Authorial Activities in 2019

My writing and publishing has slowed down over the past few years, but 2019 was not a bad year for both. I wrote six flash fiction stories at the beginning of the year, co-wrote a novelette with Alex and Haydn during the summer and then wrote another short story in November.

In terms of stories published this year, I had two stories podcast in English, stories published in Estonian, Galician, Hungarian and Romanian, a short story published in English and a reprint of a novelette. I also had a story accepted for a Slovenian magazine, and I was expecting the publication of Putting the Science in Fiction in Korean, so that's at least two lined up for 2020.

Book Review: Radicalized by Cory Doctorow

Don’t you hate it when technology tells you what to do? My car keeps telling me what gear to change into. It’s so annoying! If I wanted my car to tell me what gear to change into I’d have bought an automatic! I know how to drive a car without being told what gear to change into!

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier Reprint: Ligurian

The Ligurian, or Genovese, translation of The Gondolier appeared on the website Genoves a few years back, but the website has since vanished. Here's the translation again.

O Gondolê

A neigra proa da mæ gondola a se fava stradda spedia tra e carme ægoe di canæ. A luxente barca a l'aveiva filòu pe tanti anni, pe portâ i pasagê atraverso i corsci d'ægoa da çitæ, goidâ da-e man de generaçioin di mæ antighi.

O sô o calava in sciâ çitæ vegia, e o rendeiva l'ægoa 'n frexetto d'inciòstro desteizo tramezo a-i eleganti palaççi de pria. Ò respiòu profondamente a fresca brixa da seia.

Gh'ea miga 'n pòsto ciù bèllo che questa mâvegiôza çitæ di canæ? Mentre a barca a s'avixinava a l'òrmézzo, me son fermòu a amiâ de d'ato, sodisfæto, o fâ da seia in scî çê de Marte.

  

Translated by Alan Gazzano

Squirrels and Foxes in Romania

The Romanian translation of Squirrels, Foxes and Other Fine Specimens is out now in the latest issue of Helion SF.


For the first time ever I have top billing on the cover!

Book review: Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald

Things are changing on the Moon as the third volume of Ian McDonald’s Luna trilogy, Moon Rising kicks off. The remaining four Dragons of the Moon and their powerful and rich families are still plotting and fighting amongst themselves while the remains of the Corta family live in exile and fear in several supposedly safe locations spread across the habitats of the Moon.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Ballad of Robinson Clyde

Alex's latest story The Ballad of Robinson Clyde is out now at Emerging Worlds. Its a lyrical kind of a story that put me in mind of J.G. Ballard.

The Gondolier in Limburgish

Limburgish is spoken by about 1.3 million people, mostly in the Limburg regions of the Netherlands and Belgium and is related to Germand and Dutch. This translation into Limburgish is the 48th language for The Gondolier.

De Gondeleer

Door Gareth D Jones

 

De zwarte boog vaan miene gondel snijde gledsjes door de röstege waters vaan de kenale. 't Raank beutsje waor m'ch jaorelaank erg gedeensteg gewees, passageers verveurend euver de waterweeg vaan de stad, geleid door de han vaan ginneraties vaan m'n veurawwers.

 

De zon zat z'ch euver de aw stad, 't water veraanderend in 'n inkechteg lint gelege tösse illegante zandsteine gebouwe. Iech aosemde deep in vaan 't keul aovendwindsje.

Gief 't ein aander plaots sjoender es dees woonderrieke stad vaan kenale? Wie de boot z'n ligkplaots stèllekesaon in voor, heel 'ch stèl um content bove m'ch de duusterweurende lochte vaan Mars te begape.

 

Ind

Translaetd by Yuri Michielsen

Book Review: Luna: Wolf Moon

The second volume of Ian McDonald’s Luna trilogy follows on directly from the events of New Moon, chronicling the fallout from the tumultuous events of its conclusion and following the various family members from the Moon’s five major families.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier in Hunsrik

About three million people in Brazil speak Hunsrik, or Riograndenser Hunsrückisch, a Germanic language spoken by the descendants of German immigrants. I learned some German at school, so I could roughly follow the German translation of The Gondolier and similarly I can follow this Hunsrik version.



This is the 47th language for The Gondolier.

De Gondolier

Fun Gareth D Jones

De schwarz Kiel fun meiner Gondola hod glatt dorrich das still Wasser fum Kanal geschnitt. Das schlank Vëhikel hod meer schun fiel Johre gediend, hod Passascheere dorrich de Statt eere Wasserstrose genomm unnich de feerende Henn fun Gënërazione fun meine Foreltre.



Die Sunn is unnergang iwich de alte Statt un hod, zwischich ëlëgante Sandsteenbaue, das Wasser in en Tinteforrviches Band ferennerd. Ich hon dief fun de kihle Ovendbris ingezoh.



Waar do en scheener Platz wie diese wunnerscheen Kanalestadt? Wie das Boot sich rinbewehd hod fer aangebunn se werre, hon-ich stillgehall fer mit Freid in de ferdunklend Himmel fun Mars se gucke.









Translated by Piter Kehoma Boll

The Gondolier in Voro

Voro is a language closely related to Estonian spoken by about 70,000 people in Estonia. It's also the 46th language that The Gondolier has been translated into.

Gondlisõudja

Mu gondli must nõna lõigaś laapsahe kanalidõ vagast vett. Klantsja loodsik olĺ minno häste tiinnü palĺo aastit, vidänü reisjit liina viiteid pite mu mitmõ põlvõ vanavanõmbidõ kamandava käe all.

Päiv olĺ muistidsõ liina kottal alla minemän ja viist sai tindikarva lint piinü mooduga liivakivihuunidõ vaihõl. Ma hingssi sügävält sisse jahhet õdagust tuulõhõngu.

Kas om üttegi ilosampa paika ku seo imeline kanalidõ liin? Ku loodsik hilĺokõisi umma valgmahe juusḱ, jäi ma rahul ollõn kaema üles, Marsi tummõs tõmbavahe taivahe.


Translated by Urmas Kalla

Quivira Reprint

The Society of Misfit Stories - Volume III is now out, including a reprint of Quivira, the sci-fi / fantasy hybrid novelette I co-wrote with Jonathan C. Gillespie.

Book Review: The Supernova Era by Cixin Liu

Cixin Liu returns with another enthralling novel in The Supernova Era. Well, he only returns in English as the original Chinese version was published before his well-known Three Body trilogy made his big break into the English market.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier Hits 45

Also this week, I've received another two translations of The Gondolier - in Polish and Kishubian. This takes the total number of translations to 45. I have a couple of possible options for these two to be published, else I'll post them here eventually.

Observers

My flash fiction story Observers is now on-line at Emerging Worlds. This story was inspired by a dream, though I don't remember exactly what happened in the dream - just the concept I think.

The Gondolier in Elfdalian

Elfdalian is a language related to Swedish, spoken in the Alvdalen region of Sweden by around 2500 people. You can find out more on Ulum Dalska, the website for the Elfdalian society. Here, then is The Gondolier in its 43rd language.

Gondoljärn

Swartstammin i gondoläm mainum plyögd so fint gainum watulyngnų I kanaläm. Andar oðeräv båtn add gaungnað mig uvändes i mikklum årum og add buorið fuotjeð so förfäðer attoter wärdn add luosað yvyr watuwea i staðim. 


Suolä jällt ą̊ go nið yvyr andar gambelstaðn og ändred wattneð að ien blåswart bandä millą̊ diemdar oðeräv sandstiausum, Frą̊ djuopt niði andeðs ig in andar swal kwellsilningdjin. 


War eð nogumstaðs noger ävera plass elld issn oðergrannera kanalstaðn? Mes båtn so smått swainggd åv in i båtstaðn sänn stanneð ig til og käðeð mig að åmdar mörknend marsimblem.



Slut

Translated by Inga-Britt Petersson

The Gondolier Reprint: Catalan

The Catalan translation of The Gondolier, along with an audio version, appeared on the website MLN Langauages, which has since disappeared. I'm afraid the audio version is lost, but here's the text version.

El Gondoler

 

La negra proa de la meva góndola es desplaçava suaument a través de les tranquiles aigües dels canals. L'elegant embarcació m'havia fet bon servei durant molts anys, i havia transportat passatgers a través de les vies aquàtiques de la ciutat a mans de vàries generacions d'avantpassats.

El sol es ponia sobre l'antiga ciutat, transformant l'aigua en una cinta de tinta col·locada entre edificis elegants de pedra sorrenca. Vaig inhalar profundament la brisa fresca de la vesprada.

Hi havia algun lloc més bonic que aquesta marevallosa ciutat de canals? Mentres la barca entrava al moll, em vaig parar a contemplar amb satisfacció com s'enfosquia el cel de Mart.

Translated by Gemma Sellarés i Pujol

Gondolier Update

After a somewhat quiet period over the past couple of years for new translations of The Gondolier, I've been working on getting some new translations and I now have half a dozen new langauges in the pipeline, mostly minority and regional languages. Hopefully you'll start seeing these soon.


I've also realised that some of the websites that published various of the translations no longer exist, so I shall start posting those translations here too.

Book Review: Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

I’ve read Ian McDonald’s short story The Fifth Dragon a couple of times, a story set in the early days of moon colonisation that sets the scene for the five big family corporations who dominate the lunar economy. It was intriguing enough that I wanted to read the trilogy of ‘Luna’ novels that follow on from it, starting with Luna: New Moon.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Squirrels, Foxes and Other Slovenian Specimens

In rapid succession, my story Squirrels, Foxes and Other Fine Specimens has been accepted a third time, by Slovenian magazine Supernova. It has been scheduled for the spring 2020 issue.

This will be my second story in Slovenian, following on from The Gondolier in 2015.

The Ballad of Robinson Clyde

By complete coincidence, as neither of us knew we'd submitted a story to the same market, my eldest son Alex has also had a story accepted by Emerging Worlds. His lyrical tale The Ballad of Robinson Clyde will be appearing there too in the near future.

Putting the Science in Fiction - Korean Edition

The Korean translation of Putting the Science in Fiction, which includes my chapter on waste management in science fiction, is due to be published by GuFic publishing in early November. I haven't seen a cover image, but here's part of the table of content. I don't think my name is in this section!

Observers

I'm rather pleased that my short story Observers has been accepted by UK-based webzine Emerging Worlds. This is my second story that was inspired by a dream, the other being Remember Yugoslavia? that was published in Nature a few years back. This one is less disjointedly dreamlike.

Book Review: The New Voices of Science Fiction edited by Hannu Rajaniemi & Jacob Weisman

The editors, Hannu Rajaniemi and Jacob Weisman, of this new anthology, The New Voices Of Science Fiction have set out to present the new, up-and-coming authors who they expect to see more of in the coming years. Some of them are names I’m already familiar with and others are completely new to me.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Squirrels, Foxes and Other Hungarian Specimens

The Hungarian translation of my story Squirrels, Foxes and Other Fine Specimens is out now in Galaktika #355.

Originally published in the Escape Pod podcast, it is also due to be published in Romanian.

Book Review: World Science Fiction #1 edited by Francesco Verso

At a panel on translated fiction at the Dublin WorldCon, Francesco Verso was very passionate about creating opportunities for more Science Fiction from around the world to be translated into English and between numerous other languages. I met him briefly afterwards in the dealer hall. He is the founder of Future Fiction, an Italian organisation devoted to translating Science Fiction into Italian and numerous languages into English. World Science Fiction #1 is the first anthology of international Science Fiction published in English by Future Fiction.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Squirrels, Foxes and Other Romanian Specimens

I'm very pleased to anounce that my short story Squirrels, Foxes and other Fine Specimens has been accepted by Romanian magazine Helion SF. This will be my second story in Romanian, following my ubiquitous flash fiction tale The Gondolier several years back.


Squirrels etc. was first published on the podcast Escape Pod and this will be its first translation.

Book Review: Spaceside by Michael Mammay

Michael Mammay’s debut novel Planetside was highly addictive and very impressive. It introduced us to Colonel Carl Butler, who was sent to investigate the disappearance of a counsellor’s son on far Cappa Three. The fallout of that mission forms the background to Spaceside, in which Butler is back home on Talca 4, in a corporate security job, having been quietly retired from the military.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Escapades in Galician

My short story Escapades in Time, which was recently podcast at Tall Tale TV, has been accepted for publication by Galician webzine Nova Fantasia. This is my third story in Galician, following Travel by Numbers and The Gondolier several years back.

You can see it here.

The Gondolier in Danish

While updating my Gondolier-related information after WorldCon, I realised that the Danish translation was never posted here due to an unfortunate oversight. So here it is:

Gondolieren

 Den sorte stævn af min gondol skære jævnt gennem den rolige vande af den kanaler. Den slanke håndværk havde tjent mig godt i mange år, udført passagerer gennem den byens vandveje under den vejledende hænder af generationer af min forgængere.

      Den solen var indstillingen over den antikke stad, drejning den vand til blæk bånd ligget mellem elegante sandsten bygninger. Jeg åndede dybt af den køligt aften brise.

      Var der enhver sted smukkere end dette vidunderligt sted af kanaler? Som den båd lettet indvendig dens fortøjning jeg stoppede til blik med tilfredshed op til den mørkfarvning luften af Mars.

Translated by Olåf Spilka

Book Review: Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear

A sentient salvage ship named Singer and its crew encounter ancient alien technology and evidence of a terrible crime in Ancestral Night, the first volume of Elizabeth Bear’s new space opera series White Space.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier in Klingon

As premiered at WorldCon last week, here's the Klingon translation of The Gondolier, translated by Alan Anderson of the Klingon Language Institute.

bIQtIq pargh bIQ beb jot SIj ra'wI' DujwIj 'et qIj.

qaStaHvIS DIS law' mutoy'chu' Dujvam vaQ.

qaStaHvIS puq poH law' veng bIQtIq tawDaq raQpo'pu' lupmeH luDevta' no'wI' ghopDu' po'.

veng tIQ DungDaq ghIrlI' jul 'ej wovHa'choH chal.

nagh qachmey 'IH jojDaq qoSta' Hurghqu' moj bIQ.

tlhom SuS bIr vItlhuHchu'.

nuqDaq 'IH law' bIQtIq taw vengvam Dun 'IH puS?

QIt verghpu'pa' Duj jIyev 'ej HurghchoHlI'bogh chal vIbej.

muyonmoHbej qo'wIj, Mars.

Review of Planetside Quoted in Spaceside

My copy of Michael Mammay's Spaceside arrived today and, rather excitingly, inside is a quote from my review of his previous book Planetside. Spaceside joins a small shelf of 4 books that contain quotes from me!

A Day at Dublin WorldCon

I’ve driven past the Dublin Convention Centre numerous times while I’ve been in Dublin on business, but this was my first time venturing into the huge glass edifice that features endless zigzagging escalators that seemingly reach for the stars. There were 6000 people expected at WorldCon, which meant it was almost impossible to find anyone you were hoping to bump into at random. The programme was also vast, but I’d downloaded the app to help me keep track of which items I wanted to see and when they were on.


Read the rest of my account at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier Display

Here's me, next to a photo of me, next to the display of my story The Gondolier in 42 languages, at WorldCon in Dublin.

Book Review: The Redemption of Time by Baoshu

The Three Body trilogy was an epic tale of alien invasion, stunning large-concept feats of engineering, long-scale social development and tragic tales of the individuals caught up in events beyond their control. It was a cult phenomenon in China when first published and, like many popular books, spawned its own fan fiction.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier Goes to Dublin

Many translations of my very short story The Gondolier have appeared here at The Science of Fiction, and 16 different translations have appeared elsewhere. In two weeks time The Gondolier will take to a new stage at WorldCon in Dublin.

All 42 translations of The Gondolier, including a new language I'm very excited about that will be making its debut, will be appearing in the display area.

I shall be there on the Friday to admire my own work!

Book Review: Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky

In the very far future, the remnants of mankind live in the city of Shadrapur. It’s a ruin of a city, eking out the leftovers of technology and knowledge as the sun begins to fail overhead. It’s a city whose inhabitants have entered a Vancian age of manners, stratification of society, strange customs and stranger organisations. It’s the settings for a book that soon captivated me and ultimately sealed its place as one of my all-time favourites.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Righteous Indignation of the Naked Mole Rat - PodCast!

Book Review: All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

‘Groundhog Day with aliens,’ is how one might describe the Tom Cruise film Edge Of Tomorrow. Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel translated by Alexander O. Smith as All You Need IS Kill, it was an intelligent and entertaining slice of military SF. As you might expect, the film didn’t follow the book exactly, but it did a fair job of reflecting the main ingredients of the plot.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Waste Tide by Chen Quifan

Award-winning Chinese Science Fiction author Chen Quifan is the latest to have his work opened up to the anglophone world via Ken Liu’s translation of his novel Waste Tide. 

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Alliance Rising by C.J. Cherryh & Jane S. Fancher

I‘ve read all of C.J.Cherryh ‘s ‘Alliance-Union’ books in recent years, including the ones that were only vaguely related in that they were also somewhere in space but bore no relation whatsoever to the main sequence of books.

Read the rest  of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s 2015 novel Children of Time, we followed some of the descendants of humanity as they travelled among the stars on voyages of hundreds or thousands of years, looking for earlier colonies of humans that had been sent out from a now dead Earth. This sequel, Children of Ruin, follows a similar format, alternating the account of one of the early exploratory and colonisation missions, with a follow-up mission that arrives in the same system thousands of years later.

read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Return of the Naked Mole Rats

I'm very pleased to anounce that my short story The Righteous Indignation of the Naked Mole Rats will be appearing on the Tall Tales TV podcast in July. Chris Herron did an excellent job of narrating my flash fiction story Escapades in Time recently, and this story seemed like it would fitr his style well. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

Book Review: Beneath the World, a Sea by Chris Beckett

When I read the cover blurb for Chis Beckett’s new novel Beneath The World, A Sea, it seemed vaguely familiar. A British policeman is sent to investigate the killings of the indigenous species of the Submundo Delta, the Muendes, whom the local human populace do not consider to be sentient. The Muendes mess with their minds and to make things stranger and the only way into the Delta is through the Zona, a region that wipes any memories of having been there.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Morhelion by Dominic Dulley

Morhelion follows on from Dominic Dulley’s debut novel, the breezy space opera adventure Shattermoon, bringing back the roguish and mismatched crew of the Dainty Jane to mix it up with a new batch of criminal gangs, opportunists, charming conmen and villainous authority figures.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Estonian Mole Rats

The Estonian translation of my story The Righteous Indignation of the Naked Mole Rat is now out at Reaktor.

I sent the story to them around 3 years ago and had given up all hope, so this was a nice surprise!




This is the third language for this story, following English and Spanish.

Book Review: Atlas Alone by Emma Newman

Atlas Alone is the fourth novel set in Emma Newman’s Planetfall universe, all of which I have enjoyed and found to be engaging and emotionally charged, with wonderfully complex characters and an intriguing background. Each of the first three novels stands alone and could be read in any order, but this book follows on directly from After Atlas and really needs to be read in the right order.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Tall Tale TV

Today's episdoe of podcast Tall Tale TV includes 3 stories, by myself and my two eldest boys Alex and Haydn!

Brothers in Qualms by Alex

The Final Battle is But a Game by Haydn

Escapades in Time by me.

Escapades in Time is a dialogue-only story, and the narration by Chris Herron carries it off brilliantly, making it sound even better than when I wrote it!

Magazine Review: Visions #1: Visions of Home

It’s been a long time since a new UK-based print genre magazine has appeared, so I was delighted to discover Visions, which has arrived to fill that void. When I started writing reviews years ago, I particularly concentrated on this type of publication, switching gradually to novel reviews as the magazines disappeared one by one.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Familiy Podcasting Triptych

Tall Tale TV will be podcasting an episode containing three stories, one each by myself, and my two sons Alex and Haydn!

Alex pitched the idea when the editor said his story was too short to podcast by itself. I've not had many stories podcast, so I'm rather pleased and it will be particularly exciting to hava e whole family podcast to ourselves!

Book Review: From Divergent Suns by Sam Peters

After the tumultuous events of From Darkest Skies and From Distant Stars, Agent Keon Rause of the Magenta police force is back in full swing, investigating a mysterious high-profile suicide. Working through the aftermath of discovering that his long-dead wife Alysha is actually alive, Agent Rause is attempting to get to the bottom of the on-going conspiracy that has kept them apart for six years.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Invisible Ecologies by Rachel Armstrong

Rachel Armstrong’s second novel Invisible Ecologies is subtitled Songs of the Ecocene II although, from what I could tell, it is unrelated to last year’s Origamy, which is now volume I of the series. The interesting thing about this series title, I thought, is that actually when you step back and think about what you’ve read, ‘Invisible Ecologies’ takes on the aspect of a song rather than a novel. It’s not written as a song of course, but you end up with the impression of it having been some kind of epic folk ballad.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: No Way by S.J. Morden

Last year’s Martian thriller One Way introduced us to Frank Kittridge, a convicted murderer who was offered a one-way ticket to Mars as part of an all-convict crew who would build a base for NASA’s astronauts to use in the future. It didn’t seem such a bad deal, it would just mean Frank serving out his life sentence on the glorious expanse of Mars rather than a maximum security prison in the USA.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Shattermoon by Dominic Dulley

Dominic Dulley’s debut novel Shattermoon is a non-stop, action-packed space opera that’s full of entertainment and all of the classic ingredients of adventure you might want. On the surface it’s a regular mix of bandits, smugglers and imperial navy ships with a sassy heroine, but it quickly takes on a character and charm of its own.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Broken Stars edited by Ken Liu

Like much of the Science Fiction community, I’ve become very excited about Chinese Science Fiction of late. I read Ken Liu’s first collection of translated works, Invisible Planets, and the four Liu Cixin novels that have been translated so far, as well as meeting Liu Cixin for an interview. This new collection Broken Stars, which is both edited and translated by Ken Liu, is a hefty volume of almost 500 pages, including a fabulous selection of stories and some essays on Chinese Science Fiction. 

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

The first Binti novella was truly wonderful and made a real impression when I first read it. The story constantly challenges the preconceptions of the reader even as it challenges the preconceptions of the characters within it. Binti comes from the Himba tribe in Namibia, a people who rarely leave their homeland and are looked down on by the majority Khoush.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Putting the Science in Fiction Audiobook

Thrilled to announce that the audiobook of Putting the Science in Fiction -- narrated by the talented tag-team of Kevin T. Collins and Emily Beresford -- is now available wherever audiobooks are sold. It's more than 11 hours of advice from real-world experts on how to craft more realistic and compelling stories. Plus the hilarious foreword written by Chuck Wendig, of course.

There's a free sample of the audio on the book's Amazon page.

Book Review: 2001: An Odyssey in Words edited by Ian Whates & Tom Hunter

To celebrate the centenary of Arthur C. Clarke’s birth, NewCon Press has produced a volume of stories that all contain exactly 2001 words. It’s a fantastic concept, giving rise to a great selection of brief yet entertaining stories but, even with a page count of around 200 pages, that still amounts to rather a lot of stories for me to cover in a single review. Some of the contributions have a definite Arthur C. Clarke feel to them, others reference various of his well-known works, notably ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, and others are just great Science Fiction. There’s a chance that with so much to comment on, I could end up writing this review in 2001 words, too.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Rejoice, A Knife to the Heart by Steven Erikson

The arrival of an alien intelligence to intervene in Earth’s affairs signals an end to violence, illness and environmental degradation. You would think this would be good news, but a lot of the rich and powerful, as well as the violent and sadistic, are not very happy at all. As force fields spread across the Earth to protect wildlife habitats and weapons become obsolete, the book cycles between numerous characters to see how their lives are affected.





Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

The Gondolier in Yoruba

It's been quite a while since I had a new translation of The Gondolier, so to start 2019 here is the Gondolier in Yoruba, its 41st language.

Awako oju Omi 

Enu oko oju omi mi la inu ibu omi to dake roro ja. Oko yii ti wulo fun mi fun opo odun, o gbe awon ero yi ilu ka ni abe itoni awon baba nla mi.

Orun n wo ni awon ilu atijo, eyi ti o n yi ibu omi naa si dudu, o wa laarin awon ile alapata ti o dara. Mo min ategun irole sinu.

Nje ibomiran wa wa ti o dara ju ilu iyanu ti onibuomi yi lo bi? Bi oko naa ye wo inu ile ipamo re lo, mo duro lați gbe oju mi soke pelu itelorun lati wo oju orun ti o ti n su.


Ipari