James Nicoll Reviews

Cassandra Khaw’s 2021 The All-Consuming World is a stand-alone science fiction heist novel.

At their peak, the Dirty Dozen were a criminal force to be reckoned with. Decades later, however, their surviving members have been scattered, their days of team work long behind them. 

Any sensible career criminal would know that getting the gang back together for one last heist is always a bad idea. But Maya specializes in doling out violence (or in standing up to it). Being sensible is someone else’s job. A sensible criminal wouldn’t take on the heist job … but she agrees to it. 

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1993’s A Season for Slaughter is the fourth and latest volume in David Gerrold’s as yet unfinished War Against the Chtorr series. 

Having survived endless struggle against the alien ecosystem displacing Earth’s native life, Jim McCarthy contends against an unexpected menace: French Canadians¹!

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2021’s The Witness for the Dead is the second novel in Katherine Addison’s Goblin Emperor secondary universe fantasy series. 

Thara Celehar used his ability to speak with the spirits of the dead to serve Maia, the newly appointed emperor. His reward: to be sent far from the emperor’s court to the city of Amalo. Ever dutiful, Thara serves the people of Amalo as best he can. He doesn’t regret leaving the luxury and intrigues of the court.

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2021’s The Black Coast is the first volume of Mike Brooks’ secondary universe epic fantasy The God-King Chronicles.

For generations, the Thanes of Black Keep and their dragon-riding sars have defended their stretch of the Naridan coastline from the Raiders, sea people from distant, unknown islands. 

It’s been a decade without a Raider visit. The folks of Black Keep hope that this means that there will be no more raids. Their hopes are especially fervent because a plague has left the Black Keep undermanned.

The appearance of a fleet vaster than any before confronts the current Thane — Lord Asrel — and his sons with the prospect of heroic, futile deaths at the axes of a vastly superior force. However, this is no raiding fleet. This time, the Raiders are fleeing something terrible. They have come to stay.

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George Warren’s 1979 Dominant Species is a stand-alone planetary romance novel. 

Having had enough of war, mighty-thewed Oak and his addled companion Karth join a fishing fleet. The sea creatures of backward world Nuvelkebek are mighty indeed. Oak survives an encounter with one, thanks in large part to Karth’s intervention. 

Mortally wounded, amnesiac Karth suddenly remembers suppressed memories. He charges Oak with a mighty task: find the Order! The grieving Oak has no choice but to accept. Alas, Karth was rather short on details, leaving Oak to discover horrifying truths on his own.

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Melanie Stormm’s 2020 Last Poet of Wyrld’s End is a stand-alone science fiction novella. 

Poet Zhou Liu Yang might wish for many things: conversation with his beloved daughter (away pursuing her own career in space), a hot meal, a permanent roof over his head, even a single coin. What he actually has is a hole in his pocket.

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Hiroko Oyamada’s 2013 The Factory is a stand-alone mildly surrealistic novel. The 2019 English translation is by David Boyd. 

The Factory! Vast, and enigmatic, it provides employment to the masses. Boss Goto may seem disorganized, but he manages to find appropriate positions for each new hire. 

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Orbit 7 is the seventh volume in Damon Knight’s Orbit science fiction anthology series.

Review includes spoilers for stories that are over half a century old. 

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Richard C. Meredith’s 1976 Run, Come See Jerusalem! is a stand-alone dystopian time-travel novel. 

86,159 BC: Dr. Eugene Stillman’s time machine materializes in mid-air and plummets to the ground. It’s wrecked. An inauspicious beginning to his adventure. 

Matters will get much worse. 

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Nnedi Okorafor’s 2021 Noor is a stand-alone near-future Africanfuturist novel.

Ultimate Corp transformed Africa, lavishing Africans with a bounty of modern luxuries in return for which it asks only … lots and lots of money. Oh yes, and for Africans to abandon any beliefs or customs that might prevent them from accepting Ultimate’s terms and conditions.

In AO Oju’s case, Ultimate transformed AO’s deformed and injured body into a cybernetic marvel. Unexpected consequence: this marked her as a demon to her Nigerian neighbours. Her new capabilities allowed AO to kill five over-confident would-be vigilantes. 

Suspecting, with good reason, that self-defence will be seen as murder, AO flees north towards the Red Eye, a nigh-Jovian-scale¹ permanent windstorm. 

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