Torn Branches: A Science Fiction Review

Overview Murder on Muritai by Genesis Cottrell is ostensibly a sci-fi murder mystery novel set on Muritai Island, a fictional island off the coast of NZ. I say ostensibly because apart from a significant portion of the characters being alien, the book could easily have been written with non-sci-fi themes, and so should be enjoyable to all. Murder on Muritai follows a budding private eye, Curtis McCoy, on his first case – the death of a ‘Ryxian’ man in a fiery car crash. McCoy is employed by the man’s widow, who believes his death to be the result of foul play. As this book is the first in an expected trilogy, a lot of pages are devoted to world-building. The aliens are known as Ryxin, and are refugees who fled to earth after their own planet was destroyed. They live openly among the human population, first settling in Ireland at the start of the 20th century, but having since emigrated across the globe. Culturally, a lot of their customs are Gaelic in nature, having adopted ...

This is the first time I have read anything by Mieville. Having read excellent reviews of his work I have high expectations. A short scan through his  Wikipedia profile  provides an insight into his Marxist political ideals, particularly as it relates to international law and relations. In brief, Mieville considers international law in capitalism as a sham and a cover for the ‘real’ international law – the law of the jungle.  Armed with this knowledge, I picked up a copy of China Mieville's collection of short sci fi stories,  Three Moments of an Explosion,  last night. Instead of reviewing the whole collection, I thought I would instead review a few of the stories contained in the collection in a little more depth. I will choose stories that I, subjectively, think best highlight what I believe the author is trying to achieve with his work. The first story I will review is the first and eponymous ‘ Three Moments of an Explosion’. In  Three Mom...

"I don't like Monday's" quipped Brenda Spencer after committing mass murder. Well nobody does really?  But if you want to ease the pain in a less pyschopathic way, then can I suggest you read this collection of 8 sci fi stories by the New Yorker? It will only cost you a few minutes of your time and in return you get to imagine the USA President utter the words "flying penis from Venus". And if that doesn't work to put a smile on your dial then maybe you should change your name to Bob Geldoff. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/eight-short-science-fiction-stories

I'm not sure of the veracity but the huff post has an interesting interview with Small Beers Press owner Gavin J. Grant about the first sci fi book written. Link here . Frankenstein is probably the oldest sci fi book I have read, and it took a couple of goes before I actually understood the themes.

We all have our favourites. Something that we hold close to our hearts and cherish. When it comes to sci fi characters, it will come as no surprise to those who know me that my all-time favourite is Duncan Idaho, from the Dune series. Duncan Idaho started off as a minor player in the first instalment of Dune, as the security and weapons advisor to House Atreides. In Dune, he sacrificed himself by launching a full attack on the Emperors elite Sardauker Troops, to give Paul and Lady Jessica the time required to escape to the desert. We learn in later novels that he managed to best 19 of them before finally falling due to ‘massive head trauma’. Being an instant fan favourite, he was wisely revived, as a Ghola, and is now the only character to be present in every Dune novel written. So what is it that made Duncan so popular? I read the first Dune novel in my early teens, what made him such an attractive character was his loyalty to House Atreides, and his awesome combat skills. Simple stuf...

It's not a competition. It's an honest question. Over at SFsignal the question was asked what it means to consider yourself well-read in science fiction. The author at SFsignal has read over a thousand different books over half a century. While impressive even this effort barely scratches the surface of published books in the genre. Curious, I decided to make my own list using the goodreads app. After about an hour I've come up with a list with 103 different novels in it. One of the things I noticed is a tendency to bulk read the works of authors I liked. Out of the 103 books I've read, roughly a third come from half a dozen authors with a large catalogue of work. The second point I noticed is how far behind the times I am. Most of the novels I've read were published before 1980. Obviously I'm still trying to catch up on the classics in a genre constantly progressing. So am I a reliable source judge sci fi books? I honestly don't know. If you a...