James Nicoll Reviews

Captain Marta Ramos, the most notorious pirate in the Duchy of Denver, has her hands full between fascinating murder mysteries, the delectable and devious Deliah Nimowitz, Colonel Geoffrey Douglas (the Duke of Denver’s new head of security), a spot of airship engineering and her usual activities: piracy, banditry and burglary. Not to mention the horror of high society tea parties. In contrast, Simms, her second in command, longs only for a quiet life, filled with tasty sausages and fewer explosions. Or does he? Join Captain Ramos, Simms and their crew as they negotiate the perils of air, land and drawing room in a series of fast-paced adventures in a North America that never was. 

Murder on the Titania and Other Steam-Powered Adventures includes 4 novellas and a short story about piracy, banditry, burglary, jail-breaking, several brilliant bits of detective work and all manner of otherwise lawless hijinks performed by the valiant Captain Ramos and her crew. 

Murder on the Titania: Colonel Geoffrey Douglas, the Duke of Denver’s new head of security, is drawn into a high society murder mystery on the Airship Titania. None of the passengers are quite what they seem, including the mysterious young woman who always turns up where she is least expected. 

The Curious Case of Clementine Nimowitz (and Her Exceedingly Tiny Dog): A simple burglary goes horribly awry when Captain Ramos and Simms stumble across a dead body, a small dog and the deceased’s heirs, the noisome Morris and the rather too interesting Deliah. 

The Jade Tiger: a mysterious woman enlists Captain Ramos’s aid in getting her revenge on her former employer and Captain Ramos finds herself doing an unintentional good deed. 

The Ugly Tin Orrery: Captain Ramos and her crew embark on what appears to be a perfectly ordinary train robbery, only to be drawn into the Duke of Denver’s political machinations via a strange metal artifact. Throw in a spot of jail breaking and an encounter with the lovely Deliah, and it’s all in a day’s work for Captain Ramos and Simms. 

The Flying Turk: The Airship Titania is entering a new era and welcoming its first automaton pilot. Or, perhaps not. Captain Ramos and Simms are back aboard the Titania for a heady mix of murder, robbery, peeved scientists and oblivious peers, with a spot of engineering thrown in. 

In 1812, Elinor Pembroke wakes to find her bedchamber in flames — and extinguishes them with a thought. As an Extraordinary, gifted with powerful magical talent, she is respected and feared, but her father intends to control her and her talent by forcing her to marry where he insists. Trapped between the choices of a loveless marriage or living penniless and dependent on her parents, Elinor takes a third path: she joins the Royal Navy. 

Assigned to serve under Captain Miles Ramsay aboard the frigate Athena, she turns her fiery talent on England’s enemies, vicious pirates preying on English ships in the Caribbean. At first feared by her shipmates, a growing number of victories make her truly part of Athena’s crew and bring her joy in her fire. But as her power grows and changes in unexpected ways, Elinor’s ability to control it is challenged. She may have the power to destroy her enemies utterly — but could it be at the cost of her own life? 

A new Cold War threatens the galaxy, in this fast-paced and wisecracking thriller of spies and subterfuge.

Simon Kovalic, top intelligence operative for the Commonwealth of Independent Systems, is on the frontline of the burgeoning Cold War with the aggressive Illyrican Empire. He barely escapes his latest mission with a broken arm, and vital intel which points to the Empire cozying up to the Bayern Corporation: a planet-sized bank. There’s no time to waste, but with Kovalic out of action, his undercover team is handed over to his ex-wife, Lt Commander Natalie Taylor. When Kovalic’s boss is tipped off that the Imperium are ready and waiting, it’s up to the wounded spy to rescue his team and complete the mission before they’re all caught and executed. 

In a galaxy where chocolate is literally addictive, one celebrity chef is fighting back, in the delicious sequel to *Free Chocolate*

To save everyone she loves, Bo Bonitez is touring Zant, home of the murderous, shark-toothed aliens who so recently tried to eat her. In the midst of her stint as Galactic paparazzi princess, she discovers that Earth has been exporting tainted chocolate to the galaxy, and getting aliens hooked on cocoa. Bo must choose whether to go public, or just smile for the cameras and make it home alive. She’s already struggling with her withdrawal from the Invincible Heart, and her love life has a life of its own, but when insidious mind worms intervene, things start to get complicated! 

Singular visions of the future that will thrill, amuse, startle and intrigue in equal measure.

The hunt for a new planet leads three explorers into a terrifying adventure. On an ordinary morning, the citizens of Karachi wake up to find the sea missing from their shores. The last Parsi left on Earth must find other worlds to escape to when debt collectors come knocking. A family visiting a Partition-themed park gets more entertainment than they bargained for. Gandhi appears in contemporary times under rather unusual circumstances. The arrival of aliens with an agenda on a railway station in Uttar Pradesh has unexpected consequences. A young girl’s personal tragedy finds a surprising resolution as she readies herself for an expedition of a lifetime. 

These and other tales of masterful imagination illuminate this essential volume of new science fiction writing that brings together some of the most creative minds in contemporary literature. A must-have collectible, The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction offers fresh perspectives on our hyper-global, often alienating and always paranoid world, in which humanity and love may yet triumph. 

Featuring the works of: * Adrish Bardhan * Anil Menon * Arjun Rajendran * Arunava Sinha * Asif Farrukhi * C.M. Naim * Chandrashekhar Sastry * Clark Prasad * Giti Chandra * Harishankar Parsai * Kaiser Haq * Keki N. Daruwalla * Manjula Padmanabhan * Maya Joshi * Mimi Mondal * Mohammad Salman * Muhammed Zafar Iqbal * Nur Nasreen Ibrahim * Payal Dhar * Premendra Mitra * Priya Sarukkai Chabria * Rahul Sankrityayan * Rimi B. Chatterjee * Rukmini Bhaya Nair * S.B. Divya * Sami Ahmad Khan * Shovon Chowdhury * Somendra Singh Kharola * Sumita Sharma * Syed Saeed Naqvi * Tarun K. Saint * Vandana Singh 

Can home be a place you’ve never been, a place no one has ever been?

The White Cloud is the most audacious experiment the human species has ever undertaken — to search for a new Earth. The ship and its crew exist for a solitary purpose — to reach a distant planet and establish a colony. However, the vast majority of people undertaking this journey will not live to see its result, nor were they part of the decision-making process to leave. 

A novel-in-stories, following the many generations who make the journey, The Voyage of the White Cloud asks how you can find meaning as a slave to destiny, a mere stepping-stone in history.These are the stories of the most ordinary people on a most extraordinary journey.