Second paragraph of third story ("Goblin Autumn", by Adrian Tchakovsky):And then, one morning out trying to scratch sustenance from the dying fields, they would have looked up, movement in the corners of their lateral eyes, and seen… them. Just like in the stories but a thousand times worse, things that were like people, but stunted, spindly, huge- ( Read more... )

I was already sitting there when my cousin Dixon came over to me. About half the Kneefolk had already arrived, and the others were coming in.
I'm reviving my previous practice of posting the second paragraph from the third chapter of each book I read this month - odd snapshots of the text which give a suitably random flavour. I'm also going to try ( Read more... )

Somehow the Earth people must have found a way of making heavy things fly. But how? Well, I had no more idea than Jeffo or anyone else. I was no different from the rest. We knew so little, and Earth knew so much. We might as well be blind for all we understood about things. No wonder we longed for Earth.
As ever, the BSFA shortlist continues to ( Read more... )

As a fan of Beckett's stories back when I still read Interzone (must pick that up again) and a booster of his first novel, The Holy Machine, I was delighted to hear that this collection had won a major prize, and made sure to get my hands on a copy. As I had hoped and expected, it is very good; I like Beckett's writing for the same reason I like ( Read more... )

Yesterday was my heavy panel day, in that I was on one with ianmcdonald, Ian McLeod and James Lovegrove at 10 am on "The Breakup of Britain", and then moderating another with a more European theme at 11 with Harry Turtledove, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Keith Brooke and Patrick Gyger. The first one was fairly full; the second, in a much bigger hall with over 200 ( Read more... )

It's all a bit of a blur, so far. Arrived Thursday, regstered; went (with hfnuala) to the panel on how to enjoy Worldcon; did panel on "The Digital Divide" which was efficiently and academically chaired by Renee Sieber, the other two panellists being brisingamen and surliminal; several people asked where I'd got my livejournal badge (answer: from an idea[ by thette); spent money in ( Read more... )

2) The Holy Machine by Chris Beckett. Another one of the books to review for infinity plus. A good one, too. Will save details for later, but I thought he got the Adriatic setting almost completely right and had a believable future world. Quite a different style from his short stories, but successful.