NO HARM CAN COME TO A GOOD MAN by James Smythe

NO HARM CAN COME TO A GOOD MAN James Smythe (james-smythe.com) The Borough Press (www.boroughpress.co.uk) £16.99 Laurence Walker is a good man whose dream of running for President of the United States looks set to come true. Laurence has some skeletons in his closet – the death of his son and a period of torture […]

BARRICADE by Jon Wallace

BARRICADE Jon Wallace (thingaboutchickens.blogspot.co.uk) Gollancz (www.gollancz.co.uk) £14.99 In the near future, humans create the Ficials, an engineered race of post-humans who are designed – optimised – for specific tasks, and who are virtually indestructible. Under the central command of Control, the Ficials rise against their human creators, and begin a country-wide cull. Following a nuclear […]

GUEST POST: Four Methods of Travel in BARRICADE: Kenstibec’s Guide by JON WALLACE

Name: JON WALLACE Author of: BARRICADE (2014) On the web: thingaboutchickens.blogspot.co.uk On Twitter: @Jon__Wallace Kenstibec is the main character in Barricade. He is a member of the ‘Ficial’ race, a breed of merciless super-humans optimised for soldiering, engineering and other vital roles. They fought a war against humanity and turned Britain into a wasteland. Now […]

SPEED OF DARK by Elizabeth Moon

SPEED OF DARK Elizabeth Moon (www.elizabethmoon.com) Orbit (www.orbitbooks.net) £8.99 In a not-too-distant future, pharmaceutical companies have eliminated the majority of illnesses and disabilities that plague the human race. Lou Arrendale is autistic, one of a small number remaining: Lou was born too early for the procedure that can cure autism in babies. Along with a […]

ABOVE by Isla Morley

ABOVE Isla Morley (www.islamorley.com) Two Roads (www.tworoadsbooks.com) £13.99 The latest book in the Hodderscape Review Project comes from Hodder’s sister imprint, Two Roads, and is, at least early in the book, reminiscent of Emma Donoghue’s excellent Room. The Review Project’s March book was Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. You won’t find […]

LAGOON by Nnedi Okorafor

LAGOON Nnedi Okorafor (www.nnedi.com) Hodder & Stoughton (www.hodder.co.uk) £13.99 Lagos, Nigeria. Three strangers meet three yards from the sea on the city’s Bar Beach late on a January evening: Adaora, a marine biologist who lives in the affluent part of town; Agu, a soldier whose moral compass has earned him a beating from his colleagues […]

BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman

BIRD BOX Josh Malerman Harper Voyager (harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk) £14.99 Malorie hasn’t seen outside the house where she lives with her two four-year-old children since six months before they were born. There are creatures outside, creatures who, if you look at them, will drive you into a murderous rage that will ultimately end in your own suicide. […]

GUEST POST: Fathers & The Mothership by NAOMI FOYLE

Name: NAOMI FOYLE Author of: SEOUL SURVIVORS (2013) ASTRA (2014) On the web: naomifoyle.com On Twitter: @naomifoyle To celebrate the recent publication of her second novel, Astra, we are very pleased to welcome Naomi Foyle to Reader Dad. Fathers & the Mothership: Astra and the Evolution of Masculinity Reader Dad – cool theme, I […]

RED RISING by Pierce Brown

RED RISING Pierce Brown (pierce-brown.com) Hodder & Stoughton (www.hodder.co.uk) £12.99 I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war. It is a world in which humanity has evolved into a colour-coded caste system, with Reds – manual labourers and menial workers – at the bottom, and the spoilt, rich Golds at the […]

THE ECHO by James Smythe

THE ECHO James Smythe (james-smythe.com) HarperVoyager (harpervoyagerbooks.com) £16.99 Twenty-three years after the mysterious disappearance of the Ishiguro, man once again looks to the heavens, launching a new mission to examine the anomaly into which the earlier ship disappeared. This time the mission is led by twin brothers, Tomas and Mirakel Hyvönen, and their strict approach […]