REVIEW: Central Station, by Lavie Tidhar

World Fantasy Award Winner, Lavie Tidhar, Central Station

Tachyon Publications, 2016 eBook The latest novel by World Fantasy Award–winning author Lavie Tidhar, Central Station is a chunk of a literary speculative novel set in a future Tel Aviv, in the titanic shadow of the eponymous Central Station, the earth-side terminus of the route to the rest of the solar system. Switching between multiple perspective characters, it flashes back to […]

February’s Short Fiction Reviews

February's Short Fiction Reviews

Look! It’s already halfway through March. But even despite the bonus day, February turned out distinctly lighter in short fiction than January. I’m not going to beat myself up about it though – I spent the month packing my life into a dozen boxes, then moving to a flat with (still!) no internet access. Because […]

‘A Better Class of Soldier’: Stormtroopers and Clone Troopers

First Order stormtrooopers stand to attention in front of an enormous First Order flag.

Since the decanonisation of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, we know next to nothing about how the Empire – and subsequently the First Order – creates its soldiers. So with the release of Episode VII and our introduction to (darling, lovely, adorable) Finn, the question is begged: why does the First Order prefer stormtroopers to clones? […]

Favourite Media of 2015

Slices of films, television, comic, book and magazine covers from 2015.

‘Tis the season for best-of lists! Because I, too, am human and have opinions about things, this is mine. Follow the jump for my favourite media of 2015.

REVIEW: The Magicians, Lev Grossman

The Magicians, Lev Grossman, 2009, paperback.

THE MAGICIANS, LEV GROSSMAN Arrow Books, 2009 Paperback, 488pp Quentin Coldwater, Grossman’s young Brooklynite protagonist, is at the beginning of The Magicians a classically unlikeable teen. He is sulky, self-centred, and almost sociopathic. This vein of unpleasantness in Quentin’s character runs through the novel, reminding the reader that, while this book is a wainscot fantasy […]

REVIEW: The Strain, season 1, episode 1, ‘Night Zero’

'The Strain' written in red against a white background.

The Strain was always meant to be a television show. Although the story was originally published as a trilogy of novels, co-written by creator Guillermo del Toro with Chuck Hogan, del Toro had initially envisaged The Strain as a multi-season TV series. The pilot, commissioned by FX after Hogan and del Toro’s completion of the final novel, is co-written and directed by del Toro himself, also executive producer. Airing Wednesday September 17th on Watch, the pilot introduces a thirteen episode season which has already aired up to episode ten in the US – so it’s one to avoid Googling if spoilers are an issue.

This Week In Words 07/09-14/09/2013

Welcome to the second instalment of This Week In Words, in which I corrall a week’s worth of links to interesting, moving or notable articles or features – now with BONUS STUFF (that I forgot to link to last week)! Jo Walton wins Hugo award for reverse Harry Potter tale – The Guardian. David Barnett […]