Sci-Fi

Annotated Excerpt: DESCENDANT MACHINE by Gareth L. Powell (Titan)

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PowellGL-C2-DescendantMachineTomorrow, Titan Books is due to publish Gareth L. Powell‘s latest science fiction novel, Descendant Machine. This is the second novel in the author’s action-packed Continuance series, and sequel to Star and Bones. As part of the blog tour celebrating the release, the publisher has allowed me to share this excerpt. First, though, check out the synopsis:

When Nicola Mafalda’s scout ship comes under attack, she’s left deeply traumatised by the drastic action it takes to keep her alive. Months later, when an old flame comes to her for help, she realises she has to find a way to forgive both the ship and her former lover. Reckless elements are attempting to reactivate a giant machine that has lain dormant for thousands of years. To stop them, Nicola and her crew will have to put aside their differences, sneak aboard a vast alien megaship, and try to stay alive long enough to prevent galactic devastation.

And without further ado, let’s get on with the excerpt…

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Excerpt: MOTHS by Jane Hennigan (Angry Robot Books)

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HenniganJ-MothsToday, Angry Robot Books has provided CR with an excerpt from the latest novel by Jane Hennigan, Moths. Described as “A divergent future with a thought-provoking feminist slant”, here’s the synopsis:

Where were you at the beginning?
Or at the end?
And where are we all now?

Forty years ago, the world changed. Toxic threads left behind by mutated moths infected men and boys around the globe. Some were killed quietly in their sleep, others became crazed killers, wildly dangerous and beyond help. All seemed hopeless.

But humanity adapted, healed and moved on. Now matriarchs rule, and men are kept in specially treated dust-free facilities for their safety and the good of society, never able to return to the outside.

Mary has settled into this new world and takes care of the male residents at her facility. But she still remembers how things used to be and is constantly haunted by her memories. Of her family, of her joy, of… him.

Now the world is quiet again, but only because secrets are kept safe in whispers. And the biggest secret of all? No one wants to live inside a cage…

Exploring male violence against women, homo-normativity, and gynocracy, Moths is a powerful assessment of life through the lens of a main character in her 70s. A remastered and revitalised version of the previously self-published, smash-hit dystopian thriller by the same name, Moths shows us a new, post-pandemic world.

This excerpt is taken from the beginning of the book.

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Quick Review: COLD PEOPLE by Tom Rob Smith (Scribner)

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SmithTR-ColdPeopleUSHCHumanity if forcibly removed to Antarctica, ceding control over the planet to an extraterrestrial force. It does… not go smoothly.

A suspenseful and fast-paced novel about an Antarctic colony of global apocalypse survivors seeking to reinvent civilization under the most extreme conditions imaginable.

The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist… Antarctica.

Cold People follows the perilous journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most extreme environment on the planet. But their goal is not merely to survive the present. Because as they cling to life on the ice, the remnants of their past swept away, they must also confront the urgent challenge: can they change and evolve rapidly enough to ensure humanity’s future? Can they build a new society in the sub-zero cold?

A gripping, fast-moving survival thriller, this is the first novel that I’ve read by Tom Rob Smith. It certainly won’t be my last. I really enjoyed this gripping, icy thriller. Continue reading →

Excerpt: WORLD RUNNING DOWN by Al Hess (Angry Robot Books)

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HessA-WorldRunningDownToday, as part of an online book tour, we have an excerpt from World Running Down by Al Hess, which has been described as a “cozy sci-fi”. Here’s the synopsis:

A transgender salvager on the outskirts of a dystopian Utah gets the chance to earn the ultimate score and maybe even a dash of romance. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch…

Valentine Weis is a salvager in the future wastelands of Utah. Wrestling with body dysphoria, he dreams of earning enough money to afford citizenship in Salt Lake City — a utopia where the testosterone and surgery he needs to transition is free, the food is plentiful, and folk are much less likely to be shot full of arrows by salt pirates. But earning that kind of money is a pipe dream, until he meets the exceptionally handsome Osric.

Once a powerful AI in Salt Lake City, Osric has been forced into an android body against his will and sent into the wasteland to offer Valentine a job on behalf of his new employer — an escort service seeking to retrieve their stolen androids. The reward is a visa into the city, and a chance at the life Valentine’s always dreamed of. But as they attempt to recover the “merchandise”, they encounter a problem: the android ladies are becoming self-aware, and have no interest in returning to their old lives.

The prize is tempting, but carrying out the job would go against everything Valentine stands for, and would threaten the fragile found family that’s kept him alive so far. He’ll need to decide whether to risk his own dream in order to give the AI a chance to live theirs.

Now, on with the excerpt…

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Annotated Excerpt: A FRACTURED INFINITY by Nathan Tavares (Titan)

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TavaresN-FracturedInfinityToday, we have an annotated excerpt/sneak-peak from A Fractured Infinity by Nathan Tavares. Pitched as “a thrilling race across the multiverse to save the infinite Earths — and the love of your life — from total destruction”, this novel should appeal to “fans of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Time Traveller’s Wife and Rick and Morty.” (An interesting mix, there.) Here’s the synopsis:

Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner – a mysterious device that can predict the future.

Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf… as his husband.

As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple’s story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf’s life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.

With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space – soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.

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Excerpt: NEOM by Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)

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Tidhar-CS2-NeomToday, we have an excerpt from Neom, Lavie Tidhar‘s highly-anticipated second novel set in the Central Station universe. If you’re a fan of Tidhar’s previous work, then you’re definitely going to want to check this out. If you’re new to his books, then perhaps start with Central Station before diving into this one. Here’s the synopsis:

The city known as Neom is many things to many beings, human or otherwise. Neom is a tech wonderland for the rich and beautiful; an urban sprawl along the Red Sea; and a port of call between Earth and the stars.

In the desert, young orphan Saleh has joined a caravan, hoping to earn his passage off-world from Central Station. But the desert is full of mechanical artefacts, some unexplained and some unexploded. Recently, a wry, unnamed robot has unearthed one of the region’s biggest mysteries: the vestiges of a golden man.

In Neom, childhood affection is rekindling between loyal shurta-officer Nasir and hardworking flower-seller Mariam. But Nasu, a deadly terrorartist, has come to the city with missing memories and unfinished business.

Just one robot can change a city’s destiny with a single rose — especially when that robot is in search of lost love.

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Guest Post: “Voices Across Time” by E. J. Swift

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SwiftEJ-CoralBonesUKOne of the themes I wanted to explore in The Coral Bones was the relationship between human beings and non-human animals and beings, and how those relationships have changed — and could change for the better — over time. I’d always conceptualised the novel with multiple timelines and knew that I wanted to reflect both forward and back. Each timeline brought its own specific challenges.

Climate breakdown, and the bleaching of coral reefs caused by heating oceans, is at the heart of Hana’s contemporary storyline, so I decided the historical narrative should be situated early in the fossil fuel age. Whilst Judith is writing her diary in 1839, steam is beginning to revolutionise the world, at a cost no one — at least, no one in Judith’s colonial British society — could imagine. My last novel, Paris Adrift, included historical sections, but those were from the perspective of a time traveller. Writing a historical POV offered a whole new challenge in developing the voice and trying to instil some period texture. Whilst Judith pushes against her social constraints, she is still a product of her time and subject to the worldviews and prejudices of the Western age of exploration — full of enthusiasm for knowledge and discovery, but inextricably linked with imperialism. Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE by Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz)

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deBodard-RedScholarsWakeUKHCsmEarlier today, Gollancz unveiled Alyssa Winan‘s eye-catching cover for Aliette de Bodard‘s next novel: The Red Scholar’s Wake! Set in the author’s beloved Xuya universe, albeit separated from the region/events of universe’s other novels and stories. The author has said that it is a “[s]tandalone plot and more intimate, more focused on romance. (And some piracy, politics, and space battles obv. And tea and dumplings).” Here’s the synopsis:

Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates’ enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself.

Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si’s help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si’s technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it.

But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together…

Really looking forward to reading this! The Red Scholar’s Wake is due to be published in the UK (and Commonwealth) by Gollancz on November 24th. There is no news (yet) of a North American release.

Also on CR: Guest Post/Excerpt on The House of Shattered Wings

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Annotated Excerpt: AUGUST KITKO AND THE MECHAS FROM SPACE by Alex White (Orbit)

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WhiteA-SS1-AugustKitkoAndTheMechasFromSpaceToday, I’m very happy to be able to host this (substantial) annotated excerpt from Alex White‘s latest space opera novel, August Kitko and the Mechas From Space! The action-packed first novel in the Starmetal Symphony series, here’s the synopsis:

When an army of giant robot AIs threatens to devastate Earth, a virtuoso pianist becomes humanity’s last hope in this bold, lightning-paced, technicolor space opera series…

Jazz pianist Gus Kitko expected to spend his final moments on Earth playing piano at the greatest goodbye party of all time, and maybe kissing rockstar Ardent Violet, before the last of humanity is wiped out forever by the Vanguards — ultra-powerful robots from the dark heart of space, hell-bent on destroying humanity for reasons none can divine.

But when the Vanguards arrive, the unthinkable happens–the mecha that should be killing Gus instead saves him. Suddenly, Gus’s swan song becomes humanity’s encore, as he is chosen to join a small group of traitorous Vanguards and their pilots dedicated to saving humanity. 

Now, let’s dive right in…

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Upcoming: CHILDREN OF MEMORY by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK/Orbit)

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Tchaikovsky-CoT3-ChildrenOfMemoryUKHCThe Clark Award-winning Children of Time (2015) by Adrian Tchaikovsky was, for a short while, one of the best stand-alone science fiction novels I’ve read. In 2019, Tchaikovsky surprised fans by publishing a sequel, Children of Ruin (2019) — a sequel that did not disappoint. Well, this November, fans will be able to return to the setting with Children of Memory! If you’ve yet to read Children of Time, then I strongly recommend it if you’re a fan of science fiction. For those who have, here’s the synopsis for the upcoming third novel:

When Earth failed, it sent out arkships to establish new outposts. So the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise. Generations later, this fragile colony has managed to survive on Imir, eking out a hardy existence. Yet life is tough, and much technological knowledge has been lost.

Then strangers appear, on a world where everyone knows their neighbour. They possess unparalleled knowledge and thrilling new technology – for they have come from the stars, to help humanity’s lost colonies. But not all is as it seems on Imir.

As the visitors lose track of time and memories, they discover the colonists fear unknown enemies and Imir’s own murky history. Neighbour turns against neighbour, as society fractures in the face of this terrifying foe. Perhaps some other intelligence is at work, toying with colonists and space-faring scientists alike? But not all questions are so easily answered – and the price may be the colony itself.

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Memory is due to be published by Tor Books in the UK (November 24th) and Orbit Books in North America (January 31st, 2023).

Also on CR: Reviews of Children of Ruin and Shards of Earth; Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky (2012)

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter