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16th October 2013 04:04 PM Tim James This is a book with a difference, although it most certainly is Science Fiction, there is that feeling to it that it might be the world outside your window, just a few minutes into the future, days perhaps or a few years at the most. It would be more than...

28th September 2013 07:41 PM J-Sun The final issue of Volume 83 brings us better non-fiction than last month, primarily focused on interstellar exploration, and worse fiction that is not focused on much, though time travel (of sorts) occurs more than once and one of those is noteworthy...

22nd September 2013 12:02 PM Tim James I’m sure, in fact I know that this is a book that has received a lot of positive attention for all the right reasons, and I am equally aware that it is one that has been for quite along time. Just an indication of how long it takes me to get around to...

19th September 2013 12:16 PM Thaddeus White My third book, Sir Edric’s Temple, will come out fairly shortly. It’s my first comedy, and also the first book I’ve written which has been extensively beta read. Beta readers are objective fellows and ladies who peruse a draft of a book with a view...

4th September 2013 04:00 PM Tim James Anne Lyle Alchemist Of Souls I have seen this referred to as an alternate reality book, and although I can see why, for me at least that is not entirely true. An alternate reality is one where a simple diversion has changed the outcome of events – in...

4th September 2013 03:32 AM Victoria Silverwolf The Green Millennium by Fritz Leiber (1953) Within the field of speculative fiction, comedy has usually taken the form of slapstick farce or parody of the conventions of the genre. Examples abound, from Ron Goulart to Douglas Adams...

31st August 2013 07:19 PM Michelle Horst Have you ever wondered where that massive, ornate wardrobe leads to?* You know the one. It’s at the back of the vintage shop. I know you wanted to kick out the mothballs and inspect the back, just to be sure you weren’t about to miss your one and only...

26th August 2013 05:19 AM Teresa Edgerton Toby Frost declares that he originally intended to write deep philosophical novels. Instead, he elected to become a man of mystery (no biography of the elusive Mr. Frost can be found on the internet) and write humorous science fiction. Recently...

26th August 2013 12:22 AM Teresa Edgerton Once again, the victory in our quarterly writing challenge goes to writer Em Tett (known on these forums as Mouse). Each quarter, members are challenged to write a story of 300 words or less, inspired by an image chosen by our moderators. The...

25th August 2013 06:37 PM Victoria Silverwolf We Who Are About To… by Joanna Russ (1977) One of the notable characteristics of speculative fiction is the tendency for newer authors to build on the work of earlier writers. Sometimes the connection is obvious, particularly when the new...

24th August 2013 06:51 AM J-Sun This month’s issue brings us eight stories, many of which assume catastrophic climate change as an obligatory part of the background furniture while only one really makes it central. The others cover interspecies relations, medicine, time, space, and a cyborg...

20th August 2013 10:46 AM Thaddeus White There are small spoilers for the game within this post, so if you’re on a self-imposed information blackout for Inquisition you should probably stop reading. Game Informer is having a month of Inquisition, which is where we learnt the following...

14th August 2013 06:05 AM J-Sun At one point, when making my way through a particularly dense thicket of prose, it occurred to me that reading the Annual can be like eating my vegetables, but there is some dessert in here, too, and some people like vegetables. Introduction: By the Numbers...

8th August 2013 02:44 PM Tim James To start with this is not the normal type of book that I would choose to read, and it is not a full length, rather a novella. Set in an alternative time line where the world suffered a third world war in the 1980′s and has been shattered by nuclear...

6th August 2013 04:22 PM Tim James Laura J Underwood has been a member of the Chronicles Network since August 2006, and although not a prolific poster looks in regularly. She has the stunningly clever user name of LauraJUnderwood. I have had no interaction with her, but it is nice to know...

29th July 2013 10:32 AM Martin Parsons The World’s End – Is this really the End? I have three favourite aspects to the films of Edgar Wright, firstly it is Edgar himself. His directorial style is fun, witty and inventive. He uses his trademark quick cuts sparingly and with great effect. I...

20th July 2013 12:32 AM J-Sun The October 2013 Analog is a definite improvement over the last issue, though there is an excess of dubious themes and plots. There are at least two wars with China in this issue, two Mars stories and a Moon story, and at least three AI/computer/implant-type...

17th July 2013 12:28 PM Tim James This is the second book in Mark Robson’s Imperial trilogy, following on from the events of Imperial Spy. Here we see the centre of attention shift from Femke, the spy although she still plays a major role, to Reynik a solid and career soldier who has already...

17th July 2013 12:15 PM Thaddeus White In the Shivering Isles expansion of Oblivion (included in the Game of the Year edition, and well worth buying if you haven’t yet) there’s an early mission to kill the Gatekeeper. Later on a new Gatekeeper arrives to keep the riff-raff out, and all is as...

Review: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 9th July 2013 09:32 PM Victoria Silverwolf Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004) Authors who are considered to be part of the literary mainstream have often produced works which are clearly science fiction. Well known examples include Margaret...