Moxyland is set in South Africa, only a stone’s throw into the future, in a society where the difference between employment and unemployment can also be the difference between life and death; where the greatest punishment is to have your mobile phone disconnected.

Starting slowly, the novel introduces us to its four narrators: Kendra the retro photographer; Toby the vlogcaster; Tendeka the would-be revolutionary; and Lerato the corporate programmer. Telling their intertwined stories over the course of alternating chapters, they show us their world, and we get to watch with horrified fascination as they become slowly embroiled in a deadly conspiracy that none of them fully understands.

With her stripped prose and lack of superfluous description, Lauren Beukes gives us what we need to see the world through the characters’ eyes. They never feel the need to over-explain themselves, and each has a distinctive and recognizable voice. The pages whip by quickly, as the tension grows, and as readers, we’re only half a step ahead of the characters in piecing together the seriousness of what’s going on.

Lean, sharp, and tightly written, Moxyland keeps raising the stakes, from the opening chapter to the uncompromising finale. And with its electronic panopticon, it gives us a dystopia to rival 1984 or Stand On Zanzibar – a future horrifying for its very plausibility.

Moxyland is published by Angry Robot.

On the Innsmouth Free Press website, Paula R Stiles reviews the Future Bristol anthology:

“If you’re familiar with the style of Hub Magazine or Irish ‘zine Albedo One, you’ll have a pretty good idea what to expect. Lots of snark, off-the-wall weirdness you won’t normally see in North American specfic (the publisher is from Texas), and considerable attention to world-building… The stories themselves are lovely (being an editor of a ‘zine, I am one picky bitch, so that’s saying a lot); the editing is nice and clean; I love the cover (okay, I really love the cover); the whole thing is as professionally-done as any big publisher puts out; and it’s great to see so many female writers and protags. When Silvia and I say that we wish we could see X type of specfic more often, we mean this type of stuff.”

While in the latest issue of Vector, the critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association, Ben Jeapes writes:

“Future Bristol is a collection of love stories for the city of Bristol… The whole collection is a good read by a good set of authors.

James Maxey reviews the Future Bristol anthology for Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. Of my contribution, he writes:

“The strongest part of the story is the budding love story between the narrator and a girl he meets in a bookstore. I found the dialogue to be very natural and plausible; often dialogue in short stories is simply there to push the plot forward. Here, the dialogue has nothing to do with the gee-whiz tech that will erupt a few pages later. As a result, it felt very real to me. It seemed like the way people actually flirt, and makes the story feel like an actual window onto life.”

Read the full review online here.

THE LAST REEF
By Gareth L Powell, Elastic Press £5.99
Reviewed by Nicholas Thorburn

Neatly collected for the first time, Gareth L Powell’s short stories quickly invoke a different kind of science fiction, one that is far removed from the likes of Arthur C. Clarke or other “hard sci-fi” contemporaries.

Replacing the cold vacuum of space with dusty vistas, seedy bars, and realities closely resembling our own, Powell instead rallies around his skill at succinctly developing detailed and believable characters.

In this respect the anthology is equally a treatise on both characterization and its exploration of the bizarre. Certainly, The Last Reef is a triumph of identifiable, realistic protagonists. There is of course the typical tech-noir genre fare: weather-beaten archaeologists, cyber-upgraded hackers, homicidal ex-cops et al but each remains accessible and believable.

Structurally centred around several sign-posted stories (concerning the titular Last Reef) involving the odd reoccurring character, Powell’s stories run the gamut from far-flung space adventures (Six Lights off Green Scar) to near-future takes on internet viral-culture (Ack Ack Macaque). The writing is imbued with a faint longing melancholy yet varied in narrative style and arrangement, supporting each new world as it comes whilst keeping things fresh, tangible and fascinating.

Reasonably priced at just over a fiver, I can’t recommend it enough.

This review appears in the latest issue of the British Fantasy Society magazine Prism. Thanks to Andrew Hook for drawing my attention to it.

My short story Memory Dust scores a respectable 4 out of 5 in Blue Tyson’s review of Interzone 220.

Keri Honea reviews the Future Bristol anthology for Suite101:

The story with the most original and intriguing name is one of the biggest highlights of the collection. “What Would Nicolas Cage Have Done?” by Gareth L Powell ends the entire world through a freak accident with nanotech computer builders and random chance saves one man from Bristol to decide who will repopulate the earth with him. The tie in to Nicolas Cage’s movie, It Could Happen to You, was both unexpected and brilliantly played out.

“Incredibly ambitious… the quality of the writing and the ideas presented, and that they are irrevocably connected with Bristol is why these stories work so well. Spectacular.”

Link to Future Bristol on Amazon.

The first review of the Future Bristol anthology has appeared online at The Fix. In it, Lyndon Perry writes:

Through a wonderfully accessible selection of stories and genres—from steampunk to biotech suspense to superhero fiction—this anthology is entertaining, compelling, and thought-provoking. As for the writing itself, the craftsmanship of each story is superb. Editor Colin Harvey did a fine job of compiling a diverse yet complimentary collection of short fiction that celebrates, in his words, “the city that we moan about but also love. A city that, like British SF, believes in itself again.” Well, if the authors of Future Bristol continue to write at this high a level, then the future of British speculative fiction—and Bristol itself—is secure. This volume is a delight for science fiction fans of all stripes.

Continue reading “Future Bristol reviewed in The Fix”

Sam Tomaino reviews Interzone 220 on the SF Revu website:

“Last of all, there is “Memory Dust” by Gareth L. Powell. Caesar is taking a octopus-like creature back to its home planet. He is haunted by a dream of the planet and a black dust falling from the sky. He manages to get the creature back to its home and finds some answers to his questions. This one was pretty interesting.”

Read the full review here

On SF Crowsnest, Gareth D Jones reviews Interzone 220:

“We return to Gareth L. Powell’s galaxy of random jumpers in ‘Memory Dust’, the story of an ageing pilot determined to risk one last trip into space to right a wrong he caused years earlier. The story is imbued with the kind of emotional charge that Powell always manages to build into his characters as they face situations mundane or extraordinary. A possibly sentient octopoid creature and the ruins of an ancient civilisation qualify this as being on the extraordinary side.”

Read the full review here.