Books read in 2016
Here are the books I read this year:
FICTION
1. The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey (YA science fiction). Much, much, much better than the film version, which managed to miss out the humour, forget to explain why it was kids doing most of this stuff, and bizarrely kept in plot points which made no sense because they’d dropped other plot elements which were the trigger or reasoning behind them.
2. Bete by Adam Roberts (science fiction). Witty and very entertaining.
3. Solution Three by Naomi Mitchison (science fiction).
4. 22 Dead Little Bodies and Other Stories by Stuart MacBride (crime).
5. The Missing and the Dead by Stuart MacBride (crime). A Logan MacRae novel.
6. In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride (crime). A Logan MacRae novel.
7. Gears of War: The Slab by Karen Traviss (military science fiction - game spinoff). I’ve never played Gears of War, but I like Karen Traviss’ books and I like military science fiction, so I thought I’d give it a go. Enjoyable, might read some others.
8. Going Grey by Karen Traviss (military science fiction). 1st in a series. Really loved this. Nice thriller pacing, great characters and a serious dose of reality injected into the tired old cliché of ‘Let’s genetically engineer a super-soldier’.
9. View From a Remote Country by Karen Traviss (science fiction & fantasy). Anthology.
10. Echo Burning by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 5.
11. Without Fail by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 6.
12. Persuader by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 7. This novel switched back to first person narration which threw me a bit. I prefer the 3rd person ones.
13. The Enemy by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 8.
14. One Shot by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 9.
15. Dead Girl Walking by Chris Brookmyre (crime). After quite a gap, here’s another Jack Parlabane novel, in the post-phone hacking world.
16. Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (science fiction).
17. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (historical). Bits are gripping. Bits are almost incomprehensible due to the style, and I kept having to re-read them to try and make sense of what was happening.
18. Hearts of Stone by Simon Scarrow (historical/military). I enjoyed his Eagles series about Rome, and so thought I would enjoy this tale of WW2 Greek Resistance too. However, it was a bit plodding, and you know who survives and who doesn’t because it starts in the present day. Plus most of the present days scenes are dull and add nothing to the book. On the other hand it is a million times better than…
19. Ghost Flight by Bear Grylls (thriller). This is dire. I spent the whole book thinking “This is going to turn into The Boys From Brazil, isn’t it?” And it did. That aside, all the wildlife they meet is psychotic and out to kill them, the television crew keep whining that the “executives back home” are making them keep on with the mission (instead of pulling the plug at the first death), and there’s a cliffhanger ending. Avoid.
20. Dog of Aclon by Yamila Abraham (science fiction/romance porn). The lead characters are in the military, but you’d never believe it from anything they say or do. It’s just an excuse for two people who don’t like each other to be forced to share a room… and then discover that they do like each other very much.
21. The Eidolon’s Conquest by Yamila Abraham (science fiction/romance porn). Another military setting, even less realistic than the last one. The hero is a soldier who has spent most of his life dissing authority figures and deserting, but somehow ends up in Special Forces. And as Special Forces he works entirely on his own. His best mate is a 26 year old general who made that rank in four years. The government publically does something unbelievably fekking awful to a couple of hundred of their own soldiers, and no friends, relatives or comrades of said soldiers put up a protest, let alone the media or the opposition parties. Because hey, setting up the situation where character A gets to shag character B is faaaaar more important than trivial stuff like writing characters who don’t live in a complete social vacuum…
22. Camp Conscription by Ronald Phillips (porn).
23. Ark Royal by Chris Nuttall (military science fiction).
24. The Empire at War: British Military Science Fiction by various including art by Bristolcon’s very own Andy Bigwood (military science fiction). This is a collection with 4 novels, a few short stories and a couple of articles in it. The novels are:
24a. Their Darkest Hour by Chris Nuttall. Enjoyable, would read more in the series. He does have a bizarre obsession with the BBC though. The Beeb is the ONLY news channel anyone in the novel watches, AND they all moan about it. Surely if they hate the BBC that much they’d switch over to Sky or CNN?
24b. C.R.O.W. by Philip Richards. Enjoyable, would read more in the series. Author gets a gold star for skipping Boot Camp and doing first deployment instead.
24c. Marine Cadet by Tim C. Taylor. Enjoyable, would read more in the series.
24d. Discovery of the Saiph (didn’t finish it - see appropriate section below).
25. Para Animalia edited by Storm Constantine & Wendy Darling (science fantasy anthology). This is the anthology I have a story in. Again some very nice stories in this, especially the one about African wild dogs by Nerine Dorman.
26. Mythangelus by Storm Constantine (fantasy & horror anthology).
27. Splinters of Truth by Storm Constantine (fantasy & horror anthology).
28. The Thorn Boy and Other Dreams of Dark Desire by Storm Constantine (fantasy anthology).
29. Whispers of the World That Was by E. S. Wynn (science fantasy). A spin off novel in Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu Mythos universe. I really liked this. I think it is my favourite of the spin-offs so far.
30. Song of the Sulh by Maria J. Leel (science fantasy). A spin-off novel set in Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu Mythos universe.
31. Binti by Nnedi Okarafor (science fiction).
32. Legion of the Damned by William C. Dietz (military science fiction).
33. One Night in Sixes by Arianne ‘Tex’ Thompson (fantasy western). Confirmed that I am much more a fan of westerns than I am of fantasy. Cliffhanger ending.
34. War Stories edited by Jayn Gates & Andrew Liptak (military science fiction). Anthology. Again some really good stories in this collection. Would like to read more by some of the authors.
35. The Colour of Distance by Amy Thomson (science fiction).
36. The Amazon Legion by Tom Kratman (military science fiction). I’m nominating this for the Guinness Book of Records for the Most Infodumps Crammed Into One Novel. Characters keep making speeches or having internal monologues to infodump the author’s philosophy on women and gay men in the military. There is good characterisation and good action struggling to escape from the constant refrain of “Women are shit!” and “Gay guys can’t be integrated into straight units”. Oh and half of the 500 odd pages is bloody Boot Camp. I swear if I ever open a bookshop I will have special stickers printed: WARNING: This novel contains several chapters of Boot Camp. People suffering from Boot Camp overload should back away now…
37. Divergent by Veronica Roth (YA science fiction). Meh. Half the book is bloody Boot Camp! The film is just as dull - I gave up watching about an hour into it.
38. Marseguro by Edward Willett (science fiction).
39. The Robot Brains by Sidney J. Bounds (science fiction). Ancient and very, very dated.
40. Tracer by Rob Boffard (science fiction).
41. Dark Side by Belinda Bauer (crime). Unfortunately I guessed what the solution was a few chapters in. I think this is the weakest of her books I’ve read so far.
42. The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer (crime). Back on form.
43. Leviathan Wakes by James Corey (science fiction). I wanted to read the book after watching Season 1 of The Expanse TV series. Will be reading more.
44. Caliban’s War by James Corey (science fiction). The Expanse volume 2.
45. Fight Like a Girl edited by Jo Hall and Roz Clarke (anthology - science fiction & fantasy). Gaie Sebold’s story was my favourite.
46. All Through the Night by M. P. Wright (crime). Set in Bristol’s black community in the 1960s.
47. Verdigris Green by Francis Hardinge (YA fantasy).
48. The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge (YA fantasy).
49. High Note by Penelope Irving (mainstream). Doric Opera book 1. Written by an old school friend.
50. Empire of Dust by Jacey Bedford (science fiction). Psi Tech series volume 1.
51. Crossways by Jacey Bedford (science fiction). Psi Tech series volume 2.
52. Silence Rides Alone by Charles Millsted (western). I do like westerns, so was delighted when someone I knew wrote one!
53. Planetfall by Emma Newman (science fiction). This is fantastic. One of my favourite books of the year. I’ve bought a copy as a Christmas present for a friend.
54. The Hormone Jungle by Robert Reed (science fiction).
55. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (mainstream).
56. Paradox: Tales Inspired by the Fermi Paradox edited by Mike Resnick & Pat Cadigan (science fiction anthology).
57. The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley & Stuart Patience (science fiction).
58. Nightwings by Robert Silverberg (science fiction).
59. The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel (science fiction). Enjoyed this, will look out for more by Ms Bonesteel.
60. Song of Scarabeus by Sara Creasy (science fiction/romance).
61. King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (children’s). I read it for the nostalgia kick and to see if a Muslim character written in the 1950s stands up to modern sensibilities.
62. After America by John Birmingham (science fiction). 2nd in the trilogy, only bought it because it was a cheap second hand copy. Not a patch on his World War 2.0 series.
63. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke (science fiction). I’d never read this, and I watched the TV series thinking “Surely the original wouldn’t have been filled with all these Rapture and Anti-Christ themes?’ I was right - it isn’t.
64. Daughter of the Firth Moon by Lynn Armistead McKee (prehistorical).
65. The Venging by Greg Bear (science fiction anthology).
66. A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee (crime).
67. Lagos 2060 edited by Ayodele Arigbabu (science fiction). Anthology of stories set in Lagos, Nigeria.
68. Kris Longknife: Mutineer by Mike Shepherd (military science fiction). Vol 1 in the Kris Longknife series. Might read some more but the heroine is a bit Mary Sue.
69. A Tiding of Magpies by Peter Sutton (genre). Anthology of science fiction, fantasy & horror.
70. Sick City Syndrome by Peter Sutton (urban fantasy).
71. Crisis by Frank Gardiner (thriller).
72. Marine by Tanya Allan (science fiction). Volume 1 in the Time Agent series. A transgendered woman’s consciousness is sent back in time to stop the bad guys interfering with history. I liked the heroine and the writing, but it was a bit too heavy on the romance tropes for me.
73. The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata (military science fiction). Book 1 of The Red trilogy. This, Karen Traviss’ Going Grey and C.R.O.W. by Philip Richards are the best military SF I’ve read this year.
74. Agent of the Imperium by Marc Miller (science fiction). I'n about two thirds of the way through this. It is set in the Traveller RPG universe. It does a better job of explaining how the government and empire work than the RPG ever did. However it is very bitty - the main character is a recorded personality on a computer chip who is downloaded into a new body whenever there is a crisis, so months to decades pass between chunks of plot. He kills millions of people ‘for the greater good’ and never seems even mildly regretful or stressed by this. Also I lost all sympathy for him when he very pettily and vindictively decided to ruin the lives of a bunch of folks whose ancestor cheated him generations in the past, even though the culprit was dead and the descendants hadn’t even been born at the time of the fraud.
NON-FICTION
1. Out in the Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier by James Wharton.
2. Sexual Selections: What We Can & Can’t Learn About Sex From Animals by Marlene Zuk (biology). Loved this. She’s very scathing of both ‘eco-feminists’ and ‘patriarchal gender role stereotyping’ using misinformation about animal behaviour to build their own worldview of human behaviour. And I’m sooooo glad someone else is annoyed that Antz, A Bug’s Life, Bee Movie, etc are filled with MALE ants and bees!
3. Sex Itself: The Search For Male and Female in the Human Genome by Sarah Richardson (biology). A history of various scientific theories on how people become male or female or the various other anatomical possibilities.
4. War: What is it Good For? The Role of Conflict in Civilisation from Primates to Robots by Ian Morris (military history/sociology/politics).
5. Cheer Up Love: Adventures in Depression with the Crab of Hate by Susan Calman.
6. Bradley vs BMP: Desert Storm 1991 by Mike Guardia (military history).
7. Fifty Great War Films by Tim Newark.
8. Beyond Human: Engineering Our Future Evolution by Erik Seedhouse.
9. Emigrating Beyond Earth: Human Adaptation & Space Colonisation by Cameron M. Smith & Evan T. Davies.
10. Aliens edited by Jim Al-Khalili (science). Short essays on the likelihood of life on other planets.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
1. Kenya: Apparitions by Rudolphe & Leo. I should stop buying these Euro GNs. They always sound like they’ve got an intriguing ‘proper’ science fiction plot. And then they always annoy me by having gratuitous scenes of women getting their kit off, and not enough plot advancement for me to forgive that.
2. Letter 44 volume 1: Escape Velocity by Soule, Alberquerque, Major & Jackson.
BOOKS I DIDN’T FINISH
1. Flashback by Dan Simmons (science fiction). Gave up about page 60. Viewpoint characters were all - at best - total wankers, and most were racist to boot, so I had zero engagement with any of them.
2. Star Splinter by J. G. Cressey (science fiction). Another self-published novel picked up at a con. Too pulpy for me - I gave up after the chapter where Our Heroes are attacked by hundreds of carnivorous dinosaurs on an open plain. Even though the heroes knew the dinosaurs were there and what direction they were travelling in, so could have gone around them…
3. The Last War by Alex Davis. Noukari Trilogy vol 1. Flatly written, unengaging plot about folk inventing a religion and persecuting non-believers.
4. Discovery of the Saiph by P. P. Corcoran (military science fiction). Flatly written with unengaging characters. It’s a great premise, but was just too much of a slog to read.
5. Hegira by Greg Bear (science fiction). Er… there doesn’t appear to be a plot. Just some guys going somewhere to find some unspecified knowledge.
FICTION
1. The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey (YA science fiction). Much, much, much better than the film version, which managed to miss out the humour, forget to explain why it was kids doing most of this stuff, and bizarrely kept in plot points which made no sense because they’d dropped other plot elements which were the trigger or reasoning behind them.
2. Bete by Adam Roberts (science fiction). Witty and very entertaining.
3. Solution Three by Naomi Mitchison (science fiction).
4. 22 Dead Little Bodies and Other Stories by Stuart MacBride (crime).
5. The Missing and the Dead by Stuart MacBride (crime). A Logan MacRae novel.
6. In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride (crime). A Logan MacRae novel.
7. Gears of War: The Slab by Karen Traviss (military science fiction - game spinoff). I’ve never played Gears of War, but I like Karen Traviss’ books and I like military science fiction, so I thought I’d give it a go. Enjoyable, might read some others.
8. Going Grey by Karen Traviss (military science fiction). 1st in a series. Really loved this. Nice thriller pacing, great characters and a serious dose of reality injected into the tired old cliché of ‘Let’s genetically engineer a super-soldier’.
9. View From a Remote Country by Karen Traviss (science fiction & fantasy). Anthology.
10. Echo Burning by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 5.
11. Without Fail by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 6.
12. Persuader by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 7. This novel switched back to first person narration which threw me a bit. I prefer the 3rd person ones.
13. The Enemy by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 8.
14. One Shot by Lee Child (crime/thriller). Jack Reacher volume 9.
15. Dead Girl Walking by Chris Brookmyre (crime). After quite a gap, here’s another Jack Parlabane novel, in the post-phone hacking world.
16. Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (science fiction).
17. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (historical). Bits are gripping. Bits are almost incomprehensible due to the style, and I kept having to re-read them to try and make sense of what was happening.
18. Hearts of Stone by Simon Scarrow (historical/military). I enjoyed his Eagles series about Rome, and so thought I would enjoy this tale of WW2 Greek Resistance too. However, it was a bit plodding, and you know who survives and who doesn’t because it starts in the present day. Plus most of the present days scenes are dull and add nothing to the book. On the other hand it is a million times better than…
19. Ghost Flight by Bear Grylls (thriller). This is dire. I spent the whole book thinking “This is going to turn into The Boys From Brazil, isn’t it?” And it did. That aside, all the wildlife they meet is psychotic and out to kill them, the television crew keep whining that the “executives back home” are making them keep on with the mission (instead of pulling the plug at the first death), and there’s a cliffhanger ending. Avoid.
20. Dog of Aclon by Yamila Abraham (science fiction/romance porn). The lead characters are in the military, but you’d never believe it from anything they say or do. It’s just an excuse for two people who don’t like each other to be forced to share a room… and then discover that they do like each other very much.
21. The Eidolon’s Conquest by Yamila Abraham (science fiction/romance porn). Another military setting, even less realistic than the last one. The hero is a soldier who has spent most of his life dissing authority figures and deserting, but somehow ends up in Special Forces. And as Special Forces he works entirely on his own. His best mate is a 26 year old general who made that rank in four years. The government publically does something unbelievably fekking awful to a couple of hundred of their own soldiers, and no friends, relatives or comrades of said soldiers put up a protest, let alone the media or the opposition parties. Because hey, setting up the situation where character A gets to shag character B is faaaaar more important than trivial stuff like writing characters who don’t live in a complete social vacuum…
22. Camp Conscription by Ronald Phillips (porn).
23. Ark Royal by Chris Nuttall (military science fiction).
24. The Empire at War: British Military Science Fiction by various including art by Bristolcon’s very own Andy Bigwood (military science fiction). This is a collection with 4 novels, a few short stories and a couple of articles in it. The novels are:
24a. Their Darkest Hour by Chris Nuttall. Enjoyable, would read more in the series. He does have a bizarre obsession with the BBC though. The Beeb is the ONLY news channel anyone in the novel watches, AND they all moan about it. Surely if they hate the BBC that much they’d switch over to Sky or CNN?
24b. C.R.O.W. by Philip Richards. Enjoyable, would read more in the series. Author gets a gold star for skipping Boot Camp and doing first deployment instead.
24c. Marine Cadet by Tim C. Taylor. Enjoyable, would read more in the series.
24d. Discovery of the Saiph (didn’t finish it - see appropriate section below).
25. Para Animalia edited by Storm Constantine & Wendy Darling (science fantasy anthology). This is the anthology I have a story in. Again some very nice stories in this, especially the one about African wild dogs by Nerine Dorman.
26. Mythangelus by Storm Constantine (fantasy & horror anthology).
27. Splinters of Truth by Storm Constantine (fantasy & horror anthology).
28. The Thorn Boy and Other Dreams of Dark Desire by Storm Constantine (fantasy anthology).
29. Whispers of the World That Was by E. S. Wynn (science fantasy). A spin off novel in Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu Mythos universe. I really liked this. I think it is my favourite of the spin-offs so far.
30. Song of the Sulh by Maria J. Leel (science fantasy). A spin-off novel set in Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu Mythos universe.
31. Binti by Nnedi Okarafor (science fiction).
32. Legion of the Damned by William C. Dietz (military science fiction).
33. One Night in Sixes by Arianne ‘Tex’ Thompson (fantasy western). Confirmed that I am much more a fan of westerns than I am of fantasy. Cliffhanger ending.
34. War Stories edited by Jayn Gates & Andrew Liptak (military science fiction). Anthology. Again some really good stories in this collection. Would like to read more by some of the authors.
35. The Colour of Distance by Amy Thomson (science fiction).
36. The Amazon Legion by Tom Kratman (military science fiction). I’m nominating this for the Guinness Book of Records for the Most Infodumps Crammed Into One Novel. Characters keep making speeches or having internal monologues to infodump the author’s philosophy on women and gay men in the military. There is good characterisation and good action struggling to escape from the constant refrain of “Women are shit!” and “Gay guys can’t be integrated into straight units”. Oh and half of the 500 odd pages is bloody Boot Camp. I swear if I ever open a bookshop I will have special stickers printed: WARNING: This novel contains several chapters of Boot Camp. People suffering from Boot Camp overload should back away now…
37. Divergent by Veronica Roth (YA science fiction). Meh. Half the book is bloody Boot Camp! The film is just as dull - I gave up watching about an hour into it.
38. Marseguro by Edward Willett (science fiction).
39. The Robot Brains by Sidney J. Bounds (science fiction). Ancient and very, very dated.
40. Tracer by Rob Boffard (science fiction).
41. Dark Side by Belinda Bauer (crime). Unfortunately I guessed what the solution was a few chapters in. I think this is the weakest of her books I’ve read so far.
42. The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer (crime). Back on form.
43. Leviathan Wakes by James Corey (science fiction). I wanted to read the book after watching Season 1 of The Expanse TV series. Will be reading more.
44. Caliban’s War by James Corey (science fiction). The Expanse volume 2.
45. Fight Like a Girl edited by Jo Hall and Roz Clarke (anthology - science fiction & fantasy). Gaie Sebold’s story was my favourite.
46. All Through the Night by M. P. Wright (crime). Set in Bristol’s black community in the 1960s.
47. Verdigris Green by Francis Hardinge (YA fantasy).
48. The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge (YA fantasy).
49. High Note by Penelope Irving (mainstream). Doric Opera book 1. Written by an old school friend.
50. Empire of Dust by Jacey Bedford (science fiction). Psi Tech series volume 1.
51. Crossways by Jacey Bedford (science fiction). Psi Tech series volume 2.
52. Silence Rides Alone by Charles Millsted (western). I do like westerns, so was delighted when someone I knew wrote one!
53. Planetfall by Emma Newman (science fiction). This is fantastic. One of my favourite books of the year. I’ve bought a copy as a Christmas present for a friend.
54. The Hormone Jungle by Robert Reed (science fiction).
55. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (mainstream).
56. Paradox: Tales Inspired by the Fermi Paradox edited by Mike Resnick & Pat Cadigan (science fiction anthology).
57. The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley & Stuart Patience (science fiction).
58. Nightwings by Robert Silverberg (science fiction).
59. The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel (science fiction). Enjoyed this, will look out for more by Ms Bonesteel.
60. Song of Scarabeus by Sara Creasy (science fiction/romance).
61. King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (children’s). I read it for the nostalgia kick and to see if a Muslim character written in the 1950s stands up to modern sensibilities.
62. After America by John Birmingham (science fiction). 2nd in the trilogy, only bought it because it was a cheap second hand copy. Not a patch on his World War 2.0 series.
63. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke (science fiction). I’d never read this, and I watched the TV series thinking “Surely the original wouldn’t have been filled with all these Rapture and Anti-Christ themes?’ I was right - it isn’t.
64. Daughter of the Firth Moon by Lynn Armistead McKee (prehistorical).
65. The Venging by Greg Bear (science fiction anthology).
66. A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee (crime).
67. Lagos 2060 edited by Ayodele Arigbabu (science fiction). Anthology of stories set in Lagos, Nigeria.
68. Kris Longknife: Mutineer by Mike Shepherd (military science fiction). Vol 1 in the Kris Longknife series. Might read some more but the heroine is a bit Mary Sue.
69. A Tiding of Magpies by Peter Sutton (genre). Anthology of science fiction, fantasy & horror.
70. Sick City Syndrome by Peter Sutton (urban fantasy).
71. Crisis by Frank Gardiner (thriller).
72. Marine by Tanya Allan (science fiction). Volume 1 in the Time Agent series. A transgendered woman’s consciousness is sent back in time to stop the bad guys interfering with history. I liked the heroine and the writing, but it was a bit too heavy on the romance tropes for me.
73. The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata (military science fiction). Book 1 of The Red trilogy. This, Karen Traviss’ Going Grey and C.R.O.W. by Philip Richards are the best military SF I’ve read this year.
74. Agent of the Imperium by Marc Miller (science fiction). I'n about two thirds of the way through this. It is set in the Traveller RPG universe. It does a better job of explaining how the government and empire work than the RPG ever did. However it is very bitty - the main character is a recorded personality on a computer chip who is downloaded into a new body whenever there is a crisis, so months to decades pass between chunks of plot. He kills millions of people ‘for the greater good’ and never seems even mildly regretful or stressed by this. Also I lost all sympathy for him when he very pettily and vindictively decided to ruin the lives of a bunch of folks whose ancestor cheated him generations in the past, even though the culprit was dead and the descendants hadn’t even been born at the time of the fraud.
NON-FICTION
1. Out in the Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier by James Wharton.
2. Sexual Selections: What We Can & Can’t Learn About Sex From Animals by Marlene Zuk (biology). Loved this. She’s very scathing of both ‘eco-feminists’ and ‘patriarchal gender role stereotyping’ using misinformation about animal behaviour to build their own worldview of human behaviour. And I’m sooooo glad someone else is annoyed that Antz, A Bug’s Life, Bee Movie, etc are filled with MALE ants and bees!
3. Sex Itself: The Search For Male and Female in the Human Genome by Sarah Richardson (biology). A history of various scientific theories on how people become male or female or the various other anatomical possibilities.
4. War: What is it Good For? The Role of Conflict in Civilisation from Primates to Robots by Ian Morris (military history/sociology/politics).
5. Cheer Up Love: Adventures in Depression with the Crab of Hate by Susan Calman.
6. Bradley vs BMP: Desert Storm 1991 by Mike Guardia (military history).
7. Fifty Great War Films by Tim Newark.
8. Beyond Human: Engineering Our Future Evolution by Erik Seedhouse.
9. Emigrating Beyond Earth: Human Adaptation & Space Colonisation by Cameron M. Smith & Evan T. Davies.
10. Aliens edited by Jim Al-Khalili (science). Short essays on the likelihood of life on other planets.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
1. Kenya: Apparitions by Rudolphe & Leo. I should stop buying these Euro GNs. They always sound like they’ve got an intriguing ‘proper’ science fiction plot. And then they always annoy me by having gratuitous scenes of women getting their kit off, and not enough plot advancement for me to forgive that.
2. Letter 44 volume 1: Escape Velocity by Soule, Alberquerque, Major & Jackson.
BOOKS I DIDN’T FINISH
1. Flashback by Dan Simmons (science fiction). Gave up about page 60. Viewpoint characters were all - at best - total wankers, and most were racist to boot, so I had zero engagement with any of them.
2. Star Splinter by J. G. Cressey (science fiction). Another self-published novel picked up at a con. Too pulpy for me - I gave up after the chapter where Our Heroes are attacked by hundreds of carnivorous dinosaurs on an open plain. Even though the heroes knew the dinosaurs were there and what direction they were travelling in, so could have gone around them…
3. The Last War by Alex Davis. Noukari Trilogy vol 1. Flatly written, unengaging plot about folk inventing a religion and persecuting non-believers.
4. Discovery of the Saiph by P. P. Corcoran (military science fiction). Flatly written with unengaging characters. It’s a great premise, but was just too much of a slog to read.
5. Hegira by Greg Bear (science fiction). Er… there doesn’t appear to be a plot. Just some guys going somewhere to find some unspecified knowledge.