane) Thompson and Rachel (Heartbreak High) House. Shooting has commenced. With a following wind it might just air at the end of this year (2023).
The forthcoming Dune: The Sisterhood series gains its principal cast. The series was announced back in 2019. Emily Watson and Shirley Henderson are now aboard the HBO Max series. Emily Watson has been cast as Valya Harkonnen and Shirley Henderson has been cast as Tula Harkonnen. Both of these characters are sisters. The Harkonnen Sisters have risen to power in the Sisterhood, a secret organisation of women who will go on to become the Bene Gesserit, fabled sect that combats forces that threaten the future of humankind…
Forthcoming Godzilla and the Titans series gets Kurt Russell as a star. Kurt Russell and son Wyatt Russell join the cast of the forthcoming series who join Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski. The sereis will explore the aftermath of the battle between Godzilla and the Titans that levelled San Francisco and the shocking reality that monsters are real, as one family sets out to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch. This series follows on from 2014's Godzilla, 2017's Skull Island, 2019's King of Monsters and 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong. There is also a Godzilla vs. Kong sequel film currently in the works. The first two episodes of the new series will be helmed by the Hugo-winning WandaVision director Matt Shakman who is also on board as an executive producer.
The Mandalorian season 3 gets delayed air date. The third season of the “Star Wars” series will apparently debut on 1st March, 2023, on Disney+. Previously it had been reported to air in February.
The forthcoming Star Wars: The Acolyte gets a male lead. Lee (Squid Game) Jung-jae will co-star with Amandla Stenberg (the latter's starring, along with the show's premise, reported on last summer (2022). This will be Lee Jung-jae's first major American studio role. Jodie Turner-Smith also is joining cast. Leslye (Russian Doll creator) Headland is directing.
The forthcoming Goosebumps sees Justin Long cast. He will play Nathan Bratt, the new schoolteacher who develops a terrifying connection to a decades-old supernatural murder. The Goosebumps series of 62 books that each sold on average over six million copies in English (there are other non-English editions), has become the second most successful book series after Rowling's Harry Potter. The TV series will air on Disney+.
The forthcoming Blade Runner 2099 series may see Harrison Ford return albeit as a cameo? Rumour has it that Harrison Ford is in discussion to reprise his role as Rick Deckard. We reported on this series' early pre-production last year. As Ridley Scott is executive producing, and Alcon Entertainment – the folk behind Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021) that was set in 2039, are also involve then expect this to be a linear continuation of the franchise from Blade Runner 2049. It may well see how the underground community of reproducing replicants fares… Don't expect the forthcoming series on Amazon Prime much before 2024. Meanwhile you can see Blade Runner: Black Lotus Episode 1 'City of Angels' here.
Eragon is getting a television re-boot. Based on the Christopher Paolini 'Inheritance Cycle' novels, Disney+ are developing a live-action television series. A teenage boy becomes magically joined with a newly-hatched dragon. Together, they must learn what it means to be dragon and Rider as they fight in the resistance against a tyrannical king. Christopher Paolini will co-write the series and executive produce.
Outlander prequel series begins to take shape. The Outlander Diana Gabaldon novels have been successful as has the series. We reported last Easter (2022) that a prequel series was in the offing. As suspected, we now know it will focus on Jamie Fraser’s parents: a young Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie. Brian and Ellen had a forbidden love affair with the couple having to hide their relationship. The prequel series will be called Blood of My Blood. See an Outland season 7 mini-promo-feature here.
Indiana Jones gets new spin-off TV series. Like the The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles it will be a prequel series. Its protagonist will be Abner Ravenwood who would eventually become Indiana Jones' mentor. It will be set in the 1920s around the time that Henry Jones Jr. was embarking on an affair with Abner’s teen daughter.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is slated to launch in 2024. The Disney+ series is based on the novel series of the same name by Rick Riordan. It concerns a 12-year-old demigod Percy Jackson who is accused by the Greek god Zeus of stealing his lightning bolt. Walker Scobell will star as Percy Jackson, alongside Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri.
Assassin’s Creed is now to become a Netflix series. The Assassin’s Creed franchise is one of the biggest gaming franchises of all time. Since the first game was released in 2007, the series has gone on to create new games almost every year. There was an Assassin’s Creed film, 2016, but was not particularly successful. Netflix is now developing a TV series that is billed as being an epic, genre-bending, live-action adaptation, blending a modern-day setting with a historical one, with the likes of Ancient Greece, the American Revolution, and Ancient Egypt all serving as backdrops.
Orphan Black gets a quasi return with a spin-off series: Orphan Black: Echoes. The original Orphan Black ran for five seasons (2013-2017), and starred Tatiana Maslany as a woman who discovered she’s been cloned… Or rather, she might be the clone. Or, anyone one of the numerous characters Maslany played, often in the same scene, could be the original. But whoever came first, they were all stuck in a massive conspiracy with global ramifications. Orphan Black: Echoeswill star Krysten Ritter and Keeley Hawes. It will be set in the near-future and explore the scientific manipulation of human existence. It follows a group of women as they weave their way into each other’s lives and embark on a journey, unravelling the mystery of their identity[ies]. Keeley Hawes plays a perceptive but sensitive scientist who finds herself at odds with her own moral code when circumstances lead her to make an unthinkable choice. The new series is directed and executive produced by John Fawcett, one of the two creators of the original. It will debut on AMC in the US this year. The first season of Orphan Black: Echoes will consist of 10 episodes. See the original Orphan Black's top ten memorable moments.
Pilot ordered for a series based on Catherine Lacey's Answers novel. FX has ordered a pilot for a pending series based on Catherine Lacey’s novel The Answers (2017). The story is set in a future where a young woman joins an experiment that promises to help her find love, but instead, she finds herself bunking with other women who all discover they’re dating the same guy. The pilot and potential series is a collaboration between 20th Television, Danny Strong Productions, and Protozoa Pictures.
The videogame The Medium is to be made into a TV series. The psychological horror video game was only released in 2021. It follows Marianne, the eponymous medium, who has a deep connection to the spirit realm and can pass between them to solve puzzles. Platige Image and the Bloober team are joining forces to make the series.
Silk: Spider Society series to be the first in a number of Spider-Man franchise character series. The series will be released on MGM+ and Amazon Prime Video. Angela Kang will be the showrunner.
The Wicker Man may become a TV series. The Wicker Man tells the story of a police officer who finds himself travelling to a remote island to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. While there, he’s horrified to find the population of the island worshipping Pagan gods and potentially doing much worse deeds. The original film came out half a century ago and was a cult success. There was a lame re-make in 2006 starring Nicholas Cage. Now The Imaginarium and Urban Myth Films are planning to make it into a TV series. How they will stretch out a well known film into a series beggars belief, but it is their money.
Max Headroom may return with Matt Frewer! Matt Frewer was the star of the original 1987/8 series that aired in Britain on Channel 4. It was set in a television media dominated world in which everyone's identity depended on their digital profile. Reporter, Edison Carter (Matt Frewer) carter hits a raising car park barrier (emblazoned with the 'Maximum headroom' warning) and severely injured. His brain is scanned and a digital Carter is created. But the human Carter recovers and so now there are two Carters, the human Edison and the digital Max Headroom who haunts cyberspace. SpectreVision and All3Media are working on attempting a reboot to your screens 15 minutes in the future. See the original series' opening credits here.
King Kong may get another television series. Last summer (2022) we reported that a series based on the recent, modern day set films is being made into a series. Now, Disney+ is considering making a series that essentially explores that brings the classic monster story into the modern age, with a return to Skull Island and the dawn of a new Kong. This will be based on the original 1933 film's director Merian C. Cooper’s novels and the new King Kong novelisations by Joe DeVito. It appears that the King Kong rights are split between Monsterverse (who are making another series based on the recent films) and Disney.
An Arthurian series may be developed by the Daily Wire. It will be based on the 'Pendragon' novels by Stephen Lawhead. If it is true to the novels then it will be set in the last days of the Roman Empire in Britain. This is when the idea of a unified Britain was only a dream. In this tumultuous world Merlin, the son of an Atlantean princess and the bard, Taliesen, pursues his father’s vision of a Kingdom of Summer – a Britain unified in peace. But to achieve this dream, Merlin will have to overcome ancient evils and navigate both the fall of the Roman occupation and the rise of Christianity in search of a king who can unite the Island of the Mighty. It will air on the right-wing DailyWire+ later this year (2023).
Atlas Shrugged classic novel optioned for television. Ayn Rand’s dystopian 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged, has been optioned by the right-wing Daily Wire. The novel reportedly has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide. It depicts a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, steel magnate Hank Rearden, struggle against “looters” who want to exploit their productivity. Dagny and Hank discover that a mysterious figure called John Galt is persuading other business leaders to abandon their companies and disappear as a strike of productive individuals against the looters. The novel ends with the strikers planning to build a new capitalist society based on Galt’s philosophy.
And finally, a couple of TV related vids…
How Stranger Things should have ended. Alternate endings for each of the four seasons of the show. You can see the 4-minute video here.
Doctor Who 2023 season trailer. Well, there are always a few who miss such things and in case you are one of them you can see the trailer here.
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Spring 2023
Forthcoming SF Books
The Transcendent by Nadia Afifi, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$34.95 / US$26.95, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-58673-4.
After a fateful confrontation with her former ally, Amira Valdez is on the run, pregnant with her own clone and desperate. All her hopes lie with finding Nova, the first human clone, to solve the greatest riddle in human history – how to preserve human consciousness after death.
Weaponized by Neal Asher, Tor, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-05005-9.
A standalone adventure set in the world of the Polity. When a far-flung colony is attacked by powerful alien raptors, its inhabitants will be forced to fight back – even as war changes them in monstrous ways…
The Empty Heavens by John Birmingham, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-789-54600-2.
With sheer weight of numbers, the Sturm's Combined Fleet of the (self-proclaimed) Human Republic are driving ever deeper into the network of worlds they were exiled from over three centuries ago. At a horrendous cost, Commander Lucinda Hardy, Admiral Fraser McLennan, Sephina L'trel, Booker3 and Princess Alessia lead the only resistance to the Sturm's overwhelming forces. Amid the ruins of a civilisation utterly corrupted by the Sturm's horrific darkcode malware, they must gather allies and weapons where they can. Old enmities must be overcome and unlikely partnerships forged. Surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned, the resistance cannot hold out. By strategy and deception, they must force a decisive confrontation with the Sturm.
Ascension by Nicholas Binge, Harper Voyager, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
A fast-paced modern science fiction thriller set in the midst of a mountain expedition with big heart, big questions and a grip of arctic terror. When a mountain mysteriously appears in the middle of the ocean, a group of scientists are sent on a secret mission to investigate it – and discover what is at the summit. Told through letters written by one scientist during the mission, the reader watches as time and space begin to bend around the climbers. A higher power and a higher purpose has sent them there: what will they discover about themselves and their world as they rise?
Downfall by Louise Carey, Gollancz, £18.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-473-23276-1.
The exhilarating conclusion to the dystopian thriller series that started with Inscape, and Outcast. Tanta and Cole may have stopped the mass murder of InTech’s residents, but the cost was severe. Now its citizens are compliant zombies, and Tanta and her crew are trapped underground. If Tanta, Cole and InTech’s residents are truly to be free, InTech needs to be destroyed. But Tanta knows that task will put her on a collision course with the woman who was once her soulmate. And this last mission might ask more of her than she’s able to give.
Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith by Adam Christopher, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-15007-0.
Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian return in this novel set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
Upgrade by Blake Crouch, Pan, £8.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-04537-6.
Blake Crouch is known for his thrillers and techno-thrillers. This last is at the very least genre-adjacent but with Upgrade he moves firmly into SF territory. It is the not too distant future and genetic modification has already caused a famine and so the technology is strictly policed. But when an officer of the Gene Protection Agency has his own genes hacked he gets an upgrade he did not want and in a race to stop whoever it is that seems to want to take humanity to its next evolutionary level…
Frontier by Grace Curtis, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-39053-7.
In the distant future, climate change has reduced Earth to a hard-scrabble wasteland. Saints and sinners, lawmakers and sheriffs, gunslingers and horse thieves abound. Folks are as diverse and divided as they’ve ever been – except in their shared suspicions when a stranger comes to town. One night a ship falls from the sky, bringing the planet’s first visitor in 300 years. She’s armed, she’s scared… and she’s looking for someone. Click on the title link for a standalone review.
Alien Agendas by Ian Douglas, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
For decades, there have been rumours of alien life. Now the truth is out – a truth more shocking and thrilling than anyone could have imagined. We are not alone. But neither are we defenceless.
Furious Heaven by Kate Elliott, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-800-24325-5.
Wide screen space opera. The Republic of Chaonia, under the joint command of Princess Sun and her formidable mother, Queen-Marshal Eirene, has defeated and driven out an invading fleet of the Phene Empire, although not without heavy losses. But the Empire remains strong and undeterred. While Chaonia scrambles to rebuild its military, the Empire's rulers are determined to squash Chaonia once and for all – by any means necessary. On the eve of Eirene's bold attack on the rich and populous Karnos System, an unexpected tragedy strikes the republic. Sun must take charge or lose the throne. Will Sun be content with the pragmatic path laid out by her mother for Chaonia's future? Or will she forge her own legend despite all the forces arrayed against her?
Interviews with an Ape by Felice Fallon, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-15756-7.
A silverback gorilla who comes to us with a remarkable secret: he can communicate with humans through sign language. This is the story he tells us…
The Landing by Mary Gentle, Gollancz, £18.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-0-575-08353-0.
The British Science Fiction Association award-winning author returns with her first novel in ten years. Aeris Warren-Finch is NASA’s Acting Director of the New Earth Object Lab, overseeing the transit of a large unidentified object past Earth’s orbit. But what was one object becomes three, seven, nineteen. Nineteen different modules land across the planet. When the nearest module creates a dome and leaves Aeris and her unlikely companions stranded within its confines, they’re left to wander in search of safety. But when every direction reveals new and strange geographies, which way is the right way to go?
Beautiful Shining People by Michael Grothaus, Orenda Books, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-914-58564-7
It’s our world, but decades into the future … an ordinary world, where cars drive themselves, drones glide across the sky, and robots work in burger shops. There are two superpowers and a digital Cold War, but all conflicts are safely oceans away. People get up, work, and have dinner. Everything is as it should be… Except for seventeen-year-old John, a tech prodigy from a damaged family, who hides a deeply personal secret. But everything starts to change for him when he enters a tiny cafe on a cold Tokyo night. A cafe run by a disgraced sumo wrestler, where a peculiar dog with a spherical head lives, alongside its owner, enigmatic waitress Neotnia… But Neotnia hides a secret of her own – a secret that will turn John’s unhappy life upside down. A secret that will take them from the neon streets of Tokyo to Hiroshima’s tragic past to the snowy mountains of Nagano. A secret that reveals that this world is anything ordinary – and it’s about to change forever…
The Forcing by Paul E. Hardisty, Orenda Books, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-914-58555-5
Civilisation is collapsing. Frustrated and angry after years of denial and inaction, a 'government of youth' has taken power in North America, and deemed all those older than a prescribed age responsible for the current state of the world, and decreed they should be 'relocated', their property and assets confiscated. David Ashworth, known by his friends and students as Teacher, and his wife May, find themselves among the thousands being moved to ‘new accommodation’ in the abandoned southern deserts – thrown together with a wealthy industrialist and his wife, a high court lawyer, two recent immigrants to America, and a hospital worker. Together, they must come to terms with their new lives in a land rendered unrecognisable. As the terrible truth of their situation is revealed, lured by rumours of a tropical sanctuary where they can live in peace, they plan a perilous escape. But the world outside is more dangerous than they could ever have imagined. And for those who survive, nothing will ever be the same again…
Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin, Conrerstone, £9.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
The promise at Nepenthe is simple: they will erase the memories you cannot live with. After the procedure, psychologist Noor will assess you for two things: your mental wellbeing, and the successful erasure of the memory. But there is no assessment if you choose to delete the memory of the Nepenthe procedure itself. If you do that, you're on your own. And what if one day, out of the blue, your memory is offered back to you - would you want to remember what you've chosen to forget?
Not Alone by Sarah K. Jackson, Picador, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-08958-5.
Set in contemporary Britain, Not Alone tells the story of Katie and Harry, a mother and son who are fighting for survival in a world devastated by a toxic storm. Not Alone follows Katie and her son, Harry, who have survived alone in their haven of a flat for the last five years. Katie is a character with a quiet strength; a woman who has had to rely on herself to survive and care for her young son, alone in a world that has been ravaged by a toxic storm brought on by the climate crisis and microplastics pollution. As she forages for what is safe to eat, Harry remains in the flat, quiet and safe from the dangers of outside: pervasive layers of toxic dust on the ground from the storm and subsequentrains, plastic smog, hungry animals and fear of not being as alone and safe as Katie hopes they are. Life is a relentless cycle of fear, hunger and a longing for the man Katie was meant to marry: Jack, who left for work on the day of the storm and is since presumed dead. However, Katie thinks she might be dying. The cough that has come every winter since the storm has arrived early, and with it, a new pain in her heart.< She knows that Harry needs someone other than her to love and protect him. When the peace that they have lived in is shattered by the arrival of another survivor, Katie discovers that the man she loved might still be out there. She takes Harry outside and into the changed and toxic – yet beautiful – world for the first time and on a desperate journey across the country to try to find him.
In the Lives of Puppets by T. J. Klune, Tor, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-08802-1.
Science fantasy. In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe. The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio – a past spent hunting humans. When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming. Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: can he accept love with strings attached? Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful standalone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.
The Secret of Life by Paul McAuley, Gollancz, £12.99, ISBN 978-1-399-60377-5
A Chinese mission to Mars discovers life deep under the Martian polar caps but keeps the discovery a secret. Their aim is to research this life form to see of there can be biotechnological products that can be developed. To this end they covertly bring a sample back to Earth. However, due to industrial espionage, there is an accident that releases the Martian bugs into the ocean where it starts gobbling everything up, and this is a bit of a give-away that the Chinese and biotech companies have been breaking biosafety protocols let alone industrial regulations. This Martian life form, now in the more life-friendly, warmer and wetter Earth environment, begins to mutate at an alarming rate. What is needed is a pristine sample of the life form. So the US mounts its own mission to Mars with the covert aim of getting its own sample and find out what the Chinese have really been up to. Meanwhile the Chinese are mounting their own second mission to the Red Planet… This is a welcome 2022 reprint of McAuley's 2001 novel as part of the SF Masterworks series with an introduction by Pat Cadigan. Click on the title link for a standalone review of the book's original publication.
Hopeland by Ian McDonald, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-473-20229-0.
Hopeland is a community. It is a culture. It is a family. When Raisa Hopeland, determined to win her race to become the next electromancer of London, bumps into Amon Brightbourne – tweed-suited, otherworldly, guided by the Grace – in the middle of a riot, she sets in motion a series of events that will span decades and continents, and will change everything. Raisa’s journey encompasses the globe. But one thing will always be true: Hopeland is family.
The Memory Librarian: and other stories of dirty computer by Janelle Monae, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
Whoever controls our memories controls the future. Janelle Monae and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monae such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts – as a means of self-conception – could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who’d convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate. That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free. Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it’s like to live in such a totalitarian existence… and what it takes to get out of it.
Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Jo Fletcher Books, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-42631-1.
Baja California, 1979: Viridiana spends her days under the harsh sun, watching the fishermen pulling in their nets and the dead sharks piled beside the seashore. Her head is filled with dreams of romance, travel and of a future beyond this drab town where her only option is to marry and have children. When a wealthy American writer arrives with his wife and brother-in-law, Viridiana jumps at the offer of a job as his assistant, and she’s soon entangled in the glamorous foreigners’ lives. They offer excitement, and perhaps an escape from her own humdrum existence. When one of them dies, eager to protect her new friends, Viridiana lies – but soon enough, someone’s making more searching enquiries, and it’s not long before Viridiana has questions of her own about the identities of her new acquaintances. Sharks may be dangerous, but there are worse predators nearby, ready to devour a naïve young woman unwittingly entangled in a web of deceit. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of Velvet was the Night, Mexican Gothic and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau.
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-60047-7.
When pioneering marine biologist Dr Ha Nguyen is offered the chance to investigate a highly intelligent species of octopus, she doesn’t pause to look at the fine print. But the stakes are high: the octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extra-human intelligence and there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of their advancements. And no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. Or what they might do about it.
Braking Day by Adam Oyebanji, Quercus, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-41713-5.
The Archimedes has been hurtling through space for more than five generations. But now the ageing starship is preparing to brake, for it is arriving at Destination Star: Tau Ceti.
But not everyone is excited to be reaching journey's end… Click on the title link for a standalone review.
Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini, Tor, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-00111-8.
Fractal Noise is the prequel to the space opera To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. On the planet Talos VII, twenty-three years before the events of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, an anomaly is detected. A vast circular pit, with dimensions so perfect that it could only have been the result of conscious design. So a small team is assembled to learn more – perhaps even who built the hole and why. Their mission will take them on a hazardous trek to the very edge of existence. For one explorer, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. For another, a risk not worth taking. And for xenobiologist Alex Crichton, it’s a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe. But every step they take toward that mysterious abyss is more punishing than the last. Ultimately, no one is prepared for what they will encounter.
The Sky Vault by Benjamin Percy, Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-473-69016-5.
The third and final book in the 'Comet Cycle' series. Theo Jenson is 15 years old when his father inexplicably disappears along with the plane, and the month-long search for him ends with a funeral procession and the beginnings of acceptance. Despite the tragedy, Theo’s popularity in school skyrockets, while his best friend Wheezy remains on the outskirts of any real social circle. Their friendship will be put to the test when other Fairbanks citizens begin to vanish, sucked up by a funnel cloud that extends like an elephant’s trunk, and chased down by a mist that solidifies into the shape of a man.
Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
Emma can’t sleep. Check the windows. It’s been like this since her big 4-0 started getting closer. Lock the doors.
Her mother stopped sleeping just before her 40th birthday too. She went mad and did the unthinkable because of it. Look in on the children Is that what’s happening to Emma? Why can’t she sleep?
The Cabinet of Dr. Leng by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Head of Zeus, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-801-10422-7.
How can you stop a serial killer who has been dead for a hundred years? FBI Special Agent A. X. L. Pendergast always wants to protect his protegee Constance Greene from harm. But, against all odds, Constance has found a way to travel back in time to New York City in the late 1800s to embark on a dangerous quest: to stop the era's most infamous serial killer, Dr. Enoch Leng. Meanwhile, Pendergast is desperate to reunite with Constance in the present day before she's stuck in the past forever... can he find a way before it's too late?
Lost in Time by A. G. Riddle, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-54178-4.
When his daughter is falsely accused of murder, a scientist must travel 200 million years into the past to save her. But there are secrets waiting there. And more than her life is at stake. One morning, Dr. Sam Anderson wakes up to discover that the woman he loves has been murdered. For Sam, the horror is only beginning. He and his daughter are accused of the crime. The evidence is ironclad. They will be convicted. And so, Sam does what he must: he confesses to the crime. But in the future, murderers aren't sent to prison. They're sent to the past. Two hundred million years into the past – to the age of the dinosaurs – to live out their lives alone, in exile from the human race. Sam accepts his fate. But his daughter doesn't. Adeline Anderson has already lost her mother to a deadly and unfair disease. She can't bear to lose her father. She sets out on a quest to prove him innocent. And get him back. People around her insist that both are impossible tasks. But Adeline doesn't give up. She only works harder. She soon learns that impossible tasks are her speciality. And that she is made of tougher stuff than she ever imagined. As she peels back the layers of the mystery that ripped her father from this world, Adeline finds more questions than answers. Everyone around her is hiding a secret. But which ones are connected to the murder that exiled her father? That mystery stretches across the past, present, and future – and leads to a revelation that will change everything… Click on the title link for a standalone review of the hardback.
Quantum Radio by A. G. Riddle, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-803-28170-4.
Dr Tyson Hauser is a quantum physicist working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a man completely dedicated to his research, which focuses on finding patterns in the data generated by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Thanks to a recent upgrade to the massive machine, Ty believes he's found a new pattern, what looks like an organized data stream, being broadcast over what Ty believes is a sort of quantum radio. Is it a message sent to us from someone in the future? Or possibly a signal from another universe? Or could the code be something else entirely? As Ty peels back the layers of his discovery, he quickly learns that what he's found isn't exactly what he thought it was. The code and the message it carries is far more profound – a revelation that will alter our very understanding of human existence and the origins of our universe. And he's not the only one looking for it. Ty soon discovers that a mysterious organisation has been watching him – and following his research – for a long time. And they'll do anything to prevent him from unravelling what is being broadcast by the quantum radio. Because the first one to discover the truth may well control the future.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, Picador, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-08351-4.
A novel of art, time, love and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a
dark colony of the moon three hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space. This novel was one of our choices as to the Best SF Novels of 2022.
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, Tor, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-509-83531-7.
Click on the title link for a standalone review.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi, Tor, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-08295-1.
Inheriting a family business is never easy, especially when it involves underwater volcanoes, minions, sentient cats and supervillains. Inheriting your mysterious uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine. Sure, there are the things you’d expect. The undersea volcano lairs. The minions. The plots to take over the world. The international networks of rivals who want you dead. Much harder to get used to are the sentient, language-using, computer-savvy cats. And the fact that in the overall organisation, they’re management.
Extinction by Bradley Somer, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
With the natural world exhausted and in tatters, Ben has dedicated himself to protecting this single fragment of the wild. One night, he hears voices in the valley – poachers, come to hunt his bear. A chase begins, crossing forests and mountainsides, passing centuries of human ruins. Sometimes hunter, sometimes prey – Ben must choose the bear’s fate and his own. Is he willing to lay down his life for a dying breed? Is he willing to kill for it?
Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tor, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-05195-7.
A far-future space adventure, and the second instalment in the epic 'Final Architecture' trilogy.
Lords of Uncreation by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tor, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-05198-8.
The gripping conclusion to the 'Final Architecture' trilogy that began with Shards of Earth.
The Best of 2000AD volume 1 edited by Tharg, Rebellion, £14.99 / US$22.99 ISBN 978-1-786-18706-2
If you are not familiar with the Galaxy's greatest comic then there is a new graphic anthology now out, The Best of 2000AD volume 1. It is the ultimate 2000AD mix tape and an excellent taster for those not yet familiar with the comic which remains the only guaranteed cure for lesser spotted thrill-sucker infections. Zarjaz. Available from all good thrill merchants on both sides of the Pond (but not Russia or China).
The Best of World SF: 2 edited by Lavie Tidhar, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-803-28033-2.
Navigating around the globe, The Best of World SF Volume 2 features writers from: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Bolivia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Each story has been selected by World SF expert and award-winning author Lavie Tidhar in a collection which traces the ever-changing meaning of the genre from some of the most exciting voices writing today.
The Final Rising by A. E. Warren, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-10137-9.
Conclusion to 'Tomorrow's Ancestors' series.
Dark Dweller by Gareth Worthington, Dropship Publishing £12.61 / US$14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-954-38605-1
Captain Kara Psomas was pronounced dead when her research vessel slammed into Jupiter. More than a century later, the crew of the Paralus, a helium mining freighter, find a pristine escape pod with a healthy young girl nestled inside. A girl who claims to be Kara—and she brings a message of doom. She says she has been waiting in the dark for that exact moment. To be found by that particular crew. Because an ancient cosmic being has tasked her with a sacred responsibility. She claims she must alter the Fulcrum, a lever in time—no matter the cost to the people aboard—or condemn the rest of civilization to a very painful and drawn-out demise. She sounds convincing. She appears brave. She might well be insane.
The Best of Roger Zelazny by Roger Zelazny, Gollancz, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-473-23500-7.
A collection of award-winning fiction from one of SFF’s greatest writers. A collection of short fiction and novelettes from acclaimed Science Fiction and Fantasy writer Roger Zelazny, including the award-winning titles ‘The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth’, ‘Permafrost’, ‘The Last Defender of Camelot’ and ‘Home Is the Hangman'. Part of the SF Masterwork series. Recommended.
The Remembrance's Tale by David Zindell, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
What happens when a man tasked with developing perfect memory forgets the most important thing in the universe? After a cataclysmic stellar war, peace has come to the trillion human beings who live on the Civilised Worlds. In Neverness, the City of Light, the pilots of the Order of Mystic Mathematicians resume their ancient quest to discover the real purpose of the human race. Crucial to their success will be a mastery of the One Memory, believed to hold the secret of how humanity might evolve. Thomas Rane is the Order’s Lord Remembrancer. He has become the teacher to a new generation of humans called the Asta Siluuna – the star children – and so has a crucial part to play in the development of the human race. But at the end of the war, his beloved – the mysterious and beautiful Maria – died. Memory is strange, and Rane comes to believe that Maria might have survived the storm. Perhaps a memory virus left over from the war has robbed her of her identity and she wanders the streets of Neverness, lost and alone. Perhaps she’s still out there, among the stars?
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Spring 2023
Forthcoming Fantasy Books
The Devil's Advisor by Brad Abdul, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$34.95 / US$26.95, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-58518-8.
Lucy, the Devil, wants to retire. Brian, the Business Advisor, hates his job. When Brian finds himself in Lucy’s crosshairs, she makes him an offer he can’t refuse: work his business magic on Hell, and if he succeeds, become her successor as the next Devil. To claim this throne, Brian faces off against Death, God, and Lucy’s own twin children.
The Ruined by Renée Ahdieh, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-36843-7.
The Sylvan Vale and the Sylvan Wyld are at war. In an effort to protect the weakened Winter Court, Bastien rallies powerful allies and friends in New Orleans to come to their aid. Under protection alongside her injured mother in the Summer Court, Celine is uncertain of whom to trust. When she realises war between the fey courts is imminent, she journeys with Ali to find the time-travelling mirror and change their fate. But when Celine’s rivals realise Bastien has rallied his allies in the mortal world, they decide to take the fight to him.
Alternate History Short Stories edited by anon, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$40 / US$30, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17272-8.
What if the Ancient Egyptians had conquered Rome? What if World War II had been won by the loser, not the victors? What if women had ruled the world for 4,000 years not men? There are so many ‘what if?’ questions to fuel this imaginative collection created from open submissions and classic tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne, H. G. Wells and more.
Hidden Realms Short Stories edited by anon, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$40 / US$30, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17271-1.
A new thematic collection of fantasy stories in the bestselling Gothic Fantasy series. Created by mixing open submissions from modern writers and classic literature, this new title explores the adventures of hidden places, secret gardens, and shadow lands in forests and mountains, in the swamps and the wild places of our world and beyond.
Immigrant Sci-Fi Short Stories edited by anon, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$40 / US$30, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17273-5.
With stories of immigration, migration, slavery and seekers of refuge told with the gaze of the outsider this new book explores perspectives of displacement in a future or fantastical setting. New stories by new writers are placed alongside older narratives by Frederick Douglass, Sutton Elberg Griggs, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet E. Wilson.
Indian Myths and Legends edited by Raj Balkaran, Flame Tree Press, £10.99 / Can$19.99 / US$14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17327-5.
Anthology. India, one of the great civilisations, spawned a fascinating canon of myths and legends. With multiple gods, and a riot of joy and character, this new book explores the themes and landscapes that created the tales, with the stories of Krishna, Buddha and Shiva, and some of the many different versions of creation.
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, Gollancz, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-473-22802-3.
Galaxy ‘Alex’ Stern is determined to break Darlington out of hell – even if it costs her a future at Lethe and Yale. But Alex is playing with forces far beyond her control, and when faculty members begin to die off, she knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if Alex is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.
The Way Home by Peter S. Beagle, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-60702-5.
Two novellas from the world of The Last Unicorn. The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone… so she ventured out from the safety of the enchanted forest on a quest for others of her kind. Joined along the way by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the indomitable Molly Grue, the unicorn learns all about the joys and sorrows of life and love before meeting her destiny in the castle of a despondent monarch – and confronting the creature that would drive her kind to extinction.
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-71509-6.
Juvenile YA fantasy. Thirty years ago, a young woman was murdered, a family was lynched, and New Orleans saw the greatest magical massacre in its history. In the days that followed, a throne was stolen from a queen. On the anniversary of these brutal events, Clement and Cristina Trudeau – twin heirs to the powerful, magical, dethroned family – are mourning their father and caring for their sick mother. Until, by chance, they discover their mother isn’t sick – she’s cursed. Cursed by someone on the very magic council their family used to rule. Someone who will come for them next.
Book of Night by Holly Black, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-10239-0.
Holly Black makes her adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies.
One For My Enemy by Olivie Blake, Tor, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-01157-5.
In New York City, two rival witch families fight for the upper hand. The Antonova sisters are beautiful, cunning and ruthless, and their mother – known only as Baba Yaga – is the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants. Their adversaries, the influential Fedorov brothers, serve their crime boss father. Named Koschei the Deathless, his enterprise dominates the shadows of magical Manhattan. For twelve years, the families have maintained a fraught stalemate. Then everything is thrown into disarray. Bad blood carries them to the brink of disaster, even as fate draws together a brother and sister from either side. Yet the siblings still struggle for power, and internal conflicts could destroy each family from within. That is, if the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy both sides first.
The Witch in the Well by Camilla Bruce, Transworld, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-63341-4.
a Grimm's fairy tale for the 21st century… Over a hundred years ago, the citizens of F- did something rather bad. And local school teacher Catherine Evans has made writing the definitive account of what happened when Ilsbeth Clark drowned in the well her life's work. The town's people may not want their past raked up, but Catherine is determined to shine a light upon that shameful event. For Ilsbeth was an innocent, after all. She was shunned and ostracised by rumourmongers and ill-wishers and someone has to speak up for her. And who better than Catherine, who has herself felt the sting and hurt of such whisperings? But then a childhood friend returns to F -. Elena is a successful author whose book, The Whispers Inside: A Reawakening of the Soul, has earned her a certain celebrity. In search of a new subject, she takes an interest in the story of Ilsbeth Clark and announces her intention to write a book about the long-dead woman, focusing on the natural magic she believes she possessed. And Elena has everything Catherine has not, like a platform and connections and no one seems to care that Elena's book will be pure speculation, tainting Ilsbeth's memory rather than preserving it. Catherine is determined that something must be done and plots to blunt her rival's pen. However she had not allowed for the fact that the past might not be so dead after all - that something is reaching out from the well, disturbing her reality. Before summer's over, one woman will be dead, the other accused of murder… but is she really guilty, or are there other forces at work? And who was Ilsbeth Clark, really? An innocent? A witch? Or something else entirely?
Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$34.95 / US$26.95, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-58764-9.
Tower of Fear is a lost Karloff and Lugosi film. Researcher Sandy Allan vows to track it down. She learns how haunted the production was and survivors are, and becomes haunted herself. The film contains a secret of Redfield, a titled family. For fertility the Redfield land demands a sacrifice and a band of ideal victims is heading there.
The Adventures of Amena Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, Harper Voyager, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, launches a new trilogy of magic and mayhem with this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artefacts and ancient mysteries, and one woman’s quest to seize a final chance at glory… A pirate of infamy and one of the most storied and scandalous captains to sail the seas. Amina al-Sirafi has survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural. But when she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse, she jumps at the chance for one final adventure with her old crew that will make her a legend and offers a fortune that will secure her and her family’s future forever. Yet the deeper Amina dives, the higher the stakes. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savour just a bit more power… and the price might be your very soul.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-38405-5.
Gothic fantasy. Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. In exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past. But when Indigo learns that her aunt is dying and the couple travel to the House of Dreams, the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets. Soon the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage… or their lives.
The Book of Eve by Meg Clothier, Wildfire, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-472-27608-7.
Beatrice is the convent's librarian. For years she has shunned the company of her sisters finding solace in manuscripts. Then, one carnival night two women are left bleeding, abandoned outside the convent walls. Moments from death one of them gives Beatrice something, a book whose pages have a dangerous life of their own. But men of faith want the book destroyed… Meanwhile, the book's voice grows stronger…!
Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman, Tor, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-08372-9.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is rescuing vampire aristocrats from Revolutionary France. But one young mage is determined to stop his dastardly plans. In Revolutionary France, the aristocrats are vampires – and they face the guillotine. However, the Scarlet Pimpernel, a disguised British noble, is determined to rescue them. These predators are being offered sanctuary by their aristocratic British kin, but at great cost to London’s ordinary people. Then an English maid discovers the only power that could stop them.
Assuming she survives. Scarlet is the first book in the trilogy, set during the turbulent French Revolution, and featuring all of Genevieve Cogman’s trademark wit and fast-paced plotting. Billed by the publisher as perfect for fans of 'The Invisible Library' series, Kim Newman and Gail Carriger.
The Blood Gift by N. E. Davenport, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
It’s all about blood. Blood spilled long ago between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor, ending all blood magic. Now there is peace in the Republic – but there is also a strict class system, misogyny, and racism. Her world is not perfect, but Ikenna survived in it. Until now.
With the murder of her grandfather, Ikenna spirals out of control. Though she is an initiate for the Republic’s deadly elite military force, Ikenna has a secret only her grandfather knew: she possesses the blood magic of the Republic’s enemies. Ikenna throws herself into the gladiatorial war games at the heart of her martial world: trials that will lead her closer to his killers. Under the spotlight, she subjects herself to abuse from a society that does not value her, that cherishes lineage over talent – all while hiding gifts that, if revealed, would lead to execution or worse. Ikenna is willing to risk it all to find out who killed her grandfather…
So she can end them. Magic, technology, and rebellion meet in this debut – part one of a duology that sees a young Black woman rise through misogyny and racism to become an elite warrior.
The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson, Tor, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-01819-2.
If you knew how dark tomorrow would be, what would you do with today? Welcome to the Circus of the Fantasticals. Ringmaster – Rin, to those who know her best – can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. With the scars of World War I feeling more distant as the years pass, Rin is focusing on the brighter things in life. Like the circus she’s built and the magical misfits and outcasts – known as Sparks – who’ve made it their home. Every night, Rin and the Fantasticals enchant a Big Top packed full with audiences who need to see the impossible. But while the present is bright, threats come at Rin from the past and the future. The future holds an impending war that the Sparks can see barrelling toward their Big Top and everyone in it. And Rin's past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow Rin can’t fully escape. It takes the form of another Spark circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin’s circus has something he wants, and he won't stop until it’s his.
The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell, Jo Fletcher Books, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-42277-1.
Picture a wizard: skinny old guy with a long straggly beard, wearing iridescent silk robes. The hat’s a must, too, right? Big, floppy thing, covered in esoteric symbols – wouldn’t want a simple steel helmet that might, you know, protect the part of him most needed for conjuring magical forces from being bashed in. Now open your eyes and let me show you what a real war mage looks like. You’re probably not going to like it. We’re violent, angry, dangerously broken people who sell our skills to the highest bidder, be damned to any moral or ethical considerations. At least, until such irritating concepts as friendship and the end of the world get in the way. My name is Cade Ombra and I currently make my living as a mercenary wonderist (I used to have a far more noble-sounding title – until I discovered the people I worked for weren’t as noble as I’d believed). Now I’m on the run and my only friend, a homicidal thunder mage, has invited me to join him on a suicide mission against the seven deadliest mages on the continent. Time to recruit some very bad people to help us on this job...
The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
The Empire rules by blood Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control. Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance. Clear is the blood of the servants, of the crushed, of the invisible. The Aktibar – a set of trials held every ten years to find the next Ember rulers of the Empire – is about to begin. All can join but not just anyone can win; it requires great skill and ingenuity to become the future wardens of Strength, Knowledge, Truth and Duty. Sylah was destined to win the trials and be crowned Warden of Strength. Stolen by blue-blooded rebels she was raised with a Duster’s heart; forged as a weapon to bring down from within the red-blooded Embers’ regime of cruelty. But when her adopted family were brutally murdered those dreams of a better future turned to dust. However, the flame of hope may yet be rekindled because Sylah wasn’t made to sparkle, she was born to burn. And it’s up to her whether she rules the empire or destroys it.
Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-804-54556-0.
Fryoa has grown up hearing tales of her uncle, King Beowulf, and his spectacular defeat of the monstrous Grendel. Her one desire is to become a shield maiden in her own right, but a terrible accident during her childhood has thwarted this dream. Yet still, somehow, she feels an uncontrollable power begin to rise within herself. The last thing Fryoa wants is to be forced into a political marriage, especially as her heart belongs to her lifelong friend, Theow. However, as foreign kings and chieftains descend upon her home to celebrate Beowulf's fifty years as the king of Geatland, the partnership begins to seem inevitable. That is, until, amidst the lavish gifts and drunken revelry, a discovery is made that threatens the safety of Fryoa's entire clan – and her own life. Incensed by this betrayal, Fryoa resolves to fight for her people no matter the cost. As a queen should. As a shield maiden would. And as the perilous situation worsens, Fryoa's powers seem only to grow stronger. But she is not the only one to feel the effects of her new-found battle-magic. For, buried deep in her gilded lair, a dragon is drawn to Fryoa's untamed power, and is slowly awakening from a long, cursed sleep...
Forge of the High Mage by Ian C. Esslemont, Transworld, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-63255-4.
Taking readers back to the turbulent early history of what would become the Malazan Empire, the fourth chapter in Esslemont's epic fantasy series 'Path to Ascendancy' – a sequence of six novels that will lead readers directly to Steven Erikson's epic fantasy opener, Gardens of the Moon. After decades of warfare, Malazan forces are now close to consolidating the Quon Talian mainland. Yet it is at this moment that Emperor Kellanved orders a new campaign far to the north: the invasion of Falar.
Blackheart Ghosts by Laure Eve, Jo Fletcher Books, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-41179-9.
The godchildren are rising… Billed by the publisher as Bladerunner meets Camelot in a neo-noir thriller drenched in power and betrayal. A stranger turns up at the door of Garad Gaheris, retired King’s Champion, with a hell of a story to tell. Current King’s Champion Si Wyll is poised to become the most dangerous man in London. Then a figure from his past surfaces, determined to blackmail him. The godchildren, born with illegal magical abilities, have had enough of being put down – but who must die to ensure their ascension?
Ragman by J. G. Faherty, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$34.95 / US$26.95, pbk, ISBN 978-1-787-58743-4
An Egyptian priest comes back from the land of the dead to take revenge on the descendants of the men who killed him and uses a spell to call forth a bloodthirsty mummy. Two police officers must overcome their differences to stop the creature before things spiral completely out of control…
The Gauntlet and the Burning Blade by Ian Green, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-800-24417-7.
Once a warrior of the Stormguard Commandos, Floré wrought horrors in the rotstorm to protect her people. She did her duty and swore to leave the bloodshed behind. But when her daughter, Marta, was kidnapped, Floré was forced to once again raise her gauntlet against the devils of Ferron to bring her home. Now Marta is dying from the skein-magic she inherited from her father, and the Protectorate is weakened by the absence of the whitestaffs. The mystical order of healers and sages fled to their island citadel when strange orbs cut through the night. Floré and her comrades must race to find a cure for Marta, to find the truth of the whitestaffs' betrayal, and to fight back against the encroaching children of the storm. Floré has taken up her gauntlets and her sword to keep her people safe – but steel alone might not be enough...
Agents of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green, Jo Fletcher Books, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-42645-8.
PI John Taylor is back in the Nightside because the Unholy Grail is missing… In the Nightside, that nightmarish realm hidden deep beneath London, it is forever 3 a.m. Here inhuman creatures walk beside mythic gods. And John Taylor, private detective, is in the secret supernatural heart of London to find an item of inestimable value. Angels, demons, sinners and saints are all determined to find the Unholy Grail, no matter what the cost. And it isn’t long before they realise exactly who can lead them to it.
Something From The Nightside by Simon R. Green, Jo Fletcher Books, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-42644-1.
In the Nightside, that nightmarish realm hidden deep beneath London, it is forever 3 a.m. Here inhuman creatures walk beside mythic gods. PI John Taylor swore he’d never return to the Nightside, but a girl is missing… I left the Nightside a long time ago, with my skin and sanity barely intact, and now I make my living in the sunlit streets of London. I swore I’d never return. But there’s a kid in danger and a woman depending on me. So I am going home.
Weyward by Emilia Hart, Borough Press, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
KATE, 2019 - Kate flees London – and her abusive partner – for
Cumbria and Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great-aunt. There, a secret lurks in the bones of the house, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century. VIOLET, 1942 - Violet is more interested in collecting insects and climbing trees than in becoming a proper young lady. Until a chain of shocking events changes her life forever. ALTHA, 1619 - Altha is on trial for witchcraft, accused of killing a local man. Known for her uncanny connection with nature and animals, she is a threat that must be eliminated...
The Thorns Remain by J. J. A. Harwood, Harper Voyager, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
A dance with the fae will change everything. 1919. In a highland village forgotten by the world, harvest season is over and the young who remain after war and flu have ravaged the village will soon head south to make something of themselves. Moira Jean and her friends head to the forest for a last night of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She had plans to leave once – but her lover died in France and with him, her future. The friends light a fire, sing and dance. But with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees. The fae are here. Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away. The iron medal of her lost love, pinned to her dress, protected her from magic. For the Fae feel forgotten too. Lead by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends – and fast, for the longer one spends with the Fae, the less like themselves they are upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltine, they will be lost forever…
A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley, Gollancz, £8.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-399-60889-3.
A magically challenged witch accidentally summons a demon who wants her heart – but needs her soul. Mariel finds herself staring down a demon, Ozroth the Ruthless. Oz is a legend among demons, powerful and merciless. But his reptutation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry and he accidentally gained a soul. If he can strike a bargain with Mariel, Ozroth will earn back his deadly reputation. When real attraction blooms between them, Ozroth has a limited amount of time to strike the deal, and if Mariel gives up her soul, she’ll lose all her emotions – including love.
The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
‘Power is not something you are given. Power is something you take. When you are a woman, it is a little more difficult, that’s all’. 1768. Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg Empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister Antoine is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles they rename her Marie Antoinette. The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells – spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences. In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives. But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turns to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution. The publisher says, with romance, betrayal, and enchantment, The Embroidered Book re-imagines a dazzling period of history as you have never seen it before.
The Dark Lands by Markus Heitz, Jo Fletcher Books, £12.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-784-29441-0.
The great pulp writer Robert E. Howard introduced the Puritan Solomon Kane to the world: a sombre man who dedicated his life to battling evil in all its forms. Now Markus Heitz brings us Aenlin Kane, his daughter. She may never have met her famous father, but the young adventuress is determined to follow in Solomon’s footsteps, battling dark forces, gunpowder, steel and magic – in the Dark Lands!
Oracle by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-33193-6.
When teenagers stumble on a battered, 18th-century Dutch sailing ship in a deserted field, they take turns daring each other to enter. . . until they don’t return. Soon, Luca’s father is among the missing, until one day when he returns… changed. Together with a number of unlikely companions – the mysterious Safiya Adan, whom Luca is secretly in love with, and the eccentric Robert Grim, an old man with a frightening past – Luca discovers he is the linchpin in a battle between ancient forces, and time is running out to avert a disaster that threatens the country’s entire coastline…
Christmas Gothic edited by Jerrold E. Hogle, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$40 / US$30, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17164-6.
A seasonal evocation of the dark and moody, the ghastly, the ghostly and the magical Christmas short story. New stories from open submissions join the classic tales of Algernon Blackwood, James Joyce, E. F. Benson, Elizabeth Gaskell and more. Jerrold E. Hogle
is Professor Emeritus of English and University Distinguished Professor at the University of Arizona in the USA. The winner of Guggenheim, Mellon and other fellowships for research – and the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Keats-Shelley Association of America – he has published extensively on English Romantic literature, literary theory and the Gothic.
A Man Among Ghosts by Steven Hopstaken, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$34.95 / US$26.95, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-58776-2.
After surviving a near-death experience, David finds himself haunted by numerous tortured souls, all demanding he kill someone named Fitz. Are the ghosts real, is he hallucinating or are people trying to drive him insane? As his paranoia ramps up, he discovers these are ghosts of people not yet dead.
Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-70203-4.
In the city of Qalia, spice magic awakens the affinities of those who drink the misra tea. With her affinity for iron, Imani can wield a dagger like no other. But ever since her brother was caught stealing coveted spice, Imani’s reputation has been in tatters. Until she discovers her brother may be alive. Desperate to find him, she joins the mission sent to hunt him down, accompanied by Taha, a powerful beastseer, who enthrals and enrages her in equal measure. Imani must decide where her loyalties lie… before it is too late.
Slavic Myths edited by Jake Jackson, Flame Tree Press, £10.99 / Can$19.99 / US$14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17331-2.
A new collection of tales from the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe, from the Polish to the Macedonians, the Czechs and the Serbians, with roots in pagan folklore, and influenced by the Viking traders who settled in Kiev in the mid-ninth century. Stories include ‘The King of the Toads’ and ‘Vassilissa the Cunning and the Tsar of the Sea.’
Godkiller by Hanna Kaner, Harper Voyager, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
You are not welcome here, godkiller. Kissen’s family were killed by zealots of a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing gods, and enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skedi, a god of white lies, has somehow bound himself to a young noble, and they are both on the run from unknown assassins. Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour. Pursued by demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning – something is rotting at the heart of their world, and only they can be the ones to stop it.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, Sort of Books, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-191-4-50207-1.
A searing satire set amid the murderous mayhem of Sri Lanka beset by civil war Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons (nights) to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka... The novel won this year's Booker Prize.
The Curator by Owen King, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-71509-6.
At first glance, the world has not changed: the trams, the grand hotels, the cafes abuzz with conversation. Yet it only takes a spark to ignite a revolution. Dora, a maid, finds herself free to investigate what her brother may have seen at the Institute for Psychical Research before he died. But it is another establishment she is given to look after, The National Museum of the Worker. This forgotten edifice is occupied by waxworks of disturbingly lifelike figures. As the revolution unleashes terrifying darkness, Dora’s search for the truth unravels a conspiracy and brings her to the edge of worlds.
Under the Whispering Door by T. J. Klune, Tor, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-08799-4.
A story about a man who spent his life at the office – and his death building a home.
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff, Harper Voyager, £8.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness.&nbap; Gabriel de Leon, half man, half monster and last remaining silversaint – a sworn brother of the holy Silver Order dedicated to defending the realm from the creatures of the night – is all that stands between the world and its end. Now imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope: The Holy Grail.
The Thousand Eyes by A. K. Larkwood, Tor, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-03281-9.
Two years have passed since Csorwe defied her mentor and stole a precious artefact. But the powerful wizard isn’t done with her yet – even as an ancient and deadly enemy threatens to reawaken.
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-803-28264-0.
981 AD. The King of Dublin is dead. His widow, Gormflaith, has ambitions for her son – and herself – but Ireland is a dangerous place and kings tend not to stay kings for long. Gormflaith also has a secret. She is one of the Fomorians, an immortal, magical race. She has kept her powers hidden at all costs, for there are other immortals in this world – like the Tuatha Dé Danann, warriors who are sworn to kill Fomorians. Fodla is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann with the gift of healing. Her kind are forbidden to live amongst the mortals, but Fodla agrees to help her kin by going to spy on Brian Boru, a powerful man who aims to rule Ireland. She finds a land on the brink of war – a war she is desperate to stop. However, preventing the loss of mortal lives is not easy with Ireland in turmoil and the Fomorians on the rise.
Speaking Bones by Ken Liu, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £12, pbk, ISBN 978-1-838-93167-4.
Ukyu-Gondé. Stalked by foes and dogged by betrayal, Princess Théra is pursued across a continent vaster than she could ever have imagined, to the hidden valleys of the World's Edge Mountains, into the barrows and subterranean halls of the City of Ghosts, across the ice floes of the far north. She breached the Wall of Storms intent on taking war to the Lyucu homelands, but how do you conquer the unconquerable? Dara. Empress Jia, Prince Phyro and Pékyu Tanvanaki find themselves bound to paths they never would have chosen. Amid atrocity and subterfuge, they will discover that the Courage of Brutes is no substitute for the Grace of Kings, and that little separates the Grace of Kings from the Madness of Tyrants. On both sides of the Wall of Storms, defeat's bitter tears mix with the fruits of knowledge new and ancient as two empires bound by blood and bone, by writ and iron, by time and custom, face a whirlwind that threatens to utterly consume them. The teeth, as they say, are on the board.
Maybe Next Time? by Cesca Major, Harper Fiction, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
What if at the end of an ordinary day, the worst thing possible happened to the love of your life? And then the next morning you woke up, and you were living that day again? And again? And again? What would you do differently? How would you save the person you loved? Ask yourself: what would you do to save the love of your life? This novel is a fresh take on the 12:01 short story turned novel, turned film trope that arguably 'inspired' Groundhog Day.
The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer, Phoenix, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-60586-1
A debut set in East Anglia in 1645 and inspired by true events, The Witching Tide is the story of a midwife harbouring a secret and a community torn apart by fear. Martha Hallybread has lived peacefully for more than four decades in her beloved village of Cleftwater. But when a sinister newcomer arrives, she becomes a silent witness to a witch-hunt that threatens her community and her own survival.
In desperation, Martha revives a poppet, a wax witching doll that she inherited from her mother, in the hope that it will bring protection. But the poppet’s true powers are unknowable, the tide is turning and time is running out…
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix, Gollancz, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-60631-8.
Alternate 1980s England. There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. This time it comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger. A desperate rescue is attempted by right-handed bookseller Vivien and their magical friend Susan. The map takes the trio to a world maintained by deadly sorcery performed by an ancient sovereign and guarded by monstrous living statues of Purbeck marble. If they do not stop the sovereign’s plot, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.
The Best of our Past the Worst of our Future by Christi Nogle, Flame Tree Press, £20 / Can$34.95 / US$26.95, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-58518-8.
Collection of shorts: psychological and supernatural horror stories. Their rural and small-town characters confront difficult pasts and look out to promising but often terrifying futures. The stories share themes of trauma and resilience, with a focus on characters’ psychologies, and a sense of the gothic in contemporary life.
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-10093-8.
The conclusion to the Scholomance trilogy.
Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid, Cornerstone, £9.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
Marlinchen and her sisters are the last true witches in a city shifting from magic to industry. Viewed as little more than tourist traps, they spend their days treating clients with archaic remedies and nostalgic charm, while attempting to placate their tyrannical, xenophobic wizard father, who keeps his daughters locked away in their crumbling home. But at night, they sneak out to revel in the city's thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theatre, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart. But as their late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father's rage. And while their city flourishes, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power.
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, Harper Fiction, £12.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever. After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette. To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love. Billed by the publisher as Shadow and Bone meets Lore, Divine Rivals is an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland, Tor, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-09967-6.
A fantasy romance set in an Ottoman-inspired world of courtly conspiracies and chivalric fealty, as Prince Kadou and his bodyguard Evemer investigate a counterfeiting operation that could topple their empire.
City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-71211-8.
Gotham-inspired city where people go to sleep and wake up as their own nightmares. Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, Ness has been terrified. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among a questionable organisation. In order to prove herself, Ness cons her way into what’s supposed to be a simple job for the organisation – only for it to blow up in her face.
Stardust in Their Veins by Laura Sebastian, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-37306-6.
Princesses Beatriz and Daphne have lost their older sister, but their mother’s grand scheme of taking the continent of Vesteria is far from complete. Usurped by conniving cousins Nico and Gigi, Beatriz fears for her life, while in icy Friv, Daphne continues her shaky alliance with the rebels even as she struggles to stay a step ahead of them. But when an unlikely ally offers Beatriz a deal, she finds herself back in her mother’s sights.
Persian Myths and Legends edited by Sahba Shayani, Flame Tree Press, £10.99 / Can$19.99 / US$14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17325-1.
Anthology. The great works of Persia contain some of the most beautiful language in the literary world. The Shah Nameh, Masnavi-e Ma’navi, the Anvar-i Suhayli fables and more, rival Dante’s Divine Comedy, India’s Mahabharata and Sumeria’s Epic of Gilgamesh in their cultural impact, bringing to life the tales of Ancient Persia
The Jaguar Path by Anna Stephens, Harper Voyager, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
The Empire of Songs reigns supreme. Across all the lands of Ixachipan, its hypnotic, magical music sounds. Those who battled against the Empire have been enslaved and dispersed, taken far from their friends and their homes. In the Singing City, Xessa must fight for the entertainment of her captors. Lilla and thousands of warriors are trained to serve as weapons for their enemies. And Tayan is trapped at the heart of the Empire’s power and magic, where the ruthless Enet’s ambition is ever growing. Each of them harbours a secret hope, waiting for a chance to strike at the Empire from within. But first they must overcome their own desires. Power can seduce as well as crush. And, in exchange for their loyalty, the Empire promises much.
The Homecoming of Beorthtnoth: together with the Battle of Maldon by J. R. R. Tolkien, Harper Fiction, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Historical (non-)fiction. Despite being first published in 1953, The Homecoming of Beorthtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son has remained in relative obscurity and been elusive to most readers, yet there is now a growing interest among students and general readers to plunder its riches. The story told in the central verse-dialogue recounts the aftermath of a disastrous attack by Vikings on a small defensive force led by the Anglo-Saxon lord, Beorthnoth. As two of his soldiers carry bodies from the battle, they discuss the merits of how their commander conceded a dominant defensive position to give the Vikings a fair fight (and was then slaughtered for this needless act of chivalry). J.R.R. Tolkien based this work on the famous Anglo-Saxon poem, The Battle of Maldon, and Tolkien’s prose translation of this poem appears in print here for the very first time. Also appearing for the first time is ‘The Tradition of Versification in Old English’, a wide-ranging essay on the nature of poetic tradition and The Battle of Maldon’s place within the early English canon. These are accompanied by Tolkien’s bravura analysis of the nature of heroism, which he himself cites as central to his writing of The Lord of the Rings. Billed by the publisher as a hybrid of incisive critical analysis and powerful verse-drama, these texts are unique among his published work and brilliantly demonstrate the peerless blend of poetic imagination and academic mastery which distinguishes J.R.R. Tolkien above all other scholars.
The Nature of Middle Earth by J. R. R. Tolkien, Harper Voyager, £9.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1954–5. What may be less known is that he continued to write about Middle-Earth in the decades that followed, right up until the years before his death in 1973. For him, Middle-Earth was part of an entire world to be explored, and the writings in The Nature of Middle-Earth reveal the journeys that he took as he sought to better understand his unique creation. From sweeping themes as complex and profound as the metaphysics of Elvish immortality and reincarnation, and the Powers of the Valar, to the more earth-bound subjects of the lands and beasts of Numenor, the geography of the Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor, and even who had beards! This new collection, which has been edited by Carl F. Hostetter, one of the world’s leading Tolkien experts, is a veritable treasure-trove offering readers a chance to peer over Professor Tolkien’s shoulder at the very moment of discovery: and on every page, Middle-Earth is once again brought to extraordinary life.
Equinox by David Towsey, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-801-10166-0.
In this world, two souls inhabit a sole body, one by day, one by night. But though they live alongside one another, their ends do not always align. For Special Inspector Morden, whose hunt for a dangerous witch takes him far away, this will be a problem... Christophor Morden lives by night. His day-brother, Alexsander, knows only the sun. They are two souls in a single body, in a world where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun. Night-brother or day-sister, one never sees the light, the other knows nothing of the night. Early one evening, Christophor is roused by a call to the city prison. A prisoner has torn his eyes out and cannot say why. Yet worse: in the sockets that once held his eyes, teeth are growing. The police suspect the supernatural, so Christophor, a member of the King's special inspectorate, is charged with finding the witch responsible. Night-by-night, Christophor's investigation leads him ever further from home, toward a backwards village on the far edge of the kingdom. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more his day-brother's actions frustrate him. Who is Alexsander protecting? What does he not want Christophor to discover? And all the while, an ancient and apocalyptic ritual creeps closer to completion...
Egyptian Myths and Legends edited by Joyce Tyldesley, Flame Tree Press, £10.99 / Can$19.99 / US$14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17326-8.
Anthology of the stories of the ancients, from the birth of creation by the sun god Ra, the murder of Osiris, and the revenge of Horus, to the underworld and afterlife. The Egyptians explained the effects of famine, harvest, floods and death by creating a pantheon of gods that still holds our fascination today.
Misrule by Heather Walter, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-10132-4.
Did they break the curse, or begin one? Sleeping Beauty’s dark sorceress reclaims her story in this sequel to Malice.
Nocturne by Alyssa Wees, Del Rey, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-90096-5.
Fantasy set in 1930s Chicago, a talented ballerina finds herself torn between her dreams and her desires when she’s pursued by a secretive patron who may be more than he seems. Grace has always wanted to be a ballerina, ever since she first peered through the windows of the Near North Ballet company. The elegance of the dance seemed transcendent to an immigrant child of the working poor, and so, when she is orphaned, it is to the ballet that she flees. Years later, Grace is on the verge of becoming the company’s new prima ballerina – though she is beginning to realise that achieving her long-held dream may not be the triumph she once envisioned. Then Grace attracts the attention of the enigmatic Master La Rosa, and realises that the world may not be as small or constricted as she had come to fear. But who is her mysterious patron, and what does he want from her? As Grace begins to unlock the Master’s secrets, she discovers that there may be another way entirely to achieve the transcendence she has always sought.
Hide by Kiersten White, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-15025-4.
A high-stakes hide-and-seek competition turns deadly in this dark supernatural thriller. Billed by the publisher as perfect for fans of Stephen King and Squid Game.
In the Heart of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield, Quercus, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-41491-2.
When you live next to the People, life is never safe… Everyone knows that if you fall afoul of the People, you must find a fairy-smith to protect you with cold iron, good counsel and unvarnished opinions about your common sense… but sometimes even they run into difficulties.
The Night Field by Donna Glee Williams, Jo Fletcher Books, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-42268-9.
Welcome to The Real, where Pyn-Poi’s people live in harmony with nature – until an invisible stink threatens their whole world. The trees have a job for Pyn-Poi. To succeed, she will have to be brave and strong and true, no matter what. Pyn-Poi’s mother Marak wants her to grow up to be the matriarch of the tribe, to cook, to make medicines, to care for everyone. Pyn-Poi would rather be out among the trees with her father, learning how to persuade tree roots into bridges, to feel when shoots are too crowded, when drooping leaves need attention. Then something starts going wrong in The Real: instead of nourishment and renewal, the rains bring an invisible, all-pervasive stink that’s poisoning people and plants alike. Pyn-Poi is the treewoman now: it’s her job to stop it. Their only chance is for her to climb to the land beyond the Wall, where the Ancestors live, to plead for their intercession. She never expected to find a whole new world up there, with people who are very different from her own family and friends – a land where they are killing nature, and what they are doing to their plants is also killing The Real. Pyn-Poi must learn how to live in this terrifying new world if she is to save her own world from total destruction.
Games for Dead Girls by Jen Williams, Harper Voyager, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
When Charlie was eleven, she created a monster… For Charlie and her niece Katie, it’s supposed to be a quiet holiday in the peaceful, out-of-the-way seaside town of Hithechurch, England. Charlie is researching a book on the folklore of the area, and the gloomy sea and dangerous caves seem to offer up plenty of material, while Katie is just there to run wild and get some fresh air. But Charlie’s research reveals a deeper, darker secret, one that uncovers her own, carefully hidden past. Because young women are going missing again: a teenage girl snatched from the beach in broad daylight, and before that, other girls through the decades have vanished from the area, their families left with no answers and no bodies to bury. Charlie’s creation was a thing of felt, straw, fury, and a rusty pair of scissors in the dark. It couldn’t be her monster. Could it? Charlie is set on discovering the truth about the girls’ disappearances, but she’s about to encounter a force of pure, obsessive malevolence that threatens to destroy anything in its path. Jen Williams has twice won the British Fantasy Award for her 'Winnowing Flame' trilogy.
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao, Harper Voyager, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and spends her days scavenging for remnants of the past. For anything that might help her understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother, in her last act before she died. No one can see the mysterious mark, an untranslatable Hin character, except Lan. Until the night a boy appears at the teahouse and saves her life. Zen is a practitioner – one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose abilities were rumoured to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden from the Elantians at all costs. Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world. A tale of romance and fate, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is, the publishers says, a gift to those seeking adventure with a mythological twist. Perfect for fans of Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan, The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi and Iron Widow by by Xiran Jay Zhao.
The Shadow Casket by Chris Wooding, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-473-21490-3.
The second instalment in what the publisher says is a fast-moving coming-of-age trilogy featuring a cast of diverse characters, brilliant set pieces and a strong character- and plot-driven story. A band of rebels. A revolution about to begin.
The Krodans have crushed Ossia in an iron grip of terror. The revolution seems further away than ever. Far in the north, the Dawnwardens seek to unite the fractious clans of the Fell Folk and create a stronghold from which to retake their land. But what if there was a weapon that could turn the tide? The Shadow Casket has returned from out of the past, and it will save or damn them all…
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Spring 2023
Science & Science Fiction Interface
Real life science of SF-like tropes and SF impacts on society
One of the other Arthur C. Clarke Award 2022 winners have been announced. We reported on this year's Arthur C. Clarke (book) Award above, yet there are other Clarke Awards of which the next most notable are the Clarke (space) Awards, but we don't seem to have been sent news of these since 2015. This new(?) Clarke Award is run by the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in the US. The 2022 Clarke Award winners were:
- Lifetime Achievement: Francis Collins ( former head Human Genome Project)
- Service To Society: Cory Doctorow (SF author)
- Innovator: Esther Dyson (internet policy)
Peanuts Snoopy has orbited the Moon. A toy Snoopy dressed in a mock pressure suit has been used as a zero-g indicator on the Artemis 1 mission. The toy is tethered in front of a camera within the Orion capsule. However, the doll was largely flown for the benefit of the public watching the launch on NASA’s television channel or website. Also on board were mannequins wrapped in many sensors as a major part of the unmanned mission is to check for human safety for the subsequent crewed missions. The capsule safely returned to the Earth. Humans last landed on the Moon on 11th December 1972, at 19:54 GMT. The Apollo 17 crew of Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent just over three days on the surface before coming home.
Borg DNA may be related with methane metabolism. You may remember we reported on the new 'Borg' DNA over a year ago. Borg DNA are extrachromosomal elements (ECEs) are found in some archaea (simple prokaryotes that are cousins of bacteria). It has taken over a year for the research paper to get through peer review! Borg DNA are called such as they seem to 'assimilate' DNA from other prokaryotes, incorporating them in the Borg DNA, much like the hive alien species the Bork in Star Trek: The Next Generation. This assimilation gives the prokaryote as a whole the ability to process methane that it would not otherwise have. The researchers have identified at least 19 different Borg types coexisting with Methanoperedens spp. in four distinct ecosystems. It might be that this discovery might be used to modify methane release from wet lands? Though this last is currently a tentative musing… for now. (See Al-Shayeb, B. et al (2022) Borgs are giant genetic elements with potential to expand metabolic capacity. Nature, vol. 610, p731-6 and the review piece Rhinke, C. (2022) Mystery find of microbial DNA elements called Borgs. Nature, vol. 610, p635-6.)
Dimorphos asteroid successfully hit by probe in asteroid deflection experiment. Reminiscent of the Bruce Willis film Armageddon, the aim of the experiment was to see if an asteroid's trajectory could be altered: Asteroids have impacted the Earth in the past and are a source of worry. In September, the 160m-wide (one tenth of a mile) asteroid Dimorphos was hit by the DART probe (launched autumn 2021). The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) hit the asteroid at 13,000 miles per hour (22,000km/h). Astronomical surveys have identified more than 95% of the large asteroids that could cause a global extinction were they to hit the Earth (they will not, their paths have been calculated and they won't come near the Earth), this still leaves many so-far undetected smaller objects that could be locally if not regionally disastrous if they impacted with us. Were Dimorphus on course with the Earth and impacted, result in a crater perhaps two-thirds of a mile (about 1km) across and a couple of hundred metres deep. Instead it orbits the much larger, half mile diameter (780m), Didymos asteroid which was unaffected by the DART experiment. The impact only affects Dimorphos , slowing it, so making it fall into a tighter and, ironically faster, orbit about Didymos. Dimorphos' orbital period was 11 hours and 55 minutes and this was changed by the impact to 11 hours and 23 minutes – a change of 32 minutes.
Stanislaw Lem's Solaris has become a model for Gaian evolution. The Earth's biosphere consists of many sub-systems such as tropical rain forest biomes and peri-Arctic boreal land. These subsystems also undertake what is called ecosystem function such as the storage of carbon, management of water flow and so forth. Gaia theory has it that systems work together to provide stable states for the biosphere (such as creating greenhouse levels for either a glacial or interglacial planetary mode). A paper, 'Gaia as Solaris: An Alternative Default Evolutionary Trajectory', in the journal Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres has just been published that suggests that ultimately all these sub-systems could become so closely integrated that they effectively become a super-organism. The researchers say: 'The blueprint for a possible outcome of this scenario has been masterfully provided by the great Polish novelist Stanislaw Lem in his 1961 novel Solaris. In fact, Solaris offers such a persuasive and powerful case for an “extremely strong” Gaia hypothesis that it is, arguably, high time to investigate it in a discursive astrobiological and philosophical context.'. (See Jankovic, S., Katic, A. & Cirkovic, M.M. (2022) Gaia as Solaris: An Alternative Default Evolutionary Trajectory. Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, vol 52, p129-147.)
Do you speak extra-terrestrial? Research hub considers response to life beyond Earth. What does humanity do when we discover we are not alone in the cosmos? A new international research hub at the University of St Andrews will coordinate global expertise to prepare humanity for such an event and how we should respond. While we might never learn about the existence of life beyond Earth, or even about another intelligent civilisation, there’s a chance it could be detected sooner rather than later. But are we prepared?
The new SETI Post-Detection Hub, hosted by the Centre for Exoplanet Science and the Centre for Global Law and Governance of the University of St Andrews, will act as a coordinating centre for an international effort bringing together diverse expertise across both the sciences and the humanities for setting out impact assessments, protocols, procedures, and treaties designed to enable a responsible response.
There are now procedures and entities established with the United Nations for dealing with the threat posed by impacts of asteroids on Earth, but there is nothing similar in place for picking up a radio signal from E.T.
Currently, the only existing agreed ‘contact’ protocols are those drawn up by the SETI community itself in 1989, which were last revised in 2010. Focusing entirely on general scientific conduct, they constitute non-enforceable aspirations and fall short of being useful for managing in practice the full process of searching, handling candidate evidence, confirmation of detections, post-detection analysis and interpretation, and potential response.
The SETI Post-Detection Hub for the first time provides a permanent ‘home’ for coordinating the development of a fully comprehensive framework, drawing together interested members of the SETI and wider academic communities as well as policy experts to work on topics ranging from message decipherment and data analytics to the development of regulatory protocols, space law, and societal impact strategies.
Space Solar power is now cheap enough that ESA is considering a demonstration project. When this SFnal tech was last investigated in the 1970s, the cost of a space Solar power station was estimated to be about US$1 trillion. Since then costs have tumbled. Costs of photovoltaic cells have dropped by around 25% the past decade alone. More importantly, launch costs have become far more economic. A solar power satellite big enough to replace a typical nuclear or coal-powered station will need to be kilometres across, demanding hundreds of launches. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket takes cargo to orbit at about US$2,600 per kilogram – less than 5% of what it cost on the Space Shuttle – and the company promises rates of just US$10 per kilogram on its Starship launcher, due for its first launch this year. Finally, If space solar can achieve 20% efficiency converting light to energy, it might compete with existing energy sources? Microwave beaming also needs to be at more that 75% efficient: 90% would be good. In November (2023, ESA will ask member states to fund an assessment of whether the technical hurdles can be overcome. If it seems promising, the ESA will develop plans for a full effort in 2025. Armed with €15 billion to €20 billion, and could put a megawatt-scale demonstration facility in orbit by 2030 and scale up to gigawatts – the equivalent of a conventional power station – by 2040. (See Clery, D. (2022) Has a new dawn arrived for space-based solar power? Science, vol. 378, p238-9.)
Near-extinction events are a trope of SF. Of the real near-extinction threats, supervolcanic eruptions are with asteroid impact at the top of the list along with asteroid impact, and followed by climate change and nuclear war. Research now shows that the quiescent Yellowstone supervolcano, Wyoming, US, is closer to eruption than previously thought. It has had three super-eruptions in the past 2.1 million years, the most recent of which happened 640,000 years ago which means that one is due any time now – geologically speaking – over the next few thousand years. Past surveys suggested that the magma chamber beneath Yellowstone was at a fair depth. However, researchers have pooled past data gathered over 20 years, to refine the imagery. This has revealed that the magma chamber is at a depth of between three and eight kilometres. That’s shallower than some preceding estimates of the magma chamber’s depth, but consistent with the depth from which previous eruptions began. (See Maguire, R. et al (2022) Magma accumulation at depths of prior rhyolite storage beneath Yellowstone Caldera. Science, vol. 378, pp. 1,001-1,004.)
Science deniers know less as to what really causes cancer compared to the rest of us. Over 350 fictional science believers (flat Earthers, CoVID vaccine refusers, political leaders are reptilian believers and the like) were surveyed as well as those with conventional beliefs. Awareness of the actual and mythical causes of cancer among the unvaccinated, alternative medicine, and conspiracy groups was found to be lower than among their counterparts. Awareness of causes of cancer was poor, especially among people who rejected the CoVID-19 vaccine, preferred alternative medicine, or endorsed flat earth or reptilian conspiracies. This suggests a direct connection between digital misinformation and potential erroneous health decisions, which may represent a further preventable fraction of cancer. (See Paytubi, S. et al (2022) Does everything cause cancer? British medical Journal, vol. 379, e072561.)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) passes radiologists' exams! Five British-based clinical researches decided to find out whether an artificial intelligence candidate could pass the rapid (radiographic) reporting component of the Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists (FRCR) examination?
The artificial intelligence candidate was a commercially available tool called Smarturgences v1.17.0, developed by a French artificial intelligence company called Milvueand marketed since February 2020. The tool has been awarded Conformite Europeenne certification under the Medical Devices Directive and registered as a class 2a medical device.8 It is used in more than 10 institutions across Europe as part of clinical care, although not currently in the UK. The artificial intelligence model had been trained on a multicentric dataset of more than 600,000 chest and musculoskeletal radiographs to detect seven key pathologies (fracture, pleural effusion, lung opacification, joint effusion, lung nodules, pneumothorax, and joint dislocation). The AI was pitted against radiologists who had recently passed the Royal College of Radiologists exam.
Long story short: The AI candidate was able to pass two of the 10 mock examinations and overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy rates were high for images that the AI could interpret at 83.6%, 75.2%, and 79.5% respectively. Summary estimates across 26 radiologist readers were 84.1%, 87.3%, and 84.8%, respectively.
In 2016 Geoffrey Hinton, winner of the Turing award and considered one of the godfathers of deep learning, proclaimed: “We should stop training radiologists now. It’s just completely obvious that within five years, deep learning is going to do better than radiologists.” We are now five years past this seminal statement, so the time was ripe to put artificial intelligence to the test and see if it is ready to graduate? On this occasion, the artificial intelligence candidate was unable to pass any of the 10 mock examinations when marked against similarly strict criteria to its human counterparts, but it could pass two of the mock examinations if special dispensation was made by the Royal College of Radiologists to exclude images that it had not been trained on. It therefore seems that only sufficient training is holding back AI from taking over from human radiologists. (See Shelmerdine, S. C. et al (2022) Can artificial intelligence pass the Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists examination? Multi-reader diagnostic accuracy study. British Medical Journal, vol. 379, e072826)
Artificial Intelligence produced artwork cannot be copyrighted says the US Copyright Office. In September, Kris Kashtanova announced that they had received a U.S. copyright on his comic book Zarya of the Dawn which had artwork generated by the artificial intelligence (A.I.) Midjourney. Then in December the US Copyright Office reversed that decision. It stated that s copyrighted works must be created by humans to gain official copyright protection. All of which begs the question as to the status of graphic novels' human generated text…?
As to how AI and copyright will apply in Britain, perhaps we need a Select Committee inquiry?
British Members of Parliament to examine artificial intelligence. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee launches an inquiry into the governance of artificial intelligence (AI). In July, the UK Government set out its emerging thinking on how it would regulate the use of AI. It is expected to publish proposals in a White Paper later this year, which the Committee would examine in its inquiry.
Used to spot patterns in large datasets, make predictions, and automate processes, AI's role in the UK economy and society is growing. However, there are concerns around its use. MPs will examine the potential impacts of biased algorithms in the public and private sectors. A lack of transparency on how AI is applied and how automated decisions can be challenged will also be investigated.
In the inquiry, MPs will explore how risks posed to the public by the improper use of AI should be addressed, and how the Government can ensure AI is used in an ethical and responsible way. The Committee seeks evidence on the current governance of AI, whether the Government's proposed approach is the right one, and how their plans compare with other countries.
Robots may kill “San Francisco's police rule… and then backtrack... Members of the US city’s Board of Supervisors Rules Committee have been reviewing the new equipment policy. The original version of the draft didn’t include any language surrounding robots’ use of deadly force until Aaron Peskin, the Dean of the city’s Board of Supervisors, initially added that “robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person. However, the San Francisco Police Department returned the draft with a red line crossing out Peskin’s addition, replacing it with the line that gives robots the authority to kill suspects. Apparently 'there could be scenarios where deployment of lethal force was the only option.' However, following widespread criticism, barely two weeks later, it reversed its decision.
Robot falcons prevent plane damage and crashes. Collisions between birds and airplanes can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than US$1.4 billion annually. Driving away birds is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of current deterrence methods is limited. Live bird predators can be an effective deterrent, scaring other birds. RobotFalcon, a device modelled after the peregrine falcon, has been developed and tested to deter flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings. Researchers compared its effectiveness with that of a drone, and of conventional methods routinely applied at a military airbase. The RobotFalcon scared away bird flocks from fields immediately, and these fields subsequently remained free of bird flocks for hours. The RobotFalcon outperformed the drone and the best other conventional methods such as playing recordings of predator calls. The RobotFalcon is a practical and ethical solution to drive away bird flocks with all advantages of live predators but without their limitations. (See Storms, R. F. et al (2022) Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, vol. 19, 20220497.)
A traversable wormhole has been successfully simulated and a message sent through it. Wormholes are a trope in SF with examples including the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the TV series Sliders and the Spin novels by Robert Charles Wilson. But first, some science background…
One exploration of quantum gravity in 1978 showed that string theory c an provide lower dimensional description in which gravity emerges from it in what would now be called a holographic way. This is to say that a 3D object (such as the Universe) can be expressed on a 2D surface (the surface of the Universe). This is known as the holographic principle the universe is really a hologram with the information of its contents "inscribed" on the surface of its boundary. This theory arose out of an attempt to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity: a quest that has yet to be resolved, clearly one or other or both will need modifying/refining. Using the holographic principle, the entanglement can be mathematically equivalent to a wormhole between two points.
With quantum gravity a wormhole between two points and the quantum entanglement of two particles have a mathematical equivalence when calculated as a holographic duel. Quantum computing can do this. So Daniel Jafferis and colleagues from Harvard have done this to simulate a wormhole. Further, they have successfully sent a message through the wormhole.
Now, do not get excited, this is not faster-than-light communication as the one quantum computer is simulating both ends of the wormhole at the same time: Einstein is safe (for now). However, this research is proof of principle and will lead to other quantum gravity simulations that might provide an insight as to the nature of space-time. (See Jafferis, D. et al (2022) Traversable wormhole dynamics on a quantum processor. Nature, vol. 612, p51-55 and Brown, A. R. & Susskind, L. (2022) A holographic wormhole in a quantum computer. Nature, vol. 612, p41-2.)
And to finally round off the Science & SF Interface subsection, here are some short videos…
What If Humanity Is Among The First Space-faring Civilisations?. Half of the universe is filled with expansionist alien civilisations, and it’s only a matter of time before they’ll reach us. OK, that sounded a little sensationalist says PBS Space Time. But it’s also the conclusion of a recent astrophysics paper. Let’s see how they figure this, and whether we should take it seriously… It concludes that about half of the universe is filled with expansionist alien civilisations, and it’s only a matter of time before they’ll reach us… Further, because we do not see / hear astronomical signs of them, their rate of expansion must be fast: at least a significant fraction of the speed of light. (If it were slow we would literally see them coming: see the techno signatures around stars getting closer.) Warning: this is something of a rabbit hole, but it is a mathematical logical one. However, it ignores biology and openly makes a number of assumptions about grabby aliens which are highly debateable. Nonetheless, it is interest, just don't easily buy into the conclusions. You can see this 20-minute video here.
Size comparison: the moons of Neptune and Uranus compared with London and Europe. This rather neat, alternate perspective video imagines the moons of Neptune and Uranus in increasing size, resting by London. Towards the end there is a little SFnal Easter egg. You can see the 5 minute video here.
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Spring 2023
Rest In Peace
The last season saw the science and science fiction communities sadly lose…
Martin Barker, the British media academic, has died aged 76. He studied racism, and portrayals thereof, in comics including 200AD. In the 1990s and 2000s he focused on film and television audiences especially of fantasy productions: Lord of the Rings and The Game of Thrones.
Margaret Basta, the US fan, has died aged 69. She was one of the first Star Trek fans and co-founded the Star Trek Association for Revival (S.T.A.R.) fan club.
Greg Bear, the US author, has died aged 71. He was a past president of the SFWA, one of the San Diego Comic-Con founders, helped in the establishment of the US Science Fiction Museum and the winner of five Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards. He is possibly best known for his novel Blood Music (1985) which was short-listed for a Hugo. This novel was a development of a short story (1983) of the same title that appeared in Analog which did win a Hugo for 'Best Novelette'. His other novels include: Legacy (1995); Vitals: Never Say Die (2002); Dead Lines (2004); City at the End of Time (2008); Hull Zero Three (2010); War Dogs (2014) and Killing Titan (2015). He has also edited anthologies including a couple editions of the Nebula Awards Showcase. He was a guest of honour at the 2001 Worldcon, Millennium Philcon. ++++ See our interview with Greg bear here.
Gabrielle Beaumont, the British film director, has died aged 80. Her directing credits include episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She became the first woman to direct an episode of Star Trek with the episode "Booby Trap".
Dame Valerie Beral, the Australian-born British epidemiologist, has died aged 76 back in August (we did not learn of this sad news in time for last season's news). She worked on monitoring the safety of the pill and then moved on to see whether the pill would help protect against breast cancer. Subsequent work included the effects of radiation, breast cancer trials and screening, AIDS, gene therapy, Hiroshima survivors, Chernobyl, food toxins, among much else. The British Medical Journal described her CV like reading "a checklist of the epidemiological causes célebres of the past three decades". She kept close links with Australia but "could not imagine returning to live there". Aside from concerns that Australia would hold little for her partner, she joked that: "The population's too small!" to satisfy her needs as an epidemiologist.
John Bird , the British comic and actor, has died aged 86. He was well known for his work in political satirical TV shows, particularly his many appearances opposite John Fortune. His principal genre contribution was playing a character in the film Jabberwocky.
Kathleen Booth, the British computer scientist and mathematician, has died aged 100. She is known for writing wrote the first assembly language and designed the assembler and autocode for the first computer systems at Birkbeck College, University of London. She helped design three computers including the ARC (Automatic Relay Calculator), SEC (Simple Electronic Computer), and APE(X)C. She co-founded the School of Computer Science and Information Systems in 1957 at Birkbeck College along with husband Andrew Booth and J.C. Jennings. She and her husband moved to Canada to work at the University of Saskatchewan and then at Lakehead University in 1972 retiring in 1978.
Chris Boucher, the British , has died aged 79. British television screenwriter, script editor and novelist. He is known for his frequent contributions to two genres, science fiction and crime fiction, and worked on the series Doctor Who, Blake's 7 (its script editor for all 52 episodes and script writer for nine) and Star Cops. This last he created. He is particularly noted for having created the Doctor Who companion Leela (played by Louise Jameson). He was the last surviving Doctor Who scriptwriter from prior to the 1980s and also wrote four Doctor Who novels.
Justin Busch, the US fan, has died. He is the author of The Utopian Vision of H. G. Wells (2009).
James Caan, the US actor, has died aged 82. His genre films included: Countdown (1968), Rollerball (1975), Alien Nation (1988), Dick Tracy (1990), Eraser (1996) and Get Smart (2008). He won a Saturn Award for 'Best Actor' due to his starring role of Jonathan E. in Rollerball (1975).
Ellen Caswell, the US fan, has died aged 69. She was a long-time member of the Potomac River Science Fiction Society (PRSFS) who newsletter she edited between 1986 and 1988.
Brian Catling, the English sculptor, poet, novelist, film maker and performance artist, has died aged 74. His novels included the magic-realist 'Vorrh’ trilogy and The Hollow (2021).
Tom Chmielewski, the US author, has died aged 70. His novels include Lunar Dust, Martian Sands (2014) and The Silent Siege of Mars (2019).
Robbie Coltraine OBE, the British comedian and actor, has died aged 72. He regularly appeared in the The Comic Strip Presents (1982–2012) series and was part of the sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984). He is known for his appearances in The Young Ones(1987) and as Samuel Johnson in Blackadder the Third (1987) and was the spirit of Christmas in Blackadder's Christmas Carol but most for starring as the world-weary and troubled, police-assisting psychologist Edward 'Fitz' Fitzgerald in the series Cracker (1993–1996). Of genre note, he appeared in the James Bond technothrillers GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999) as well as the half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter fantasy films (2001–2011). He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2006 New Year Honours for his services to drama. In 2011, he was honoured for his "Outstanding Contribution to Film" at the British Academy Scotland Awards ("BAFTA Scotland Awards").
Walter Cunningham , the US astronaut, has died aged 90. He flew on Apollo 7. He was also an outspoken denier of human-caused climate change.
Suzy McKee Charnas, the US author, has died aged 83. Her first book was Walk to the End of the World (1974) that won a retrospective Otherwise Award. Her novella “Unicorn Tapestry” (1980) won a Nebula while her short story “Boobs” (1989) won the Hugo Award. A selection of her short fiction is collected in Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms (2004). She obtained a degree in history and economics which undoubtedly served her S which had a sociological focus. Her novel Motherlines (1978) was notable rejected multiple times for not having any male characters. It was finally accepted by David G. Hartwell. It later won a 1996 Retrospective James Tiptree Jr. Award.
Chandler Davis, the American-Canadian mathematician, writer, educator, political activist and SF fan, has died aged 96. In mathematics, his name is associated with the Davis–Kahan theorem and Bhatia–Davis inequality. In the 1950s, he refused to participate in the House Unamerican Activities Committee and was sentenced to 6 months in prison and was sacked from the University of Michigan. While in prison he worked on mathematics and a research paper from the time carries the acknowledgement: "Research supported in part by the Federal Prison System. Opinions expressed in this paper are the author's and are not necessarily those of the Bureau of Prisons." Of genre note he was a fan active in Boston’s 1940s Stranger Club as well as an author of SF short stories. His fanzine appearing in the 1940s was Blitherings. Following his prison sentence he relocated to Canada and the University of Toronto. He was the Science Guest of Honour at the 2013 SFContario convention.
Jean-Luc Godard, the French director, has died aged 91. He is generally known for being a leading light in the French New Wave. In genre terms he is best known for his noir film Alphaville (1965) concerning a detective who is sent into a city controlled by a giant computer named Alpha 60. His mission is to make contact with Professor von Braun (Howard Vernon), a famous scientist who has fallen mysteriously silent, and is believed to be suppressed by the computer. Alpha 60 has outlawed free thought and individualist concepts like love, poetry, and emotion in the city, replacing them with contradictory concepts or eliminating them altogether. One of Alpha 60's dictates is that "people should not ask 'why', but only say 'because'". People who show signs of emotion are presumed to be acting illogically and are gathered up, interrogated, and executed. In an image reminiscent of George Orwell's concept of Newspeak, there is a dictionary in every hotel room that is continuously updated when words that are deemed to evoke emotion become banned. The film won the Golden Bear award of the 15th Berlin International Film Festival in 1965. •Episode 21 of season 1 of Star Trek: The Original Series, 'The Return of the Archons' (1967) refers to Alphaville and 'Alphaville' is mentioned in the first chapter of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.
Stephen Greif, the British actor, has died aged 78. In genre terms he was best known for being the first actor to play Travis in Blake's 7. (He was replaced in the second series onwards by Brian Croucher.) He reprised the role voicing Travis in 11 new audio stories of Blake's 7 for Big Finish Productions. He also voiced Raymond Maarloeve in the video game The Witcher. In the theatre he played The President and John Faa in the play of His Dark Materials.
Stephan Grundy, the US fantasy author, has died aged 54. He is noted for fantasy novels based on European mythology. He has a doctorate from the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic of Cambridge University.
Mike Hodges, the British film director, has died aged 90. His films include The Terminal Man (1974) adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel and the space opera Flash Gordon (1980). He also wrote the screenplay for Damien: Omen II (1977).
Dame Angela Lansbury, the British born US actress, has died aged 96. Though best known for playing an author turned detective, her long-lasting career has seen he feature in a number of genre productions including The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971).
Bruno Latour, the French philosopher and anthropologist, has died aged 75. His noted books include: Laboratory Life (1979), Science in Action (1987) and We Have Never Been Modern (1991). He maintained that scientists do not strictly adhere to the scientific method and that laboratory experiments involve a social construct of the researchers. His later work rejected the notion of there being a modern era and he used the term nonmodernism (or amodernism) over postmodernism.
Jim McDivitt, the US astronaut, has died aged 93. He piloted Gemini 4 (1965), a mission that saw the first time the U.S. perform a spacewalk and which was a then record long, four-day, mission. He commanded Apollo 9 (1969). He became manager of Lunar Landing Operations in 1969 and then quickly manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Programme. He was the programme manager for Apollo missions 12-16.
Robert Madle, the US fan and SF bookdealer, has died aged 102. Known for his fanzine Fantascience Digest in the 1930s and '40s. He was the first US TAFF delegate in 1957 and one of the few N. Americans to be made a Knight of St Fanthony. He won a Worldcon Big Heart Award in1974. He is credited with naming the Worldcon Award for 'SF achievement' the 'Hugo Award'. He was the last surviving member of the first (what would be come to be known as) Worldcon in1939.
Dame Hilary Mantel, the English author, has died aged 70. She is noted for her well-researched, historical fiction. She won the Booker Prize twice: the first was for Wolf Hall (2009), a fictional account of Thomas Cromwell's rise to power in the court of Henry VIII, and the second was for its 2012 sequel Bring Up the Bodies. The third instalment of the Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, made the Booker long-list. Some of her other novels included fantastical elements such as Fludd (1989) and Beyond Black (2005).
Matthew Mather, the English-borne Canadian SF author, has died aged 52 in a car crash. His novels were mainly technothrillers and included Darknet and the 'Atopia' trilogy.
Richard Miller, the American sculptor and visual effects artist, has died aged 80. He worked on such films as Star Trek: First Contact, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Rocketeer. He created Princess Leia's bikini in Star Wars.
Paula Helm Murray, the US fan and fantasy author, has died aged 66. She belonged to Kansas City fandom. She also wrote fantasy short stories. She was a guest at: Archon 27 (2003), Conestoga 9 (2005) and SFContario 5 (2014).
Kevin O'Neill, the British comics artist, has died aged 69. His career began with IPC and a stint on comics such as Buster. He had a solid spell with 2000AD and was the first to draw an image of Tharg. He was 2000AD's first art editor up to 1978. Fed up with erasing artists' signatures from comic strips, he introduced strips' credit cards (citing writer, artist and letterer) from Prog 36. It was the first time such had happened in UK comics and now other publishers could see who produced what and so could approach writers and artists directly. This is how a number of 2000AD contributors came to do occasional work for DC and Marvel. He himself created Bat-Mite with fellow 2000AD staffer Alan Grant for DC Comics. At 2000AD he worked on: Nemesis the Warlock (co-creating with Pat Mills), Ro-Busters; various Future Shocks; three Judge Dredds; and ABC Warriors: The Meknificent Seven. His other cooperative work with Pat Mils included on Marshall Law and Metalzoic. He also partnered with comics writer Alan Moore on Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual (of which one 1986 Green Lantern was banned by the Comics Code Authority) and all four The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series (not to be confused with the dire film very, very loosely based on the first graphic novel). His 2000AD short strip "Shok!" (with writer Steve MacManus) had its plot illegally used by the 1990 film Hardware and a court ruled that the two should be credited. He has won three Harvey Awards, two Eisners, an Eagle and a Stoker.
Radell F. (Ray) Nelson , the US author and fan artist, has died aged 91. He is perhaps most notable for having his short story 'Eight O'Clock in the Morning' (1963) becoming the basis for the film They Live (1988). Among fandom he is most famous for having invented the propeller beanie which in fan cartooning was traditionally emblematic of the SF fan. His first novel was co-authored with Philip K. Dick, The Ganymede Takeover (1967). His possibly most successful works were the novels Then Beggars Could Ride (1976) and its sequel, The Revolt of the Unemployables (1978), concern an ecological Utopia. He was inducted to the First Fandom Hall of Fame in 2019.
Charles Partington, the British SF fan and writer, has died aged 82. Much, if not all, of Chuck's adult life was in part SFnally related and much with his life-long friend from his school days Harry Nadler who was also his business partner for most of his life. He, Harry, Anthony (Tony) Edwards, Bill Burns, among others, were members of the Delta SF Group that made spoof SF films (occasionally with SF notables such as Harry Harrison and occasionally fans from Liverpool such as Ina Shorrock). Delta SF members, including Chuck, were also a mainstay of MaD SF, the Manchester & District SF Society (not to be confused with BaD SF down the A666 Devil's highway in Bolton): in many of its heyday years (1970s and '80s) MaD met fortnightly at the Crown & Anchor near Piccadilly Gardens station and meetings continued into the 2000s with Chuck invariably in attendance. Chuck, along with the afore fans mentioned, were also Knights of St Fanthony: a group of fans who would help introduce new SF aficionados into fandom and generally support good causes. For example, Chuck and Harry were responsible for printing the Ken Bulmer Bibliography for BECCON Publications, as well as printing the first edition (1987) of this zine, the SF² Concatenation back in its pre-online digital days: we have always been appreciative that British Eastercon, a convention they regularly attended from the 1960s to '90s. With Harry, Charles was on the committee of three Eastercons and so was known for his national-level fanac. Arguably, his serious fanac began with Harry Nadler and Tony Edwards when they produced the fanzine Alien between 1963 – '65. This evolved over three issues into the, sadly short-lived, semi-prozine Alien Worlds (1965). Charles' own semi-prozine, irregularly produced in the 1970s and 1980s, was literally Something Else. With high production values, despite it being the pre-desktop era, and paying its contributors, Something Else attracted some high profile writers including Michael Moorcock with whom he had a friendship over many decades. In 1976, with Dave Britton and Mike Butterworth, he co-founded the Savoy Books publishing house which lasted over three decades and which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2006. It too attracted high-calibre writers, some of whose output was considered by the major publishing houses as non-commercial. These writers included the likes of Samuel Delany, Harlan Ellison and Charles Platt. Savoy was infamously subject to censorship and notably for the very dark, humorous, satirical and pοrnοgraphic Lord Horror (1989) which landed one of its editors (not Charles) a brief time in jail. Various Manchester-based folk associated with Savoy, including Charles, were involved on and off in the magazine New Worlds no.213-215 between 1978 to 1979. Harry and Charles business for many years was the Manchester Print Centre based in a basement of the Corn Exchange. This commercially viable venture enabled it on the side to produce a number of SF conventions' progress reports, programme booklets and promotional leaflets. In the 1980s, at the very start of the software games industry era, while keeping the Print Centre, the pair created Red Rat Software that devised and published approximately thirty 8-bit, 16-bit and IBM PC compatible computer games, some of which were genre-related. Its games included a Tilt d'Ore prize in 1992 for 'Best Puzzle Game'. Harry Nadler, as is well known in British SF film fandom, went on to establish the Festival of Fantastic Films which was a thriving convention up to Harry's passing in 2002. Albeit much reduced, such was the momentum the Fest gathered that it has continued to the present day (see our convention reviews link list for past Fest con reports) and Charles could always be found at it in the bar chatting to old friends right up to the late 2010s. Charles also wrote stories beginning with 'The Manterville Inheritance' in the anthology Dark Things (1971) edited by August Derleth. Others appeared in editions of the New Writings in SF anthology series edited by Ken Bulmer. His only novel was the young adult book Winter Hill (2015). This was meant to be the first of a series but sadly others never arrived. Old age subsequently took its toll and many of us saw little of Charles from the late 2010s onwards. Nonetheless, he packed much into his life and was a true master of SF fandom. A chapter of northwest English SF has closed. ++++ Click here for an extended, illustrated version of this obit.
Leslie Phillips CBE, the British actor, has died aged 98. He became strongly associated with smooth-talking, libidinous roles, and his catchphrases: 'Ding dong', 'I say' and a drawn-out 'Hello'. Of his very many roles, his few genre appearances included Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), an episode of The Invisible Man (1958); The Lion, the Witch & th eWardrobe (1979); and The Canterville Ghost (1996 . He also provided the voice for the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films.
Michael Reed, the Canadian-born British cinematographer, has died aged 93. Through the early 1950s he worked in the camera department at Hammer Films as a clapper loader and focus puller including the genre films The Gorgon (1964) and Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1965). He was 2nd unit Director of Photography on the James Bond films (Goldfinger, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice). He was the cinematographer for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). He also shot episodes of the TV series The New Avengers.
Maureen Kincaid Speller, the British SF fan, has died aged 63. Active in fandom since 1980 She was the Senior Reviews Editor at Strange Horizons, and Editorial Consultant for Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction. She edited the BSFA's Matrix in the late 1980s and was the BSFA's Vector magazine's Reviews editor in the '90s. Her fanzines included Snufkin’s Bum and Steam Engine Time co-edited with Paul Kincaid (her long-time partner) and Bruce Gillespie. She was Britain's TAFF delegate to the 1998 Worldcon in Baltimore. She had just won a Fantasy Award from the British Fantasy Society.
Fay Weldon CBE, the English author, essayist and playwright, has died aged 91. The was the author of 31 novels including the genre related Puffball (1980), The Cloning of Joanna May (1989) and Death of a She-Devil (2017). The Cloning of Joanna May was dramatised as a TV series. Her novel Praxis (1978) was short-listed for the Booker Prize. In here early life she was an advertising copywriter who invented the slogan 'Go to work on an egg' which was very famous in Britain in the 1960s.
Martin Morse Wooster, the US fan, has died aged 65. At university he was a member of Wisconsin's Beloit Science Fiction and Fantasy Association in the 1970s and he graduated in history and philosophy from Beloit before graduating from the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C. He went on to become a founding member of the Potomac River Science Fiction Society. In his professional life he was a journalist who also reviewed SF for The wall Street Journal and, among other things, wrote about beer. He was senior fellow at the Capital Research Center and had been an editor at the Wilson Quarterly and American Enterprise. He also authored a number of non-fiction books. On the SF fan front, he was a regular contributor to Ansible (UK) and File770 (US). He was walking back to his hotel from a beer connvention in Williamsburg, Virginia, when he was hit by a driver who then failed to stop. Taken from us far too soon.
Volodymyr (Fresh) Yezhov, the Ukrainian electronic games developer, has died defending his country against Russian aggression. He was a game designer at GSC Game World and was one of the developers of the various S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. His other contributions were to the games: World of Battles: Morningstar, Call of Cthulhu and Sherlock Holmes: Devil's Daughter. In addition, one of the characters of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R Loki's visual likeness is that of Volodymyr Yezhov. He is survived by two young sons.
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