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Fiction

Old Man’s War

Old Man’s War

January 2008

Old Man’s War closely follows the structure set up by Starship Troopers and the other military sci-fi classic, The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman: recruit, training, fighting, promotion and more fighting. However, Scalzi fills in the gaps with his own creations to make his book something more than a replica.


Glasshouse

Glasshouse

January 2008

Glasshouse is a fast-paced, zippy thriller of a science fiction novel. It is no accident that it has been shortlisted for the Hugo Award in the best novel category this year.


Black Man

Black Man

January 2008

Richard Morgan’s new novel is set a couple of hundred years into the future. Earth is divided into new power blocs, the United States is united no more and the world is as riven with factional discord as it is today.


Peace and War

Peace and War

July 2007

There are few science fiction novels that can comfortably carry the label of 'classic' for long. The Forever War is one such novel, remaining as relevant now as it was when first published back in 1974.


The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty Third Annual Collection

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty Third Annual Collection

July 2007

Every year for over two decades, Gardner Dozois has selected the best science fiction stories published in the previous year for his legendary Year’s Best SF collections. They are always huge (this one is over 600 pages and 300,000 words), and provide a hearty serving of reliably high quality reading.


The Outcast: An Anthology of Exiles and Strangers

The Outcast: An Anthology of Exiles and Strangers

July 2007

Editor Nicole Murphy tells us in her introduction that the theme for The Outcast was suggested by well-known Australian author Maxine McArthur, whose then-unpublished manuscript Time Future won the George Turner Prize in 1999.


Nova Swing

Nova Swing

April 2007

On Saudade, anything is possible. Find yourself a new body, a new self. Buy a vintage Cadillac; be a vintage Cadillac. Have your flowers modified to smell of chocolate, or remodel your home to resemble a lighthouse.


Judas Unchained

Judas Unchained

April 2007

Like Kevin Costner’s tendency to shoot long films, it seems British science fiction writer Peter F. Hamilton can only produce big, fat novels. Hamilton’s latest series, The Commonwealth Saga, comprises Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained, and when combined, the page count of both books exceeds 2,200. With such a large canvas to work with, Hamilton paints an incredibly vast and vivid world.


The Night of the Triffids

The Night of the Triffids

April 2007

John Wyndham’s work has had a mixed reception over the decades: adored by the general reader, treated with cool disdain by the science fiction cognoscenti.


K-Machines

K-Machines

September 2006

K-Machines is a sequel to Godplayers (2005), with which it forms a complete diptych. They develop an appealing vision of how a high-technology future might turn out, if everything goes as well as we can hope.


Pushing Ice

Pushing Ice

September 2006

Alastair Reynolds has effortlessly produced space operas with a gothic bent and cooler-than cool protagonists. In Pushing Ice, Reynolds tones down the space battles for an intelligent novel of man's future among the stars.


The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy

The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy

June 2006

A review of Year's Best Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy, the latest edition of the book series highlighting the notable and worthy in science fiction and fantasy in Australia.


Century Rain

Century Rain

June 2006

Any novel combining wormhole theory, noir, World War II and lots of jazz hardly sounds like typical science fiction. But science fiction Century Rain is - and one of the most charming offerings available.


Mind's Eye

Mind's Eye

April 2006

In his new novel, author McAuley takes on the subject of entoptic images, their possible effects on the nervous system and how the unscrupulous might use them to develop a system of mind control. Such images are found among the art of the Palaeolithic period, and can trigger the neural system to produce phosphenes and form constants - patterns that can be seen with the eyes closed.


A Tour Guide in Utopia: Stories

A Tour Guide in Utopia: Stories

February 2006

Lucy Sussex is one of Australia's most accomplished writers of science fiction and fantasy, but her work can't be ascribed to any particular category. Some of her best ghost stories are also investigative pieces of science writing; some of her best science fiction is romantic comedy.


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