RogerBW's Blog

Beyond the Empire, K. B. Wagers 18 March 2024

2017 SF, third of its trilogy. Hailimi has to take back her Empire, and think hard about the future…

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Jurassic Park 16 March 2024 - 3 comments

1993 science fiction, dir. Steven Spielberg, Sam Neill, Laura Dern: IMDb / allmovie. How dare they do science!

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Clockwork Boys, T Kingfisher 15 March 2024

2017 fantasy, first of a pair. A disgraced paladin, an assassin, a forger and a scholar ride out on a suicide mission…

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The Dark Archive, Genevieve Cogman 13 March 2024

2020 alternate-world fantasy, seventh of its series. Irene's trying to train up a new assistant, but someone's attacking them and their allies…

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A Better Tomorrow 12 March 2024

1986 action, dir. John Woo, Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung: IMDb / allmovie. Two brothers on opposite sides of the law…

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The Two-Headed Eagle, John Biggins 11 March 2024 - 2 comments

1993 historical aviation fiction. For a few months in 1916 Linienschiffsleutnant Otto Prohaska of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is a heroic aviator.

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Capture the Sun, Jessie Mihalik 09 March 2024

2023 SF/romance, third of a trilogy. Lexi Bowen, professional thief, fell for human-adjacent hottie Nilo Shoren, but he dumped her and stole her job. But why does he have to be so nice?

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Long Story Short, Jodi Taylor 08 March 2024

2019 science fiction anthology collecting stories mostly in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel).

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The Holmes-Dracula File, Fred Saberhagen 07 March 2024

1978 horror, second in Saberhagen's loose Dracula series. In 1897, London is getting ready for Victoria's Jubilee. A man is clubbed on the street and loses his memory, but finds himself being used as an experimental subject. And SHerlock Holmes will encounter the Giant Rat of Sumatra.

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Dark Horse, Michelle Diener 06 March 2024

2015 SF/romance, first of a series. Rose McKenzie was kidnapped from Earth and was kept as a prisoner and experimental subject aboard a space battleship, until she managed to escape. Dav Jallan doesn't know why this battleship has turnd up in his region of space, or why its crew is dead, but…

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The Boxing Baroness, Minerva Spencer 05 March 2024

2022 Regency romance. Marianne Simpson boxes at Farnham's Fantastical Female Fayre, run by her uncle. She has good reason to be suspicious of aristocratic men. But the Duke of Staunton has need of her…

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Pulsar Race, Glynn Stewart 04 March 2024

2020 SF novella, side story in the Starship's Mage series. Ivan Halloway is a retired Mage who wanted to get away from the dangers of naval service; but he'll still help out his old buddy who's got himself into way too much trouble…

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All is Fair, Emma Newman 02 March 2024

2013 fantasy, third volume of its series. Cathy tries to kick off her project to reform society in the Nether; Max still works for the increasingly erratic sorcerer Ekstrand; Sam is dragged into the Elemental Court.

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After the Crown, K. B. Wagers 01 March 2024

2016 SF, second of its trilogy. Hailimi has survived one plot to depose her, but there are more waiting their turn…

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Through the Evil Days, Julia Spencer-Fleming 29 February 2024

2011 mystery (modern police procedural plus amateur), eighth in its series. All the fæces hits the fan at once.

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Summer Lightning, P. G. Wodehouse 28 February 2024 - 1 comment

1929 comedy. All the couples are at odds, but more importantly, the Empress of Blandings is missing. US vt Fish Preferred.

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Eclipse the Moon, Jessie Mihalik 27 February 2024

2022 SF/romance, second of a trilogy. Kee Ildez knows that human-adjacent hottie Varro Runkow isn't interested in her, and anyway she's got lots of hacking to do to track down the various conspirators left in the wind…

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The Secret Chapter, Genevieve Cogman 26 February 2024

2019 alternate-world fantasy, sixth of its series. The world where Irene went to school is threatened by chaos, and only a particular book will save it. But that means she's going to have to deal with the Fae…

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The Emperor's Coloured Coat, John Biggins 24 February 2024

1992 historical naval fiction. In spite of his best efforts, Linienschiffsleutnant Otto Prohaska of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is not going to avert the First World War.

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Hidden Depths, Ann Cleeves 23 February 2024

2007 contemporary police mystery, third in Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series. A few days apart, two unrelated people are strangled, a troubled young man and a trainee teacher, and their bodies laid out in water surrounded by flowers.

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RoboCop 22 February 2024 - 2 comments

1987 science fiction, dir. Paul Verhoeven, Peter Weller, Nancy Allen: IMDb / allmovie. When do we start? As soon as some poor schmuck volunteers.

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Defender, Mike Shepherd 21 February 2024

2013 military SF, eleventh of the Kris Longknife books. Kris has a planet to defend.

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Mortal Arts, Anna Lee Huber 19 February 2024

2013 historical mystery; second in Huber's Lady Darby series (post-Regency amateur detection). On the way to Edinburgh, Lady Darby stops at the Dalmays', where scandal, madness and murder will all be unveiled…

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Halloween (1978) 17 February 2024

1978 horror, dir. John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance: IMDb / allmovie. The killer child has grown up and come home.

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The Ships of Air, Martha Wells 16 February 2024

2004 gaslamp fantasy. All the pieces are moving in different directions, across multiple worlds and multiple factions.

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Behind the Throne, K. B. Wagers 14 February 2024

2016 SF, first of a trilogy. Hailimi left the court to become a gunrunner, but now the other heirs are dead and her mother the Empress is going mad…

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Battle Beyond the Stars 13 February 2024

1980 science fiction, dir. Jimmy T. Murakami, Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn; IMDb / allmovie. The villagers know the bandits are coming, so they hire fighters to defend them. In space.

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One Was a a Soldier, Julia Spencer-Fleming 12 February 2024

2011 mystery (modern police procedural plus amateur), seventh in its series. War is not good for people.

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The Magnificent Seven 10 February 2024 - 2 comments

1960 western, dir. John Sturges, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen; IMDb / allmovie. The villagers know the bandits are coming, so they hire fighters to defend them.

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Any Other Name, Emma Newman 09 February 2024

2013 fantasy, second volume of a series. Cat's forced into marriage; Max and the gargoyle investigate a sudden power vacuum; Sam worries about his wife.

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Hunt the Stars, Jessie Mihalik 07 February 2024

2022 SF/romance, first of a trilogy. Octavia Zarola can't afford to turn down a retrieval mission. Even if it's from the people who were at war with humanity.

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Seven Samurai 06 February 2024 - 3 comments

1954 Japanese drama, dir. Akira Kurosawa, Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune; IMDb / allmovie. The villagers know the bandits are coming, so they hire fighters to defend them.

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The Service of Mars, Glynn Stewart 05 February 2024

2020 SF, ninth of its series. The forces of Mars work to clear up the débris from the big rebellion; for one thing, nobody's actually found their government…

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Robin and Marian 03 February 2024

1976 adventure, dir. Richard Lester, Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn; IMDb / allmovie. After many years abroad with King Richard, Robin finally comes home to Marian, but life has moved on.

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The Dracula Tape, Fred Saberhagen 02 February 2024 - 2 comments

1975 horror, first in Saberhagen's loose Dracula series. Count Dracula tells the real story of the events that led to the novel.

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Miracle on 34th Street 01 February 2024

1947 glurge, dir. George Seaton, John Payne, Maureen O'Hara: IMDb / allmovie. If you don't believe in Santa Claus you're an old meaniehead.

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An Argumentation of Historians, Jodi Taylor 31 January 2024

2018 science fiction, ninth in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel). More adventures in history!

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It's a Wonderful Life 30 January 2024 - 2 comments

1946 glurge, dir. Frank Capra, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore: IMDb / allmovie. You can't win, you can't break even, and God won't let you get out of the game.

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Happy Ever After, Nora Roberts 29 January 2024

2010 romance, last of its loose tetralogy. Parker Brown and three of her childhood friends run a wedding business, everything from engagement photos to the Big Day; she does the overall organisation and client-wrangling. She isn't looking for romance…

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Train to Busan 27 January 2024 - 1 comment

2016 Korean horror, dir. Yeon Sang-ho; Gong Yoo, Kim Su-an; IMDb / allmovie. There's an extra passenger aboard the express. (Vtt Busanhaeng or 부산행.)

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The Mortal Word, Genevieve Cogman 26 January 2024

2018 alternate-world fantasy, fifth of its series. The Fae and the Dragons have been brought to an alternate Paris to negotiate a peace treaty. But one of the negotiators has been assassinated, and not-Sherlock-Holmes Lord Peregrine Vale is the obvious person to solve it.

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Rec 25 January 2024

2007 Spanish found-footage horror, stylised as "[•REC]"; dir. Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza; Manuela Velasco: IMDb / allmovie. Making a documentary about the night shift at the fire station is not going to end well.

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A Walk Through the Fire, Marcia Muller 24 January 2024

1999 mystery, nineteenth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Or, this time, in Kauai, as her office neighbour Glenna Stanleigh asks for extra security on a troubled documentary film project.

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The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 23 January 2024

1920 surreal horror, dir. Robert Wiene, Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt; IMDb / allmovie. The mysterious Caligari sets up at the town fair, with his somnambulistic subject, and people start to die…

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Honor and Shadows, Jessie Mihalik 22 January 2024

2022 SF/romance novelette, prequel to a trilogy. Captain Octavia Zarola is a bounty hunter with a heart of gold.

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The Halcyon Fairy Book, T Kingfisher 19 January 2024 - 3 comments

2017 fantasy anthology in two parts, commentaries on fairy stories and a few original ones.

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The Six-Gun Solution, Simon Hawke 17 January 2024 - 2 comments

1991 SF, twelfth and last of its series. After three Observers go missing, the Time Corps protagonists travel to Tombstone, Arizona in 1881.

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Letters to a Soldier, Julia Spencer-Fleming 16 January 2024

2011 interstitial collection of letters, in the Fergusson-Van Alstyne series. Various people write to friends and family on deployment.

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Twice in a Blue Moon, Patricia Moyes 13 January 2024

1993 mystery, nineteenth and last in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. Susan Gardiner unexpectedly inherits a run-down country pub and, since she's trained in restaurant management, decides to refurbish it and open it as a restaurant. Then one of her customers dies from mushroom poisoning…

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Between Two Thorns, Emma Newman 12 January 2024

2013 fantasy, first of a series. There are magical worlds beyond our own… and most of the people who live there are horrible.

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Silence in Solitude, Melissa Scott 11 January 2024

1986 SF, second of its trilogy. Silence Leigh, already a hyperspace pilot, has now had some training as a magus, and is ready to have another try at travelling to lost Earth.

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The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars, Maurice Dekobra 09 January 2024

1925… thriller, I suppose. Prince Séliman works as secretary to Lady Diana Wynham, a scandalous woman. Original title La Madone des sleepings. Banned in Boston!

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Flight and Anchor, Nicole Kornher-Stace 08 January 2024

2023 SF novella. Years before the events of Firebreak, the twelve-year-old cyber-enhanced SecOps 06 and 22 run away from the Company for the first time…

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A Sailor Of Austria, John Biggins 06 January 2024 - 1 comment

1991 historical naval fiction. In 1915, Linienschiffsleutnant Otto Prohaska of the Austro-Hungarian Navy takes command of a submarine…

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Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh 04 January 2024

2023 space-operatic SF. Earth was destroyed in the great war, and its survivors scrape by on Gaea Station, an asteroid powered by the last salvaged warships. Kyr, a genetically enhanced "warbreed", has spent her life training for a chance to avenge the fourteen billion dead… "While Earth's children live, the enemy shall fear us."

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2023 in Books 02 January 2024 - 1 comment

In 2023 I read 204 books, the most of any year since the pandemic began.

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The Detective Up Late, Adrian McKinty 30 December 2023

2018 crime, seventh in the Sean Duffy series. As the 1990s dawn, Sean Duffy just has a bit of paperwork to do before he goes part-time for good. But he can't ever let it lie…

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Legacy, Joan D. Vinge 29 December 2023

1980 SF novella, in the same world as The Outcasts of Heaven Belt though set before the events of that book. In a system of gradually-decaying asteroid habitats, two self-loathing people go along on a rich man's self-promoting rescue mission.

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A Tempest At Sea, Sherry Thomas 27 December 2023

2023 mystery story, seventh of the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte Holmes is taking a sea voyage, both to assist the Crown in recovering some missing files and to spend time with her lover. But as always murder supervenes.

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The Cleopatra Crisis, Simon Hawke 26 December 2023 - 2 comments

1990 SF, eleventh of its series. The night before Caesar crosses the Rubicon, he's visited by a soothsayer who gives the names of those who will act against him…

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A Dying Fall, Elly Griffiths 22 December 2023

2012 mystery short story, fifth in the series (police plus amateur detection). One of Ruth's old university friends has died in a house fire, but he'd already written to ask her to come and have a look at something he'd found in the post-Roman site at Ribchester…

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Moon 21 December 2023

2009 science fiction, dir. Duncan Jones, Sam Rockwell: IMDb / allmovie. Sam's coming to the end of his three-year shift supervising helium-3 mining robots on the moon…

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Agents of Mars, Glynn Stewart 20 December 2023 - 2 comments

2018 SF, third of its sub-series. David Rice and his subtly well-armed merchant ship are still doing covert intelligence gathering for the Protectorate.

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The Lost Plot, Genevieve Cogman 18 December 2023

2017 alternate-world fantasy, fourth of its series. A political struggle leaves Irene dodging everyone from gangsters to dragons in alt-1920s New York.

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Six Lost Souls, R. E. Stearns 16 December 2023

2019 SF novella, placed in the Shieldrunner Pirates setting but not part of that series. Ku Nel-Aoki is the boss of level 2 of the Jane Jacobs residential module on Ceres. But the Syndicate she works for is not an easy employer.

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12 Monkeys 14 December 2023 - 3 comments

1995 science fiction, dir. Terry Gilliam, Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt: IMDb / allmovie. After the plague, a man is sent back in time to try to get a sample of the original strain.

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Carry On, Celia Lake 13 December 2023

2020 romantic fantasy, first of a new loose series. In the spring of 1915, Major Roland Gospatrick is recovering in hospital, though nobody will tell him what's wrong with him. Elen Morris is assigned as his latest nurse, though he doesn't expect her to last any longer than the others.

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Night's Slow Poison, Ann Leckie 11 December 2023

2012 SF short story, set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch series. The world of Ghaon can only be reached via the Crawl, which destroys ships that try to cross it in less than six months…

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La Jetee 09 December 2023

1962 shoft science fiction, dir. Chris Marker, Davos Hanich, Hélène Châtelain: IMDb / allmovie. After the war, a man is sent back to his memories of the past.

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Black Girl, White Girl, Patricia Moyes 08 December 2023

1989 mystery, eighteenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. The government of the Caribbean island of Tampica seems to have been taken over by drug smugglers; but what can Tibbett do to stop them?

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The Ghosts Of Trappist, K. B. Wagers 06 December 2023

2023 military SF, last of its trilogy. The crew/found family of the not-Coast-Guard spaceship Zuma's Ghost are having to say goodbye to old members and welcome new ones.

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The Wages of Fear (1955) 05 December 2023 - 2 comments

1955 thriller, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, Yves Montand, Charles Vanel: IMDb / allmovie. When you're stuck at the end of the world, you'll take any chance to get back.

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Jonah and Co., Dornford Yates 04 December 2023

1922 fixup of comic short stories. Six friends go to France for the winter.

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The Anatomist's Wife, Anna Lee Huber 01 December 2023

2012 historical mystery; first in Huber's Lady Darby series (post-Regency amateur detection). Lady Darby has retired from society to her brother-in-law's Scottish castle after the death of her husband tainted her with his scandal, but her sister is throwing a party, and not everyone will leave it alive…

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The 13th Warrior 30 November 2023 - 3 comments

1999 pseudo-historical fantasy, dir. John McTiernan*, Antonio Banderas, Vladimir Kulich: IMDb / allmovie. Ahmad ibn Fadlan's diplomatic mission to the Volga Vikings goes further than anyone expected.

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Before, After, Alone, Emma Newman 29 November 2023

2023 SF short story collection in the Planetfall universe.

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The Wizard Hunters, Martha Wells 27 November 2023

2003 gaslamp fantasy. Ile-Rien is under attack by the mysterious Gardier and their black airships. Tremaine Valiarde doesn't really care about that; she's just looking for a way to die, on her own terms. In another world, Ilias wants to make sure the wizard he killed is still dead.

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Sweet Smell of Success 25 November 2023

1957 noir, dir. Alexander Mackendrick, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster; IMDb / allmovie. Compromise enough and there's nothing left; then the film begins.

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Shatter the Bones, Stuart MacBride 24 November 2023

2011 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, seventh in the Logan McRae series. The most popular contestants on Britain's Next Big Star have been kidnapped – but is it all a hoax by the promoter? Meanwhile the target of a drugs bust seems to think he can get Logan to get him the drugs back…

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Trick or Treat, Kerry Greenwood 22 November 2023

2007 mystery, fourth in Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series. A cut-price rival bakery, a dangerous new drug, a prickly neo-Pagan conference, Nazi-looted gold…

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Renfield 21 November 2023 - 2 comments

2023 comedy-horror, dir. Chris McKay, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina: IMDb / allmovie. What if Dracula's servitor tried to get out from under his thumb?

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To Stand Defiant, Glynn Stewart 20 November 2023

2022 space-navy SF, second of its sub-series. The Dakotan Confederacy refuses to become the arsenal for a massive fleet being built by the admiral who's taken over the Commonwealth of which it used to be a part. Nobody there wants a fight, but military dictators aren't known for their understanding of differing opinions…

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Black Run, Karen Traviss 17 November 2023

2017 military-adjacent SF, second of its series. Ian Dunlop the genetic experiment is trying to settle down to life with his new family, but not everyone has forgotten about him.

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Song of the Thin Man (1947) 16 November 2023

1947 mystery-comedy, dir. Edward Buzzell, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. That devil music, it's no good!

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Beware of the Dog, Elizabeth Ferrars 15 November 2023

1992 mystery. Helen Lovelace dies peacefully at eighty-eight. But when her surviving relatives turn up, a glamorous Hollywood star and an Australian businessman, one will soon be shot dead and the other suspected of the murder…

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The Outcasts of Heaven Belt, Joan D. Vinge 13 November 2023 - 4 comments

1978 short SF novel. After its civil war, the Heaven system (gas giant and trojans, asteroid belt, some very marginal planets) has split into multiple polities, and the machinery that sustains life is gradually breaking down. Then a ramscoop starship arrives from a nearby system…

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The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) 11 November 2023

1944 mystery-comedy, dir. Richard Thorpe, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. There's nothing like going back to your home town.

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Magic Claims, Ilona Andrews 10 November 2023

2023 modern fantasy, continuation of the Kate Daniels series. Kate and Curran are still trying to live in peace, but the effort is still doomed.

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Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly, Adrian McKinty 08 November 2023

2017 crime, sixth in the Sean Duffy series. Belfast, 1988: a heroin dealer is wounded by a crossbow bolt, and another is murdered. But for once it doesn't seem to have been the paramilitaries who did it.

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Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) 07 November 2023

1941 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Can new screenwriters revive the series, without Dashiell Hammett's help?

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Only Good Enemies, Jennifer Estep 06 November 2023

2023 romantic SF, second of a planned trilogy. Vesper Quill is trying to pretend she doesn't have an unbreakable psychic bond with Kyrion Caldaren, so that the Emperor doesn't eat their souls (he has form). But to get through all the things being thrown at them they'll need to use not only their own powers but each other's.

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The Haunter of the Dark 04 November 2023

2023 audio drama, adapted in ten parts by Julian Simpson from the story by H. P. Lovecraft.

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Tavern Rats, Matt Youngmark 03 November 2023 - 3 comments

2022 comic fantasy. Frinzil the sorcery student suddenly has to pay for several years of tuition. Obviously the way to do this is to go adventuring.

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Charlotte Holmes and the Locked Box, Sherry Thomas 01 November 2023

2017 short story in the Lady Sherlock series. A client has a mysterious puzzle box…

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Another Thin Man (1939) 31 October 2023

1939 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Everyone wanted the old man dead.

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Killer's Choice, Ed McBain 30 October 2023

1957 police procedural, fifth in the 87th Precinct series. The beautiful redhead is gunned down in a liquor store. But everyone who knew her seems to have had a motive.

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After the Thin Man (1936) 28 October 2023

1936 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. The husband has deserted his wife, and she wants to track him down.

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The Hellfire Rebellion, Simon Hawke 27 October 2023

1990 SF, tenth of its series. It's 1765 in Boston, and the Sons of Liberty are being threatened by a headless horseman.

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The Thin Man (1934) 26 October 2023

1934 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Turns out life doesn't have to end at marriage.

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Gravity of a Distant Sun, R. E. Stearns 25 October 2023

2020 SF, third and of its series. Adda and Iridian have been captured by the law, and the rogue AIs are still out there and trying to manipulate them…

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Big Trouble in Little China 24 October 2023 - 2 comments

1986 martial arts fantasy, dir. John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall: IMDb / allmovie. Jack Burton doesn't care about immortal sorcerers and demon kings, he just wants his truck back.

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Night Ferry To Death, Patricia Moyes 23 October 2023

1985 mystery, seventeenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. Returning from Amsterdam, Henry and Emmy can't get a cabin on the night ferry, and end up having to rough it in seats. In the morning, one of their fellow travellers has been murdered…

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Translation State, Ann Leckie 20 October 2023 - 1 comment

2023 SF, set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch series but not in Radchaai space. Three people get involved in the mystery of a Presger Translator who went missing hundreds of years ago.

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The Long and Short Of It, Jodi Taylor 18 October 2023

2017 science fiction anthology collecting stories in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel).

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The Birds (1963) 17 October 2023 - 4 comments

1963 thriller/horror, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor: IMDb / allmovie. The spoiled socialite goes to the small seaside town to track down her latest potential conquest…

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Faro's Daughter, Georgette Heyer 16 October 2023

1941 Regency-adjacent romance. Deb Grantham, though of good birth, has ended up as a faro-dealer in her aunt's gaming house. She's taking what amusement she can from stringing along several beaux, while refusing any serious entanglements. But one of them is the wealthy young Lord Mablethorpe, and his mother, terrified by the idea of his making an unsuitable marriage, sends her nephew, man-of-the-world Mr Ravenscar, to buy her off…

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North by Northwest (1959) 14 October 2023

1959 thriller, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint: IMDb / allmovie. The ordinary man is suddenly thrown into Cool Spy World.

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Mage-Provocateur, Glynn Stewart 13 October 2023 - 1 comment

2018 SF, second of its sub-series. David Rice is still being hunted by people trying for the bounty posted by the crime lord he killed. Fortunately his covert-ops backers want those guys taken off the table too.

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Summer in Orcus, T Kingfisher 11 October 2023

2017 fantasy, first released as a web serial. When Baba Yaga's house walks into Summer's back yard, she sets off on an adventure…

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Vertigo (1958) 10 October 2023

1958 psychological drama, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Kim Novak: IMDb / allmovie. Obsession is not good for you.

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I Shall Not Want, Julia Spencer-Fleming 09 October 2023

2008 mystery (modern police procedural plus amateur), sixth in its series. Police chief Van Alstyne is still working through grief over his dead wife. But he still has to be the police chief.

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The Burning Page, Genevieve Cogman 06 October 2023

2016 alternate-world fantasy, third of its series. The Library is under attack!

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The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 05 October 2023

1948 psychological adventure, dir. John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston: IMDb / allmovie. Gold fever takes men in strange ways.

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The Belle of Belgrave Square, Mimi Matthews 04 October 2023

2022 Victorian romance. Julia Wychwood suffers from professionally invalid parents and crippling shyness, and her only escape has been to rely on her friends and to pretend illness herself. But her friends are away for a crucial few days, and her parents are forcing her to socialise. Meanwhile Captain Jasper Blunt, notoriously cruel hero of the siege of Sebastopol, rumoured to have a string of bastards and a haunted estate in Yorkshire, is looking for a rich wife…

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Where Old Bones Lie, Ann Granger 02 October 2023

1993 mystery, fifth of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Alan Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. Meredith's asked to help out her nervous friend Ursula on an archaeological dig when a bunch of new age travellers set up nearby, but what Ursula's really concerned about is whether her obsessive ex (also on the dig) may have murdered his wife…

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Romancing the Stone 30 September 2023 - 1 comment

1984 adventure, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner: IMDb / AllMovie. Joan the mousy romance writer has to travel to Colombia to pay off the people who've kidnapped her sister…

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The Lilliput Legion, Simon Hawke 29 September 2023

1989 SF, ninth of its series. In 1702 Lemuel Gulliver is drinking himself to death, having encountered tiny men after a shipwreck. Obviously a job for the Time Commandos.

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Spectred Isle, K J Charles 27 September 2023

2017 fantasy, first of a projected series. It's 1923, and most of England's occultists died during the War. But magical threats haven't gone away…

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High Road to China 26 September 2023

1983 adventure, dir. Brian G. Hutton, Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong: IMDb / AllMovie. It's the 1920s. Eve Tozer's father will be declared dead, and his crooked business partner will take over the company, unless she can find him and get him to a British court. What this needs is a drunken war hero!

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A Six-Letter Word For Death, Patricia Moyes 25 September 2023

1983 mystery, sixteenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. Tibbett receives a letter from an obvious crank: a crossword, to which the answers hint at undetected murders. The resolution of that is straightforward enough, but it's only the beginning…

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Wheel of the Infinite, Martha Wells 22 September 2023

2000 fantasy. Maskelle was a high-ranking priest, but did something bad and has been living in exile. Now she's called back to Duvalpore, because something strange is going on with the Hundred-Year Rite that will reinforce the world…

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She Commands Me And I Obey, Ann Leckie 20 September 2023 - 4 comments

2014 SF short story, set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch series. Her-Breath-Contains-The-Universe is is a junior monk in a monastery (on a space station) that also trains players for something like the Mesoamerican ballgame, which has political significance too…

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Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery 19 September 2023

2006 remount of the 1947 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in 8 parts. Paul and Steve are asked to take a pair of spectacles with them on their trip to Cairo…

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Seven Sisters, Celia Lake 18 September 2023

2020 romantic fantasy, seventh and last of its loose series. Vivian Porter's inquiry agency is humming along, so she does a favour for a friend by looking into strange goings-on at a boarding house outside Oxford.

[more]
The Running Man 16 September 2023 - 3 comments

1987 science fiction action, dir. Paul Michael Glaser, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Dawson: IMDb / allmovie. The only real game is the game of death.

[more]
Frog in the Throat, Elizabeth Ferrars 15 September 2023

1980 mystery. Virginia is staying in the country with some friends, but when her estranged husband Felix turns up there's bound to be trouble…

[more]
The Chase, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 13 September 2023

2021 science fiction in the Diving Universe series. Everything lands in the same place all at once.

[more]
Predator 12 September 2023 - 4 comments

1987 science fiction action horror, dir. John McTiernan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers: IMDb / allmovie. There's something out there waiting for us, and it ain't no man.

[more]
All Mortal Flesh, Julia Spencer-Fleming 11 September 2023

2006 mystery (modern police procedural plus amateur), fifth in its series. Van Alstyne the police chief is known to be on the outs with his wife, which makes it awkward when her body is found…

[more]
Kris Longknife's Bloodhound, Mike Shepherd 09 September 2023

2013 military SF novella, side story to Furious in the Kris Longknife series. The detective who failed to catch Kris does some investigation on her behalf.

[more]
Realtime Interrupt, James P. Hogan 07 September 2023 - 4 comments

1995 SF. Joe wakes up in a hospital with serious memory loss: he overdid things, it seems, and had a major breakdown. But bits of the world are wrong.

[more]
Commando 06 September 2023 - 2 comments

1985 action, dir. Mark Lester, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong: IMDb / allmovie. A tragic love story.

[more]
The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey 05 September 2023

1948 mystery. Robert Blair is a solicitor in a country town, settling comfortably into middle age. Then the two odd women who've moved into the impractical and isolated house known as The Franchise find themselves accused of kidnapping and torture…

[more]
Hold Fast Through the Fire, K. B. Wagers 03 September 2023

2021 military SF, second of its trilogy. The crew/found family of the not-Coast-Guard spaceship Zuma's Ghost are having to say goodbye to old members and welcome new ones.

[more]
The Poisoned Chocolates Case 02 September 2023 - 1 comment

1984 audio adaptation by Neville Teller of Anthony Berkeley's 1929 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. The womanising Sir Eustace was sent a box of chocolates, which he gave to Graham Bendix; Graham was taken ill, and his wife died. A circle of amateur criminologists tries to work out what happened.

[more]
The Winter Companion, Mimi Matthews 01 September 2023

2020 Victorian romance. Neville Cross has always got on with animals better than with people, particularly since the injury that made it hard for him to speak. Clara Hartwright is a lady's companion with unconventional plans for the future. Will they turn a brief acquaintance during a Christmas visit into something more?

[more]
Double Indemnity 31 August 2023

1944 noir, dir. Billy Wilder, Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck: IMDb / allmovie. He doesn't get the money, and he doesn't get the woman.

[more]
Interstellar Mage, Glynn Stewart 30 August 2023 - 5 comments

2017 SF, first of its sub-series. David Rice lost his merchant ship, but the Mage-King of Mars has given him a new one. And there almost isn't a price…

[more]
Color Out of Space (2019) 29 August 2023 - 2 comments

2019 horror, dir. Richard Stanley, Nicolas Cage, Madeleine Arthur: IMDb / allmovie. There's something in the water…

[more]
Ruth's First Christmas Tree, Elly Griffiths 28 August 2023

2012 mystery-adjacent short story. With a young daughter, Ruth Galloway feels she ought to get a Christmas tree and otherwise have a "proper" Christmas.

[more]
The Masked City, Genevieve Cogman 25 August 2023

2015 alternate-world fantasy. Irene's apprentice is kidnapped from steampunk Victorian London, and she has to go to an ideal of Venice to rescue him.

[more]
The Whisperer in Darkness (2011) 24 August 2023

2011 horror, dir. Sean Branney, Matt Foyer, Autumn Wendel: IMDb / allmovie. Albert Wilmarth is about to go deeper into folklore than he ever intended.

[more]
Furious Heaven, Kate Elliott 23 August 2023

2023 space-operatic SF, second of a planned trilogy. Sun Shan and the Chaonian forces have won their first great victory over the Phene Empire, but domestic complications arise.

[more]
Die Farbe (2010) 22 August 2023

2010 horror, Huan Vu, Ingo Heise, Marco Leibnitz: IMDb / allmovie. Why has Dad gone back to a part of Germany he visited during the war? vt The Color Out of Space.

[more]
Rain Dogs, Adrian McKinty 21 August 2023

2016 crime, fifth in the Sean Duffy series. Belfast, 1987: Duffy faces another locked-room mystery when a journalist is found dead in Carrickfergus Castle.

[more]
The Call of Cthulhu (2005) 19 August 2023

2005 horror, Sean Branney and Andrew Leman, Matt Foyer: IMDb / allmovie. Great-uncle left some very disturbing papers…

[more]
The Hollow Hills, Mary Stewart 18 August 2023 - 3 comments

1973 Arthurian fantasy, second of its series. Merlin watches over Arthur, from his birth to his coronation.

[more]
Conquer the Kingdom, Jennifer Estep 16 August 2023

2023 fantasy, last of its trilogy. Princess Gemma has got her man, but still has other problems to solve, including his murderous brother and their scheming mother.

[more]
Glass Onion (2022) 15 August 2023

2022 whodunnit, dir. Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig, Janelle Monáe: IMDb / allmovie. The tech billionaire hosts a murder mystery party on his private island. It doesn't go well.

[more]
Furious, Mike Shepherd 14 August 2023

2012 military SF, tenth of the Kris Longknife books. Exiled to a significant but powerless position and surrounded by spies, Kris has to get back to her homeworld and start planning out how to deal with the alien menace that people aren't being told about.

[more]
Taken at the Flood 12 August 2023

2003 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1948 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. Rosaleen had just married her very rich husband when their flat in London was bombed and she was the only survivor. Two years later, the war's over and his relatives are coming round with their hands out…

[more]
Last Will and Testament, Elizabeth Ferrars 11 August 2023 - 1 comment

1978 mystery. The rich old woman dies, not unexpectedly. But her relatives and her solicitor are all going to be surprised, some of them fatally.

[more]
Knives Out (2019) 10 August 2023

2019 whodunnit, dir. Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas: IMDb / allmovie. The rich old man is stabbed after his 85th birthday party; whodunnit?

[more]
The Dracula Caper, Simon Hawke 09 August 2023

1988 SF, eighth of its series. People are being torn apart in Victorian London, or simply drained of blood. How will the Time Commandos solve the problem?

[more]
The Matrix Resurrections (2021) 08 August 2023 - 2 comments

2021 SF, dir. Lana Wachowski, Keanu Reeves, Jessica Henwick; IMDb / allmovie. What if we ignored the films that were not so good?

[more]
Simulacron-3, Daniel F. Galouye 07 August 2023

1964 SF. Douglas Hall is working on a simulated reality to make product test-marketing cheaper. But all of a sudden things aren't the way he remembers them being… UK vt Counterfeit World.

[more]
The Matrix Revolutions (2003) 05 August 2023 - 2 comments

2003 SF, dir. Wachowskis, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne; IMDb / allmovie. See Neo fight. Fight, Neo, fight.

[more]
A Convenient Fiction, Mimi Matthews 04 August 2023

2019 Victorian romance. Laura Hayes' father died of the same fever that left her brother an invalid, and what was left of the family business and land is tied up by a grasping lawyer. Alex Archer, professional card sharp, is trading in the thousands of pounds owed to him by his latest victim for an introduction to an heiress, who happens to be Laura's neighbour…

[more]
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) 03 August 2023 - 2 comments

2003 SF, dir. Wachowskis, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne; IMDb / allmovie. OK, so you're God. Now what?

[more]
Angel Death, Patricia Moyes 02 August 2023

1980 mystery, fifteenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. Henry and Emmy are back in the British Seaward Islands for a boating holiday. But people have been disappearing…

[more]
The Matrix (1999) 01 August 2023 - 2 comments

1999 SF, dir. Wachowskis, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne; IMDb / allmovie. What if it were all, like, a simulation, man?

[more]
Mountain of Mars, Glynn Stewart 31 July 2023

2020 SF, eighth of its series. The Mage-King of Mars has been assassinated; Damien Montgomery takes over as Lord Regent for the young Mage-Queen.

[more]
Pig (2021) 29 July 2023

2021 crime, dir. Michael Sarnoski, Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff: IMDb / allmovie. He just wants his pig back.

[more]
To Darkness and to Death, Julia Spencer-Fleming 28 July 2023

2005 mystery (modern police procedural plus amateur), fourth in its series. The old family woodland is going to be sold to an alliance of environmental group and logging company, and that triggers a variety of bad behaviour.

[more]
The Great St Mary's Day Out, Jodi Taylor 26 July 2023

2016 science fiction novelette, in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel). Things have gone well for a change, so the historians and other of St Mary's go on an outing to see one of the first run performances of Hamlet. Of course, things go wrong.

[more]
Promising Young Woman 25 July 2023 - 2 comments

2020 drama, dir. Emerald Fennell, Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham: IMDb / allmovie. When she was a medical student, her friend was raped, and killed herself after nobody believed her. She's going to stop that happening again.

[more]
The Raven and the Reindeer, T Kingfisher 24 July 2023

2016 fantasy. Gerta's friend Kay is stolen away by the Snow Queen; so off she goes to get him back.

[more]
Maelstrom, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 21 July 2023

2021 science fiction, short novella in the Diving Universe series. A backwater planet's moon has a complicated hazard; what happened to the ship that famously vanished?

[more]
On the Bias, Celia Lake 19 July 2023

2020 romantic fantasy, sixth of its loose series. Castalia Jones has built up her dressmaking business to the point where she can make choices about what to make, and for whom. Benton is Lord Carillon's valet, factotum, and household manager. They don't particularly like each other…

[more]
Nomadland (2020) 18 July 2023

2020 pseudo-documentary, dir. Chloé Zhao, Frances McDormand; IMDb / allmovie. Migrant labour is still a thing.

[more]
The Con Man, Ed McBain 17 July 2023

1957 police procedural, fourth in the 87th Precinct series. A con man is finding victims on the streets of Isola… and the body of a young woman has just turned up in the river.

[more]
A Modest Independence, Mimi Matthews 14 July 2023

2019 Victorian romance. Jenny the vicar's daughter left home to be a lady's companion. Now the lady's married, but has settled a moderate amount of money on her. So she decides to go to India and track down the truth of what happened to the lady's brother.

[more]
After the Funeral 13 July 2023

1999 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1954 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. Richard Abernethie dies; his sister Cora claims that he's been murdered, and by the next day has unambiguously been murdered herself.

[more]
The Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman 12 July 2023 - 6 comments

2014 alternate-world fantasy. The Library connects all libraries; agents are sent out into alternate worlds to collect unique books. Irene is going to a steampunk Victorian London to retrieve a particular edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, but it's all going to get terribly complicated.

[more]
Who is Simon Warwick?, Patricia Moyes 10 July 2023 - 1 comment

1978 mystery, fourteenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. Just before Lord Charlton dies, he decides to leave his company and fortune to his nephew Simon, thought by most to have died as a baby in the Blitz but secretly adopted by an American officer and his English wife. It's been a while, information has been lost, and two plausible claimants appear. But then one of them is murdered…

[more]
Lightyear (2022) 08 July 2023

2022 animated action, dir. Angus MacLane, Chris Evans, Keke Palmer: IMDb / allmovie. Buzz the Space Ranger learns to be a good person.

[more]
Five-Twelfths of Heaven, Melissa Scott 07 July 2023

1985 SF, first of a trilogy. Space pilot Silence Leigh is stuck on a world in which women are literally second-class citizens, marooned by the death of her grandfather and legal entanglements over his will. And there's a starship in the balance…

[more]
The Death of the Necromancer, Martha Wells 05 July 2023

1998 gaslamp fantasy. Nicholas Valiarde is a nobleman turned thief, obsessed by his revenge plan against the villainous Count Montesq. But now someone who seems too powerful to be the common con-artist he looks like is interfering with that…

[more]
The Fourth Aspect, Amelia Ellis 03 July 2023

2009 thriller, third of this ongoing series; translated from the original German by Rachel Ward. A woman disappears soon after her eighteenth birthday; her boyfriend employs Nea to find her.

[more]
Squishy's Teams, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 30 June 2023

2020 science fiction, tenth in the Diving Universe series. Contemporary with Boneyards, Squishy's various sabotage teams destroy stealth tech research stations across the Empire.

[more]
Toy Story 4 29 June 2023

2019 animated action/comedy, dir. Josh Cooley / John Lasseter, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen: IMDb / allmovie. What if God is just a series of children?

[more]
To Clear Away the Shadows, David Drake 28 June 2023

2019 military SF, thirteenth and to date last of this series. As the truce continues to hold, the Far Traveller explores a forgotten section of space.

[more]
A Room Full of Bones, Elly Griffiths 26 June 2023

2011 mystery, fourth in the series (police plus amateur detection). A private museum is about to open the recently-discovered coffin of a mediæval bishop, but just before the event the museum's director drops dead next to it.

[more]
Toy Story 3 24 June 2023 - 1 comment

2010 animated action/comedy, dir. Lee Unkrich, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen: IMDb / allmovie. Growing up is a thing now.

[more]
Gun Street Girl, Adrian McKinty 23 June 2023

2015 crime, fourth in the Sean Duffy series. Belfast, 1985: what looks like a family murder followed by a failson's suicide turns out to have wide-ranging implications.

[more]
Out of the Deep I Cry, Julia Spencer-Fleming 21 June 2023

2004 mystery, third in its series. Back in 1930, Jonathan Ketchem left his wife and was never seen again. Now someone else has gone missing from the small town of Miller's Kill.

[more]
Toy Story 2 20 June 2023 - 1 comment

1999 animated action/comedy, dir. Ash Brannon / John Lasseter / Lee Unkrich, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen: IMDb / allmovie. What is the righteous path to take in your life?

[more]
The Argonaut Affair, Simon Hawke 19 June 2023

1987 SF, seventh of its series. With a parallel timeline thought to be causing disruptions, the Time Commandos are sent to join Jason in his voyage to retake the Golden Fleece.

[more]
Sleeping Murder 17 June 2023

2001 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1940s mystery, in one 90-minute episode. Newlywed New Zealander Gwenda Reed finds the house she's just bought in England stranglely, even hauntingly, familiar, and then breaks down at a performance of The Duchess of Malfi

[more]
The Casebook of Jonas P Jonas and Other Mysteries, Elizabeth Ferrars 16 June 2023

2012 collection of short stories (published between 1958 and 1992) with murder, or at least attempted murder, as a theme.

[more]
Bryony and Roses, T Kingfisher 14 June 2023 - 1 comment

2015 fantasy. Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor house that casually gives her food and drink. But when she tries to take home the cut rose…

[more]
Toy Story 13 June 2023

1995 animated action/comedy, dir. John Lasseter, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen: IMDb / allmovie. What if the toys could, like, come to life, man?

[more]
Murder in Williamstown, Kerry Greenwood 12 June 2023

2022 historical detection, twenty-second in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne happens across an opium-pipe, then a corpse, in a suburb to the west of Melbourne; meanwhile her family work to track down irregularities at the Blind Institute.

[more]
Though Hell Should Bar the Way, David Drake 09 June 2023

2018 military SF, twelfth of this ongoing series. Roy Olfetrie's father was caught on the take, so Roy had to leave the Academy; but a chance meeting puts him aboard Daniel Leary's latest venture…

[more]
Uncut Gems 08 June 2023

2019 crime tragedy, dir. Josh and Benny Safdie, Adam Sandler; IMDb / allmovie. Gambling with the mob's money is not good for your health.

[more]
The Matrimonial Advertisement, Mimi Matthews 07 June 2023

2018 Victorian romance. Helena is desperate to escape from her family; Justin is a scarred ex-soldier living in isolation in Devon and has advertised for a wife…

[more]
Incredibles 2 06 June 2023

2018 animated superheroics, dir. Brad Bird, Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter; IMDb / allmovie. I know, let's give the chick something to do!

[more]
Sword of Mars, Glynn Stewart 05 June 2023

2019 SF, seventh of its series. Roslyn Chambers ends up as a flag lieutenant in the big fleet trying to win the war; Damien Montgomery follows the clues to uncover something the enemy's keeping secret even from their own people.

[more]
Lilies on Sand, Amelia Ellis 02 June 2023

2011 thriller, second of this ongoing series; translated from the original German by Rachel Ward. A new client brings Nea a complicated multi-stage puzzle…

[more]
May 2023 Trailers 01 June 2023

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
A Pale Light in the Black, K. B. Wagers 31 May 2023 - 1 comment

2020 military SF, first of a series. Max Carmichael, younger daughter of a super-rich family, is trying to get away from their influence. Meanwhlie the Near Earth Orbital Guard is just trying to keep space safe for honest travellers…

[more]
The Incredibles 30 May 2023

2004 animated superheroics, dir. Brad Bird, Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter; IMDb / allmovie. What does a superhero do when superheroes are illegal?

[more]
Seeing is Believing, Elizabeth Ferrars 29 May 2023

1994 mystery. Frances and Malcolm Chance have retired to a small village. Their neighbour is murdered, and all the secrets start to come out.

[more]
Bullshot 27 May 2023

1983 action parody, dir. Dick Clement, Alan Shearman, Diz White: IMDb / allmovie. The dashing Captain Crummond (war hero, flying ace, Olympic athlete, racing driver, and part-time sleuth) defends the Empire against the machinations of the evil Count Otto von Bruno. Later vt Bullshot Crummond.

[more]
Thieves, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 26 May 2023

2021 science fiction, ninth in the Diving Universe series. As "Boss" explores deeper into the Boneyard, the Fleet of the present day finally organises a response.

[more]
Roma 25 May 2023

2018 drama, dir. Alfonso Cuarón; Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira: IMDb / allmovie. A year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the 1970s, as mostly seen through the eyes of their maid.

[more]
Death in Daylesford, Kerry Greenwood 24 May 2023

2020 historical detection, twenty-first in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne and Dot go to a spa for shell-shocked soldiers in rural Victoria and deal with small-town crimes, while the rest of her found-family look into a mystery in Melbourne.

[more]
Blade Runner 2049 23 May 2023 - 5 comments

2017 SF, dir. Denis Villeneuve, Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford; IMDb / allmovie. Turns out slaves may think they're people.

[more]
Holiday With Violence, Ellis Peters 22 May 2023

1952 thriller. Punch, Phyllida, Peter and Mab are on a European trekking holiday, before they have to go back to school or work. They meet a pleasant old man on the train, but later find him murderously attacked. And then things start to get odd.

[more]
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 20 May 2023

2018 drama, dir. Martin McDonagh, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell: IMDb / allmovie. Her daughter was raped and murdered, and nobody's caught the killer…

[more]
Welcome Home / Go Away, Mike Shepherd 19 May 2023

2012 military SF, novella in the Kris Longknife series. As the news of Kris's return from a scouting trip leaks into civilised space, various factions react to it.

[more]
To Kill a Coconut, Patricia Moyes 17 May 2023

1977 mystery, thirteenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. On an island near Tampica, but still under British rule, the murder of a US senator has raised racial tensions. Everyone thinks they know who did it, but the evidence isn't of the best. So Tibbett is brought in to make it look good, but inconveniently insists on actually investigating… US vt The Coconut Killings.

[more]
Arrival (2016) 16 May 2023 - 4 comments

2016 SF, dir. Denis Villeneuve, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner; IMDb / allmovie. The alien ships arrive, but nobody knows how to communicate with their occupants.

[more]
And the Rest Is History, Jodi Taylor 15 May 2023

2017 science fiction, eighth in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel). Everything is finally going well for Max. But not for long.

[more]
Lies, Damned Lies and History, Jodi Taylor 12 May 2023

2016 science fiction, seventh in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel). A young Historian gets emotional, and the others throw aside good sense to support him.

[more]
The VelociPastor 11 May 2023

2018 horror/comedy, dir. Brendan Steere, Greg Cohan, Alyssa Kempinski: IMDb / allmovie. After his parents are killed, a priest travels to China, and finds he's gained the ability to transform into a dinosaur. With a prostitute as his moral guide, he sets out to fight for justice.

[more]
In the Cards, Celia Lake 10 May 2023

2019 romantic fantasy, fifth of its loose series. Lorelei "Laura" Penhallow has been healed of her consumption enough to live a normal life, and that includes being invited for a weekend house party by a family with an eligible son. But we all know what happens at weekend house parties.

[more]
Murder in Mesopotamia 09 May 2023

1994 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1936 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. The flashy unsuitable wife of the famous archaeologist thinks someone is out to get her; everyone but her husband assume's she's just seeking attention, until she's killed.

[more]
The Khyber Connection, Simon Hawke 08 May 2023

1986 SF, sixth of its series. A soldier sent back to 1897 to fight in the Hindu Kush meets his exact twin…

[more]
Admiral's Oath, Glynn Stewart 06 May 2023

2022 space-navy SF, first of its series but following the six-book Castle Federation series. Admiral James Tecumseh came off worst against the Alliance, and was given a "safe" posting in a backwater sector. But now all the FTL communicators have gone dark, and he's the man in charge…

[more]
The Sun Is God, Adrian McKinty 04 May 2023

2014 historical mystery with fantastic elements. In 1906, former military police Lieutenant William Prior is going native in German New Guinea. Then he's asked to help look into a mysterious death in the local colony of weirdoes…

[more]
Mad Heidi 03 May 2023

2022 action comedy, dir. Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein, Alice Lucy: IMDb. They killed her parents and her boyfriend, and her grandfather, and now Heidi's striking back.

[more]
Death's Bright Day, David Drake 02 May 2023

2016 military SF, eleventh of this ongoing series. Another neutral star cluster, where one arm of the enemy Alliance seems to be fomenting a rebellion against another. So Leary is sent in to be a mercenary…

[more]
April 2023 Trailers 01 May 2023

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Mad Max Fury Road (2015) 29 April 2023 - 4 comments

2015 action, dir. George Miller, Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron: IMDb / allmovie. Who killed the world?

[more]
City of Bones, Martha Wells 28 April 2023

1995 post-apocalyptic fantasy. Charisat is the greatest of the cities in the Great Waste, and a centre for the trade of Ancient relics. Khat and Sagai are relic-dealers, as much as they can be when (as non-citizens) it would be illegal for them to use coinage. But a Patrician demands Khat's services as a guide in the Waste…

[more]
On the Loose, Christopher Fowler 26 April 2023

2009 police procedural mystery/horror, seventh in the Bryant and May series. A headless body is found in an empty shop; someone dressed in a deerskin, with knives for antlers, is terrifying people on the construction site north of King's Cross. Where is the PCU when you need it?

[more]
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) 25 April 2023

1979 action, dir. George Miller/George Ogilvie, Mel Gibson, Tina Turner: IMDb / allmovie. We don't need another hero.

[more]
The Warrior's Knife, Eric Thomson 24 April 2023

2017 SF/mystery, first of an ongoing series. Caelin Morrow is an Inspector in the Professional Compliance Bureau, dedicated to rooting out dirty officials (even among the police). But when an alien ambassador is murdered, that lands on her plate too.

[more]
Escaping Amnthra, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 21 April 2023 - 1 comment

2020 science fiction novelette, in the Diving Universe series. An incident during the voyage of The Renegat.

[more]
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1985) 20 April 2023 - 5 comments

1981 action, dir. George Miller, Mel Gibson, Vernon Wells: IMDb / allmovie. After the end of the world, you can still get petrol and spiked leather. US vt The Road Warrior.

[more]
The Lion's Circle, Amelia Ellis 19 April 2023 - 1 comment

2011 thriller, first of an ongoing series; translated from the original German by Rachel Ward. Nea Fox is a private investigator, going in undercover to a weekend gathering in a house said to be haunted. It's all going to get much more complicated.

[more]
Designs on Life, Elizabeth Ferrars 17 April 2023

1980 collection of short stories (written between 1940 and 1980) with murder as a theme.

[more]
Jillian vs Parasite Planet, Nicole Kornher-Stace 14 April 2023

2021 children's SF. Jillian is eleven, and going to visit her parents for Take Your Children To Work Day. Her parents explore other planets…

[more]
A Fountain Filled With Blood, Julia Spencer-Fleming 12 April 2023

2003 mystery. The small New York town of Miller's Kill is seeing gay-bashing incidents which escalate until someone's killed. But how does this tie to rumours of contamination at the site of a new holiday resort?

[more]
Mad Max 11 April 2023

1979 action, dir. George Miller, Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel: IMDb / allmovie. Oil is running out, but there are still cops.

[more]
Splintegrate, Deborah Teramis Christian 10 April 2023

2019 SF, a loose sequel to Mainline. Kes is the top dominatrix at the top club on the planet, but one of her clients has attracted the wrong sort of attention.

[more]
Spotlight 08 April 2023 - 1 comment

2015 drama, dir. Tom McCarthy, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo: IMDb / allmovie. The Boston Globe's investigative team is going to get to the bottom of this story no matter who tells them to lay off.

[more]
The Game Beyond, Melissa Scott 07 April 2023

1984 SF. The Empress is dead… and, lacking an heir, has left the Empire to her latest favourite. But can he force the nobles to take him seriously?

[more]
A Question of Faith, Glynn Stewart 05 April 2023

2020 space-navy SF, stand-alone novella in the Castle Federation series. Before the last big war, an admiral has to decide who set up the obvious trap.

[more]
Edge of Tomorrow 04 April 2023 - 4 comments

2014 science fiction, dir. Doug Liman, Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt; IMDb / allmovie. Groundhog Day meets Aliens.

[more]
Edge of the Future, Andria Stone 03 April 2023

2017 SF/thriller, first of an ongoing series. Mark Warren is a researcher in a top secret facility which gets attacked by terrorists, and things spin out from there.

[more]
March 2023 Trailers 01 April 2023

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Tear Down the Throne, Jennifer Estep 31 March 2023

2022 fantasy, second of its trilogy. Princess Gemma continues to try to work out what the Mortans are up to.

[more]
Star Trek (2009) 30 March 2023 - 1 comment

2009 science fiction, dir. J. J. Abrams, Chris Pine. Zachary Quinto: IMDb / allmovie. A franchise reboot, but yet another civilisation-scale threat.

[more]
A Scandalous Kind of Duke, Mia Vincy 29 March 2023

2022 American Regency-ish romance, part of a loosely linked series. Juno Bell and the future Duke of Dammerton knew each other as children, but he had his duty, and then she had her life as a scandalous artist. But fate keeps throwing them together.

[more]
Birdman 28 March 2023

2014 drama, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu, Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis; IMDb / allmovie. Back in the day, Riggan Thompson played the hero in the Birdman films; now he's putting on a Broadway play in a bid to be taken seriously for his art.

[more]
Devices and Desires, P. D. James 27 March 2023

1989 detective fiction, ninth of James's novels of Inspector (now Commander) Adam Dalgliesh. Dalgliesh goes to an obscure headland in Norfolk to decide whether he wants to keep his deceased aunt's house; inevitably, he gets drawn into murder.

[more]
The Siren of Sussex, Mimi Matthews 25 March 2023

2022 Victorian romance. Evelyn Maltravers has a Grand Plan: she'll wow fashionable London with her riding, then find a wealthy husband to pay for bringing out her sisters. But to do that she will need the right riding habit, and Ahmad Malik the tailor is her man for that…

[more]
Sweep With Me, Ilona Andrews 23 March 2023

2022 SF/fantasy novel in the Innkeeper series. In what seems like an obvious trap for Dina and Sean, Sean's mentor is kidnapped and taken to a planet that's almost certainly fatal to get to. Someone else can provide safe transport, but there's a price…

[more]
Gravity 22 March 2023 - 1 comment

2013 science fiction, dir. Alfonso Cuarón, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney; IMDb / allmovie. Kessler syndrome is not your friend.

[more]
Naughty in Nice, Rhys Bowen 21 March 2023

2010 mystery/thriller, fifth in its series. Georgiana Rannoch, 34th in line to the throne, finds herself in Nice with a mission to recover the Queen's "borrowed" snuffbox.

[more]
Alanna: the First Adventure, Tamora Pierce 20 March 2023 - 6 comments

1983 fantasy, first of a tetralogy. Alanna wants to be a knight and have adventures; her twin brother Thom wants to be trained in magic. So they swap roles, and Alanna disguises herself as a boy.

[more]
UnArcana Stars, Glynn Stewart 17 March 2023

2018 SF, sixth of its series. Everyone was expecting the newly-seceded Republic to attack the Proctecorate, but it's been eighteen months without any movement…

[more]
Black Widower, Patricia Moyes 16 March 2023

1975 mystery, twelfth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. The ambassador to the US from newly-independent Tampica has an Unsuitable Wife; when she gets horribly drunk at a diplomatic reception, then kills herself, nobody is terribly surprised. But that may not be quite what happened…

[more]
Before Midnight 15 March 2023

2013 romantic drama, dir. Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy; IMDb / allmovie. Another nine years later, Jesse and Celine are raising their children, but have they turned into their own unhappy parents?

[more]
The Sea Without a Shore, David Drake 14 March 2023

2014 military SF, tenth of this ongoing series. A variety of missions, well outside the scope of anything official, brings Daniel and crew to a planet in rebellion.

[more]
A Legal Fiction, Elizabeth Ferrars 13 March 2023

1964 murder mystery. Two years ago, Colin Lockie was ambushed on the road, and a worthless painting stolen. Now his childhood friend has spotted it for sale in an auction-house at the other end of the country. vt The Decayed Gentlewoman.

[more]
Mainline, Deborah Christian 10 March 2023

1996 SF. Reva is an assassin with a strange power: she can jump between similar timelines, so that chance is always on her side. She'll need more than that to survive her latest entanglements, though.

[more]
Before Sunset 09 March 2023

2004 romantic drama, dir. Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy; IMDb / allmovie. Nine years later, Jesse and Celine meet again.

[more]
Belfast Noir, ed. Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville 08 March 2023

2014 crime anthology, stories set in Belfast.

[more]
The Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff 07 March 2023

1954 historical fiction for young people. Marcus Flavius Aquila, centurion of auxiliaries, is crippled in his first battle; that ends up freeing him for an even more perilous mission, to find out what happened when the Ninth Legion, with its First Cohort under the command of his father, marched north and never came back.

[more]
The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison 06 March 2023

2022 fantasy. Thara Celehar continues to witness for the dead. But as with any agent of the law, there are people who don't want him doing his job.

[more]
The Seventh Bride, T Kingfisher 04 March 2023

2014 fantasy. Rhea the miller's daughter was expecting that she'd get married some day… but why has Lord Crevan made an offer for her at all, never mind right now?

[more]
The Renegat, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 03 March 2023

2019 science fiction, eighth in the Diving Universe series. A crew of Fleet misfits is sent on a suicide mission to find out what's happening in one of the stockpiles of abandoned ships.

[more]
Magic Tides, Ilona Andrews 02 March 2023

2023 modern fantasy novella, continuation of the Kate Daniels series. Kate, her husband Lennart and their son Conlan just want to live in peace for a bit. Of course that isn't going to happen.

[more]
February 2023 Trailers 01 March 2023 - 5 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Bad Turn, Zoë Sharp 28 February 2023

2019 thriller, thirteenth and as of this writing last in the series about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and currently private bodyguard. After stumbling into an ambush aimed at someone else, Charlie quickly jumps from unemployed into a new bodyguarding gig. With an arms dealer, but you can't have everything, right?

[more]
The Nautilus Sanction, Simon Hawke 25 February 2023

1985 SF, fifth of its series. A stolen ballistic missile submarine is somewhere out there in time…

[more]
Grave Importance, Vivian Shaw 24 February 2023

2019 urban fantasy, third and to date last of its series. Dr Greta Helsing is invited to step in as clinical resident at a spa for mummies. But something very strange is going on…

[more]
A Prince on Paper, Alyssa Cole 22 February 2023

2019 romance, third in the Reluctant Royals series. Nya Jerami, daughter of the man who tried to overthrow the Thesolan government, finds herself thrown together with Prince Johan Maximillian von Braustein, bad boy darling of the tabloids…

[more]
Before Sunrise 21 February 2023

1995 romantic drama, dir. Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy; IMDb / allmovie. Two people meet on a train, and decide to spend the night exploring Vienna.

[more]
Know Your Rites, Andy Redsmith 20 February 2023

2019 comic fantasy, second and to date last of the Inspector Paris series. The invasion from fantasyland has been repelled, but things aren't quite back to normal.

[more]
The Road of Danger, David Drake 18 February 2023

2012 military SF, ninth of this ongoing series. After the events of the previous book, Daniel Leary and the Princess Cecile are sent to get a privincial admiral moving in the right direction to head off a war-starting coup. Of course it's always more complicated than that.

[more]
The House at Sea's End, Elly Griffiths 17 February 2023

2011 mystery, third in the series (police plus amateur detection). When a team looking at coastal erosion turns up six bodies, Ruth Galloway, a forensic anthropologist just back from maternity leave, inevitably gets involved.

[more]
The Curious Affair of the Third Dog, Patricia Moyes 15 February 2023

1973 mystery, eleventh in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. Henry and his wife Emmy visit her sister Jane, the local Cruelty Lady (representative of the RSPCA). A local character has been imprisoned for vehicular manslaughter, and Jane ends up fetching and looking after his floating population of dogs… but should it be two or three of them?

[more]
Argo 14 February 2023 - 1 comment

2012 historical drama, dir. Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman: IMDb / allmovie. How to get six American State Department employees out of revolutionary Tehran? The CIA pretends to make a film…

[more]
Wards of the Roses, Celia Lake 13 February 2023

2019 romantic fantasy, fourth of its loose series. Kate Davies is a Guard, one of the magical police force of England. There was more interesting work when the men were off at the Great War, but what's left is better than nothing. Her new assignment is to help out Giles Lefton, mathematics professor and puzzle-solver, as he tries to solve the riddle of a country house that has suddenly appeared, surounded by a mass of roses.

[more]
The Pusher, Ed McBain 10 February 2023

1956 police procedural, third in the 87th Precinct series. A young man is found hanging from his barred window, but he clearly died of an overdose first. What's going on?

[more]
Attack the Block 09 February 2023

2011 science fiction, dir. Joe Cornish, John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens picked on the wrong gang.

[more]
Dreadful Company, Vivian Shaw 08 February 2023

2018 urban fantasy, second of its series. Dr Greta Helsing is in Paris for a conference on unnatural medicine. But other people are there too.

[more]
Sparkling Cyanide 07 February 2023

2012 audio adaptation by Joy Wilkinson of Christie's 1945 mystery, in three 30-minute episodes. The feckless and erratic wife dies of cyanide in the champagne at her birthday party; suicide, everyone supposes. Then a year later her husband recreates the event, and dies the same way…

[more]
Judgment of Mars, Glynn Stewart 06 February 2023

2017 SF, fifth of its series. Montgomery and the Mage-King's forces are cleaning up the conspiracy… but someone else is ahead of them.

[more]
In the Morning I'll Be Gone, Adrian McKinty 04 February 2023

2014 crime, third in the Sean Duffy series. In 1983, Sean Duffy finds himself fitted up and thrown out of the RUC, but destiny hasn't finished with him yet as he's brought back to track down one of the Maze escapees, an expert bomb-maker who's dropped completely out of sight.

[more]
In the Bleak Midwinter, Julia Spencer-Fleming 02 February 2023

2002 mystery. In a small town in upstate New York, a child is left on the church steps. A few days later, a young woman who's recently given birth is found murdered in the snow…

[more]
January 2023 Trailers 01 February 2023 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
The Artist 31 January 2023

2011 drama, dir. Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo; IMDb / allmovie. George Valentin is a star of the silver screen, but the talkies are coming…

[more]
Artifact Space, Miles Cameron 30 January 2023

2021 SF, first of a series. Marca Nbaro has committed various forms of fraud to get aboard one of the nine treading Greatships that link human worlds (and the enigmatic aliens). This turns out to be a very good thing.

[more]
Enough to Kill a Horse, Elizabeth Ferrars 27 January 2023

1955 murder mystery. Fanny Lynam throws a party to celebrate the engagement of her younger half-brother, and makes her special lobster patties. That will turn out to have been a mistake.

[more]
Casablanca 26 January 2023

1942 wartime romance and comedy, dir. Michael Curtiz, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman: IMDb / allmovie. As refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe collect in Casablanca on the way to Lisbon and freedom, everybody comes to Rick's Café Americain.

[more]
Can't Escape Love, Alyssa Cole 25 January 2023

2019 romance novella, in the Reluctant Royals series. Regina Hobbs was always the "good" daughter in her parents' eyes, and having to use a wheelchair hasn't changed that, but she has built things on her own too…

[more]
Lie Down With the Devil, Linda Barnes 23 January 2023

2008 thriller, twelfth and last in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). Getting back into PI work after her absence at short notice, Carlotta takes on a prospective bride who wants the groom checked up on. But it's all much more complex than it looks.

[more]
Royal Blood, Rhys Bowen 21 January 2023 - 2 comments

2010 mystery/thriller, fourth in its series. Georgiana Rannoch, 34th in line to the throne, is sent to the wedding of Maria Theresa of Romania to Prince Nicholas of Bulgaria (after all she was at school with "Fatty Matty").

[more]
Searching For the Fleet, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 20 January 2023

2018 science fiction, seventh in the Diving Universe series. Cooper the captain and Vash the engineer deal with isolation from their original time in a variety of ways.

[more]
Spider's Bite, Jennifer Estep 18 January 2023 - 2 comments

2010 urban fantasy, first of a 19-book series. In a magical world, Gin Blanco is an assassin for hire, until the job goes bad.

[more]
What Distant Deeps, David Drake 16 January 2023

2010 military SF, eighth of this ongoing series. There's an election coming up, so famous commander Daniel Leary should be got away from the capital of the Republic before he accidentally endorses someone. But backwater postings never stay backwaters for long.

[more]
Never Let Me Go (2010) 14 January 2023 - 4 comments

2010 SF romance, dir. Mark Romanek, Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley: IMDb / allmovie. The generic love triangle plays out over a dark background. Spoilers.

[more]
Strange Practice, Vivian Shaw 13 January 2023 - 1 comment

2017 urban fantasy, first of its series. Dr Greta Helsing is a doctor to monsters: vampires, ghouls, mummies, and stranger things. And now a sect of murderous monks is attacking them all…

[more]
Heart of the World, Linda Barnes 11 January 2023

2006 thriller, eleventh in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). Carlotta's "little sister" Paolina is missing.

[more]
Daring, Mike Shepherd 09 January 2023

2011 military SF, ninth of the Kris Longknife books. Kris leads an expedition in search of an alien menace.

[more]
District 9 07 January 2023 - 2 comments

2009 horror, dir. Neil Blomkamp, Sharlto Copley, David James; IMDb / allmovie. The people who don't look like us have to be moved on.

[more]
The Fat Lady's Ghost, Charlotte Macleod 06 January 2023

1968 mystery. Corin Johansen moves to Boston to be a designer, and finds her rented room is cheaper if she agrees to use the kitchen… There's a ghost, you see.

[more]
December 2022 Trailers 05 January 2023 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere, P. G. Wodehouse 04 January 2023 - 3 comments

1935 comedy anthology, containing six stories of Lord Emsworth, and six others.

[more]
2022 in Books 02 January 2023

In 2022 I read 164 books, up again at last (some long drives meant I started to get through audio books again too).

[more]
Breaking the Lore, Andy Redsmith 30 December 2022

2019 comic fantasy, first of the Inspector Paris series. Paris is a hard-drinking Mancunian detective, but he's not prepared for a beautiful woman crucified in a suburban garden. Or for her to be fifteen centimetres tall.

[more]
All That Lives, James Oswald 28 December 2022

2021 supernatural mystery in modern Edinburgh, twelfth in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. People are overdosing on a strange new drug, and long-buried bodies are being dug up on construction sites.

[more]
4.50 From Paddington 27 December 2022

1997 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1957 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. A friend of Miss Marple's, travelling by train, sees a woman being strangled in another train running alongside; but nobody reports having found a body.

[more]
Rocket to the Morgue, Anthony Boucher 26 December 2022

1942 mystery. On the eve of the USA joining the Second World War, self-important literary heir Hilary St. John Foulkes insists that someone is trying to murder him, and there's certainly no shortage of people who would profit by his death. Then he's found stabbed in the back in a locked room… Originally published as by "H. H. Holmes".

[more]
Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir 23 December 2022

2022 fantasy, third of what was going to be a trilogy but has now expanded. Nona is a child living in a city at war, but still just about managing to go to school, while Camilla and Pyrrha look after her.

[more]
Love Lettering, Kate Clayborn 21 December 2022

2019 romance. Meg Mackworth hand-letters journals and planners, and spots patterns in things; last year when Reid Sutherland and his fiancée came in for their wedding stationery, she got a Feeling, and couldn't resist working a hidden message of M-I-S-T-A-K-E into the invitation. Now he's back…

[more]
Inglourious Basterds 20 December 2022

2009 war, dir. Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent: IMDb / allmovie. Dakka dakka dakka aieee for you Tommy ze var is over.

[more]
Nine Goblins, T Kingfisher 19 December 2022 - 3 comments

2013 fantasy novella. Goblins don't make very good soldiers, but there are lots of them. After an incident with a wizard, nine of them find themselves deep behind enemy lines. Fortunately, they run into a veterinarian…

[more]
Heads You Lose, Lisa Lutz and David Hayward 16 December 2022

2011 comedic metafiction. Lacey and Paul are pot-growing siblings in rural California, who find a headless corpse on their property. "Lisa" and "David" are struggling authors who are alternating chapters of the mystery they're writing, but still have significant issues to work out from their former relationship…

[more]
Magician's Hoard, Celia Lake 14 December 2022

2019 romantic fantasy, third of its loose series. Proserpina Gates, widowed bookseller, is helping a client find a rumoured Roman treasure on her land. Ibis Ward is the scholar she engages to assist with the research…

[more]
Peril at End House 13 December 2022

2000 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1932 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. While "retired" and visiting a Cornish resort, Poirot finds a young woman who has already survived several murderous attacks.

[more]
The March Hare Murders, Elizabeth Ferrars 12 December 2022

1949 murder mystery. David came to a small seaside village to live with his sister after his nervous breakdown, only to find as his neighbour Professor Verinder, whom he holds responsible for the suicide of the girl he loved. Sure enough, the professor is soon murdered; but David's far from the only person with a motive.

[more]
Flying Colours, C. S. Forester 09 December 2022 - 1 comment

1938 Napoleonic naval fiction, third written but eighth by internal chronology. Captured at the end of the previous book, Hornblower is to be taken to Paris for a show trial and execution.

[more]
Red Cliff 08 December 2022 - 1 comment

2008 war, dir. John Woo, Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro: IMDb 1 and 2 / allmovie 1 and 2. A true historical epic, based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

[more]
The Zenda Vendetta, Simon Hawke 07 December 2022

1985 SF, fourth of its series. After Rudolf Rassendyll gets poisoned on a train in Germany, our heroes have to provide a substitute double for Rudolf V of Ruritania.

[more]
The Janus Stone, Elly Griffiths 05 December 2022

2010 mystery, second in the series. After the events of the first book, Ruth Galloway is pregnant, and not quite sure how to tell anyone (particularly the father). Oh, and there's another archaeology-related crime to solve.

[more]
Operation Medusa, Glynn Stewart 03 December 2022

2017 space-navy SF, sixth of its series. The Federation is doing a good job on the battlefield, but it's simply a smaller economy than the Commonwealth, and those numbers are starting to tell. So Admiral Kyle Roberts comes up with a plan to end the war now, win or lose…

[more]
November 2022 Trailers 01 December 2022

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Deep Pockets, Linda Barnes 29 November 2022

2004 mystery, tenth in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). A very paranoid Harvard professor is being blackmailed; he hires Carlotta to sort it out.

[more]
The Hurt Locker 26 November 2022

2008 war, dir. Kathryn Bigelow, Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie: IMDb / allmovie. War is a drug.

[more]
In the Stormy Red Sky, David Drake 25 November 2022

2009 military SF, seventh of this ongoing series. An irked senator, a shaky ally, and a major defeat for the RCN…

[more]
Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings, Jodi Taylor 23 November 2022

2015 science fiction novelette in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel). When an historian leaves a gun behind in ancient Egypt, Max decides to retrieve it herself rather than calling in the Time Police.

[more]
Season of Snows and Sins, Patricia Moyes 21 November 2022

1971 mystery, tenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. Recent widow Jane Weston goes to live in a small Swiss village; her housekeeper is accused of murdering her unfaithful husband, and Jane's evidence helps to get her convicted. Then the Tibbetts turn up to visit…

[more]
Alien Arcana, Glynn Stewart 19 November 2022 - 2 comments

2016 SF, fourth of its series. On an archaeological site light years from Earth, an academic magician makes an interesting discovery… and is promptly murdered.

[more]
Telling Tales, Ann Cleeves 17 November 2022

2005 contemporary police mystery, second in Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series. Ten years ago, Emma's friend Abigail was murdered, and Emma found the body. The woman convicted of the crime always maintained her innocence… and now she's hanged herself. Old secrets will be dug up once more…

[more]
My Darling Vivian (2020) 16 November 2022

2020 documentary, dir. Matt Riddlehoover, Roseanne Cash, Kathy Cash Tittle; IMDb / allmovie. Hello. He's Johnny Cash.

[more]
I Hear the Sirens In the Street, Adrian McKinty 15 November 2022

2013 crime. It's 1982, and Sean Duffy, one of the few Catholic detectives in the RUC, has responsibility for a torso found in a rubbish pile. The victim was frozen before he was dumped, and he actually died of an obscure poison…

[more]
The Application of Hope, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 13 November 2022

2014 science fiction novella in the Diving Universe series. When the Ivoire is attacked and disappears, Captain Sabin and the Geneva lead the search mission…

[more]
Shadow Hunter, Geoffrey Archer 11 November 2022 - 2 comments

1989 late Cold War naval/espionage thriller. The captain of the nuclear attack submarine Truculent, sent north to join a large NATO exercise, has dropped out of communication. But what's he planning to do?

[more]
Only Bad Options, Jennifer Estep 09 November 2022

2022 romantic SF, first of a planned trilogy. Vesper Quill is a designer working on various high-tech products for the penny-pinching Kent Corporation. Kyrion Caldaren is the Emperor's right hand, head of his elite forces. There's no reason they would ever even meet

[more]
28 Weeks Later 08 November 2022 - 1 comment

2007 horror, dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Robert Carlyle, Imogen Poots; IMDb / allmovie. The zombies are still out.

[more]
A Taste For Death, P. D. James 07 November 2022

1986 detective fiction, seventh of James's novels of Inspector (now Commander) Adam Dalgliesh. A tramp, and an MP in the process of resigning, are both found in a church, their throats cut. Murder-suicide? Double murder? Anything to do with the anonymous letter the MP had recently received? Adam Dalgleish, in charge of a new unit dedicated to dealing with politically sensitive incidents, investigates.

[more]
Unraveller, Frances Hardinge 05 November 2022

2022 fantasy. In the marsh-woods of Raddith, Things are living. And some of them give people the ability to curse: if you fester a hatred for long enough, you can turn your enemy into bees, or steal their shadow, or just set them on fire…

[more]
Fire in a Faraway Place, Robert Frezza 03 November 2022 - 3 comments

1995 military SF, sequel to A Small Colonial War. The rebellion on the colony world ended up with an independent civilian government, and the Japanese Empire doesn't like that…

[more]
Dymo label printers 02 November 2022

I now have three Dymo label printers, each ideal for its task. But some care is needed in buying them.

[more]
October 2022 Trailers 01 November 2022 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
28 Days Later 31 October 2022

2002 horror, dir. Danny Boyle, Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris; IMDb / allmovie. The zombies are out, and now they're fast.

[more]
Sad Cypress 30 October 2022

1992 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1940 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. The old woman had a young protégé, and now they're both dead, the protégé certainly poisoned.

[more]
Goblin Fruit, Celia Lake 29 October 2022

2019 romantic fantasy, second of its loose series. In a slightly sideways magical 1924, Elspeth Penhallow finds herself looking into the suppliers of an addictive magical drink. As does Lord Geoffrey Carillon…

[more]
The Big Dig, Linda Barnes 28 October 2022

2002 mystery, ninth in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). As the Big Dig tunnels under Boston, Carlotta's picking up regular work working undercover for the inspectors. But people are behaving strangely, and then one of them has an "accident"…

[more]
Last Man Out, Elliott Kay 27 October 2022

2018 SF, continuation of the Poor Man's Fight series. Tanner Malone left the Navy with a reputation as a bloody-handed butcher, and went to university to study planetary surveying. The reputation won't leave him behind, and neither will the corporate assassins, so he joins a xenoarchaeological expedition…

[more]
The Last Word, Lisa Lutz 26 October 2022

2013 mystery-adjacent; sixth and last in the Spellmans series. Izzy took over the family private investigation company, but that doesn't mean her parents are happy with it. Oh, and someone seems to be trying to set her up for an embezzlement charge. Vt Spellman Six: The Next Generation.

[more]
Rimward Stars, Glynn Stewart 24 October 2022

2017 space-navy SF, fifth of its series. An ally of the Federation calls for help against pirates; they can't spare many ships, but they can send Captain Roberts, a hero with a reputation for winning against the odds.

[more]
There Will Be Blood (2007) 23 October 2022

2007 drama, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano; IMDb / allmovie. Horrible oilman is horrible.

[more]
Who Saw Her Die?, Patricia Moyes 22 October 2022

1970 mystery, ninth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. An old woman who was a Bright Young Thing between the wars thinks her life is in danger, and asks for Tibbett to be her food-taster – and with all the old "friends" who are now powerful people, she can get him. So he's right there when she drops dead… US vt Many Deadly Returns.

[more]
Royal Flush, Rhys Bowen 21 October 2022 - 2 comments

2009 mystery/thriller, third in its series. Georgiana Rannoch, 34th in line to the throne, travels to Scotland to try to find out who's trying to arrange "accidents" for various of the Royal Family…

[more]
Savor the Moment, Nora Roberts 19 October 2022

2010 romance. Laurel McBane and three of her childhood friends run a wedding business, everything from engagement photos to the Big Day; she does the cakes. Delaney Brown is the brother of one of the other friends, who's known them all for years and treats them like little sisters…

[more]
Trail of the Spellmans, Lisa Lutz 17 October 2022

2012 mystery-adjacent; fifth in the Spellmans series. Izzy Spellman is by now the most normal member of her family. But that really doesn't take much.

[more]
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) 16 October 2022 - 1 comment

2006 SF action, dir. Guillermo del Toro, Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdú: IMDb / allmovie. As the Spanish Civil War grinds to an end, a woman goes to live with her new husband, taking her daughter with her. But there is dark wonder behind every tree.

[more]
While Other People Sleep, Marcia Muller 15 October 2022 - 1 comment

1998 mystery, eighteenth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. This time there are two separate cases: Sharon's secretary Ted is suddenly being secretive and angry, and someone seems to be passing herself off as Sharon…

[more]
No Medals For Secrets, Elliott Kay 13 October 2022

2017 space-marine SF, side story in the Poor Man's Fight series. Alicia Wong keeps getting tapped for special missions that she's not allowed to talk about…

[more]
Fallen Into the Pit, Ellis Peters 11 October 2022

1951 mystery; Peters' first mystery, and first about the Felse family. The War has come and gone, and the heroes have got their "thanks very much" and been thrown back to pick up what they can of their lives; and a German displaced person, working locally, causes so much trouble that nobody's at all surprised when his body is discovered in a stream. But even so, suspicion leaves everyone on edge.

[more]
I, Said the Fly, Elizabeth Ferrars 10 October 2022

1945 murder mystery. Kay Bryant lives in a grotty bedsit in London; as her neighbour is having a gas fire installed, the workmen turn up a revolver under the floorboards, and it's linked to the murdered former tenant of the flat. Suspicion follows.

[more]
Children of Men (2006) 09 October 2022 - 3 comments

2006 SF action, dir. Alfonso Cuaròn, Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey: IMDb / allmovie. Twenty years after babies stopped being born, there may still be some hope.

[more]
Call to Arms, Jay Allan 08 October 2022

2017 space-navy SF, second of its series. War has broken out in earnest, and Captain Barron and Dauntless are rushed out of the repair yard to join the desperate defence.

[more]
Book Lovers, Emily Henry 07 October 2022

2022 romance. Nora Stephens is the other woman, the city-living partner who gets dumped after the man in her life has a life-changing rural experience. Until her sister takes her on a rural experience of her own…

[more]
When the Tide Rises, David Drake 04 October 2022

2008 military SF, sixth of this ongoing series. Another small war, another planet.

[more]
Walk the Line (2005) 03 October 2022

2005 biopic, dir. James Mangold, Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon: IMDb / allmovie. Hello. I'm Johnny Cash.

[more]
Dark Blood, Stuart MacBride 02 October 2022

2010 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, sixth in the Logan McRae series. McRae is assigned to the team keeping an eye on the convicted, imprisoned and now released sex offender Richard Knox. But there's more to Knox than rape and torture, and many other things are going on too…

[more]
September 2022 Trailers 01 October 2022 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
The Pimpernel Plot, Simon Hawke 30 September 2022

1984 SF, third of its series. After Percy Blakeney gets trampled to death while trying to leave Paris, our heroes have to provide a substitute Scarlet Pimpernel.

[more]
The Old Fox Deceiv'd, Martha Grimes 28 September 2022

1982 mystery, second in the Richard Jury series (cosy-ish mystery). The long-missing younger daughter (who may have been playing a Brat Farrar) turns up stabbed on a foggy winter's night…

[more]
The Vampire Next Door, Natalie Vivien and Bridget Essex 26 September 2022

2015 paranormal romance. Courtney owns a failing antiquarian bookshop, and has a joyless relationship with Mia. Then the gorgeous vampire walks in looking for a rare book…

[more]
A History of Violence (2005) 25 September 2022

2005 action, dir. David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen, William Hurt: IMDb / allmovie. The guy doesn't do that any more, only this one last time he does.

[more]
Q-Ship Chameleon, Glynn Stewart 24 September 2022

2016 SF, fourth of its series. Captain Roberts pulled off a daring rescue, but he also brought back a badly-broken ship, and he has powerful enemies. So he's not getting another combat command… but the Intelligence division has a use for him.

[more]
Flashpoint, Linda Barnes 23 September 2022

1999 mystery, eighth in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). One of Carlotta's occasional volleyball partners asks her to help out with some security advice, but the old woman blows hot and cold, and soon turns up dead.

[more]
Grail, Elizabeth Bear 22 September 2022

2011 SF, last of its trilogy. Fifty years after the events of Dust and Chill, the generation ship Jacob's Ladder has finally got to a habitable world. Alas, it's inhabited…

[more]
Voice of Mars, Glynn Stewart 21 September 2022 - 2 comments

2016 SF, third of its series. Damien Montgomery, one of the few troubleshooters for the Mage-King of Mars, is bounced from one crisis to another. But he hadn't expected to be sent to his old homeworld.

[more]
The Spires of Denon, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 19 September 2022

2010 science fiction novella in the Diving Universe series. The Spires are an enigmatic artifact built by a now-vanished civilisation. Meklos Verr is a security consultant hired to guard the archaeological expedition… but nobody is quite what they appear.

[more]
Vera Drake 18 September 2022

2004 drama, dir. Mike Leigh, Imelda Staunton: IMDb / allmovie. Vera is nice and helpful to everyone, and that includes helping out girls in trouble.

[more]
Outcrossing, Celia Lake 17 September 2022

2018 romantic fantasy, first of its loose series. In a slightly sideways magical 1922, Rufus tries to find work and keep up his cottage in the New Forest, but everyone despises him as one of the few to have come back unharmed from the War. Feronia, of rather better family but having taken work as a governess to escape from an arranged marriage, is one of the people who might take him seriously…

[more]
Dead Man's Debt, Elliott Kay 15 September 2022

2016 space-navy SF, third of its series. The war drags on, and Archangel's government tries to hold on militarily while it makes diplomatic and undercover pushes. For both of which, reluctant hero Tanner Malone is the right tool…

[more]
Death and the Dutch Uncle, Patricia Moyes 13 September 2022 - 2 comments

1968 mystery, eighth in the series about Chief Inspector, now Superintendent, Henry Tibbett. A minor criminal is shot in a pub toilet; nobody in the private bar next door saw anything, particularly not his fancy girlfriend. But there's more to it than a falling-out among thieves.

[more]
Primer 12 September 2022

2004 science fiction horror, dir. Shane Carruth, David Sullivan: IMDb / allmovie. Uh-oh, we've invented time travel.

[more]
Devil's Food, Kerry Greenwood 11 September 2022

2006 mystery, third in Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series. Two of Corinna's bakery staff are made dangerously ill by a mysterious "slimming tea"; a strange cult demands deliberately unpleasant bread for the mortification of the flesh; and Corinna's demanding mother turns up, because Corinna's father has run off from the collective where they live.

[more]
The Spellmans Strike Again, Lisa Lutz 09 September 2022

2010 mystery-adjacent; fourth in the Spellmans series. Izzy Spellman is a private investigator, but she doesn't do much investigation.

[more]
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) 07 September 2022 - 1 comment

2003 historical war, dir. Peter Weir, Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany; IMDb / AllMovie. In 1805, HMS Surprise goes out hunting a French frigate…

[more]
Chill, Elizabeth Bear 06 September 2022

2009 SF, middle volume of its trilogy. The colonisation ship has been restored, and the voyage can continue! Only not.

[more]
Murder at the Vicarage 05 September 2022

1993 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1930 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes.

[more]
Miss Pym Disposes, Josephine Tey 04 September 2022

1946 mystery. Lucy Pym's book on psychology proved to be an unexpected best-seller, and now she's a popular speaker. Henrietta, an old school friend, asks her to the physical training college that she runs, and she finds herself enchanted enough to stay on for a few days. But all is not well.

[more]
Murder Among Us, Ann Granger 02 September 2022

1992 mystery; fourth of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. The old stately home has finally got an owner who can do something with it: he's turned it into a hotel and high-end restaurant. But a protest by the local historical society during the grand opening ends with one of the protesters found stabbed in the wine cellar.

[more]
August 2022 Trailers 01 September 2022

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Rhythm of the Imperium, Jody Lynn Nye 31 August 2022

2015 humorous science fiction, third and to date last of its series. Lord Thomas Kinago, foppish distant cousin of the Emperor, is travelling to watch the enigmatic alien Zang bonsai a star system. Meanwhile the rocky Kail may be trying to open diplomatic relations with the Imperium.

[more]
Water to Burn, Katharine Kerr 29 August 2022

2011 urban fantasy, second of its series. Nola O'Grady, high-grade psychic, continues to work for no-such-agency tracking down supernatural threats to the people of San Francisco.

[more]
Lost in Translation 28 August 2022

2003 romantic comedy/drama, dir. Sofia Coppola, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johanson; IMDb / allmovie. Two people in Tokyo find themselves isolated and rootless.

[more]
The Skull Beneath the Skin, P. D. James 27 August 2022

1982 detective fiction, second and last of James's novels of Cordelia Gray, private investigator. The fading actress Clarissa Lisle has been getting subtle threats against her life; Cordelia's employed by her (fourth) husband to look into it. This will not end well.

[more]
Shadowlands, Violette Malan 26 August 2022

2012 fantasy. The war in Faerie is over. But not everyone will accept the rule of the new Prince, and some of them are causing trouble back on Earth.

[more]
The Mugger, Ed McBain 24 August 2022 - 1 comment

1956 police procedural, second in the 87th Precinct series. A mugger's attacking women in the city, with a distinctive pattern to his crimes.

[more]
The Element of Fire, Martha Wells 22 August 2022

1993 fantasy. King Roland of Ile-Rien is a weakling controlled by his favourite; only his mother, the ageing Dowager Queen Ravenna, is holding the kingdom together. Meanwhile the sorcerer Urbain Grandier has fled from the Inquisition and kidnapped the one magician left at court. For Thomas Boniface, captain of the Queen's Guard, all it needs is the king's half-fey bastard sister Kade Carrion to be up to her old tricks…

[more]
Minority Report 21 August 2022 - 7 comments

2002 science fiction, dir. Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow: IMDb / allmovie. Precrime stops murders before they happen. But what happens when its boss is named as a future murderer?

[more]
Morningstar, Liz Williams 20 August 2022

2014 urban fantasy, self-published, sixth of its series. A mysterious Something comes to Singapore Three and makes its home in a largely-disused temple. And the Emperors of Heaven and Hell have both gone missing…

[more]
Lucky Penny, Ellie Ashe 16 August 2022

2015 action/mystery, third and last in the Miranda Vaughn series. Miranda's asked to help with an audit at a resort, complicated by a film production and an FBI operation led by her potential boyfriend…

[more]
The Pianist 15 August 2022

2002 drama, dir. Roman Polanski, Adrien Brody: IMDb / allmovie. As the Jews of Krakow are rounded up into the ghetto, one pianist finds out that he's a survivor.

[more]
Redoubtable, Mike Shepherd 14 August 2022

2010 military SF, eighth of the Kris Longknife books. Kris is hunting pirates and slavers beyond the edge of human-claimed space.

[more]
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side 13 August 2022

1998 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1962 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. Someone drops dead after drinking the famous actress's drink…

[more]
Death in Botanist's Bay, Elizabeth Ferrars 12 August 2022

1941 murder mystery. The famous botanist Edgar Prees tried to hurl himself off a cliff and was prevented; the next morning he went into work as usual. Where he was promptly found dead. US vt Murder of a Suicide.

[more]
Capture the Crown, Jennifer Estep 10 August 2022

2021 fantasy, first of a trilogy, linked to the earlier Crown of Shards series. Gemma's public image is of a spoiled princess; so nobody expects her to be working undercover. But it seems that she's not the only one.

[more]
Ghosts of Mars 09 August 2022

2001 science fiction horror, dir. John Carpenter, Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube: IMDb / allmovie. It's just a routine prisoner transfer.

[more]
Rich Man's War, Elliott Kay 08 August 2022

2014 space-navy SF, second of its series. Tensions are rising between Archangel's government and the corporations of the interstellar Union of which it's a member. Which doesn't bode well for Tanner Malone's wish just to put in his time and then get out of the Navy.

[more]
Nemesis 07 August 2022

1998 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1971 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes.

[more]
The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths 06 August 2022

2009 mystery. Ruth Galloway is an archaeologist specialising in bones, living on the edge of a salt marsh in Norfolk. Ten years ago a child went missing; now another one has vanished…

[more]
Battle Group Avalon, Glynn Stewart 05 August 2022

2016 SF, third of its series. Kyle Roberts commands the new carrier Avalon as the war against the Terran Commonwealth continues.

[more]
Cold Case, Linda Barnes 02 August 2022

1997 mystery, seventh in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). Twenty-four years ago, Thea Janis was a teenage prodigy, who vanished and was believed dead. Now a client comes to Carlotta with a new chapter in her writing style…

[more]
July 2022 Trailers 01 August 2022

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Mulholland Drive (2001) 31 July 2022

2001 unclassifiable, dir. David Lynch, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring; IMDb / allmovie. The dame is trouble.

[more]
Dust, Elizabeth Bear 30 July 2022

2007 SF, first of a trilogy. Rien is a castle servant, told off to look after the prisoner Perceval. Only it's all much more real than that.

[more]
A Royal Pain, Rhys Bowen 29 July 2022

2008 mystery/thriller, second in its series. It's still 1932, and Queen Mary is determined to separate her son Edward from That Simpson Woman. Enter Georgiana, 34th in line to the throne, who can be invited to host a Bavarian princess, eighteen and just out of the convent, and throw her into the path of the prince…

[more]
The Mirror Prince, Violette Malan 28 July 2022

Max Ravenhill is a history professor, or so he thinks: but then a strange woman tells him that he's really an exile from the lands of the Fae…

[more]
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, Jodi Taylor 27 July 2022

2015 science fiction, sixth in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel). In an effort to rebuild the History department, Max is put in charge of a new batch of trainees.

[more]
Hidden River, Adrian McKinty 25 July 2022

2004 crime. Alexander Lawson was a rising star in the RUC, until he joined the drugs squad and got hooked on heroin. But in 1995, when his first girlfriend is murdered in Denver, her father encourages him to go and look into it.

[more]
Traffic 24 July 2022

2000 crime, dir. Steven Soderbergh, Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle: IMDb / allmovie. Maybe after a hundred years of throwing more police at the drug problem we might try something different?

[more]
Some Golden Harbor, David Drake 23 July 2022

2006 military SF, fifth of this ongoing series. Dunbar's World is being invaded from Pellegrino, and the RCN is called on by their allies to help. But they don't really care that much, so they send one underarmed ship and Daniel Leary.

[more]
Shadow of the Vampire 22 July 2022 - 2 comments

2000 horror, dir. E. Elias Merhige, John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe; IMDb / allmovie. In 1921, Murnau travels from Berlin to make a film about the mysterious Count Orlock.

[more]
The Victoria Vanishes, Christopher Fowler 21 July 2022 - 1 comment

2008 police procedural mystery/horror, sixth in the Bryant and May series. Women are being murdered in pubs, in a weird way. Bryant saw one of them before she died, but even the pub she went into isn't there any more…

[more]
Dropping the Dime, Ellie Ashe 19 July 2022

2015 action/mystery, second in the Miranda Vaughn series. Disgraced (but found not guilty) former commercial banker Miranda is helping a whistleblower whose boss is making some very dubious-looking payments.

[more]
Nosferatu 18 July 2022 - 2 comments

1922 horror, dir. F. W. Murnau, Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim; IMDb / allmovie. Hutter travels from his coastal German home to sell a house to the mysterious Orlock.

[more]
Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree 17 July 2022

2022 fantasy. Viv the orc settles down after a life of adventuring… to open a coffee shop.

[more]
Dogma 16 July 2022

1999 religious comedy, dir. Kevin Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Ben Affleck: IMDb / allmovie. A brief revival of the plenary indulgence gives two banished angels the chance to get back into heaven… but that might be really quite a bad thing.

[more]
The Iron Khan, Liz Williams 15 July 2022 - 2 comments

2010 urban fantasy. The Book that created the universe is missing, and may be getting Ideas; Detective Inspector Chen investigates. Meanwhile Zhu Irzh is finding himself drawn to the Great Khan.

[more]
Murder Fantastical, Patricia Moyes 12 July 2022

1967 mystery, seventh in the series about Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. The self-made man who wants to be County is found shot; nobody much regrets it, but Tibbett still gets called in to the house full of daft and self-interested people…

[more]
Magnolia (1999) 11 July 2022

1999 drama, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, and a large cast; IMDb / allmovie. Stuff happens.

[more]
The Language of Power, Rosemary Kirstein 10 July 2022

2004 fantasy/SF, fourth of its series. Rowan the Steerswoman returns to the port town of Donner, to try to learn more about the fallen Guidestar and the wizard who made it fall.

[more]
Paul Temple and the Spencer Affair 09 July 2022

1957 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in 8 parts. Paul is asked by a theatrical impresario to look into the death of his daughter, who was training as an actor.

[more]
Chaos Reigning, Jessie Mihalik 08 July 2022

2020 SF/romance, last of a trilogy. Catarina von Hasenberg, the youngest of the heirs to one of the three Great Houses, has a public persona as a partying idiot… and some of the time even she believes it. But she'll still go undercover at a rival House's summer retreat to try to get proof relating to the kidnapping of her brother.

[more]
The Corinthian, Georgette Heyer 06 July 2022

1940 Regency romance. Sir Richard Wyndham, contemplating the loveless but respectable marriage everyone's been badgering him to make for years and with no particular reason or excuse to put it off any longer, celebrates his last night before engagement by getting monstrously drunk. As he stumbles homewards, he spots a lad climbing down from a window on knotted sheets… early US vt Beau Wyndham.

[more]
Nowhere to Run, James Oswald 04 July 2022

2021 contemporary thriller with fantastic elements. DC Constance Fairchild was taking time off in rural Wales to recover, when the plague happened and she decided to wait it out. But as usual, trouble comes looking for her.

[more]
Dark City (1998) 03 July 2022 - 1 comment

1999 SF noir, dir. Alex Proyas, Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland,; IMDb / allmovie. When you wake up a bath with no memories and a murdered hooker, you don't stop to ask questions.

[more]
Happily Never After, Jeaniene Frost 02 July 2022

2008 urban fantasy novella, side story in the Night Huntress (Cat and Bones) series. Isabella Spaga the restaurateur has caught the eye of a minor-league mobster looking to move up in the world, he insists on marrying her, and her ne'er-do-well brother tells her to go along with it then drops out of contact. But help is on the way.

[more]
June 2022 Trailers 01 July 2022 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
The Big Lebowski (1998) 29 June 2022

1998 crime/comedy, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, Jeff Bridges; IMDb / allmovie. That rug really tied the room together.

[more]
Revenge of the Spellmans, Lisa Lutz 28 June 2022

2009 mystery-adjacent; the Spellmans are a dysfunctional family of private investigators, but narrator Izzy is trying to get away from that. Of course it won't last.

[more]
At Bertram's Hotel 27 June 2022

1995 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1965 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes.

[more]
License to Ensorcell, Katharine Kerr 26 June 2022

2010 urban fantasy. Nola O'Grady works for a government agency that doesn't exist, to preserve Harmony in the face of Order and Chaos. Back in her home town of San Francisco, she's looking into portents of doom. She tries to keep this separate from her family, but, well, many of them have magic talents too…

[more]
The Sea Rover's Practice, Benerson Little 24 June 2022

2005 non-fiction. Using mostly primary sources, the author attempts to determine just what pirates, privateers, and other ne'er-do-wells of the sea got up to in the Golden Age of Piracy.

[more]
The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl, Theodora Goss 22 June 2022

2019 historical fantasy, third and probably last of its series. The various monstrous ladies – Mary Jekyll and Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappacini, Catherine Moreau, Justine Frankenstein, and Lucinda Van Helsing – return from Budapest to find both Alice their housemaid and Sherlock Holmes missing.

[more]
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) 21 June 2022 - 3 comments

1997 crime drama and romantic comedy, dir. George Armitage, John Cusack, Minnie Driver; IMDb / allmovie. What could go wrong with combining an assassination job with your high school reunion?

[more]
Forty Years of Murder, Keith Simpson 20 June 2022

1978 autobiography. Keith Simpson was one of the successors of Spilsbury, and one of the first people in England to turn forensic pathology from an act of drama into a science.

[more]
Way of the Pouch 19 June 2022 - 9 comments

I've changed the way I carry things around with me, to a flexible system for attaching pouches.

[more]
Crush the King, Jennifer Estep 18 June 2022

2020 fantasy, last of its trilogy. Queen Everleigh Blair decides to take the fight to the enemy: the king of neighbouring Morta, who with his sister orchestrated the massacre that put her on the throne and continues to try to assassinate her.

[more]
The Timekeeper Conspiracy, Simon Hawke 16 June 2022

1984 SF, second of its series. The Timekeepers are terrorists who are trying to prevent time travel – by threatening to cause a catastrophic split in the timestream. In France in 1625?

[more]
Mary Reilly, Valerie Martin 14 June 2022

1990 gothic: Mary Reilly is a maid-of-all-work in the establishment of Doctor Henry Jekyll. This will not end well.

[more]
L.A. Confidential 13 June 2022

1997 police/crime drama, dir. Curtis Hanson, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce: IMDb / allmovie. In 1950s Los Angeles, even the straight cops are bent.

[more]
Wilkins' Tooth, Diana Wynne Jones 12 June 2022

1973 children's fantasy. It's the summer holidays; Frank and Jess need money after a chair got broken, and set up Own Back Limited, a revenge-for-hire service. But things get far too complicated far too quickly. US vt Witch's Business.

[more]
Hand of Mars, Glynn Stewart 10 June 2022

2015 SF, second of its series. Damien Montgomery and Alaura Stealey, two of the most powerful mages in human space, are sent to the planet Ardennes to deal with its escalating rebellion…

[more]
Cards on the Table 08 June 2022

2002 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1936 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. The sinister Mr Shaitana invites four detectives to a party with his "collection" of undetected murderers. By the end of the evening, he's been stabbed…

[more]
A Merciful Promise, Kendra Elliot 07 June 2022

2019 romantic mystery, sixth and last in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. Mercy's hastily dropped into an undercover job, while her police chief fiancé conducts a separate investigation.

[more]
Mary Reilly 06 June 2022

1996 romantic horror, dir. Stephen Frears, Julia Roberts, John Malkovich: IMDb / allmovie. Mary is a maid of all work in the household of one Dr Jekyll…

[more]
The Runabout, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 05 June 2022

2017 science fiction, sixth of its series. "Boss" is leading dives in the Boneyard, the stockpile of abandoned Fleet ships, in the hope of recovering hardware and learning more.

[more]
Path of the Sun, Violette Malan 03 June 2022

2010 fantasy, fourth in the Dhulyn and Parno series. Our mercenary heroes escort a princess to her wedding; but they're also sent to find out what happened to the last two mercenaries sent to that court…

[more]
May 2022 Trailers 01 June 2022

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Fargo 31 May 2022

1996 crime drama/black comedy, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand: IMDb / allmovie. Jerry just wants his wife kidnapped so that her rich father will pay a ransom, that he'll then split with the kidnappers. But subcontracting crime rarely pays.

[more]
Evidence for the Crown, Molly Lefebure 30 May 2022

1954 non-fiction. Molly Lefebure was a junior reporter who took a job as secretary to Keith Simpson, the Supervisor of Medico-Legal Post-Mortems and the forensic pathologist most often consulted by the Metropolitan Police. Reissued in 1990 as Murder on the Home Front.

[more]
The English Patient 29 May 2022 - 1 comment

1996 romantic drama, dir. Anthony Minghella, Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas: IMDb / allmovie. As the final victory over Axis forces in Italy approaches, a nurse looks after a badly-burned mystery man in an abandoned monastery.

[more]
Aurora Blazing, Jessie Mihalik 28 May 2022

2019 SF/romance. Bianca von Hasenberg, a rich widow (rumour has it, by her own hand), spends her resources trying to save other women from the grinder that is Consortium social life. But when she's attacked and the heir to von Hasenberg is kidnapped…

[more]
Evil Under the Sun 25 May 2022

1998 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1941 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. The (in)famous actress is brazenly conducting an affair, and it's not really a surprised when she turns up strangled, but everyone has an alibi…

[more]
Knot of Shadows, Lois McMaster Bujold 24 May 2022

2021 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). A corpse found floating in the harbour is not unusual… but this one, while clearly dead, is still moving. Penric digs into what happened, and why.

[more]
Poor Man's Fight, Elliott Kay 22 May 2022 - 2 comments

2013 space-navy SF, first of a series. On Archangel, your final exam determines how much you owe the company for your education. Tanner Malone messed that up, but joining the Navy will help pay the debt back faster. Meanwhile the local pirates are getting bolder…

[more]
Strange Days 21 May 2022

1995 SF noir, dir. Kathryn Bigelow, Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett; IMDb / AllMovie. Paranoia's just reality on a finer scale.

[more]
The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein 20 May 2022

2003 fantasy/SF, third of its series. Rowan the Steerswoman comes to the seaside town of Alemeth, searching the Annex for evidence of a wizard who doesn't seem to exist…

[more]
Kill Orbit, Joel Dane 18 May 2022

2020 young adult SF, last volume of its trilogy. Maseo Kaytu and Anvil Squad are being sent into space, and nobody's even telling them why…

[more]
What Will Burn, James Oswald 16 May 2022

2021 supernatural mystery in modern Edinburgh, eleventh in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. An old woman's found burned to death in her isolated home; not an accident, not with the beating first, but with a week before the body was even discovered this is going to be a tough one. Then men start dying mysteriously, and the only connection seems to be that they've recently got divorced…

[more]
Knight Templar, Leslie Charteris 13 May 2022

1930 thriller. The Saint and Roger Conway work again to prevent Rayt Marius from plunging Europe into (highly profitable for him) war. Vt The Avenging Saint.

[more]
Apollo 13 11 May 2022 - 3 comments

1995 space history, dir. Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton; IMDb / AllMovie. Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here.

[more]
Duel in the Dark, Jay Allan 10 May 2022

2016 space-navy SF, first of an 18-book series. Everybody knows that another war is coming, and Captain Barron and the battleship Dauntless are getting a refit a long way from the front lines. Until a third power gets involved.

[more]
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe 08 May 2022

2004 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1940 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. Poirot leaves his dentist, passing a lady who loses the buckle of her shoe while getting out of a taxi. Later, it turns out that the dentist is dead. Suicide? Of course not.

[more]
A Ship of the Line, C. S. Forester 07 May 2022

1938 Napoleonic naval fiction, second written but seventh by internal chronology. After his triumphs in the Lydia, Hornblower gets command of a ship of the line, if an ugly and unseaworthy one, not to mention short of crew.

[more]
Dagon (2001) 06 May 2022

2001 horror, dir. Stuart Gordon, Ezra Godden, Francisco Rabal: IMDb / allmovie. No one leave Imboca. People come, but no one leave.

[more]
The Dance of Time, David Drake and Eric Flint 04 May 2022

2006 alternate-history war story, last of six books. The Malwa have been pushed back but still hold their home territory; Belisarius and allies must finish the job.

[more]
How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back, Diana Rowland 02 May 2022

2014 urban fantasy, fourth of its series. Angel Crawford is still a zombie (subtype conscious and super-strong, though still cerebrivorous), and things seem to be going all right, but several of her allies get kidnapped by the evil corporation…

[more]
April 2022 Trailers 01 May 2022 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Re-Animator (1985) 30 April 2022

1985 horror, dir. Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott: IMDb / allmovie. New medical student Herbert West is dedicated to his work…

[more]
Undaunted, Mike Shepherd 29 April 2022

2009 military SF, seventh of the Kris Longknife books. Kris, continuing her exploration mission, meets an oddly peaceful Iteeche ship (the aliens who almost wiped out humanity during the last big war), and doesn't get to act on what she learns.

[more]
The Shadow Pavilion, Liz Williams 27 April 2022

2008 urban fantasy. Detective Inspector Chen's partner has disappeared, finding himself stalked by tiger-demons. And someone is trying to assassinate the new Emperor of Heaven.

[more]
A Merciful Fate, Kendra Elliot 25 April 2022

2019 romantic mystery, fifth in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. A body found in the woods could be connected with an armoured car robbery thirty years ago. FBI agent Kilpatrick and her police chief fiancé Truman Daly, among others, investigate.

[more]
In the Mouth of Madness (1994) 24 April 2022

1994 horror, dir. John Carpenter, Sam Neill, Julie Carmen: IMDb / allmovie. The insurance investigator is sent to find the wildly popular horror author, who's vanished with the overdue manuscript of his latest book…

[more]
The Laundrymen, Jeffrey Robinson 23 April 2022

1995 non-fiction, an informal look at money-laundering.

[more]
The Falls, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 20 April 2022

2016 science fiction, fifth of its series. In the heyday of the Fleet, one of the great Sector Bases is scheduled for closure – in thirty years, but that still affects people's lives now as they plan their futures. And outside the base odd things start happening, such as two pairs of shoes left at the top of the big local waterfall…

[more]
Pulp Fiction (1994) 19 April 2022 - 1 comment

1994 crime drama, dir. Quentin Tarantino, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson: IMDb / allmovie.

[more]
To Be Taught, If Fortunate, Becky Chambers 18 April 2022

2019 science fiction novella. Four interstellar explorers discover wonders.

[more]
Last Action Hero (1993) 17 April 2022 - 8 comments

1993 action comedy, dir. John McTiernan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charles Dance: IMDb / allmovie. Danny loves the Jack Slater movies, but he didn't expect to find himself in one.

[more]
Death on the Nile 16 April 2022

1997 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1937 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. The heiress gets married (to her best friend's former fiancé), then murdered; she's joined in the latter by what seems like half the cast.

[more]
The Angel of the Crows, Katherine Addison 15 April 2022

2020 Victorian fantasy. Wounded in Afghanistan, Dr J. H. Doyle returns to London and takes up with a new roommate, a renegade angel interested in the solving of crime.

[more]
Stellar Fox, Glynn Stewart 12 April 2022

2015 SF, second of its series. Kyle Roberts, former fighter jock now forced by neural implant damage into the big-ship navy, has both a good popular reputation and highly-placed enemies. Which means that his command of the new carrier is going to be more complicated than it needs to be.

[more]
Schindler's List 11 April 2022 - 1 comment

1993 drama, dir. Steven Spielberg, Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley: IMDb / allmovie. As the Jews of Krakow are rounded up into the ghetto, one Nazi businessman sees a way to get rich.

[more]
The Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison 10 April 2022

2021 fantasy. Thara Celehar is a witness for the dead, a priest who can retrieve some memories of the recently-deceased. Having been of some slight assistance to the emperor, he's moved away as far as he can from the court and politics, and just wants to be able to do his job…

[more]
Reservoir Dogs 09 April 2022

1992 crime drama, dir. Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth: IMDb / allmovie. What happens if the manager won't give you the diamonds?

[more]
Atlas Alone, Emma Newman 08 April 2022

2019 science fiction, a direct sequel to After Atlas. Dee made it onto the evacuation ship at the last moment, and is one of the few people who knows what happened to Earth as they left. But a mysterious someone seems to want to help her with her quest for justice.

[more]
Burn Cycle, Joel Dane 06 April 2022

2020 young adult SF, middle volume of a trilogy. Maseo Kaytu has done the previously impossible and operated one of the mysterious CAV weapons as its pilot rather than as a remote controller. What next?

[more]
Leave It to Psmith, P. G. Wodehouse 04 April 2022

1923 comedy. Psmith finds himself at Blandings, impersonating a squalid but trendy Canadian poet.

[more]
Point Blank (1967) 03 April 2022

1967 crime/revenge film, dir. John Boorman, Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson; IMDb / allmovie. Walker's partner in crime betrayed him, took his wife and left him for dead. Walker wants his money back.

[more]
Remove the Bodies, Elizabeth Ferrars 02 April 2022

1940 murder mystery. Toby Dyke the journalist vaguely knows the young and naïve Lou Capell, so when she comes to him in tears wanting a place to sleep and to borrow fifteen pounds, he provides them, even though she refuses to explain why. Soon afterwards, he gets a phone call saying she's been murdered… US vt Rehearsals for Murder.

[more]
March 2022 Trailers 01 April 2022 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Five Little Pigs 30 March 2022

1994 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1942 mystery, in a single 90-minute episode. Amyas Crale's widow went to prison for poisoning him, and died there; now their daughter plans to marry, but worries about the possibility of a hereditary murderousness, and asks Poirot to investigate.

[more]
Abandoned in Death, J. D. Robb 29 March 2022

2022 SF/mystery; 54th novel of J. D. Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). The woman's body, throat slit, is dumped on a playground bench, neatly dressed and made up but decades out of style. And the note reads Bad Mommy.

[more]
Atomica 28 March 2022

2017 SF horror, dir. Dagen Merrill, Sarah Habel, Dominic Monaghan: IMDb / allmovie. Something's amiss at a nuclear power plant… of the future.

[more]
The Romance of the Secret Service Fund, Fred M. White 27 March 2022

1900 anthology of short stories (first published in Pearson's Magazine), dealing with Newton Moore, top agent of the British Secret Service. (The "Fund" part is never explained, though it seems to have been in general use at the time; I think the idea may have been that Britain wouldn't want an actual secret service like those filthy foreigners, but could have a fund to pay for occasional distasteful but necessary actions.)

[more]
P-51 Dragon Fighter 26 March 2022 - 7 comments

2014 fantasy, dir. Mark Atkins, Scott Martin, Ross Brooks: IMDb / allmovie. In the Second World War, the Nazis have got dragons. That's about it really.

[more]
The Tide of Victory, David Drake and Eric Flint 25 March 2022

2001 alternate-history war story, fifth of six books. Belisarius and his allies take the war to the Malwa, invading the subcontinent and pushing them back into their heartland.

[more]
Unforgiven 23 March 2022

1992 western, dir. and starring Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman: IMDb / allmovie. William Munny was a bad man, until his wife reformed him. But she's dead.

[more]
The Heads of Cerberus, Francis Stevens 21 March 2022

1919 dystopian science fiction. Three friends accidentally inhale a strange dust, and find themselves in a Philadelphia… of the future!

[more]
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 20 March 2022 - 6 comments

1991 science fiction, dir. James Cameron, Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger: IMDb / allmovie. Two more soldiers from the future, and a different target to kill or protect.

[more]
Who Is Aldrich Kemp? 19 March 2022

2022 spy-jinks audio drama by Julian Simpson. Clara Page is an agent set to track down the Themis Group, a criminal conspiracy so powerful nobody's even heard of it.

[more]
Innocent Blood, P. D. James 18 March 2022

1980 thriller, a stand-alone novel. Philippa Palfrey, who's always known she was adopted, makes use of a change in the law to discover the identities of her biological parents – who turn out to be a notorious rapist and murderess.

[more]
The Doom of London, F. White 16 March 2022

1903 anthology of short stories (first published in Pearson's Magazine), in which various catastrophes are visited upon London.

[more]
The Terminator 15 March 2022

1984 science fiction, dir. James Cameron, Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger: IMDb / allmovie. Two soldiers from the future fight to kill, or save, the mother of the revolution.

[more]
Polaris Rising, Jessie Mihalik 14 March 2022

2019 SF/romance. Ada von Hasenberg, younger daughter of one of the three Houses that together rule human space, has been on the run for two years from an arranged marriage. She's finally been caught… but then they made the mistake of putting her in a cell with the man-monster.

[more]
Thelma & Louise (1991) 13 March 2022

1991 drama, dir. Ridley Scott, Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis; IMDb / allmovie. It was just supposed to be a weekend trip to a cabin in the mountains…

[more]
Hardware, Linda Barnes 11 March 2022

1995 mystery, sixth in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). She may not have a client but, when shenanigans affect the cab company she drives for part-time, Carlotta can't help but get involved.

[more]
Back to the Future Part III 09 March 2022

1990 science fiction/comedy, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd: IMDb / allmovie. You're just not thinking fourth dimensionally!

[more]
Tourmalin's Time Cheques, F. Anstey 08 March 2022

1891 fantasy (perhaps 1885). Tourmalin, bored on a long sea voyage, discovers the Anglo-Australian Joint Stock Time Bank, into which he can deposit his unwanted time, only to reclaim and spend it later.

[more]
Back to the Future Part II 06 March 2022

1989 science fiction/comedy, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd: IMDb / allmovie. We've got to do something about your kids!

[more]
Chasing Tinsel, Ellie Ashe 05 March 2022

2014 action/mystery novella. Miranda's working at the mall to get some money together for Christmas presents for her friends while pining over her not-quite-a-boyfriend-yet. Then things happen.

[more]
Paul Temple and the Margo Mystery 04 March 2022

1961 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in 8 parts. While Paul's away on a lecture tour, his wife Steve is briefly kidnapped as a warning about… something… and left in her car is a coat with the unusual label "Margo".

[more]
Nothing to Hide, James Oswald 02 March 2022

2019 contemporary thriller. After the events of the last book, DC Constance Fairchild is on suspension and hounded by the press. But she's a born copper, so when a man turns up by her bins, mutilated and barely alive, she can't keep out of it…

[more]
February 2022 Trailers 01 March 2022

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Back to the Future 28 February 2022 - 3 comments

1985 science fiction/comedy, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd: IMDb / allmovie. You built a time machine? In a DeLorean?

[more]
The Outskirter's Secret, Rosemary Kirstein 27 February 2022

1992 fantasy/SF, second of its series. Rowan the Steerswoman and Bel the barbarian travel into the Outskirts to try to find the source of the mysterious blue jewels…

[more]
Goodfellas 26 February 2022

1990 Mafia drama, dir. Martin Scorsese, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci: IMDb / allmovie. Henry Hill learns that being a wiseguy is great fun, until it isn't.

[more]
Johnny Under Ground, Patricia Moyes 25 February 2022 - 4 comments

1965 mystery, sixth in the series about Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. Tibbett's wife Emmy is invited to a reunion of staff from the fighter control station where she worked as a young woman during the war. They get together a plan to write a history of the station, with a focus on "Beau" Guest, the injured former pilot who committed suicide by aircraft. Or did he…? Somebody doesn't want the past uncovered.

[more]
The Storm Witch, Violette Malan 22 February 2022

2009 fantasy, third in the Dhulyn and Parno series. Our mercenary heroes are forced to take a long ocean voyage to mediate between shipbuilding nomads and the land power they trade with; things go comprehensively wrong.

[more]
Heathers 21 February 2022

1989 black comedy, dir. Michael Lehmann, Winona Ryder, Christian Slater: IMDb / allmovie. Veronica's part of the Top Clique, but isn't actually into pointless cruelty and drunken sex. New student JD seems to offer an alternative…

[more]
The Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer 20 February 2022

1936 romance. Sylvester Lavenham is dying, and is determined to protect his niece Eustacie (young and excitable) by betrothing her to his nephew Sir Tristram Shield (rather older, stolid, but willing to do his duty). Naturally, she must run away to London to become a governess. But she wasn't expecting smugglers…

[more]
Murder On the Orient Express 19 February 2022

1992 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1934 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. The nasty American has been stabbed in his berth, but even Poirot seems unable to make sense of the evidence.

[more]
The Crow Trap, Ann Cleeves 18 February 2022

1999 mystery, first in Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series. Rachel, Anne and Grace are working on an environmental study in the North Pennines, where the landowner's planning to reopen an old quarry. Their nearby neighbour, a woman with a disabled husband, apparently hangs herself, though it seems very out of character for her. And still waters are running very deep…

[more]
Do The Right Thing (1989) 16 February 2022

1989 drama, dir. Spike Lee, Danny Aiello; IMDb / allmovie. On the hottest day of the year, on a block in Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, nobody was planning that the day would end with a death.

[more]
The Hanging Tree, Ben Aaronovitch 15 February 2022

Contemporary fantasy, sixth in the series. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, is back in London, starting with a magic-related drug overdose and following clues to the Big Bad.

[more]
The Thames Valley Catastrophe, Grant Allen 13 February 2022

1897 SF short story. A massive volcanic fissure opens in the Thames Valley; London and the home counties are flooded with lava.

[more]
Die Hard (1988) 12 February 2022

1988 thriller/action, dir. John McTiernan, Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman; IMDb / allmovie.

[more]
Curse of the Spellmans, Lisa Lutz 11 February 2022

2008 mystery-adjacent, second of its series. Izzy Spellman, private investigator and all-round mess, gets arrested for spying on her secretive neighbour.

[more]
The Ancients, Nick Marsh 08 February 2022

2011 fantasy. The civil war is over, and Lord Protector Cranmer is in charge… but seems strangely unwilling to go about the business of ruling. Meanwhile the last of the Royal Guard finds a dead woman by the side of the road…

[more]
Cinema Paradiso 07 February 2022

1988 drama, dir. Guiseppe Tornatore: IMDb / allmovie. Salvatore the famous filmmaker learns that Alfredo is dead; but who was Alfredo to him? Released as Nuovo Cinema Paradiso in Italy.

[more]
Before Mars, Emma Newman 06 February 2022

2018 science fiction, concurrent with After Atlas. Anna Kubrin, geologist and painter, arrives on the Mars base to join the four-person scientific crew there. But then she finds a painting, in her own distinctive style, warning her not to trust one of them; equipment is missing from what she remembers packing, though the inventory matches what's there; an inscription is absent from the inside of her wedding ring; and worst of all, she knows just what paranoia looks like, because she saw it in her father's breakdown.

[more]
A Caribbean Mystery 05 February 2022 - 1 comment

1997 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1964 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. Miss Marple's nephew sends her on a winter holiday for the good of her health, but she soon gets bored; fortunately the crusty old Major drops dead just after telling her about an unsolved murder.

[more]
Hench, Natalie Zina Walschots 04 February 2022 - 5 comments

2020 superheroic SF. Even supervillains need office workers, and like everyone else they hire through a temp agency. Anna didn't expect to find herself holding a mind-control device to the mayor's kid's head, but she still became collateral damage when the superheroes came in to rescue him. Then it gets interesting.

[more]
The Brick Moon and Other Stories, Edward Everett Hale 02 February 2022

1899 collection of variously SF, polemic, and whimsical stories.

[more]
January 2022 Trailers 01 February 2022 - 11 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others..)

[more]
The Scavenger Door, Suzanne Palmer 31 January 2022

2021 SF, third of its series. Fergus is just trying to settle back down with more family than he thought he had, but this time he's not even surprised when he gets involved in world-saving…

[more]
The Green Berets (1968) 29 January 2022 - 1 comment

1968 war, dir. John Wayne and Ray Kellogg, Wayne, David Janssen: IMDb / allmovie.

[more]
Firebreak, Nicole Kornher-Stace 28 January 2022

2021 SF. Mallory and Jessa are orphans of the corporate wars, streaming their VR gameplay in the hope of getting more water credits. But the real prize in the game is finding the SecOps NPCs, automated avatars of real-world corporate supersoldiers…

[more]
Miss Moriarty, I Presume?, Sherry Thomas 25 January 2022

2021 mystery story, sixth of the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte Holmes finds herself employed by Moriarty himself, to investigate the situation of his estranged daughter. But nothing is as it appears.

[more]
A Merciful Silence, Kendra Elliot 23 January 2022

2018 romantic mystery, fourth in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. Skeletal human remains turn up in a blocked culvert, with a pattern of injury consistent with a killer from twenty years ago. And in this small town, many of the people who were involved back then are still around now.

[more]
Hamburger Hill (1987) 22 January 2022 - 4 comments

1987 war, dir. John Irvin, Dylan McDermott, Courtney B. Vance: IMDb / allmovie. Even the breaks between war are fairly hellish.

[more]
Skirmishes, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 21 January 2022

2013 science fiction, fourth of its series. The Empire is attacking: "Boss" goes to a cluster of abandoned ancient ships to try to get some of them back into service, while Captain Cooper tries to hold off the initial wave with the ships they have.

[more]
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) 19 January 2022

1987 war, dir. Barry Levinson, Robin Williams: IMDb / allmovie. A laugh a minute in good old Vietnam.

[more]
The Assassins of Thasalon, Lois McMaster Bujold 17 January 2022 - 1 comment

2021 fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Penric's brother-in-law, the former General Arisaydia, is quite happy to ignore the Imperial succession crisis. But one of the factions doesn't trust him to stay out, and sends a new sort of assassin after him. Which generates a theological challenge for Penric…

[more]
A Pocket Full of Rye 16 January 2022 - 6 comments

1995 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1953 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. Rex Fortescue dies of poisoned marmalade, and someone has filled his pocket with grains of rye.

[more]
Full Metal Jacket (1987) 15 January 2022 - 1 comment

1987 war, dir. Stanley Kubrick, Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey: IMDb / allmovie. Boot camp is hell, then it gets worse.

[more]
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers 14 January 2022

2021 science fiction novella, first of a planned series. Dex is a monk who feels hemmed in in the city; going out and serving tea-and-relaxation to villagers seems like a reasonable change. But it's not the answer.

[more]
Fox Hunter, Zoë Sharp 13 January 2022

2017 thriller, twelfth in the series about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and currently private bodyguard. Charlie's in Iraq, on the trail of whoever tortured an ex-soldier to death – because there's a chance it might be her old lover Sean.

[more]
Platoon (1986) 12 January 2022

1986 war, dir. Oliver Stone, Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger: IMDb / allmovie. Turns out war isn't as bad as you thought; it's worse.

[more]
White Trash Zombie Apocalypse, Diana Rowland 10 January 2022

2013 urban fantasy, third of its series. Angel Crawford is still a zombie (subtype conscious and super-strong, though still cerebrivorous), and gradually getting her new life together. It doesn't help that nobody tells her anything.

[more]
The Way to Glory, David Drake 08 January 2022

2005 military SF, fourth of this ongoing series. With riots breaking out after an officer who lethally suppressed a mutiny is found not guilty at his court-martial, Daniel Leary ends up serving under him. This is unlikely to end well.

[more]
The Dead 07 January 2022

1987 drama, dir. John Huston, Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann: IMDb / allmovie. Everybody is miserable (in Dublin in 1904).

[more]
Archangel Blues, Eluki bes Shahar 06 January 2022

1993 SF, last of its trilogy. Saint Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere has a new job: stop the war by killing the man who's starting it. But of course things are going to get much more complicated.

[more]
December 2021 Trailers 05 January 2022

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate most things.)

[more]
2021 in Books 02 January 2022

In 2021 I read 129 books, fewer again as I think I've fallen out of the habit of making time to read. (And I'm still not having long drives for listening to audio books.)

[more]
Dead Man's Folly 30 December 2021

2007 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1956 mystery, in four thirty-minute episodes. Ariadne Oliver has been blandished into organising a murder-mystery clue-hunt at the summer fête held at Nasse House, and she calls in Poirot to give the prize; but the film-obsessed local girl playing the victim is found strangled…

[more]
The Translation of Father Torturo, Brendan Connell 29 December 2021

2005 gothic giallo. Father Xaviero Torturo rises from obscurity to become Pope; it helps that he speaks with the tongue of a saint.

[more]
Aliens 25 December 2021 - 7 comments

1986 science fiction, dir. James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn: IMDb / allmovie. Game over man, game over.

[more]
The Emperor's Edge, Lindsay Buroker 24 December 2021

2010 steampunk fantasy, first of its series. Amaranthe Lokdon is a cop in the Empire's capital city, struggling against sex prejudice. While she's dealing with a robbery, the young Emperor has a chance conversation with her, and next thing she knows the General of the Armies is sending her out alone on a job to kill Sicarius, the most dangerous assassin ever known…

[more]
Alien 23 December 2021 - 3 comments

1979 science fiction horror, dir. Ridley Scott, Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver: IMDb / allmovie. Nobody listens to the woman, and as a result they all die.

[more]
Precious Dragon, Liz Williams 20 December 2021

2007 urban fantasy. Detective Inspector Chen and his demonic partner Zhu Irzh just want to get on with solving crime. But they're set to escort a celestial diplomat from Heaven on a visit to Hell…

[more]
It! The Terror From Beyond Space 19 December 2021

1958 science fiction, dir. Edward L. Cahn, Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith: IMDb / allmovie. The last survivor of the first Mars expedition is being brought back to face a court-martial for killing all the others. But his mad story of a monster might just be true…

[more]
A Dangerous Kind of Lady, Mia Vincy 18 December 2021

2020 American Regency-ish romance, part of a loosely linked series. Arabella Larke and the Marquess of Hardbury were promised to each other as children, but on coming back from years overseas the first thing he did was refuse to abide by the parental plan. That suits her. But it's not going to work out that way.

[more]
Stand By Me 17 December 2021

1986 drama, dir. Rob Reiner, Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix: IMDb / allmovie. In 1959, four kids go out following a rumour of a dead body…

[more]
Masquerade in Lodi, Lois McMaster Bujold 16 December 2021

2019 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). In the not-Venice city of Lodi, Penric's called to look at a madman recovered from the sea. Sure enough, he's got a demon riding him. Then he runs away.

[more]
Fortune's Stroke, David Drake and Eric Flint 14 December 2021 - 3 comments

2001 alternate-history war story, fourth of six books. Belisarius delays the Malwa's best general in the Zagros Mountains to stop him reaching Mesopotamia; his wife Antonina forges an alliance with the Axumites.

[more]
Ordeal By Innocence 13 December 2021

2014 audio adaptation by Joy Wilkinson of Christie's 1958 mystery, in three 30-minute episodes. Dr Arthur Calgary has been in the Antarctic – during which the man to whom he gave a lift one rainy night, for whom Calgary might have given an alibi, has been convicted of the murder of his mother and died in prison. But the family is oddly ungrateful for the news…

[more]
A Succession of Bad Days, Graydon Saunders 12 December 2021 - 5 comments

2015 military fantasy. In the new Second Commonwealth, five apprentices learn to use their magical power.

[more]
The Breakfast Club 09 December 2021

1985 drama, dir. John Hughes, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald: IMDb / allmovie. Five high school kids are in weekend detention. Much to their surprise, this will actually have a positive effect on them.

[more]
Cry Pilot, Joel Dane 08 December 2021 - 2 comments

2019 young adult SF, first of a trilogy. Maseo Kaytu is a former child terrorist, who enlists because he feels a need to make up for some of the harm he did. But it's a crapsack world, and the only way he can get in at all is by volunteering for the suicide units…

[more]
Jungle Cruise (2021) 06 December 2021

2021 thriller/mystery, dir. Jaume Colette-Sara, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt; IMDb / allmovie. In 1916, Dr Lily Houghton travels up the Amazon in search of a tree that could revolutionise medicine…

[more]
A Murder Is Announced 05 December 2021

1999 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1950 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. When the local paper carries an advertisement that there'll be a murder, everyone in the village turns up to see what's going on. But it's the gunman who ends up dead…

[more]
River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey 04 December 2021

2017 alternate-history novella. In the 1850s, President Buchanan approved a plan to import hippopotamoi into the US as livestock – they'd eat the invasive plants and produce plenty of meat. Forty years later, the hippo is both ranched animal and mount… but feral hippos infest the lower Mississippi, until someone comes up with a plan to clear them out.

[more]
Dance With a Stranger 02 December 2021

1985 drama/tragedy, dir. Mike Newell, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett: IMDb / allmovie. In 1955, Ruth Ellis just wants to run a nightclub and do a little prostitution on the side, but things have to get all complicated.

[more]
November 2021 Trailers 01 December 2021

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate most things.)

[more]
Protect the Prince, Jennifer Estep 29 November 2021

2019 fantasy, second of its trilogy. Everleigh Blair killed the usurper and took the throne of Bellona… but her problems are not even slightly over.

[more]
Blood Simple 27 November 2021

1984 drama/black comedy, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, John Getz, Frances McDormand: IMDb / allmovie. Abby was just planning to leave her husband, but then it all got complicated.

[more]
Paul Temple and the Vandyke Affair 26 November 2021

1959 remake of 1950 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in 8 parts. A child is kidnapped, her "sitter-in" has vanished and may be responsible, and of course Drugs are lurking in the background.

[more]
A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine 25 November 2021

2021 science fiction, second in a projected series. The huge Teixcalaanli Empire is going to war, thanks largely to the actions of Mahit Dzmare, Ambassador from the independent polity of Lsel Station. But of course a war that might end with extinction that isn't going to stop everyone from playing politics…

[more]
The Fiend Queen, Barbara Ann Wright 22 November 2021

2015 fantasy, last of the Katya and Starbride tetralogy. Katya and Starbride are both fighting to depose the Fiend-possessed usurper Roland, but winning that battle won't be the hardest thing either of them has to do.

[more]
Paris, Texas 21 November 2021

1984 drama, dir. Wim Wenders, Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski: IMDb / allmovie. A man stumbles out of the desert, and collapses. Why was he there? What will he do next?

[more]
Past Tense, Nick Marsh 19 November 2021

2010 SF/fantasy, sequel to Soul Purpose. Alan Reece has coped with his experiences as the Conduit, a link between this universe and the space outside it, by trying to ignore them. Unfortunately there are things out there that aren't going to ignore him.

[more]
Hallowe'en Party 16 November 2021

1993 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1969 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. At a Hallowe'en party, a girl says that she once saw a murder, but didn't realise it until later. By the end of the evening she's been drowned in the apple-bobbing tub.

[more]
Local Hero 14 November 2021

1983 drama/comedy, dir. Bill Forsyth, Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson; IMDb / allmovie. Young privileged man travels from Houston to Charming Rural Land, and learns an Important Lesson about Life.

[more]
The Man With a Load of Mischief, Martha Grimes 13 November 2021

1981 mystery, first in the Richard Jury series (mostly cosy mystery with police investigator, rather than police procedural). When the second murder happens in the village, the local force calls in Scotland Yard. But several more people will die before it's all resolved.

[more]
The Thing 10 November 2021 - 1 comment

1982 science fiction horror, dir. John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley: IMDb / allmovie. So the antarctic scientists find an alien spaceship in the ice…

[more]
Arctic Gambit, Larry Bond and Chris Carlson 08 November 2021

2018 technothriller. Those sneaky Russians have a new terror weapon, and only a pre-emptive attack can prevent World War III.

[more]
The Thing From Another World 07 November 2021 - 4 comments

1951 science fiction, dir. Christian Nyby, Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan: IMDb / allmovie. So the arctic scientists find an alien spaceship in the ice…

[more]
Driving the Deep, Suzanne Palmer 03 November 2021

2020 SF, second of its series. Fergus has got back to his found-family, the Shipmakers of Pluto; but when he goes to Earth to tie off one last bit of unfinished business, things suddenly get desperately complicated again.

[more]
October 2021 Trailers 01 November 2021 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Since I started doing a film review podcast I hate slightly less of everything, but I hate generic film with nothing to say if anything more than before.)

[more]
The Right Stuff 31 October 2021 - 6 comments

1983 aviation/space, dir. Philip Kaufman, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn; IMDb / AllMovie. As the cutting edge of aviation shifts from transonic flight to spaceflight, NASA needs a new sort of hero.

[more]
Who Goes There?, John W. Campbell 27 October 2021

1938 science fiction novella. A group of Antarctic researchers finds a spaceship in the ice, wrecked millions of years ago. But something of its crew/cargo seems still to be alive, and able to take over humans…

[more]
Star Trek Lower Decks season 2 26 October 2021

2021 science fiction comedy, 10 episodes. The Cerritos continues to do all of Starfleet's trivial and boring jobs (and they continue to be surprisingly dangerous).

[more]
Bury Them Deep, James Oswald 25 October 2021

2020 supernatural mystery in modern Edinburgh, tenth in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. A police administrative assistant doesn't turn up for work, just as a major cross-jurisdictional investigation is kicking off. Did she tip off the targets and vanish, or is something more sinister going on?

[more]
Towards Zero 24 October 2021

2010 audio adaptation of Christie's 1944 mystery, in four half-hour episodes. Lady Tressilian invites her former ward for a summer visit; he insists on bringing both his ex-wife and his current one. And then people start to die.

[more]
Diner 23 October 2021

1982 drama, dir. Barry Levinson, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon; IMDb / allmovie. In 1959, young men contemplate growing up, and decide that it's too much like hard work.

[more]
The Sibyl In Her Grave, Sarah Caudwell 22 October 2021

2000 mystery, fourth and last of Caudwell's Hilary Tamar series. Julia's aunt Regina has an annoying new fortune-telling neighbour, with an even more annoying droopy niece. Julia's colleague Selena has a client who wants to know which of the underlings at his bank is abusing his position with insider dealing. Which would all be just a series of nuisances, until people start to drop dead.

[more]
Star Trek Lower Decks season 1 19 October 2021

2020 science fiction comedy, 10 episodes. On the USS Cerritos, the bridge crew think they're the stars of the show, but we follow the ensigns as they go about their daily grind (plus adventure).

[more]
Red Rising, Pierce Brown 18 October 2021 - 8 comments

2018 young adult SF, first of its series. Darrow is a Red, lowest of the colour-coded castes, mining helium-3 on Mars to power the terraforming project. One day the work will end and everyone will live on the surface… but it's all a lie.

[more]
Raiders of the Lost Ark 17 October 2021 - 7 comments

1981 adventure, dir. Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen; IMDb / AllMovie. In 1936, the treasure-hunting "archaeologist" Indiana Jones tries to beat the Nazis to the lost Ark of the Covenant.

[more]
The Convenient Marriage, Georgette Heyer 16 October 2021

1934 romance. The Winwoods are a good family, but impoverished; the rich Earl of Rule needs a wife. He offers for the oldest sister, as is proper, but Elizabeth already has a beau (though a sadly poor one), so young Horatia suggests that she might do just as well. A marriage of convenience seems like a good idea to both of them, but…

[more]
Das Boot 15 October 2021

1981 war, dir. Wolfgang Peterson, Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer; IMDb / AllMovie. In late 1941, U-96 goes out hunting Allied ships…

[more]
Shadowborn, Alison Sinclair 14 October 2021

2011 fantasy, last of its trilogy. The Shadowborn are attacking, and even if Lightborn and Darkborn work together that may not be enough to stop them…

[more]
Vortex of Crimson, Lise MacTague 12 October 2021

2016 SF, last of its trilogy. Jak needs to get back to her homeworld of Haefen for specialised medical attention, and to hunt down the sniper who killed her brother; Torrin needs to go there because her sister and business partner has been kidnapped.

[more]
Airplane! 11 October 2021

1980 air disaster spoof, dir. Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker, Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty: IMDb / allmovie. It's Zero Hour! all over again, with jokes. vt Flying High!

[more]
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell 10 October 2021 - 4 comments

1877 polemic, the autobiography of a horse.

[more]
Airport 1975 08 October 2021 - 2 comments

1974 air disaster film, dir. Jack Smight, Charlton Heston, Karen Black: IMDb / allmovie. Midair collision over Salt Lake… vt Airport '75.

[more]
Airport 04 October 2021 - 2 comments

1970 air disaster film, dir. George Seaton, Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin: IMDb / allmovie. Everything's happening at Chicago Airport tonight…

[more]
Forgotten in Death, J. D. Robb 03 October 2021 - 2 comments

2021 SF/mystery; 53rd novel of J. D. Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). A woman is found dumped on a demolition site; while Eve Dallas is investigating that, another body turns up nearby, but it's been walled up for forty years.

[more]
September 2021 Trailers 01 October 2021 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Since I started doing a film review podcast I hate slightly less of everything, but I hate generic film with nothing to say if anything more than before.)

[more]
Darktraders, Eluki bes Shahar 30 September 2021

1992 SF, middle volume of a trilogy. Saint Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere, a smuggler pilot without a ship, has nearly got her inconvenient protégé back to safety… but it's never that simple.

[more]
Zero Hour! 29 September 2021

1957 aviation disaster, dir. Hall Bartlett, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell: IMDb / allmovie. Looks like you picked the wrong week to quit smoking.

[more]
The Body in the Library 28 September 2021

1999 audio adaptation of Christie's 1942 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. The blonde dressed for a party turns up, stone dead, on the floor of the library at Gossington Hall…

[more]
The High and the Mighty 26 September 2021

1954 disaster film, dir. William A. Wellman, John Wayne, Claire Trevor: IMDb / allmovie. A 2,000-mile overwater flight is no place for an engine to explode.

[more]
Masked Ball at Broxley Manor, Rhys Bowen 25 September 2021

2012 thriller novelette, prequel to the series Her Royal Spyness. "Georgie", cousin to the king but really of no importance, is coming to the end of her Season with no offers. She doesn't particularly fancy Prince Otto of Prussia, but going to a Halloween Ball (an American innovation) should be harmless enough…

[more]
Raging Bull 24 September 2021

1980 drama, dir. Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci; IMDb / allmovie. The boxer is on the way up, then he's on the way down.

[more]
Hadrian the Seventh, Frederick Rolfe 22 September 2021 - 4 comments

1904 revenge-fiction. They laughed at George Arthur Rose at the seminary, but now he'll show them – he'll show them all!

[more]
Oath Bound, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 20 September 2021

2015 historical fantasy, fifth in the Order of the Air series. Late in 1935, Alma, Lewis and Mitch are showing off the new Catalina at an air show in Palermo, while Jerry is across the Med in Alexandria following magical hints to the lost tomb of Alexander the Great.

[more]
Dawn of the Dead 19 September 2021

1978 horror, dir. George Romero, David Emge, Ken Foree: IMDb / allmovie. The dead are still rising, and they're still hungry.

[more]
A Beastly Kind of Earl, Mia Vincy 18 September 2021

2019 American Regency-ish romance, part of a loosely linked series. Thea Knight disguises herself as her sister Helen, so that Helen can elope with her beau. Lord Luxborough, set to watch Helen, realises what's going on, and works out that if he marries the woman under a false name he can get access to the family money he needs without the inconvenience of a wife he doesn't want…

[more]
Night of the Living Dead 15 September 2021

1968 horror, dir. George Romero, Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea: IMDb / allmovie. The dead are rising, and they're hungry.

[more]
Mutiny at Vesta, R. E. Stearns 14 September 2021

2018 SF, second of its series. Adda the hacker and Iridian the engineer travel with the infamous pirate Captain Sloane to his base on Vesta… which has been grabbed out from under him while he was away.

[more]
Apocalypse Now (1979) 12 September 2021 - 4 comments

1979 war, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall: IMDb / allmovie. Captain Willard is sent upriver to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, who's fighting the war just a bit too well.

[more]
Obsidio, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff 11 September 2021 - 2 comments

2018 YA science fiction, last of its trilogy. When Kerenza IV was invaded, some of the inhabitants escaped; a few survived on the surface. Now the escapees' only option is to come back, but the invaders are still there…

[more]
The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) 09 September 2021 - 2 comments

2008 science fiction, dir. Scott Derrickson, Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens land with a message for humanity, and the humans immediately shoot one of them.

[more]
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers 08 September 2021

2021 science fiction. Three travellers get stranded at an inn by bad weather, and for once don't pass the time by telling each other stories.

[more]
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad 06 September 2021

1899 novella. Charles Marlow takes a steamboat up the Congo to the aid of the ivory-agent, Mr Kurtz…

[more]
Lord Edgware Dies 05 September 2021

1992 audio adaptation of Christie's 1933 mystery, in five 30-minute episodes. Lord Edgware has been denying his actress wife a divorce; she's been talking about killing him; and then he's murdered, and his staff say they saw her enter the house. But she has a perfect alibi…

[more]
Plan 9 From Outer Space 04 September 2021 - 2 comments

1959 science fiction, dir. Ed Wood, Gregory Walcott, Bela Lugosi: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens land with a message for humanity, but that message is apparently "Your stupid brains!" Original vt: Grave Robbers From Outer Space.

[more]
Absence of Light and Other Stories, Zoë Sharp 02 September 2021

2013 thriller, eleventh in the series about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and currently private bodyguard. Charlie's in Colombia, helping a disaster relief crew after an earthquake. Not really her thing? No, but her employer is also concerned about the rumours of large-scale thefts that seem to be following this team around the world, and the previous security guy has just mysteriously died…

[more]
August 2021 Trailers 01 September 2021 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. I still hate everything.)

[more]
The Stranger Diaries, Elly Griffiths 31 August 2021 - 2 comments

2018 mystery. Clare Cassidy's fellow teacher Ella Elphick has been stabbed to death, in a way that suggests more than casual killing. A further death, and other odd events, suggest that someone is modelling the crimes on The Stranger, a story by an obscure Victorian author that forms part of her creative writing course.

[more]
The Day The Earth Stood Still 29 August 2021

1951 science fiction, dir. Robert Wise, Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens land with a message for humanity, and the humans immediately shoot one of them.

[more]
The Golden Thread, Kassia St Clair 28 August 2021

2018 non-fiction. Kassia St Clair, a design journalist, looks at the history of fabric and how it has influenced, and been influenced by, the history of civilisation.

[more]
The Steerswoman, Rosemary Kirstein 25 August 2021

1989 fantasy/SF. In a primitive world, Rowan is a Steerswoman, a wandering scholar sworn to answer any question she can. She tries to learn more about strange jewels found in the Outskirts, but it seems that the wizards object…

[more]
The A.B.C. Murders 24 August 2021

2000 audio adaptation of Christie's 1936 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. Someone with the initials A. A. is murdered in Andover, then B. B. in Bexhill; and Poirot receives a boastful letter before each killing. But how to catch them?

[more]
Backroom Boys, Francis Spufford 23 August 2021 - 4 comments

2003 non-fiction, a study of six British post-war technological projects.

[more]
The Food of the Gods 22 August 2021

1976 horror, dir. Bert I. Gordon, Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin: IMDb / allmovie. "Based on a Portion of the Novel By H. G. Wells."

[more]
Bed of Roses, Nora Roberts 21 August 2021 - 2 comments

2009 romance. Emmaline Grant and three of her childhood friends run a wedding business, everything from engagement photos to the Big Day; she does the flowers and decoration. Jack Cooke is a family friend, and the architect working on the business's various expansions and extensions. They've known each other for years, but then all of a sudden…

[more]
Space Carrier Avalon, Glynn Stewart 19 August 2021 - 2 comments

2015 SF, first in a series. Avalon is a famous space-fighter carrier with plenty of battle honours, but outdated and due for scrapping. But first she's due one last goodwill tour of border systems.

[more]
Soul Purpose, Nick Marsh 17 August 2021

2006 SF/fantasy. Alan Reece is a vet who hates his job, who's just seen something downright strange on a late night call. Kate is an ex-medium turned physics student whose models of the new particle accelerator show some disturbing possibilities. It's not the end of the world. If we're lucky.

[more]
Close Encounters of the Third Kind 16 August 2021 - 4 comments

1977 science fiction, dir. Steven Spielberg, Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming!

[more]
The Initiate, James L. Cambias 15 August 2021

2020 modern fantasy. If magicians are powerful, why don't they rule the world? Well, they do, but secretly. Two years ago a monster slaughtered Sam's wife and son, and he's quietly been drinking himself to death ever since; but now he meets someone else who knows what's going on, and is willing to help him get his revenge.

[more]
Paul Temple and the Lawrence Affair 14 August 2021

1956 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in 8 parts. The daughter of the head of MI5 has gone missing, and someone seems to have taken a pot at amateur sleuth Paul Temple while he was on holiday…

[more]
Network 12 August 2021

1976 drama, dir. Sidney Lumet, Peter Finch, William Holden; IMDb / allmovie. What TV really needs is a lunatic.

[more]
Once Bitten, Nick Marsh 10 August 2021 - 2 comments

2016 mimetic fiction. Alan Reece qualifies as a vet, and finds that actual practice barely overlaps with what they taught him at the Langford Veterinary School.

[more]
Starship's Mage Omnibus, Glynn Stewart 08 August 2021 - 2 comments

2014 SF, first in a series. Interstellar travel is possible only because of Jump Mages, the magicians who were the byproduct of the Eugenics Wars centuries ago. Damien Montgomery has the talent, and has just finished training, but without the backing of a powerful family, he doesn't have much chance of getting a ship posting soon. Unless he meets a truly desperate captain…

[more]
The Man Who Would Be King 07 August 2021

1975 thriller, dir. John Huston, Michael Caine, Sean Connery; IMDb / allmovie. The two ex-soldiers have a great idea…

[more]
A Kingdom Lost, Barbara Ann Wright 05 August 2021

2014 fantasy, third of a tetralogy. Princess Katya is with the royal family, trying to drum up support for an army to retake the capital and depose the usurper. Her lover Starbride is hiding in the capital, gathering information and building a resistance.

[more]
Jaws 03 August 2021

1975 thriller, dir. Steven Spielberg, Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw: IMDb / allmovie. You can't close the beaches if only one person has died…

[more]
Mrs McGinty's Dead 02 August 2021

2006 audio adaptation of Christie's 1952 mystery, in five half-hour episodes. The snoopy cleaning-woman was bashed on the head, supposedly by her lodger for a little cash; but a little earlier, she'd got excited over a tabloid article about "Women Victims of Bygone Tragedies", some of whom may have sinned more than been sinned against.

[more]
July 2021 Trailers 01 August 2021 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. I still hate everything.)

[more]
Always, Nicola Griffith 30 July 2021

2007 lesbian noir crime; third and last in Griffith's series about Aud Torvingen. Aud travels to Seattle to meet her mother, who's making a rare trip to the USA with her new husband. There's also a question of an underperforming commercial property…

[more]
The Long Goodbye 29 July 2021

1973 noir-esque, dir. Robert Altman, Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt: IMDb / allmovie. So one night the private eye's buddy asks him for a lift…

[more]
The Big Sleep 26 July 2021

1946 noir, dir. Howard Hawks, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall: IMDb / allmovie. The general hires the private eye to deal with his daughter's blackmailer…

[more]
The Ivanhoe Gambit, Simon Hawke 25 July 2021 - 3 comments

1984 SF, first of a series. In the 27th century, the economic benefits of war are realised without danger to the warring countries themselves, by sending soldiers into the past to join in historical conflicts: referees count the killed and wounded. But time travel is never simple…

[more]
The Maltese Falcon 24 July 2021 - 3 comments

1941 noir, dir. John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor: IMDb / allmovie. So for a third time the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man…

[more]
The Mystery of the Blue Train 23 July 2021

1985 audio adaptation of Christie's 1928 mystery, in six half-hour episodes. The heiress was murdered on the train on which her estranged husband was also travelling; of course her jewels were missing, and everyone suspects her parasite of a lover. Poirot, equally of course, is not so sure.

[more]
Satan Met a Lady 20 July 2021

1936 noir comedy, dir. William Dieterle, Warren William, Bette Davis: IMDb / allmovie. So once more the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man… Vtt Men On Her Mind, The Man in the Black Hat, Hard Luck Dame.

[more]
Latchkey, Nicole Kornher-Stace 19 July 2021

2018 fantasy/SF, sequel to Archivist Wasp. The Catchkeep-priest has been overthrown, and the former acolytes and Archivist are an uneasy part of the post-apocalyptic community of Sweetwater. But bad things are coming…

[more]
The Maltese Falcon (1931) 18 July 2021 - 2 comments

1931 noir, dir. Roy del Ruth, Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels: IMDb / allmovie. So the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man… Vtt Woman of the World, All Women, Dangerous Female.

[more]
The Cold Cold Ground, Adrian McKinty 17 July 2021 - 1 comment

2012 crime. It's the spring of 1981, and Sean Duffy is a Catholic detective in the RUC. He finds evidence of what might be Northern Ireland's first serial killer, not to mention a dodgy-looking suicide, but all too many things just don't add up.

[more]
Jaws, Peter Benchley 16 July 2021 - 4 comments

1974 thriller. A huge shark seems to have taken up residence off the tourist beaches at Amity, Long Island…

[more]
The Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge 15 July 2021

1946 children's fantasy. In 1842, newly-orphaned Maria Merryweather leaves London to live with her only relative, somewhere in the West Country. Everything seems idyllic, except…

[more]
Intrepid, Mike Shepherd 13 July 2021

2008 military SF, sixth of the Kris Longknife books. Kris is sent to the back of beyond, in another vain attempt to keep her out of trouble. Good thing she has a pocket warship and quite a few Marines.

[more]
Chinatown 11 July 2021

1974 noir, dir. Roman Polański, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway: IMDb / allmovie. They never just want you to follow their erring husband… Spoilers.

[more]
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Theodora Goss 10 July 2021

2018 historical fantasy, second of a trilogy. The five monstrous daughters/creations of mad scientists have made a life for themselves in London; but their old governess Miss Murray wants their help in Vienna with Lucinda van Helsing and the secretive Société des Alchimistes…

[more]
A Merciful Secret, Kendra Elliot 06 July 2021

2018 romantic mystery, third in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. One snowy night, Mercy nearly runs over a child seeking help for her dying grandmother. Who, it becomes clear, has been murdered.

[more]
Bonnie and Clyde 05 July 2021 - 1 comment

1967 crime, dir. Arthur Penn, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway: IMDb / allmovie. Bored girl meets bad man. Death ensues.

[more]
Boneyards, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 03 July 2021

2012 science fiction, third of its series. "Boss" goes into abandoned ancient bases in search of clues to the present location of a nomadic fleet; her former employee "Squishy" is back working in the Empire's stealth technology project, as the only way of shutting it down once and for all.

[more]
June 2021 Trailers 01 July 2021 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. I still hate everything.)

[more]
Paul Temple and the Gilbert Case 30 June 2021

1954 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in eight parts: Paul Temple is a professional novelist and amateur sleuth. A young woman is murdered, and her boyfriend is set to hang. But her father is convinced that the man is innocent.

[more]
Badlands 29 June 2021

1973 crime, dir. Terrence Malick, Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek: IMDb / allmovie. Bad boy Kit meets good(-ish) girl Holly. Death ensues.

[more]
End of Empires, Toby Frost 26 June 2021

2014 humorous science fiction, fifth in the Isambard Smith series. The Lemming men are invading the British Space Empire, and must be stopped!

[more]
The Sirens Sang of Murder, Sarah Caudwell 24 June 2021 - 2 comments

1989 mystery, third of Caudwell's Hilary Tamar series. The barrister Cantrip has been called to Jersey, though he's certainly not a tax expert. It turns out that the administrators of the Daffodil Trust are becoming unexpectedly prone to sudden death…

[more]
Pathfinder, Laura E. Reeve 22 June 2021

2010 science fiction, last of its trilogy. Ariane Kedros is testifying at the trial of surviving terrorists, and someone seems to be trying to blow her up, but at least the enigmatic aliens have a new job for her. Oh good…

[more]
The Long Way Home, Ed Dover 20 June 2021 - 5 comments

1998 non-fiction. A Pan Am Boeing 314 Clipper was en route from Noumea to Auckland when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. They were instructed to make their way back to the USA as best they could.

[more]
Murder Is Easy 18 June 2021

2013 audio adaptation of Christie's 1939 mystery, in three half-hour episodes. Luke Fitzwilliam runs into a dotty old lady who's going to London to report a series of murders in her small village… but she's "accidentally" killed before she can get anywhere.

[more]
Lightborn, Alison Sinclair 17 June 2021

2010 fantasy, second of its trilogy. Both Darkborn (burned by light) and Lightborn (dissolved by darkness) are having political upheavals, with assassination only another tool in the kit. Someone seems to be trying to set them at war with each other. But will anyone listen in time?

[more]
Heights of Green, Lise MacTague 15 June 2021

2015 SF, second of a trilogy. Torrin has got her new love Jak back to Torrin's home world, but that isn't by any means going to be the end of their problems.

[more]
The Old Guard 14 June 2021 - 2 comments

2020 fantasy, dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne: IMDb / allmovie. From the dawn of time they came, moving silently down the centuries…

[more]
Kill the Queen, Jennifer Estep 12 June 2021

2018 fantasy, first of a trilogy. Evie is a very minor member of the royal family, without significant magic or status; even when the Crown Princess carries out a coup against the Queen, she just wants to be ignored. But as the only other survivor of the family, she won't be granted that luxury.

[more]
Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells 09 June 2021 - 1 comment

2021 science fiction novella, sixth in the Murderbot series. On Preservation Station, one of the largest polities that's not part of the Corporate Rim, someone's been murdered. And it's Murderbot who finds the body.

[more]
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, Garth Nix 07 June 2021

2020 urban fantasy. Susan Arkshaw, brought up in the country by her slightly dippy mother, goes to London to start her art degree and try to find her father. Magic ensues.

[more]
Julie Enfield Investigates: The Net and the Canal 06 June 2021 - 5 comments

1996 police procedural audio in four parts, by Nick Fisher. A body is found by a tour boat going along the Regent's Canal; DSI Julie Enfield (Imelda Staunton) investigates.

[more]
The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea, Eric Linklater 04 June 2021 - 2 comments

1949 children's fantasy. Timothy and Hew live on Popinsay Island with their father, a retired naval captain, and help look for the pirate ship reputed to have been wrecked nearby. But soon they will get involved in larger adventures…

[more]
The Soldier King, Violette Malan 02 June 2021

2008 fantasy, the second in the Dhulyn and Parno series. They're on the winning side of a battle against an aggressive kingdom, and they've captured the crown prince; and that's only the start of their troubles.

[more]
May 2021 Trailers 01 June 2021 - 5 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. I still hate everything.)

[more]
Red Thread, Charlotte Higgins 29 May 2021 - 4 comments

2018 non-fiction, Charlotte Higgins explores the maze and labyrinth in fiction and their influence on the world.

[more]
Both Ends of the Night, Marcia Muller 26 May 2021

1997 mystery, seventeenth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. McCone's former flying instructor asks her to look into her disappeared boyfriend… then dies in a way that's surely not coincidental. And letting a client's death go unavenged isn't in the Private Eye Code.

[more]
A Book of Tongues, Gemma Files 20 May 2021 - 4 comments

2010 western fantasy, first of a trilogy. It's after the American Civil War, and there are a few magicians out there. Also gods, or at least things that want to claim they are.

[more]
Not the End of the World, Christopher Brookmyre 16 May 2021

1998 tartan noir. Los Angeles is losing itself in millennial fever, but that won't stop the hawkers of cheap film from having their show. Even if there's a fundie across the road who's talking about God sending a tidal wave to wipe out their filth…

[more]
Julie Enfield Investigates: Murder West One 14 May 2021

1999 police procedural audio, four short stories, by Nick Fisher. DSI Julie Enfield (played, as usual, by Imelda Staunton) investigates.

[more]
The Wheel Spins, Ethel Lina White 11 May 2021

1936 thriller. Iris Carr is a poor little rich girl travelling by train from "a remote corner of Europe" back to England via Trieste. She talks with a Miss Froy, who's briefly amusing. Then after a short rest she discovers that Miss Froy is no longer there, and everyone claims that she has never existed… Vt, and loosely filmed in 1938 as, The Lady Vanishes.

[more]
After Atlas, Emma Newman 08 May 2021

2016 science fiction, in the same universe as Planetfall but not a sequel to it. Carlos Moreno's mother abandoned him to go on the Atlas mission; forty years later he's a detective, looking into the murder of the leader of an anti-tech cult… of which he used to be a member.

[more]
Wind Raker, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 07 May 2021

2015 historical fantasy, fourth in the Order of the Air series. It's 1935, and the Gilchrist Aviation team are in Hawaii testing a new flying-boat – except for Jerry the archaeologist, who's on a dig looking for evidence of Chinese explorers reaching the islands.

[more]
Devil's Cub, Georgette Heyer 04 May 2021

1932 romance. The reprobate Marquis of Vidal, having casually fought a duel over dice, must flee to France. He plans to take his latest would-be conquest with him, but that lady's sister has other ideas.

[more]
The Moving Finger 03 May 2021

2001 audio adaptation of Christie's 1942 mystery, in a single 90-minute episode. Someone's sending poison-pen letters in a little village, and one of the recipients has committed suicide as a result. Though Miss Marple is not so sure…

[more]
April 2021 Trailers 01 May 2021 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. I still hate everything.)

[more]
No Time Like the Past, Jodi Taylor 30 April 2021

2015 science fiction, fifth in the Chronicles of St Mary's series. Max tries to get down to the business of investigating major historical events in contemporary time (don't call it time travel), but old enemies are an ongoing problem, even out of order.

[more]
Zero Sum Game, S L Huang 26 April 2021

2014 action/SF, first of a series. Cas Russell is a retriever of missing things in a world of action and adventure. Naturally, her latest job is going to get terribly complicated.

[more]
Space Sandboxes 21 April 2021 - 2 comments

There are three space sandbox games (i.e. with multiple things you can try to do in order to win) that I've tried. Which is best?

[more]
Fatal Thunder, Larry Bond and Chris Carlson 19 April 2021

2016 technothriller. As China and the rest of Asia recover from the war in the previous book, an Indian conspiracy plans to shift the stalemate in Kashmir.

[more]
The Avenger, E. Phillips Oppenheim 16 April 2021

1907 thud and blunder. Herbert Wrayson finds a young lady rifling the desk in his flat. It turns out that she was after the fellow upstairs. But later that man turns up murdered…

[more]
Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan 14 April 2021

2008 children's fantasy, illustrated short stories loosely based on suburban life.

[more]
Stories of Other Worlds, George Griffith 12 April 2021 - 5 comments

1901 SF. Lord Redgrave has built the first spaceship, and with his new wife (the daughter of the late inventor) goes on a tour of the solar system.

[more]
Destiny's Shield, David Drake and Eric Flint 11 April 2021

1999 alternate-history war story, third of six books. Belisarius takes an army to help the Persians throw the invading Malwa out of Mesopotamia; his wife Antonina suppresses civil unrest in Alexandria.

[more]
Cultural Artifacts, MaryAnn Johanson 10 April 2021

2021 SF, fantasy and horror anthology, 30 very short stories.

[more]
The Space Between Worlds, Micaiah Johnson 06 April 2021

2020 SF. Humanity can travel to parallel worlds! But only pretty close parallels; and the only people who can do it are people whose other-world counterparts have died. Which means that the high-tech city has a use for people from the warlord-run town next door…

[more]
Murder on Cold Street, Sherry Thomas 05 April 2021 - 3 comments

2020 mystery story, fifth of the Lady Sherlock series. Inspector Treadles, the Lestrade of this parallel Sherlock setup, is found in a room with two dead men, one of them the supposed lover of his wife. Everyone assumes he did it, and he won't speak up in his defence. Charlotte Holmes to the rescue!

[more]
Finder, Suzanne Palmer 02 April 2021

2019 SF, first of a series. Fergus is a finder, a probably-reformed thief turned repo man for (in this case) a stolen starship.

[more]
March 2021 Trailers 01 April 2021 - 6 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
With a Bare Bodkin, Cyril Hare 28 March 2021

1946 mystery, second in the series centred on Francis Pettigrew, a not-terribly-successful barrister. As the war begins in earnest, Pettigrew is made legal advisor to the Pin Control, the vitally important new government department controlling the production of, and preventing anyone from profiteering on, pins. But murder is never far away.

[more]
Paul Temple and the Alex Affair 27 March 2021

1968 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge: Paul Temple is a professional novelist and amateur sleuth. People are being murdered, and the only clue is the name "Alex" left with the body.

[more]
The Happy Return, C. S. Forester 25 March 2021 - 3 comments

1937 Napoleonic naval fiction, first written but sixth by internal chronology. Hornblower, commanding the frigate Lydia, is sent to the Pacific coast of Nicaragua to aid a local insurgency against the Spanish.

[more]
Shooting the Rift, Alex Stewart 24 March 2021

2016 SF. Simon Forrester is rather forgotten beside his mother the warship captain and his sister the space marine, even if he is unreasonably good with computers. So he sets off to make his own way…

[more]
Faithless in Death, J. D. Robb 22 March 2021

2021 SF/mystery; sixty-third story or 52nd novel of J. D. Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). A sculptor is killed in her studio; it looks as though her lover did it. But there's more to be found behind the obvious case.

[more]
Cold as the Grave, James Oswald 19 March 2021

2019 supernatural mystery in modern Edinburgh, ninth in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. A girl is found in a forgotten cellar, partly mummified even though she died quite recently. Then another turns up in the same state.

[more]
The Sky Riders, T. C. Bridges 17 March 2021 - 10 comments

1919 boys' adventure. Martin Hamer's airship design is stolen (and covertly constructed), along with the niece of Mortimer Carne, the industrial magnate whom the inventor had hoped to get to build the thing. Clearly the thing to do is build another airship and track him down.

[more]
Snapshot, Linda Barnes 14 March 2021

1993 mystery, fifth in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). Carlotta's hired by a woman whose daughter died in hospital, to try to get some closure; but soon the key witness dies and the client goes missing.

[more]
Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues, Diana Rowland 11 March 2021

2012 urban fantasy, second of its series. Angel Crawford, now a zombie, is finally getting her life sorted out: working at the coroner's, eating spare brains, planning beyond the immediate fun thing. But her life still has ways of getting complicated.

[more]
The Ace of Skulls, Chris Wooding 08 March 2021

2013 steampunk fantasy, fourth and last of its series. Civil war has broken out between the Awakener cult and the government, and it's not entirely Captain Frey's fault.

[more]
Designated Targets, John Birmingham 06 March 2021 - 2 comments

2005 alternate-history science fiction war story. The "uptimers" from 2021 are helping their Allied counterparts from 1942, but both sides have future tech and people to exploit.

[more]
February 2021 Trailers 04 March 2021

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Falling Star, Patricia Moyes 02 March 2021

1964 mystery, fifth in the series about Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. When the film's leading man stumbles across the platform and dies under the wheels of an Underground train, it's clearly an accident. But then the continuity girl falls to her death from her flat…

[more]
Going Dark, Linda Nagata 28 February 2021 - 3 comments

2015 military SF, last of its trilogy. James Shelley has abandoned friends and family to be a covert soldier for The Red, the mysterious AI that's now a power in the world. But just because he thinks the things he's doing are important, that doesn't necessarily make him valuable.

[more]
The Far Side of the Stars, David Drake 27 February 2021

2003 military SF, third of this ongoing series. Peace has broken out between Republic and Alliance, which means that Leary's command, the captured corvette Princess Cecile, is being sold out of service. But she's bought by a foreigner who needs a ship and a crew for his expedition to backwater space.

[more]
Monster Hunter 26 February 2021 - 2 comments

2020 fantasy action, dir. Paul W. S. Anderson, Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa: IMDb / allmovie. A US Army patrol somewhere in Afghanistan is about to meet something it really didn't expect…

[more]
Give a Corpse a Bad Name, Elizabeth Ferrars 25 February 2021 - 2 comments

1940 murder mystery in rural England. Anna Milne, the local Mysterious Widow, comes into the police station to report that she's run over and killed a man. As the investigation progresses it starts to look as though this was no accident; but ex-journalist Toby Dyke suspects the police are on the wrong track.

[more]
Shadow in the Clouds 23 February 2021 - 8 comments

2020, dir. Roseanne Liang, Chloë Grace Moretz, Taylor John Smith: IMDb / allmovie. In 1943, Flight Office Maude Garrett boards a B-17 that's ferrying from Auckland to Samoa, with secret orders and a mysterious package. But she's not the only unexpected passenger on this flight.

[more]
Shadow Game, Christine Feehan 22 February 2021

2003 SF romance, first of an ongoing series. Captain Ryland Miller volunteered to become a psychically-enhanced soldier, but he's ended up in a cage. Lily Whitney, daughter of the scientist running the project, has abilities of her own, and when her father disappears she has to work out who might be trustworthy.

[more]
Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch 19 February 2021 - 3 comments

2014 contemporary fantasy, fifth in the series. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, goes to Herefordshire to help the local force with the investigation into the disappearance of two girls.

[more]
Shadows in Death, J. D. Robb 16 February 2021

2020 SF/mystery; sixty-second story of 51st novel of J. D. Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). The latest murder victim whom Lt Eve Dallas is investigating was killed by a professional assassin… who's a figure from her husband Roarke's criminal past, and who may be out to get him too.

[more]
The Physicians of Vilnoc, Lois McMaster Bujold 15 February 2021

2020 short fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Penric and the demon Desdemona are called on to look at an unusual illness that's struck the barracks near his home town. Which wouldn't be quite as bad if he hadn't sworn off medicine after it nearly killed him.

[more]
Colossal 13 February 2021

2016, dir. Nacho Vigalondo, Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis: IMDb / allmovie. Gloria is a drunken wreck who's gone back to her hometown; and a giant monster is rampaging through Seoul. Spoilers.

[more]
Soul Hunt, Margaret Ronald 12 February 2021

2010 urban fantasy, third of the trilogy. After the events of the previous book, Evie Scelan is getting by, just barely, but things are gradually getting worse. Even her power to track down lost objects seems to be fading.

[more]
Gemina, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff 11 February 2021

2016 YA science fiction, middle volume of a trilogy. As the survivors of the Kerenza colony fled towards safety, they sent distress calls to the jump station that was their destination. They got no replies. This book explains why.

[more]
A Trail Through Time, Jodi Taylor 09 February 2021

2014 science fiction, fourth in the Chronicles of St Mary's series. Dr Madeline Maxwell is dead, and that's not even the hardest problem she's got to deal with.

[more]
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, David Simon 07 February 2021

1991 non-fiction. Simon spent 1988 looking over the shoulders of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Division and writing articles about them for the Baltimore Sun.

[more]
Elephants Can Remember 06 February 2021

2006 audio adaptation of Christie's 1972 mystery, in a single 90-minute episode. Ariadne Oliver is buttonholed by a woman who wants to find out the truth about the deaths of her son's fiancée's parents, fourteen years ago; Poirot investigates.

[more]
The Last Hero, Leslie Charteris 03 February 2021

1930 thriller. The Saint and Pat Holm stumble across a weapon so terrible it cannot be allowed to exist, even in the hands of the British government. Vt The Saint Closes the Case.

[more]
Blood Heir, Ilona Andrews 02 February 2021

2021 modern fantasy, first in the Aurelia Ryder series, sequels to Kate Daniels. Eight years after Julie Lennart left post-magic-apocalypse Atlanta, Aurelia Ryder is back, with a new face, a prophecy to subvert and a murder to solve.

[more]
January 2021 Trailers 01 February 2021 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Skydancer, Geoffrey Archer 31 January 2021

1987 Cold War espionage thriller. The upgrade to Polaris warheads, to get them through a new generation of Soviet defences, is one of the most closely-guarded of British secrets. Then one of the pages is found in a rubbish bin on Parliament Hill…

[more]
The Spellman Files, Lisa Lutz 29 January 2021

2007 mystery or at least mystery-adjacent; first in the Spellmans series. Izzy Spellman is a private investigator, from a family of the same. This does not make things simpler when her younger sister goes missing.

[more]
The Mysterious Affair at Styles 28 January 2021

2005 audio adaptation of Christie's 1920 mystery, in 5 half-hour episodes. Captain Hastings, home on leave from the front, is staying with friends at Styles Court when the elderly owner dies suddenly. He enlists his old friend Hercule Poirot to help investigate.

[more]
New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird, Paula Guran 26 January 2021

2015 fantasy/horror anthology on the theme of modern Lovecraftian stories, sampling stories published between 2010 and 2014.

[more]
Nerves of Steel, Tammie Jo Shults 24 January 2021 - 4 comments

2019 non-fiction. On 17 April 2018, the Boeing 737-7H4 registered N772SW suffered a catastrophic engine failure at 32,000 feet over Pennsylvania. Only one person died. This is the story of the captain's life.

[more]
The Science of Being Human, Marty Jopson 20 January 2021

2019 non-fiction, popular science; short treatments of scientific aspects of human existence.

[more]
Letter Tycoon review and strategies 17 January 2021

Letter Tycoon, by Brad Brooks, was published in 2015 and is now quite hard to find. But I was recently introduced to it on BoardGameArena, and it turns out I'm quite good at it.

[more]
The Orphans of Raspay, Lois McMaster Bujold 15 January 2021

2019 short fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). On his way home from a pointless job, Penric's ship is captured by pirates, and he finds himself responsible for two orphaned girls.

[more]
A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling 12 January 2021 - 2 comments

2020 non-fiction. In 2004, Libertarians started moving to Grafton, New Hampshire, in an effort to "free the town". The bears soon followed.

[more]
New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird, Paula Guran 10 January 2021

2011 fantasy/horror anthology on the theme of modern Lovecraftian stories.

[more]
The Book of Cthulhu 2, Ross E. Lockhart 08 January 2021 - 1 comment

2012 fantasy/horror anthology, consisting of more stories inspired by Lovecraft.

[more]
The Sittaford Mystery 06 January 2021

1990 audio adaptation of Christie's 1931 mystery, in 5 half-hour episodes. At a table-turning session in a near-snowbound house on the edge of Dartmoor, the spirit claims that Captain Trevelyan has been murdered. When the party gets down to his house later, so he has. The fiancée of the prime suspect works to clear his name.

[more]
December 2020 Trailers 04 January 2021 - 5 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
2020 in Books 02 January 2021

In 2020 I read 141 books, very slightly up from last year.

[more]
Future World 31 December 2020

2018, dir. James Franco/Bruce Thierry Cheung, Jeff Wahlberg, Suki Waterhouse: IMDb / allmovie. After the androids were used to fight the Last War and civilisation fell, all is sand and motorcycles, and hawt babes are a far more jealously-guarded resource than leather or petrol.

[more]
The Once and Future Witches, Alix E. Harrow 29 December 2020 - 5 comments

2020 fantasy. In Gilded Age America, there's no such thing as witches: they were burned, and all that sort of thing was stamped out. But there will be witches again.

[more]
The Lego Movie 2 28 December 2020

2019, dir. Mike Mitchell/Trisha Gum, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks: IMDb / allmovie

The peace of Brickville is shattered by invaders from Duplo.

[more]
For Want of a Fiend, Barbara Ann Wright 26 December 2020

2012 fantasy, second of a tetralogy. Princess Katya and her consort Starbride must deal with opposition on several fronts, even if it does lead back to the same source.

[more]
Ghostbusters (2016) 24 December 2020 - 7 comments

2016 action comedy, dir. Paul Feig, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon: IMDb / allmovie.

Two paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker band together to save New York from paranormal threat.

[more]
A Game of Battleships, Toby Frost 22 December 2020

2013 humorous science fiction, fourth in the Isambard Smith series. Smith and his crew take on an unbeatable prototype warship, protect a peace conference, invade a planet of religious fanatics, and visit Europe.

[more]
Midwinter, John Buchan 19 December 2020

1923 historical thriller, set in the rebellion of 1745. Alastair Maclean is carrying messages to England and getting promises of support for his Prince. But it seems that one of his fellow couriers may be a traitor to the Cause.

[more]
The Spy Who Dumped Me 17 December 2020

2018 action comedy, dir. Susanna Fogel, Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon: IMDb / allmovie.

Drew dumped Audrey by text message a few days ago… then two men claiming to be from the CIA interrogate her… then Drew comes in suddenly through her window. Then he gets shot by someone her roommate Morgan picked up the night before…

[more]
The Devil and the Dark Water, Stuart Turton 15 December 2020

2020 historical mystery with fantastic elements. In 1634, the Indiaman Saardam sets sail from Batavia on the eight-month journey to Amsterdam. Sammy Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to answer for a crime that nobody seems to be able to name. His bodyguard, Arent Hayes, is determined to prove his innocence. And there are signs of a demon on board…

[more]
Never Surrender 13 December 2020 - 1 comment

2019 documentary, dir. Jack Bennett: IMDb / AllMovie.

The surviving cast and crew of Galaxy Quest discuss, twenty years later, the making and reception of the film.

[more]
Lt. Leary, Commanding, David Drake 12 December 2020

2000 military SF, second of this ongoing series. With a heroic reputation from the previous book, which can be both good and bad depending on who has power over him, Leary waits to learn his next assignment… then gets sent to a volatile allied world where political games are rapidly becoming deadly.

[more]
The Mummy and Miss Nitocris, George Griffith 09 December 2020

1906 SF. Professor Marmion has, by an excess of abstract thought, accidentally conquered the Fourth Dimension. And the tragedies of ancient Egypt shall be tragedies again.

[more]
Pulling Power from the Sky 07 December 2020 - 3 comments

2020 documentary, dir. Kate Stirr: IMDb.

The Makani project tried to solve a simple problem: wind turbines are already big and expensive, but there's more wind at higher altitudes. So why not put a wind turbine on a kite rather than on a pole?

[more]
In the Heart of Darkness, David Drake and Eric Flint 06 December 2020

1998 alternate-history war story, second of six books. Belisarius is a guest of the Malwa empire in India, as they try to bribe him to turn against Justinian's Constantinople; meanwhile his wife Antonina works on developing a military force to use crude gunpowder weapons, which will be tested sooner than they expect.

[more]
A Wicked Kind of Husband, Mia Vincy 02 December 2020

2018 American Regency-ish romance, part of a loosely linked series. Cassandra has been married for two years, and has only met her husband once; it was arranged by her father and neither partner wanted anything more than the legalities. But now she has her sisters to launch into society, and she'll have to use his London house to do it…

[more]
November 2020 Trailers 01 December 2020 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Iron Jackal, Chris Wooding 30 November 2020

2011 steampunk fantasy. The misfit crew of the Ketty Jay has fame, at least a bit of fortune, and a new and exciting job… oh dear.

[more]
Enola Holmes (2020) 29 November 2020 - 6 comments

2020 thriller/mystery, dir. Harry Bradbeer, Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill; IMDb / allmovie.

On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola Holmes finds that her mother has disappeared without a word. But since she's the younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock, she doesn't wait to see what will happen next. On the way to London, she runs into someone fleeing from his own problems…

[more]
A Pretty Mouth, Molly Tanzer 26 November 2020 - 2 comments

2012 collection of mildly Lovecraftian fantasy/horror stories, loosely connected by reference to the Calipash family.

[more]
The Shadow Over Innsmouth 25 November 2020

2019 audio drama, adapted in eight parts by Julian Simpson from the story by H. P. Lovecraft.

[more]
Hellspark, Janet Kagan 22 November 2020 - 2 comments

1988 SF. The survey team on the planet Lassti is under pressure to declare it free of native sentients so that the colonisers can move in. The "sprookjes" mimic human speech, but that alone is not enough. One of the surveyors dies in what's probably an accident. And then the Hellspark arrives…

[more]
The Book of Cthulhu, Ross E. Lockhart 20 November 2020 - 2 comments

2011 fantasy/horror anthology, consisting of stories inspired by Lovecraft.

[more]
The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer 16 November 2020 - 2 comments

1928 Georgian romance. As the consequences of the rebellion of '45 are still being felt, two fugitives from the losing side set off for London – disguised as the opposite sexes.

[more]
The Art of Theft, Sherry Thomas 14 November 2020

2019 mystery story, fourth of the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte Holmes continues to act as a consulting detective, this time acting to recover some blackmail-grade letters from an old flame of Mrs Watson. But of course there's much more going on than that.

[more]
Vigilante, Laura E. Reeve 13 November 2020

2009 science fiction, second of a trilogy. Ariane Kedros was involved in finding an alien artefact that lots of people want a look at. Some of them aren't planning to be polite.

[more]
Say You're Sorry, Melinda Leigh 11 November 2020

2017 cosy mystery, first in the Morgan Dane series. Morgan, widowed with three small daughters, is getting back into her career as an ADA; but when the daughters' former babysitter is murdered and the neighbour kid is accused, she offers to defend him.

[more]
Alien Stars, David Hambling 09 November 2020 - 1 comment

2017 Lovecraftian horror. In 1920s London, ex-boxer Harry Stubbs is employed to track down a mysterious thing. But it seems to be leaving corpses in its wake.

[more]
Libra Shrugged, David Gerard 06 November 2020 - 2 comments

2020 non-fiction. In 2019, Facebook announced that it was planning to revolutionise money. How did it fail?

[more]
Twilight 2000: Survivors' Guide to the United Kingdom 03 November 2020 - 6 comments

This 1990 RPG supplement by Peter Phillipps portrays a Britain after World War III. Well. Up to a point. It is a famously bad book.

[more]
October 2020 Trailers 01 November 2020 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Unconquerable Sun, Kate Elliott 31 October 2020

2020 space-operatic SF, first of a planned trilogy. Sun is the daughter and heir-presumptive of Queen-Marshal Eirene, who turned the Chaonian Republic from a defeated mess into a strong if fragile interstellar power. She's just won her own first naval victory. But there are enemies both internal and external…

[more]
The Demon and the City, Liz Williams 29 October 2020

2006 urban fantasy, second in the series set in Singapore Three. With Detective Inspector Chen on vacation, Seneschal Zhu Irzh, his demonic partner, must look into the matter of a murdered socialite…

[more]
The Dulwich Horror and Others, David Hambling 27 October 2020 - 2 comments

2015 collection of Lovecraftian horror stories mostly set in South London. vt Shadows from Norwood.

[more]
Old Mars, George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois 26 October 2020

2013 collection of new SF stories set on pre-space-probe ideas of the planet Mars.

[more]
Depths of Blue, Lise MacTague 25 October 2020

2015 SF, first of a trilogy. Torrin is an interstellar smuggler, planning to ship her high-tech weapons to anyone on the Fringe World of Haefen with a budget to buy them. Jak is a sniper, disguised as a man in a military that doesn't allow women, waiting for a chance at revenge on the man who killed her brother, but for now on a solo mission to kill the smuggler the other side is dealing with.

[more]
Genesys Core Rulebook (part 5, GM toolkit and conclusions) 22 October 2020

The final major section of the book is the GM's toolkit.

[more]
Halfhead, Stuart MacBride 20 October 2020

2009 crime/SF. In future Glasgow, serious criminals are "halfheaded", lobotomised and their lower jaws removed, to work as simple labour and serve as an example to others. But, to nobody's surprise, that isn't much of a deterrent to some.

[more]
No Time to Cry, James Oswald 18 October 2020

2018 contemporary thriller, first in a new series. DC Constance Fairchild goes to a meeting with an undercover officer, only to find he's been tortured and shot. And her superiors are determined to prove that she's the corrupt cop who did it.

[more]
Genesys Core Rulebook (part 4, GM advice and settings) 17 October 2020

That's more or less the players' part of the book. The rest of it is advice to the GM.

[more]
In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, S. M. Stirling 16 October 2020

2008 science fiction, second of the two books of Lords of Creation. The first Mars and Venus landers found breathable air and human life. Forty years later, Jeremy Wainman is on an archaeological expedition looking for a lost Martian city.

[more]
Genesys Core Rulebook (part 3, combat and other tasks) 15 October 2020 - 4 comments

You now have a character. Now let's break it.

[more]
Something Fresh, P. G. Wodehouse 13 October 2020

1915 comedy. For reasons too silly to go into, several of the guests at Blandings are out to steal a rare scarab… US vt Something New (with slight alterations).

[more]
Genesys Core Rulebook (part 2, mechanics and character generation) 11 October 2020 - 3 comments

So given that universal resolution mechanic, what's the rest of the game about?

[more]
Genesys Core Rulebook (part 1, initial thoughts) 09 October 2020

This universal RPG system suffers from conflicting goals, but ends up producing a pleasantly fast-moving game.

[more]
The Armor of Light, Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett 08 October 2020

1988 historical fantasy. In 1595, Elizabeth has decided that James of Scotland shall be her heir. But he is beset by witches, and she sends her champion, Sir Philip Sidney, to aid him.

[more]
A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey 06 October 2020

1936 detective fiction; second of Tey's novels of Inspector Alan Grant. A film star's body washes up on a beach in Kent; it might have been an accidental drowning, but for a small piece of evidence.

[more]
Shady Characters, Keith Houston 05 October 2020

2013 non-fiction; Houston looks into the history and evolution of a variety of punctuation marks.

[more]
Maid, Stephanie Land 03 October 2020

2019 non-fiction, Stephanie Land's description of raising a child without a partner while working as a cleaner.

[more]
September 2020 Trailers 01 October 2020 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: if you don't know by now…)

[more]
Fortunes of the Imperium, Jody Lynn Nye 30 September 2020

2014 humorous science fiction, second of its series. Lord Thomas Kinago, professional fop, is sent on another mission for his cousin the Emperor: this time a neighbouring power, defeated in the big war a few years back, is putting unreasonable restrictions on trade, not to mention arresting a whole host of merchants as smugglers.

[more]
Heavenly Pleasures, Kerry Greenwood 28 September 2020

2005 detection, second in Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series. Someone's sabotaging the local chocolate shop, the self-made messiah is angry that his latest handmaiden has been rescued, and someone's criminally annoyed with the new tenant.

[more]
The Night Shifters, Emily Devenport 27 September 2020

2010 fantasy. Hazel's mother told her never to give up on her dreams… but turns out she didn't quite mean it in the usual way. Hazel is a Grand Champion Dreamer, and when she wakes up in the Night she's going to have to prove it.

[more]
Hellflower, Eluki bes Shahar 24 September 2020

1991 SF, first of a trilogy. Saint Butterflies-are-free Peace Sincere was happy as a smuggler pilot, but she had to go and save an inexperienced mercenary from the local lowlife, and then things just got complicated.

[more]
Old Venus, George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois 22 September 2020 - 6 comments

2015 collection of new SF stories set on pre-space-probe ideas of the planet Venus.

[more]
Silver Bullet, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 21 September 2020

2013 historical fantasy, third in the Order of the Air series. In the winter of 1932, planes are crashing in the Rockies, and a Greek medallion being valued in New York may be worth vastly more than it seems.

[more]
Grunt Life, Weston Ochse 20 September 2020 - 7 comments

2014 military SF, first of a trilogy. Ben Mason tried to kill himself when the PTSD got too much for him… but instead, They recruited him to go up against an alien invasion that most of humanity doesn't even know about.

[more]
The Tiger's Daughter, K. Arsenault Rivera 18 September 2020 - 10 comments

2017 fantasy romance, first of its series. The Hokkaran Empire rules practically everyone, including the Qorin horse nomads whom it conquered half a generation ago. But plagues and demons are rising, and two young warriors will have to save the world.

[more]
The Gathering Dark, James Oswald 15 September 2020

2018 supernatural mystery in modern Edinburgh, eighth in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. A truck driver loses control of his vehicle in the middle of Edinburgh, killing twenty people as it turns out that his cargo really wasn't what it said on the manifest.

[more]
Annex, Rich Larson 13 September 2020

2018 young adult/crossover SF, first of its series. The aliens arrived, brain-clamped all the adults, and implanted some kind of parasite in the children. Then things got bad.

[more]
The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart 12 September 2020

1970 Arthurian fantasy, first of its series. The young Myrddin is haunted by portents and visions, and is the plaything of gods.

[more]
The Weird of Hali: Innsmouth, John Michael Greer 10 September 2020

2016 Lovecraftian SF, first of a series. Owen Merrill is a student at Miskatonic, doing his thesis on Rhetorics of Otherness in the Horror Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft

[more]
Clarkesworld 168, September 2020 08 September 2020 - 4 comments

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Death of an Expert Witness, P. D. James 06 September 2020

1977 detective fiction, sixth of James's novels of Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. At a forensic lab in the depths of Cambridgeshire, one of the senior scientists spends the day making himself as objectionable as possible… and is found dead the next morning.

[more]
The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex, Tamsyn Muir 04 September 2020 - 2 comments

2020 fantasy novelette, prequel to the rest of the Locked Tomb series. When a study sealed for 400 years is to be opened, the young Palamedes Sextus and Camilla Hect are part of the investigating team. But someone has been in there since it was sealed.

[more]
August 2020 Trailers 01 September 2020 - 5 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: The experiments that the Payne Fund carried out concentrated on such issues as the extent to which children learnt from film and how well they retained what they learnt; the possibility that exposure to film affected attitudes; and how moral standards might be affected by what was viewed. The findings of these studies showed that the human mind could be shaped and moulded by persons in positions of influence; and, in this context, the film maker was in an almost unique position of influence.)

[more]
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir 31 August 2020

2020 fantasy, second of a trilogy. Harrowhark is now an imperial Lyctor, more or less. Which means she gets to fight an unwinnable battle with profoundly unreliable allies.

[more]
Steel Blues, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 29 August 2020

2013 historical fantasy, second in the Order of the Air series. In 1931, the Great Depression is biting and there's not much work for an air charter company in Colorado. So they enter a cross-country air race.

[more]
Murder a la Mode, Patricia Moyes 28 August 2020

1963 mystery, fourth in the series about Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. As Style magazine is putting together its coverage of the Paris fashion show, one of the editors drinks tea full of cyanide…

[more]
Barbary Station, R. E. Stearns 26 August 2020

2017 SF, first of its series. Adda the hacker and Iridian the engineer hijack a colony ship and take it to her brother and the infamous Captain Sloane, who are living the high life on Barbary Station. Only it's not like that, and the station's AI is trying to kill them.

[more]
The Accidental War, Walter Jon Williams 24 August 2020

2018 space opera, fourth book (first of a new trilogy) of Dread Empire's Fall. Seven years on as the empire tries to recover after the civil war, things start to fall apart all over again.

[more]
The Deepest Grave, Harry Bingham 21 August 2020

2015 police procedural mystery, sixth in the Fiona Griffiths series. An archaeologist is found in her home, beheaded and transfixed with Iron Age spears.

[more]
The Shortest Way to Hades, Sarah Caudwell 18 August 2020

1984 legal mystery, second of Caudwell's Hilary Tamar series. When a Trust is changed to avoid tax, one of the parties puts a high price on her compliance; but it all goes through anyway, several months before she falls from a balcony during a Boat Race party.

[more]
Robin Hood (1973) 17 August 2020 - 1 comment

1973 animated children's comedy, dir. Wolfgang Reitherman; IMDb / allmovie. They sing and dance in the forest…

[more]
City of Ruins, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 16 August 2020 - 1 comment

2011 science fiction, second of the "Wreck Diving" series. "Boss" moves from exploring derelict spaceships to exploring underground ruins in the quest to find ancient stealth technology before the bad guys do.

[more]
Clarkesworld 167, August 2020 12 August 2020

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Adventures of Robin Hood 11 August 2020

1938 adventure, dir. Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland; IMDb / allmovie. Prince John oppresses the Saxons; a Saxon lord fights back.

[more]
Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton 10 August 2020

2018 mystery with science-fictional elements. A man wakes up in mid-shout with no memories, in the grounds of a decaying country house during a weekend party, nineteen years after the young son of the house was murdered. And someone is going to be murdered now. US vt The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.

[more]
Paul Temple and the Conrad Case 09 August 2020

1959 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge: Paul Temple is a professional novelist and amateur sleuth. A young woman has vanished from a finishing-school in Bavaria… starring Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury.

[more]
Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood 07 August 2020

1922 adventure, dir. Allen Dwan, Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Beery; IMDb / allmovie. The Earl of Huntingdon goes off to the Crusades with King Richard…

[more]
The Web Between the Worlds, Charles Sheffield 06 August 2020 - 1 comment

1979 science fiction. Rob Merlin is the world's best engineer, but he's being given his most challenging project yet.

[more]
Steel Guitar, Linda Barnes 04 August 2020

1991 mystery, fourth in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). Carlotta runs into her old bandmate Dee Willis, who's stayed in the music business and finally made it big. But Dee's behaving weirdly even for her, and the past echoes into the present.

[more]
The Harrowing 02 August 2020

2020 horror audio in eight parts, by Mark Healy. On the island of Toll Mòr, a storm hits just after a murder is discovered, and the part-time policewoman has to deal with both.

[more]
July 2020 Trailers 01 August 2020 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: The success of most Hollywood films these days is down to the fact that they're comforting. They tie things up in nice little bows and give you answers, even if the answers are stupid, you go home and you don't have to think about it.)

[more]
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke 30 July 2020 - 1 comment

2004 fantasy. In Regency England, magic is much more an historical curiosity than an occupation for gentlemen… until Mr Norrell of Hurtfew Abbey starts actually doing it again.

[more]
After the End of the World, Jonathan L. Howard 26 July 2020 - 2 comments

2017 Lovecraftian horror. Dan Carter, ex-cop, and Emily Lovecraft, librarian with a shotgun, are trying to come to terms with their new world. But threats to reality haven't gone away.

[more]
War Doctor, David Nott 25 July 2020 - 2 comments

2019 non-fiction. Nott is a general and vascular surgeon who uses his leave to volunteer with MSF in combat and disaster zones.

[more]
Airborn, Kenneth Oppel 23 July 2020

2004 young adult steampunk fantasy, first of a trilogy. Matt Cruse is a cabin boy aboard the airship Aurora.

[more]
The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi 21 July 2020

2010 science fiction, first of a trilogy. Jean le Flambeur is a thief, broken out of prison to steal something very special. But first he must steal back his own history…

[more]
The Pyramid Waltz, Barbara Ann Wright 19 July 2020

2012 fantasy, first of a tetralogy. As far as the court is concerned, Princess Katya spends her time at (both sorts of) venery; in fact she leads a secret band that hunts magic-using enemies of the king. Starbride is a foreigner sent to court to snare a rich lover, but she'd much rather spend her time studying law…

[more]
With the Lightnings, David Drake 17 July 2020 - 3 comments

1998 military SF, first of an ongoing series. Lt Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar (space) Navy is the impoverished fifth wheel on a diplomatic mission to the new government of Kostroma. Adele Mundy's family on Cinnabar was disgraced and put to death, largely by Leary's father, and now she's working as librarian to the new Kostroman ruler. Neither of them is expecting a revolution fomented by the Alliance of Free Stars.

[more]
Wild Hunt, Margaret Ronald 15 July 2020

2010 urban fantasy. Evie Scelan was a big part of what happened to the previous magical rulers of Boston. Which means that everyone's looking to her to see what she's going to do about the power vacuum that's been left behind.

[more]
Clarkesworld 166, July 2020 13 July 2020

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Red: The Trials, Linda Nagata 11 July 2020

2014 military SF, second of the trilogy. After the illicit mission in the last book, James Shelley and his squad are on trial. So, elsewhere, is the person they winkled out of their bunker. But other factions are still out there.

[more]
The Man in the Queue, Josephine Tey 09 July 2020

1929 detective fiction; first of Tey's novels of Inspector Alan Grant. There's a long queue for the last night of a hugely popular musical; as the doors open, a man falls to the ground, dead, with a dagger in his back.

[more]
My Life as a White Trash Zombie, Diana Rowland 05 July 2020 - 2 comments

2011 urban fantasy, first of a series. Angel Crawford is a pill-popping loser living with her deadbeat alcoholic father in rural Louisiana. Until the night she blacks out and wakes up in hospital, with memories of a car crash but no injuries…

[more]
Synners, Pat Cadigan 04 July 2020 - 1 comment

1991 cyberpunk science fiction. In a future California recovering from the Semi-Medium One (the Big One is still waiting to happen), music video creators, VR artists and corporate greed collide.

[more]
Darkborn, Alison Sinclair 02 July 2020

2009 fantasy, first of a trilogy. For centuries, humanity has been divided into the Darkborn, to whom light is fatal, and the Lightborn, who cannot live in darkness. Mostly they keep to their own communities, but Minhorne is a city shared uneasily between them. Balthasar Hearne, Darkborn doctor, takes in the pregnant fugitive who turns up on his doorstep just before sunrise… but it seems that her children are born with sight

[more]
June 2020 Trailers 01 July 2020 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: a pastime for helots, a diversion for uneducated, wretched, worn-out creatures who are consumed by their worries, … a spectacle which requires no concentration and presupposes no intelligence,… which kindles no light in the heart and awakens no hope other than the ridiculous one of someday becoming a "star" in Los Angeles…)

[more]
Audacious, Mike Shepherd 30 June 2020

2007 military SF, fifth of the Kris Longknife books. Kris is sent to show the royal flag on a minor diplomatic mission to one of Earth's first colonies.

[more]
In Your Dreams, Tom Holt 28 June 2020 - 2 comments

2004 comic fantasy, second in the J. W. Wells series. Paul Carpenter continues to blunder his way through magical hazards.

[more]
Bitter Angels, C L Anderson 26 June 2020

2009 science fiction. The Erasmus system is run on debt-slavery, water monopoly, and a panopticon, but it seems they're going to launch a war against Earth. So Earth's government sends a team of Guardians to work out what's happening, and stop it. Of course it's not as simple as that.

[more]
L.E.L., Lucasta Miller 24 June 2020

2019 non-fiction, examining the life and work of Letitia Landon.

[more]
The Age of Wonder, Richard Holmes 22 June 2020

2008 non-fiction, an informal history of English science in the age of Joseph Banks, William Herschel and Humphry Davy.

[more]
Cold in the Earth, Ann Granger 20 June 2020

1992 mystery; third of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. A digger breaking ground for a new housing development turns up a recently-buried body. Meredith, house-sitting for a friend, inevitably gets involved.

[more]
An Oblique Approach, David Drake and Eric Flint 17 June 2020

1998 alternate-history war story, first of six books. In 528 AD, the young Byzantine general Belisarius is given a message from the, or a, future: a powerful enemy is rising in India, and will subjugate the world with massive armies and devastating weapons if not prevented. And he's the man to prevent it.

[more]
A Merciful Truth, Kendra Elliot 15 June 2020

2017 romantic mystery, second in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. Someone's been starting fires in the small Oregon town where Mercy grew up and is now trying to rebuild bridges with her family; when the police who turn up in response to the fires start getting shot, the FBI gets involved and puts her on the case.

[more]
These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer 13 June 2020

1926 romance. The evil Duke of Avon, walking through Paris, finds an urchin fleeing from a beating and buys him as a page. But, being who he is, he has plans within plans.

[more]
Clarkesworld 165, June 2020 12 June 2020

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Stay, Nicola Griffith 11 June 2020

1999 lesbian noir crime; second in Griffith's series about Aud Torvingen. Still shattered by grief from the loss of her true love, Aud reluctantly goes to New York to look for the missing girlfriend of an old friend.

[more]
Last First Snow, Max Gladstone 09 June 2020

2015 fantasy. In the city of Dresediel Lex, the run-down area down by the docks is to be redeveloped, and everyone will make a lot of money. Except for the locals, but who cares about them?

[more]
Die Easy, Zoë Sharp 05 June 2020

2012 thriller, tenth in the series about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and currently private bodyguard. Charlie's on a new assignment, guarding an old client while he goes on a fundraising trip for a friend's charity. But she's not sure she can trust either her partner or her fellow bodyguards… Spoilers for earlier books in the series.

[more]
May 2020 Trailers 01 June 2020 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them; things seem to have got started again, though there are more TV series trailers in the mix than usual. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: When you've got these kinds of sums involved in creating another two hours of entertainment for Western teenagers, I feel it crosses the line from being merely distasteful to being wrong.)

[more]
Who Killed Sherlock Holmes?, Paul Cornell 31 May 2020 - 1 comment

2016 urban fantasy, third in the Shadow Police series. In this version of London, people's memories and obsessions bring something like ghosts to life… and now the ghost of Sherlock Holmes has been murdered.

[more]
Wrath of the Lemming Men, Toby Frost 29 May 2020 - 2 comments

2009 humorous science fiction, third in the Isambard Smith series. The insectoid Ghast have enlisted the lemming-people of Yull as allies in their war against the British Space Empire. Are Isambard Smith and his motley crew really the only people who can save the day?

[more]
Network Effect, Martha Wells 28 May 2020 - 2 comments

2020 science fiction, fifth in the Murderbot series (though the previous four were novellas). Kidnapping, aliens, space battles, and meditations on ethics and the nature of consciousness.

[more]
Julie Enfield Investigates: The Smithfield Murders 26 May 2020

1995 police procedural audio in five parts, by Nick Fisher. An accountant is killed messily in his flat in Smithfield; DSI Julie Enfield investigates.

[more]
Coyote, Linda Barnes 25 May 2020

1990 mystery, third in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). A hispanic woman asks Carlotta to retrieve her missing green card, because she doesn't trust La Migra. But then she vanishes, and the card turns up on the body of a murdered woman…

[more]
The Light Brigade, Kameron Hurley 24 May 2020 - 3 comments

2019 science fiction. The rebellious Martian colonists wiped out São Paulo in a devastating surprise attack. Dietz, whose family was among the dead, joins up with the corporate armies to fight them off – and maybe end up with citizenship.

[more]
A War of Whispers 23 May 2020

A War of Whispers, by Jeremy Stoltzfus, got some attention when it came out last year but sold out quickly, and as I write there's a Kickstarter for the second edition. Should you jump in? I've now played it twice…

[more]
Luminosity 3, Alicorn 22 May 2020

2012 contemporary fantasy short stories, a "re-imagining" of the Twilight series. Various snippets out of the lives of various characters in the earlier novels.

[more]
Carter & Lovecraft, Jonathan L. Howard 19 May 2020

2015 Lovecraftian horror. Dan Carter was a cop in New York, until his partner shot himself while they were arresting a child kidnapper. Now he's working as a private investigator, but it suddenly turns out that a complete stranger has left him a bookshop in his will…

[more]
Tragedy at Law, Cyril Hare 17 May 2020

1942 mystery, first in the series centred on Francis Pettigrew, a not-terribly-successful barrister. The anonymous letters arriving for the High Court Judge while he's out on circuit are obviously the work of a lunatic; the poisoned box of chocolates is less easily dismissed.

[more]
Kitty Saves the World, Carrie Vaughn 16 May 2020

2015 urban fantasy, fourteenth and last in the series. Kitty's ready to try to assassinate the master vampire Roman before he can carry out his plan to rule the world. Spoilers.

[more]
Rose Cottage, Mary Stewart 15 May 2020

1997 romantic mystery. Kate Herrick was married, then very soon widowed, during the War; a few years later, she travels to her childhood home, to sort out the furniture that'll be sent to her grandmother in Scotland. And to get some papers left in a safe. But they're missing…

[more]
Clarkesworld 164, May 2020 13 May 2020

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir 11 May 2020 - 3 comments

2019 young adult fantasy, first of a planned trilogy. In a decaying interplanetary empire powered by necromancy, Gideon is a foundling brought up by the Ninth House, guardians of the Locked Tomb. But the Empire has required all the houses to send their necromancer-heirs, and a necromancer needs a bodyguard…

[more]
Death on the Agenda, Patricia Moyes 09 May 2020

1962 mystery, third in the series about Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. Tibbett is in Geneva for a conference on drug-smuggling, and his wife has joined him for a holiday. One of the staff is killed in a place that very few people could have reached, and Tibbett becomes the prime suspect.

[more]
Low Midnight, Carrie Vaughn 07 May 2020

2014 urban fantasy, thirteenth in the series. A side story in which Cormac, the mercenary monster hunder turned ally of Kitty Norville, tracks down a historical murder and runs into some old contacts. Spoilers.

[more]
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow 04 May 2020

2019 young adult fantasy. In Gilded Age America, January Scaller lives in a mansion filled with peculiar treasures, and is something of a peculiar treasure herself. Her father travels for months on end, hunting for artefacts for Mr Locke. But it gradually becomes clear that what really matters is the doors between worlds…

[more]
Shades of Murder, Lauren Carr 02 May 2020

2012 cosy mystery, third in the Mac Faraday series (amateur detection). Someone sends Mac the stolen last painting of Ilysa Ramsey, murdered eight years ago. Naturally, he looks into the unsolved case. Meanwhile, it seems that the same woman was murdered elsewhere a year earlier…

[more]
April 2020 Trailers 01 May 2020 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, at least the few that are still being released, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: There is only one thing that can kill the movies, and that is education.)

[more]
Deeplight, Frances Hardinge 30 April 2020

2019 fantasy. The islands of the Myriad used to have gods: great and implacable entities living in the sea, feared as much as worshipped. Thirty years ago, for no obvious reason, they turned on each other, fighting until they were all dead. But parts of their bodies make for useful salvage…

[more]
Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, Alyssa Cole 28 April 2020

2019 romance novella in the Reluctant Royals series. Likotse, assistant to Prince Thabiso, met someone amazing while she was briefly in New York last year - but then Fabiola cut things off without explanation, and Likotse's been trying to forget her ever since. Now, by chance, they meet again…

[more]
The Pale Horse 27 April 2020 - 2 comments

1993 audio adaptation of Christie's 1961 mystery, in 90 minutes. People seem to be dying very… conveniently; do the village witches of Much Deeping have anything to do with it?

[more]
Medusa in the Graveyard, Emily Devenport 26 April 2020

2018 science fiction, second of its series. Oichi Angelis and Medusa are now among the leaders of the generation ship Olympia, but that hasn't solved their problems; it's just given them new ones.

[more]
Clarkesworld 163, April 2020 24 April 2020

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Black Moth, Georgette Heyer 22 April 2020

1921 romance, first of Heyer's novels. Six years ago Jack Carstares left England in disgrace, having admitted to cheating at cards. Now in 1751 he's back, and living as a highwayman, leaving the family home to his brother even though his father has died and he's now the rightful Earl; but meanwhile Tracy Belmanoir, the sinister Duke of Andover, has his eyes on beautiful Diana Beauleigh…

[more]
Kitty In the Underworld, Carrie Vaughn 20 April 2020 - 1 comment

2013 urban fantasy, twelfth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, is kidnapped by fanatics.

[more]
The Dead House, Harry Bingham 18 April 2020

2015 police procedural mystery, fifth in the Fiona Griffiths series. The body of a young woman is found in the annexe of a church, respectfully laid out and with no signs of violence. It may not even be a murder…

[more]
A Shield Against the Darkness, Todd Downing 16 April 2020

2012 historical fantasy short novel, first in the Airship Daedalus series. In a somewhat alternate 1925, ace pilot Jack McGraw is going to lead the hunt for Aleister Crowley's agents of chaos. (Released free of charge by the author.)

[more]
Angstrom Season 1 15 April 2020

2018 comedy detective audio, four half-hour episodes. Knut Angstrom is a brooding Swedish detective in the Nyarlslund Peninsula.

[more]
A Duke by Default, Alyssa Cole 14 April 2020 - 4 comments

2018 romance, second in the Reluctant Royals series. Portia Hobbs, former self-indulgent hot mess, has gone to Scotland to apprentice in sword-making.

[more]
Clockwork Secrets: Heavy Fire, Dru Pagliassotti 12 April 2020

2014 steampunk fantasy romance, third in the Clockwork Heart trilogy. Taya and Cristof are on a diplomatic mission to Alzana, trying to prevent a war, when the Alzanan coup is launched, and of course as dubious foreigners they get blamed for the assassination of the royal family…

[more]
2020 Hugo Nominations revisited 11 April 2020

The nomination results are out.

[more]
Swords, Sorcery, & Self-Rescuing Damsels, Lee French and Sarah Craft 10 April 2020

2019 fantasy anthology, on the theme of female characters who solve their own problems rather than waiting for a man to do it for them.

[more]
Golden in Death, J. D. Robb 08 April 2020

2019 SF/mystery; sixty-first (roughly, or 50th novel, hence presumably the title) of J. D. Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). Someone beloved by everyone who knew him is killed by a cunning gas bomb.

[more]
The Sunken Sailor, Patricia Moyes 06 April 2020

1961 mystery, second in the series about Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. Tibbett and his wife join some friends for a week of sailing in Essex. But the accidental drowning a few months ago starts to look less so, especially when it's followed by another.

[more]
Hello World, Hannah Fry 04 April 2020

2018 non-fiction, a layperson's introduction to the way in which algorithms are allowed to affect life. (Another Book of the Week condensation.)

[more]
White Corridor, Christopher Fowler 02 April 2020

2007 police procedural mystery/horror, fifth in the Bryant and May series. With the team split up by chance and weather, they most solve two separate cases.

[more]
March 2020 Trailers 01 April 2020 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or creed.)

[more]
A Bit Too Much Good Work, A. T. Rain 31 March 2020 - 1 comment

2016 science fiction novel, fanfic in the Vorkosigan universe (set around and among the events of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance). The narrative follows Byerly Vorrutyer, agent of Imperial Security, as he negotiates politics, bomb threats, and his personal life.

[more]
Kitty Rocks the House, Carrie Vaughn 29 March 2020

2013 urban fantasy, eleventh in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, has multiple problems in Denver.

[more]
A Case For Paul Temple 28 March 2020

The BBC has occasionally been rebroadcasting the Paul Temple radio plays, dealing with a professional novelist and amateur sleuth. This one is a 2011 remounting of a lost 1946 original, starring Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson. Someone's supplying drugs in London, and that must be stopped!

[more]
A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine 27 March 2020

2019 science fiction, first in a projected series. The Teixcalaanli Empire is huge, and Lsel Station has only just managed to maintain its independence from it. So when the Empire requires a new ambassador, Mahit Dzmare is sent. Then she discovers that her predecessor has been murdered…

[more]
Clarkesworld 162, March 2020 25 March 2020

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Azur Lane 24 March 2020

2019-2020, 12 episodes: AniDB. Schoolgirls with the spirit of WWII Japanese fighting ships take on an alien navy. Hang on, this sounds familiar…

[more]
Vendetta in Death, J. D. Robb 23 March 2020

2019 SF/mystery; sixtieth (roughly, or 49th novel) of J. D. Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). Someone's torturing and killing abusive men.

[more]
Stormy Petrel, Mary Stewart 21 March 2020 - 1 comment

1991 romantic suspense. Rose Fenemore is an English tutor at Cambridge, as well as a poet and author. She takes a cottage on the western Scottish island of Moila to have a writing retreat free of distraction. But why do two young men end up in her living-room one stormy night?

[more]
Kitty Steals the Show, Carrie Vaughn 19 March 2020

2012 urban fantasy, tenth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, goes to London to give the keynote speech at the First International Conference on Paranatural Studies. It will not go smoothly.

[more]
Clarkesworld 161, February 2020 17 March 2020

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Blue Lightning, Ann Cleeves 15 March 2020

2010 mystery, fourth in Cleeves' Shetland Island series. Jimmy Perez is taking his fiancée Fran Hunter home to meet his parents on Fair Isle. But over at the Fair Isle Field Centre, tensions among the isolated birdwatchers may be building up to murder.

[more]
Charlie's Angels (2019) 14 March 2020

2019 thriller, dir. Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott; IMDb / allmovie.

The Townsend Agency is a covert international force for justice. Now they have to prevent a new technology from being turned into a universal assassination tool.

[more]
Clockwork Lies: Iron Wind, Dru Pagliassotti 13 March 2020

2014 steampunk fantasy romance, second in the Clockwork Heart trilogy. Taya, an "icarus" flying courier, is now the wife of the Ondinan ambassador to Mareaux. But between the assassination attempts and the more conventional betrayals, her life is rarely boring. vt Iron Wind.

[more]
2020 Hugo Nominations 12 March 2020

I'm not planning to vote in the Hugos this year, but I am eligible to nominate. Nominations close early on Saturday morning, UK time.

[more]
Ancestral Night, Elizabeth Bear 10 March 2020

2019 space opera, first in a projected series. Haimey Dz is the engineer on a salvage tug; her latest job uncovers both a terrible crime, and alien supertech.

[more]
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, K J Parker 08 March 2020 - 1 comment

2019 fantasy of sorts. The Imperial City has been suddenly besieged, and its defences will be commanded by Orhan, Colonel of Engineers… not by his choice.

[more]
The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders 06 March 2020

2019 SF. On a tidally-locked colony world that's slowly decaying, a few people will make a difference. But not necessarily in a good way.

[more]
Stitchers season 3 05 March 2020 - 2 comments

2017 science fiction, 10 episodes. Kirsten Clark continues to have her consciousness inserted into the minds of the recently-dead.

[more]
Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia 04 March 2020

2019 fantasy. In Jazz Age Mexico, Casiopea Tun is a drudge working in her rich relatives' house. But when she frees a captive Mayan god…

[more]
The Private Life of Elder Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Adam Gauntlett and Keris McDonald 02 March 2020 - 1 comment

2016 Lovecraftian fantasy/horror anthology by three authors.

[more]
February 2020 Trailers 01 March 2020

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Hatreds are the cinders of affection.)

[more]
Bolder, Carl Honoré 29 February 2020

2019 non-fiction. Honoré looks at the practicalities and possibilities of ageing.

[more]
West with the Night, Beryl Markham 27 February 2020

1942 autobiography of the first person to fly the Atlantic solo non-stop from east to west.

[more]
Julian Simpson Radio Plays 26 February 2020

After having enjoyed the recent radio plays based on The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Whisperer in Darkness, I sought out earlier audio drama written and directed by Julian Simpson.

[more]
Rules of Prey, John Sandford 24 February 2020 - 2 comments

1989 thriller, first in the long series dealing with police detective Lucas Davenport. Someone is raping and murdering women in Minneapolis, but unlike your typical serial killer this one is smart

[more]
Shokugeki no Soma season 3.2 23 February 2020

2018 cooking story, shounen manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Food Wars: The Third Plate: Totsuki Train Arc". Yukihira Sōma fights cooking duels to try to let himself and his friends be allowed to stay in the élite Totsuki cooking school.

[more]
Kitty's Greatest Hits, Carrie Vaughn 22 February 2020

2011 urban fantasy, short stories in the world of Kitty Norville – which means werewolves, vampires, and other odder things.

[more]
Old Loves Die Hard, Lauren Carr 20 February 2020

2011 cosy mystery, second in the Mac Faraday series. Police detective turned heir Faraday finds his ex-wife importuning him to let them get back together… but soon enough she's dead, and so's her new husband.

[more]
The Future of Another Timeline, Annalee Newitz 18 February 2020

2019 science fiction. There have always been the Machines: nobody knows how they work or where they came from, but they let people travel back in time, and return. Tess is a traveller from 2022, studying history and making illicit changes to it. In 1992, Beth is trying to work out the right thing to do as her life goes out of control.

[more]
On the Clock, Emily Guendelsberger 16 February 2020

Guendelsberger worked as a reporter at a local newspaper; it was closed down. Through a combination of poverty and journalistic curiosity, she took a pre-Christmas job at an Amazon warehouse ("fulfillment center"), then later worked at a call centre and in a fast-food outlet.

[more]
Shaun the Sheep: The Movie 15 February 2020

2015 animation, dir. Mark Burton, Richard Starzak; IMDb / allmovie.

When the sheep get bored with the hard work of life on the farm, they lock the farmer in a caravan for a day off. Chaos ensues.

[more]
Kitty's Big Trouble, Carrie Vaughn 14 February 2020

2011 urban fantasy, ninth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, goes to San Francisco to help out a friend. Who happens to be a vampire…

[more]
Trainwreck, Sady Doyle 12 February 2020

2016 non-fiction. Doyle examines the history and the anatomy of the celebrity trainwreck, the (female) figure who is deemed to have fallen from grace and behaved badly.

[more]
Fuzzies and Other People, H. Beam Piper 10 February 2020

1984 science fiction, re-read. For the Fuzzies to be able to testify against the people who kidnapped and enslaved them, they need to be veridicated… which means they need to be able to lie. But that's not a thing that Fuzzies do…

[more]
A Princess in Theory, Alyssa Cole 08 February 2020

2018 romance. Naledi Smith is studying epidemiology in New York while waitressing to pay the bills, and really doesn't have time for those emails claiming to be from an African prince to whom she was betrothed as a child. But Prince Thabiso is real…

[more]
The Moon, Oliver Morton 06 February 2020

2019 non-fiction. Morton considers the history of human interaction with the Moon.

[more]
Vision in White, Nora Roberts 04 February 2020

2009 romance. Mackenzie Elliott and three of her childhood friends run a wedding business, everything from engagement photos to the Big Day. But, inspired by the example of her mother, Mac thinks true love can't be for her…

[more]
Kitty Goes to War, Carrie Vaughn 02 February 2020

2010 urban fantasy, eighth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, is still post-traumatic from the events of the last book, but has to face two new problems.

[more]
January 2020 Trailers 01 February 2020

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: It was his love of hatred that kept him going.)

[more]
Blood & Treasure season 1 31 January 2020

2019 thriller, 12 episodes. An antiquities expert and an art thief work together to catch a terrorist who funds his activities through the sale of ancient artefacts.

[more]
Grab Bag, Charlotte Macleod 30 January 2020

1987 collection of short mystery stories by MacLeod.

[more]
Sweep With Me, Ilona Andrews 28 January 2020

2020 SF novella in the Innkeeper series. During Treaty Stay, an annual holiday, Dina has to cope with yet more potentially-lethal alien guests.

[more]
3-gatsu no Lion season 2 27 January 2020

2017-2018 seinen manga adaptation in 22 episodes: AniDB, vt "March Comes in Like a Lion". Kiriyama Rei is a young professional shōgi player, but is profoundly lonely.

[more]
1000 Yards, Mark Dawson 26 January 2020 - 7 comments

Contemporary thriller novella, introduction to the John Milton series. Milton is an assassin for the British government, in North Korea to deliver a "message" to the controllers of their hacking teams.

[more]
Clarkesworld 160, January 2020 24 January 2020 - 2 comments

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Balloon Man, Charlotte MacLeod 22 January 2020 - 2 comments

1998 cozy American detective fiction; twelfth and last of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. A family wedding is complicated by the return of jewels long thought lost, an unexpected balloon landing… and a dead body.

[more]
Underland, Robert Macfarlane 20 January 2020

2019 non-fiction. Macfarlane explores natural and man-made underground spaces.

[more]
Kitty's House of Horrors, Carrie Vaughn 18 January 2020

2009 urban fantasy, seventh in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, gets invited onto a reality show: shapeshifters, vampires and psychics put together in a remote house.

[more]
Killjoys season 3 17 January 2020 - 1 comment

2017 science fiction, 10 episodes. The space bounty hunters rapidly shift into preparations for all-out war.

[more]
The Broken Promise Land, Marcia Muller 16 January 2020

1996 mystery, sixteenth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Sharon's brother-in-law, country music star Ricky Savage, has a stalker who may be turning nasty, just as his personal life is falling apart.

[more]
Short Cut to Santa Fe, Medora Sale 14 January 2020

1994 mystery, sixth and last in the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries series. Sanders and Jeffries are setting off on a romantic holiday in New Mexico when they find themselves giving a lift to two children who've missed the tour bus on which they were supposed to hitch a ride. Then things start getting quite strange.

[more]
Halfway to the Grave, Jeaniene Frost 12 January 2020

2007 urban fantasy. In modern Ohio, Cat hunts vampires, surprisingly well for a human, but she has some hidden advantages. Bones is an ancient vampire who's tracking down his own kind for his own reasons. Eventually, they make common cause. There is also sex.

[more]
Exit the Milkman, Charlotte MacLeod 10 January 2020

1996 comic mystery; tenth and last of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy. Peter's neighbour Jim spends most of his evenings at Fraternal Brotherhood meetings to avoid his horrible wife Mirelle; but he doesn't come back, and soon murder is afoot.

[more]
Sweep of the Blade, Ilona Andrews 08 January 2020

2019 short SF novel in the Innkeeper series. Dina's sister Maud turned down a marriage proposal from the vampire Lord Arland, but she's travelling to his homeworld anyway…

[more]
December 2019 Trailers 07 January 2020

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: When our hatred is too keen it places us beneath those we hate.)

[more]
Pursued by Shadows, Medora Sale 06 January 2020

1992 mystery, fifth in the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries series. Harriet's old flame Guy, who dumped her and ran off with her assistant, shows up again in Toronto… but not for long.

[more]
The Mandalorian season 1 05 January 2020 - 3 comments

2019 science fantasy, 8 episodes, Star Wars tie-in. After the fall of the Empire, there's still work for bounty hunters.

[more]
2019 in film 04 January 2020

In 2018 I watched 5 films; in 2019 I watched 32.

[more]
2019 in Books 02 January 2020

In 2019 I read 138 books, down again even though that included several Book-of-the-Week condensations; I did a lot of other things too, and generally didn't remember to make time for reading.

[more]
Hoshiai no Sora 31 December 2019

2019 high school sports story, original anime in 12 episodes: AniDB. The boys' soft tennis club is the joke of the school; the student council decrees that they'll be disbanded unless they win at least one match at the summer tournament. Then a new kid joins the school… vt Stars Align.

[more]
Kitty Raises Hell, Carrie Vaughn 30 December 2019

2009 urban fantasy, sixth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, thought she'd dealt with the problems in Las Vegas. But some of them have followed her home.

[more]
Fuzzy Sapiens, H. Beam Piper 28 December 2019 - 1 comment

1964 science fiction, re-read. The Fuzzies are legally recognised as sapient, and that means big changes to the government of Zarathustra.

[more]
Blind Eye, Stuart MacBride 26 December 2019 - 2 comments

2009 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, fifth in the Logan McRae series. Someone is attacking Polish immigrants in Aberdeen, cutting out their eyes and burning the sockets – but taking care to leave them alive – then sending ranting racist letters to the police…

[more]
Clarkesworld 159, December 2019 24 December 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Whisperer in Darkness 23 December 2019

2019 audio drama, adapted in eight parts by Julian Simpson from the story by H. P. Lovecraft. Henry Akeley has vanished from his home near Rendlesham Forest, and the podcasters investigate.

[more]
War Doctor, David Nott 22 December 2019 - 1 comment

2019 non-fiction. Nott is a general and vascular surgeon who uses his leave to volunteer with MSF in combat and disaster zones.

[more]
Houkago Saikoro Club 21 December 2019

2019 high school story, 4-koma manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB. Miki is terminally shy, but learns to make friends through an interest in boardgames. vt After School Dice Club.

[more]
Faceless Killers, Henning Mankell 19 December 2019

1991 police procedural mystery; first of Mankell's novels of Inspector Kurt Wallander of the Ystad police. Two elderly people living in a remote farmhouse are tortured to death; nothing's obviously missing, but someone fed the horse before they left. And a couple of clues point at foreigners in Sweden… (Translated by Steven T. Murray; original title Mördare utan ansikte.)

[more]
The Snake Tattoo, Linda Barnes 17 December 2019

1989 mystery, second in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). Carlotta's old friend on the force Mooney has been suspended after he beat up a man who attacked him; he says the guy had a knife, nobody's found one, but there's one witness who hasn't come forward. While Carlotta looks for the prostitute with the snake tattoo, a rich teenager who's been roughed up is looking for his missing girlfriend in a part of town that neither of them should be visiting…

[more]
The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie 15 December 2019

2019 fantasy. The god Raven sustains the city of Vastai, via his Lease, a human ruler destined to sacrifice himself to the god. But Mawat the Lease's Heir returns to find that his father is missing and his uncle is the new Lease…

[more]
Julie Enfield Investigates: The Leaves of the Dead 14 December 2019

1997 police procedural audio in four parts, by Nick Fisher. Someone is poisoned in the Reading Room of the British Library, and someone else is mummified; Detective Superintendent Julie Enfield investigates.

[more]
The Odd Job, Charlotte MacLeod 12 December 2019

1995 cozy American detective fiction; eleventh of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. The administrator of the Wilkins Museum dies suddenly, and Sarah turns out to be named as her executrix.

[more]
How To, Randall Munroe 10 December 2019

The author of the webcomic xkcd gives desperately impractical but scientifically rigorous advice on how to solve common problems.

[more]
Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the Bauhaus, Fiona MacCarthy 08 December 2019

2019 non-fiction, examining the life and work of Gropius.

[more]
The Sky People, S. M. Stirling 06 December 2019

2006 science fiction, first of the two books of Lords of Creation. The first Mars and Venus landers found breathable air and human life. Twenty years later, Marc Vitrac is assigned to the American base on Venus, studying the planet and its natives.

[more]
Sleep of the Innocent, Medora Sale 04 December 2019

1991 mystery/police procedural, fourth in the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries series. A corporate chairman is found shot in a hotel room, and it looks as if the people who did it are going after the witness too, even though she doesn't know much.

[more]
Earthly Delights, Kerry Greenwood 02 December 2019

2004 detection, first in Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series. Corinna runs a bakery in Melbourne; someone's sending threatening letters, the local junkies are dying, a new neighbour is drinking himself to death after his daughter ran off, and a lovely but mysterious man finds her interesting.

[more]
November 2019 Trailers 01 December 2019

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: It does not matter much what a man hates, provided he hates something.)

[more]
Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle, Clare Hunter 29 November 2019

2019 non-fiction. A history of sewing and embroidery, trying to recover the stories of the people who did it.

[more]
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, Carrie Vaughn 27 November 2019

2009 urban fantasy, fifth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, is going to get married… in Las Vegas. So naturally she has to do a live show there too. And that isn't even the problem…

[more]
Something in the Water, Charlotte MacLeod 25 November 2019

1994 comic mystery; ninth of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy. Shandy is visiting a grower of remarkable lupines [sic, apparently American usage] when a fellow guest at the inn where he's staying collapses dead over the chicken pot pie.

[more]
A Season for Murder, Ann Granger 23 November 2019

1991 mystery; second of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. Now in a home posting, Mitchell moves to a hamlet in Oxfordshire with plans to commute to London. But the new friend she makes there has a fatal "accident"…

[more]
Project Solar Sail, Arthur C. Clarke and David Brin 21 November 2019

1990 collection of SF stories and speculation about solar sails.

[more]
This Thing of Darkness, Harry Bingham 19 November 2019

2015 police procedural mystery, fourth in the Fiona Griffiths series. Stuck with logging evidence, Fiona asks for some cold cases to look at, and is soon digging for details in her own distinctive style.

[more]
Little Fuzzy, H. Beam Piper 17 November 2019

1962 science fiction, re-read. Zarathustra was an uninhabited planet when humanity arrived, so the Company owns it and everyone's happy. Until Jack Holloway the old sunstone prospector comes along with some crazy story about the animals he's found being intelligent natives…

[more]
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, Michael Caine 15 November 2019 - 1 comment

2018 non-fiction, Michael Caine's (third) autobiography, shading into advice for aspiring actors.

[more]
Clarkesworld 158, November 2019 13 November 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Mummy (2017) 12 November 2019 - 2 comments

2017 action horror, dir. Alex Kurtzman, Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella; IMDb / allmovie. A treasure-hunter uncovers the tomb of a female pharaoh who’s been erased from the historical record; ignoring all the warnings, he lets her out.

[more]
Murder in a Good Cause, Medora Sale 11 November 2019

1990 mystery, third in the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries series. A series of high-value burglaries turns lethal; and an ageing actress is murdered at her soirée, having mentioned that she might be planning to change her will. Sanders investigates; Jeffries was a guest at the party…

[more]
Thoughts on The Lightless Beacon 10 November 2019

The Lightless Beacon is an adventure by Leigh Carr with Lynne Hardy, released to commemorate the death of Greg Stafford. I recently ran it for Whartson Hall. Spoilers.

[more]
Light Sails 09 November 2019

2019 collection of short science fiction stories featuring light sails.

[more]
Ten Second Staircase, Christopher Fowler 07 November 2019

2007 police procedural mystery/horror, fourth in the Bryant and May series. Someone is killing celebrities by various baroque means; the Peculiar Crimes Unit balances that investigation with an attempt to prevent the unit being shut down.

[more]
Aeon’s End 06 November 2019 - 2 comments

Aeon’s End is a cooperative deck-building game by Kevin Riley, in which players work together to fight a monster (the “nemesis”) and save their home.

[more]
The Grub-and-Stakers House a Haunt, Charlotte MacLeod 05 November 2019

1993, cosy American detective fiction; fifth and last of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Dittany Henbit and the Lobelia Falls Grub-and-Stakers Gardening & Roving Club. The ghost of a nineteenth-century mule-skinner turns up in town, and wants his bones found and properly buried… but doesn't much mind what happens to the chest of gold that should be near them.

[more]
October 2019 Trailers 01 November 2019 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: There is nothing like just indignation for fostering unreasoning hate.)

[more]
Dead Reckoning, Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill 30 October 2019

2012 steampunk western fantasy. In 1867, Jett Gallatin is a gunslinger searching for his brother who went missing after the War; White Horse is a civilian scout attached to the Union Army; and Gibbons is a scientist and inventor. All of them arrive in the town of Alsop, Texas, just as the zombies attack. But who made that happen, and why?

[more]
Hexarchate Stories, Yoon Ha Lee 28 October 2019

2019 collection of short science fiction stories set in the universe of the Heptarchate/Hexarchate.

[more]
Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Carrie Vaughn 27 October 2019

2008 urban fantasy, fourth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, returns to Denver to be with her sick mother; which means that all the problems she's been running away from come back to haunt her, with new ones to join them.

[more]
Red Bones, Ann Cleeves 25 October 2019

2009 mystery; third in Cleeves' Shetland Island series. At an archaeological site on Whalsay, the old woman who lives nearby is shot one foggy night – accidentally, everyone assumes. Then one of the archaeologists is found with her wrists slit. DI Jimmy Perez investigates.

[more]
GURPS High Tech: Electricity and Electronics, William H. Stoddard 23 October 2019

This GURPS supplement is primarily an equipment catalogue, listing electrical and related equipment from Galvani and Volta to the present day.

[more]
Publish and be Murdered, Ruth Dudley Edwards 21 October 2019

1999 mystery, eighth in the Robert Amiss series. Amiss is brought in to help an old, money-losing, right-wing weekly newspaper lose slightly less money. Which puts him in a prime position when one of the senior staff is murdered.

[more]
Clarkesworld 157, October 2019 20 October 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande 18 October 2019 - 1 comment

1934 non-fiction, a short look at the writing mindset and how to set oneself to work.

[more]
In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin, Lindsey Hilsum 17 October 2019

2012 non-fiction, following the life and death of Marie Colvin.

[more]
Night Terrace season 2 16 October 2019

2019 Australian science fiction comedy audio drama in eight parts, by John Richards. Dr Anastasia Black, Eddie Jones and Sue Denholm continue to travel through time and space in a suburban house, fixing problems and getting into trouble.

[more]
Strange Horizons, September 2019 14 October 2019

Strange Horizons is a weekly on-line magazine edited by Vanessa Rose Phin.

[more]
Uncanny 30, September/October 2019 13 October 2019

Uncanny is a bimonthly on-line magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.

[more]
The Wrong Rite, Charlotte MacLeod 12 October 2019

1992 cosy American detective fiction; fifth and last of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Madoc and Janet Rhys. They've gone to Wales to help celebrate Madoc's great-uncle's 90th birthday, but soon enough there's a dead body to be dealt with.

[more]
Erebus: The Story of a Ship, Michael Palin 10 October 2019 - 2 comments

2018 non-fiction. HMS Erebus had already travelled to the Ross Ice Shelf; in 1845, she was sent to search for the Northwest Passage, and never came back.

[more]
The Far West, Patricia C. Wrede 08 October 2019

2012 fantasy, third in the trilogy. In a parallel 19th century America, Eff Rothmer travels on an expedition past frontier territory, to where the magical beasts dwell.

[more]
A Wild and Lonely Place, Marcia Muller 07 October 2019

1995 mystery, fifteenth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. McCone's trying to get the reward for tracking down the "Diplo-Bomber" who's been sending explosive packages to various embassies and consulates… but it quickly becomes personal.

[more]
Ambiguity Machines, Vandana Singh 05 October 2019

2018 SF anthology, 14 short stories; all except the last have been published previously.

[more]
Murder and Mendelssohn, Kerry Greenwood 02 October 2019

2013 historical detection, twentieth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). The hated conductor of an amateur choral ensemble is murdered… twice. And an old friend of Phryne's is in love with someone who doesn't know he exists, and who seems to be the target of murderous attacks.

[more]
September 2019 Trailers 01 October 2019 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Hatred is a vice of narrow souls; they feed it with all their meanness, and make it a pretext for sordid tyranny.)

[more]
Murder in Focus, Medora Sale 30 September 2019

1989 mystery/suspense, second in the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries series. DI Sanders is in Ottawa for training, and annoyed at the world; but he was also the last person to see an undercover cop, apart from the murderer.

[more]
This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone 28 September 2019

2019 science fiction romance novella. Red and Blue are soldiers on opposite sides in a war that ranges across worlds and up and down the timelines. But then Red finds a letter in the ashes of a battlefield, that reads: Burn Before Reading.

[more]
Murder in a Cathedral, Ruth Dudley Edwards 27 September 2019

1997 mystery, seventh in the Robert Amiss series. "Jack" Troutbeck enlists Amiss to help the new but unworldly Bishop of Westonbury as his chapter suffers a rift between the high church gay traditionalists and the intolerant evangelical new dean. Murder is also involved.

[more]
Arabella the Traitor of Mars, David D. Levine 25 September 2019

2018 clockpunkish science fiction, third and probably last in the series. With Napoleon defeated, the Prince Regent decides that it's time to conquer (and profit from) all of Mars. Arabella, who grew up there and feels herself Martian at heart, sets out to prevent him.

[more]
GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact, Kelly Pedersen 24 September 2019

This GURPS supplement deals with contacts: how to use them, how to customise them, and a wide variety of examples.

[more]
Winged, Joyce Chng 23 September 2019

2009 short collection of science fiction stories. In steampunk Victorian England a young woman learns to fly; in the distant future the heir to the Phoenix Empress learns to control her powers.

[more]
V-Commandos Résistance: first look 22 September 2019 - 1 comment

V-Commandos: Résistance is the supplement to V-Commandos that I wasn't able to buy at Essen last year.

[more]
Clarkesworld 156, September 2019 21 September 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Resurrection Man, Charlotte MacLeod 19 September 2019

1992 cozy American detective fiction; tenth of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. An old friend turns up working in an atelier styled after a Renaissance guild, restoring damaged art; but quite a lot of it seems to get stolen shortly after it's been returned to the client…

[more]
GURPS Monster Hunters Power-Ups 1, Christopher R. Rice 18 September 2019

This supplementary volume in the Monster Hunters series offers improved abilities for some of the standard hunter templates.

[more]
Say It With Poison, Ann Granger 17 September 2019

1991 mystery; first of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. Mitchell is British Consul in Bratislava, home on leave to support her actor cousin Eve as Eve's daughter Sara gets married. Markby was a friend of Eve's deceased husband, and is giving away the bride. But it's Mitchell who will discover the body of the local potter who may have had something going with Sara…

[more]
Strange Horizons, August 2019 15 September 2019 - 1 comment

Strange Horizons is a weekly on-line magazine edited by Vanessa Rose Phin.

[more]
A Dose of Death, Gin Jones 12 September 2019

2014 mystery, first in the series about Helen Binney, ex-wife of the Governor of Massachussetts and now living in a small town and suffering from lupus erythematosus. Helen's fussy nieces insist on getting her daily visits from an overbearing nurse, who later turns up beaten to death outside Helen's house.

[more]
Magic Triumphs, Ilona Andrews 10 September 2019

2018 modern fantasy, tenth and last in the Kate Daniels series. Things haven't got simpler for Kate, with a precocious infant son as well as her other responsibilities. Her father is mustering forces for the final battle. And that may not even be the worst of her problems…

[more]
GURPS Powers: Totems and Nature Spirits, Rory Fansler 09 September 2019

This GURPS Powers supplement provides mechanical support for characters aided by totem spirits: something less than gods, but still more than human.

[more]
Dead Men Don't Ski, Patricia Moyes 08 September 2019

1959 mystery, first in the series about Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. Tibbett and his wife go on a skiing holiday to a remote village on the Italian-Austrian border, but his superiors and Interpol ask him also to keep an eye on drug smuggling in the area. But what has that to do with the unpleasant German who turns up dead at the bottom of the chair-lift?

[more]
Uncanny 29, July/August 2019 06 September 2019

Uncanny is a bimonthly on-line magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.

[more]
Murder on the Run, Medora Sale 04 September 2019

1985 police procedural, first in the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries series. In Toronto, someone is raping and murdering joggers; but Detective Inspector John Sanders thinks the latest victim doesn't completely fit the pattern.

[more]
Iron and Magic, Ilona Andrews 02 September 2019

2018 modern fantasy, first in a planned series spun off from the main Kate Daniels series. Hugh d'Ambray was the warlord of the demigod Roland, but was cast out for failure; he'd be crawling into a bottle, but his men need him. Elara Harper leads an outcast community that needs soldiers, and could offer shelter and employment. But both of them are known for betraying their allies. How can they make this alliance look credible to their enemies?

[more]
August 2019 Trailers 01 September 2019

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: If you hate your enemies, you will contract such a vicious habit of mind, as by degrees will break out upon those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to you.)

[more]
Ten Lords A-Leaping, Ruth Dudley Edwards 31 August 2019 - 1 comment

1996 mystery, sixth in the Robert Amiss series. "Jack" Troutbeck, newly Baroness Troutbeck, enlists Amiss to help organise opposition in the Lords to an anti-hunting bill. But even she didn't expect it to be murderous.

[more]
Magic Binds, Ilona Andrews 30 August 2019

2016 modern fantasy, ninth in the Kate Daniels series. Kate's father Roland continues to poke at her claim of the city of Atlanta, this time by kidnapping people under her protection. Kate and Curran agree to marry. And then there's the matter of prophecies…

[more]
Christmas Stalkings, Charlotte Macleod 29 August 2019

1991 Christmas-themed mystery anthology. Thirteen stories deal with crime (mostly murder) at, or themed on, Christmas.

[more]
Sabella, Tanith Lee 27 August 2019 - 1 comment

1980 fantasy with SF elements. On the colony world of Nova Mars, the blood-drinking Sabella lives on her own… but her aunt has just died, and seems in her will to be set on outing her as a vampire.

[more]
Magic Stars, Ilona Andrews 26 August 2019

2015 modern fantasy novella in the Kate Daniels series. Derek, now a vigilante known as the Grey Wolf, and Kate's adopted daughter Julie, deal with a killer and work out what it is the killer's trying to achieve.

[more]
An Owl Too Many, Charlotte MacLeod 25 August 2019

1991 comic mystery; eighth of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy. During the annual owl-counting survey, a newcomer to the town is distracted by what seems to be an out-of-place snowy owl… and is promptly hauled into a tree and stabbed to death.

[more]
Across the Great Barrier, Patricia C. Wrede 23 August 2019

2011 fantasy. On a parallel American frontier, thirteenth-child Eff Rothmer is a heroine of sorts for working out how to solve the plague of insects that was destroying settlements west of the Great Barrier Spell. But that doesn't help her work out what to do next.

[more]
Seventy-Seven Clocks, Christopher Fowler 21 August 2019

2005 police procedural mystery/horror, third in the Bryant and May series. In the winter of 1973, a man dressed in Edwardian garb defaces a Waterhouse painting in the National Gallery; a guest at the Savoy dies of venom from a marshland snake. The Peculiar Crimes Unit investigates.

[more]
Magic Shifts, Ilona Andrews 20 August 2019

2015 modern fantasy, eighth in the Kate Daniels series. Kate and Curran have stepped down from leadership of the Pack, and are trying to make new lives for themselves. But supernatural threats to Atlanta don't stop; the ghouls are swarming…

[more]
Sawbones, Stuart MacBride 18 August 2019

2008 crime novella, stand-alone. In the USA, a serial killer is cutting off young women's arms and legs; nobody's found the bodies. But his latest victim is a mobster's daughter.

[more]
Clarkesworld 155, August 2019 16 August 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths, Harry Bingham 14 August 2019

2014 police procedural mystery, third in the Fiona Griffiths series. A routine payroll fraud blows up into a murder enquiry, and Fiona goes undercover.

[more]
Magic Breaks, Ilona Andrews 12 August 2019

2014 modern fantasy, seventh in the Kate Daniels series. Kate's summoned to attend the Conclave, the icily polite meeting between Atlanta's vampire lords and shapeshifters. Of course it's a trap. But even the knowledge that it's a trap can be a trap.

[more]
Flesh House, Stuart MacBride 11 August 2019

2008 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, fourth in the Logan McRae series. Twenty years ago, "The Flesher" killed and butchered – literally – people all over the UK. Thanks to flawed police work, he got out eleven years later. But it's only now that more bodies are being found, or rather more packaged meat…

[more]
Magic Steals, Ilona Andrews 09 August 2019

2014 modern fantasy novella in the Kate Daniels series. Dali Harimau, myopic vegetarian weretiger sorceress, looks into a missing grandmother.

[more]
A Merciful Death, Kendra Elliot 07 August 2019

2017 romantic mystery, first in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. Mercy is an FBI agent, but she grew up as a prepper, stocked up on goods and skills for the end of civilisation. Now she's sent back to the small town in Oregon that she left fifteen years ago, where preppers also seem to be the target of the latest murderer.

[more]
Magic Rises, Ilona Andrews 04 August 2019

2013 modern fantasy, sixth in the Kate Daniels series. Curran is called to Abkhazia, ancient Colchis, to mediate in a dispute between three shapeshifter packs. It's obviously a trap. But the bait is really tempting…

[more]
Chasing the Dollar, Ellie Ashe 02 August 2019

2014 action/mystery, first in the Miranda Vaughn series. Miranda worked hard to go to college and get a job in an investment bank… but it all fell apart, and she's spent eighteen months defending herself against fraud charges. Now she's been found not guilty… but that's not enough to get her life back.

[more]
July 2019 Trailers 01 August 2019

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: the state abhors only one thing in the end, and that's the sound of laughter. Violence it can understand.)

[more]
Overlord II 31 July 2019

2017-2018 fantasy, continuing light novel adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB. Momonga, the VR MMORPG player who found himself stuck in the game world when the servers shut down, lives on as a super-powerful lich, and continues to…

[more]
Small Magics, Ilona Andrews 30 July 2019

2015 modern fantasy anthology, short stories in the Kate Daniels universe.

[more]
The Good Place season 3 29 July 2019

2018-2019 fantasy comedy, 13 episodes. The afterlife's experiments with ethics and moral philosophy continue.

[more]
Gunmetal Magic, Ilona Andrews 28 July 2019

2012 modern fantasy, intermediate novel in the Kate Daniels series. Andrea Nash looks into the murders of four shapeshifters… and the possibility that something much, much worse is going on.

[more]
A Trouble of Fools, Linda Barnes 26 July 2019

1987 mystery, first in the Carlotta Carlyle series. Carlotta was in the Boston Police, but left for reasons which aren't yet clear; now she's a private eye without clients. Then a nice old lady, worried about what's happened to her brother, offers her a bundle of cash to look into the matter…

[more]
Whiskey Cavalier season 1 25 July 2019

2019 action comedy drama, 13 episodes. A motley group of rough men (and women) run around saving the world while trying to get in touch with their feelings.

[more]
A Second Chance, Jodi Taylor 23 July 2019

2014 science fiction, third in the Chronicles of St Mary's series. The St Mary's team of time-travelling historians continue their highly dangerous observations of historical events, this time visiting Troy and Agincourt among other places.

[more]
It's Murder, My Son, Lauren Carr 21 July 2019

2010 cosy mystery, first in the Mac Faraday series. Just after his firing and divorce, homicide detective Faraday finds that his birth-mother went on to become a hugely successful mystery writer, who's left him everything in her will. So now he doesn't have to do anything but laze around… though his neighbour did get murdered recently, and the local police chief doesn't seem to be up to the job…

[more]
Abaddon's Gate, James S. A. Corey 19 July 2019 - 4 comments

2013 science fiction, third in The Expanse series. The mysterious plot-device-producing alien supertech has built a ring out past the orbit of Neptune, which seems to be a gate to Somewhere Else. In spite of his best efforts, James Holden will get involved again.

[more]
Clarkesworld 154, July 2019 17 July 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Thirteenth Child, Patricia C. Wrede 15 July 2019

2009 fantasy. In a parallel 19th century America, Eff's twin brother Lan is the seventh son of a seventh son, so that means he's lucky, and he'll probably become a great wizard. But Eff is a thirteenth child, which means that everyone knows that sooner or later she'll turn bad.

[more]
A Bachelor Establishment, Isabella Barclay 13 July 2019

2015 Regency romance. Elinor Bascombe, a widow who's been bringing her late wastrel husband's estate back to something like prosperity, meets the wicked Lord Ryde, exiled from the country for decades, and here to raise money from his own neighbouring estate before leaving for good.

[more]
Outbreak, Melissa F. Olson 12 July 2019

2018 modern fantasy novella, third and last in its series. The big bad vampire has broken the others out of prison, and is setting up for the big battle.

[more]
Deep Roots, Ruthanna Emrys 09 July 2019

2018 Lovecraftian SF, second in the series. Aphra Marsh is in New York, trying to track down any relatives who might have survived the Innsmouth Raid. But other forces are at play.

[more]
2019 Hugo Awards 08 July 2019

This is my ballot for the 2019 Hugo awards. I've talked about some of it already; see the "Hugo 2019" tag.

[more]
Hugo 2019: Short Story 07 July 2019

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated short stories. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so.

[more]
Hugo 2019: Novelette 05 July 2019

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated novelettes. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so.

[more]
The Tea Master and the Detective, Aliette de Bodard 03 July 2019

2018 SF novella, set in what I now learn is known as the Xuya Universe, the Vietnamese empire in space with mindships. A ship who's working as a blender of mildly psychoactive teas has an odd new client, a "consulting detective".

[more]
Fighting With My Family 02 July 2019

2019 drama/comedy, dir. Stephen Merchant, Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden; IMDb / allmovie. Siblings Raya and Zak Knight come from a wrestling family in Norfolk, but is that going to be enough to get them to the top?

[more]
June 2019 Trailers 01 July 2019

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I didn't know the cybernetic death squads would be used for violence.)

[more]
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson 30 June 2019

2018 SF novella. In a world where environmental collapse has forced everyone underground (how they ate while there is not explored), Minh is of the generation that came up and started to reclaim the surface. But time travel has apparently taken all the funding away.

[more]
Julie Enfield Investigates: Terminus 29 June 2019

1994 police procedural audio in five parts, by Nick Fisher. A mutilated corpse is found on the railway tracks; Detective Superintendent Julie Enfield tries to work out what happened.

[more]
The Black God's Drums, P. Djèlí Clark 28 June 2019

2018 steampunk SF/fantasy novella. The American Civil War ended in a peace treaty, and New Orleans is a neutral city. But in among the airships and steam-powered walkers, someone's planning to deploy the ultimate terror weapon.

[more]
Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn 27 June 2019

Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, designed by Isaac Vega and published in 2015, is a competitive game of wizard battles for 2-4 players.

[more]
Binti: The Night Masquerade, Nnedi Okorafor 26 June 2019

2018 Hugo-nominated science fiction novella in the Binti series. Binti is back on Earth with Strange Things in (and on) her head.

[more]
Beneath the Sugar Sky, Seanan McGuire 24 June 2019

2018 Hugo-nominated modern fantasy novella in the Wayward Children series. The Home for Wayward Children has another person to be got back to their right place.

[more]
Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente 22 June 2019

2018 science fiction. When the aliens arrive on Earth, it turns out that they have a standard process for determining whether a race is truly sentient. So now, to save humanity, Decibel Jones, has-been glam-rock star, has to avoid coming last in Space Eurovision.

[more]
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik 20 June 2019

2018 fantasy. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father does a lousy job and so she takes over. Irina is the duke's daughter, given in marriage to the demon-ridden Tsar. Wanda is a peasant girl, beaten by her drunkard father, and looking for anything that might help her survive.

[more]
Apex 120, May 2019 18 June 2019

Apex was a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Clarkesworld 153, June 2019 17 June 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
White Nights, Ann Cleeves 16 June 2019

2008 mystery; second in Cleeves' Shetland Island series. A stranger turns up at the opening of an art show, and claims to have lost his memory; later, he's found hanged in a boathouse. DI Jimmy Perez investigates.

[more]
Magic Gifts, Ilona Andrews 14 June 2019

2011 modern fantasy novella in the Kate Daniels series. Kate's out for a meal with Curran when a fellow diner is handed a necklace… and is promptly strangled by it.

[more]
The Last Ship, season 4 13 June 2019

2017 post-apocalyptic science fiction, ten episodes. The virus that nearly wiped out humanity has mutated into a crop-destroying plague.

[more]
Night Terrace 12 June 2019

2019 Australian science fiction comedy audio drama in eight parts, by John Richards. Dr Anastasia Black used to save the universe every week, but now she's enjoying a comfortable retirement. Until Eddie Jones comes to her door to sell her a new electricity contract…

[more]
Magic Tests, Ilona Andrews 10 June 2019

2012 modern fantasy novelette in the Kate Daniels series. Julie, Kate's ward, is living with her in Atlanta after having been thrown out of her last school. Kate takes her to look at a new one… but it turns out that this is also a request for help, because one of the students has gone missing.

[more]
Magic Slays, Ilona Andrews 08 June 2019

2011 modern fantasy, fifth in the Kate Daniels series. Kate's set up as a freelance magical investigator, though she has no clients yet; when she gets a warning about a loose vampire, she'd have taken the job even without the public-safety angle. But that's just the first sign of a new threat.

[more]
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal 05 June 2019

2018 science fiction, distant prequel to the Hugo-winning novelette The Lady Astronaut of Mars. In 1952, a huge meteorite hits the east coast of the USA; the resultant climatic shift is enough to push for quicker development of a space programme, because it looks as if Earth will soon be uninhabitable. Elma York, mathematician, tries to become one of the astronauts, but it's still the 1950s and everyone knows women can't do that.

[more]
The Hollow of Fear, Sherry Thomas 03 June 2019

2018 mystery story, third of the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte Holmes continues to act as a consulting detective, but this time she must solve the murder of Lady Ingram, found on her estranged husband's estate. And Charlotte, known to be a Fallen Woman, has been seen in Lord Ingram's company…

[more]
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse 02 June 2019

2018 modern fantasy. After the Big Water, with two-thirds of North America flooded, magic has returned to the world. Maggie Hoskie is a hunter of monsters among the Diné (Navajo); she's also a very broken person.

[more]
May 2019 Trailers 01 June 2019 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Stabbing people is fun.)

[more]
Warm Bodies 31 May 2019

2013 zombie romance, dir. Jonathan Levine, Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer; IMDb / allmovie. After the zombie apocalypse, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy is still dead.

[more]
Magic Dreams, Ilona Andrews 30 May 2019

2011 modern fantasy novella, side story between fourth and fifth in the Kate Daniels series. Dali Harimau, vegetarian weretiger, finds her pack leader (and crush) passed out in her house. A new magical threat needs a competent magician not only to handle it but to work out what's going on.

[more]
The Meg 29 May 2019

2018 SF-horror, dir. Jon Turteltaub, Jason Statham, Li Bingbing: IMDb / allmovie. Five years ago, submarine rescue expert Jonas Taylor had to make a hard decision and leave some of his men behind to save the rest. Now, not only is there another submarine lost, his ex-wife is aboard. (A giant shark will also feature.)

[more]
Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers 28 May 2019

2018 science fiction, stand-alone continuation of the Wayfarers series. Five inhabitants of the Exodus Fleet live parts of their lives.

[more]
Deep Blue Sea 2 27 May 2019

2018 SF-horror, dir. Darin Scott, Danielle Savre, Rob Mayes: IMDb / allmovie. Another offshore research station, another giant shark. Must be Thursday.

[more]
Broken Skin, Stuart MacBride 26 May 2019

2007 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, third in the Logan McRae series. McRae continues to be bounced between Inspectors Insch and Steel, and to try to have a personal life too.

[more]
Frankie Drake Mysteries season 2 25 May 2019

2018 mystery show, 10 episodes. Frankie Drake and Trudy Clarke continue to be private detectives in 1920s Toronto.

[more]
Thornyhold, Mary Stewart 24 May 2019

1988 romantic suspense. After a lonely childhood, Geillis Ramsay finds herself orphaned and the heir to her mother's cousin's house in rural Wiltshire. And perhaps to her magic too.

[more]
Apex 119, April 2019 22 May 2019

Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Deep Blue Sea 21 May 2019

1999 science fiction horror, dir. Renny Harlin, Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane: IMDb / allmovie. On a remote floating shark research station, things are going to go very badly wrong.

[more]
Clarkesworld 152, May 2019 20 May 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Anna and the Apocalypse 19 May 2019

2018 Scottish zombie Christmas musical, dir. John McPhail, Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming; IMDb / allmovie. Zombies have risen, and we're all going to die. In a small Scottish town just before Christmas.

[more]
The Sins of the Wolf, Anne Perry 18 May 2019

1994 mystery, fifth in Perry's William Monk series (Victorian investigation). Hester Latterly takes a job escorting an elderly lady by the overnight train from Edinburgh to London, making sure she takes her medicine on time. In the morning, her charge is dead, and soon enough Hester is charged with her murder.

[more]
Chastity Bites 16 May 2019

2013 horror/comedy, dir. John V. Knowles, Allison Scagliotti, Francia Raisa: IMDb / allmovie. Leah is a blue-state girl in a red-state town, trying to get into a good college by breaking a really big story in the school paper. But when a new "abstinence educator" comes to town it may be a bigger story than she can handle.

[more]
The Grub-and-Stakers Spin a Yarn, Charlotte MacLeod 15 May 2019

1990, cosy American detective fiction; fourth of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Dittany Henbit and the Lobelia Falls Grub-and-Stakers Gardening & Roving Club. Industrial espionage comes to town, and the local mincemeat magnate is under attack.

[more]
Mystery Science Theater 3000 season 12 14 May 2019 - 2 comments

The revived show continues, with a shorter six-episode season.

[more]
Last Rights, Barbara Nadel 13 May 2019

2006 mystery, first in Nadel's series about Francis Hancock, East End undertaker during the Blitz. During an air raid, a man claims that he's been stabbed, then runs off; later he shows up on Hancock's slab, apparently dead of blast, but Hancock isn't satisfied.

[more]
New Game!! (Season 2) 12 May 2019

2017 slice of life, 4-koma manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB. Suzukaze Aoba continues to work as a character designer at a computer game studio.

[more]
Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee 10 May 2019

2018 Hugo-nominated science fiction, third in a trilogy. The last thing Shuos Jedao remembers is being seventeen… but now he's been woken into a much older body, and apparently the Hexarch Nirai Kujen is relying on his military skills to reassemble the shattered empire. But Kujen, as always, is playing a very deep game…

[more]
The Bright Silver Star, David Handler 08 May 2019

2003 mystery, third in the Berger and Mitry series. It's tourist season in the small town of Dorset, and a film star couple is among them (she grew up in the area). But soon enough someone is going to plummet to his death.

[more]
Spy 07 May 2019

2015 action comedy, dir. Paul Feig, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham; IMDb / allmovie. In a James Bond-style world, when all the CIA's field agents are compromised, it's up to an analyst to go undercover and look for a missing nuclear weapon.

[more]
A Questionable Client, Ilona Andrews 06 May 2019

2010 modern fantasy novelette, prequel to the Kate Daniels series. Kate the mercenary gets a short-notice, high-paying bodyguard job, for a particularly repulsive client.

[more]
12 Monkeys season 3 04 May 2019

2017 SF, 10 episodes. The civilisation-ending plague was just part of the bigger plot, and nobody's loyalties are clear even before time travel comes into the picture.

[more]
Lying for Money, Dan Davies 02 May 2019 - 2 comments

2018 non-fiction, an informal look at the history, particularly in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, of fraud.

[more]
April 2019 Trailers 01 May 2019 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Burn it. Burn it all.)

[more]
Barely Lethal 30 April 2019

2015 action comedy, dir. Kyle Newman, Hailee Steinfeld, Dove Cameron: IMDb / allmovie. Number 83 grew up in a secret government training school for assassins, with no emotional connection to anyone. But when she's left behind on a mission, she decides to find what she's never had: a normal childhood. Pity that childhood ideal is built on 1990s high school comedies…

[more]
Magic Bleeds, Ilona Andrews 28 April 2019

2010 modern fantasy, fourth in the Kate Daniels series. A bar fight that went a bit strange turns out to have been the first inkling of a deity-level supernatural threat to Atlanta. Just another day at the office.

[more]
Kuzu no Honkai 27 April 2019

2016-2017 romance, seinen manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Scum's Wish". High-schoolers Hanabi and Mugi both have hopeless crushes on other people; they become a couple to tide them over until they get what they really want.

[more]
The McCone Files, Marcia Muller 26 April 2019

1994 collection of short mystery stories, in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco.

[more]
Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters 25 April 2019

2013 action-horror, dir. Tommy Wirkola, Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton; IMDb / allmovie. After they escaped from the witch, Hansel and Gretel set up as witch-hunters for pay.

[more]
Vane Pursuit, Charlotte MacLeod 24 April 2019

1989 mystery; seventh of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy. After the town's soap factory burns to the ground, it seems likely that the arson was cover for the theft of an antique weather vane.

[more]
The Craft 23 April 2019

1996 horror, dir. Andrew Fleming, Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk: IMDb / allmovie. When Sarah moves to a new high school, she reluctantly falls in with the witchy crowd; but first the power is surprisingly real, then it's surprisingly hard to handle.

[more]
Dark Matter season 3 21 April 2019 - 2 comments

2016 science fiction, 13 episodes. The motley crew of the Raza continues to try to stay alive, and maybe even do something worthwhile.

[more]
Destination Wedding 19 April 2019

2018 romantic comedy, dir. Victor Levin, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder: IMDb / allmovie. Frank and Lindsay have each been invited to San Luis Obispo for the flashy wedding of someone they don't much like. She's the groom's ex; he's his half-brother; they're both bitter people. Naturally, they meet.

[more]
Till the Butchers Cut Him Down, Marcia Muller 18 April 2019

1994 mystery, fourteenth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Sharon's gone independent, though she stays on good terms with All Souls and even rents office space from them; but her first case is from an old college friend, who was a bit iffy back in the day and may be even more so now. He claims he's being persecuted, but his evidence isn't great. Then things change.

[more]
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates 17 April 2019

2016 comedy with romantic elements, dir. Jake Szymanski, Zac Efron, Adam DeVine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza: IMDb / allmovie. Manchild brothers Mike and Dave are told that they can't come to their sister's wedding unless they bring dates (to calm them down and stop them hitting on other women). Not knowing any women, they advertise. Alice and Tatiana, who are just as messed up but in different ways, decide that a free trip to Hawaii is worth a few days of good behaviour…

[more]
Apex 118, March 2019 15 April 2019

Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Moana 14 April 2019

2016 animated fantasy, dir. Ron Clements and John Musker, Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson; IMDb / allmovie. Moana lives on a Pacific island and has always wanted to see more, but the tribe forbids anyone from venturing beyond the reef; then Ocean chooses her to find the demigod Māui and break an ancient curse.

[more]
Red Moon 13 April 2019

2019 alternate-history audio drama in six parts, by Robert Valentine. In 1979, both USA and USSR have lunar bases packed with nuclear missiles aimed at Earth. But Jack Sloper, former MI5 agent now in a dead-end job in the Space Liaison Department, is just concerned about an inventory mismatch…

[more]
Clarkesworld 151, April 2019 11 April 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
The Void 09 April 2019

2016 minimal-budget horror, dir. Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski, Aaron Poole: IMDb / allmovie. Sheriff's Deputy Daniel Carter wasn't having a great day, but he's going to have an even worse night.

[more]
Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku 07 April 2019

2018 light novel adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody". After a thirty-hour stint working on two separate computer games, contract programmer Satou sleeps under his desk and wakes up in a fantasy world.

[more]
Love Story, With Murders, Harry Bingham 05 April 2019

2014 police procedural mystery, second in the Fiona Griffiths series. A woman's leg and foot are found in a freezer during a house clearance, and other parts are nearby; then a man's body parts start showing up in the same area.

[more]
Queen Lucia, E. F. Benson 03 April 2019

1920 comedy, first of the series. Mrs Lucas, "Lucia" to all, is the social arbiter of the village of Riseholme – in spite of the best efforts of her subjects.

[more]
Unnatural Habits, Kerry Greenwood 02 April 2019

2012 historical detection, nineteenth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Pregnant girls are going missing from the Magdalene Laundry; an intrepid, if not too bright, reporter gets on their trail, then goes missing too.

[more]
March 2019 Trailers 01 April 2019 - 4 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: There is nothing like just indignation for fostering unreasoning hate.)

[more]
Magic Mourns, Ilona Andrews 31 March 2019

2009 modern fantasy novella, side story between third and fourth in the Kate Daniels series. While Kate's recuperating from the events of the previous book, her friend and fellow monster-fighter Andrea Nash gets a call… about a shapeshifter being pursued by a house-sized dog.

[more]
Trouble in the Brasses, Charlotte MacLeod 30 March 2019

1989, cosy American detective fiction; fourth of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Madoc and Janet Rhys. Madoc is summoned by his father, an eminent conductor, on an orchestral tour.

[more]
Le grand méchant renard et autres contes 29 March 2019

2017 French animation, dir. Patrick Imbert, Benjamin Renner; IMDb / allmovie. vt The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales

The countryside is not as peaceful a place as one might expect, as comedic bunglers try to do the right thing and are appropriately punished for it.

[more]
In the Company of Thieves, Kage Baker 28 March 2019

2013 science fiction, six short pieces in The Company series; five were previously published, and the last was written by Baker's sister for this collection.

[more]
The Hot Pink Farmhouse, David Handler 26 March 2019

2002 mystery, second in the Berger and Mitry series. Berger is settling in for the autumn to write a book about westerns, but small town politics and crime won't leave him alone; and the crime is Mitry's job too. Someone's blown up in her car on her way back from an illicit rendezvous, and she seems to have had a remarkable number of enemies.

[more]
Magic Strikes, Ilona Andrews 24 March 2019

2009 modern fantasy, third in the Kate Daniels series. When a shapeshifter gets killed and she's frozen out of the investigation, Kate's annoyed, but they're within their rights. When another shifter, a friend of hers, is deliberately crippled, that's another matter.

[more]
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 23 March 2019

2018 animation, dir. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman; IMDb / allmovie.

Kid bitten by radioactive spider, great responsibility, blah blah. But this isn't just another retread of the usual origin story: universes are colliding, and each of them has its own Spider-Man.

[more]
Nell Gwynne's On Land and At Sea, Kage Baker 22 March 2019

2012 steampunk SF short novel, very loosely connected with the Company series. The finest brothel in 19th-century Whitehall… goes on holiday to Torquay. At least, that was the plan.

[more]
Rattling the Bones, Ann Granger 20 March 2019

2007 thriller/mystery; seventh of Granger's novels of Fran Varady, would-be thespian and amateur sleuth. When Fran runs into Edna, the homeless woman she used to know when she was living in a squat, it seems like a welcome encounter; but Edna's scared of something, and someone is following her. And that's before Fran starts digging into old secrets.

[more]
Clarkesworld 150, March 2019 17 March 2019 - 2 comments

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Apex 117, February 2019 16 March 2019

Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Ocean's 8 15 March 2019

2018 caper film, dir. Gary Ross, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett; IMDb / allmovie. Con-artist and thief Debbie Ocean gets out of prison, and immediately plans her biggest heist yet.

[more]
Not Less than Gods, Kage Baker 14 March 2019

2009 steampunk science fiction in The Company setting. Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax is born, grows up, is trained to be a spy, and in 1850 goes on his first mission for the Gentlemen's Speculative Society.

[more]
A Conspiracy in Belgravia, Sherry Thomas 12 March 2019

2017 mystery, second of the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte Holmes is doing well in her disguised life as "Sherlock" the consulting detective, but her latest client comes from rather too close to home.

[more]
Ocean's Thirteen 11 March 2019

2007 caper film, dir. Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt; IMDb / allmovie. After one of their number is ripped off by a business partner, the gang gets together again for another casino robbery.

[more]
The Water Room, Christopher Fowler 10 March 2019

2004 police procedural mystery/horror, second in the Bryant and May series. An elderly woman is found dead in the basement of her house… dressed for a trip outside, even though she hardly ever went outside, and with river water in her throat. It's not even clear that it's a crime, never mind any questions of motivation; but with the Peculiar Crimes Unit under threat of closure, Bryant and May do their best to investigate and justify their existence.

[more]
Death Race 2050 09 March 2019

2017 satirical action film, dir. G.J. Echternkamp, Manu Bennett, Marci Miller: IMDb / allmovie. In the dystopian future of America, the most popular entertainment is a cross-country road race with bonus points for slaughter en route.

[more]
GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and Scientists, Phil Masters 08 March 2019

This is the third of the new GURPS Steampunk supplements, updating and extending the old book; with genre and technology already covered, this volume deals with character generation.

[more]
The Sons of Heaven, Kage Baker 07 March 2019

2007 science fiction, eighth of The Company series. As 9 July 2355 approaches, all the forces determined to take advantage of the Silence, the point after which no information has flowed back in time, put their pieces on the board and ready their plans.

[more]
Ocean's Twelve 06 March 2019

2004 caper film, dir. Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt; IMDb / allmovie. The crooks' victim from the first film wants his money back, and he's a Scary Guy. How to get it for him? Steal it, of course.

[more]
The Black Tower, P. D. James 05 March 2019

1975 detective fiction, fifth of James's novels of Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. After a medical scare and a hospital stay, Dalgleish visits an old friend to recuperate – only to find that the friend has died suddenly.

[more]
Ocean's Eleven (2001) 04 March 2019

2001 caper film, dir. Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt; IMDb / allmovie. Gambler and con-man Danny Ocean gets out of prison, and immediately plans his biggest heist yet.

[more]
February 2019 Trailers 03 March 2019 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate you. I hate everything. Open that damn' door and let me out.)

[more]
Ocean's Eleven (1960) 02 March 2019

1960 crime/drama film, dir. Lewis Milestone, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin; IMDb / allmovie. Old war buddies from the 82nd Airborne get together again, to rob five Las Vegas casinos in one night.

[more]
Gods and Pawns, Kage Baker 01 March 2019

2007 science fiction, seven short stories in The Company series (five of them previously published 2001-2004).

[more]
Assassination Games 28 February 2019

2011 action, dir. Ernie Barbarash, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins: IMDb / allmovie. Two assassins find themselves working together on one last job.

[more]
Connections in Death, J. D. Robb 27 February 2019

2019 SF/mystery; fifty-ninth (roughly, or 48th novel) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. Lyle had cleaned up and got out of the gang life, and things were starting to look up for him. So when he's found dead of an overdose, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is already suspicious.

[more]
The Final Girls 26 February 2019

2015 horror comedy, dir. Todd Strauss-Schulson, Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman: IMDb / allmovie. Max misses her mother Amanda, who died in a car crash having never transcended her role in Camp Bloodbath, a schlock horror film of the 1980s. After an anniversary screening goes wrong, Max and some friends find themselves living, and dying, in the world of that film.

[more]
3-gatsu no Lion season 1 24 February 2019

2016-2017 seinen manga adaptation in 22 episodes: AniDB, vt "March Comes in Like a Lion". Kiriyama Rei is a young professional shōgi player, but is profoundly lonely.

[more]
Clarkesworld 149, February 2019 23 February 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Apex 116, January 2019 21 February 2019

Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Human Punishment 20 February 2019

Human Punishment is a social deduction game designed by Stefan Godot.

[more]
The Gladstone Bag, Charlotte MacLeod 19 February 2019

1990 cozy American detective fiction; ninth of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. Sarah's Aunt Emma steps in for an ailing friend to play hostess on a private island off the Maine coast, to a party of treasure-hunters who may also harbour criminals.

[more]
Raven Black, Ann Cleeves 18 February 2019

2006 mystery; first in Cleeves' Shetland Island series. In a village near Lerwick, two schoolgirls visit the local mad old man, on a bet. Five days later, one of them is dead. The old man was blamed, though not convicted, when a young girl vanished eight years ago and was never found, so everyone assumes he's done it again; Inspector Jimmy Perez tries to move beyond the automatic assumption of guilt and find out what's really happened this time.

[more]
The Machine's Child, Kage Baker 16 February 2019

2006 science fiction, seventh of The Company series. Alec Checkerfield forges ahead with his plan to rescue the Botanist Mendoza and take on the might of Dr Zeus and the Company. But he's not entirely himself, because his two past lives are sharing residence of his mind and body…

[more]
Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead 15 February 2019

2014 Australian zombie horror, dir. Kiah Roache-Turner, Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradley: IMDb / allmovie. vt Wyrmwood. After a night of shooting stars, most people seem to have turned into zombies; Barry sets out to rescue his sister Brooke. But the military seem to know more than they're saying. vt Wyrmwood.

[more]
The Last Good Man, Linda Nagata 14 February 2019

2017 military SF. In the near future, pilots have been made obsolete by a wide variety of drones, but there's still plenty of employment for soldiers as private military companies fill the gaps left by failing states. Former pilot True Brighton works for one of the "good" PMCs, but information picked up on a mission suggests that there's more to the death of her son than she'd thought…

[more]
The Dark Times 4 13 February 2019

The Dark Times, edited by Lee Williams, is a fanzine that follows on from Demonground and Protodimension in dealing with "the horror-conspiracy-weirdness gaming genres", beginning with Dark Conspiracy and drifting into nearby areas.

[more]
Dying in the Wool, Frances Brody 12 February 2019

2009 mystery, first in the Kate Shackleton series (amateur detection). Kate's husband went missing in action in 1918; unable to locate him, she turned her hand to finding other vanished people. Now in 1922 an old VAD friend wants to find her missing father, who vanished after a possible suicide attempt. Some people don't want the past dug up.

[more]
Touch Not the Cat, Mary Stewart 10 February 2019

1976 thriller or romantic suspense. After the death of her father, Bryony Ashley returns to Ashley Court; the place is going to ruin for lack of income, and it won't be hers anyway, but there's still business to take care of. But her father tried to leave her a warning…

[more]
Legion season 1 09 February 2019

2017 superhero-related, 8 episodes. David Haller is schizophrenic, or so everybody tells him; but maybe that's what having world-shaking superpowers does for you.

[more]
The Children of the Company, Kage Baker 07 February 2019

2005 science fiction, sixth of The Company series. Executive Facilitator General Labienus muses on his long life.

[more]
A Study in Scarlet Women, Sherry Thomas 05 February 2019

2016 mystery story, first of the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte Holmes has an analytical mind, but feels constrained by the roles expected of her by Victorian society. So she does something Frightful…

[more]
January 2019 Trailers 04 February 2019 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
The Life of the World to Come, Kage Baker 03 February 2019

2004 science fiction, fifth of The Company series. The Botanist Mendoza has been imprisoned in time, left to fend for herself in 150,000 BC. But a man crashes a stolen time-shuttle on her island… a man she's met before, though he hasn't met her.

[more]
Mrs Pargeter's Point of Honour, Simon Brett 01 February 2019

1998 mystery; sixth in Brett's Mrs Pargeter series (amateur sleuthing). The late Mr Pargeter was a criminal mastermind, though his wife "knew nothing about that"; now the dying widow of a thief who worked for him wants to restore all her stolen paintings to their rightful owners, and of course Mrs Pargeter agrees to help.

[more]
The Thomas Crown Affair (II) 31 January 2019 - 2 comments

1999 crime/drama film, dir. John McTiernan, Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo; IMDb / allmovie. In New York, a painting by Monet is stolen from the Met; insurance investigator Catherine Banning helps the police to track down the thief, who may be the businessman Thomas Crown.

[more]
Talking to the Dead, Harry Bingham 28 January 2019

2012 police procedural mystery, first in the Fiona Griffiths series. DC Griffiths, who had a serious breakdown of some sort when she was a teenager, is the most junior member of the police team investigating the murder of a part-time prostitute and her young daughter in Cardiff.

[more]
GURPS Action 5: Dictionary of Danger, Sean Punch 27 January 2019

This GURPS Action supplement lists hazards from the real world (or at least the cinematic world) for use in action games.

[more]
A Sudden Fearful Death, Anne Perry 26 January 2019

1993 mystery, fourth in Perry's William Monk series (Victorian investigation). In 1857, at the Royal Free Hospital, a nurse is found murdered and stuffed down the laundry-chute; she was one of the new breed of nurse back from the Crimea, and while she was undoubtedly good at her job she seems to have annoyed everyone too. With the police unimpressive, Monk's patron Lady Callandra Daviot (also a trustee of the hospital) asks him to investigate.

[more]
The Thomas Crown Affair (I) 25 January 2019

1968 crime/drama film, dir. Norman Jewison, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway; IMDb / allmovie. A successful businessman masterminds a Boston bank heist, coordinating five other men who've never met each other – or him. It's the perfect crime… but an insurance investigator is on his trail.

[more]
Clarkesworld 148, January 2019 24 January 2019

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Apex 115, December 2018 22 January 2019 - 1 comment

Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Ralph Breaks the Internet 21 January 2019

2018 sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, dir. Phil Johnston and Rich Moore; IMDb / allmovie.

After the events of the first film, all seems to be well in the secret life of the arcade; but when part of Vanellope's game cabinet gets broken, the only way to replace it is to venture onto the Internet. Also marketed as Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2.

[more]
Andromeda's War, William C. Dietz 20 January 2019 - 1 comment

2014 military science fiction, twelfth novel in the Legion of the Damned series (and last in the prequel sub-series). "McKee" is still hiding from the usurper Empress.

[more]
Wreck-It Ralph 19 January 2019

2012, dir. Phil Johnston and Rich Moore; IMDb / allmovie. Ralph is the villain in a Donkey Kong-like arcade game, Fix-It Felix Jr. – and, like most video game characters in this world, a thinking person too. He's tired of being the bad guy, and sets out to prove that he can be good.

[more]
Black Projects, White Knights, Kage Baker 18 January 2019

2002 science fiction, fourteen short stories in The Company series.

[more]
Matricide at St Martha's, Ruth Dudley Edwards 16 January 2019

1994 mystery, fifth in the Robert Amiss series. Amiss is recruited by his old friend "Jack" Troutbeck, Bursar of St Martha's College in Cambridge, to help her sort out the politics of how a bequest will be used. Of course, some people have strong and murderous feelings about that.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.11: Resolution 15 January 2019 - 5 comments

Chibnall continues to do far more than his share of the writing, but manages a thing that hasn't happened for a while: an end-of-year special with an actual story, rather than a sequence of scenes showing off how cool the protagonists are.

[more]
The Old English Baron, Clara Reeve 14 January 2019

1778 gothic horror, and another prototype for the gothic novel. (Also published in 1777 in a very limited edition as The Champion of Virtue.) Some time in the 1430s, Sir Philip Harclay returns from the wars to find his old friend mysteriously dead, and the friend's castle with a new lord. But there is a Suspiciously Superior Peasant being raised in the household…

[more]
Entrapment 13 January 2019

1999 caper film, dir. Jon Amiel, Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones; IMDb / allmovie. Gin the insurance investigator tracks down Mac the art thief, but are either of them really what they seem? Of course not.

[more]
Cop Hater, Ed McBain 12 January 2019

1956 police procedural, first in the 87th Precinct series. When an off-duty detective is murdered, it might have been for any number of reasons. Then his partner is shot with the same gun…

[more]
The Graveyard Game, Kage Baker 10 January 2019

2001 science fiction, fourth of The Company series. Mendoza has been disappeared by the Company, the same organisation that made her an immortal cyborg slave in the first place. Her recruiter Joseph, and former co-worker Lewis, try to find out what happened to her.

[more]
The Dare and the Doctor, Kate Noble 08 January 2019

2016 American Regency romance, third and last of a linked series. Dr Gray conducts an academic correspondence with Miss Babcock, whom he met in passing during the events of the previous book. But when she comes to London to show off her hybrid rose, will they recognise their feelings for each other, or will societal pressures get in the way?

[more]
Andromeda's Choice, William C. Dietz 06 January 2019

2013 military science fiction, eleventh novel in the Legion of the Damned series (and second in the prequel sub-series). "McKee" is still hiding from the usurper Empress, but after winning the fight in the previous book she has to go to Earth to get a medal… and she might well be recognised.

[more]
December 2018 Trailers 05 January 2019

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Wolf in the Shadows, Marcia Muller 04 January 2019

1993 mystery, thirteenth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco.

[more]
2018 in Books 02 January 2019

In 2018 I read 169 books, slightly more than in the last few years.

[more]
The Stone Sky, N K Jemisin 30 December 2018

2017 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science-fantasy, third in its trilogy. It seems as though there may after all be a chance to save the world; but is it worth saving, and what will it look like afterwards?

[more]
Miss Goodhue Lives For a Night, Kate Noble 27 December 2018

2016 American Regency romance novella, side story in a linked series. In her youth, Cecilia Goodhue ran off with a wild young man in the direction of Gretna Green; but they were caught, and she learned he was a fortune-hunter; to escape some of the scandal, she lived by the grace of her married sister and became a teacher in a village school. Now, ten years later, her own younger sister has run off with a soldier, and in an attempt to find her she'll meet that man again.

[more]
Pyramid 122: All Good Things 26 December 2018

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, was the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme – though for this final issue that's mostly "look at all the different genres we've covered".

[more]
Mendoza in Hollywood, Kage Baker 25 December 2018

2000 science fiction, third of The Company series. In 1862, Mendoza is collecting plant samples from what will one day be Los Angeles, working out of a stagecoach stop in the Cahuenga Pass run by fellow immortal cyborg agents of the Company; she's still trying to cope with her post-traumatic stress. That won't go well for her.

[more]
The Flowers of Vashnoi, Lois McMaster Bujold 23 December 2018

2018 short science fiction novella in the Vorkosigan universe (set between Captain Vorpatril's Alliance and Cryoburn). Ekaterin, Lady Vorkosigan, is supervising an experiment in cleaning up radioactive contamination round the former city of Vorkosigan Vashnoi; but something's going awry, and old secrets will come to light.

[more]
GURPS Monster Hunters 6: Holy Hunters, Jason Levine 22 December 2018

This supplementary volume in the Monster Hunters series models real-world religions to give their monster-hunting adherents appropriate game effects.

[more]
Clubbed to Death, Ruth Dudley Edwards 21 December 2018

1991 mystery, fourth in the Robert Amiss series. Once more, Amiss' friend Pooley sends him into an institution where murder may have taken place, for a bit of unofficial undercover work. This time it's as a waiter at ffeatherstonehaugh's, originally a club for roués that's since become gentrified, then fallen on distressingly moralistic times.

[more]
Andromeda's Fall, William C. Dietz 19 December 2018 - 2 comments

2012 military science fiction, tenth novel in the Legion of the Damned series (but first in the prequel sub-series, which is why I'm reading it first). Catherine Carletto is the spoiled daughter of industrialist nobles. But when the Emperor's sister assassinates the Emperor and takes over, she purges all his supporters. Cat will have to grow up fast just to stay alive, never mind getting her revenge.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 4: Dragons, Sean Punch 18 December 2018

This fourth Dungeon Fantasy Monsters book deals with the traditional Ultimate Fantasy Foe.

[more]
The Lie and the Lady, Kate Noble 17 December 2018

2015 American Regency romance, second of a linked series. During the deception of the first book, John Turner took on the persona of the Earl of Ashby, and was pursued by Leticia Herzog, fortune-hunting widow of an Austrian Count. When the game was discovered, she fled in public shame. But they each felt a spark for the other, and now they're going to meet again.

[more]
Galaxy Quest 16 December 2018

1999 science fiction comedy, dir. Dean Parisot, Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver; IMDb / allmovie. Galaxy Quest was a big SF show in the early 1980s, but by the present day the cast are reduced to convention appearances and store openings. Then some particularly odd fans turn out to be rather more into the show than anyone expected… Spoilers.

[more]
The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole 15 December 2018

1764 gothic horror, and the prototype for the gothic novel. Conrad, the sickly son of the Lord of Otranto, is killed on his wedding day by a giant helmet falling from the sky, so his father Manfred plans to marry the intended bride himself; things get more foreboding from there.

[more]
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward 14 December 2018

2018 audio drama, adapted in ten parts by Julian Simpson from the story by H. P. Lovecraft. On 6 March 2017, Charles Ward vanished from a secure psychiatric hospital in Providence. Two podcasters, looking for mysterious stories, dig into what happened.

[more]
The Wind Off the Small Isles, Mary Stewart 13 December 2018

1968 thriller, short novella. The children's novelist Cora Gresham has decided to set her latest pirate story in Lanzarote, so she'll have to visit, and her secretary Perdita West has to make the arrangements. But the house that would be the ideal writing retreat is already occupied.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.10: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos 12 December 2018 - 4 comments

The season ends not with a bang but with a "to be continued". And that's not a bad thing.

[more]
Clarkesworld 147, December 2018 10 December 2018

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2: Tomb of the Dragon King, Matt Riggsby 09 December 2018

This second Dungeon Fantasy Adventure book deals with an expedition to the long-abandoned (yeah, right) ruins of a draconic monarch's palace.

[more]
Apex 114, November 2018 08 December 2018

Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Anonymous Rex, Eric Garcia 06 December 2018

1999 science fiction noir. Vincent Rubio is a private investigator in Los Angeles: down on his luck, partner dead in an "accident", car repossessed, and a growing substance habit. But down these mean streets a man must walk who is not himself a man… Vincent is a velociraptor.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.09: It Takes You Away 05 December 2018 - 1 comment

Doctor Who presents: Nightmare in Norway.

[more]
Psmith, Journalist, P. G. Wodehouse 04 December 2018

1915 comic novel, compilation from magazine publication in 1909-1910. Bored in New York, Psmith gets involved with a local newspaper, turning it from a provider of pap into a crusader.

[more]
Sky Coyote, Kage Baker 02 December 2018

1999 science fiction, second of The Company series. The immortal cyborg Facilitator Joseph finds himself with the task of talking a Chumash village into coming to work for the Company rather than hanging around to be wiped out when the Spanish arrive in California.

[more]
November 2018 Trailers 01 December 2018

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
The Game and the Governess, Kate Noble 30 November 2018

2014 American Regency romance, first of a linked series. "Lucky Ned", the Earl of Ashby, refuses to believe his friend and secretary John Turner when Turner tells him that people love his position and wealth more than his person. So Ned proposes that they swap roles while on a business trip, and bets Turner that he can make a woman fall for him even without the trappings of his status. Meanwhile, the governess Phoebe Baker has a particular reason to hate the Earl, whom she has never met…

[more]
Dead Man's Chest, Kerry Greenwood 29 November 2018

2010 historical detection, eighteenth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne is on holiday, with daughters and maid, in the seaside resort of Queenscliff, where the servants meant to come with her rented house have vanished (along with the furniture); and that's only the first mystery.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.08: The Witchfinders 28 November 2018 - 2 comments

You can't go wrong with a good witch hunt.

[more]
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie 27 November 2018

2013 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. Breq is less than she was; she has memories of being the AI controlling the huge troop transport spacecraft Justice of Toren, and of being one of its "ancillaries", human bodies with personalities overwritten by said AI and used as soldiers. But she still has a job to do.

[more]
Mixing with Murder, Ann Granger 25 November 2018

2005 thriller/mystery; sixth of Granger's novels of Fran Varady, would-be thespian and amateur sleuth. Fran didn't want to get involved again with Mickey Allerton, a strip club owner whom she's run into before, but he wants her to track down a dancer who's run off. And he's keeping her dog to make sure she does it.

[more]
Pyramid 121: Travels and Tribulations 24 November 2018

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's travel, and its perils and adventurous possibilities.

[more]
In the Garden of Iden, Kage Baker 23 November 2018

1997 science fiction, first of The Company series. In sixteenth-century Spain, Mendoza is plucked from the dungeons of the Inquisition by time-travellers who have need of local labour.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.07: Kerblam! 22 November 2018 - 1 comment

This episode would like you to know: Amazon is Scary.

[more]
Dying Light, Stuart MacBride 20 November 2018

2006 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, second in the Logan McRae series. A house is burned down, with the doors fastened shut so that the occupants can't escape; a prostitute turns up battered to death; and DS McRae deals with the aftermath of a bungled raid, and tries to serve two masters.

[more]
A Symphony of Echoes, Jodi Taylor 18 November 2018 - 2 comments

2013 science fiction, second in the Chronicles of St Mary's series. Max, time-travelling historian, kills Jack the Ripper, sorts out an attack from the future, and puts history back on course by making sure Mary Queen of Scots gets married on schedule to Bothwell.

[more]
Torchship Captain, Karl K Gallagher 16 November 2018

2017 science fiction, final volume of the trilogy. As Disconnected Worlds and Fusion combine, reluctantly, to fight the rebel AIs, politics continues.

[more]
The Guard 15 November 2018 - 5 comments

2011 crime drama/comedy, dir. John Michael McDonagh, Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle; IMDb / allmovie. On the rural Connemara coast, Sergeant Gerry Boyle has no time for people who don't want to let him do things his own way, but he still gets the policing done. Now, with the possibility of a huge cargo of cocaine coming in, there's an FBI agent in town…

[more]
The English School of Murder, Ruth Dudley Edwards 14 November 2018

1990 mystery, third in the Robert Amiss series. Having resigned from the Civil Service on a point of principle, Amiss doesn't have much luck getting a job; an old police friend asks him to look, informally, into a School of English where one of the teachers has died under suspicious circumstances. More deaths follow.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.06: Demons of the Punjab 13 November 2018 - 6 comments

What a difference a new writer makes! Yes, this episode's not perfect, but it mostly gives the cast something to do, it uses the setting for more than mere background prettiness, and it has an alien menace that's resolved by talking rather than fighting.

[more]
Clarkesworld 146, November 2018 11 November 2018

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Apex 113, October 2018 09 November 2018

Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.05: The Tsuranga Conundrum 08 November 2018 - 4 comments

Chibnall writes one more time. And he writes an awfully generic "something nasty on the spaceship" story, which I suppose is another way of saving your creative energy for something you find more interesting while still getting paid for the job you're half-arsing.

[more]
The Alchemists, Geary Gravel 05 November 2018

1984 SF. In a distant future, humans are desperately settling worlds as their alien-donated FTL ships become increasingly unreliable. Only native human-level life will prevent the colonisation of a new planet, and no life has ever been judged to be human-level. But the evaluation team on Belthannis is faced with something entirely new.

[more]
GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire, Phil Masters 04 November 2018 - 1 comment

This is the second of the new GURPS Steampunk supplements, updating and extending the old book; it is primarily a book of equipment.

[more]
The Silver Ghost, Charlotte MacLeod 03 November 2018

1988 cozy American detective fiction; eighth of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. Sarah and Max have been invited to a Renaissance Revel at the Billingsgates', to work out what's happened to their missing 1927 New Phantom Rolls Royce.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.04: Arachnids in the UK 02 November 2018 - 6 comments

Chibnall writes yet again. He's sole scriptwriter on four of the first five episodes (and of course the season finale), and co-writer on the fifth. And he's supposedly controlling the overall direction of the show. It's too much for one person to do well on a TV production schedule.

[more]
October 2018 Trailers 01 November 2018

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Magic Burns, Ilona Andrews 30 October 2018

2008 modern fantasy novel, second in the Kate Daniels series. Magic is building up to a once-in-seven-years flare, someone has stolen maps from the local werewolf pack, and gods are going to come into play.

[more]
The St Valentine's Day Murders, Ruth Dudley Edwards 29 October 2018

1984 mystery, second in the Robert Amiss series. Amiss is seconded to industry… well, to a dead-end privatised offshoot of the Civil Service where all the unemployables are sent to rot. And then people die.

[more]
Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale 28 October 2018 - 2 comments

2017, 2-hour film: AniDB, follow-up to 2012's Sword Art Online and 2014's Sword Art Online II. Two years after the SAO Incident, virtual reality is out of fashion as a new augmented reality game has become hugely popular. But Kirito reckons there's something just a bit odd about it.

[more]
Written in Bones, James Oswald 27 October 2018

2017 supernatural mystery in modern Edinburgh, seventh in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. A body is found in a tree; clearly it fell there, but how did it happen, and why?

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.03: Rosa 26 October 2018 - 4 comments

Chibnall writes again (though this time with a co-author), but with a very different emphasis.

[more]
Exit Strategy, Martha Wells 25 October 2018 - 2 comments

2018 science fiction novella, fourth and final volume in the Murderbot series. Murderbot has some key data that will expose dodgy activities by one of the corporations… but the person to whom it would do some good seems to have been kidnapped. It's definitely not an emotional decision to rescue her. That would be a system error.

[more]
Pyramid 120: Alternate GURPS V 24 October 2018 - 5 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's rules that amend, replace or extend what's already in the books.

[more]
Goliath, Scott Westerfeld 22 October 2018 - 1 comment

2011 young adult steampunk SF, final volume of a trilogy. The living airship Leviathan crosses Russia en route to Japan; will Nikola Tesla's latest terror weapon end the Great War?

[more]
Mahoutsukai no Yome 21 October 2018

2017-2018 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation, 24 episodes: AniDB. Unwanted orphan Hatori Chise is bought at auction by the monstrous magician Elias Ainsworth, to be his apprentice… and his bride. vt The Ancient Magus' Bride.

[more]
The Recycled Citizen, Charlotte MacLeod 20 October 2018

1988 cozy American detective fiction; seventh of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. Sarah is pregnant, but doesn't let that slow her down much; one of the rubbish-collectors working for the Senior Citizens' Recycling Center, a family charitable project, has been fatally mugged, and it seems that there's more going on.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.02: The Ghost Monument 19 October 2018

Last week's opening episode was distinctly better than I'd expected, though very far from perfect. Can Chibnall (writing again) keep up the quality in a "regular" series episode?

[more]
Apex 112, September 2018 18 October 2018

Apex is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Jason Sizemore among others.

[more]
Clarkesworld 145, October 2018 16 October 2018 - 1 comment

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Among Others, Jo Walton 15 October 2018

2011 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning fantasy. Morwenna is a young Welsh SF and fantasy fan; after losing some of her family and becoming crippled, she ends up living with her father and going to a boarding school.

[more]
Just One Damned Thing After Another, Jodi Taylor 13 October 2018 - 5 comments

2013 science fiction, first in the Chronicles of St Mary's series. St Mary's Institute for Historical Research is rather more hands-on in their observation of history than anyone suspects; Dr Madeleine Maxwell is their newest recruit.

[more]
The Rasp, Philip MacDonald 11 October 2018

1924 mystery, first in the Anthony Gethryn series. A cabinet minister is beaten to death in his study; Colonel Anthony Gethryn, with a background in intelligence work but now terminally bored, investigates.

[more]
Doctor Who 2/11.01: The Woman Who Fell To Earth 10 October 2018 - 1 comment

I gave up on watching Doctor Who around series 6 of the new iteration, in exasperation at Steven Moffat going on and on and on doing the same old things. Now he's finally left, so I gave it another try.

[more]
Leverage in Death, J. D. Robb 08 October 2018

2018 SF/mystery; fifty-eighth (roughly, or 47th novel) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. Someone wears an explosive vest into a meeting to finalise a corporate merger; Lieutenant Eve Dallas has to find out why he did it, and whether someone else is pulling the strings.

[more]
Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler 07 October 2018 - 2 comments

2003 police procedural mystery/horror, first in the Bryant and May series. In the modern day, a bomb destroys the office of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, where boss Arthur Bryant was working late. John May, while mourning his friend and colleague, looks back on their first case together, during the Blitz.

[more]
The Prisoner of Limnos, Lois McMaster Bujold 06 October 2018

2017 short fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). This one follows directly from Penric's Mission and Mira's Last Dance; Penric, and the exiled general Adelis and his widowed sister Nikys whom Penric was escorting, are safely in their new home, but it turns out that Nikys's mother (it's complicated) has been imprisoned in order to get leverage on the general.

[more]
By Fire Above, Robyn Bennis 05 October 2018

2018 steampunk SF, second of the Signal Airship series. The war continues, and Josette Dupre, captain of the scouting airship Mistral, will go on fighting it… if she can survive the politics of her own side.

[more]
Cold Granite, Stuart MacBride 04 October 2018 - 1 comment

2005 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, first in the Logan McRae series. DS McRae is just back on the force after a major injury sustained in the line of duty; it's winter in Aberdeen, and the mutilated body of a kidnapped boy has just been discovered. And it won't be the last.

[more]
Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld 03 October 2018

2010 young adult steampunk SF, second of a trilogy. As an alternate Great War is beginning, the airship Leviathan visits Istanbul to give a British bribe to the Ottoman Sultan. But much more is going on behind the scenes.

[more]
September 2018 Trailers 01 October 2018 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Dead I May Well Be, Adrian McKinty 30 September 2018

2003 crime. Michael Forsythe left Belfast for America, but wasn't surprised when he ended up a petty criminal. After a betrayal, he sets out to get his revenge.

[more]
Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis 29 September 2018 - 13 comments

2010 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. Historians from Oxford in 2060 are visiting England in 1940, but things are going oddly wrong. Warning: this is going to be a bit of a rant.

[more]
Practical Demonkeeping, Christopher Moore 27 September 2018 - 1 comment

1992 comic fantasy, first of the Pine Cove series. Travis has been living with the demon Catch for nearly ninety years – the immortality and invulnerability aren't bad, but the murders are getting to him. He's finally tracked down a way of ending the pact, but it won't be easy.

[more]
Howl's Moving Castle 26 September 2018

2004 fantasy, novel adaptation: AniDB, vt "Howl no Ugoku Shiro". Sophie is an apprentice hat-maker, until in one busy day she is assisted by a handsome man beset by enemies, then gets cursed with old age. She sets off into the wilderness to see if she can break the curse.

[more]
Mrs Pargeter's Plot, Simon Brett 25 September 2018

1996 mystery; fifth in Brett's Mrs Pargeter series (amateur sleuthing). Mrs Pargeter is having a house built, but a body turns up in the wine cellar, her builder is arrested, and he won't say anything to defend himself. What's going on?

[more]
Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta 24 September 2018

1986 dieselpunk fantasy: AniDB, vt "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" and "Castle in the Sky". Pazu the engineer's apprentice catches a girl falling from the sky; bad people are after her, and all is not what it seems as various factions hunt for the legendary floating city Laputa.

[more]
Medusa Uploaded, Emily Devenport 23 September 2018 - 2 comments

2018 science fiction, first of a planned series. On the generation ship Olympia, life is stratified into the Executives and everyone else. Oichi Angelis is an everyone else, but one with a hidden asset.

[more]
Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld 20 September 2018

2009 young adult steampunk SF, first of a trilogy. In an alternate 1914, the German Clanker powers build massive legged war machines, while the English Darwinists engineer creatures to serve their purposes. But none of that stops the Archduke Franz Ferdinand from being assassinated.

[more]
Tonari no Totoro 19 September 2018 - 3 comments

1988 fantasy: AniDB, vt "My Neighbor Totoro". Perhaps some time in the 1950s, a university professor and his two young daughters move to the countryside to be near his hospitalised wife; the house and woods prove to be full of magical creatures.

[more]
Star Trek Ascendancy: first game 18 September 2018 - 4 comments

I bought Ascendancy (and the three currently-available expansions) at UK Games Expo, and I've just got it to the table.

[more]
Penric's Fox, Lois McMaster Bujold 17 September 2018

2017 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion), third by internal chronology in the Penric sub-series (though published after Penric's Mission). A temple-trained sorcerer is murdered in the woods, and her demon is missing; Locator Oswyl looks for the killer, while Penric looks for the demon.

[more]
Clarkesworld 144, September 2018 15 September 2018

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Magic Bites, Ilona Andrews 13 September 2018

2007 modern fantasy novel. In a world where magic ebbs and flows unpredictably, Kate Daniels is a mercenary who specialises in magical creatures. But her mentor has been murdered, and someone seems to be trying to start a war between the vampires and werecreatures of Atlanta.

[more]
Pyramid 119: After the End II 12 September 2018

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's post-apocalyptic material, and more for The Fantasy Trip.

[more]
Defend and Betray, Anne Perry 11 September 2018

1993 mystery, third in Perry's William Monk series (Victorian investigation). In 1857, General Thaddeus Carlyon, a military hero, dies in an accident during a dinner party; but when the police decide it might have been murder, his widow confesses. She is sure to be hanged, but the justification she gives for her action is clearly false; Monk the private investigator, Oliver Rathbone the barrister, and Hester Latterly the nurse returned from the Crimea, work together to dig out what really happened.

[more]
Frankie Drake Mysteries season 1 10 September 2018 - 2 comments

2017-2018 mystery show, 11 episodes. In 1920s Toronto, Frankie Drake, former Signals rider, and her partner Trudy Clarke, are the city's first female private detectives.

[more]
Healthy Back Bags 09 September 2018

A friend introduced my wife to Healthy Back Bags, and we're both rather impressed with them.

[more]
The Grub-and-Stakers Pinch a Poke, Charlotte MacLeod 08 September 2018

1988, cosy American detective fiction; third of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Dittany Henbit and the Lobelia Falls Grub-and-Stakers Gardening & Roving Club. There's a collection of antique theatrical memorabilia looking for a new home, and its owner sets a contest: whoever writes and produces the best new play, on a vaguely Canadian subject, will get it for their town. The Club gets together a two-act drama based on The Shooting of Dan McGrew, but complications follow.

[more]
Star Realms Frontiers: first look 07 September 2018

Star Realms Frontiers is the new expanded version of Star Realms, by Darwin Kastle.

[more]
Space Platform, Murray Leinster 06 September 2018 - 2 comments

1953 science fiction, first of a series. Joe Kenmore goes to work on the construction of the space platform, the first step in humanity's road to the stars, but finds it beset by sabotage.

[more]
Who Goes There?: first look 05 September 2018

Who Goes There? is a new heavyweight social deduction game for 3-6 players, by Anthony Coffey and Jesse Labbe.

[more]
Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells 04 September 2018 - 5 comments

2018 science fiction novella, sequel to Artificial Condition. People are asking questions about the mysteriously vanished SecUnit from the planetary survey incident, and Murderbot (that same SecUnit) reckons the best way to distract attention is to bolster the case against the company which caused the incident.

[more]
Human Era: first look 03 September 2018

Human Era is a new social deduction game by Zach and Jake Given.

[more]
Mira's Last Dance, Lois McMaster Bujold 02 September 2018

2016 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). This one follows directly from Penric's Mission; the demon-ridden sorcerer tries to get a discredited general and his widowed sister to the safety of a foreign court. But Penric is injured, and the minimal funds they had for their escape have run out.

[more]
August 2018 Trailers 01 September 2018

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
The Devil of Echo Lake, Douglas Wynne 31 August 2018

2012 modern horror. Billy Moon is a goth rock idol, but he's starting to think his producer Trevor Rail might be the Devil. Isolated in a rural studio in upstate New York, he knows he's got to make his third hit record… if it kills him.

[more]
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, P. D. James 29 August 2018

1972 detective fiction, first of James's novels of Cordelia Gray, a private investigator. Having inherited a failing investigation business, Grey is employed to look into why a famous scientist's son abandoned his university course and killed himself.

[more]
Whispers from the Abyss, Kat Rocha 27 August 2018

2013 horror anthology, 33 very short Lovecraft-inspired stories.

[more]
Corridors of Death, Ruth Dudley Edwards 26 August 2018

1981 mystery, first in the Robert Amiss series. After a meeting of a liaison group between government and industry, Sir Nicholas Clark, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Conservation, is beaten to death with an abstract sculpture called "Reconciliation". Everyone seems to have had a motive, and then another murder follows…

[more]
Clarkesworld 143, August 2018 24 August 2018

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

[more]
Cthulhusattva, Scott R. Jones 22 August 2018

2016 fantasy/horror anthology, Lovecraftian stories that explore the mythos in a positive way – celebrating rather than backing away from the implications of minds greater than human.

[more]
Pyramid 118: Dungeon Trips 21 August 2018

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's tied to one recent and one upcoming release: the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, and The Fantasy Trip.

[more]
Pennies on a Dead Woman's Eyes, Marcia Muller 20 August 2018

1992 mystery, twelfth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Thirty-six years ago, Lis Benedict was convicted of the gruesome murder of her husband's mistress; she's just been let out of prison on grounds of ill health, and her daughter's vowed to clear her name at a trial re-enactment. But as McCone investigates the long-buried case, it becomes clear that people still have something to lose.

[more]
Cider with Rosie, Laurie Lee 18 August 2018 - 1 comment

1959 reminiscence; Lee recalls his childhood in the 1920s, in a village in the Cotswolds. US vt Edge of Day.

[more]
We Have Always Died in the Castle, Elizabeth Bear 16 August 2018

2018 short science fiction. Marie has done something bad at work; now she's undergoing therapy by virtual reality.

[more]
The Guns Above, Robyn Bennis 14 August 2018

2017 steampunk SF, first of a series. The war between Garnia and Vinzhalia grinds on; Lieutenant Josette Dupre commands a scouting airship.

[more]
Case for Three Detectives, Leo Bruce 12 August 2018

1936 mystery parody, first of the novels of Sergeant Beef. When Dr Thurston's wife is murdered during a weekend party, it looks like a classic locked room mystery. Three great detectives arrive, and try to solve the conundrum in their own ways. But it's up to the plodding police sergeant to save the day.

[more]
Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emrys 10 August 2018 - 1 comment

2017 Lovecraftian SF. In 1949, Aphra Marsh, one of the last survivors of the internment camps that came after the Innsmouth Raid, is just trying to make a life for herself. But her knowledge of magic makes her a powerful piece on the board even if she doesn't want to play the game.

[more]
The Angel of Terror, Edgar Wallace 08 August 2018

1922 thriller. James Meredith is found guilty of murdering his romantic rival, and sentenced to prison. But there's a question of inheritance, and a hasty marriage leaves an outsider in danger. vt The Destroying Angel.

[more]
Shark in Venice 07 August 2018 - 2 comments

2008 thriller film, dir. Danny Lerner, Stephen Baldwin, Vanessa Johansson: IMDb / allmovie. A shark is killing divers in Venice, but we can't let the word get out or the tourists will be scared off. US vt Sharks in Venice.

[more]
The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi 06 August 2018 - 1 comment

2009 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning biopunk science fiction. Some time in the future, after peak oil and the crop blights, Thailand is one of the few countries that's still hanging on. But in Bangkok various factions are about to collide.

[more]
Pyramid 117: Hot Spots 05 August 2018 - 1 comment

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's a tie-in with the recently-released Hot Spots: Renaissance Venice, dealing with areas on a slightly larger scale than last month's Locations issue.

[more]
Velocity, Chris Wooding 04 August 2018

2015 young adult science fiction. After the Omniwar, civilisation in the USA is just barely holding on; large swathes of country are still unlivable. The main entertainment is car racing, and the Widowmaker is the biggest race of all: and Cassica and Shiara, from a small town on the edge of the Rust Bowl, are going to try to win it.

[more]
Hera 2781, Janet Edwards 02 August 2018

2015 young adult science fiction, short story in the Earth Girl setting. Drago Tell Dramis is a young pilot, in an awkward social situation, and having to perform a desperate and dangerous mission.

[more]
July 2018 Trailers 01 August 2018 - 4 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Clarkesworld 142, July 2018 31 July 2018 - 2 comments

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke. After seeing where some of my favourite Hugo novelette nominations had been published, I decided to take a look at the current issue.

[more]
GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Venice, Matt Riggsby 30 July 2018 - 1 comment

This historical GURPS supplement deals with Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries.

[more]
Peacekeeper, Laura E. Reeve 29 July 2018

2008 science fiction, first of a trilogy. Ariane Kedros was involved in a mission that's often regarded as a war crime; under her new identity she prospects in new star systems. But Intelligence still has jobs for her.

[more]
The Enemy Within, Edward Marston 27 July 2018

2017 historical detective fiction, sixth of Marston's novels of Inspector Harvey Marmion. In 1917, as the War drags on, Wally Hubbard breaks out of Pentonville and searches for the man who seduced and abandoned his daughter. But that isn't Marmion's only problem.

[more]
Shroud for a Nightingale, P. D. James 25 July 2018

1971 detective fiction, fourth of James's novels of Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. A hospital on the Sussex-Hampshire border has a nurse training school attached; one of the students is poisoned during a demonstration of tube feeding, and a few weeks later another dies in her sleep.

[more]
Hugo 2018: Novelettes 24 July 2018

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated novelettes. I'm not voting this year, but if you are, you may wish not to read these notes until you have read the stories.

[more]
Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel 23 July 2018

2014 post-apocalyptic SF. A famous actor dies during a performance of King Lear; outside, the world is ending in pandemic.

[more]
The Corpse in Oozak's Pond, Charlotte MacLeod 22 July 2018

1987 mystery; sixth of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy. The old pond that provides startup hydropower to the Balaclava Agricultural College's methane plant is the site of the annual Groundhog Day festivities; this year it's also where a body has floated to the surface.

[more]
Packing Cubes 21 July 2018

On a recent ten-day European trip, I tried out packing cubes for the first time, and my impression is highly favourable.

[more]
Zoo City, Lauren Beukes 20 July 2018

2010 contemporary fantasy. In a decaying alternate-present Johannesberg, Zinzi December is one of the animalled: people who, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, have acquired an animal companion and magical powers. Of course, that's not entirely a good thing.

[more]
Unnatural Causes, P. D. James 19 July 2018

1967 detective fiction, third of James's novels of Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. Dalgleish is on holiday, visiting his aunt's cottage on the Suffolk coast; but one of the local writers has gone missing, and soon the police announce that his body has been found.

[more]
The Exile Waiting, Vonda N. McIntyre 18 July 2018

1975 science fiction, broadly in the same universe as Dreamsnake. In the last city on a post-apocalyptic earth, Mischa the thief is trying to get passage off-world for herself and her brother before their telepathic talents doom them both.

[more]
Her Royal Spyness, Rhys Bowen 16 July 2018

2007 mystery/thriller, first in its series. In 1932, Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie ("Georgie"), thirty-fourth in line to the throne, is desperate to get away from her brother's frozen castle in Scotland, and unwilling to be married off to Prince Siegfried of Romania, but is without funds of her own, so she travels to London to try to make her own way in life. Things rapidly become excessively complicated.

[more]
A Dark So Deadly, Stuart MacBride 14 July 2018 - 1 comment

2017 mystery, tartan noir. In Oldcastle, a notional Scottish city that's mostly Aberdeen with some shades of Edinburgh, the detectives nobody wants (but who can't be fired) end up in the Misfit Mob. When lots of bodies turn up at once in the town dump, they get the most boring one. But now they've got a serial killer to track down…

[more]
Switchback, Melissa F. Olson 12 July 2018

2017 modern fantasy short novel novella, second in its series. The underdog FBI department that fights vampires gets a case in a small town.

[more]
Koi wa Ameagari no You ni 11 July 2018

2018 modern romance/slice of life, seinen manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "After the Rain". High school student Tachibana Akira has a crush on Kondou Masami, the middle-aged manager of the restaurant where she does a part-time job.

[more]
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan 10 July 2018

2012… hard to categorise, but I think "contemporary thriller" comes closest. Unemployed web designer Clay Jannon gets a job at a bookshop… which turns out to be distinctly Odd.

[more]
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon 08 July 2018

2007 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning alternate-world noir. In 1940, refugee Jews from Europe were granted a temporary homeland in Alaska; sixty years later it's about to be handed back to the USA. But for homicide detective Meyer Landsman, that can't get in the way of solving the latest murder.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Settings: Caverntown, Sean Punch 07 July 2018

This first Dungeon Fantasy Settings book deals with a town - in other words, the very thing that Dungeon Fantasy tends to skim over lightly, as merely a place to heal up, sell loot and buy supplies.

[more]
Provenance, Ann Leckie 06 July 2018

2017 SF, set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch series but not in Radchaai space. Ingray Aughskold is a low-ranking political daughter, trying for a major coup to get herself some status. But her plans are going to go comprehensively wrong.

[more]
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 03 July 2018

2018 SF, 12 episodes: AniDB, in the same setting as Sword Art Online but sharing no characters with it. People come to the virtual reality game for various reasons, and most of them find what they're looking for.

[more]
A Dismal Thing to Do, Charlotte MacLeod 02 July 2018

1986, cosy American detective fiction; third of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Madoc and Janet Rhys. After Janet is nearly killed while trying to give assistance at a road accident, Madoc is brought in at the other end of the case to track down stolen military equipment.

[more]
June 2018 Trailers 01 July 2018 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Way Down Dark, J. P. Smythe 30 June 2018 - 2 comments

2011 young adult science fiction, first of the Australia Trilogy. Chan lives on the generation ship Australia, built in haste after Earth collapsed; they didn't find a new planet, so they've kept going. But its society is breaking down. Spoilers.

[more]
Pyramid 116: Locations 29 June 2018

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's a set of four locations, with some effort made to blend detail with broad applicability.

[more]
Top Gear season 2.25 28 June 2018 - 2 comments

2018 motoring show, 6 episodes. The inevitable plunge into comedy starts here.

[more]
The Wimsey Papers, Dorothy Sayers 27 June 2018 - 3 comments

1939-1940 short articles published in The Spectator; various characters from the Wimsey stories write to each other about the early days of the Second World War.

[more]
Otaku ni Koi wa Muzukashi 25 June 2018

2018 modern romantic comedy, josei manga adaptation in 11 episodes: AniDB, vt "Love is Hard for Nerds". Obsessive fans of games and manga try to balance their passions with real life.

[more]
One Fell Sweep, Ilona Andrews 24 June 2018

2016 modern fantasy. Dina Demille's magical inn will be the site of another meeting: a dying species has hired a group mind to work out where to find their new home world. But there's another species out there which regards slaughtering the first one as a religious obligation. Oh, and Dina's sister has just sent a message, asking for help.

[more]
GURPS Magic: Artillery Spells, Sean Punch 23 June 2018 - 5 comments

This supplement adds to the standard GURPS magic system, with spells designed to destroy hordes of minor opponents.

[more]
Arabella and the Battle of Venus, David D. Levine 22 June 2018

2017 clockpunkish science fiction, sequel to Arabella of Mars. With her fiancé captured by Bonaparte, Arabella Ashby travels to Venus to rescue him.

[more]
The Mad King, Edgar Rice Burroughs 20 June 2018

1926 Ruritanian romance, originally serialised in 1914-1915. Travelling in the tiny kingdom of Lutha, between Austria and Serbia, American tourist Barney Custer finds himself mistaken for the young king, who's been confined for years with a mysterious ailment, and rapidly becomes mixed up in adventure.

[more]
Murder on a Midsummer Night, Kerry Greenwood 18 June 2018

2008 historical detection, seventeenth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). As Melbourne suffers under a post-Christmas heat wave, Phryne takes on two cases: a junk dealer's suicide, which his mother earnestly believes is nothing of the sort, and the whereabouts of a possible illegitimate child from sixty years ago. Minor spoilers.

[more]
A Mind To Murder, P. D. James 16 June 2018 - 1 comment

1963 detective fiction, second of James's novels of Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. In a London psychiatric clinic that's still adjusting to being part of the NHS, the unpopular chief administrator is stabbed in the heart. Any of the staff could have done it, and most of them had reason to; but who is guilty?

[more]
GURPS Encounters: The Harrowed Hearts Club, Jon Black 15 June 2018

This first GURPS Encounters book is a tavern/bar/club sourcebook combined with four short adventures.

[more]
Watching Out, Ann Granger 14 June 2018

2002 thriller/mystery; fifth of Granger's novels of Fran Varady, would-be thespian and amateur sleuth. Fran's in a play, very amateur and over a pub for one night only, but it's still acting work; and she's waitressing at the trendy pizzeria that used to be the Hot Spud Café. But something about it doesn't feel quite right, even before an illegal immigrant boy comes in, desperate to find "Max".

[more]
Striding Folly, Dorothy Sayers 12 June 2018 - 1 comment

1972 collection of the last three short mystery stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.

[more]
The Cold Blue Blood, David Handler 10 June 2018

2001 mystery, first in the Berger and Mitry series. Mitch Berger is a New York film critic mourning his dead wife, who rents a house in a rural (but rich) part of Connecticut; Desiree Mitry is a cop on the Serious Crimes Squad. So when Berger digs up a body in the vegetable patch…

[more]
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold 08 June 2018

2003 fantasy, sequel to The Curse of Chalion and set three years later. Ista, widowed mother of the new queen, feels supernumerary – even without her embarrassing history of madness. But the gods haven't finished with her yet.

[more]
Artificial Condition, Martha Wells 06 June 2018 - 2 comments

2018 science fiction novella, sequel to All Systems Red. Murderbot is going to try to make a new life for itself… but it first it needs to get to the truth about that human fatality incident it was involved in.

[more]
The Third Eye, Ethel Lina White 04 June 2018

1937 thriller. Caroline Watts, not wanting to be a burden on her married sister, takes up a post as games mistress at a minor school for girls, but soon runs up against the horrid Matron Miss Yaxley-Moore, who seems to have the Head under her thumb. Was the previous games mistress's death really misadventure?

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 19: Incantation Magic, Christopher R. Rice and Antoni Ten Monrós 03 June 2018

This Dungeon Fantasy supplement deals with a new style of magic.

[more]
In the Teeth of the Evidence, Dorothy Sayers 02 June 2018

1939 collection of seventeen short mystery stories, some involving Lord Peter Wimsey. Minor spoilers.

[more]
May 2018 Trailers 01 June 2018 - 5 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers 31 May 2018

1983 fantasy. Brendan Doyle, an expert on nineteenth-century English poets, takes a job as a guide for time-travelling tourists, off to listen to an unrecorded talk by Coleridge. But he soon finds himself stranded in London in 1810, fleeing from sorcerers, a werewolf, and even his employer.

[more]
Pyramid 115: Technomancer 29 May 2018

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's GURPS Technomancer, the magic-as-technology world inspired by Magic, Inc., Operation Chaos and The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump.

[more]
Demons of the Void, David Adams 28 May 2018 - 4 comments

2011 military science fiction, first of an ongoing series. In 2029, previously-unknown aliens destroy three cities, with a warning: "Never again attempt to develop this kind of technology." Earth responds in the only way possible: space battleships! Spoilers.

[more]
Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy Sayers 26 May 2018

1937 mystery, eleventh and last of Sayers' novels about Lord Peter Wimsey. Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane are married at last… but at the house they've taken for their honeymoon, the owner is dead in the cellar with his head bashed in.

[more]
The Dark Times 3 25 May 2018

The Dark Times, edited by Lee Williams, is a fanzine that follows on from Demonground and Protodimension in dealing with "the horror-conspiracy-weirdness gaming genres", beginning with Dark Conspiracy and drifting into nearby areas.

[more]
Torchship Pilot, Karl K Gallagher 24 May 2018

2016 science fiction, second of a trilogy. Michigan Long continues to serve aboard the analogue ship Fives Full as tensions brew up into interstellar war.

[more]
Exit: The Abandoned Cabin 23 May 2018

I borrowed a copy of Inka and Markus Brand's Exit: The Abandoned Cabin, one of the many recent escape-room-in-a-box games. (I will not reveal anything that's not immediately available when you start playing.)

[more]
The Island of Sheep, John Buchan 22 May 2018 - 1 comment

1936 thriller, inter-war thud-and-blunder, last novel dealing with Richard Hannay and Sandy Arbuthnot. Hannay is feeling old and stale, not helped by seeing an old firebrand friend settled in suburban domesticity, when an old promise leads to adventure one more time.

[more]
The Plain Old Man, Charlotte MacLeod 20 May 2018

1985 cozy American detective fiction; sixth of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. Sarah's aunt is putting on her annual Gilbert and Sullivan show, but it will be made harder by theft… and perhaps murder.

[more]
The Drawing of the Dark, Tim Powers 18 May 2018 - 1 comment

1979 fantasy. Aging mercenary Brian Duffy is recruited by a strange old man to work as a bouncer at a brewery-inn in Vienna. But it's 1529, and the Ottomans are on their way.

[more]
The Night Mayor, Kim Newman 17 May 2018

1989 science fiction. In the City, it's always two-thirty in the morning, and raining. Mickey Rooney sells the papers and Barton MacLane is Captain of Detectives. All the noir films happen at once… and the guy behind it all needs to be taken down.

[more]
Kitty Takes a Holiday, Carrie Vaughn 16 May 2018

2007 urban fantasy, third in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, goes to a mountain retreat to work on her book. But, of course, trouble follows her there.

[more]
The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold 14 May 2018 - 1 comment

2001 fantasy, the first set in this world. Lupe dy Cazaril has been a courtier, then a soldier, then a galley slave, and now he just wants to rest. But the gods meddle in the affairs of men, and to do it they need tools.

[more]
Gaudy Night, Dorothy Sayers 12 May 2018

1936 mystery, tenth of Sayers' novels about Lord Peter Wimsey. Harriet Vane, doing a favour for a friend, returns to her Oxford college for the annual dinner for former members. But someone starts sending poison-pen letters, and worse; as the closest thing the college has to an investigator, Harriet reluctantly looks into it.

[more]
American Gods, Neil Gaiman 10 May 2018

2001 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning modern fantasy. Shadow finishes his time in prison… but learns that his wife has died just before he was due to be released. He goes to work for Mr Wednesday, who's gathering forces for a big fight…

[more]
The Grub-and-Stakers Quilt a Bee, Charlotte MacLeod 08 May 2018

1985, cosy American detective fiction; second of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Dittany Henbit and the Lobelia Falls Grub-and-Stakers Gardening & Roving Club. In a small town in Ontario, the new museum (of early-settlement-era tat) needs a curator. Unfortunately, the first one seems to have fallen to his death.

[more]
Sweep in Peace, Ilona Andrews 06 May 2018

2015 modern fantasy short novel, originally published as blog posts on the author's web site; second in the series. Dina Demille's magical inn needs guests; she's offered the chance to host an interstellar peace conference. But only because everyone else has turned it down…

[more]
Escape, Pippa DaCosta 04 May 2018

2015 science fiction short novel. Ship-owner Caleb Shepperd, pilot and spy Francesca, and the android Number 1001 continue to be badly messed up people dancing around each other, and only one of them has an excuse.

[more]
The Nine Tailors, Dorothy Sayers 02 May 2018 - 2 comments

1934 mystery, ninth of Sayers' novels about Lord Peter Wimsey. Stranded in a fen village on a snowy New Year's Eve, Wimsey helps out with the bell-ringing since one of the regular men is down with 'flu. But Fenchurch St. Paul has not finished with him, and soon enough a body will be found.

[more]
April 2018 Trailers 01 May 2018 - 5 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Mrs Pargeter's Pound of Flesh, Simon Brett 29 April 2018

1992 mystery; fourth in Brett's Mrs Pargeter series (amateur sleuthing). Mrs Pargeter keeps an old friend company at a visit to a health spa, but Bad Things are going on there.

[more]
Sea Strike, James H. Cobb 27 April 2018 - 1 comment

Naval technothriller, second in the series dealing with Captain Amanda Garrett and the USS Cunningham. As a Chinese civil war turns one-sided, US forces intervene to prevent nuclear holocaust.

[more]
Cover Her Face, P. D. James 26 April 2018

1962 detective fiction, first of James's novels of Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. Sally Jupp the housemaid is found strangled in her bed, behind a bolted door. She'd managed to annoy pretty much everyone in the house… but who turned annoyance into murder?

[more]
Illuminae, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff 24 April 2018

2015 YA science fiction, first of a trilogy. This morning Kady broke up with her boyfriend Ezra. But as their mining colony is invaded and everyone has to flee for their lives, that fight starts to seem less important.

[more]
Murder Must Advertise, Dorothy Sayers 22 April 2018 - 2 comments

1933 mystery, eighth of Sayers' novels about Lord Peter Wimsey. Victor Dean, a copywriter at Pym's Publicity, fell down the office's iron spiral staircase and broke his neck. But his sister, with whom he was living, found a half-finished letter to the management that made her suspicious, and Wimsey goes in as a new copywriter to see what he can learn.

[more]
Pyramid 114: Mind Over Magic 21 April 2018 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's the combination of magic and imagination. Will that be different from the Thaumatology issues we've had before?

[more]
A Dangerous Mourning, Anne Perry 19 April 2018

1992 mystery, second in Perry's William Monk series (Victorian police work). Over the winter of 1856-1857 in London, Monk is assigned to a new case: a young widow living in her father's house, found stabbed to death in her bed.

[more]
Happy Snak, Nicole Kimberling 17 April 2018

2009 science fiction. Gaia Jones just wants to run her snack stand, on the strange alien-human space station orbiting Mars. But one of the aliens dies in her shop, and things start to get extremely complicated.

[more]
Black Orchestra unboxing and review 16 April 2018

My copy of the new (second) printing of Black Orchestra has arrived.

[more]
The Poisonous Seed, Linda Stratmann 15 April 2018

2011 historical mystery, first of a series. In Victorian London, Frances Doughty assists her ailing father in his pharmacy; but someone dies after drinking one of their tonics, and he's the obvious person to blame. But Frances is sure there must be more to the tale.

[more]
Torchship, Karl K Gallagher 13 April 2018 - 2 comments

2015 science fiction, first of a trilogy. After the AI catastrophe, there are two sorts of colony world: the ones where computers are strictly regulated and monitored, and the ones where they aren't allowed at all. The "analog ship" Fives Full is navigated by slide-rule and sextant.

[more]
Dark in Death, J. D. Robb 12 April 2018

2018 SF/mystery; fifty-seventh (roughly, or 46th novel) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. A woman is stabbed while watching Psycho in a cinema; there's no obvious motive for killing her. Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas soon discovers roughly what's going on, but it'll still be a long twisty road to catching the killer.

[more]
Impersonations, Walter Jon Williams 11 April 2018

2016 short space opera novel, postscript to the Dread Empire's Fall trilogy. Having won battles by means that weren't approved of, Caroline Sula is promoted to a backwater post: Earth. That's fine; it gives her scope to study Terran history. But she's also a large pebble being thrown into a deep pond of convenient arrangements…

[more]
Hangman's Holiday, Dorothy Sayers 10 April 2018

1933 collection of twelve short mystery stories, some involving Lord Peter Wimsey.

[more]
Forever Peace, Joe Haldeman 09 April 2018 - 3 comments

1997 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning military science fiction. Sergeant Julian Class runs a "soldierboy" infantry drone through a neural link, in an eternal war against "rebels". But bigger and more frightening things are going on.

[more]
The Gabriel Hounds, Mary Stewart 07 April 2018

1967 mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. On holiday in Syria and the Lebanon, Christy Mansel runs into her cousin Charles. They decide to drop in on their great-aunt "Lady" Harriet, who's been doing the Lady Hester Stanhope thing and living in the local style in a remote palace. But when Christy steals a march on Charles and goes on her own, she discovers a rather more disturbing situation than she expected…

[more]
Investments, Walter Jon Williams 06 April 2018

2004 space opera novella, postscript to the Dread Empire's Fall trilogy. Three years after the Naxid War, new star systems are being opened up for development. Which means that there's lots of scope for serious money to be made, legally or otherwise.

[more]
Have His Carcase, Dorothy Sayers 04 April 2018 - 4 comments

1932 mystery, seventh of Sayers' novels about Lord Peter Wimsey. Harriet Vane, having turned her post-acquittal notoriety into a boost to her writing career, is taking a walking-tour on the south-west coast of England when she discovers a corpse on the beach, still dripping blood.

[more]
Conventions of War, Walter Jon Williams 02 April 2018

2005 space opera, third and final book of Dread Empire's Fall. Gareth Martinez fights the civil war as a naval officer; Caroline Sula leads the resistance on the conquered capital world.

[more]
March 2018 Trailers 01 April 2018

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
The Curse of the Giant Hogweed, Charlotte MacLeod 31 March 2018

1985 fantasy, fifth of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy. Shandy and two colleagues are in Wales to look into a hogweed infestation, but soon find themselves in a fantastical realm.

[more]
Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty 29 March 2018

2017 science fiction. In a world with cheap and easy cloning and memory transfer, it makes sense to crew the first interstellar ship with clones: when they die of old age on the voyage, they can renew themselves. But now they're all waking up at once, with no memories since the start of the trip, to find their previous bodies messily murdered.

[more]
The Grand Tour season 2 28 March 2018

The Grand Tour: 2017-2018, 11 episodes. Clarkson, May and Hammond continue to pretend to make a motoring programme.

[more]
Black Roses, Jane Thynne 27 March 2018

2013 historical drama, first in a five-book series. Berlin, 1933: Clara Vine, unsuccessful actress, has gone to Berlin to try her luck in film, just as Hitler has come to power. She finds herself falling upwards into the company of Magda Goebbels, and is recruited as an intelligence source.

[more]
The Five Red Herrings, Dorothy Sayers 25 March 2018 - 3 comments

1931 mystery, sixth of Sayers' novels about Lord Peter Wimsey. In Galloway, one fishes or one paints, ideally both; but one of the more offensive painter-fishermen has apparently fallen off a cliff. Wimsey is unconvinced.

[more]
Pyramid 113: Dungeon Fantasies 24 March 2018 - 1 comment

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's back to the dungeon, looking at both the Dungeon Fantasy RPG and the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series. OK, not really an exciting theme for me, but let's see how it goes.

[more]
The Sundering, Walter Jon Williams 22 March 2018 - 2 comments

2004 space opera, second book of Dread Empire's Fall. As the civil war continues, Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula continue to fight both to keep the Empire going and to save their own careers.

[more]
Star Trek Discovery season 1 21 March 2018 - 4 comments

2017-2018 science fiction, 15 episodes. Ten years before original Star Trek, the USS Discovery has a unique advantage in the war with the Klingons.

[more]
Kitty Goes to Washington, Carrie Vaughn 20 March 2018

2006 urban fantasy, second in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who brought werewolves and vampires into the public eye, is summoned to testify before a Senate committee.

[more]
Where Echoes Live, Marcia Muller 18 March 2018

1991 mystery; eleventh in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Out near the California-Nevada border, an environmental group is fighting the big mining company that's planning to reopen the old gold workings. But someone's playing dirty, and Sharon's brought in to find out what's going on.

[more]
The Orville season 1 17 March 2018 - 1 comment

2017-2018 science fiction comedy, 12 episodes. Captain Ed Mercer of the Planetary Union hit a rough career patch after his divorce, but now has command of an exploratory ship. But his ex-wife will be his new first officer.

[more]
Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee 16 March 2018

2017 science fiction, second in a trilogy. The rebel and revenant general Shuos Jedao has taken over a war fleet… and is using it to fight the invaders better than anyone else could. How many layers deep does his planning go?

[more]
Doomsday Book, Connie Willis 14 March 2018 - 4 comments

1992 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. At Oxford University in 2054, a history student is being sent back in time to the Middle Ages. But things are going to go about as wrong as they possibly could.

[more]
Shokugeki no Soma season 3.1 13 March 2018

2017 cooking story, shounen manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Food Wars: The Third Plate". Yukihira Sōma continues to fight cooking duels on his way up the élite Totsuki cooking school.

[more]
The Documents in the Case, Dorothy Sayers and Robert Eustace 12 March 2018

1930 epistolary mystery, Sayers' only non-Wimsey crime novel. An expert on edible fungi dies after eating mushrooms he picked himself: the mistake that was bound to happen eventually? A dossier of evidence suggests otherwise.

[more]
Bones season 12 11 March 2018

2017, 12 episodes. Final season of this police procedural in the CSI mould: a team of forensic experts at the "Jeffersonian" consults for the FBI.

[more]
Secrets in Death, J. D. Robb 10 March 2018 - 1 comment

2017 SF/mystery; fifty-sixth (roughly, or 45th novel) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas is out with a colleague when another patron of the bar is cut and bleeds to death in front of her. She may not have much time for gossip journalists, but solving murders is still her job.

[more]
Poison Romance and Poison Mysteries, C. J. S. Thompson 08 March 2018 - 3 comments

1899 non-fiction; Dr Thompson, a medical historian, examines the history and practice of poisoning.

[more]
MythBusters season 20 07 March 2018

2017-2018, 14 episodes (12 broadcast at time of writing). A new team tests various myths, sayings and rumours, to see how they stack up against the real world.

[more]
The Courts of the Morning, John Buchan 06 March 2018 - 4 comments

1929 thriller, inter-war thud-and-blunder. In South America, Sandy Arbuthnot and Archie Roylance find themselves involved in fomenting a revolution, but not in the usual way.

[more]
A Calculated Life, Anne Charnock 04 March 2018

2013 science fiction. Some time late in the twenty-first century, Jayna is an analyst for a predictive agency, teasing trends out of disparate data. But there's something a bit different about her. Spoilers.

[more]
Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon 03 March 2018

2017 modern fantasy, seinen manga adaptation, 13 episodes: AniDB. Kobayashi the office worker gets drunk one night, and in the morning finds a dragon outside her front door – who's come to stay with her and be her maid. vt Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.

[more]
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Dorothy Sayers 02 March 2018 - 3 comments

1928 mystery, fourth of Sayers' novels about Lord Peter Wimsey. General Fentiman was found dead in his armchair at the club; but there's some question about the timing, since someone else died around the same time and there's a complex interaction of wills, and Lord Peter gets involved.

[more]
February 2018 Trailers 01 March 2018

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Carrie Vaughn 28 February 2018

2005 urban fantasy, first in a series. Kitty Norville is a late-night DJ; one night she gets a call from someone who claims vampires are real, someone else says that werewolves are too, and lots of other people seem to want to talk about them. Which is tricky, because she's been a werewolf herself for three years.

[more]
The Good Place season 2 27 February 2018

2017 fantasy comedy, 13 episodes. Eleanor is still in the afterlife, but things have got much more complicated.

[more]
A Question of Death, Kerry Greenwood 26 February 2018

2007 historical detection short stories, in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia).

[more]
Lord Peter Views the Body, Dorothy Sayers 24 February 2018 - 2 comments

1928 collection of twelve short mystery stories involving Lord Peter Wimsey.

[more]
Star Trek Continues 23 February 2018 - 6 comments

2013-2017 science fiction web series, 11 episodes; a fan production extends the original Star Trek.

[more]
Diving Into the Wreck, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 22 February 2018

2009 science fiction, first of a series. "Boss" finds derelict spacecraft, investigates, and either salvages them or takes tourists round them. But now she's found the claim of a lifetime…

[more]
Unnatural Death, Dorothy Sayers 20 February 2018 - 2 comments

1927 mystery, third of Sayers' books about Lord Peter Wimsey. While dining and talking about crime, Wimsey meets a doctor who's lost his practice because he was unhappy about a death (the patient was certainly dying, but should have lasted several more months) and insisted on an autopsy – to the horror of the country town where it happened. Nobody else thinks there's any possibility of a crime, but Wimsey takes an interest.

[more]
Pyramid 112: Action II 19 February 2018 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's the Action series, a set of rules for streamlining GURPS to fit the sort of story one finds in action films.

[more]
Places in the Darkness, Chris Brookmyre 18 February 2018

2017 science fiction. Ciudad de Cielo, the space habitat where the first generation ship is being constructed, has just had its first murder. Two unlikely investigators will need to work together to solve it, and the bigger plots behind it.

[more]
Detect Me, Selma Wolfe 16 February 2018

2013 romance novella. Nikki is an unsuccessful artist in the process of giving up on her dreams by taking a marketing job; Mark is the private detective whose office she walks into by accident. But it seems he needs some help catching an art thief…

[more]
The Convivial Codfish, Charlotte MacLeod 14 February 2018

1984 cozy American detective fiction; fifth of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. A minor theft is nothing to be taken seriously, but a murderous practical joke has more significance… and there's more murder to come.

[more]
She Walks in Shadows, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles 12 February 2018

2015 fantasy/horror anthology, consisting of Lovecraftian stories by and about women. Because, as the editors point out, there's a substantial strand of writers of Lovecraftiana who have continued Howard's premise that women just aren't terribly interesting or worthy of notice (both in their stories and in real life), so why not?

[more]
Gosick 11 February 2018

2010-2011 mystery, light novel adaptation, 24 episodes: AniDB. In the European country of Sauville, Kujō the military brat transfers to an exclusive private school, and meets Victorique the goth-loli enigma. They solve crimes!

[more]
Speaker For the Dead, Orson Scott Card 10 February 2018

1986 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. Having gone from universally loved to universally reviled, Ender Wiggin continues to suffer for your sins.

[more]
Wisdom of the Crowd 09 February 2018

2017 science fiction/investigation, 13 episodes; a tech billionaire, obsessed with finding the murderer of his daughter, builds a crowd-sourced crime-solving system.

[more]
Clouds of Witness, Dorothy Sayers 08 February 2018

1926 mystery, second of Sayers' books about Lord Peter Wimsey. Wimsey's brother, the Duke of Denver, is accused of murdering his prospective brother-in-law. Why won't he say what he was doing in the conservatory at three in the morning?

[more]
Artemis, Andy Weir 06 February 2018

2017 science fiction. Jazz Basshara smuggles contraband into Artemis, the city on the Moon. She gets an offer too good to be true… and of course things go wrong.

[more]
Bølgen 05 February 2018

2015 Norwegian disaster film, dir. Roar Uthaug, Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp: IMDb / allmovie. The Åkerneset mountain overlooks the tourist village of Geiranger, but a landslide could cause a tidal wave along the fjord. It's going to. vt The Wave.

[more]
Bad Dog, Ashley Pollard 04 February 2018 - 1 comment

2017 military science fiction, first of a series. Gunnery Sergeant Tachikoma is about to have a very bad day… repeatedly.

[more]
The Dark Times 2 03 February 2018

The Dark Times, edited by Lee Williams, is a fanzine that follows on from Demonground and Protodimension in dealing with "the horror-conspiracy-weirdness gaming genres", beginning with Dark Conspiracy and drifting into nearby areas.

[more]
Whose Body?, Dorothy Sayers 02 February 2018

1923 mystery, first of Sayers' books about Lord Peter Wimsey. A body is found in a bath in Battersea, naked except for a pair of gold pince-nez; and a prominent financier has disappeared from his bed. Unless they're the same man, the cases don't appear to be connected, but Wimsey the amateur sleuth takes an interest in both ends of the affair.

[more]
January 2018 Trailers 01 February 2018 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, David Gerard 31 January 2018

2017 non-fiction. What is bitcoin, and why should any sensible person have absolutely nothing to do with it?

[more]
Risking It All, Ann Granger 29 January 2018

2001 thriller/mystery; fourth of Granger's novels of Fran Varady, would-be thespian and amateur sleuth. A private investigator tracks down Fran to tell her that her mother (who abandoned the family when Fran was quite young) is dying, and wants to talk to her. But that's not all she wants. It turns out that after she left she had another daughter…

[more]
The Science of Food, Marty Jopson 27 January 2018

2017 non-fiction, popular science; short treatments of scientific aspects of farming, food transport and cooking.

[more]
Light Thickens, Ngaio Marsh 25 January 2018

1982 classic English detective fiction; thirty-second and last of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Peregrine Jay is putting on Macbeth at the Dolphin, but tensions are running high and not all the cast will make it to the end of the run.

[more]
All Systems Red, Martha Wells 23 January 2018 - 2 comments

2017 science fiction novella. Murderbot is an AI running a light-duty security robot, trying to keep the humans of a planetary survey expedition alive, though it would much rather spend its time catching up on episodes of Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. Unfortunately its job is going to get rather harder.

[more]
Photo Finish, Ngaio Marsh 21 January 2018 - 2 comments

1980 classic English detective fiction; thirty-first of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The Great Soprano is being pestered by a paparazzo; her millionaire friend takes her to a retreat in the New Zealand bush, with just a dozen good friends – including the young composer she's taken over, and whose new opera she's going to put on in a private performance. But all that's not going to stop someone from killing her.

[more]
Pyramid 111: Combat II 20 January 2018 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's fighting – not a theme I find particularly compelling in RPGs any more.

[more]
Furnished for Murder, Elizabeth Ferrars 18 January 2018

1957 murder mystery in rural England. The Jeacocks have split off part of their house to make a cottage to let, but not only is their tenant entirely too willing to pay three months' rent in advance in lieu of references, he's mostly interested in the Big House nearby, and its new owner.

[more]
Neoreaction a Basilisk, Philip Sandifer 16 January 2018 - 1 comment

2016 non-fiction. Sandifer writes about the alt-right, starting with the writings of three luminaries of neoreaction and in demolishing them wanders through a variety of strange places.

Note: this is the title both of the collection and of the first essay, which seems also to have been published separately.

[more]
December 2017-January 2018 Trailers 15 January 2018

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Soonish, Kelly and Zach Wienersmith 14 January 2018 - 1 comment

2017 non-fiction, popular science. A biologist and a cartoonist look at ten fields of technology that seem likely to produce large changes in human life.

[more]
Time After Time 13 January 2018

2017 science fiction/investigation, 5 or 12 episodes; H. G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper into the modern day.

[more]
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card 12 January 2018 - 2 comments

1985 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction, expansion of an earlier short story. Ender Wiggin is brought up to be the tactical genius necessary to fight off the alien invaders.

[more]
The Rose in Darkness, Christianna Brand 10 January 2018

1979 detective fiction; fourth and last of Brand's novels of Inspector Charlesworth. On a stormy night, faded film star Sari Morne finds her road blocked by a fallen tree; but a stranger has just arrived at the other side, and they swap cars to finish their journeys. But the next morning the car in her garage has a corpse in it.

[more]
Betrayal, Pippa DaCosta 08 January 2018

2015 science fiction. Captain Caleb Shepperd runs a rustbucket interplanetary freighter, trying to make enough money to keep going. Number 1001 is a synth, supposedly built to be some rich woman's immortal body, but in practice sent off as an assassin. Things aren't going to go well.

[more]
Grave Mistake, Ngaio Marsh 06 January 2018

1978 classic English detective fiction; thirtieth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The wealthy double-widow Sybil Foster apparently commits suicide while staying in a hotel for hypochondriacs. But this is not a story about suicide. vt A Grave Mistake.

[more]
The Dressmaker 05 January 2018

2015 drama, dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse, Kate Winslet, Judy Davis: IMDb / allmovie. In 1950s rural Australia, Tilly Dunnage is coming home to upend the small town that threw her out as a child.

[more]
Her Brother's Keeper, Mike Kupari 04 January 2018

2015 military SF. Catherine Blackwood is a privateer ship's captain, which in practice means mercenary; a new contract has her employed by her estranged father to haul her idiot brother back out of whatever trouble he's got himself into.

[more]
2017 in Books 02 January 2018

In 2017 I read 124 books, down again from the previous year.

[more]
Malicious Intent, Kathryn Fox 27 December 2017

2005 mystery/thriller, first in a series. Dr Anya Crichton is a forensic pathologist (divorced, ex-husband has custody of the kid) trying to build a freelance practice as an expert witness. But several victims she examines have some unexpected findings in common.

[more]
Geostorm 26 December 2017 - 2 comments

2017 science fiction disaster film, dir. Dean Devlin, Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess: IMDb / allmovie. Earth's climate problems have been casually solved by a network of weather-control satellites, but now they seem to be going wrong.

[more]
Pyramid 110: Deep Space 25 December 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's the exploration of space, as distinct from alien planets.

[more]
Last Ditch, Ngaio Marsh 23 December 2017

1976 classic English detective fiction; twenty-ninth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Alleyn's son Rick is trying to write, staying in a rented room on a Channel Island. But while a riding accident might just be disturbing, it seems that murder is never far away. Fortunately, neither is his father.

[more]
The Black Lung Captain, Chris Wooding 21 December 2017

2010 steampunk fantasy. Darian Frey is still just barely holding the airship Ketty Jay and her crew of misfits together, and once more he's going to get in way over his head.

[more]
Mrs Pargeter's Package, Simon Brett 19 December 2017

1990 mystery; third in Brett's Mrs Pargeter series (amateur sleuthing). Mrs Pargeter keeps another recent widow company on a package holiday to Corfu, but clearly things are amiss even before the murder and the cover-up.

[more]
Black As He's Painted, Ngaio Marsh 17 December 2017

1973 classic English detective fiction; twenty-eighth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The president of newly-independent Ng'ombwana is visiting London; many years ago he was at school with Roderick Alleyn, and now he insists on having Alleyn involved in his security. Especially when there's an assassination attempt at his party in the embassy.

[more]
November-December 2017 Trailers 16 December 2017 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

[more]
Neuromancer, William Gibson 15 December 2017 - 2 comments

1984 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. Case used to be a hacker, but stole from the wrong people, and they took hacking away from him; now he's a hustler on an arc towards suicide by street. But someone wants him for a very special job.

[more]
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, Theodora Goss 13 December 2017

2017 historical fantasy. After the death of her parents, Mary Jekyll – yes, that Jekyll – is left penniless, but with mysteries. There's still a reward for the capture of her father's murderous friend Edward Hyde. But Jekyll is not the only mad scientist to have left a daughter.

[more]
GURPS Fantasy: Portal Realms, William H. Stoddard 10 December 2017

This supplement for campaign design deals with portal fantasy, specifically the sort in which people from Earth find thsmselves in a fantasy world.

[more]
Cities of Splendor 09 December 2017

Cities of Splendor is an expansion for Splendor, designed by Marc André.

[more]
Something the Cat Dragged In, Charlotte MacLeod 08 December 2017

1983 cosy American detective fiction; fourth of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy, set at an agricultural college in Massachussetts. Retired professor Herbert Ungley wouldn't want to be caught dead without his toupee, but that's just what's happened.

[more]
A Skinful of Shadows, Frances Hardinge 06 December 2017

2017 fantasy. Makepeace has a gift, or curse, that she doesn't entirely understand. But she's going to have to learn about it fast, in part because it's 1641 and the tension between Parliament and the King is coming to a head.

[more]
Mysterium Secrets and Lies 05 December 2017

The new Secrets & Lies expansion for Mysterium is designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko.

[more]
Mystery Man, Colin Bateman 04 December 2017

2009 comedic mystery, first in its series. The nameless narrator runs No Alibis, a mystery bookshop in Belfast. But when the private detective agency next door suddenly closes down, some of its customers start coming to him instead.

[more]
Tied Up In Tinsel, Ngaio Marsh 02 December 2017

1972 classic English detective fiction; twenty-seventh of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Troy is painting a portrait of Hilary Bill-Tasman, which means staying at his country house for Christmas. But a servant disappears in the storm, and Troy's husband is certain to be involved.

[more]
The Amateur Cracksman, E. W. Hornung 30 November 2017

1899 thriller, collection of short stories from 1898 with new material. A. J. Raffles, prominent society man and cricketer, leads a double life as a burglar.

[more]
War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges 29 November 2017

2002 non-fiction: an experienced foreign reporter gives his views on the fundamental psychological brokenness of war.

[more]
GURPS Fantasy-Tech 2: Weapons of Fantasy, Sean Punch 28 November 2017

This GURPS Fantasy-Tech supplement deals with upgrades, plausible or otherwise, to low-tech mêlée weapons.

[more]
The Riddle of the River, Catherine Shaw 27 November 2017 - 1 comment

2007 historical mystery, fourth of Shaw's series. In 1898, Vanessa Weatherburn investigates a young woman whose body was found floating in the Cam.

[more]
Dying for Millions, Judith Cutler 25 November 2017

1998 mystery; fourth of Cutler's novels of Sophie Rivers, a teacher in a sixth-form college in Birmingham. Sophie's cousin Andy is a rock legend, planning to retire and devote himself to good causes; but it seems that someone wants him dead.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 1: The Pagoda of Worlds, Matt Riggsby 23 November 2017

This first Dungeon Fantasy Encounters book deals with an abandoned (but monster-infested) tower offering portals into other worlds.

[more]
When In Rome, Ngaio Marsh 22 November 2017

1970 classic English detective fiction; twenty-sixth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Various people have gathered for an expensive but exclusive tour of the sights of Rome; some of them are Bad Lots, and some of them will die.

[more]
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson 20 November 2017

2003 non-fiction; the story of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, and of Herman Mudgett or H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer.

[more]
Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o 2 19 November 2017

2017 ongoing comedic fantasy manga adaptation in 10 episodes: Anidb, vt "Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!". Kazuma continues to live in an MMORPG world.

[more]
Pyramid 109: Thaumatology V 18 November 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's a return to thaumatology, looking at magic and what to do with it.

[more]
Running Scared, Ann Granger 17 November 2017

1998 thriller; third of Granger's novels of Fran Varady, would-be actress and amateur sleuth. Fran's working in her friend Ganesh's corner shop when a man stumbles in, obviously injured, then leaves once he's cleaned himself up a bit. But now sinister characters are hanging around the shop, and around Fran herself.

[more]
November 2017 Trailers 16 November 2017

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Burgle Bros. 15 November 2017

Burgle Bros., by Tim Fowers, is a cooperative heist game for 1-4 players.

[more]
Echoes in Death, J. D. Robb 14 November 2017

2017 SF/mystery; fifty-fifth (roughly) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. (Or 44th novel, I think. At some point I may renumber these reviews.) On the road on a snowy night, Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband Roarke find a naked, blood-stained and delirious woman who claims to have been attacked by the Devil.

[more]
The Battle for History, John Keegan 12 November 2017

This short book is a survey of histories of the Second World War.

[more]
Pyramid 108: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game III 11 November 2017 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's the last of the three issues promised during the Dungeon Fantasy RPG kickstarter. (It's well timed, as hardcopies of the books were reaching Kickstarter supporters as it came out, and they're now available to the public.)

[more]
Startide Rising, David Brin 10 November 2017 - 2 comments

1983 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction, second book of the Uplift series. In a universe where every known intelligent species has been "uplifted" to sapience by an earlier species, humanity is the sole exception, and it's breaking interstellar politics; if humans hadn't already uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees before first contact, it would be even worse. An exploration vessel from Earth (mostly dolphin-crewed, with some humans and one chimpanzee) has found something amazing, but has made a forced landing on an unknown world while evading alien fleets.

[more]
The Rules of the Game, Andrew Gordon 08 November 2017 - 1 comment

For over a hundred years, the Royal Navy had been expecting to win the next Trafalgar. On 31 May 1916 off the Danish coast they got their chance, and it didn't go as well as might have been hoped.

[more]
Clutch of Constables, Ngaio Marsh 06 November 2017 - 2 comments

1968 classic English detective fiction; twenty-fifth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Worn down by having to be too much in public, Agatha Troy takes a river cruise in fen country. But nobody is quite what they seem, and soon one of them will be dead.

[more]
Mrs, Presumed Dead, Simon Brett 04 November 2017

1988 mystery; second in Brett's Mrs Pargeter series (amateur sleuthing). Mrs Pargeter moves into one of a small cluster of new houses, but it seems that the previous occupant may have come to a bad end.

[more]
Cargo of Eagles, Margery Allingham 02 November 2017

1968 classic English detective fiction; nineteenth and last of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion, finished after her death by her husband. A hamlet on the Essex marshes is keeping secrets, and apparently some of them are worth murdering for.

[more]
Escape 31 October 2017

2017, 9 episodes (on Geek & Sundry): teams of various minor celebrities try to solve puzzles to get of a room.

[more]
Trophies and Dead Things, Marcia Muller 30 October 2017

1990 mystery; tenth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. A former student radical dies in one of a series of apparently random shootings. Shortly before his death, he changed his will, disinheriting his children and giving his money to four strangers. Sharon tracks them down, and tries to find out why he did it and whether there might have been any duress or undue inflence.

[more]
The Dark Times 1 29 October 2017

The Dark Times, edited by Lee Williams, is a new fanzine that follows on from Demonground and Protodimension in dealing with "the horror-conspiracy-weirdness gaming genres", beginning with Dark Conspiracy and drifting into nearby areas.

[more]
Penric's Mission, Lois McMaster Bujold 27 October 2017

2016 short fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Some years after the previous books, Penric and the demon Desdemona have been sent on a diplomatic mission, to recruit a disaffected general for Penric's home of Adria. So first he's accused of spying and thrown into a dungeon…

[more]
October 2017 Trailers 26 October 2017 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Broken Meats, David Hambling 25 October 2017 - 1 comment

2015 Lovecraftian horror novella. In 1920s London, ex-boxer Harry Stubbs gets a job bodyguarding (and spying on) a Chinese visitor who clearly knows more than he's saying.

[more]
Tabletop season 4 24 October 2017 - 1 comment

2016, 21 episodes: Wil Wheaton and other minor celebrities play boardgames.

[more]
Death at the Dolphin, Ngaio Marsh 23 October 2017

1967 classic English detective fiction; twenty-fourth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Playwright and director Peregrine Jay is handed the dilapidated Dolphin Theatre, and is making a success of it, at least until the night-watchman is murdered. US vt Killer Dolphin.

[more]
The Face of a Stranger, Anne Perry 21 October 2017

1990 mystery; first in Perry's William Monk series (Victorian police work). In 1856 London, Monk wakes up in hospital with no idea of his own name or job, but soon discovers that he's a police detective, and is given a new case to work on, the beating to death of a popular veteran of the Crimea. But as he finds out more about the man he used to be, he doesn't like him very much.

[more]
A Nice Class of Corpse, Simon Brett 19 October 2017

1986 mystery; first in Brett's Mrs Pargeter series (amateur sleuthing). Widowed Mrs Pargeter moves into a seaside hotel in Littlehampton, and causes a stir by being herself; but when one of the guests falls down the stairs in the middle of the night and breaks her neck, she may be the only person who doesn't assume it was an accident. Or at least one of two people.

[more]
Timeless season 1 17 October 2017

2016-2017 science fiction, 16 episodes. A time machine has been invented, and stolen, by someone whose goals are unclear but probably bad; a team is assembled in haste to take the second machine to try to catch him.

[more]
The Victorian Internet, Tom Standage 16 October 2017 - 2 comments

1998 non-fiction, an informal history of the age of the telegraph.

[more]
Alien Frontiers 15 October 2017

Alien Frontiers, designed by Tory Niemann, is a dice-placement game for 2-4 players.

[more]
Psmith in the City, P. G. Wodehouse 13 October 2017

1910 comic novel, compilation from magazine publication in 1908-1909. Mike and Psmith end up toiling in the New Asiatic Bank. This suits neither of them.

[more]
Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews 11 October 2017

2012 modern fantasy short novel, originally published as blog posts on the author's web site. Dina Demille keeps a faded bed-and-breakfast in small-town Texas. But it's actually a way station for travellers from other worlds.

[more]
September-October 2017 Trailers 09 October 2017

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke 08 October 2017 - 1 comment

1979 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. Vannevar Morgan is determined to build a bridge linking Earth to geosynchronous orbit, but humans and physics are going to get in his way.

[more]
The Mind Readers, Margery Allingham 06 October 2017

1965 classic English detective fiction; eighteenth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Someone seems to be developing mechanically-assisted telepathy, but what does it have to do with Campion's nephew?

[more]
Mystery Science Theater 3000 season 11 05 October 2017

After an eighteen-year gap, bad film is mocked once more.

[more]
Nightshades, Melissa F. Olson 04 October 2017

2016 modern fantasy novella, first in its series. There are vampires in the world; the FBI is hunting down the bad ones.

[more]
Dead Water, Ngaio Marsh 02 October 2017

1964 classic English detective fiction; twenty-third of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. An island village gets rich off tourism following the "miracle cure" that happened at its spring, but the new owner of the island plans to shut all that down. Murder ensues.

[more]
Apprentice in Death, J. D. Robb 30 September 2017 - 2 comments

2016 SF/mystery; fifty-fourth (roughly) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. A sniper is shooting people in New York – at random, or with specific targets in mind? Lieutenant Eve Dallas investigates.

[more]
Top Gear season 2.24 29 September 2017 - 1 comment

2017 motoring show, 7 episodes. Much to everyone's surprise, it's actually trying to be a car show again.

[more]
The China Governess, Margery Allingham 27 September 2017

1963 classic English detective fiction; seventeenth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Timothy Kinnit learns, on the eve of his elopement, that he was adopted, and tries to find out more about his parentage; then he becomes a suspect in a suspicious death and a housebreaking.

[more]
Pyramid 107: Monster Hunters III 26 September 2017 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's another batch for the Monster Hunters setting.

[more]
The Devil You Know, K J Parker 23 September 2017 - 2 comments

2016 fantasy novella. The greatest philosopher of all time is offering to sell his soul to the Devil. All he wants is twenty more years to complete his life’s work. But the demon assigned to the task is deeply suspicious. For one thing, it seems like an obviously bad deal for the human. For another, the philosopher asked for him by name.

[more]
The Librarians, season 3 21 September 2017

2016-2017 modern fantasy, 10 episodes; the Librarians, who hunt down magical artefacts, take on a god and a government agency.

[more]
September 2017 Trailers 20 September 2017 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Hand In Glove, Ngaio Marsh 19 September 2017

1962 classic English detective fiction; twenty-second of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Friction in a pair of country houses is the precursor to murder, but everything's tangled in the extreme.

[more]
The Elder Ice, David Hambling 17 September 2017 - 3 comments

2014 Lovecraftian horror novella. In 1920s London, ex-boxer Harry Stubbs is working for a firm of lawyers that's looking for valuable assets to pay off some of Shackleton's creditors. But what did he really find on those polar expeditions?

[more]
Murder in the Dark, Kerry Greenwood 15 September 2017

2006 historical detection, sixteenth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne is invited to a decadent Christmas party at Chirnside Manor; someone's trying to discredit and kill the hosts. She might not have gone, except that someone's sent her a coral snake to discourage her.

[more]
The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker 12 September 2017

2009 steampunk SF novella, very loosely connected with the Company series. The finest brothel in Whitehall is also a nest of spies, but very discreet ones.

[more]
Conviction 11 September 2017

2016-2017, 13 episodes. Hayes Morrison, daughter of an ex-president and living with a party-girl reputation, runs a unit that reviews old cases.

[more]
Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre 08 September 2017 - 1 comment

1978 Hugo-, Nebula- and Locus-award-winning science fiction. On a post-apocalyptic earth, various small groups of people scratch out a living; Snake is a healer, using bioengineered venomous serpents to produce drugs that cure ills and relieve pain.

[more]
Earth 2788, Janet Edwards 05 September 2017

2014 young adult science fiction, collection of short stories in the Earth Girl setting.

[more]
False Scent, Ngaio Marsh 03 September 2017

1960 classic English detective fiction; twenty-first of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The famous comedic actress Mary Bellamy has been getting increasingly troublesome, and now feels that all of her best friends have betrayed her. But only one of them is going to kill her.

[more]
August 2017 Trailers 02 September 2017

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Pyramid 106: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game II 31 August 2017 - 1 comment

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's the second of the three issues promised during the Dungeon Fantasy RPG kickstarter.

[more]
Mr Standfast, John Buchan 28 August 2017

1919 thriller, third of Buchan's books about Richard Hannay; wartime thud-and-blunder. Hannay has to go undercover among the pacifists and conscientious objectors to root out a German agent.

[more]
Arabella of Mars, David D. Levine 25 August 2017

2016 clockpunkish science fiction. In 1812 Arabella Ashby, daughter of a Martian plantation owner, is sent Home to Earth to learn proper ladylike behaviour; but she'll soon need to find her way onto a Marsman to return to the planet of her birth.

[more]
Mysterium 23 August 2017 - 2 comments

Mysterium, designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko, is a co-operative game of deduction for 2-7 players.

[more]
The Private Wife of Sherlock Holmes, Carole Nelson Douglas 22 August 2017

2012 historical mystery novelette, part of Douglas's series about Irene Adler. Irene visits London and enlists the help of Sherlock Holmes to save an old friend from a complex blackmail plot.

[more]
Singing in the Shrouds, Ngaio Marsh 20 August 2017

1958 classic English detective fiction; twentieth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The passengers aboard the Cape Farewell are travelling to South Africa; but it seems that the Flower Murderer who's been plaguing London is among their number.

[more]
GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances 17 August 2017

Vehicles aren't the defining image of steampunk, but they're certainly one of the important aspects of it, whether it's personal carriages or massive airships. This book lists a number of historical, speculative and fantastic vehicle designs, with stats for use in GURPS.

[more]
Armada, Ernest Cline 16 August 2017

2015 science fiction. Zack Lightman is a dreamer and geek with anger management problems. But his video gaming skills are going to be needed to fight off a real alien invasion. Spoilers.

[more]
Colony 15 August 2017

Colony, designed by Ted Alspach, Toryo Hojo and Yoshihisa Nakatsu, is a dice-based resource-building game of post-apocalyptic survival for 2-4 players.

[more]
Spider Dance, Carole Nelson Douglas 14 August 2017

2004 historical mystery, eighth of Douglas's novels about Irene Adler. Still in New York, Irene Adler looks into the last days of the woman who might have been her mother, and finds that other people are taking a violent interest in the matter.

[more]
Gateway, Frederik Pohl 12 August 2017 - 2 comments

1977 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction (and the Locus and Campbell too). The mysterious and vanished aliens known as Heechee left behind a space station in solar orbit, and lots of small FTL spacecraft attached to it. But humans haven't really worked out how to navigate them yet.

[more]
The Good Place season 1 10 August 2017

2016 fantasy comedy, 14 episodes. Eleanor dies, and goes to the afterlife. Not Heaven, exactly, but… The Good Place. Only problem is, she's pretty sure she's not meant to be there, but admitting it would surely make things worse.

[more]
Help Fund My Robot Army, John Joseph Adams 09 August 2017 - 1 comment

2014 SF anthology consisting of short stories in the form of crowdfunding pitches and site updates.

[more]
July-August 2017 Trailers 07 August 2017 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Hide My Eyes, Margery Allingham 05 August 2017

1958 classic English detective fiction; sixteenth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Several crimes seem to be vaguely related to a shabby-respectable area in west London, but how can it all be put together? US vtt Tether's End and Ten Were Missing.

[more]
Jam, Yahtzee Croshaw 02 August 2017

2012 horror comedy. Travis wakes up one morning to find that Brisbane has been flooded with carnivorous strawberry jam.

[more]
Off With His Head, Ngaio Marsh 31 July 2017

1957 classic English detective fiction; nineteenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. In the village of South Mardian, the Dance of the Five Sons is still performed at midwinter; but this year one of the dancers will be decapitated in truth as well as in jest. US vt Death of a Fool.

[more]
The Library Paradox, Catherine Shaw 26 July 2017

2006 historical mystery, third of Shaw's series. In 1896, Vanessa Weatherburn (now a mother of twins) investigates the murder of a professor of history at King's College.

[more]
Pyramid 105: Cinematic Magic 25 July 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's magic inspired by large-scale filmic stories. Is it just going to be a rerun of #102 Epic? Not quite.

[more]
The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge 23 July 2017

2015 fantasy. In Victorian England, Faith Sunderly has gone with her family to the Isle of Vane as her father the famous naturalist supervises the excavation of fossils, though it gradually becomes apparent that he is under some sort of cloud. Still, there is science to be done… by the men.

[more]
Dying on Principle, Judith Cutler 21 July 2017 - 3 comments

1997 mystery; third of Cutler's novels of Sophie Rivers, a teacher in a sixth-form college in Birmingham. Seconded to a new college for a project, Sophie finds the proximity to her home and the high equipment budget don't compensate for a strange managerial attitude… or for murder.

[more]
Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge 19 July 2017

2014 fantasy. Triss has survived a fall in the river, but she doesn't feel quite right: she's permanently hungry, her memories are fuzzy, and her sister refuses to talk to her.

[more]
Scream Queens season 2 18 July 2017

2016, 10 episodes. Horror comedy by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan: the survivors of the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority house massacre are now running a hospital, but they haven't got away from masked killers.

[more]
Scales of Justice, Ngaio Marsh 17 July 2017

1955 classic English detective fiction; eighteenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The quiet village of Swevenings has seen two deaths recently: Sir Harold Lacklander of the Foreign Service died of old age and heart failure, leaving his memoirs to his good friend and neighbour Colonel Cartarette to edit and publish. But now someone's stove the Colonel's head in.

[more]
A Face Like Glass, Frances Hardinge 15 July 2017 - 2 comments

2012 fantasy. In the underground city of Caverna, Neverfell was found with no memories, aged five, in a cheese-vat. Seven years later, she sets out to catch an escaped rabbit, and ends up finding her place in the world.

[more]
June-July 2017 Trailers 14 July 2017 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman 13 July 2017 - 1 comment

1974 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning military science fiction. William Mandella is a conscript in Earth's first interstellar war; it starts off looking an awful lot like Vietnam.

[more]
Fune wo Amu 12 July 2017

2016 slice of life, novel adaptation in 11 episodes: AniDB, vt "The Great Passage". Introverted Majime is a useless salesman for Genbu Publishing, but finds his true calling working in the Dictionary Editorial Department.

[more]
Hugo 2017: Campbell Award 11 July 2017

These are my thoughts on the Campbell Award-nominated authors (yes, I know it's not a Hugo) based on the material provided in the voter pack. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so.

[more]
Hugo 2017: Novel 09 July 2017

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated novels. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so.

[more]
Hugo 2017: Series 07 July 2017

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated series. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so.

[more]
Hugo 2017: Short Story 05 July 2017

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated short stories. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so.

[more]
The Catch season 1 04 July 2017 - 2 comments

2016 caper show, 10 episodes. Alice Vaughan, private investigator, discovers her fiancé was a con artist stealing from her firm. But in spite of all that, neither of them is quite ready to break things off.

[more]
Hugo 2017: Novelette 03 July 2017 - 5 comments

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated novelettes. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so.

[more]
Hugo 2017: Novella 01 July 2017 - 2 comments

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated novellas. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so.

[more]
Tour de Force, Christianna Brand 29 June 2017

1955 detective fiction; sixth and last of Brand's novels of Inspector Cockrill. On a Conducted Tour (an early package holiday) in Italy, one of the group is murdered. Nobody has a strong motive, and everyone seems to have an alibi. But the local Grand Duke is determined to execute someone

[more]
Pyramid 104: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game 28 June 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's one of the three issues promised during the Dungeon Fantasy RPG kickstarter.

[more]
Penric and the Shaman, Lois McMaster Bujold 27 June 2017

2016 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion), second in the Penric sub-series. Now a trained sorcerer, Penric is lent to a detective chasing the murderer of a young nobleman; of course it's more complicated than that.

[more]
Lethal Weapon season 1 26 June 2017 - 1 comment

2016-2017, 18 episodes: Murtaugh is a straight-arrow cop, Riggs is his ker-razy partner.

[more]
Airs Above the Ground, Mary Stewart 25 June 2017

1965 mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. Vanessa March, married two years, had a fight with her husband Lewis just before he left on a business trip to Stockholm. But then he shows up on a newsreel about a circus fire in Austria… with his arm round a blonde.

[more]
High Island Blues, Ann Cleeves 23 June 2017

1996 detective fiction; eighth and apparently last of Cleeves's novels of amateur private detectives George and Molly Palmer-Jones. George is commissioned to look into a possible charity fraud, then whipped off to Texas to assist an old birdwatching friend who's being accused of murder.

[more]
The Beckoning Lady, Margery Allingham 20 June 2017

1955 classic English detective fiction; fifteenth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Campion's friends and country neighbours the Cassands are having their annual party; but three corpses will go some way towards spoiling the fun.

[more]
Westworld season 1 19 June 2017

2016 science fiction, 10 episodes. At the Westworld holiday resort, the android "hosts" exist to be shot, slept with, and generally taken advantage of. But some of them are starting to remember.

[more]
Femme Fatale, Carole Nelson Douglas 18 June 2017

2003 historical mystery, seventh of Douglas's novels about Irene Adler. Goaded by the scandal-mongering reporter Nellie Bly, Irene travels back to New York to look into a past of which she has little memory… but someone seems to be killing people who figured in it.

[more]
May-June 2017 Trailers 17 June 2017

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin 16 June 2017

1974 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. Shevek is a physicist working on a new theory of time, but he finds political obstruction even in an anarchist utopia. He travels to the mother world to continue his work.

[more]
Murder of Crows, Annie Bellet 13 June 2017

2014 modern fantasy, second in the series. Jade Crow is training to fight against the big nasty magician, but her father calls for help. You really shouldn't go home again.

[more]
Too Like the Lightning, Ada Palmer 11 June 2017

2016 Hugo-nominated science fiction, first book of Terra Ignota. Even in a techno-utopia, there are people who are unhappy with the rules.

[more]
Van Helsing season 1 10 June 2017 - 2 comments

2016 post-apocalyptic horror, 13 episodes. Vampires have always walked the earth, and after a Yellowstone-eruption-induced loss of sunlight they've taken over. Three years later, a descendant of Abraham van Helsing helps to fight against them.

[more]
Spinsters in Jeopardy, Ngaio Marsh 09 June 2017

1954 classic English detective fiction; seventeenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Alleyn is combining work for the Sûreté with a family holiday in the South of France, but sees a possible murder from the train, and then things get even more complicated. US vt The Bride of Death.

[more]
The Obelisk Gate, N K Jemisin 07 June 2017

2016 Hugo-nominated science-fantasy. As the world ends, two orogenes try to protect their little patches of it. Definitely don't try to start the series here.

[more]
The Shape of Dread, Marcia Muller 05 June 2017

1990 mystery; ninth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Tracy Kostakos, rising comedian, disappeared two years ago; Bobby Foster confessed to kidnapping and killing her. But there's no body, he's recanted the confession, and All Souls Legal Cooperative is handling his appeal.

[more]
GURPS Hot Spots: The Silk Road, Matt Riggsby 04 June 2017

This historical GURPS supplement looks at the Silk Road during the peak years of its importance, between roughly the second and tenth centuries AD.

[more]
Death on the Air and Other Stories, Ngaio Marsh 03 June 2017

1989 collection of short mystery stories, some featuring Roderick Alleyn.

[more]
London Particular, Christianna Brand 01 June 2017

1952 detective fiction; fifth of Brand's novels of Inspector Cockrill. Raoul Vernet, fading roué, had his head bashed in on a foggy night – in a nearly empty house. But everyone's got something to hide. US vt Fog of Doubt.

[more]
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar 31 May 2017

2016 fantasy, light novel adaptation in 12½ episodes: AniDB. Six people find themselves in a monster-bashing fantasy world, without memories or resources. vt Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.

[more]
C.R.O.W., Phillip Richards 30 May 2017

2012 military science fiction, first of a planned five-book series. Private Andy Moralee has passed Dropship Infantry training, but it didn't prepare him for a unit posting and battle itself.

[more]
Incorporated season 1 29 May 2017 - 4 comments

2016 cyberpunk drama, 10 episodes. Ben Larson, corporate climber, is secretly a climate-change refugee under a false identity, trying to find and save the woman he grew up with and lost.

[more]
The Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham 28 May 2017

1952 classic English detective fiction; fourteenth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Meg Elginbrodde thought she was widowed in the war, and now plans to marry again; but someone is sending her recent photographs of a man who might be her late husband. Can it really be as simple as blackmail?

[more]
Keeping Bad Company, Ann Granger 26 May 2017

1997 mystery; second of Granger's novels of Fran Varady, would-be actress and amateur sleuth. Fran's waiting at a station and feels sorry for a homeless man, so gives him a cup of coffee. Soon she's hearing his life story… and all about the young woman he saw being kidnapped a few days ago.

[more]
May 2017 Trailers 25 May 2017

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Pyramid 103: Setbacks 24 May 2017 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's things that go wrong for player characters.

[more]
Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee 22 May 2017

2016 Hugo-nominated science fiction. In a world defined by belief, Kel Cheris won a battle against heretics… by using a heretical technique. That makes her the perfect leader for a really important mission.

[more]
Flying Witch 21 May 2017

2016 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB. Makoto the trainee witch moves to a rural town in Aomori prefecture to live with her (non-magical) relatives.

[more]
White Rabbit Project season 1 20 May 2017

2016 popular science/history, 10 episodes. The team does practical investigation of various historical events and other claims.

[more]
Opening Night, Ngaio Marsh 18 May 2017

1951 classic English detective fiction; sixteenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Towards the end of the opening night of a new play, one of the cast kills himself. Or does he? US vt Night at the Vulcan.

[more]
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke 16 May 2017 - 1 comment

1973 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. In 2131, an object falls into the inner Solar System at high speed: it turns out to be an alien artefact, and only one ship is in a position to take a look before it falls out again.

[more]
Past Caring, Robert Goddard 14 May 2017

1987 partly-historical mystery. In 1910, Edwin Strafford was Home Secretary under Asquith, and engaged to be married; then, suddenly, his intended refused to speak to him, his political career collapsed, and he ended up as a consular official in Madeira. In 1977, unemployed history teacher Martin Radford is employed by an eccentric South African to find out why, but the past is not as dead as he might have hoped.

[more]
Kuromukuro 13 May 2017

2016 mecha science fiction, 26 episodes: AniDB, vt Black Relic. In the near future, a UN research station at the Kurobe Dam is looking into some ancient artefacts… and enigmatic aliens start to invade Earth.

[more]
Frequency season 1 12 May 2017

2016-2017 detection, 13 episodes. Frank Sullivan the homicide detective was shot and killed in 1996; in 2016, his daughter Raimy, also a homicide detective, finds that she can talk to Frank of twenty years ago via an old ham radio.

[more]
April-May 2017 Trailers 11 May 2017 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Going Grey, Karen Traviss 09 May 2017

2014 military SF, first of a series. Ian Dunlop thinks he might be going mad, but he's the product of an illegal experiment. That secret has been well kept for years, but now it's getting out.

[more]
Chance season 1 08 May 2017 - 2 comments

2016 noir thriller, 10 episodes. A forensic neuropsychiatrist finds himself getting in way, way over his head.

[more]
Pyramid 102: Epic 07 May 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's things to make the players say "that's amazing".

[more]
Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective, Leslie Thomas 06 May 2017

1976 comedic detective fiction; first of Thomas's novels of "Dangerous" Davies, barely-competent and perenially unlucky detective constable in Willesden. Set to look for a local criminal who might have returned to the area, Davies turns this into an investigation of a twenty-five-year-old disappearance.

[more]
Shokugeki no Soma season 2 05 May 2017

2016 cooking story, shounen manga adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB, vt "Food Wars: The Second Plate". Yukihira Sōma continues to fight cooking duels on his way up the élite Totsuki cooking school.

[more]
Most Secret, Nevil Shute 04 May 2017

1945 war story (written in 1942 but held back by the censor). Four mismatched officers come together on a project to build up French morale by deploying a flamethrower against German coastal forces.

[more]
The Exorcist season 1 02 May 2017

2016 horror, 10 episodes. Suburban family's daughter is demonically possessed; two priests try to do something about it.

[more]
Swing Brother Swing, Ngaio Marsh 01 May 2017

1949 classic English detective fiction; fifteenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Lord Pastern and Bagott, sitting in on the drums in a jazz band, has set up a bit of business where he "shoots" the piano-accordionist, Carlos Rivera, who falls down and is carried off stage. But Rivera's made himself offensive to everyone, and he's not going to be getting up again. US vt A Wreath for Rivera.

[more]
Dark Matter season 2 30 April 2017

2016 science fiction, 13 episodes. The motley crew of the Raza continues to try to stay alive, and maybe even do something worthwhile.

[more]
The Red: First Light, Linda Nagata 29 April 2017

2013 military SF, first of a trilogy. In the near future, Lieutenant James Shelley commands a Linked Combat Squad of tech-enhanced soldiers in a desert war everyone knows is pointless, but profitable to the right people. Lately he seems to have developed a reliable sense of imminent danger. (vt The Red in 2015 revised release.)

[more]
Kyoukai no Rinne season 2 27 April 2017

2016 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation in 25 episodes: AniDB, vt "Circle of Reincarnation". High school student Mamiya Sakura, and Rokudō Rinne the shinigami, continue to have wacky adventures dealing with the spirit world.

[more]
Death of Jezebel, Christianna Brand 26 April 2017

1949 detective fiction; fourth of Brand's novels of Inspector Cockrill. Isabel Drew is domineering, vain, and thoughtless, but beautiful enough to get away with it. Today her chickens will be coming home to roost.

[more]
Braindead 25 April 2017 - 1 comment

2016 political science fiction, 13 episodes. Alien insects are taking over American politicians. This causes surprisingly little disruption.

[more]
March-April 2017 Trailers 23 April 2017

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
The Sacred Art of Stealing, Christopher Brookmyre 22 April 2017

2002 tartan noir. Angelique de Xavia, police detective burning out after the events of A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, comes up against a gang of Situationist bank robbers.

[more]
Death by Water, Kerry Greenwood 20 April 2017

2005 historical detection, fifteenth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). After a series of jewel thefts aboard the SS Hinemoa, Phryne is employed by P&O as both detective and bait.

[more]
Pyramid 101: Humor 18 April 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's humour, something I've always found tricky in RPGs.

[more]
The Last Ship season 3 17 April 2017

2016 science fiction, 13 episodes. As the world starts to rebuild after the megaplague, some people decide they prefer it the way it is.

[more]
Flowers Stained With Moonlight, Catherine Shaw 16 April 2017 - 2 comments

2005 historical epistolary mystery, second of Shaw's series. In 1892, a young woman's much older husband has been murdered; her mother brings in Vanessa Duncan to try to get the answers and avoid scandal before the police arrest the widow.

[more]
New Game! 15 April 2017

2016 slice of life, 4-koma manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB. Suzukaze Aoba joins the studio that's making the third game in a series she loved growing up.

[more]
South by Java Head, Alistair MacLean 14 April 2017

1958 thriller/war story. In February 1942, Singapore is about to fall to the Japanese; one last ship makes it out, but those who made it aboard won't have an easy trip to safety.

[more]
A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, Christopher Brookmyre 12 April 2017

2001 tartan noir. What's the connection between new teacher and new father Ray Ash, and international terrorist-for-hire The Black Spirit? Rather more than one might suspect.

[more]
Rizzoli & Isles season 7 11 April 2017

2016, 13 episodes: the final season of odd-couple crimefighting from Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles.

[more]
Dagashi Kashi 10 April 2017

2016 contemporary comedy, 12 episodes, manga adaptation: AniDB. Kokonotsu works at his father's old-fashioned sweet shop, but wants to draw manga. A strange girl appears to try to recruit his father, but first she needs to persuade Kokonotsu to take over the shop.

[more]
More Work for the Undertaker, Margery Allingham 09 April 2017

1948 classic English detective fiction; thirteenth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. The decaying Palinodes are lodging in what used to be the family house, but one of them seems to have been poisoned; what is the neighbouring undertaker up to; and why is a delirious crook terrified of "going up Apron Street"?

[more]
Wynonna Earp season 1 08 April 2017

2016 urban fantasy/horror, 13 episodes. Wynonna Earp, distant descendant of Wyatt, comes back to her home town to learn that her job in life is to send back to hell the revenants of the men who died by Earp's gun "Peacemaker".

[more]
The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov 07 April 2017 - 3 comments

1972 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. The Electron Pump has brought limitless free energy to Earth, by exchanging matter with a parallel universe where the physical laws differ. But one or two people think there might be a worm in this apple.

[more]
The Book of the Dead, Elizabeth Daly 05 April 2017

1944 mystery; eighth of Daly's books of Henry Gamadge, book expert and amateur investigator. Mr Crenshaw arrived in New York, settled his affairs and died of leukemia, with no relatives to be informed; but a casual acquaintance didn't like the look of his servant, and asks Gamadge to dig into the matter.

[more]
Killjoys season 2 04 April 2017

2016, 10 episodes. Space bounty hunters fight what looks at first like political oppression, but which turns out to have more behind it.

[more]
Into the Storm, Taylor Anderson 02 April 2017 - 3 comments

2008 alternate-history science fiction war story. During the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942, two antiquated four-stacker destroyers sail into a squall… and come out somewhere else.

[more]
Arslan Senki (2015) season 2 01 April 2017

2016 pseudo-historical fantasy, novel series adaptation in 8 episodes: AniDB, vtt "Arslan Senki Fuujin Ranbu" and "Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance".

[more]
Final Curtain, Ngaio Marsh 31 March 2017

1947 classic English detective fiction; fourteenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Agatha Troy is commissioned to paint a portrait of Sir Henry Ancred, famed Shakespearian actor; the house is full of his variously ghastly family, including the chorus-girl he's taken up with.

[more]
Angie Tribeca, season 2 30 March 2017

2016 police parody, 10 episodes. Detective Angie Tribeca solves crimes in the RHCU, the Really Heinous Crimes Unit.

[more]
The Guns of Navarone, Alistair MacLean 29 March 2017

1957 thriller/war story. The island of Navarone, off the Turkish coast, contains a set of naval guns in a rock fortress that can't be effectively bombed, surrounded by a massive occupation force. Two sabotage missions have failed, one by boat, one by parachute. It's time for the third.

[more]
March 2017 Trailers 28 March 2017 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks, James Anderson 27 March 2017

2003 somewhat parodic cosy detective fiction; third and last of Anderson's novels of the Earl of Burford and Inspector Wilkins. The last two house parties at Alderley ended in murder, but surely there can't be any harm in having people down for Great-Aunt Flossie's funeral and the reading of her will?

[more]
HMS Ulysses, Alistair MacLean 25 March 2017

1955 thriller/war story, MacLean's first novel. Ulysses, a heavily-modified Dido-class cruiser, has been worked nearly to death on the Arctic convoys, but in spite of that, and of an arguable mutiny among the men, she's sent out for one more run.

[more]
Pyramid 100: Pyramid Secrets 23 March 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's a celebration of 100 issues of Pyramid, and various articles that wouldn't fit well elsewhere.

[more]
Ringworld, Larry Niven 22 March 2017

1970 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. A motley crew of explorers travels to an immense, star-girdling ring.

[more]
Bones season 11 21 March 2017

2015-2016, 22 episodes. Police procedural in the CSI mould: a team of forensic experts at the "Jeffersonian" consults for the FBI.

[more]
Asking for Trouble, Ann Granger 20 March 2017

1997 mystery; first of Granger's novels of Fran Varady. Fran is unemployed, broke, and about to be turfed out of her London squat along with her three housemates. But one of those housemates is soon going to turn up dead.

[more]
Henry Martyn, L. Neil Smith 18 March 2017

1989 swashbuckling science fiction. Against the background of the thousand-years' war between the Hanoverian Monopolity and the Jendyne Empery-Cirot, Arran Islay fights for freedom and revenge.

[more]
Koutetsujou no Kabaneri 17 March 2017

2016 steampunk action, 12 episodes, anime original: AniDB, vt "Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress". With the shogunate ravaged by zombies (kabane), civilisation survives in great walled "stations" and the armoured steam "fortresses" that travel between them.

[more]
This Rough Magic, Mary Stewart 16 March 2017

1964 mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. After the play that was to be her Big Break closed in disgrace, Lucy Waring goes to visit her married sister in Corfu. But why would anyone shoot at the dolphin that comes into their bay?

[more]
They Found Him Dead, Georgette Heyer 14 March 2017

1937 detective fiction; third of Heyer's novels of Detective Inspector, later Superintendent, Hannasyde and Sergeant Hemingway. Silas Kane is found at the foot of a cliff on the morning after his sixtieth birthday party; obviously he slipped. But then his heir is quite blatantly shot, and attempts are made on the life of the next heir.

[more]
February-March 2017 Trailers 13 March 2017

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
12 Monkeys season 2 12 March 2017

2016 SF, 13 episodes. The plague that wiped out human civilisation is still a problem for the post-apocalyptic time travellers to solve, but other time travellers are a greater threat.

[more]
A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers 09 March 2017

2016 science fiction, stand-alone sequel to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. A new AI in an illegal human-shaped body, and the human who's getting it out of a bad situation, work together to build new lives.

[more]
Suddenly at His Residence, Christianna Brand 07 March 2017

1946 detective fiction; third of Brand's novels of Inspector Cockrill. Sir Richard's grandchildren visit his country house in the summer of 1944 as flying-bombs descend on London; he decides to disinherit them all, goes to spend the night in the lodge dedicated to the memory of his deceased first wife, and is found dead in the morning. US vt The Crooked Wreath.

[more]
Pyramid 99: Death and Beyond 06 March 2017 - 3 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's death, and what might follow.

[more]
Queen of the Flowers, Kerry Greenwood 05 March 2017

2004 historical detection, fourteenth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne investigates a disappeared "fast" girl, and one of her adopted daughters tries to find her original father. But will Phryne manage to appear as Queen of the Flowers at the St Kilda Festival? Of course she will.

[more]
Firefly Crime and Punishment: unboxing and first look 04 March 2017

My copy of the Crime and Punishment expansion for Firefly arrived on Thursday.

[more]
Top Gear season 2.23 and The Grand Tour season 1 02 March 2017

Top Gear: 2015, 6 episodes; The Grand Tour: 2015-2016, 13 episodes. In both cases, these are comedy shows lightly disguised as motoring programmes.

[more]
Sakamoto Desu ga 01 March 2017

2016 contemporary comedy, 12 episodes, manga adaptation: AniDB, vt "Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto". Sakamoto is the coolest student in the high school, perfect at everything.

[more]
The Weight Of The Evidence, Michael Innes 28 February 2017

1943 mystery, ninth in Innes' John Appleby series. At Nestfield University, Professor Pluckrose is found dead in his deck-chair on the Green, crushed by a meteorite; surely not an accident, and Appleby investigates.

[more]
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin 27 February 2017

1969 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. Genly Ai is a human emissary to the world of Winter, sent to bring it into star-travelling civilisation. The natives change gender as part of their life cycle. And this is a problem for him.

[more]
Castle Rouge, Carole Nelson Douglas 26 February 2017

2002 historical mystery, sixth of Douglas's novels about Irene Adler. Following the events of Chapel Noir, our protagonists variously head east to put an end to the Ripper mystery.

[more]
February 2017 Trailers 25 February 2017

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. These trailer posts are now not on a strict monthly rotation any more, but are being mixed into the automatic post scheduler that runs the rest of the blog.)

[more]
Weapons of Choice, John Birmingham 23 February 2017 - 1 comment

2004 alternate-history science fiction war story. In the near future, an American-led multinational naval force is approaching an Indonesia turned muslim-fundamentalist, when it finds itself hurled through time to 1942, just before the Battle of Midway.

[more]
Stitchers season 2 21 February 2017

2016 science fiction, 10 episodes. Kirsten Clark continues to have her consciousness inserted into the minds of the recently-dead, while hunting for more information about her father.

[more]
Died in the Wool, Ngaio Marsh 20 February 2017

1945 classic English detective fiction; thirteenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Florence Rubrick, sheep station owner and local MP, vanished one night from her home; her body was found some weeks later, packed into a bale of wool. Eighteen months later, Alleyn is hunting for spies in New Zealand, and informally takes on the case.

[more]
Pyramid 98: Welcome to Dungeon Fantasy 18 February 2017 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time, to support the forthcoming Dungeon Fantasy RPG, it's all about dungeon-bashing.

[more]
The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan 17 February 2017

1915 thriller; first of Buchan's books about Richard Hannay. Bored in London, Hannay invites his worried neighbour into his flat, and soon finds both the authorities and a cunning group of terrorists against him.

[more]
Joker Game 15 February 2017

2016 historical espionage, adaptation of a novel series, 12 episodes: AniDB. In the years just before the Second World War, a maverick Japanese spymaster establishes a new intelligence agency.

[more]
Elementary season 4 13 February 2017

2015-2016, 24 episodes. In modern New York, (a completely different) Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson continue to consult for the police.

[more]
The Three Body Problem, Catherine Shaw 11 February 2017

2004 historical epistolary mystery. In Cambridge in 1888, a young schoolmistress tries to solve the murders of three mathematicians before her beau is convicted of them.

[more]
Chapel Noir, Carole Nelson Douglas 07 February 2017

2001 historical mystery, fifth of Douglas's novels about Irene Adler. In Paris in 1889, the Exposition Universelle is in full swing… but a notorious killer seems to have come over from London.

[more]
Borderline, Nevada Barr 05 February 2017

2009 mystery, fifteenth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. After the events of the last book, Anna's on administrative leave; she travels with her husband to the Rio Grande for a rafting trip. They come across a nearly-dead, very pregnant woman; and apparently someone wants to finish the job.

[more]
DanMachi 04 February 2017

2015 fantasy, adaptation of a light novel series, 12 episodes: AniDB. In a world where gods dwell among humans, Bell Cranel is a novice adventurer. Full title: Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka: Familia Myth, or Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?.

[more]
Justice Calling, Annie Bellet 02 February 2017

2014 modern fantasy/romance. Jade Crow runs a comics-and-games shop in Wylde, Idaho, where lots of magical creatures congregate. She's hiding from someone. But she isn't going to be able to stay hidden.

[more]
January 2017 Trailers 01 February 2017 - 4 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Coroner's Pidgin, Margery Allingham 30 January 2017

1945 classic English detective fiction; twelfth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Back in London after three years overseas on mysterious war work, Campion just wants to catch a train; but Lugg and an unknown lady turn up in his flat with a corpse. US vt Pearls Before Swine.

[more]
Limitless season 1 29 January 2017

2015-2016, 22 episodes. Brian Finch is an unemployed slacker, until he's introduced to a brain-boosting drug. Naturally he goes to work for the FBI to catch crooks.

[more]
Dune, Frank Herbert 28 January 2017

1965 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science fiction. In the distant future, plots whirl within plots, and the control of the most valuable planet in the universe is a poisoned chalice.

[more]
Limitless 27 January 2017

2011 science fiction, dir. Neil Burger, Bradley Cooper, Robert de Niro: IMDb / allmovie

Eddie Morra is a struggling writer, until his ex-brother-in-law offers him a new drug that makes him smarter.

[more]
Be My Enemy, Christopher Brookmyre 26 January 2017

2004 tartan noir. Jack Parlabane is invited to the junket weekend of a new firm that plans to run team-building retreats with a twist. But that twist is going to turn out to be rather more twisted than anyone expects.

[more]
Mike, P. G. Wodehouse 24 January 2017

1909 school stories, compilation from magazine publication in 1907-1908: Mike Jackson, youngest of five cricketing brothers, goes first to Wrykin and then to Sedleigh. Also republished in separate parts later, as Mike at Wrykin and Mike and Psmith; the latter also as Enter Psmith.

[more]
Night Without End, Alistair MacLean 22 January 2017 - 2 comments

1959 thriller. An airliner makes a forced rough landing near a weather observation post in the highlands of Greenland. What was it doing that far north, what foul play was involved, and who is responsible?

[more]
Schwarzesmarken 21 January 2017

2016 alternate history mecha science fiction, adaptation of a manga spinoff of a visual novel, 12 episodes: AniDB. In 1983, the 666th Tactical Surface Fighter Squadron of the East German Army is the only force between the invading alien hordes and the rest of Germany.

[more]
Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Peggy Orenstein 20 January 2017

2011 non-fiction. Orenstein breaks down various elements of the pink-princess culture as marketed to young girls.

[more]
The Last Frontier, Alistair MacLean 18 January 2017

1959 thriller. British agent Michael Reynolds travels to Budapest to retrieve a British scientist kidnapped by the Russians and due to be shown off at a conference. US vt The Secret Ways.

[more]
Colour Scheme, Ngaio Marsh 17 January 2017

1943 classic English detective fiction; twelfth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. At a run-down hot-springs resort in the back country of New Zealand, one guest seems to be going out of his way to offend everyone; then he vanishes.

[more]
Castle season 8 16 January 2017

2015-2016, 22 episodes. Famous writer Richard Castle continues to work with NYPD homicide detective (now Captain) Kate Beckett, in the final season of this police procedural.

[more]
Psycho, Robert Bloch 15 January 2017

1959 horror. Mary Crane has stolen $40,000 from her employer and is running away to get married. Unfortunately she's chosen to stay at the wrong motel.

[more]
Twilight Robbery, Frances Hardinge 13 January 2017

2011 non-historical fiction, sequel to Fly By Night. Mosca Mye and Eponymous Clent are still in trouble, and attempting to flee through Toll, the town that controls the only bridge across the big river. But both entering and leaving have their price. US vt Fly Trap.

[more]
Pyramid 97: Strange Powers 12 January 2017

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's the loose idea of bizarre phenomena and, well, strange powers.

[more]
One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, Christopher Brookmyre 11 January 2017 - 1 comment

1999 tartan noir. Gavin Hutchison has a brilliant idea: convert an oil rig to an offshore resort hotel for xenophobic tourists, with all the comforts of home but warmer weather since it'll be moored off the African coast. What better way to show it off than by hosting a school reunion there?

[more]
Death and the Dancing Footman, Ngaio Marsh 08 January 2017

1941 (some sources say 1942) classic English detective fiction; eleventh of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. For his own amusement, Jonathan Royal invites six mortal enemies to a party at his house in Dorset. Really, the first surprise is that he isn't murdered.

[more]
Musaigen no Phantom World 07 January 2017

2016 contemporary fantasy novel adaptation in 13 episodes: Anidb, vt "Myriad Colors Phantom World". Phantoms, weird magical creatures created by the human subconscious, are everywhere; Haruhiko and his school friends seal them away when they cause trouble.

[more]
Lost Things, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 06 January 2017

2012 historical fantasy, first in the Order of the Air series. In 1929, as Lake Nemi is drained in search of its archaeological treasures, an ancient evil is loosed. Only four heroic aviator-magicians will be able to fight it.

[more]
Royal Navy School 05 January 2017

2016 reality television, 7 episodes. The series follows recruits through the ten weeks of selection for the Royal Navy at HMS Raleigh.

[more]
Surfeit of Lampreys, Ngaio Marsh 04 January 2017

1940 classic English detective fiction; tenth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The Lampreys are an impoverished aristocratic family; after Lord Charles's rich brother refused to give them yet another handout, he was found stabbed to death. Mad wife? Annoyed brother? Random stranger? Well, it'll never be that last in a classic mystery. US vt Death of a Peer.

[more]
Planetfall, Emma Newman 02 January 2017

2015 science fiction. Ren works as the 3D printer engineer in a colony on an extrasolar planet, right next to the alien biotech artefact known as God's City. Then a stranger shows up, a descendant of the people thought to have been lost in an accident during planetfall.

[more]
December 2016 Trailers 01 January 2017 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
2016 in Books 30 December 2016 - 2 comments

In 2016 I've read 133 books, down a little from recent years.

[more]
Akagami no Shirayukihime season 2 27 December 2016

2016 fantasy romance, shoujo manga continuation in 12 episodes as well as an OVA that bridges the two series: AniDB, vt "Snow White with the Red Hair". Shirayuki the herbalist continues to develop her low-key romance with Prince Zen.

[more]
Dying to Write, Judith Cutler 26 December 2016

1996 mystery; second of Cutler's novels of Sophie Rivers, teacher in a sixth-form college in Birmingham and part-time chorister. Sophie goes on a residential writing course; one of her fellow students dies, and a tutor goes missing.

[more]
Must Love Board Games 24 December 2016 - 1 comment

2016 short romantic comedy, dir. Travis Hedges Williams, Kacie Barnes, Tyler Grezaffi: IMDb

When Quinn meets David, she has to decide whether he is a worthy suitor: she knows the rules, just as she knows the rules of her favourite games. But he doesn't seem to be following them.

[more]
Heads You Lose, Christianna Brand 22 December 2016

1941 detective fiction; second of Brand's novels, and first to feature Inspector Cockrill. A visitor to a country house says "I wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch in a [hat] like that"… and is soon proved wrong. The next night another woman is murdered.

[more]
Dimension W 21 December 2016

2016 science fiction, 12 episodes: AniDB. In a world where all power is provided by "coils" that draw from a parallel dimension, Mabuchi Kyouma is a "collector" who gets hold of the illegal ones.

[more]
Rizzoli & Isles season 6 20 December 2016

2015-2016, 18 episodes. Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles continue in their odd-couple crimefighting.

[more]
The Mill on the Shore, Ann Cleeves 19 December 2016

1994 detective fiction; seventh of Cleeves's novels of amateur private detectives George and Molly Palmer-Jones. Jimmy Morrissey was the public voice of environmentalism and conservation, but killed himself with an overdose of antidepressants. Or did he?

[more]
Pyramid 96: Tech and Toys IV 18 December 2016

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's high technology and the things one can do with it.

[more]
God Emperor of Didcot, Toby Frost 17 December 2016 - 2 comments

2008 humorous science fiction, second in the series. Captain Isambard Smith of the British Empire in space is sent to the Didcot system, where a revolutionary movement threatens the Empire's supply of tea.

[more]
Death in High Heels, Christianna Brand 15 December 2016 - 2 comments

1941 detective fiction; first of Brand's novels, and first to feature Inspector Charlesworth. One of the senior staff of a London dress-shop dies of poison; her co-workers are the only plausible suspects.

[more]
Bubuki Buranki 1 14 December 2016

2016 mecha science fiction, 12 episodes: AniDB. In a very changed world, Kazuki Azuma leaves an island in the sky to return to Japan, and gets involved with power struggles and giant robots.

[more]
Spin and Die, Stella Whitelaw 13 December 2016

2000 mystery, third in Whitelaw's Jordan Lacey series. Jordan takes on a job following a woman suspected of compensation fraud against the local department store, and then tries to track down vanishing stock in the run-up to Christmas. And of course there's also a murder.

[more]
Traitor's Purse, Margery Allingham 11 December 2016

1940 classic English detective fiction; eleventh of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. An amnesiac Campion knows he was in the middle of dealing with a truly serious plot… but what is it all about, and whom can he trust? US vt The Sabotage Murder Mystery.

[more]
There's Something In a Sunday, Marcia Muller 09 December 2016

1989 mystery; eighth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Sharon's assigned to follow Frank Wilkinson as he spends his Sunday going round the horticultural high spots of San Francisco. But her client's obviously lying about why he wants the job done, and soon he ends up dead.

[more]
Ojisan to Marshmallow 08 December 2016

2016 contemporary comedy, 12 short episodes: AniDB, vt "Middle-Aged Man and Marshmallow". Hige is an overweight middle-aged man working at Web Related Company (sic); he loves marshmallows. Several of the office ladies are in love with him, for no obvious reason.

[more]
Death at the Bar, Ngaio Marsh 07 December 2016

1940 classic English detective fiction; ninth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. In an isolated village in Devon, a game of darts at the pub ends in death. Accidental? Surely not.

[more]
Leaving Earth 06 December 2016

Leaving Earth, designed by Joe Fatula, is a game of the exploration of the solar system for 1-5 players.

[more]
The Praxis, Walter Jon Williams 04 December 2016 - 2 comments

2003 space opera, first book of Dread Empire's Fall. The Shaa subjugated the galaxy, binding all the races they met – including humanity – under their universal philosophy, the Praxis. But ten thousand years later, the last Shaa has chosen to die.

[more]
Boku dake ga Inai Machi 03 December 2016

2016 seinen manga adaptation, 12 episodes: AniDB, vtt "Erased" and "The Town Without Me". Fujinuma Satoru sometimes slips back in time to just before a life-threatening accident, which lets him try to correct it. When his mother is murdered, he finds himself thrown back to eighteen years earlier, when he was in elementary school and someone was killing his classmates.

[more]
Thus Was Adonis Murdered, Sarah Caudwell 02 December 2016

1981 mystery, first of Caudwell's Hilary Tamar series. A young barrister, Julia, is taking a tour in Venice; she gets a gorgeous young man to bed, and a few hours later he's found dead, stabbed, with her copy of the Finance Act next to the body.

[more]
November 2016 Trailers 01 December 2016 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Rivethead, Ben Hamper 30 November 2016 - 1 comment

1991 autobiography. Hamper writes about his life working on the GM factory floor in Flint, Michigan.

[more]
Blindspot, season 1 29 November 2016 - 3 comments

2015-2016 police procedural, 23 episodes. A woman is found in a bag in Times Square: she's alive, naked, totally amnesiac, and covered with tattoos. The FBI investigates.

[more]
Overture to Death, Ngaio Marsh 28 November 2016

1939 classic English detective fiction; eighth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Miss Campanula was killed by a booby-trapped piano, but was she really the intended victim?

[more]
Pyramid 95: Overland Adventures 27 November 2016 - 4 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's wilderness adventures and travel in a fantasy, or at least low-tech, setting.

[more]
A Case of Spirits, Peter Lovesey 26 November 2016

1975 historical detective fiction; sixth of Lovesey's novels of Sergeant Cribb, policeman in Victorian London. Two thefts during séances conducted by the latest fashionable medium attract the attention of the police, but when the next séance ends in a death, mere spiritualism is clearly not the only deception going on.

[more]
Project Orion, George Dyson 24 November 2016

2002 non-fiction: George Dyson, son of Freeman, recounts what can be told of the history of Project Orion, a plan to propel spacecraft with nuclear explosions.

[more]
The Longest Day 23 November 2016 - 5 comments

1962 war, dir. Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki and others: IMDb / allmovie

The tale of the D-Day invasion in 1944, with a literal cast of thousands.

[more]
Slight Mourning, Catherine Aird 22 November 2016

1975 detective fiction; sixth of Aird's novels of Inspector Sloan and Constable Crosby. Bill Fent, local landowner, died when his car hit another at a notorious corner… but he'd have been dead before morning anyway, from the poison in his system.

[more]
Steampunk Rally 21 November 2016

Steampunk Rally, designed by Orin Bishop, is a game of racing bizarre inventions… or a card-drafting, engine-building game that uses a racetrack merely as a way of keeping score.

[more]
Mr Campion and Others, Margery Allingham 20 November 2016

1939/1950 collection of short mystery stories featuring Albert Campion.

[more]
MythBusters 2016 season 19 November 2016

2016, 10+2 episodes. If you're reading this you probably know what MythBusters was about, or you can go and find out.

[more]
Last Bus to Woodstock, Colin Dexter 18 November 2016 - 3 comments

1975 detective fiction; first of Dexter's novels of Inspector Morse. Two young women wait for the bus out of Oxford one night; one goes to hitch a ride, and her dead body is found the next day.

[more]
Grifters 17 November 2016

Grifters, designed by Jake Tlapek and David Fulton, is a hand-building game of crime syndicates for 2-4 players.

[more]
Dying Fall, Judith Cutler 16 November 2016 - 2 comments

1995 mystery; first of Cutler's novels of Sophie Rivers, a teacher in a sixth-form college in Birmingham. Finding one of her students stabbed to death in the lift is bad enough; when her best friend dies in a way that seems plausibly accidental except to people who knew him well, Sophie knows she'll have to look into the situation herself.

[more]
Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o 15 November 2016

2016 comedic fantasy manga adaptation in 10 episodes: Anidb, vt "Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!". Kazuma the shut-in dies in a traffic accident, but a goddess allows him to return to life in another world.

[more]
Enter the Saint, Leslie Charteris 14 November 2016

1930 thriller, second of the Saint series. In three loosely-linked novellas, the Saint takes on a succession of criminals.

[more]
GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style, Phil Masters 13 November 2016 - 2 comments

The original GURPS Steampunk was published in 2000: both GURPS and steampunk have moved on since then. This first of what's planned to be a new series of PDF supplements does not replace that book, but "updates and extends" the GURPS treatment of this genre.

[more]
Cast in Order of Disappearance, Simon Brett 12 November 2016 - 2 comments

1975 detective fiction; first of Brett's novels of Charles Paris, ageing actor. A friend and occasional lover of Charles's has been dumped by her current sugar daddy, and she asks him to return some compromising photographs. But getting in touch is going to be something of a challenge.

[more]
Earth Flight, Janet Edwards 10 November 2016

2014 young adult science fiction, third in the Earth Girl trilogy. Jarra is Handicapped, unable to leave Earth for any of the colony worlds where most of society now happens, but she's also a famous hero. Which means she's now become a symbol, both for those who want to bring the Handicapped more into society and for those who resist that trend.

[more]
My Drunk Kitchen, Hannah Hart 08 November 2016

2014 non-fiction. Hannah Hart, youtuber, shares recipes and her philosophy of life.

[more]
The X-Files season 10 07 November 2016

2016, 6 episodes. FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully continue to look into strange occurrences.

[more]
Death in a White Tie, Ngaio Marsh 06 November 2016

1938 classic English detective fiction; seventh of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Someone's blackmailing London's high society as the Season begins, and Alleyn asks a friend who moves in those circles to look into it; murder will be done.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 3: Born of Myth & Magic, Peter dell'Orto 05 November 2016 - 7 comments

This third Dungeon Fantasy Monsters book deal with monsters of known mythic origins, and expands on the popular "magical mistakes" category of monster.

[more]
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Alan Bradley 04 November 2016

2011 historical mystery; fourth in Bradley's series about Flavia de Luce, young amateur sleuth in 1950s Britain. As Christmas approaches, Buckshaw is let to a film crew who'll be making The Cry of the Raven, starring the famous Phyllis Wyvern. But not all of the company will be leaving again.

[more]
The Collapse of Western Civilization, Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes 02 November 2016

2014 science fiction. A nameless scholar of the Second Chinese Republic looks back from the year 2393 on the Penumbral Age that brought western civilisation to its close.

[more]
October 2016 Trailers 01 November 2016 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Artists in Crime, Ngaio Marsh 31 October 2016

1938 classic English detective fiction; sixth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. At an informal residential art school, the model has been murdered – by a method all the students had talked about some days before.

[more]
A Red Herring Without Mustard, Alan Bradley 29 October 2016

2011 historical mystery; third in Bradley's series about Flavia de Luce, young amateur sleuth in 1950s Britain. A missing baby, an assault on a Gypsy (sic) fortune-teller, and a murder in Flavia's own home will all turn out to be connected.

[more]
The Mystery of the Yellow Room, Gaston Leroux 27 October 2016

1907 mystery. Mlle Stangerson, daughter of the famous scientist, locked herself into her bedroom… then came the sound of a struggle, shouts of "Murder", and gunfire. When her father broke down the door, she was seriously injured and the only person there – and the window-bars had not been moved.

[more]
The Fashion in Shrouds, Margery Allingham 25 October 2016

1938 classic English detective fiction; tenth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Georgia Wells, actress and femme fatale, attracts men like moths. But somehow, just as they start to get troublesome, they seem to die. Is Georgia less silly, and more dangerous, than she appears?

[more]
The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag, Alan Bradley 24 October 2016 - 4 comments

2010 historical mystery; second in Bradley's series about Flavia de Luce, young amateur sleuth in 1950s Britain. Rupert Porson, the famous puppeteer (at least to those who have televisions), was passing through the village of Bishop's Lacey when his van broke down; since he's stuck there overnight, he might as well put on a show. But it's all going to go horribly wrong.

[more]
New TV series of 2016 23 October 2016 - 4 comments

There aren't many interesting-looking new series coming up this year. Here are a few I've glanced at. (Reviews based on first episodes only.)

[more]
The Affair of the Mutilated Mink, James Anderson 22 October 2016

1981 somewhat parodic cosy detective fiction; second of Anderson's novels of the Earl of Burford and Inspector Wilkins. After the last one, the Earl swore off house-parties, but it seems it's all happening again. Including the murder.

[more]
Into the Dark, J. A. Sutherland 21 October 2016 - 6 comments

2014 military SF, first book of the Alexis Carew series. Barred by her sex from inheriting the family estates, Carew signs aboard a ship of the Royal Navy as a midshipman… in space.

[more]
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley 20 October 2016

2009 historical mystery; first in Bradley's series about Flavia de Luce, young amateur sleuth in 1950s Britain. Flavia, one of three daughters of the widowed and impoverished Colonel de Luce, lives in Buckshaw, makes chemical experiments… and finds a body in the cucumber patch. Naturally, she investigates.

[more]
Vintage Murder, Ngaio Marsh 19 October 2016

1937 classic English detective fiction; fifth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. This time he's on holiday in New Zealand, sharing an overnight train with a touring theatrical troupe also from England, when the manager says that someone's tried to murder him. The next day, someone will succeed.

[more]
Greenmantle, John Buchan 17 October 2016

1916 thriller; second of Buchan's books about Richard Hannay. Richard Hannay and Sandy Arbuthnot are convalescing from wounds received at the Battle of Loos when word comes from Sir Walter Bullivant of the Foreign Office: the Germans have some kind of trump-card with which they're planning to set the Moslem world on fire.

[more]
Ask the Cards a Question, Marcia Muller 15 October 2016

1982 mystery; second in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. One of Sharon's neighbours in her apartment building is strangled, and it looks worryingly as if Sharon's house-guest, who's prone to alcoholic amnesia, might have done it.

[more]
Winter Study, Nevada Barr 13 October 2016

2008 mystery, fourteenth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. Anna returns to Isle Royale, this time in winter, to join the wolf/moose wildlife study; it's disrupted by an observer from Homeland Security, who clearly has a brief to shut it down and instead open the park in winter to "beef up security". Then traces of an unexpected large predator show up. Then people start to die.

[more]
Pyramid 94: Spaceships III 12 October 2016

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's a third issue on the general theme of Spaceships (the GURPS subsystem as well as the overall concept).

[more]
The Fifth Season, N K Jemisin 11 October 2016

2015 science-fantasy. The world known as the Stillness is wracked by tectonic activity; only the earth-shapers, the orogenes, can hold things together. So naturally they are slaves.

[more]
Edwin of the Iron Shoes, Marcia Muller 10 October 2016

1977 mystery; first in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Sharon's been looking into arson and vandalism on a street of junk and antique shops that's in the crosshairs of gentrification. But now one of the shop owners has been fatally stabbed.

[more]
The Case of the Late Pig, Margery Allingham 09 October 2016

1937 classic English detective fiction; ninth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Campion is called to the village of Kepesake as the recent rich incomer has clearly been murdered… but when Campion sees the body, he realises he went to the same man's funeral five months earlier.

[more]
The Killing of Worlds, Scott Westerfeld 08 October 2016

2003 military SF, second book of Succession. Captain Laurent Zai tries to win a space battle; Senator Nara Oxham tries to survive imperial politics.

[more]
Blood and Circuses, Kerry Greenwood 06 October 2016

1994 historical detection, sixth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne goes undercover in a circus to try to find out who's sabotaging it; and a performer who's moved on from it is accused of murder.

[more]
Unsolved London Murders, The 1920s and 1930s, Jonathan Oates 05 October 2016 - 2 comments

2009 non-fiction. Oates recounts the twenty cases in London during these two decades which were treated as murder, but never solved.

[more]
The Risen Empire, Scott Westerfeld 04 October 2016 - 1 comment

2003 military SF, first book of Succession. Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial frigate Lynx is attempting to rescue the Child Empress from invading cyborgs. Only that makes it sound dire, and it's actually rather good.

[more]
The Green Mill Murder, Kerry Greenwood 03 October 2016

1993 historical detection, fifth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). During a dance competition at the Green Mill, a figure slumps to the ground. Was he the target of his attacker – or was it Phryne? And why has her partner for the evening bolted?

[more]
Dancers in Mourning, Margery Allingham 02 October 2016

1937 classic English detective fiction; eighth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Someone's playing silly pranks on Jimmy Sutane, star of a successful musical; he invites Campion to look into it. But then one of Sutane's house-guests dies: accident, suicide, murder? Later US vt Who Killed Chloe?.

[more]
September 2016 Trailers 01 October 2016 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Death at Victoria Dock, Kerry Greenwood 30 September 2016

1992 historical detection, fourth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). As Phryne is driving home one night, someone shoots out her windscreen. As the gunfight moves on, she gets out of the car to find an injured young man, who dies in her arms.

[more]
Spider Light, Sarah Rayne 29 September 2016 - 3 comments

2006 psychological thriller. After a highly public series of tragic incidents, Antonia Weston goes to Cheshire to stay in a cottage near a small market town, hoping for anonymity and peace. But she soon experiences a series of events which seem to be echoing the past she's trying to forget.

[more]
Murder on the Ballarat Train, Kerry Greenwood 28 September 2016

1991 historical detection, third in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Everyone in one of the carriages on the overnight train to Ballarat is chloroformed; Phryne retains just enough consciousness to shoot out the window and let in some air. When everyone recovers, it's found that an elderly passenger has vanished. But why?

[more]
The Empress of Mars, Kage Baker 26 September 2016

2009 SF, loosely connected with the Company series. The British Arean Corporation sponsored the colonisation of Mars… then it turned out that short-term profits weren't possible, and they lost interest. Mary Griffith runs the only place to buy a beer on the Tharsis Bulge.

[more]
Death in Ecstasy, Ngaio Marsh 25 September 2016

1936 classic English detective fiction; fourth of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. At a meeting of the House of the Sacred Flame, a small cult, the Chosen Vessel drinks from the Flaming Cup, gabbles nonsensically, and dies of a dose of sodium cyanide.

[more]
The Expanse season 1 24 September 2016 - 5 comments

2015-2016 science fiction, 10 episodes. When the ice-hauler Canterbury gets destroyed, the Belters blame Mars, Mars blames Earth, and Earth blames the Belters.

[more]
Flying Too High, Kerry Greenwood 23 September 2016

1990 historical detection, second in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne takes on the case of a son whose mother is worried he'll murder his father, and then the father is indeed murdered; and she tracks down a kidnapped child.

[more]
GURPS Adaptations, William H. Stoddard 22 September 2016

This supplement is not about a specific world, or an area of GURPS rules: it's about how to convert a fictional setting for use in a role-playing campaign.

[more]
The Moon-Spinners, Mary Stewart 21 September 2016

1962; mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. Nicola Ferris, on holiday from her job at the British Embassy in Athens, has been looking forward to getting away from it all in an obscure corner of Crete. But a day of random wandering brings her into contact with two men, one of them badly injured.

[more]
Cocaine Blues, Kerry Greenwood 19 September 2016

1989 historical detection, first in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Intelligent, beautiful, rich, and bored, the Hon. Phryne Fisher travels to Australia in order to find out whether John Andrews is poisoning his wife, her clients' daughter.

[more]
Strong Poison, Dorothy Sayers 17 September 2016 - 8 comments

1930 classic English detective fiction; fifth of Sayers's novels of Lord Peter Wimsey. Philip Boyes, writer on atheism, anarchy and free love, died of quite a lot of arsenic; Harriet Vane, who had lived with him without benefit of clergy for nearly a year until they had quarrelled three months earlier, is accused of having poisoned him. Wimsey, seeing the trial, is convinced of her innocence, not to say smitten by her; when the jury cannot agree on a verdict, he makes it his business to save her from the gallows in the month before the new trial.

[more]
Eye of the Storm, Marcia Muller 16 September 2016

1988 mystery; seventh in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Sharon's sister Patsy has a new boyfriend, and a renovation project in the Sacramento Delta. But someone's playing tricks, sabotaging the project and scaring off the workers; Sharon takes a long weekend away from her job to help Patsy out.

[more]
Blood at the Bookies, Simon Brett 14 September 2016

2008 mystery; ninth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Jude drops into the local betting shop to take shelter from a sudden hailstorm; another customer staggers out, and turns up stabbed in an alley nearby.

[more]
Moonbeam City 13 September 2016

2015 science fiction comedy, 10 episodes. In a corrupt neon future, the Moonbeam City Police Department tries to keep the peace. More or less.

[more]
The Galapagos Incident, Felix R. Savage 12 September 2016 - 2 comments

2014 SF, first of the Solarian War Saga. Elfrida Goto works for the Space Corps, persuading asteroid-dwellers to accept resettlement before their asteroids are dropped into Venus as part of the terraforming project. But her telepresence robot is acting up, and then the space station she's living on comes under attack.

[more]
Pyramid 93: Cops and Lawyers 11 September 2016

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's police and legal systems.

[more]
Death Under the Dryer, Simon Brett 10 September 2016

2007 mystery; eighth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Carole always has her hair cut at Connie's Clip Joint, "same shape, but shorter". This time, Kyra, one of the juniors, hasn't turned up, and she turns out to have been left dead in the back room, strangled with the cord of a hair-dryer.

[more]
Flowers for the Judge, Margery Allingham 08 September 2016

1936 classic English detective fiction; seventh of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. The Barnabas family publishing house is used to strangeness; the founder's nephew disappeared in broad daylight while walking between his house and the main road. Now Paul Brande, one of the cousins who run the firm, is found dead inside a locked room. US vt Legacy in Blood.

[more]
The Stabbing in the Stables, Simon Brett 06 September 2016

2006 mystery; seventh in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Jude's been asked to extend her healing practice to a horse; but she doesn't expect to find the co-owner of the stables stabbed to death. Obviously it was the local "Horse Ripper", caught in the act. Or was it a jealous husband?

[more]
Resolute, Mike Shepherd 04 September 2016 - 2 comments

2006 military SF, fourth of the Kris Longknife books. Kris finally gets an independent command: a single-world "naval district" on the far end of anywhere.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 18: Power Items, Sean Punch 03 September 2016

This Dungeon Fantasy supplement deals with magical items that store spellcasting energy.

[more]
The Witness at the Wedding, Simon Brett 02 September 2016

2005 mystery; sixth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Carole's son is getting married, but the bride's parents are oddly reluctant to have any announcements made… and then the father is strangled.

[more]
August 2016 Trailers 01 September 2016 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
The Nursing Home Murder, Ngaio Marsh 30 August 2016

1935 classic English detective fiction; third of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. In a private hospital, the Home Secretary was operated on for appendicitis: shortly afterwards he was dead, poisoned with hyoscine (scopolamine). And all sorts of people seem to have had motives.

[more]
Sleepy Hollow season 3 29 August 2016

2015-2016: Ichabod Crane, survivor from the American Revolutionary War, and Abbie Mills, FBI agent, continue to fight supernatural beasties in the present day. (Spoilers for all seasons.)

[more]
The Hanging in the Hotel, Simon Brett 28 August 2016

2004 mystery; fifth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Jude is helping out at the Hopwicke Country House Hotel, but the morning after a boozy meeting of the Pillars of Sussex, an organisation of local businessmen, one of them doesn't come down to breakfast… because he's hanging from a beam of his four-poster bed. Obviously a suicide…

[more]
Connected 27 August 2016

2015 short science fiction, dir. Luke Gilford, Pamela Anderson, Dree Hemingway: IMDb.

An ageing fitness instructor is dissatisfied with her life, in particular feeling disconnected from the world, and looks for a way to fix it.

[more]
The Castlemaine Murders, Kerry Greenwood 26 August 2016

2003 historical detection, thirteenth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne investigates a mummified corpse found in a carnival attraction.

[more]
Murder in the Museum, Simon Brett 24 August 2016

2003; fourth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Bracketts, an Elizabethan house, is to be turned into a museum celebrating the life and work of the local poet Esmond Chadleigh, its most famous resident. Then a skull is dug up in the garden.

[more]
The Shattered Sphere, Roger MacBride Allen 22 August 2016 - 5 comments

1994 science fiction, sequel to The Ring of Charon. This review contains spoilers for that first book.

[more]
Subete ga F ni Naru 21 August 2016

2015 mystery novel adaptation, 11 episodes: AniDB, vt "Everything Becomes F" or "The Perfect Insider". Shiki Magata killed her parents when she was fourteen, but her mind was clearly disturbed, and she's a brilliant programmer; for the fifteen years since then, she's been confined to a few rooms within a research lab, with extremely restricted communication with the outside world. And yet, someone has managed to murder her.

[more]
The Torso in the Town, Simon Brett 20 August 2016

2002 mystery; third in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). The couple who've just moved into the Big House in Fedborough, inland up the river from Fethering, throw a dinner party to try to get into the local social scene… which is somewhat spoiled when a limbless body is discovered in the cellar.

[more]
Enter a Murderer, Ngaio Marsh 18 August 2016 - 3 comments

1935 classic English detective fiction; second of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. When Arthur Surbonadier is fatally shot on stage during the last act of The Rat and the Beaver, there's no question about who pulled the trigger: the shooting was part of the play. But there wasn't supposed to be live ammunition in the gun.

[more]
Second Chance, season 1 17 August 2016

2016 science fiction crime drama, 11 episodes. Jimmy Pritchard is a 75-year-old, corrupt, disgraced, but unrepentant former sheriff. When he's murdered, secretive tech billionaire twins restore him to life, youth and extreme vitality (as a side effect of their own plans). Formerly known as Frankenstein, The Frankenstein Code and Lookinglass.

[more]
Death on the Downs, Simon Brett 16 August 2016

2001 mystery; second in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). While out exploring the South Downs, Carole stumbles on a human skeleton. Jude thinks she knows who it might have been.

[more]
GURPS Magic: Death Spells, Sean Punch 15 August 2016

This supplement adds to the standard GURPS magic system, with spells designed not just to injure or curse but to kill.

[more]
Ruined City, Nevil Shute 14 August 2016

1938 fiction. Henry Warren, a successful banker, works all his waking hours, travelling across Europe to sort out financial deals, particularly share issues. His digestion is bad, and his wife's having an affair with a foreigner. When all the stress catches up with him, he winds up in the hospital of a northern town, one that's been without significant employment since the shipyard closed, and decides to do something about it. (US vt Kindling.)

[more]
The Body on the Beach, Simon Brett 12 August 2016

2000 mystery; first in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Carole Seddon, conventional, divorced, and retired from the Home Office, moves to the small seaside town of Fethering (inspired by the real Tarring in West Sussex). But her neighbour Jude turns out to be distressingly bohemian, and she finds a dead body while walking her dog on the beach… but by the time the police turn up, it's gone.

[more]
Retribution Falls, Chris Wooding 10 August 2016

2009 steampunk fantasy. Darian Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay and her crew of misfits, as they go about doing small-time jobs for small-time people. But they're all about to play for much higher stakes than they were ever expecting.

[more]
Colony, season 1 09 August 2016

2016 science fiction drama, 10 episodes. Aliens have landed and conquered Earth, ruling through drones and human trusties. But there is, of course, a resistance.

[more]
Viper Strike, Keith Douglass 08 August 2016

1991 military fiction; second in the Carrier series. A complex plot sees Burmese, Thai and Chinese renegades orchestrating a breakup of SEATO for purposes unclear at first. Carrier Battle Group 14 is going to get caught in the middle.

[more]
GURPS Power-Ups 7: Wildcard Skills, Sean Punch 07 August 2016 - 3 comments

This supplement clarifies and gives comprehensive examples of Wildcard Skills, a relatively under-used element of GURPS 4th edition.

[more]
Another Man's Poison, Ann Cleeves 06 August 2016

1993 detective fiction; fifth of Cleeves's novels of amateur private detectives George and Molly Palmer-Jones. Elderly Ursula Ottway lives in a cottage on an estate in the Cumbrian fell country; when she finds her cats dead from eating poisoned bait, she threatens to expose her landlord, rising politician Marcus Grenville, since he's obviously been illegally poisoning raptors to improve the grouse shooting. The next day she's dead. But she was Molly's aunt, and George and Molly were on their way to visit.

[more]
Carrier, Keith Douglass 04 August 2016

1991 military fiction; first in the Carrier series. An American intelligence ship and her crew vanish on the high seas; the North Koreans admit nothing. Carrier Battle Group 14 is sent in to get them out.

[more]
Agent Carter, season 2 03 August 2016 - 1 comment

2015-2016 superheroic fantasy, 10 episodes. In 1947, Peggy Carter, still working for a secret government agency, travels to Los Angeles to investigate strange goings-on there.

[more]
Brotherhood in Death, J. D. Robb 02 August 2016

2016 SF/mystery; fifty-third (roughly) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. Dennis Mira went to confront his cousin Edward over plans to sell the family house, but found him tied up in a chair; then someone knocked Dennis on the head. Now Edward's missing. Fortunately Dennis is married to Charlotte Mira, police profiler and friend of Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

[more]
July 2016 Trailers 01 August 2016

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
Deep South, Nevada Barr 31 July 2016

2000 mystery, eighth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. Newly promoted to District Ranger on the Natchez Trace Parkway, Anna finds herself the object of resentment by her time-serving underlings, then discovers the body of a young woman (who "had accrued a surprising number of reasons to be done to death for a girl of her tender years").

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures, Sean Punch 30 July 2016

This Dungeon Fantasy supplement gets away from the cycle of dungeon to generic-town and back again, and moves adventures into the great outdoors.

[more]
The Mad Scientist's Daughter, Cassandra Rose Clarke 29 July 2016 - 3 comments

2013 science fiction/romance. Finn is a robot who looks and acts human; he arrives in young Cat Novak's life as her tutor, and stays as the years pass.

[more]
Liberty Falling, Nevada Barr 27 July 2016

1999 mystery, seventh in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. With her sister hospitalised in New York, Anna stays on Liberty Island (where the statue is) and explores Ellis Island outside hospital visiting hours. Then a young girl falls to her death from the statue.

[more]
Electra Woman & Dyna Girl 26 July 2016

2016 superhero comedy (miniseries re-presented as film), dir. Chris Marrs Piliero, Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart: IMDb

Low-level superheroes Electra Woman and Dyna Girl move to Los Angeles to make the big time. But can they be true to themselves?

[more]
Death of a Ghost, Margery Allingham 25 July 2016

1934 classic English detective fiction; sixth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. The great artist John Lafcadio left twelve final paintings, to be shown one per year after his death. At the unveiling of the eighth, a young artist is fatally stabbed with a pair of decorative scissors.

[more]
Blind Descent, Nevada Barr 23 July 2016

1998 mystery, sixth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. Lechugilla Cavern is a huge and largely unexplored cave in Carlsbad Caverns National Park; when a friend and fellow ranger is injured there, Anna swallows her claustrophobia and goes in to help with the evacuation.

[more]
Endless Blue, Wen Spencer 21 July 2016

2007 science fiction. The starship Fenrir was lost ten years ago to a misjump, but its warp engine has just reappeared in open space… embedded in coral, and accompanied by three dead bodies and a fishing boat. Captain Mikhail Ivanovich Volkov takes the frigate Svoboda to find out where the Fenrir has been.

[more]
Pyramid 92: Zombies 20 July 2016 - 2 comments

Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's zombies.

[more]
Endangered Species, Nevada Barr 19 July 2016

1997 mystery, fifth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. After the events of the previous book, Anna's sent to Cumberland Island Park for "pre-suppression" fire duty, and a bit of a lighter posting. But she and another ranger spot a plume of smoke, which turns out to be the fresh wreckage of the island's drug-interdiction plane.

[more]
Angie Tribeca, season 1 18 July 2016

2016 police parody, 10 episodes. Detective Angie Tribeca solves crimes in the RHCU, the Really Heinous Crimes Unit.

[more]
Sweet Danger, Margery Allingham 17 July 2016 - 3 comments

1933 classic English detective fiction; fifth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. The Fitton family operate a run-down watermill in Suffolk, but may be the forgotten heirs of Averna, a tiny European principality that may suddenly be terribly important. US vtt Kingdom of Earth and The Fear Sign.

[more]
Firestorm, Nevada Barr 15 July 2016

1996 mystery, fourth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. Anna's called in to help fight a wildfire in Lassen Volcanic National Park, but the wind shifts and a firestorm overtakes the team. When they come out of their protective tents, one of them's been stabbed in the back.

[more]
Swastika Night, Katherine Burdekin 13 July 2016 - 1 comment

1937 feminist alternate history. Seven centuries after Nazi victory, women are uneducated cattle, and men have eliminated history, books, and creativity.

[more]
Ill Wind, Nevada Barr 11 July 2016

1995 mystery, third in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. Visitors to Mesa Verde Park and the Anasazi cliff dwellings have been coming away with a strange and deadly illness.

[more]
Pyramid 91: Thaumatology IV 10 July 2016

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's magic.

[more]
Police at the Funeral, Margery Allingham 09 July 2016

1931 classic English detective fiction; fourth of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. The very elderly Caroline Faraday has a house in Cambridge run on strict Victorian lines; her ageing son, daughters and nephew put up with the lack of freedom for the free bed and board, having variously failed at their own lives. But everyone's fairly horrible, and it seems that one of them is also a murderer.

[more]
Green for Danger, Christianna Brand 07 July 2016 - 19 comments

1944 detective fiction; second of Brand's novels of Inspector Cockrill. At a military hospital during the Blitz, a patient dies under anæsthetic. Later, someone who'd claimed to know who was responsible is stabbed to death. Six suspects are left, and there's not a visible motive among them.

[more]
Gullstruck Island, Frances Hardinge 05 July 2016

2008 fantasy. The isolated towns and villages of the volcanic Gullstruck Island rely on the Lost, who can project their senses at a distance, to keep them in contact with each other. Arilou is one such Lost, and Hathin is her helper. But it's all going to get vastly more complicated. US vt The Lost Conspiracy.

[more]
Pane Vino 04 July 2016 - 1 comment

I went to this small Italian tapas-style restaurant repeatedly while in Manchester over Easter.

[more]
K - Return of Kings 03 July 2016

2015 futuristic fantasy, 13 episodes, sequel to 2012's K: AniDB. The Kings, magical masters who can also empower their clansmen, come together for a final battle.

[more]
A Superior Death, Nevada Barr 02 July 2016

1994 mystery, second in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. In the Isle Royale park off the Michigan coast, one of the dive operators turns up dead in a long-sunken shipwreck.

[more]
June 2016 Trailers 01 July 2016 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)

[more]
The Ivy Tree, Mary Stewart 29 June 2016

1961; mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. Mary Grey has no particular prospects, but she's a dead ringer for Annabel Winslow, the heir to the small farm of Whitescar, who's been missing for eight years. Con Winslow, who's been running the place as Annabel's grandfather gradually declines, sees a chance to pull a Brat Farrar, produce the "missing heir", and get the place whether or not it's willed to him. But Mary has her own plans.

[more]
Track of the Cat, Nevada Barr 27 June 2016

1993 mystery, first in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. After the death of her husband, Anna fled from her life in New York to find solitude as a ranger in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, home to a few mountain lions among other species. But when a colleague is found dead, the paw prints round the body and claw marks on the throat seem to point a little too perfectly to a killer animal.

[more]
Thunderbirds Are Go (2016) season 1 26 June 2016 - 4 comments

2015-2016 children's science fiction, 26 episodes: the five Tracy brothers pilot a variety of vehicles to rescue people in trouble.

[more]
Look to the Lady, Margery Allingham 25 June 2016

1931 classic English detective fiction; third of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. The Gyrth Chalice is unique and unsaleable… but it seems that someone is setting up to steal it anyway, for a private collection. US vt The Gyrth Chalice Mystery.

[more]
Training Daze, Mike Shepherd 22 June 2016

2011 military SF novella, a later insertion into the Kris Longknife series. After the triumph of the Battle of Wardhaven, Kris and crew go out to train allied fast patrol boat commanders.

[more]
Pyramid 90: After the End 21 June 2016 - 3 comments

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time, tying in with the After the End series again, it's a grab-bag of articles about the post-apocalypse.

[more]
The Space Barbarians, Tom Godwin 20 June 2016

1964 science fiction, sequel to The Survivors/Space Prison. The survivors of the hell-world Ragnarok have handily won the war against the Gern, but they don't seem to be able to talk sensibly with either Earth or the former Gern-slave colony of Athena. And there's a new threat approaching…

[more]
Mystery Mile, Margery Allingham 18 June 2016

1930 classic English detective fiction; second of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. Multiple attempts have been made to murder an American judge; Campion does his best to keep him safe.

[more]
Community, season 6 17 June 2016

2015 comedy, 13 episodes; most of the same team of misfits continue to try to keep their community college going.

[more]
Defiant, Mike Shepherd 16 June 2016

2005 military SF, third of the Kris Longknife books. As a victim of fallout from a political attack against her family, Kris gets sent on a diplomatic mission, then comes back to a desperate struggle in defence of her homeworld.

[more]
Wave and Die, Stella Whitelaw 14 June 2016

2001 mystery, second in Whitelaw's Jordan Lacey series (private investigation in a small seaside town). Jordan investigates stolen water-lilies, vandalism, theft of a wedding cake, arson, and an errant husband. Oh, and a Second World War aircraft wreck.

[more]
Aquarion Logos 13 June 2016

2015 science fiction, 26 episodes: AniDB. Mecha pilots fight against the corruption of words.

[more]
The Crime at Black Dudley, Margery Allingham 12 June 2016

1929 classic English detective fiction; first of Allingham's novels of Albert Campion. George Abbershaw, expert pathologist who unexpectedly finds himself in love, goes down for the weekend to the remote country house called "Black Dudley"; but the gathering is afflicted with murder… and then taken over by gangsters. US vt The Black Dudley Murder.

[more]
The Ring of Charon, Roger MacBride Allen 10 June 2016 - 2 comments

1990 science fiction. Larry Chao is a junior scientist at a gravity research station on Pluto, that's about to be shut down. He's just made a remarkable improvement in gravity manipulation, but the chief administrator won't take it seriously, so he fires off an unauthorised experiment to prove to the scientific community that there's real progress being made. At which point something very unexpected happens.

[more]
The Floating Admiral, The Detection Club 09 June 2016

1931 English detective fiction, in fourteen chapters by fourteen authors. The body of retired Admiral Penistone is found in a small boat on the river, stabbed through the heart. Everyone has a story, and everyone has something to hide.

[more]
Wonderment in Death, J. D. Robb 07 June 2016

2015 SF/mystery novella; fifty-second (roughly) of J. D. Robb's In Death series, published as part of Down the Rabbit Hole, a multi-author anthology of stories loosely inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Apparently Darlene Fitzwilliams fatally stabbed her brother, then jumped off his fifty-second floor balcony. But there's no sign that she was the sort of person who'd do that.

[more]
vN, Madeline Ashby 05 June 2016 - 3 comments

2012 science fiction. Amy Peterson is a self-replicating ("von Neumann") humaniform robot, who has been growing up slowly as part of a mixed human/android family. Then her grandmother shows up, and she has to eat her.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 2: Epic Treasures, Matt Riggsby 04 June 2016

This Dungeon Fantasy supplement deals with "special" treasures: not just the big hauls, but something truly unique.

[more]
A Man Lay Dead, Ngaio Marsh 03 June 2016

1934 classic English detective fiction; first of Marsh's novels of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. At Sir Hubert Handesley's country house weekend, five guests play a game of "Murder". But when the lights come up…

[more]
May 2016 Trailers 01 June 2016 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
Space Captain Smith, Toby Frost 31 May 2016 - 1 comment

2008 humorous science fiction; first in its series. In the 25th Century the British Empire will soon be fighting the insectoid Ghast; but Captain Isambard Smith, square-jawed, courageous, and perhaps a bit dim, is called on to take an elderly refitted freighter on a courier mission.

[more]
The Bilbao Looking Glass, Charlotte MacLeod 29 May 2016

1983, cozy American detective fiction; fourth of MacLeod's novels of Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn. Sarah and Max, teetering on the brink of getting engaged, visit Sarah's summer home on Cape Cod. But someone has covertly added a valuable antique mirror to the furnishings; and a nasty old gossip turns up with an axe in her chest.

[more]
Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru 28 May 2016

2015 mystery novel adaptation, 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Beautiful Bones: Sakurako`s Investigation" or "A Corpse is Buried Under Sakurako's Feet". Kujou Sakurako, osteologist and amateur forensic anthropologist, investigates the remarkable number of human bones to be found locally.

[more]
Spiral Hunt, Margaret Ronald 27 May 2016

2009 urban fantasy. Evie Scelan isn't a magician: she just has a knack for tracking things by scent. But staying out of the way of the magical rulers of Boston isn't as easy as simply keeping her head down.

[more]
Childhood's End 26 May 2016 - 1 comment

2015 SF mini-series, adapted by Matthew Graham and directed by Nick Hurran. In 2016, alien ships arrive on Earth, with the aliens saying they're come to bring utopia. But not everyone agrees that that's what they're offering.

[more]
The Strangling on the Stage, Simon Brett 25 May 2016

2014; fifteenth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing in small-town Sussex). After a rehearsal for a village-hall production of The Devil's Disciple, the lead is found strangled on the "absolutely safe" gallows.

[more]
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers 23 May 2016 - 4 comments

2014 science fiction. The mixed human and alien crew members aboard a wormhole-building ship move from world to world, on their way to the job that'll let them move into the big time.

[more]
Verdigris Deep, Frances Hardinge 21 May 2016

2007 young adult fantasy. Ryan, Chelle and Josh fish some coins out of the old well, to pay for a bus home. Then things get far too complicated, far too fast. US vt Well Witched.

[more]
The Librarians, season 2 19 May 2016

2015 modern fantasy, 10 episodes; the scrappy team of magic-hunting Librarians fights against a resurrected Prospero who's planning to remake the world.

[more]
There's Nothing To Be Afraid Of, Marcia Muller 18 May 2016

1985 mystery; sixth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. Someone's causing minor troubles for the inhabitants of a hotel in the Tenderloin, most of them recent Vietnamese immigrants; Sharon's employed by the Refugee Assistance Committee to look into it. Then things turn deadly.

[more]
Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows 17 May 2016

2015 slice of life, four short episodes: AniDB, vt "She and Her Cat: Everything Flows". Miyu's cat contemplates their life together.

[more]
The Chemical History of a Candle, Michael Faraday 16 May 2016

1861 non-fiction, popular science, transcriptions of early Royal Institution Christmas Lectures; Faraday starts from the basics of combustion and goes on to the frontiers of nineteenth-century chemistry.

[more]
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Lois McMaster Bujold 14 May 2016 - 6 comments

2016 science fiction, sixteenth novel in the Vorkosigan universe. Three years after the death of Aral Vorkosigan, his widow Cordelia starts to move her life in a new direction. Oliver Jole, Admiral of Sergyar Fleet, finds himself caught up in unexpected ways.

[more]
The Survivors, Tom Godwin 11 May 2016 - 4 comments

1958 science fiction. When the aliens capture a colony ship, they take the slaves who can work and abandon the rest on an uninhabited world. That's their error. (Also published as Space Prison.)

[more]
Minority Report 10 May 2016

2015 science fiction, ten episodes, sequel of sorts to the 2002 film. After the PreCrime programme is shut down, the three precognitives try to live normal lives. Of course, one of them ends up Fighting Crime.

[more]
Irene's Last Waltz, Carole Nelson Douglas 09 May 2016

1994 mystery, fourth of Douglas's novels about Irene Adler; here she returns to Prague, to solve a problem for the Queen. Espionage, the Golem, femmes fatales, and really nice dresses ensue. (Retitled as Another Scandal in Bohemia in recent reissue.)

[more]
Caliban's War, James S. A. Corey 07 May 2016

2012 science fiction, second in The Expanse series. Ganymede, the main supplier of food to the outer system, is attacked and its fragile artificial ecosystem destroyed; Earth and Mars seem likely to go to war again.

[more]
Pyramid 89: Alternate Dungeons II 05 May 2016

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's about alternative framings of the dungeon again.

[more]
Sore ga Seiyuu 04 May 2016

2015 slice of life, 4-koma manga adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB, vt "Seiyuu's Life". Ichinose Futaba is a novice voice actress; along with her friends, she goes to auditions, gets together in a singing group, and generally tries to advance her career.

[more]
The March North, Graydon Saunders 03 May 2016

2014 military fantasy. The unnamed protagonist leads a unit of The Line in repelling an invasion by the Dark Lord in the next country.

[more]
April 2016 Trailers 01 May 2016

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
Devoted in Death, J. D. Robb 29 April 2016

2015 SF/mystery; fifty-first (roughly) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. Two serial killers have crossed the USA and landed in New York; Lieutenant Eve Dallas tracks them down.

[more]
Lost Girl season 5 28 April 2016

2014-2015 urban fantasy, 16 episodes. The succubus Bo faces her biggest challenges yet, as her father tries to use her to take over the world.

[more]
Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch 27 April 2016

Contemporary fantasy, fourth in the series. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, looks into a number of cases that seem to be tying back to a Brutalist tower block in Southwark.

[more]
More Deaths Than One, Jean Rowden 25 April 2016

2009 mystery, third in the series. Constable "Thorny" Deepbriar goes to the local seaside town while his broken leg finishes healing, but he can't leave detection alone. Not only is someone stealing garden gnomes, but a body found on the beach is someone Deepbriar thought had died when he was a very green copper sixteen years ago during the war.

[more]
The Cabin in the Woods 24 April 2016 - 2 comments

2012 horror, dir. Drew Goddard, Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth: IMDb / allmovie

Five teenagers go for a weekend trip to a remote cabin. It doesn't end well.

[more]
Half a Crown, Jo Walton 23 April 2016

2008 alternate-history suspense/thriller, last in the "Small Change" trilogy. In the fascist Britain of 1960, former Inspector Carmichael still runs the Watch, the secret police charged with rounding up Jews, Communists, and other undesirables; his adopted niece, Elvira, is looking forward to her début.

[more]
Fly By Night, Frances Hardinge 21 April 2016 - 1 comment

2005 non-historical fiction. Mosca lives in a tiny rural village, but her exiled father taught her to read and to love words. She takes her first opportunity to escape, and finds herself (and Saracen the goose) mixed up in matters that will determine the fate of a great city.

[more]
All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders 19 April 2016

2016 SF and fantasy. Patricia is a witch who can sometimes talk with animals, and Laurence is a budding mad scientist. Having met and split up during their hellish schooldays, they meet again as the world seems to be winding towards its end.

[more]
The Damage Done, James Oswald 17 April 2016

2016 supernatural mystery, sixth in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. A police raid following a tip-off about a brothel goes wrong: there's sex being had, but it all seems to have been consenting swingers, except for one registered sex offender. Then people start dying.

[more]
The Science of Everyday Life, Marty Jopson 15 April 2016

2015 non-fiction, popular science; short pieces introduce the scientific explanations for commonplace oddities.

[more]
GURPS Powers: The Weird, William H. Stoddard 14 April 2016

This supplement deals with powers that break the rules, for Lovecraftian aliens, superbeings, and weird lone genius inventors.

[more]
Overlord 13 April 2016

2015 fantasy, light novel adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB. Momonga stays on-line as his favourite VR MMORPG Yggdrasil is shut down, and finds himself not kicked out but stuck in the game world. And now the NPCs are acting like people…

[more]
Antares Victory, Michael McCollum 12 April 2016

2002 military SF, long-delayed final volume in the Antares trilogy. The combined human fleets are taking on the Ryall menace, to remove it once and for all. But is there any option short of extermination?

[more]
CSI: Immortality 11 April 2016 - 2 comments

2015 crime, series finale; in a double-length episode, most of the original cast of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation return for one last case. Someone is sending suicide bombers into Las Vegas; can that someone really be Lady Heather? No, of course not.

[more]
Murder in Montparnasse, Kerry Greenwood 10 April 2016

2002 historical detection, twelfth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne looks into trouble at a French restaurant, the disappearance of a young woman, and the murder of old soldiers.

[more]
Equoid, Charles Stross 08 April 2016 - 1 comment

2013 modern occult secret service novelette, between The Apocalypse Codex and The Rhesus Chart in the Laundry Files series. Bob Howard is sent to inspect a livery stables, because they're buying a worrying amount of meat.

[more]
GURPS After the End 1: Wastelanders, Jason Levine 07 April 2016 - 4 comments

This initial supplement in a new line deals with dwellers in the world after the end of civilisation.

[more]
Ha'penny, Jo Walton 06 April 2016

2007 alternate-history suspense/thriller, second in the "Small Change" trilogy. Eight years after the "peace with honour" of 1941, as Mark Normanby's new government is cracking down on Jewish communist terrorists, a bomb goes off in a Hampstead suburb. Inspector Carmichael, compromised but useful to his political masters, investigates.

[more]
The Apocalypse Codex, Charles Stross 04 April 2016 - 2 comments

2012 modern occult secret service, fourth in the Laundry Files series. Bob has been promoted to management, and has to supervise a couple of freelance agents. Seems an American televangelist is getting too much into favour with the Prime Minister…

[more]
Valor's Choice, Tanya Huff 02 April 2016 - 3 comments

2000 military SF, first in the Valor/Confederation series. Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr's platoon of Marines is just back from a hard fight when their liberty is cancelled and they're sent off to escort a group of diplomats as they try to get a recently-discovered world to join the Confederation. Then things get worse.

[more]
March 2016 Trailers 01 April 2016 - 4 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
The Fuller Memorandum, Charles Stross 31 March 2016 - 4 comments

2010 modern occult secret service, third in the Laundry Files series. Bob Howard becomes entangled in a cultist plot to steal the Eater of Souls.

[more]
My Brother Michael, Mary Stewart 29 March 2016

1959; mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. Camilla Haven, on holiday in Athens, is lamenting that nothing ever happens to her. Then a stranger brings her "the car for Delphi", for "Monsieur Simon", for which someone has apparently already paid the deposit, and tells her that it's a matter of life and death…

[more]
Jitsu wa Watashi wa 28 March 2016

2015 modern humour, shounen manga adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB, vt "My Monster Secret". Kuromine "Leaky Bucket" Asahi is unable to keep a secret; when he goes to confess his love to the girl of his dreams, she turns out to be a vampire. But she'll be forced to leave school if the secret gets out…

[more]
Overtime, Charles Stross 27 March 2016

2009 modern occult secret service novelette, between The Jennifer Morgue and The Fuller Memorandum in the Laundry Files series. The Laundry is down to a skeleton staff for Christmas… so Bob Howard is the one man who might be able to prevent the annihilation of the world.

[more]
The Last Ship season 2 26 March 2016 - 2 comments

2015 science fiction, 13 episodes. The crew of the destroyer USS Nathan James works to distribute the cure for the plague that killed most of the world's population. But not everyone thinks that's a good idea.

[more]
The Sorceress of the Strand, L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace 25 March 2016

Collection of six short mystery stories from 1902-1903. Madame Sara, the best "beautifier" in London, is also a master criminal – one might even say a veritable Napoleon of crime.

[more]
Down on the Farm, Charles Stross 23 March 2016 - 4 comments

2008 modern occult secret service novelette, between The Jennifer Morgue and The Fuller Memorandum in the Laundry Files series. Bob visits the asylum where broken Laundry agents go; all, unsurprisingly, is not well.

[more]
Snake Agent, Liz Williams 21 March 2016

2005 futuristic fantasy. Detective Inspector Chen is a cop in the franchised city Singapore Three, in charge of magical and supernatural investigations. When a missing girl's soul turns up demonstrably in Hell, rather than Heaven where it should be, that's the first thread of a long and political investigation.

[more]
The Jennifer Morgue, Charles Stross 19 March 2016 - 3 comments

2006 modern occult secret service, second in the Laundry Files series. Bob Howard is sent to a Caribbean island to stop a billionaire from destroying the world with magic.

[more]
Pyramid 88: The End Is Nigh 17 March 2016

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's about the end of the world, linked to the upcoming publication of the After the End streamlined rules set.

[more]
Hard Truth, Nevada Barr 16 March 2016 - 4 comments

2005 mystery, thirteenth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. In Rocky Mountain, three young girls went missing a few months back, and were never found. But now two of them have walked out of the woods…

[more]
Arslan Senki (2015) season 1 15 March 2016

2015 pseudo-historical fantasy, novel series adaptation in 25 episodes: AniDB, vt "Heroic Legend of Arslan". Prince Arslan of Pars is the weak son of a tough and vicious king. But when the Parsian army is defeated by treachery, he may be the only member of the royal family left…

[more]
The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross 14 March 2016 - 5 comments

2004 modern occult secret service, first in the Laundry Files series; a short novel of the same title coupled with the novella The Concrete Jungle. Bob Howard is a techie working for an extremely secret part of the British intelligence community, trying to suppress knowledge that could destroy the world… and clean up when it gets out.

[more]
MythBusters 2015 season 13 March 2016

2015, 14 episodes. If you're reading this you probably know what MythBusters is about, or you can go and find out.

[more]
Irene at Large, Carole Nelson Douglas 12 March 2016

1992 mystery, third of Douglas's novels about Irene Adler. In Paris in 1888, a stranger in Oriental garb falls poisoned at the feet of Irene's narrator, Nell Huxleigh. But why does he claim to know her? (Retitled A Soul of Steel in recent reissue.)

[more]
Pyramid 87: Low-Tech III 10 March 2016 - 2 comments

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's a variety of ideas broadly intended for pre-gunpowder campaigns.

[more]
Antares Passage, Michael McCollum 08 March 2016

1987 SF, second in the Antares trilogy. The Altan and Sandarian space navies won't be able to fight the alien menace on their own, but they have a plan for getting back in contact with Earth.

[more]
Shokugeki no Soma season 1 07 March 2016

2015 cooking story, shounen manga adaptation in 24 episodes: AniDB, vt "Food Wars". Yukihira Sōma works at his father's diner, then finds himself sent to an élite cooking school: not only is it tough to get in, but only one in ten graduate.

[more]
Murder in the Museum of Man, Alfred Alcorn 06 March 2016

1997 humorous detective fiction; first of Alcorn's novels of Norman de Ratour, Recording Secretary at the Museum of Man, an anthropological museum somewhere in New England. Dean Fessing goes missing, and most of him turns up expertly cooked. That inevitably starts rumours of cannibalism, but there may be fire to go with this smoke…

[more]
Dark Matter season 1 04 March 2016 - 1 comment

2015, 13 episodes. A motley crew wakes up on a spaceship with skills but no memories. They try to find out who they were and what happened.

[more]
Ore Monogatari 03 March 2016

2015 romantic comedy, shoujo manga adaptation in 24 episodes: AniDB, vt "My Love Story". Gōda Takeo is a huge guy, clueless but with a good heart; when he saves Yamato Rinko from a groper on the train, they fall in love.

[more]
The Wallet of Kai Lung, Ernest Bramah 02 March 2016 - 1 comment

1900 collection of funny and fantastic stories of Imperial China.

[more]
February 2016 Trailers 01 March 2016 - 3 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
All the Way to the Gallows, David Drake 28 February 2016

1996 SF/fantasy short story collection of some of Drake's more humorous short stories.

[more]
Exoplanets 27 February 2016

ExoPlanets, designed by Przemysław Świerczyński, is a tile-placement game of developing life on alien planets for 2-4 players.

[more]
Joukamachi no Dandelion 26 February 2016

2015 modern fantasy, 4-koma manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Castle Town Dandelion". The king announces that he'll retire in a year; his children campaign to be elected in his place.

[more]
Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles, Kim Newman 24 February 2016 - 2 comments

2011 detective fiction parody, collection of seven short stories. Colonel Sebastian Moran, a cad and a bounder, works for Professor Moriarty the consulting criminal.

[more]
Kyoukai no Rinne season 1 23 February 2016

2015 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation in 25 episodes: AniDB, vt "Circle of Reincarnation". High school student Mamiya Sakura can see spirits. It turns out that her classmate Rokudō Rinne is also working as a shinigami, helping lost spirits reach the wheel of reincarnation. But she's entered a dangerous world…

[more]
Killjoys season 1 22 February 2016 - 1 comment

2015, 10 episodes. Space bounty hunters discover that being apolitical is really hard work if you have even the vestiges of a conscience.

[more]
Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou 21 February 2016

2015 modern comedic fantasy, manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Everyday Life with Monster Girls". Various fantastic species suddenly exist, and some of them live with host families in Japan.

[more]
Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey 20 February 2016

2011 science fiction, first in The Expanse series. With the asteroid belt colonised, tensions are rising between Belt, Mars and Earth. When ships start getting destroyed, war is inevitable; but who actually kicked it off, and why?

[more]
Akagami no Shirayukihime season 1 19 February 2016

2015 fantasy romance, shoujo manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Snow White with the Red Hair". Shirayuki the herbalist flees the unwelcome attentions of the prince of her country, only to meet Zen, the junior prince of the next realm over.

[more]
Sea Fever, Ann Cleeves 15 February 2016

1993 detective fiction; sixth of Cleeves's novels of amateur private detectives George and Molly Palmer-Jones. On a bird-watching boat trip, the sighting of a rare petrel is much more interesting than a birdwatcher who isn't where he should be. But then he turns out to have been murdered...

[more]
Re-Kan 14 February 2016

2015 modern fantasy, manga adaptation, 13 episodes: AniDB. Hibiki, who can see and talk with ghosts, goes to high school.

[more]
Corsair, James L. Cambias 11 February 2016 - 2 comments

2015 science fiction. In the near future, helium-3 mining on the Moon is big business, but the shipments back to Earth are being hijacked.

[more]
Titansgrave season 1 10 February 2016 - 3 comments

2015 fantasy, 10 episodes. In a technomagical world, four heroes will hunt down the resurgent Prophet who was responsible for the last great war.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, extras 08 February 2016 - 5 comments

As always, spoilers abound.

[more]
Team Rodent, Carl Hiaasen 07 February 2016

1998, short pieces on the effects of Disney on Florida and other places.

[more]
Star Realms: Colony Wars 05 February 2016 - 2 comments

Star Realms: Colony Wars, designed (like the original) by Darwin Kastle, is the first "big" expansion for Star Realms. On its own, it's for 2 players.

[more]
Pyramid 86: Organizations 04 February 2016

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's about organisations, following this year's releases of Boardroom and Curia and Dungeon Fantasy 17: Guilds.

[more]
The Affair of the Blood-stained Egg Cosy, James Anderson 03 February 2016

1975 cosy detective fiction; first of Anderson's novels of the Earl of Burford and Inspector Wilkins. Some time in the 1930s, there's a house party at Alderley, including the Earl's political brother and the foreign dignitaries he's negotiating with, an American millionaire called Hiram, and various others. Nobody is quite what they seem, and that's even before jewels start going missing and guests start turning up dead.

[more]
Stitchers season 1 02 February 2016

2015 science fiction, 11 episodes. Kirsten Clark suffers from "temporal dysplasia" and can't feel the passage of time, but that makes her the ideal subject to be inserted into the memories of the recently dead.

[more]
January 2016 Trailers 01 February 2016 - 5 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
Nisekoi 2 31 January 2016

2015, comedy, manga adaptation, 12 episodes: AniDB.

Continuation of the high school harem comedy. Hero is a yakuza heir, who to stop a gang fight has to pretend to be going out with tsundere heroine #1 (rival yakuza heiress), but really wants to be involved with kind sweet ordinary heroine #2.

[more]
Abducticon, Alma Alexander 29 January 2016

2015 science fiction. At a regional American SF convention, things are going with the usual level of chaos… until the entire con hotel gets kidnapped by time-travelling androids.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 17: Guilds, Matt Riggsby 28 January 2016

This Dungeon Fantasy supplement deals not just with guilds but with organisations that interact with adventurers: the congregation, the cabal, organised crime, nobles, and the like.

[more]
Earth Star, Janet Edwards 25 January 2016

2013 young adult science fiction, sequel to Earth Girl. Jarra is Handicapped, unable to leave Earth for any of the colony worlds where most of society now happens, but after a daring rescue she's a hero. Now her archaeological and historical skills will be tested in an entirely new field.

[more]
Scream Queens season 1 24 January 2016

2015, 13 episodes. Horror comedy by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan: a masked killer is murdering members of the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority house.

[more]
The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco 22 January 2016 - 2 comments

1980 historical mystery. In 1327, Friar William of Baskerville and his novice Adso of Melk try to solve a series of murders at a monastery in northern Italy.

[more]
Skeleton Hill, Peter Lovesey 20 January 2016

2009 mystery, the tenth book in Lovesey's Peter Diamond series. After a Civil War battle re-enactment on Lansdown Hill near Bath, one of the soldiers disappears. Later the police find a headless skeleton in the same area. Later still, a homeless man is found dead with a major head wound. Are the cases connected? DI Peter Diamond is determined that they are.

[more]
Melee 19 January 2016

Melee, by Rikki Tahta, is the third of the games I was showing off at Essen 2015; it's an area-control wargame for 2-4 players.

[more]
Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear 18 January 2016

2015 vaguely steampunk science fiction. In Rapid City on the Pacific Northwest coast, Karen Memery is one of the "seamstresses" at Hôtel Mon Cherie (sic). It's not a bad life, but she's about to get in the way of a powerful man on his way up even higher.

[more]
Penric's Demon, Lois McMaster Bujold 16 January 2016

2015 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Lord Penric, an impoverished nobleman, is on his way to his betrothal when he comes upon a riding accident. Before he knows what's happened, he's inherited a demon, and everyone's looking at him as though he might explode at any moment.

[more]
Farthing, Jo Walton 14 January 2016

2006 alternate-history mystery, first in the "Small Change" trilogy. In 1949, Britain is at peace with the Reich, which is still fighting in Russia. At Farthing, a country house in Hampshire, one of the architects of that peace is murdered. Jews and Bolshevists are immediately blamed, but Inspector Carmichael thinks it's more complicated than that.

[more]
GURPS Aliens: Sparrials, Elizabeth McCoy 13 January 2016 - 2 comments

This supplement updates and expands the Sparrial race, from the original GURPS Aliens, to fourth edition.

[more]
Guns of the Dawn, Adrian Tchaikovsky 12 January 2016 - 2 comments

2015 military fantasy. As the war between Lascanne and Denland drags on, the gentlewoman Emily Marshwic finds herself fighting on the front.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 26 11 January 2016 - 9 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Ace - Sophie Aldred

The show stayed on Wednesday evenings against Coronation Street, and the first episode of this series got the lowest ratings of any Who episode ever.

[more]
Good Morning Irene, Carole Nelson Douglas 10 January 2016

1991 mystery, second of Douglas's novels about Irene Adler. Bored in Paris, Irene takes on the mystery of a series of tattooed suicides. (Retitled The Adventuress in recent reissue.)

[more]
Archivist Wasp, Nicole Kornher-Stace 07 January 2016

2015 fantasy/SF. Wasp is an Archivist, hunting, studying and binding ghosts for the goddess Catchkeep and Her priest in a world that has suffered some great catastrophe in the distant past.

[more]
Mr. Robot season 1 06 January 2016 - 4 comments

2015, 10 episodes. Elliot Anderson suffers from crippling depression, paranoia and social anxiety, but still manages to hold down a cybersecurity job. Except now he's being recruited by an activist cracking group.

[more]
Deserter, Mike Shepherd 05 January 2016

2004 military SF, second of the Kris Longknife books. Thanks to deft political manoeuvres, Kris is now a princess as well as a naval lieutenant. But when a friend goes missing while they're both on leave, she can't really do anything else but go and look for him.

[more]
Ghost in the Shell Arise 04 January 2016

2013-2015 science fiction, manga adaptation, 4 or 10 episodes: AniDB and here.

In a world of cyborgs and poor data security, Major Motoko Kusanagi tries to catch the bad guys. A prequel of sorts to Ghost in the Shell.

[more]
If Then, Matthew de Abaitua 03 January 2016 - 1 comment

2015 science fiction. The people of a small English town cling on to life after an economic collapse, under the protection of the Process, an ultimate allocating algorithm. But the Process seems to be spending scarce resources on recreating a battlefield of the First World War…

[more]
December 2015 Trailers 01 January 2016 - 8 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
2015 in Books 30 December 2015 - 4 comments

In 2015 I read 132 books, on a par with recent years but lower than I really like.

[more]
Wrack and Rune, Charlotte MacLeod 27 December 2015

1982 cosy American detective fiction; third of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy, set at an agricultural college in Massachussetts. Hilda Horsefall is 105 years old and still keeping the family farm going, until her farmhand is horribly murdered. But is it just part of a land-grab, and if so who's trying to do it? And how is the Viking runestone on her land connected to everything?

[more]
Pyramid 85: Cutting Edge 26 December 2015

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's the near now, things that are just barely possible or not quite possible yet.

[more]
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho 24 December 2015

2015 Regency fantasy, first of a planned trilogy. "Zacharias Wythe, England's first African Sorcerer Royal, is contending with attempts to depose him, rumours that he murdered his predecessor, and an alarming decline in England's magical stocks. But his troubles are multiplied when he encounters runaway orphan Prunella Gentleman, who has just stumbled upon English magic's greatest discovery in centuries."

[more]
Despicable Me 2 23 December 2015

2013, dir. Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud; IMDb / allmovie

The former supervillain Gru is trying to be a good father. But supervillainous schemes are still afoot.

[more]
The Corpse on the Court, Simon Brett 22 December 2015

2011; fourteenth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Jude's new lover Piers is a tennis fanatic – real tennis – but when she turns up for a lesson one of the other club members is found dead. Heart attack, clearly, but why is everyone acting so cagey? Meanwhile Jude's friend Carole conducts a separate investigation.

[more]
Kick Ass, Carl Hiaasen 19 December 2015

1999 collected newspaper columns, written from 1985 onwards. Hiaasen gets his teeth into issues of local politics, corruption, finance and wildlife preservation, often all at once.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 1: Glittering Prizes, Matt Riggsby 18 December 2015

This Dungeon Fantasy supplement deals with the thing closest to a dungeon-delver's heart: money.

[more]
Bones season 10 17 December 2015

2014-2015, 22 episodes. Police procedural in the CSI mould: a team of forensic experts at the "Jeffersonian" consults for the FBI.

[more]
High Country, Nevada Barr 16 December 2015

2004 mystery, twelfth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. After four seasonal park employees disappear on the same day in Yosemite, Anna Pigeon goes undercover to try to find out what happened.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 25 15 December 2015 - 5 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Ace - Sophie Aldred

[more]
Prayer for the Dead, James Oswald 14 December 2015

2015 supernatural mystery, fifth in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. In a network of man-made caves under Edinburgh, a journalist turns up with his throat cut. Why there, why then, and why him?

[more]
Danna ga Nani o Itteiruka Wakaranai Ken series 2 13 December 2015

2015, 13 episodes: AniDB.

Also known as I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying. Continuation of the slice of life comedy dealing with the daily routine of a busy office lady and her otaku husband.

[more]
Oath of Fealty, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle 12 December 2015 - 2 comments

1981 science fiction. In the Todos Santos arcology, life is much safer than outside in Los Angeles, if somewhat sanitised: but it's still right next door.

[more]
Antares Dawn, Michael McCollum 10 December 2015

1986 SF, first in the Antares trilogy. The colony world of Alta has been cut off from other planets for more than a century, since Antares exploded into a supernova. Now a ship has come through where there wasn't supposed to be a jump point…

[more]
The Palace Guard, Charlotte MacLeod 08 December 2015

1982, cozy American detective fiction; third of MacLeod's novels of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. At a private art museum, a guard falls to his death, having been complaining that his favourite Rubens is different these days.

[more]
GURPS Transhuman Space: Bio-Tech 2100, Phil Masters 07 December 2015 - 3 comments

This GURPS Transhuman Space supplement gives an overview of biotech, dealing with all the fiddly bits that aren't bioroids or smart uplifted animals (which were in Bioroid Bazaar).

[more]
Dark Orbit, Carolyn Ives Gilman 06 December 2015 - 1 comment

2015 science fiction; a team of scientists is assembled to explore a newly-discovered planet. Saraswati Callicot is an exoethnologist, and the planet's uninhabited, but she's sent along to keep an eye on Thora Lassiter, the daughter of one of the powerful families who went a bit mad on her previous mission; she's been cured, but she might still be an embarrassment. Then things start to go bizarrely wrong.

[more]
Night of Masks, Andre Norton 03 December 2015

1964 children's SF. Nik Colherne's face was badly burned in an accident, and as a resident of the Dipple he can't afford the advanced surgery that might fix it. The Thieves' Guild offers him a new face, if he impersonates a boy's fantasised hero. But it's all rather more complex than that.

[more]
November 2015 Trailers 01 December 2015 - 4 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
Falling Upwards, Richard Holmes 29 November 2015 - 1 comment

2013 non-fiction, an informal history of the rise and fall (sorry) of the man-carrying balloon.

[more]
Plastic Memories 28 November 2015 - 2 comments

2015 science fiction, manga adaptation, 13 episodes: AniDB.

The Giftia androids look and act like humans, but they have a limited lifespan: 81,920 hours. After that, they need to be retrieved and shut down before bad things happen. Mizugaki Tsukasa goes to work for Terminal Services, and is partnered with the Giftia called Isla…

[more]
Judgment on Janus, Andre Norton 27 November 2015 - 3 comments

1963 children's SF. Naill Renfro sells himself into servitude to get drugs to make his mother's dying easier. After that, things improve slightly. Well, they'd have to, wouldn't they?

[more]
Double, Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini 25 November 2015

1984 mystery; sixth-ish in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco, and at the same time fourteenth in Pronzini's "Nameless Detective" private eye series. Both detectives are at a convention of private eyes in San Diego, McCone also visiting her family and an old friend who's now head of hotel security. But then the dying starts.

[more]
One Night Revolution 24 November 2015

One Night Revolution, by Ted Alspach after Akihisa Okui, is a game of hidden identities, deduction and deception for 3-10 players.

[more]
Catseye, Andre Norton 23 November 2015

1961 children's SF. Troy Horan was thrown off his planet during the big war. Now he lives hand-to-mouth in the Dipple. But a casual job with an importer of exotic pets leads to unexpected intrigue and danger.

[more]
Pyramid 84: Perspectives 22 November 2015 - 3 comments

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's a collection of unusual ways of looking at things.

[more]
Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie 21 November 2015

2015 SF, sequel to Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword. Fleet Captain Breq is still on Athoek Station, but there are plenty of problems even without the civil war coming closer.

[more]
Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Zoku - My Teenage RomCom SNAFU TOO 20 November 2015

2015 contemporary romance, light novel adaptation, 12 episodes: AniDB. Sequel to 2013's Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru - My Teenage RomCom SNAFU. Cynical loner high school kid and the rest of the Volunteer Club continue to try to help other people and work out their own problems.

[more]
Deadlier than the Sword, Jean Rowden 19 November 2015

2008 mystery, second of the "Thorny" Deepbriar series. In rural Yorkshire in 1957, Thorny the village bobby is still trying to get into the CID. But his superiors want him walking the beat where he is. He'll need to pull off an impressive feat of detection, but how can he do that in a village where nothing much happens?

[more]
The Box, Marc Levinson 17 November 2015 - 4 comments

2008 non-fiction, an informal history of the shipping container. Until the Second World War, almost all non-bulk freight was breakbulk, loaded one piece at a time into a ship's hold. Fifty years later, pretty much everything long-distance was going in containers. How did the change come about?

[more]
Elementary season 3 16 November 2015 - 3 comments

2014-2015, 24 episodes. In modern New York, (a completely different) Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson consult for the police.

[more]
Angles of Attack, Marko Kloos 15 November 2015

2015 SF, sequel to Lines of Departure. The alien Lankies have moved into the solar system, and a random assortment of ship crews from the two previously-warring powers must decide what to do next.

[more]
Festive in Death, J. D. Robb 13 November 2015

2014 SF/mystery; forty-ninth (roughly) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. Just before Christmas, a personal trainer is found in his home, with a nasty head wound and a knife in his chest. He seems to have been a thoroughly nasty person, but for Eve Dallas the homicide cop's job is still the job.

[more]
Flex, Ferrett Steinmetz 11 November 2015

2015 modern fantasy. Magic is in the world, but "'mancers" only use it to cause chaos – and it's still true that nothing is free. Flex is a drug, distilled magic, but the mundanes who take it are even less able to deal with the backlash than the 'mancers are. Paul Tsabo, ex-cop and once known as the only mundane to have killed a 'mancer, tries to track down the terrorist who's filling people with Flex and sending them out to destroy themselves and others.

[more]
GURPS Action 4: Specialists, Sean Punch 10 November 2015

This GURPS Action supplement expands character creation with greater flexibility in power level and skills, while keeping much of the simplictiy of the Action series.

[more]
The Bone Key, Sarah Monette 09 November 2015 - 1 comment

2007 collection of short horror stories in the style of H. P. Lovecraft and M. R. James. Kyle Murchison Booth just wants to be left alone to work on his antique books and letters. But supernatural events keep happening to him.

[more]
Earth Girl, Janet Edwards 07 November 2015 - 2 comments

2012 young adult science fiction. Jarra is Handicapped; something in her immune system revolts at alien worlds, so she's limited to living on Earth with the other people who can't go to the stars and be part of proper civilisation. What's worse, all the offworlders look down on "apes". But that's not going to stop her doing her best to have a good life.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 24 05 November 2015 - 9 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
Mel Bush - Bonnie Langford
Ace - Sophie Aldred

[more]
The Star Beast, Robert A. Heinlein 04 November 2015 - 3 comments

1954 science fiction juvenile. Lummox is the Stuart family pet, brought back a hundred years ago from who-knows-where by great-grandfather the space explorer. He's large, and occasionally hazardous to property, but basically docile. But now he's gone on a rampage, and the forces of law and order want him put down…

[more]
View from the Imperium, Jody Lynn Nye 02 November 2015 - 2 comments

2011 humorous science fiction. Lord Thomas Kinago, foppish distant cousin of the Emperor and son of the First Space Lord, is sent on his obligatory short tour of military service. Meanwhile, a cluster of worlds on the edge of the Imperium is being taken over…

[more]
October 2015 Trailers 01 November 2015 - 5 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
Pyramid 83: Alternate GURPS IV 31 October 2015

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's a grab-bag of alternative and house rules for GURPS.

[more]
Away with the Fairies, Kerry Greenwood 30 October 2015

2001 historical detection, eleventh in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Miss Lavender, an author and illustrator of overly-twee fairy stories, has died after receiving threatening letters. Phryne is called in by the police as someone who might be able to spot something amiss in the sea of cuteness that is Miss Lavender's home, and finds rather more motives than anyone could reasonably have expected.

[more]
Voyage of the Basilisk, Marie Brennan 28 October 2015 - 2 comments

2015 fantasy of sorts: third volume of the memoirs of Lady Trent, alternate-Victorian naturalist specialising in dragons. Aboard the Royal Survey Ship Basilisk, Lady Trent travels round the world to study dragons wherever they may be found.

[more]
Coup: Rebellion G54 27 October 2015

Coup: Rebellion G54, by Rikka Tahta, is a game of hidden identities, deduction and bluffing for 3-6 players.

[more]
Superposition, David Walton 26 October 2015

2015 science fiction. Jacob Kelley's old friend shows up at his house, babbling about artificial intelligences in the quantum computer that is the universe. Later, the old friend is found dead – having apparently been murdered the night before he turned up – and Kelley is put on trial for his murder.

[more]
Afterburn, Keith Douglass 24 October 2015 - 4 comments

1996 alternate-world military fiction; seventh in the Carrier series. "Tombstone" Magruder is still CAG aboard USS Thomas Jefferson, which is sent to the Black Sea for peacekeeping operations in the context of the ongoing Russian civil war.

[more]
Castle season 7 23 October 2015

2014-2015, 23 episodes. Famous writer Richard Castle continues to work with NYPD homicide detective Kate Beckett, though by this point it's fairly clear that he didn't come here for the hunting.

[more]
The Withdrawing Room, Charlotte MacLeod 22 October 2015

1981, cozy American detective fiction; second of MacLeod's novels of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. While the family affairs get straightened out, the recently-widowed Sarah needs an income; she remodels her house to take in boarders. But one of them falls under a subway train, or maybe he was pushed…

[more]
Gravity, Tess Gerritsen 20 October 2015

1999 thriller. On board the International Space Station, a microbiological experiment has gone wrong. Dr Emma Watson tries to keep the rest of the crew, and herself, alive in an increasingly challenging environment. (Nothing to do with the 2013 film of the same name.)

[more]
Red Equinox, Douglas Wynne 18 October 2015

2015 modern Lovecraftian horror. Becca Philips, photographer and urban explorer in post-hurricane Boston, was mostly raised by her crazy occultist grandmother. But now things are showing up in her photographs that really shouldn't be there.

[more]
Pray and Die, Stella Whitelaw 16 October 2015

2000 mystery, first in Whitelaw's Jordan Lacey series. Asthmatic ex-policewoman Jordan Lacey starts a private investigation business in the seaside town of Latching, West Sussex. Will there be enough work to pay the bills? Surprisingly, yes.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens 1: Barbarians, Peter dell'Orto 15 October 2015

This GURPS Dungeon Fantasy supplement expands the Barbarian archetype with new options and powers.

[more]
Good Night Mr. Holmes, Carole Nelson Douglas 14 October 2015

1990, first of Douglas's novels about Irene Adler, opera singer, adventuress, and foil to Sherlock Holmes.

[more]
Coming Home, Jack McDevitt 12 October 2015 - 2 comments

2014 science fiction, seventh in the Alex Benedict series that began with A Talent for War. Alex Benedict the relic-dealer and Chase Kolpath the pilot go hunting for the last cache of artefacts from Earth's early space age.

[more]
Pyramid 82: Magical Creations 11 October 2015

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's about items one can make with magic.

[more]
Darkest Hour, James Holland 10 October 2015

2009 war story, second in Holland's Sergeant Jack Tanner series. In May of 1940, Tanner is in a training company on the south coast, but will soon be going to France with the BEF. But an old nemesis from his days in India has shown up again.

[more]
Flashback, Nevada Barr 08 October 2015

2003 mystery, eleventh in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. At Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, seventy miles off the end of Florida, Anna replaces a chief ranger who went mad. A boat explosion and anonymous body parts are troubling enough; but then Anna starts to see ghosts…

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 23 07 October 2015 - 2 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

The Doctor - Colin Baker
Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
Mel Bush - Bonnie Langford

[more]
They Also Serve, Mike Moscoe 06 October 2015

2001 military SF, third in the Jump Universe series. At the same time as the events of The Price of Peace, Ray Longknife's exploration ship has comprehensively misjumped to where a much earlier lost ship founded a colony. But they aren't the only things on the planet.

[more]
GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery, Jason Levine 05 October 2015 - 6 comments

This GURPS supplement explains how to convert spells from the standard GURPS magic system into power effects.

[more]
The Headhunters, Peter Lovesey 04 October 2015

2008 mystery. A woman is found on the beach at Selsey, drowned – forcibly. But she isn't going to be the only victim.

[more]
Firefly Kalidasa: unboxing and first look 03 October 2015

My copy of the Kalidasa expansion to Firefly arrived yesterday. What's inside?

[more]
Nine Coaches Waiting, Mary Stewart 02 October 2015

1958; mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. Linda Martin gets a job as governess to the young Comte de Valmy, at his château in the French Alps. But why did her employer seem so keen that she not be able to speak any French?

[more]
September 2015 Trailers 01 October 2015 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
The Price of Peace, Mike Moscoe 30 September 2015

2000 military SF, second in the Jump Universe series. The Unity War is over, but that doesn't mean things are peaceful; Commander Izzy Umboto of the cruiser Patton is chasing down pirates, and worse.

[more]
The Great Martian War, 1913-1917 27 September 2015 - 2 comments

2013, dir. Mike Slee, Mark Strong, Jock McLeod; IMDb / Wikipedia

A brief history of the Great Martian War, combining interviews with veterans and archive footage.

[more]
The Luck Runs Out, Charlotte MacLeod 26 September 2015

1981, cosy American detective fiction; second of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy, set at an agricultural college in Massachussetts. A few days before the Annual Competition of the Balaclava County Draft Horse Association, the college's farrier has been murdered. And the prize pig has gone missing. Is it a school prank gone horribly wrong, or something more sinister?

[more]
The Annihilation Score, Charles Stross 24 September 2015 - 11 comments

2015 modern occult secret service, sixth in the Laundry Files series. As CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN continues, more and more people are developing occult powers, and they envision them according to their own mythologies. Which means superheroes. Mo O'Brien, combat epistemologist and wielder of the last Zahn violin, now has to run a super-crime-fighting squad.

[more]
The First Casualty, Mike Moscoe 22 September 2015

1999 military SF, first of a series that comes both chronologically and in publication date before the Kris Longknife books. Four soldiers on opposite sides of the war between the Society of Humanity and the Unity do their best to stay alive in the face of enemies both of the conventional kind and in their own ranks.

[more]
Suburbia Five Star first look 21 September 2015

Suburbia Five Star (or 5★ if you follow the cover style) is the second expansion to Suburbia.

[more]
Dead Men's Bones, James Oswald 18 September 2015

2014 supernatural mystery, fourth in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. A body is found in the North Esk, dead of a fall, and tattooed all over. A prominent politician shoots his wife and children, then himself. Tony McLean is more interested in the former, but gets the latter on his plate as well.

[more]
Forever season 1 17 September 2015

2014-2015, 22 episodes: the immortal Henry Morgan works as a medical examiner in modern New York to fund his research on ending his own life. Wikipedia

[more]
Mutineer, Mike Shepherd 16 September 2015 - 3 comments

2004 military SF, first of a series of twelve books so far with at least two more planned. Kris Longknife, daughter of the Prime Minister of the long-settled world of Wardhaven, joined the Navy to get away from politics. But as the old alliance of humanity falls apart, it's not going to be that easy.

[more]
Pyramid 81: Horrific Creations 14 September 2015

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's about created, and creative, creatures in a horror context.

[more]
The Secret Hangman, Peter Lovesey 13 September 2015

2007 mystery, the ninth book in Lovesey's Peter Diamond series. A woman is found hanged in a park in Bath; a few days later her partner turns up in the same state. A suicide pact?

[more]
Dark Intruder 12 September 2015

1965, dir. Harvey Hart, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Mark Richman; IMDb / allmovie

San Francisco, 1891. Playboy Brett Kingsford is secretly an occult detective. When his best friend's fiancée comes to him describing her husband-to-be's strange mental state, he starts to look into it.

[more]
The Grub-and-Stakers Move a Mountain, Charlotte MacLeod 11 September 2015

1981, cosy American detective fiction; first of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Dittany Henbit and the Lobelia Falls Grub-and-Stakers Gardening & Roving Club. In a small town in Ontario, the local villain has a plan to build houses on a wilderness area. But one of his patsies ends up shot.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 22 10 September 2015 - 9 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

The Doctor - Colin Baker
Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant

[more]
Victory Conditions, Elizabeth Moon 09 September 2015

2009 military SF, last in a five-book series. Ky Vatta has her fleet, and is ready to move against the pirates as soon as they attack. But she doesn't know all their plans.

[more]
Hyperdog 4-ball launcher 08 September 2015 - 4 comments

I recently bought a tennis-ball catapult, for the benefit of a visiting dog. It's not as good as I'd hoped.

[more]
Jaggy Splinters, Chris Brookmyre 07 September 2015

2012 collection of six short stories.

[more]
God's War, Kameron Hurley 05 September 2015 - 2 comments

2011 SF. Nyx is a bel dame, an assassin tracking down and killing deserters for the government of Nasheen. Then things go wrong. Now she's being employed for a covert recovery mission, but everyone's hand is against her.

[more]
GURPS Social Engineering: Back to School, William H. Stoddard 04 September 2015 - 2 comments

This GURPS supplement deals with teaching, learning, and games based on either or both.

[more]
The End is Nigh, John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey 03 September 2015 - 2 comments

2014 SF anthology about the run-up to the end of the world.

[more]
August 2015 Trailers 01 September 2015 - 2 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
Murder Goes Mumming, Charlotte MacLeod 31 August 2015 - 1 comment

1981, cosy American detective fiction; second of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Madoc and Janet Rhys. In a remote country house in Canada, old Granny Condrycke has died peacefully in her sleep. With the house cut off, the family decides to go ahead with Christmas festivities. But Madoc Rhys, a Mountie who's there accidentally undercover with his fiancée Janet, reckons there was more to it.

[more]
Despicable Me 30 August 2015 - 1 comment

2010, dir. Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud; IMDb / allmovie

The supervillain Gru finds that he needs three little girls for his latest nefarious scheme: to steal the Moon. But he's not as much of a hard case as he thinks he is.

[more]
Command Decision, Elizabeth Moon 29 August 2015

2007 military SF, fourth in a five-book series. Kylara Vatta is putting together an anti-pirate navy while her cousin Stella is rebuilding the family firm.

[more]
Tabletop season 3 28 August 2015

2014-2015, 21 episodes: Wil Wheaton and other minor celebrities play boardgames.

[more]
Flesh Wounds, Chris Brookmyre 27 August 2015

2013 thriller, third in Brookmyre's Glasgow crime series. Jasmine Sharp's protector, the vanished and reappeared gang enforcer Glen Fallan, is arrested for the murder of his old enemy Stevie Fullerton; DS Catherine McLeod is happy to see Fallan put away, but wants to do this by the book, and there are disturbing inconsistencies.

[more]
Radiance, Alicorn 25 August 2015 - 2 comments

2011 contemporary fantasy, a "re-imagining" of the Twilight series. Five years after Luminosity, Elspeth Cullen, daughter of Bella and Edward, tries to stay alive.

[more]
Log Horizon 2 22 August 2015

2014-2015 fantasy, light novel adaptation, 25 episodes: AniDB. Sequel to 2013-2014's Log Horizon. The players of a virtual-reality fantasy game are trapped inside it, and have to learn to live in their new world.

[more]
Lines of Departure, Marko Kloos 21 August 2015 - 2 comments

2014 SF, sequel to Terms of Enlistment. Humanity is losing the war against the aliens, but Andrew Grayson might as well re-enlist: there's nothing else for him to do.

[more]
Pyramid 80: Fantasy Threats 20 August 2015

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's about things that threaten adventurers in a fantasy game: some monsters, but also societal menaces.

[more]
The Magic City, E. Nesbit 19 August 2015

1910 children's fantasy. Philip, feeling abandoned after his older sister and sole family member marries, builds a model city from things around the house, then finds he has been sucked into it.

[more]
Kung Fury 18 August 2015 - 1 comment

2015 action comedy, dir. and starring David Sandberg: IMDb / allmovie

The toughest martial arts cop in Miami goes back in time to kill kung fu Hitler.

[more]
Don't Point That Thing At Me, Kyril Bonfiglioli 17 August 2015

1972 comedy, first in the Mortdecai Trilogy. Charlie Mortdecai is a cheerfully corrupt, vaguely aristocratic and thoroughly cowardly art dealer, who finds himself called on to act as an unwilling assassin.

[more]
A Place of Confinement, Anna Dean 15 August 2015

2012 historical detection, fourth in Dean's Dido Kent series. Dido is forced to act as companion to her elderly and wealthy aunt, but the house they visit has its own problems: a young lady has disappeared, perhaps to Gretna Green, but her guardian is curiously unconcerned about her.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 21 14 August 2015 - 4 comments

I haven't given up!

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

The Doctor - Peter Davison
The Doctor - Colin Baker
Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding
Vislor Turlough - Mark Strickson
Kamelion - Gerald Flood and Dallas Adams
Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant

[more]
The Blue Place, Nicola Griffith 13 August 2015

1998 lesbian noir mystery/romance; first in Griffith's series about Aud Torvingen, bodyguard and borderline psychopath in Atlanta. An art historian's house is burned to the ground, with him in it; six kilos of cocaine are found in the garage. A drug-related execution, or something odder?

[more]
Leave a Message for Willie, Marcia Muller 11 August 2015

1984 mystery; fifth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. A major player in the flea-markets wants help dealing with a stalker, but his business is not as honest as it could be, and soon people start turning up dead.

[more]
Gotham season 1 09 August 2015

2014-2015, 22 episodes: in the years before Batman, Gotham City is a cesspit of crime. But one cop is trying to make a difference.

[more]
The Odin Mission, James Holland 08 August 2015 - 2 comments

2008 war story, first in Holland's Sergeant Jack Tanner series. In April of 1940, British forces in Norway make a fighting retreat in the face of the oncoming German invasion. Jack Tanner, of the King's Own Yorkshire Rangers, must also deal with poor officers, being cut off from friendly troops, and a civilian who has to be smuggled out of the country.

[more]
Full Fathom Five, Max Gladstone 06 August 2015 - 2 comments

2014 technological fantasy. On the island of Kavekana, the main business is idols: all the convenience of a god, but none of the commitment or free will of the real thing. One of them has died thanks to a bad financial deal, but the priestess Kai tried to save her, and heard something odd as she did.

[more]
A Darkling Sea, James L. Cambias 03 August 2015

2013 science fiction. Six months' hyperspace travel from Earth, a small scientific team explores the lightless under-ice ocean of the planet Ilmatar.

[more]
July 2015 Trailers 01 August 2015 - 4 comments

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)

[more]
Shadow Ops: Control Point, Myke Cole 30 July 2015 - 3 comments

2012 modern fantasy. For a few years, people have been manifesting magical powers; in the US, the military has taken control of it all. Some powers are allowed, some aren't. Oscar Britton, Army helicopter pilot, is about to develop one of the ones that isn't.

[more]
Garment of Shadows, Laurie R. King 27 July 2015 - 2 comments

2012 mystery, twelfth in King's series about Mary Russell, wife of Sherlock Holmes. In Morocco in 1924, rebellion is in the air, and fell plots with international ramifications are being prepared.

[more]
Clockwork Heart, Dru Pagliassotti 25 July 2015

2008 steampunk fantasy romance. Taya is an icarus, one of the couriers who strap on wings and buoyant metal to carry messages and small packages across the mountainside city of Ondinium. But a mid-air rescue brings her to the attention of the city's leaders.

[more]
The Hangman's Song, James Oswald 23 July 2015

2014 mystery, third in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. Bodies are found hanging in their homes in Edinburgh, apparently suicides. But how did they all come to do it in just the same way at the same time?

[more]
Terms of Enlistment, Marko Kloos 21 July 2015 - 8 comments

2013 SF. Andrew Grayson is a long-term welfare recipient, and there are only two ways out: hope to win a lottery for the colony worlds, or sign up with the military. He's going for option B.

[more]
Firefly Jetwash and Esmeralda: unboxing and first look 20 July 2015

My copies of the Jetwash and Esmeralda ship boosters for Firefly arrived on Friday. What's inside?

[more]
Luminosity, Alicorn 19 July 2015 - 2 comments

2010 contemporary fantasy, a "re-imagining" of the Twilight series. Bella Swan is a "rational self-knowledge junkie", so when she meets vampires, she starts thinking about them rather than blindly falling in love.

[more]
A Woman of Consequence, Anna Dean 17 July 2015

2010 historical detection, third in Dean's Dido Kent series. On a visit to a supposedly-haunted ruined abbey, a young lady slips and falls, saying in her delirium only "I saw her – it was her". Was it the Grey Nun of legend?

[more]
The Nelson Touch, Christopher Nuttall 14 July 2015

2014 military SF, second in the Ark Royal series. The outdated and over-armoured carrier Ark Royal did what the newer ships couldn't, taking the war to the alien invaders and even capturing an enemy starship. Now it's time for a larger raid into alien space.

[more]
Death Before Wicket, Kerry Greenwood 11 July 2015 - 2 comments

1999 historical detection. Tenth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). Phryne is in Sydney, nominally to watch a cricket match, at the request of two university students, whose friend has been accused of stealing exam-papers: an obvious setup. But it seems that there's more to it than that.

[more]
The Deaths of Tao, Wesley Chu 09 July 2015

2013 SF, by the only non-slate nominee for the Campbell this year. Unaging aliens and their human hosts struggle across the Earth.

[more]
A Night Too Dark, Dana Stabenow 07 July 2015

2010 mystery, seventeenth in the series about Kate Shugak, part-time private investigator in a national park in Alaska. The gold mine has come to the Park, and that's changing everything; but murder is still murder.

[more]
Engaging the Enemy, Elizabeth Moon 04 July 2015

2006 SF, third in a five-book series. With the space pirates moving in earnest to extort protection money from interstellar trading polities, Kylara Vatta starts to build a fleet to take them on.

[more]
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2: Icky Goo, Sean Punch 03 July 2015

The first Dungeon Fantasy Monsters book dealt with all sorts of creature one might find while kicking in doors and killing the things behind them. This one is more specialised, dealing specifically with slimes.

[more]
Fly Navy: The View from the Cockpit 1945-2000, Charles Manning 02 July 2015

2000 non-fiction, a collection of anecdotes by officers of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.

[more]
Hugo 2015: Graphic Story 30 June 2015 - 2 comments

Four nominees in this category that conform to my criteria. I'm not much of a comics reader as a rule, but there's a pleasing diversity of styles.

[more]
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 29 June 2015

2015, 13 episodes: AniDB

Parody of contemporary slice-of-life and romance. Aki Tomoya tries to create a computer game (in one of the standard Japanese models, with good art and multiple-choice gameplay) with the assistance of various schoolmates.

[more]
Guns in the Gallery, Simon Brett 28 June 2015

2011; thirteenth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Jude and Carole go to a private viewing by a consciously controversial artist at a local gallery, but the evening ends in violent death. The police reckon it's suicide, but…

[more]
Chernobyl Diaries 27 June 2015

2012 horror, dir. Brad Parker, Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski: IMDb / allmovie

A tourist trip into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone goes horribly wrong.

[more]
Hugo 2015: Beneath Ceaseless Skies 157, Scott H. Andrews 26 June 2015

For this year's Hugo awards there are three semiprozines in contention that satisfy my voting criteria. One didn't bother to provide a sample in the Hugo packet. This is one of the other two.

[more]
A Soldier's Duty, Jean Johnson 24 June 2015 - 4 comments

2011 SF, first of a five-book series. Ia is a precognitive who foresees the collapse of human civilisation… unless she takes a specific path, which starts with becoming a space marine.

[more]
Helix season 2 23 June 2015

2015 science fiction. On an island off the Washington coast, there's a disease outbreak, but a religious community living there doesn't seem to be worried about it. And it all has something to do with the immortals.

[more]
Hugo 2015: Lightspeed 44, John Joseph Adams 22 June 2015

For this year's Hugo awards there are three semiprozines in contention that satisfy my voting criteria. One didn't bother to provide a sample in the Hugo packet. This is one of the other two.

[more]
Marque and Reprisal, Elizabeth Moon 19 June 2015

2004 SF, second in a five-book series. Kylara Vatta survived her first solo trading venture, but now someone's taking on the family firm. UK vt Moving Target.

[more]
The Cutout, Francine Mathews 17 June 2015

2001 espionage thriller. Caroline Carmichael, CIA intelligence analyst, thought she'd lost her husband in a plane bombing. Until he showed up in a photo of the people who had just kidnapped the Vice-President of the USA during a terrorist attack in Berlin.

[more]
Hugo 2015: Novelette 15 June 2015

There's only one non-slate novelette on the ballot this year, so that's what I'm reviewing here: The Day The World Turned Upside Down, by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.

[more]
Pyramid 79: Space Atlas, edited by Steven Marsh 13 June 2015

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. "Space Atlas" covers places to take a campaign… in space.

[more]
Trading in Danger, Elizabeth Moon 12 June 2015 - 2 comments

2003 SF, first in a five-book series. Kylara Vatta is thrown out of space navy academy, then gets a job taking one of the family firm's oldest ships on its final voyage to the scrapyard. Of course it all gets more complicated than that.

[more]
Speaking from Among the Bones, Alan Bradley 10 June 2015 - 2 comments

2013 cosy mystery, fifth in Bradley's series set in the early 1950s about child detective Flavia de Luce. The corpse of the angelic-looking young organist has been hidden in a saint's tomb that hasn't been opened for years. But how and why did he die?

[more]
Koufuku Graffiti 09 June 2015

2015 contemporary slice of life, 12 episodes: AniDB. A middle school girl with a knack for cooking learns that everything tastes better if you share it with someone special. vt Gourmet Girl Graffiti.

[more]
My Friend Mr Leakey, J B S Haldane 08 June 2015 - 2 comments

1937 children's fantasy. Six stories of wonder, three of them dealing with the modern magician Mr Leakey.

[more]
GURPS Monster Hunters 5: Applied Xenology, Jason Levine 07 June 2015 - 2 comments

This supplementary volume in the Monster Hunters series tweaks the game to allow the foes to be aliens rather than supernatural monsters.

[more]
The Severed Streets, Paul Cornell 06 June 2015 - 2 comments

2014 urban fantasy, sequel to London Falling. As protests brew into riots during a hot summer, important people are being murdered in a bizarre and impossible way. Fortunately, the Met has four officers who specialise in the impossible.

[more]
The China Syndrome 05 June 2015

1979 drama, dir. James Bridges, Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon: IMDb / allmovie

A TV news reporter uncovers dirty secrets at a nuclear power plant.

[more]
Countdown, Keith Douglass 04 June 2015

1994 alternate-world military fiction; sixth in the Carrier series. "Tombstone" Magruder is still CAG aboard USS Thomas Jefferson, which now gets involved in the Russian civil war of 1994+4.

[more]
Pyramid 78: Unleash Your Soul, edited by Steven Marsh 02 June 2015

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's religion, particularly of the actively supernatural sort. This isn't something that tends to come up much in my games, so the applicability of this issue is relatively low for me.

[more]
Nuclear Weapons: Principles, Effects and Survivability, Charles S. Grace 31 May 2015 - 1 comment

1994 non-fiction, volume 10 of the Brassey's New Battlefield Weapons Systems and Technology series. A practical primer on the design and operation of nuclear weapons, their effects, and their simulation.

[more]
The Rolling Girls 30 May 2015

2015 futuristic fantasy, 12 episodes: AniDB. After the Great Tokyo War, Japan is balkanised; each area is protected by its own vigilante squad. Four girls set out to deal with some of the problems.

[more]
Windscale 1957, Lorna Arnold 29 May 2015

1995 non-fiction. In October 1957, the core of Windscale's Pile 1 caught fire, burned for three days, and spread radioactive contamination across what was then Cumberland. This is the official history of the incident and its aftermath.

[more]
A Gentleman of Fortune, Anna Dean 26 May 2015

2009 historical detection, second in Dean's Dido Kent series. Rich invalid Mrs Lansdale has died, of an overdose of laudanum. Her nephew stands to inherit. But did he do it?

[more]
GURPS Zombies: Day One, Sean Punch 25 May 2015

Eight zombie campaign frames sketched out in moderate detail.

[more]
The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin 23 May 2015

2014 translation of 2006 SF from China. In the long shadow of the Cultural Revolution, various people try to work out why scientists are committing suicide.

[more]
Kamisama Hajimemashita 2 21 May 2015

2015 modern fantasy, 12 episodes: AniDB. Sequel to 2012's Kamisama Hajimemashita; vt "Kamisama Kiss" or "Beginning of Life as a God". Ordinary schoolgirl Nanami has become a shrine deity, and is still trying to learn how to do her job.

[more]
Natural Causes, James Oswald 20 May 2015

2012 mystery, first in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. A prominent city elder in Edinburgh is killed, but less than a day later his killer commits a public and messy suicide. Case closed, and the police are happy. But McLean won't let it lie, especially when the same thing happens again.

[more]
12 Monkeys season 1 19 May 2015 - 5 comments

2015 SF, 13 episodes. In the future, humanity has been nearly wiped out by a plague. James Cole is sent back in time to 2015, just before it started, to try to prevent it.

[more]
Thunder on the Right, Mary Stewart 18 May 2015

1957; mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. Jennifer Silver goes to the Pyrenées to visit her widowed cousin, who's staying in a convent and thinking about taking orders. But when she arrives, she finds her cousin has suddenly died and been buried. Or has she?

[more]
What We Do in the Shadows 17 May 2015

2014 comedy, dir. and starring Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi: IMDb / allmovie

Four vampires share a flat in modern New Zealand. Comedy happens.

[more]
The Family Vault, Charlotte MacLeod 16 May 2015

1980, cosy American detective fiction; first of MacLeod's novels of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. In Boston, an old family vault is opened for the first time in thirty years… to reveal the corpse of a well-known burlesque dancer.

[more]
A Small Colonial War, Robert Frezza 14 May 2015 - 1 comment

1990 military SF. In the 22nd century, the Japanese empire which controls Earth and the colony worlds sends a task group to suppress a three-way colonial revolt. It doesn't help that many of the colonists are exiled Boers.

[more]
Fox Five, Zoë Sharp 12 May 2015

2011 thriller: five short stories about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and current private bodyguard.

[more]
Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road 11 May 2015

2014, 24 episodes: AniDB

Sports. Onoda Sakamichi, cyclist with huge natural talent, continues his racing career. (Sequel to Yowamushi Pedal.)

[more]
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison 10 May 2015 - 2 comments

2014 fantasy. Maia is the fourth son of the emperor of Elfland, exiled to a rural estate and forgotten about. But now the emperor is dead along with his other sons, and Maia becomes the new emperor, thrown headlong into court politics for which he is unprepared.

[more]
Pyramid 77: Combat, edited by Steven Marsh 09 May 2015

Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's combat: fighting of all sorts.

[more]
Souls in the Great Machine, Sean McMullen 08 May 2015

1999 SF. More than a thousand years after Greatwinter destroyed civilisation, new cultures have grown up in what was once Australia. But what is the secret at the heart of the Library?

[more]
Bury in Haste, Jean Rowden 06 May 2015

2007 mystery. In rural Yorkshire in 1956, Constable "Thorny" Deepbriar is a village bobby who's always longed to try his hand at detection. Now he's going to get his chance.

[more]
Anywhere but Here, Jerry Oltion 02 May 2015

2005 SF, sequel to The Getaway Special. With cheap hyperdrive available to the world, things are falling apart; two people try to work out their options.

[more]
Aldnoah.Zero second season 26 April 2015

2015, 12 episodes: AniDB

Mecha series, continuation of last summer's Aldnoah Zero. The Martians are still invading Earth, but things have bogged down.

[more]
The Circle, Peter Lovesey 25 April 2015

2005 mystery. A publisher's house is burned down, with him in it. What's the connection with the local circle of unpublished writers?

[more]
Cross Ange Tenshi: to Ryuu no Rondo 22 April 2015

2014-2015, 25 episodes: AniDB; vt Cross Ange: Rondo of Angel and Dragon.

In a magical/tech society, the princess is discovered to be a non-magic-user, stripped of her rank, and exiled to the high-casualty, low-empathy defenders of the kingdom.

[more]
A Moment of Silence, Anna Dean 21 April 2015 - 4 comments

2008 historical detection, first in Dean's Dido Kent series. In 1805 at Richard Montague's engagement party, he suddenly puts off his fiancée Catherine and leaves for parts unknown. And a woman's body is found in the shrubbery. Catherine's spinster aunt Dido tries to clear up the mystery. US vt Bellfield Hall.

[more]
Kantai Collection 19 April 2015

2015, 12 episodes: AniDB

Schoolgirls with the spirit of WWII Japanese fighting ships take on an alien navy.

[more]
Constantine season 1 18 April 2015 - 4 comments

2014-2015: John Constantine, broken magician, must protect the innocent from magical threats.

[more]
Sunglasses After Dark, Nancy A. Collins 17 April 2015 - 6 comments

1989 horror, prototypical urban fantasy. Sonja Blue, vampire killer of vampires, is locked up and medicated in a mental hospital. But that isn't going to stop her for long.

[more]
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso 14 April 2015

2014, 22 episodes: AniDB vt Your Lie in April

Modern romantic comedy. Kousei was a child prodigy at the piano, but gave it up. Two years later when he's in high school, he randomly meets Kaori the violinist, who insists that he should be her accompanist in a competition.

[more]
Wolf in Shadow, John Lambshead 13 April 2015 - 2 comments

2013 urban fantasy. Rhian, a young woman from the valleys with some unusual talents, finds herself in east London, where ancient magics are mixing with modern in a distinctly unpleasant way.

[more]
Good Enough for Nelson, John Winton 11 April 2015

1977; ninth of Winton's novels. The Artful Bodger (Commander R. B. Badger, RN) is now in charge of the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.

[more]
Laggies 10 April 2015

2014, dir. Lynn Shelton, Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz; IMDb / allmovie

Megan is approaching thirty, but her career and personality more or less went on hold when she left high school ten years ago. One night, as she's fleeing from an unwanted marriage proposal and other complications, some high-school kids ask her to buy them beer, and she gets on with Annika better than with her own peers. Things move on from there. vt Say When in the UK and Ireland.

[more]
Raisins and Almonds, Kerry Greenwood 09 April 2015

1997 historical detection. Ninth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia). A man drops dead of strychnine poisoning in a bookshop; the owner's the obvious suspect. But Phryne is unconvinced.

[more]
GURPS Boardroom and Curia, Matt Riggsby 05 April 2015

This supplement is not called "GURPS Organisations", but it might as well have been.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 20 04 April 2015 - 4 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

The Doctor - Peter Davison
Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding
Vislor Turlough - Mark Strickson
Kamelion - Gerald Flood

[more]
Every Secret Thing, Laura Lippman 03 April 2015

2003 suspense. Seven years ago, two eleven-year-old girls stole a baby, which died; maybe one of them killed it. Now they're out of juvenile detention… and a young child has gone missing.

[more]
CSI season 15 02 April 2015 - 2 comments

2014-2015: the crew of the Las Vegas Crime Lab continue to use forensic science to solve crimes.

[more]
The Rhesus Chart, Charles Stross 01 April 2015 - 4 comments

2014 modern occult secret service, fifth in the Laundry Files series. Everybody in the Laundry knows there's no such thing as vampires. Why are they so very sure?

[more]
The Book of Souls, James Oswald 28 March 2015

2012 mystery, second in Oswald's Inspector McLean series. Twelve years ago Tony McLean caught the Christmas Killer, whose last victim was McLean's fiancée. Now that man's been killed in prison, but another young woman's corpse has just turned up, killed in the same way. A copycat? Or did McLean get the wrong man?

[more]
Obsession in Death, J. D. Robb 26 March 2015

2015 SF/mystery; fiftieth (roughly) of J. D. Robb's In Death series. At the end of 2060, Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas comes up against a new threat: a murderer who's such a fan that he's killing people who've offended Dallas. And there are a lot of them.

[more]
Trinity Seven 24 March 2015

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

Modern magic. After the sun turns black and Arata's girlfriend disintegrates before his eyes, he now has to go to magician school.

[more]
The House Sitter, Peter Lovesey 23 March 2015 - 2 comments

2003 mystery, the eighth book in Lovesey's Peter Diamond series. Is a killing on a beach connected with the murder of a celebrity film director?

[more]
GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses, William H. Stoddard 21 March 2015

This specialised GURPS supplement deals with unusual sensory powers, from the reasonable to the cinematic.

[more]
London Falling, Paul Cornell 18 March 2015 - 3 comments

2012 urban fantasy. The big crime boss is finally arrested, curiously easily, but explodes in a shower of blood while he's being interviewed. In trying to work out what happened, four coppers accidentally step into a much larger world.

[more]
Sleepy Hollow season 2 17 March 2015

2014-2015: Ichabod Crane, survivor from the American Revolutionary War, continues to fight in the modern day against the imminent Apocalypse.

[more]
Redshift Rendezvous, John E. Stith 16 March 2015

1990 SF. On a passenger liner in hyperspace, the speed of light is a mere ten metres per second. But humans are still humans.

[more]
A Pint of Murder, Charlotte MacLeod 14 March 2015

1980, cosy American detective fiction; first of MacLeod's novels (as "Alisa Craig") of Madoc and Janet Rhys. In a small Canadian town, the local old biddy has died of eating her own contaminated preserves. But was she really that careless?

[more]
Bad Monkey, Carl Hiaasen 12 March 2015

2013 Florida Weird. On Key West, former Miami cop Andrew Yancy has a human arm in his freezer. But there's a reason for that. Yancy thinks the story about the arm's owner dying in a boating accident is full of holes, and sets off on an unofficial investigation.

[more]
Penguins of Madagascar 10 March 2015 - 1 comment

2014, dir. Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith; IMDb / allmovie

In this spin-off from the Madagascar series, four penguin secret agents attempt to foil the plot of the sinister Dr Octavius Brine. Or at least to find Cheesy Dibbles to eat.

[more]
Starhawk, Jack McDevitt 09 March 2015 - 2 comments

2013 SF, seventh in the Academy series and a prequel. Priscilla Hutchins is just completing interstellar pilot training, but already demand for pilots is dropping. And terrorists are threatening the terraforming project. Spoilers.

[more]
Agent Carter, season 1 08 March 2015 - 3 comments

2014-2015 superheroic fantasy. In 1946, after the presumed death of Captain America, his girlfriend Peggy Carter works for a secret government agency.

[more]
Denki-Gai no Honya-San 06 March 2015

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB; also known as "Electric Town Bookstore".

Workplace sitcom based in a manga/DVD/game/etc. shop, poking fun at the fandom and conventions of the genre.

[more]
A Distant Mirror, Barbara Tuchman 05 March 2015 - 2 comments

1978, popular history. Tuchman recounts the history of France and some nearby countries in the latter part of the Fourteenth Century, with particular focus on the nobleman Enguerrand de Coucy.

[more]
Captains Courageous, Rudyard Kipling 02 March 2015 - 2 comments

1897: the spoiled son of a millionaire, washed overboard from a steamer, is rescued and put to work by the crew of a Grand Banks cod-boat.

[more]
The Librarians, series 1 28 February 2015 - 5 comments

2014-2015; the Library is where all the magical artefacts in the world are stored to keep them (and the world) safe. After three TV movies, the story has been resurrected as a weekly series.

[more]
Maelstrom, Keith Douglass 27 February 2015

1993; fifth in the Carrier series. "Tombstone" Magruder, CAG aboard USS Thomas Jefferson, continues to fight against the Russian invasion of Norway in 1993+4.

[more]
The Ninth Daughter, Barbara Hamilton 24 February 2015

2009 historical mystery. In Boston in 1773, Abigail Adams (wife of lawyer and future president John Quincy Adams) tries to solve the murder of one woman and the disappearance of another.

[more]
The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins 22 February 2015

1868 mystery; often considered the first detective novel in English. The huge diamond, looted from India, goes missing after a birthday party. Who took it? And how was the trick managed?

[more]
Psycho-Pass 2 21 February 2015

2014, 11 episodes: AniDB

The perfect society of 2012-2013's Psycho-Pass encounters a new threat.

[more]
The Warden, Anthony Trollope 17 February 2015

1855 novel, first of Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire. The warden of Hiram's Hospital, an almshouse supported by a charitable bequest, comes under attack for keeping too much of the now-substantial income to himself.

[more]
Wildfire at Midnight, Mary Stewart 14 February 2015

1956; mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. In 1953, the fashion model Gianetta Drury has over-worked herself, and leaves London just before the Coronation to spend some time in a remote hotel on Skye. But it's not the peaceful retreat she'd hoped for.

[more]
Wanderlust, Ann Aguirre 11 February 2015

2008 SF/romance, second in the Grimspace series. In the previous book, Sirantha Jax was instrumental in bringing down the evil corporation that ran everything. But nature abhors a power vacuum.

[more]
Amagi Brilliant Park 10 February 2015

2014, 13 episodes: AniDB.

High school boy is asked to be the acting manager of a failing amusement park populated by fantastic creatures.

[more]
Bones under the Beach Hut, Simon Brett 09 February 2015

2011; twelfth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). Carole Seddon takes over the rental of a beach hut along the shore from Fethering, only for human remains to turn up underneath it.

[more]
Jiro Dreams of Sushi 07 February 2015

2012, dir. David Gelb, Jiro Yoshino: IMDb / allmovie

Ono Jiro is the oldest chef ever to get a third Michelin star; his restaurant in Ginza only seats twelve people.

[more]
I Think You'll Find It's A Bit More Complicated Than That, Ben Goldacre 06 February 2015

2014; a collection of Ben Goldacre's short writing, mostly for the Guardian.

[more]
Ascension 05 February 2015 - 9 comments

2014 SF mini-series. In the 1950s, a project was begun to build an interstellar generation spacecraft as a lifeboat for humanity should the Cold War turn hot. Now they're half-way through the mission and they've just had their first murder. Meanwhile, on Earth, someone's looking into long-buried secrets. Possible spoilers ahead.

[more]
Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey 03 February 2015

1949 mystery. Simon Ashby is about to come of age and inherit the family estate Latchetts (sadly fallen, but still worth a bit). Eight years ago, after the sudden death of their parents, his older twin Patrick committed suicide, or so everyone thought; but now someone claiming to be Patrick has turned up to take over again.

[more]
Personal, Lee Child 31 January 2015

2014; 19th book of Jack Reacher. Some bad man has had a long range shot at the chief man of France, but few men are good enough to have a go, and Jack put one of them in clink some years back. So some spies bring him on board to help catch the bad man, and be bait.

[more]
Danna ga Nani o Itteiruka Wakaranai Ken 30 January 2015

2014, 13 episodes: AniDB Also known as I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying. Slice of life comedy dealing with the daily routine of a busy office lady and her otaku husband.

[more]
Whit, Iain Banks 29 January 2015

1995: Isis Whit is the Elect of God and heir-designate to the small cult of Luskentyrianism, the granddaughter of its founder; she's lived all her life in its holdings near Dunblane. But now one of the members in London has fallen out of contact in an odd way, and it's up to Isis to travel outside and try to get her back.

[more]
The Portable Door, Tom Holt 26 January 2015 - 2 comments

2003 comic fantasy. Paul Carpenter applies for a job as a "junior clerk" at J. W. Wells, not knowing just what it is that they do; but it seems to be something really quite strange. He'd chuck it in if he hadn't fallen for his fellow junior clerk…

[more]
Fifth Victim, Zoë Sharp 24 January 2015

Ninth thriller in the series about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and current private bodyguard. Children of the super-rich are being kidnapped in the Hamptons, and Charlie is hired by the mother of one of the potential victims. But it's all more complex than it looks.

[more]
Terra Formars 23 January 2015

2014, 13 episodes: AniDB Mars was seeded with engineered cockroaches and mould. Five hundred years later, they ate the first manned mission. The second one had only two survivors. Now it's time for the third.

[more]
The Getaway Special, Jerry Oltion 22 January 2015

2001 SF, expansion of 1985 short story. A scientist invents a hyperspace drive that's easy to build and use, and tells the world. Things don't go as smoothly as he expects.

[more]
Sword Art Online II 19 January 2015

2014, 24 episodes: AniDB, follow-up to 2012's Sword Art Online. The survivors of the VR MMO Sword Art Online go on to new adventures.

[more]
Rest You Merry, Charlotte MacLeod 18 January 2015

1979, cosy American detective fiction; first of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy. In a New England agricultural college, the local busybody has had an accident, or been murdered. But was it really over the question of Christmas decorations?

[more]
Shipwreck! First Look 13 January 2015

"Modern" (i.e. post-WWII) naval warfare is surprisingly underserved by the wargaming community. There's Harpoon, of course, which I know and love, but it's a bit heavy on detail for many people. Shipwreck!, written by Martin Bourne and published in 1999 by Vandering Publications, is the "other" game, and it takes a much lighter approach.

[more]
Grimspace, Ann Aguirre 12 January 2015

2008 SF/romance. Sirantha Jax is a jumper, one of the rare humans who can navigate FTL ships through grimspace. But her ship crashed, her pilot/lover died (along with everyone else on board), and she may be going mad.

[more]
Hitsugi no Chaika Avenging Battle 11 January 2015

2014, 10 episodes: AniDB. Sequel to last spring's Hitsugi no Chaika.

The daughter of the evil mage-emperor is still collecting his remains in order to give him a proper funeral.

[more]
Whispers Under Ground, Ben Aaronovitch 10 January 2015 - 1 comment

Contemporary fantasy. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, investigates the death of a man found stabbed on Baker Street station.

[more]
Heaven's Queen, Rachel Bach 08 January 2015 - 2 comments

2014 SF; sequel to Honour's Knight. With most of the powers in the known universe arrayed against her, Devi is still infected with the virus that could solve everything (or bring it all crashing down).

[more]
All Cheerleaders Die 07 January 2015

2013, dir. Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson, Caitlin Stasey, Sianoa Smit-McPhee: IMDb / allmovie

Outcast girl Maddy manages to get onto the cheerleading squad after its leader dies in a bizarre accident. But she has revenge in mind, for what is not yet clear, and that's only the beginning.

[more]
The Cardinal's Mistress, Benito Mussolini 06 January 2015

1910; melodrama. In the middle of the 17th century, Claudia Particelli is mistress to the Cardinal (Prince-Bishop) of Trento, and everybody will come to a Bad End.

[more]
Gold from Crete, C. S. Forester 04 January 2015

1971 collection of earlier fiction; various stories of action during the Second World War.

[more]
Tokyo Ghoul 03 January 2015

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

Modern Tokyo is infested by ghouls, who eat humans. Kaneki is about to become their latest victim.

[more]
Unfinished Books of 2014 30 December 2014 - 2 comments

Mostly I finish the books that I start. Sometimes I don't. These are the ones I didn't finish this year.

[more]
Garfunkel and Oates, series 1 29 December 2014 - 2 comments

22-minute comedy loosely based on the real lives of the folk-rock-parody duo of Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome.

[more]
Honour's Knight, Rachel Bach 27 December 2014 - 1 comment

2014 SF; sequel to Fortune's Pawn. Devi is now security chief on the tramp space-freighter she signed on with, but clearly something very strange is going on.

[more]
Terror in Resonance 23 December 2014

2014, 11 episodes: AniDB; also known as Zankyou no Terror and Terror in Tokyo.

In an alternate present, terrorist bombs start going off in Tokyo. What is the mysterious Sphinx, and why are they doing it?

[more]
Delete All Suspects, Donna Andrews 22 December 2014 - 2 comments

2005 SF/mystery. Turing Hopper, an AI emergent from research assistant software, looks into the affairs of a techie who's been hit by a car and is now in intensive care. Was it an accident?

[more]
Kim, Rudyard Kipling 18 December 2014

1901: an orphaned Irish boy, growing up on the streets of Lahore, puts his natural talents to better use.

[more]
Revenge of the Cootie Girls, Sparkle Hayter 16 December 2014

1997; third of Hayter's mysteries about TV journalist Robin Hudson. Robin's just trying to find her intern and other co-workers for a girls' night out, but somehow it doesn't seem to come together.

[more]
Access Denied, Donna Andrews 14 December 2014

2004 SF/mystery. Turing Hopper, an AI emergent from research assistant software, follows up on a lead to an old enemy.

[more]
Games to Keep the Dark Away, Marcia Muller 12 December 2014

1984; fourth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. McCone investigates the disappearance of a famous photographer's roommate, which leads to secret goings-on in a decaying coastal town.

[more]
Terminator Genisys Trailer 11 December 2014 - 7 comments

Some people may review the new Star Wars trailer. I find this one more interesting.

[more]
Glasslip 09 December 2014

2014, 13 episodes: AniDB

Teenage romance and premonitory powers in contemporary small-town Japan.

[more]
Click Here for Murder, Donna Andrews 08 December 2014

2003 SF/mystery. Turing Hopper, an AI emergent from research assistant software, has just lost a friend and employee: he's been murdered. The police reckon it was random drug-related violence; she tries to find out more.

[more]
Libriomancer, Jim C. Hines 06 December 2014

2012: Isaac Vainio used to be a libriomancer, someone who can reach into books and pull out the objects depicted there; but things went bad and now he works at a small town library. Until the vampires show up. Minor spoilers will follow.

[more]
Sliding Doors 05 December 2014 - 1 comment

1998, dir. Peter Howitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah: IMDb / allmovie

A woman just fired from her job does, or does not, catch a particular Underground train, and does, or does not, catch her boyfriend in bed with another woman; her life diverges from that point, and we see both halves.

[more]
Three Men and a Maid, Robert Fraser 04 December 2014

1907; romantic melodrama-cum-mystery story. Who killed Robert Courthope? Why did Philip Warren flee from the scene?

[more]
Whistleblower, Tess Gerritsen 01 December 2014

1992; romantic suspense. Catherine Weaver is a makeup artist for low-budget films who's driving to visit her pregnant friend on a rainy night, when she hits Victor Holland who's just stumbled onto the road having been shot. Then things start moving.

[more]
High Moon 30 November 2014

Some time in the future, two convicts working on the Moon discover something strange: a flower, blooming on the surface. Then things get weird.

[more]
In the Land of Invented Languages, Arika Okrent 29 November 2014 - 5 comments

2009: Okrent examines the history of invented languages, and in particular the rare instances that weren't immediately forgotten.

[more]
Free! Eternal Summer 27 November 2014

2014, 13 episodes: AniDB, sequel to Free! (2013).

High school sports club anime: the sport in this instance is swimming.

[more]
Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie 25 November 2014 - 2 comments

Sequel to Ancillary Justice. Breq, now a Fleet Captain, travels to a backwater world to help assure its survival in the civil war.

[more]
Bedlam, Christopher Brookmyre 23 November 2014 - 2 comments

Ross Baker is having a bad day. He'd just lain down for an experimental brain scan, and now he seems to be a cyborg soldier in an endless war. And it's going to get a lot stranger than that. If you plan to read this book, know that I thought it fairly good (I'd rate it with Pandæmonium as minor but worth reading, much better than When the Devil Drives) and stop reading now to avoid the spoilers.

[more]
Meet the Tiger, Leslie Charteris 20 November 2014

In a small village by the Devon coast, a very strange fellow has moved into the old pill-box on the cliff. Excitement ensues.

[more]
Bad Pharma, Ben Goldacre 18 November 2014

Ben Goldacre explains at length how pretty much everything about drug research and selection is rotten.

[more]
Aldnoah.Zero 17 November 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

Mecha series. The Martians are invading Earth, and their technology is overpowering. But some Earthlings are able to fight back.

[more]
USS Seawolf, Patrick Robinson 16 November 2014 - 2 comments

In an attempt to get details of the latest Chinese missile submarine, an American attack boat is sent in to shadow her. Spoilers.

[more]
Automata 15 November 2014

2014, dir. Gabe Ibañez, Antonio Banderas, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen: IMDb / allmovie

After the vast majority of humanity has been killed by solar storms, robots keep the remainder alive in a small numer of cities. But some robots seem to be breaking their rules.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 19 13 November 2014 - 6 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

The Doctor - Peter Davison
Adric - Matthew Waterhouse
Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding

[more]
The Good Soldier Schweik, Jaroslav Hasek 12 November 2014

After the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian Empire goes to war. Josef Švejk, a dealer in stolen dogs, does his best to get by.

[more]
Owls Well That Ends Well, Donna Andrews 10 November 2014

Sixth mystery starring Meg Lanslow, contemporary blacksmith. Meg and her boyfriend have bought a huge old house very cheaply, on condition that they clear out and sell the accumulated junk left by the previous owner. But during the sale, a dubious dealer in antiquities turns up dead…

[more]
Hunting Season, Nevada Barr 08 November 2014

Tenth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series, murder mysteries in US National Parks. Back on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, a body's been found in an old plantation house, left in a manner suggestive of sexual homicide.

[more]
Ao Haru Ride 07 November 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB, also known as Blue Spring Ride.

Contemporary school story adapted from shōjo manga. Futaba reinvents herself as she enters high school, only to find that her middle-school crush Kou has also reinvented himself.

[more]
Comet in Moominland, Tove Jansson 06 November 2014 - 3 comments

Tove Jansson's second book about the Moomins. Original title Kometjakten.

[more]
Revolution! Anarchy: first look 04 November 2014

Revolution! Anarchy is the new 5-6 player expansion to Revolution!.

[more]
What If?, Randall Munroe 03 November 2014

The author of the webcomic xkcd works out back-of-the-envelope answers to odd scientific questions.

[more]
Save the Cat!, Blake Snyder 31 October 2014

This highly influential book on screenwriting lays out a standard structure to which all saleable scripts should conform.

[more]
Fourth Day, Zoë Sharp 27 October 2014

Eighth thriller in the series about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and current private bodyguard. A man's son joined a cult, and later got killed; he went in to find out what had been so tempting, and decided to stay. Now Charlie's on the team that's getting him out. But it's all rather more complicated than it looks…

[more]
Chickenhawk, Robert Mason 25 October 2014 - 6 comments

Robert Mason flew Hueys for a year in Vietnam. This is his story.

[more]
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun 24 October 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB; also known as Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun.

Parody series about young girls' (shōjo) manga. Chiyo has a crush on fellow high school student Nozaki, but through comical misunderstanding discovers he's a manga writer and artist – but this has to be kept a secret from the rest of the school.

[more]
Madam, Will You Talk?, Mary Stewart 23 October 2014

1954; mystery/thriller or romantic suspense; first published novel by Mary Stewart. Charity Selborne is on holiday in Provence, and meets young David Shelley and his stepmother Loraine Bristol. Somewhere in the background is David's father, recently acquitted of the grisly murder of his best friend, and believed by many to be mad…

[more]
Moon Over Soho, Ben Aaronovitch 21 October 2014

Contemporary fantasy. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, investigates the sudden deaths of jazz musicians.

[more]
Mushi-Shi The Next Chapter, first half 20 October 2014

2014, 12 episodes plus a special: AniDB; sequel to Mushishi (2005-2006).

Mushi are supernatural creatures which are invisible to most people, but which have an effect in the mundane world. Ginko, a mushi-shi, is someone who can see them, and who solves problems for people who are affected by them.

[more]
Pirate King, Laurie R. King 19 October 2014

Eleventh in King's series about Mary Russell, who… well, this is basically Sherlock Holmes fanfiction, but against all the odds it manages to work. Strange things have been happening around a film crew; Russell joins it to work out what's going on.

[more]
The Cheshire Cat's Eye, Marcia Muller 17 October 2014

Third in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private investigator in San Francisco. McCone investigates the murder of a painter and decorator in a rough area that's being gentrified.

[more]
Third Strike, Zoë Sharp 15 October 2014

Seventh thriller in the series about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and current private bodyguard. Charlie's estranged father turns up unexpectedly in the USA, and seems to be bent on professional self-destruction under the eyes of the media. Why?

[more]
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World 14 October 2014

2012, dir. Lorene Scafaria, Steve Carell, Keira Knightley: IMDb / allmovie

The world will be hit by an asteroid in three weeks, and there's nothing more that can be done about it. Dodge and his neighbour Penny set out to get him to his high school sweetheart, and her to her family in England.

[more]
Flame-Out, Keith Douglass 13 October 2014

Fourth in the Carrier series. "Tombstone" Magruder is now deputy CAG aboard a Nimitz-class carrier, and Russia is invading Norway.

[more]
The Sword-Edged Blonde, Alex Bledsoe 11 October 2014

Hard-boiled fantasy. Down the mean streets goes Eddie LaCrosse, a swordsman who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

[more]
Black Bullet 10 October 2014

2014, 13 episodes: AniDB

After civilisation is nearly destroyed by an invasion of virus-controlled creatures, only the children born with a small dose of the virus are an effective weapon against them. So they're paired with adult handlers, and sent off to the fight.

[more]
Nice Girls Finish Last, Sparkle Hayter 09 October 2014

Second of Hayter's mysteries about TV journalist Robin Hudson. This time her new gynæcologist has been found, handcuffed and then shot in the head, and there's no shortage of people who might have wished him ill.

[more]
The Last Ship, series 1 07 October 2014

While the destroyer USS Nathan James is on exercise in the Arctic, a plague has killed over 80% of the world's population. Now her captain must decide how to proceed.

[more]
Choosers of the Slain, James H. Cobb 06 October 2014 - 4 comments

Naval technothriller. Argentine troops invade key locations in Antarctica, and the only force in a position to do anything about it is a new US Navy destroyer.

[more]
The Most Dangerous Game 04 October 2014

1932, dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack, Joel McCrea, Fay Wray: IMDb / allmovie. Also known as The Hounds of Zaroff for its British release.

A famous hunter is shipwrecked, then makes it to the shore of a supposedly deserted island. But his host has plans for him.

[more]
The Most Dangerous Game, Richard Connell 03 October 2014

Short story. An expert hunter, washed overboard from his ship, makes it to an island where his host explains how he makes hunting a real challenge: his prey is human beings.

[more]
Circle of the Moon, Barbara Hambly 01 October 2014

Sequel to Sisters of the Raven. The new female wizards, and the king their patron, have to cope with dream-communications of suffering from abroad, a possible magical assassin, some new kind of plague that is wiping out villages, and the king's re-coronation ordeal (which was easier to fake back when magic was reliable).

[more]
Firefly Blue Sun: unboxing and first look 30 September 2014 - 4 comments

My copy of the Blue Sun expansion to Firefly arrived yesterday. What's inside?

[more]
The Three Hostages, John Buchan 27 September 2014

Fourth of Buchan's books about Richard Hannay; 1920s thud-and-blunder.

[more]
Bookmonth, August 2014 27 September 2014

Here's what I've read in August.

[more]
Whisper to the Blood, Dana Stabenow 25 September 2014

Sixteenth mystery in the series about Kate Shugak, part-time private investigator in a national park in Alaska. Gold's been found on park lands, and that means mining, and that means objections from the locals. The mining company's hired a minor celebrity to be their spokeswoman. But that doesn't solve everything.

[more]
The Girl in the Green Raincoat, Laura Lippman 23 September 2014

Novella; eleventh in Lippman's contemporary mystery series about Tess Monaghan, private investigator in Baltimore. Restricted to bed thanks to difficulties with her pregnancy, Tess passes the time watching people in the park outside, particularly a young woman in a green coat (with a greyhound in a matching one). One day, the greyhound passes by on its own…

[more]
Space Dandy 21 September 2014

2014, 13 episodes: AniDB

A nostalgically strange series about the dandiest man in space.

[more]
Two Serpents Rise, Max Gladstone 20 September 2014 - 2 comments

Technological fantasy. Sixty years after the Aztec-like city-state of Dresediel Lex was "liberated" and its gods killed, someone seems to be trying to break the hold of the company that replaced those gods.

[more]
Parts per Billion 19 September 2014

2014, dir. Brian Horiuchi, Frank Langella, Rosario Dawson: IMDb / allmovie

As a runaway biological weapon devastates the world, three couples consider the meaning of love.

[more]
Second Shot, Zoë Sharp 18 September 2014

Sixth thriller in the series about Charlie (Charlotte) Fox, former soldier and currently private bodyguard. Charlie guards a woman whose ex-boyfriend is causing trouble after a lottery win, but it soon becomes more complicated than that.

[more]
Silent Mercy, Linda Fairstein 16 September 2014

Thirteenth in Fairstein's contemporary mystery series about Alexandra Cooper, sex crimes prosecutor in Manhattan. When a burned, decapitated body is found on the steps of a church that used to be a synagogue, there could be any number of reasons. When a second body is found at another church, things start to come together.

[more]
No Game No Life 15 September 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

Two shut-ins, a brother and sister game-playing team, are arbitrarily transplanted into a magical world where all conflict is resolved by games. They take to it well.

[more]
Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovitch 14 September 2014 - 2 comments

Contemporary fantasy ("urban fantasy" gives the wrong idea now, even if it's much more appropriate to this book than to many published under that banner). New constable Peter Grant is about to be sent off to the paperwork unit, but while he's standing guard over a murder scene in the small hours a ghost starts to talk to him. Then things get stranger.

[more]
Social Deduction Games 13 September 2014

Quite a lot of games have some sort of hidden identity component: for example, Lords of Waterdeep and Discworld: Ankh-Morpork both deal each player a random role which then gives them a secret way of winning the game; Battlestar Galactica and Shadows over Camelot, while nominally cooperative, may assign a traitor role to one or more players; and the UFO faction in Illuminati can even covertly choose which victory condition to aspire to. But some games are entirely about the hidden roles and working out who's got which, and I seem to have been playing a lot of them lately.

[more]
The Sleeping God, Violette Malan 12 September 2014

Lightweight but lengthy fantasy, the first in the Dhulyn and Parno series.

[more]
Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to 11 September 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

Situation comedy based on a manga artist, his assistant, and various other workmates.

[more]
You've Got Murder, Donna Andrews 10 September 2014

SF/mystery. Turing Hopper, an AI emergent from research assistant software, is worried about her programmer: he seems to have vanished, and the records she can find aren't helping. So she turns for help to the two humans who are aware of her nature.

[more]
What's A Girl Gotta Do, Sparkle Hayter 08 September 2014 - 2 comments

Robin Hudson had a promising career as a TV journalist, but blew it with some public embarrassment. Now her ex-husband has a younger and prettier fiancée, her job for not-CNN involves investigating a sperm bank, and she's about to be blackmailed. Then the blackmailer turns up dead…

[more]
Antiviral 07 September 2014

2012, dir. Brandon Cronenberg, Caleb Landry Jones: IMDb / allmovie

In a world where the cult of celebrity involves taking on their diseases… pretty much everything that can go wrong with such a setup does.

[more]
Firebrand, Ankaret Wells 06 September 2014

Self-published industrial fantasy romance. The relict of a bishop inherits her mother's great airship, and tries to avoid becoming the mistress of the Emperor.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 18 05 September 2014 - 8 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Tom Baker
Doctor Who - Peter Davison (briefly)
Romana - Lalla Ward
K-9 (voice) - John Leeson
Adric - Matthew Waterhouse
Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding

[more]
The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, Lawrence Block 04 September 2014 - 1 comment

Fourth mystery book about Bernard Rhodenbarr, professional burglar in 1970s New York.

[more]
Nobunaga the Fool 03 September 2014

2013-2014, 24 episodes: AniDB

On the Star of the East, Oda Nobunaga fights his local battles against other warlords (with Giant War Armour, of course). But the Star of the West is approaching, and the stakes are about to get vastly higher.

[more]
HMS Unseen, Patrick Robinson 02 September 2014 - 2 comments

Airliners over the Atlantic are being shot down by submarine-launched missiles. How can this be stopped? Spoilers.

[more]
To Love and Be Wise, Josephine Tey 30 August 2014

Classic detective fiction; fourth, roughly, of Tey's novels of Inspector Alan Grant. An unreasonably beautiful young man visiting from America goes to the country to stay with casual acquaintances in a village that's been Discovered by writers and artists, causes social ructions, then disappears. What happened, and was it murder?

[more]
Bookmonth, July 2014 30 August 2014

Here's what I've read in July.

[more]
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch 29 August 2014 - 1 comment

First of a projected seven-book fantasy series. In a decaying imperial city, a thief and con-man just wants to be left alone to get on with his business. But people keep interfering.

[more]
The Shooting in the Shop, Simon Brett 26 August 2014

Eleventh in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series (amateur sleuthing). A local bric-a-brac shop is burned down, but the body found inside it was shot first. Carole Seddon and Jude investigate again.

[more]
Mekakucity Actors 24 August 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

Young people with superpowers in modern Tokyo? Well, that seems to be the premise at first. It soon gets much stranger.

[more]
Gladly Oddly, Paul Jennings 23 August 2014

Sixth (though the order doesn't really matter) of the collections of Paul Jennings' short humorous pieces, mostly from The Observer, published in 1958.

[more]
Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou 18 August 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB; also known as The Kawai Complex Guide to Manners and Hostel Behavior.

Romantic comedy; high school boy lives in boarding-house with a variety of Characters, one of whom is a cute female bookworm.

[more]
Kilo Class, Patrick Robinson 17 August 2014

In the mid 2000s, China tries to buy seven Kilo-class diesel submarines from Russia. The Americans aim to prevent this. Meanwhile, something odd is going on at Kerguelen Island.

[more]
Contagion 16 August 2014 - 3 comments

2011, dir. Steven Soderbergh, Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon: IMDb / allmovie

A contagious disease spreads across the planet; civilisation starts to fall apart.

[more]
With Blood and Iron, Douglas Reeman 15 August 2014

In the latter days of the Second World War, a U-boat group leader tries to maintain morale and keep his crews alive.

[more]
Yowamushi Pedal 14 August 2014 - 1 comment

2013-2014, 38 episodes: AniDB

Weakling anime fan Sakamichi Onoda finds there's nobody else interested in forming an anime club at his new high school, so ends up joining the bicycle racing club instead. Seems he's got a hidden talent for cycling that even he didn't know about.

[more]
The Lost Fleet: Victorious, Jack Campbell 13 August 2014

Last of a six-book series. In the distant future, a long-frozen space-navy captain tries to lead his fleet home. I'm going to deal in spoilers both for this book and for the whole series.

[more]
The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, Lawrence Block 09 August 2014

Bernard Rhodenbarr, the closest New York in the 1970s can get to a gentleman burglar, is back for his third mystery book appearance. This is the one where the formula changes a bit.

[more]
Hitsugi no Chaika 08 August 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

A few years after the big magical war against the evil emperor, a pair of retired soldiers wander the land looking for work. They meet a young sorceress carrying a coffin on her back, and she employs them to help her find the remains of her father so that she can give them a decent burial. Oh, did she mention her father was the evil emperor?

[more]
Three Parts Dead, Max Gladstone 07 August 2014

In a city powered by steam heated by a fire-god, that fire-god has suddenly died. An inexperienced mage looks into what happened. Gladstone is nominated for the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer.

[more]
Fuuun Ishi Dai Shogun 05 August 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

In the late Edo period, Perry's black ships were fought off by giant mystical mecha. Twenty years later in Nagasaki, a young yakuza boss has just unified the town under his rule by beating up everyone who objected. But he's got bigger things on the way...

[more]
Nimitz Class, Patrick Robinson 04 August 2014 - 1 comment

In a now-alternate 2002, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier suddenly disappears at sea, apparently in a nuclear accident. What happened?

[more]
The House of the Four Winds, John Buchan 01 August 2014

Third of the "Dickson McCunn" novels: superior thud and blunder. The affairs of Evallonia, the mitteleuropan country that provided motivations in Castle Gay, are now in the foreground, as forces gather round the potential restoration of its monarchy.

[more]
Hugo 2014: Editor, Short Form 30 July 2014

These are my thoughts on the remaining Hugo packet submissions for Best Editor, Short Form. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so. There will also be spoilers here.

[more]
Fearsome Journeys 28 July 2014

Fantasy anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan. Twelve new stories that "encompass as wide a range of types of fantasy story as possible". Nominated for Best Editor (Short Form).

[more]
The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination 26 July 2014 - 1 comment

SF anthology edited by John Joseph Adams. Twenty-two stories on the general theme of mad scientists. Nominated for Best Editor (Short Form).

[more]
Bookmonth, June 2014 26 July 2014

Here's what I've read in June.

[more]
Waterborne 25 July 2014

2005, dir. Ben Rekhi, Christopher Masterson, Ajay Naidu: IMDb / allmovie

After a presumed terrorist attack pollutes the water supply of Los Angeles, three groups of people do their best to keep going as society collapses.

[more]
Hugo 2014: Novella 24 July 2014 - 1 comment

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated novellas. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so. There will also be spoilers here.

[more]
Hugo 2014: Novelette 22 July 2014

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated novelettes in 2014. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so. There will also be spoilers here.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 17 21 July 2014 - 4 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Tom Baker
Romana - Lalla Ward
K-9 (voice) - David Brierly

[more]
Hugo 2014: Short Story 20 July 2014

These are my thoughts on the Hugo-nominated short stories in 2014. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so. There will also be spoilers here.

[more]
The Lost Fleet: Relentless, Jack Campbell 18 July 2014

Fifth of a six-book series. In the distant future, a long-frozen space-navy captain tries to lead his fleet home. Spoilers will follow.

[more]
One Hundred Days, Admiral Sandy Woodward and Patrick Robinson 16 July 2014 - 2 comments

In 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands; a Royal Navy task group was sent to take them back. This is the memoir of the task group's commander.

[more]
The Lunchbox 15 July 2014 - 2 comments

2013, "Dabba", dir. Ritesh Batra, Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur: IMDb / allmovie

An old-fashioned epistolary romance, conducted via notes passed in a lunchbox. Plot discussion, which may be considered to include spoilers, follows.

[more]
Sisters of the Raven, Barbara Hambly 14 July 2014

As wizards, hitherto exclusively male, gradually lose their magical power, some women discover that they are gaining it.

[more]
Urn Burial, Kerry Greenwood 12 July 2014

Eighth in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series (1920s flapper detective in Australia); a homage to the novels of Agatha Christie.

[more]
The Burglar in the Closet, Lawrence Block 10 July 2014

Bernard Rhodenbarr, the closest New York in the 1970s can get to a gentleman burglar, is back for his second book appearance, and the formula sets in: while our hero the burglar is hiding from his victim who's come home unexpectedly, she gets murdered.

[more]
The Lost Fleet: Valiant, Jack Campbell 08 July 2014

Fourth of a six-book series. In the distant future, a long-frozen space-navy captain tries to lead his fleet home.

[more]
Snowpiercer 06 July 2014

2013, dir. Bong Joon-ho, Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton IMDb / allmovie

After the world has frozen, all that's left of humanity lives aboard a train eternally circling the planet.

[more]
The Young Lady from Paris, Joan Aiken 05 July 2014

In the late 1850s, Ellen Paget is employed as a governess in Paris.

[more]
Burglars Can't Be Choosers, Lawrence Block 03 July 2014

First in Block's slightly less-well-known series. Bernard Rhodenbarr is a burglar, and a good one. It's bad enough when the cops walk into the apartment where he's doing his latest job. But then one of them discovers a recently-dead body nearby.

[more]
The Lost Fleet: Courageous, Jack Campbell 01 July 2014

Third of a six-book series. In the distant future, a long-frozen space-navy captain tries to lead his fleet home.

[more]
Blood Lure, Nevada Barr 29 June 2014

Ninth in Barr's Anna Pigeon series. In Glacier National Park, a trip to move sampling traps for bear DNA is disrupted by an odd bear attack, and the next morning a woman is found dead and mutilated… by human tools.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 16 28 June 2014 - 2 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Tom Baker
Romana I - Mary Tamm
K-9 (voice) - John Leeson

[more]
Red Army, Ralph Peters 27 June 2014 - 1 comment

The invasion of Europe, seen entirely from the Soviet point of view.

[more]
Bookmonth, May 2014 27 June 2014

Here's what I've read in May.

[more]
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 26 June 2014 - 2 comments

2013, dir. Francis Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson: IMDb / allmovie

After winning the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is a post-traumatic wreck. The perfect time to send her on a publicity tour! Spoilers for book and film will follow.

[more]
The Lost Fleet: Fearless, Jack Campbell 25 June 2014

Second of a six-book series. In the distant future, a long-frozen space-navy captain tries to lead his fleet home.

[more]
I Was A Stranger, John Hackett 21 June 2014 - 2 comments

In September 1944, then-Brigadier John Hackett commanded the 4th Parachute Brigade during Operation Market Garden. He was wounded at Arnhem and captured, and spent several months hiding with members of the Dutch underground.

[more]
When the Devil Drives, Chris Brookmyre 19 June 2014

Second in Brookmyre's new literary direction, moving from the tartan insanity of his earlier books to strictly conventional crime writing.

[more]
The Lego Movie 18 June 2014 - 1 comment

2014, dir. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks: IMDb / allmovie

In a world where… one man must… and it's all made of Lego.

[more]
The Viewer's Complete Tale, Andrew Rilstone 17 June 2014 - 1 comment

Andrew Rilstone recounts his reactions to the 2005 revival of Doctor Who.

[more]
Trinity's Child, William Prochnau 15 June 2014 - 2 comments

The USSR launches a limited nuclear strike against the USA. Things get worse.

[more]
RED 2 14 June 2014 - 2 comments

2013, dir. Dean Parisot, Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker: IMDb / allmovie

Frank Moses, former CIA special operator, is still retired, and trying to be domestic; but once again the past just won't leave him alone.

[more]
The Lost Fleet: Dauntless, Jack Campbell 13 June 2014

First of a six-book series. In the distant future, a long-frozen space-navy captain may tip the balance in a century-long war.

[more]
Private Angelo, Eric Linklater 11 June 2014

In a tale that begins with the Italian armistice of 1943, the reluctant soldier Angelo bounces around war-torn Italy, serially drafted into one army after another. He is a very poor soldier. If only he had the dono di coraggio.

[more]
The Hostile Shore, Douglas Reeman 08 June 2014

Twenty years after the Second World War, a crippled veteran travels to the Pacific to try to find out what happened to his family during the evacuation of Singapore.

[more]
Haywire 07 June 2014

2011, dir. Steven Soderbergh, Gina Carano, Michael Angarano: IMDb / allmovie

An agent betrayed and framed by her boss sets about taking him down.

[more]
Bookmonth, April 2014 06 June 2014

Here's what I've read in April. Hmm. I really ought to post the book reviews a bit faster so that I don't get so far behind.

[more]
The Third World War: The Untold Story, General Sir John Hackett 06 June 2014 - 5 comments

Some time in the 1980s, the USSR invades Europe.

[more]
Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy (and Larry Bond) 30 May 2014 - 2 comments

Some time in the 1980s, a terrorist attack on oil infrastructure leads the USSR to invade Europe.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 15 27 May 2014 - 5 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Tom Baker
Leela - Louise Jameson
K-9 (voice) - John Leeson

[more]
Die Wand 25 May 2014

2012, dir. Julian Roman Pölsler, Martina Gedeck: IMDb / allmovie

A woman staying in a remote lodge discovers that an invisible barrier is separating her from the rest of the world. (In German, viewed with subtitles.)

[more]
Diamond Dust, Peter Lovesey 22 May 2014

Diamond Dust is the seventh book in Lovesey's Peter Diamond series, and one that makes for a very substantial change in tone.

[more]
Dive in the Sun, Douglas Reeman 16 May 2014

Late in the Second World War, the crew of a midget submarine gets into trouble off the Italian coast.

[more]
Tamara Drewe 15 May 2014

2010, dir. Stephen Frears, Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans: IMDb / allmovie

Tamara Drewe, formerly the ugly duckling and now a glamorous journalist, returns to the village where she grew up… and everything is upended.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 14 13 May 2014 - 3 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Tom Baker
Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen
Leela - Louise Jameson

[more]
Rebuilding the Royal Navy, D. K. Brown and George Moore 10 May 2014

In 1945, Britain had a large and often hastily-constructed fleet which was clearly close to obsolete, and very little money with which to update it. This is the story of what happened next.

[more]
Firefly Pirates and Bounty Hunters: first look 09 May 2014

My hopes for the Pirates and Bounty Hunters expansion to Firefly were that it would increase interaction between players and make runaway victories more difficult. My copy arrived yesterday. At first glance, how does it do?

[more]
Frozen 08 May 2014

2013, dir. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, Idina Menzel, Kristin Bell: IMDb / allmovie

The new queen flees from her coronation, plunges the country into winter, and disappears; her sister goes to find her.

[more]
Shattered Trident, Larry Bond and Chris Carlson 05 May 2014

In 2016, China and an alliance of South-East Asian nations go to war over the Spratly Islands.

[more]
The Martian, Andy Weir 02 May 2014

Astronaut Mark Watney is on Mars. Alone; the rest of the crew thought he'd died in the dust storm that they were escaping from. Now he's trying to work out how to survive.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 13 30 April 2014 - 3 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Tom Baker
Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen

[more]
The Last Days on Mars 29 April 2014

2013, dir. Ruairi Robinson, Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas: IMDb / allmovie

Towards the end of a manned mission to Mars, things start to go wrong.

[more]
Alternate Generals 26 April 2014 - 2 comments

Anthology from 1998 of alternate histories based on different decisions by military leaders; edited by Harry Turtledove, Roland Green and Martin H. Greenberg.

[more]
The Machine 24 April 2014 - 1 comment

2013, dir. Caradog W. James, Caity Lotz, Toby Stephens: IMDb / allmovie

Some time in the nearish future, researchers try to build a self-directed robot soldier/assassin. It doesn't go well.

[more]
Castle Gay, John Buchan 19 April 2014

Second of the Dickson McCunn novels, though he has only a minor part in most of it. Two of the former Gorbals Die-Hards, Dougie and (no longer Wee) Jaikie, go off on a walking holiday, and get involved with a kidnapped press baron and two separate lots of Sinister Foreigners.

[more]
Apollo 18 17 April 2014 - 7 comments

2011, dir. Gonzalo López-Gallego, Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen: IMDb / allmovie

The found-footage story of the secret final Apollo mission in 1974.

[more]
Exit Plan, Larry Bond and Chris Carlson 14 April 2014 - 2 comments

Jerry Mitchell, aboard an Ohio SSGN, goes on a mission to extract two Iranians with knowledge of the nuclear weapons programme from that country. Mild spoilers will follow.

[more]
Bookmonth, March 2014 14 April 2014

Here's what I've read in March.

[more]
The Poisoning in the Pub, Simon Brett 11 April 2014

Tenth in Brett's Fethering Mysteries series. Several pubgoers go down with food poisoning, and other events start to make it look like a concerted campaign against the pub. But who's doing it? And why?

[more]
Safety Not Guaranteed 10 April 2014 - 1 comment

2012, dir. Colin Trevorrow, Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass: IMDb / allmovie

A journalist and two interns, trying for a human-interest story, interview a man who's placed an advertisement for a companion in time travel.

[more]
Concealed in Death, J. D. Robb 08 April 2014 - 2 comments

Concealed in Death is the forty-eighth story of J. D. Robb's In Death series, and a huge improvement on its immediate predecessor Thankless in Death. It drops many of the science-fictional trappings of the setting to deliver a powerful and well-told story.

[more]
Armageddon Mode, Keith Douglass 05 April 2014 - 3 comments

Third in the Carrier series. "Tombstone" Magruder is a naval aviator aboard a Nimitz-class carrier, as the USA gets involved in a major conflict with India.

[more]
High Water, Douglas Reeman 02 April 2014 - 2 comments

In the 1950s, retired MTB commander Philip Vivian gets into trouble while struggling to run a small yacht charter business.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 12 01 April 2014 - 4 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Tom Baker
Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen

[more]
Cold Choices, Larry Bond and Chris Carlson 30 March 2014

Some time after the events of Dangerous Ground, Jerry Mitchell heads north again in USS Seawolf. Mild spoilers will follow.

[more]
Twister 29 March 2014

1996, dir. Jan de Bont, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton: IMDb / allmovie

A team of atmospheric scientists chases tornadoes. Action ensues.

[more]
Never Go to Sea, John Winton 27 March 2014

Fourth of Winton's novels and in the loosely-connected series. The Artful Bodger (Commander R. B. Badger, RN) takes over public relations for the Royal Navy, and gets involved in running a horse in the Derby.

[more]
Dangerous Ground, Larry Bond and Chris Carlson 24 March 2014

A Los Angeles-class submarine, USS Memphis, goes on an intelligence-gathering mission off Novaya Zemlya.

[more]
SSN, Tom Clancy 21 March 2014 - 4 comments

In 1997, an Improved Los Angeles-class attack submarine, USS Cheyenne, joins the war against China.

[more]
The Last Ship, William Brinkley 18 March 2014 - 3 comments

After the total nuclear war, the captain of a missile destroyer leads his crew through the irradiated world and towards a new life.

I am going to talk about plot details, so if you care about not knowing that sort of thing you probably shouldn't read this review.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 11 16 March 2014 - 2 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Jon Pertwee
Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen

[more]
Fateful Choices, Ian Kershaw 15 March 2014

Kershaw examines ten choices made during the years 1940-1941 that, in his opinion, substantially affected the course of the Second World War.

[more]
A Prayer for the Ship, Douglas Reeman 12 March 2014 - 1 comment

Sub-Lieutenant Clive Royce is assigned to a Motor Torpedo Boat working off the east coast of England during the Second World War.

[more]
Bookmonth, February 2014 12 March 2014

Here's what I've read in February.

[more]
The Same Page Tool 10 March 2014

The Same Page Tool is a series of questions to try to get players and GMs onto the "same page" in terms of the sort of behaviour they expect in a game.

[more]
Ruddy Gore, Kerry Greenwood 09 March 2014

Seventh in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series.

[more]
Ark Royal, Christopher Nuttall 06 March 2014 - 3 comments

Some time in the future, most major countries have space fleets and interstellar colonies. Ark Royal is an outmoded carrier left in a parking orbit, not broken up only because of her famous past, and her captain's a drunken embarrassment. Then the aliens arrive, and blow straight through the more modern fleet…

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 10 05 March 2014 - 2 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Jon Pertwee
Jo Grant - Katy Manning

[more]
John Macnab, John Buchan 03 March 2014

Three men find themselves successful, but un-challenged, and bored with their lives. They decide to take on a challenge: they will poach from well-defended estates in Scotland, and warn the owners that they're coming, by sending letters over the name "John Macnab".

[more]
Divergent, Veronica Roth 28 February 2014

Young adult novel, read because a film based on it is coming out soon and I want to be able to complain about the film-making separately from the writing. (And because last time I did this I read The Hunger Games, which I quite enjoyed.) Here be spoilers.

[more]
Operation Mincemeat, Ben Macintyre 25 February 2014

This is the story of the well-known deception operation in the Second World War: dropping a dead fake courier into the sea near Spain, in the hope that his deceptive paperwork would be taken seriously by the Germans and misdirect them as to the location of Allied landings in the Mediterranean.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 9 23 February 2014 - 4 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Jon Pertwee
Jo Grant - Katy Manning

[more]
Steadfast, Mercedes Lackey 22 February 2014

The ninth and so far final book in Lackey's Elemental Masters series. This time our heroine is a circus acrobat fleeing from an abusive husband.

[more]
Bookmonth, January 2014 19 February 2014 - 6 comments

Stealing the idea from Vatine, here's what I've read in January.

[more]
Home from the Sea, Mercedes Lackey 19 February 2014

The eighth book (or, if you believe the publisher, seventh) in Lackey's Elemental Masters series. This time our heroine is a Welsh fisherman's daughter, and as one might expect from the title and that set-up the main supernatural beings are "selch", a variant of selkies.

[more]
Fortune's Pawn, Rachel Bach 16 February 2014

First of a projected trilogy. I learned about it from a half-chapter free sample in the back of Ancillary Justice.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 8 15 February 2014 - 2 comments

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Jon Pertwee
Jo Grant - Katy Manning

[more]
Too Fat Lardies' Christmas Special 2013 13 February 2014

I'm a recent convert to Too Fat Lardies (in spite of one of their regular contributors being a chap I knew at school), so the only game of theirs I've played so far is Chain of Command. I am hugely impressed with it; at a glance it seems very random, but as I played it I came to realise that I was having to make the same hard decisions as a commander on the scene.

Anyway, since that is the only Lard system I play (doubtless this will change), most of the Christmas Special isn't directly useful to me. So what is? (Ignoring "it might be useful later" or "ooh, that's interesting", at least for now...)

[more]
Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome 12 February 2014 - 2 comments

A classic, of course. But one I hadn't read until now.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 7 11 February 2014 - 3 comments

(First written in January 2014)

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Jon Pertwee
Liz Shaw - Caroline John

[more]
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie 08 February 2014

This first novel marks Leckie as someone to watch.

[more]
Chain of Command: At the Sharp End 06 February 2014

At the Sharp End is the campaign supplement for the excellent Chain of Command platoon-level wargame.

[more]
A Choice of Evils, Elizabeth Ferrars 05 February 2014

Eighth and final book in Ferrars' Andrew Basnett series.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 6 04 February 2014 - 4 comments

(First written in December 2013)

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who - Patrick Troughton
Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury

[more]
Mirror Mirror, J. D. Robb and others 02 February 2014

I picked up this collection of novellas for the Robb story, as I was clearly intended to. All the stories here are loosely based on, or more properly inspired by, fairy stories (something of a coincidence given the Elemental Masters series I've also been reading).

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 5 31 January 2014 - 3 comments

(First written in June 2013)

As always, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who (sic) - Patrick Troughton
Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
Victoria Waterfield - Deborah Watling
Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury

[more]
Unnatural Issue, Mercedes Lackey 30 January 2014 - 3 comments

The seventh book (or, if you believe the publisher, sixth) in Lackey's Elemental Masters series; for a change, it's not just more of the same.

[more]
A Sea of Troubles, Donna Leon 28 January 2014 - 1 comment

The tenth book in Leon's Commissario Brunetti series, as with other series entries I've been reading lately, offers more of the same: descriptions of the seamy underside of Venice interspersed with lightweight police work.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 4 27 January 2014 - 3 comments

(First written in November 2012)

As before, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who (sic) - William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton
Ben Jackson - Michael Craze
Polly - Anneke Wills
Jamie McCrimmon - Frazer Hines
Victoria Waterfield - Deborah Watling

[more]
Operation Crossbow 26 January 2014

1965, dir. Michael Anderson, George Peppard, Sophia Loren: IMDb / allmovie

This is a highly-fictionalised account, a triple-stranded story of the German V-weapon development programme, the British efforts (the actual Crossbow) to work out what was going on and develop countermeasures, and as part of that a mission to insert agents into the rocket development and construction programmes.

[more]
Ready Player One, Ernest Cline 25 January 2014 - 1 comment

Ready Player One is a young adult SF novel, the first by this author. Set in the future, it deals with its protagonist's efforts in a pervasive virtual world to win a contest based in the videogaming and related culture of the 1980s.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 3 23 January 2014 - 11 comments

(First written in April 2012)

As before, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who (sic) - William Hartnell
Vicki - Maureen O'Brien
Steven Taylor - Peter Purves
Katarina - Adrienne Hill
Sara Kingdom - Jean Marsh
Dodo Chaplet - Jackie Lane
Ben Jackson - Michael Craze
Polly - Anneke Wills

[more]
The Vault, Peter Lovesey 21 January 2014

The Vault is the sixth book in Lovesey's Peter Diamond series. I'm definitely liking Lovesey: like any good author of detective fiction, he plays fair with the reader, giving all the necessary clues while hiding them under a chaff-screen of red herrings and misdirection.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 2 19 January 2014 - 4 comments

(First written in February 2012)

As before, spoilers abound. See Wikipedia for production details)

Doctor Who (sic) - William Hartnell
Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford
Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
Ian Chesterton - William Russell
Vicki - Maureen O'Brien

[more]
Thankless in Death, J. D. Robb 17 January 2014 - 2 comments

Thankless in Death is the forty-sixth of J. D. Robb's In Death series. It's also, for me, the first disappointment.

[more]
Doctor Who Re-Watch, series 1 16 January 2014

(First written in December 2011)

I've recently started watching Doctor Who from the beginning. I've seen occasional episodes and stories here and there (e.g. back when I had a television and the BBC would do anniversary specials), but my experience as a regular viewer starts towards the end of the Sarah Jane Smith era.

I'm not going to worry about listing alternative titles or any of that guff. See Wikipedia for that). I am interested primarily in the progress and development of the show as a show rather than in constructing complex fanwank explanations for why decisions that were made differently the second time they came up, or dodgy effects shots, aren't really mistakes.

So here are my thoughts on re-watching the first series... spoilers abound, obviously.

[more]
Notorious Nineteen, Janet Evanovich 14 January 2014

As one can see from the title, this is the nineteenth full novel in Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. And, well, it feels like a nineteenth novel: it's tired.

[more]
Mrs Miniver, Jan Struther 12 January 2014 - 2 comments

Yes, I'm talking about the book, or more accurately the collection of newspaper columns, not the film. The film is a wartime story, made as part of the Allied propaganda effort. The columns are earlier and more interesting:

[more]
Firefly the game 11 January 2014

Firefly is a 1-5 player boardgame of travelling through space, taking jobs, trying to make enough money to keep flying. I played it on the Sunday of Stabcon and bought a copy before the game was over. What's good about it?

[more]
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