Keith Stevenson's Blog, page 11

Superheroes never die...

This article originally appeared in Beyond, my free newsletter for lovers of science and science fiction. Sign up here - http://eepurl.com/btvru1 Even with the superlative highs of superhero movies like The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, someone on some forum or other eventually says, ‘Sure, these superhero movies are great, but as a

Review - Lexicon - Max Barry

Lexicon by Max Barry My rating: 5 of 5 stars This review originally appeared on the Newtown Review of Books http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/ Wil Parke prays it’s a case of mistaken identity when he’s waylaid in an airport toilet by a couple of guys who stick a needle in his eye and propose radical brain surgery. But when he’s hustled outside and a bunch of people, including his own

Review - Proxima - Stephen Baxter

Proxima by Stephen Baxter My rating: 4 of 5 stars This review originally appeared on the Newtown Review of Books http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au Analog Science Fiction and Fact was my magazine of choice as a teenager. Often it featured stories written by people who were primarily scientists and engineers rather than writers – people like Robert L Forward and Charles Sheffield. In those kinds

Review - The Adjacent - Christopher Priest

The Adjacent by Christopher Priest My rating: 4 of 5 stars This review originally appeared on the Newtown Review of Books (www.newtownreviewofbooks.com)I’ve read a few books by Christopher Priest now, and I have to confess that often I don’t really understand what is going on in them; but still I read them, and look forward to reading more. This was certainly true of the Hugo Award-nominated

Review - Trucksong - Andrew Macrae

Trucksong by Andrew Macrae My rating: 4 of 5 stars This review originally appeared on the Newtown Review of Books http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au Post-apocalyptic dystopian stories have been popular for a long time now and seem increasingly so. They allow us to play out our worst fears – climate collapse, alien invasion, zombie attack – while clinging to the hope that humanity (in some form)

Review - Unwrapped Sky - Rjurik Davidson

Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson My rating: 5 of 5 stars My review of Unwrapped Sky originally appeared on the Newtown Review of Books (www.newtownreviewofbooks.com.au)The city of Caeli-Amur was born out of the imagination of Australian writer Rjurik Davidson in 2005 with his Ditmar Award-shortlisted story ‘The Passing of the Minotaurs’. It appeared again in 2008’s ‘Twilight in Caeli-Amur’ in

Review - Bound - Alan Baxter

Bound by Alan Baxter My rating: 4 of 5 stars This review originally appeared at www.newtownreviewofbooks.com.auWarning! Wizards are no longer weedy, spectacle-wearing dorks with wimpy scars on their heads waving sticks and reciting pig Latin. In the world of Bound, the first in the Alex Caine series by Alan Baxter, wizards are cage-fighting kickboxers, channelling eldritch powers as extensions of

Review - Peacemaker - Marianne De Pierres

Peacemaker by Marianne de Pierres My rating: 4 of 5 stars My review of Peacemaker originally appeared on the Newtown Review of Books - http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.auIn the future Australia of Peacemaker we seem to be managing. There have been ructions, wars and incidents due to water shortages, asylum seekers and the other things most of us already see coming, but things are relatively stable

Review - Ancillary Justice - Anne Leckie

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie My rating: 4 of 5 stars My review of Ancillary Justice first appeared in the Newtown Review of Books - http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.auAnc... Justice, the debut novel from American author Ann Leckie, has been garnering a fair bit of buzz around the speculative fiction community over the past few months and has just been shortlisted for this year’s Philip K

Review - The Godless - Ben Peek

The Godless by Ben Peek My rating: 5 of 5 stars This review originally appeared at www.newtownreviewofbooks.com.auThe best epic fantasy is a seamless blend of intricately wrought elements that creates a fully-realised world with a comprehensive and weighty history that continues to affect the lives of the equally real characters that inhabit it. On the (now not so) small screen, shows like A Game