BEN H WINTERS Golden State. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

BEN H WINTERS Golden State. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

In this new part-noir, part-dystopian novel, Ben H Winters imagines a world where the state records everything and lying is a crime.  Ben H Winters has made a habit of writing what might be called crime fiction/dystopian mash-ups. His trilogy The Last Policeman...
ANGELA CHADWICK XX. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

ANGELA CHADWICK XX. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

This debut novel from Angela Chadwick is both speculative but also intensely topical, exploring gender, politics, science and the media through what becomes an intensely personal journey. XX starts with a day-after-tomorrow (or possibly even day-after-today) premise:...
LING MA Severance. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

LING MA Severance. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

In Severance the tropes of the post-apocalyptic genre are a jumping off point for an exploration of humanity that challenges and engages readers and exposes modern society. When Severance opens the apocalypse is underway and people are madly googling survival...
JAY KRISTOFF Lifel1k3. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley

JAY KRISTOFF Lifel1k3. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley

Lifel1k3 is the first of a new series from internationally best-selling and prize-winning Australian author Jay Kristoff. Your body is not your own. Your mind is not your own. Your life is not your own. Humorous and profound in equal measure, Lifel1k3 is a...
JULIAN GOUGH Connect. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

JULIAN GOUGH Connect. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

Connect is a big-ideas technothriller, with roots in cyberpunk and crazy artificial-intelligence science fiction. In 2010, Irish author Julian Gough created a stir when he called out the Irish writing establishment for not writing about anything contemporary. In 2018...
SA JONES The Fortress. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson

SA JONES The Fortress. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson

The Fortress provides strong examinations of patriarchal values, toxic masculinity and the places to which these values can lead. This chilling, challenging, sexually explicit work of speculative fiction explores and eviscerates aspects of patriarchal thinking. It is...