Several years ago, I decided I’d no longer read new science fiction debut novels — that is, ones published in the year, and after, I made the decision. Too many failed to live up to the hype. True, that’s the nature of twenty-first century publishing — instant success, or no…

I mentioned in an earlier post on Cherryh’s Foreigner (1994, USA) — see here — The Faded Sun Trilogy (1987, USA) was the first book by Cherryh I remember reading, and yet I’m one hundred percent certain the first novel by her I read was much earlier than 1987. …

Timescape (1980, USA) was number 27 in the original SF Masterworks series published by Millennium/Gollancz between 1999 and 2007. It won the Nebula Award, BSFA Award and Ditmar Award in 1981. Which gives some indication of the regard in which the novel is held, if not now, at least shortly…

We lost Eric Brown in late March 2023, and while Murder Most Vile (2022, UK), the ninth book in his 1950s-set Langham & Dupré crime series, was not his last book to be published, and not entirely representative of his output as he was primarily a science fiction writer not…

Five years after the death of Ursula K Le Guin, it’s beginning to feel like history will remember her more for her Earthsea novels, a juvenile fantasy series, than for her science fiction novels set in the Ekumene, such as The Left Hand of Darkness (1969, USA) and The Dispossessed…

‘The Lovers’ was originally published as a novella in 1952, and may well have been instrumental in Farmer winning a Hugo Award for Best New Author or Artist in 1953 (the first year the Hugo Awards were given). It was later expanded to a novel and published in 1961. The…

I hold James Tiptree Jr in high esteem, as a writer, and as a person who managed to hoodwink science fiction regarding her gender for several years. Yes, her, because James Tiptree Jr was a pseudonym of Alice Sheldon — although it’s unlikely anyone who encountered Tiptree’s fiction after 1977…

I’ve been a fan of Crowley’s fiction for many years. I seem to remember reading one or two of his early novels, The Deep (1975, USA), Beasts (1976, USA) or Engine Summer (1979, USA), although perhaps not The Deep, in the mid-1980s; and then seeing all the praise for Little…

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963, UK) was John le Carré’s third novel. It’s also probably his best known. (Incidentally, how are you supposed to capitalise it? I’ve always left prepositions and articles without initial capitals, but it looks weird for this title.) This post will necessarily…