William Gibson’s cyberpunk novel Neuromancer sparked a new scifi genre when it was released in 1984. His ideas for the structure of information in cyberspace were weirdly predictive, and provided a novel approach to the future that dealt intimately with the technology of that era.

Combining high technology with urban violence, …

A Wizard of Earthsea is the classic fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. It has delighted readers since it’s publication in 1968 with it’s story of magic and personal growth, and remains a favourite of mine since I first read it as a child.

A Wizard of Earthsea describes the …

Days of Grass is a novel set several generations after the invasion of earth. Esther is a girl living in an underground shelter, with the descendants of people who fled there during the take over.

Tanith Lee manages to create a twilight world underground, redolent with dark tunnels and the inevitability …

Quarantine is a book set in the near future, much of the culture is the same, but there have been improvements in some technology that make life a bit different. Neural mods can be used to carry software in the brain, instead of on computer, from simple calculators to complex …

Sometimes you come across a novel that is just right. It has all the bits you’re looking for and it’s interesting and funny and creative, and you read it over and over. King’s Blood Four is like this. The first published novel of Sheri S. Tepper, and the first in …

George Orr has dreams. Sometimes he has bad dreams, but no more than anyone else. He takes drugs to keep from dreaming. Because sometimes his dreams come true.

Sometimes when he wakes up, his dream is true, and it always has been, everyone believes the ‘new’ reality, everyone but him. When …

Tales of the Bard in many ways epitomises what I expect from a good fantasy series. It is a series I’ve read several times now, it’s fun and interesting and has a dark side, central characters really die, and the ones that don’t develop as they go along. I find …

Archangel is a novel that could almost be considered fantasy, there are angels, who intercede with the god, Jovah, and guide the people. However there are many oblique references to technology. The interface between the Oracles and Jovah is screen with arcane symbols, and all humans are tracked by a …

This is the first Four Bee book, combined with the sequel Drinking Sapphire Wine into the volume Biting the Sun.

An interesting point to note before before beginning this book is that it is written in the first person, and the main character is never named. No one even refers to …

Against a Dark Background is a novel about a woman who is a mercenary, an antiques hunter, and a noble. Sharrow’s family is no longer rich. Her grandfather Gorko amassed a fortune, and her father gambled it away. There is nothing left for her and her half-sister Breyguhn.

As the last …