"The shape of a crown stood out in the emerald wax of the seal, and Lysande glanced at it once before looking away, staring at anything but that envelope." Lysande is a scholar, and an orphan. Adopted by the Queen of Elira, Sarelin Brey, she's risen to a position of trust and even friendship. But now … Continue reading The Councillor – EJ Beaton
"When I got back to HaveRatton Station, a bunch of humans tried to kill me." The Murderbot Diaries are by this point quite clearly one continuing story, so I'd have to suggest there's not much point reading this - novella, or review - unless you're up to date with the previous three installments. Go, I'll … Continue reading Exit Strategy – Martha Wells
"Ben stood in the basement and called upstairs, 'Mom, have you seen my dice bag up there?'" Phew, that's a title and a half! And really, the second part could have just been 'D&D group', although that might have put a few people off the book, I suppose. However, having 'discovered' D&D myself for the … Continue reading The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club – Doug Henderson
"This is the first thing I remember when I begin to cohere in unity: a woman standing at a railing, peering down into the vats at the final bottom of Bloom City - and a man in a cramped air transport lavatory, watching his reflection n the scuffed plastic mirror point a wave pistol at … Continue reading Unity – Elly Bangs
Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland) is the youngest resident of a town full of men, and we're told early on that all the women were killed by the native, alien species of the planet they have tried to colonise, so he may well be the last. The real strangeness of this world, though, is that everyone's … Continue reading Chaos Walking (2021)
"I have the worst luck with bot-driven transports." By this point, we're quite clearly in an ongoing story, so not only will reading this review possibly have sort-of spoilers for the first two novellas (All Systems Red and Artificial Condition), but quite frankly those are so bloomin' good - as is the whole story so far … Continue reading Rogue Protocol – Martha Wells
When an alien crash lands on Earth, he takes the form of Dr Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) to blend in while searching for the device he lost in the crash. At first everything is going fine as he hides away in Harry's isolated cabin on the outskirts of small Colorado town, Patience. But then the … Continue reading Resident Alien (season 1)
"While researching this book I've been blown away, again and again, by the scale of the video game industry." Billed as a 'potted history' of the video game industry, this is a slim volume with some interesting stories and a lot of facts and figures. The main plus is probably a huge dollop of nostalgia, … Continue reading The History of Video Games – Charlie Fish
"SecUnits don't care about the news." If All Systems Red left you wanting more - and oh, did it! - then rejoice, because there's a whole lot more MurderBot! Usual warning - mentioning anything/one in the second book could be an inadvertent spoiler for the first book. Although I'm guessing it's no surprise that Murderbot survives … Continue reading Artificial Condition – Martha Wells
An expert's guide to getting stuff done. Let's get the confession out of the way first: I am not a teen, or a student, and if I'm being honest it's been rather a long time (ahem) since I was either. So why would I have reached for a book aimed at helping those groups improve … Continue reading How To Do It Now Because It’s Not Going Away – Leslie Josel
