A mysterious phone call from an old friend prompts Ray Simon to return to the town of Blackwater, where he had spent part of his childhood. The visit isn’t something he is too keen on, however, since something happened to him back then, something of which he has no memory. But Kevin’s evident distress overrides […]
Review: Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell
February 9, 2015 by 7 Comments
Imagine if you will a World War II fighter pilot…who also happens to be a monkey. The eponymous Ack-Ack Macaque isn’t all he seems, however, as Powell’s seriously entertaining alternate history novel proves. Based on Powell’s Interzone reader’s poll-winning story in 2007 (included in the book), which is more metaphorical and focuses on a failing relationship, […]
Attack of the Hollywood Remake Zombies: 2
December 18, 2014 by 8 Comments
Spider-man, Superman, Batman, The Thing, Invasion of The Body Snatchers, War of the Worlds – I could name many more, but I haven’t the time, or the blog space. You probably glean from the headline that I have something to say about remakes of classic, and not-so-classic films. In particular the annoying superhero origins story sub-category. […]
Book Review: Bathing the Lion by Jonathan Carroll
November 25, 2014 by 2 Comments
Jonathan Carroll’s latest novel, Bathing the Lion, opens with a relationship breakup. The breakup is described so vividly that the pain and tension is tangible and convincingly real. But this, along with the ultra-realistic scenes that follow, do not prepare the reader for what comes next. Picture a domestic-scale apocalypse with your world splitting beneath […]
Last Contact in Bulgaria
October 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last Contact is a short film portraying the despair of a researcher long after his last contact with the outside world. While the film is in the final stages of production, Michael Garrett, the man behind the camera, has turned to Kickstarter for much needed funds to finish and promote the film. We here at AISFP love […]
Book Review: Resistance by Samit Basu
September 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It’s 2020, eleven years after the passengers of flight BA142 from London to Delhi developed extraordinary abilities corresponding to their innermost desires. The result is a world overrun with supers. Some use their powers for good, others for evil, and some just want to pulverize iconic monuments and star in their own reality show. See giant […]
Book Review: The Ultra Thin Man by Patrick Swenson
August 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS WHAT SOME MAY CONSIDER MINOR SPOILERS. Blending elements of noir crime and science fiction isn’t a new thing, but Patrick Swenson in The Ultra Thin Man (Tor), tackles the mashup with enormous talent and verve. The author also throws in elements of the espionage thriller just so readers don’t get bored. Not […]
Book Review: Dead Man’s Hand: An Anthology of The Weird West, ed. John Joseph Adams
August 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I enjoy a good Western now and then. Mainly cinematic ones, though I have read a number of novels over the years. The weird western is a relatively new phenomenon, emerging probably from some of the writings of Joe R. Landsdale and others, though he writes a more contemporary version, not to mention the recent […]
Book Review: KOKO TAKES A HOLIDAY by Kieran Shea
June 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Kieran Shea’s first novel, Koko Takes a Holiday (Titan Books), is an extremely fast-paced chunk of science fiction space operetta with attitude. In common with its pulp fiction antecedents, it’s unapologetically fast, furious, big on action, thin on story, and low key on characterization. But, in truth, none the worse for that – the book […]
Review: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Lightspeed Special
June 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment
When I was around 11 years old, a girl in our English class read aloud her creative writing assignment. It was about a soldier in the first World War, so badly wounded that he couldn’t stop the rats in his trench from chewing his feet off. The teacher, who had up until that moment been […]
