The Book Plank

Barricade by Jon Wallace Kenstibec is a member of the Ficial race, a breed of merciless super-humans. Their war on humanity has left Britain a wasteland, where Ficials hide in barricaded cities, besieged by tribes of human survivors. Originally optimised for construction, Kenstibec earns his keep as a taxi driver, running any Ficial who will pay from one surrounded city to another. The trips are always eventful, but this will be his toughest yet. His fare is a narcissistic journalist who's touchy about her luggage. His human guide is constantly plotting to kill him. And that's just the start of his troubles. Barricade is another of the many debuts that Gollancz is bringer to you this year, so far they have kept on delivering some very great reads: The Boy with the Porcelain Blade, The Incorruptibles, The Seventh Miss Hatfield . These all were very strong and Barricade is no exception. When you look at the current Science Fiction genre a lot is published in the Spa...

Author interview with Hannu Rajaniemi Author bio: Hannu Rajaniemi is a Finnish author of science fiction and fantasy, who writes in both English and Finnish. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a founding director of a technology consultancy company, ThinkTank Maths. Rajaniemi was born in Ylivieska, Finland. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Oulu, a Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to starting his Ph.D. candidature, he completed his national service as a research scientist for the Finnish Defence Forces. While pursuing his Ph.D. in Edinburgh, Rajaniemi joined Writers' Bloc, a writers' group in Edinburgh that organizes semi-regular spoken word performances and counts Charlie Stross amongst its members. Early works included his first published short story Shibuya no Love in 2003 and his short story Deus Ex Homine ...

The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi, Jean Le Flambeur #3 With his infectious love of storytelling in all its forms, his rich characterisation and his unrivalled grasp of thrillingly bizarre cutting-edge science Hannu Rajaniemi has swiftly set a new benchmark for SF in the 21st century. And now with his third novel he completes the tale of his gentleman rogue, the many lives and minds of Jean de Flambeur. Influenced as much by the fin de siecle novels of Maurice leBlanc as he is by the greats of SF Rajaniemi weaves, intricate, warm capers through dazzling science, extraordinary visions of wild future and deep conjecture on the nature of reality and story. And now we find out what will happen to Jean, his employer Mieli, the independently minded ship Perhonen and the rest of a fractured and diverse humanity flung through the solar system. Last year I had the chance to read Hannu Rajaniemi's sequel, The Fractal Prince, to his stellar debut,  The Quantum Thief. I am a b...

The Eidolon by Libby McGugan The divide between science and the human spirit is the setting for a battle for the future.When physicist Robert Strong loses his job at the Dark Matter research lab and his relationship falls apart, he returns home to Scotland.  Then the dead start appearing to him, and Robert begins to question his own sanity. Victor Amos, an enigmatic businessman, arrives and recruits Robert to sabotage CERN’S Large Hadron Collider, convincing him the next step in the collider’s research will bring about disaster. Everything Robert once understood about reality, and the boundaries between life and death, is about to change forever. And the biggest change will be to Robert himself...  I have had my eye on this book for quite some time already, working in the science field myself the blurb really got me excited for The Eidolon, blending the science and human spirit. Well this can turn the story around in a lot of different directions. And w...