Book Review: Time Seige by Wesley Chu

‘Time Siege’ is Wesley Chu’s sequel to ‘Time Salvager’, which I reviewed here earlier in the year. It has another beautifully atmospheric cover depicting the ruins of a future Earth where the cities, New York in particular in this book, are overwhelmed by pollution, rampant vegetation and savage tribes.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier in Latvian

It's been a while since my last translation of The Gondolier. This Latvian translation is the 40th language for this story. 16 have been published and the rest appear on my blog.

Gondoljers

Manas gondolas melnais paceltais zobenveidīgais priekšgals vienmērīgi dreifēja cauri kanāla mierīgajiem ūdeņiem. Gludais kuģis bija man labi kalpojis daudzus gadus, pārvadājot pasažierus pa pilsētas ūdensceļiem tieši tāpat, kā to bija vadījušas manu senču rokas no paaudzes paaudzē.

Saule rietēja pār seno pilsētu, pārvēršot ūdeni par iespiedkrāsas pārklātu lenti, kas vijās starp elegantām smilšakmens ēkām. Es dziļi ieelpoju vēso vakara brāzmu.

 Vai ir vēl kāda skaistāka vieta par šo brīnumaino pilsētas kanālu? Tā kā gondola atviegloti ieslīdēja pietauvošanās vietā, es ar gandarījumu pārstāju lūkoties augšup tumstošajās debesīs uz Marsu.

Translated by Daiga Veikmane

Book Review: The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

Cixin Liu’s classic of Chinese Science Fiction continues in this second volume, translated into English by Joel Martinsen as ‘The Dark Forest’. The same mixture of contemporary settings, cutting-edge technology, political intrigue and glimpses of a frighteningly powerful alien civilisation make this book just as riveting as the first volume ‘The Three Body Problem’.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Heat of the Night

My flash fiction story Heat of the Night is now on-line at Perihelion magazine. This is my third story to appear there over the past couple of years.

Book Review: Central Station by Lavie Tidhar

I read several of Lavie Tidhar’s ‘Central Station’ stories when they appeared in ‘Interzone’ magazine in recent years. They were all interlinked, both by the location and by some of the characters, but chiefly by the richly imagined world that revolves around the edifice of Central Station.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Writing a Sequel

I'm currently writing a sequel to Squirrels, Foxes and Other Fine Specimens which appeared at Escape Pod last week. I hadn't particularly planned to write a sequel, but I enjoyed the story so much when I listened to it (three times) that I was inspired to write another story about Yorick and Sandy. This time they're going to Scotland.

Waste Management in Science Fiction

Author Dan Koboldt runs a blog series entitled Science in SciFi, Fact in Fantasy in which:

Each week, we tackle one of the scientific or technological concepts pervasive in sci-fi (space travel, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, etc.) with input from an expert.

This week, the expert happens to be me dealing with the subject of Waste Management in Science Fiction.

Enjoy!