A Half-Decade In Review by Shellie Horst
Since becoming part of the SFFWorld team, I have had the pleasure of reading some outstanding books and meeting some truly inspirational people who I am now lucky enough to call friends. Like every reader, my tastes have developed over the years, too.
So picking out the best of the indie, small press and traditional from the many I’ve enjoyed seems unfair to the authors I now know and respect. Friendships aside, there are always books that spring to mind when someone asks for a recommendation. Authors are too good at creating worlds that refuse to let go of your imagination, and characters so headstrong, they argue back when replaced on the shelf, but there are always those who live on with you.
Fight Like A Girl
Published by Kristell Ink
Edited by Joanne Hall and Roz Clarke, cover by Sarah Anne Langton
This was a fierce anthology, and every voice was passionate about the lack of female representation in UK genre fiction. Fantasy and science fiction stories stood side by side, and each played with tropes and challenged an unseen prejudice. The cover captured the essence of the stories without glorifying, romanticising or belittling them.
Anthologies are difficult. Keeping the premise in focus and giving the authors the ability to write in the way Fight Like A Girl does must have required more than vision. What allowed it to be so powerful was the combined vision of the editors, Joanne and Roz, and the emerging small press, Kristell Ink. Many of the authors involved and the press itself have gone on to grand things, and that doesn’t surprise me one bit.
The Synapse Sequence by Daniel Godfrey
Published by Titan Books
Like a lot of the books out of Titan, The Synapse Sequence held a brilliant pace. Its plot is very close to a future that is becoming very real, merging crime with Science Fiction. What will always mark this as a memorable read for me is the pivotal use of perspective. Other novels will do wonders with pace or the or perspective, but this one manages both. Then there’s the principal character, Anna Glover. She is believable, focused and not there to support another.
It boldly challenges the reader without being clever about it. It is the book I recommend most to my non-genre friends, those who want to start out writing and those who need to read outside their usual areas. There aren’t many books that do all these things.
Under The Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng
Published by Angry Robot. Cover by John Coulthart
Angry Robot has published many excellent books, and if I could, I’d list a lot more. I suspect I’d just be listing everything I’ve read by them. Under The Pendulum Sun captured so much tension and atmosphere. I described it in my review as ‘Narnia with Tim Burton in charge.’ In hindsight, that doesn’t come close.
Why do I love it? The bitterness of gothic fiction entwined with the northern voice. Under The Pendulum Sun is literary fiction, yet obsessively genre focused. It’s Victorian Grimdark. That this book stands out in time doesn’t surprise me. It’s rewarding to see the book and author receive the accolades and awards it deserved.
The Court of Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark
Published by Harper Voyager
The series earned Anna Smith Spark her title, Queen of Grimdark. Not only does she give us a different point of view voice than the norm in Fantasy epic, it’s written almost in a chain of thought style, making it more personal and intense in the vivid world she builds.
It’s as diverse as it is ‘grim’. Arrogant, self-obsessed and goal driven characters leave you wondering if there is anything they won’t do.
Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Published by Head of Zeus
AI who so desperately wants to make good life choices isn’t new, but it’s where Tchaikovsky goes that makes this book a different beast. It’s not, on the surface, an ‘ethical’ book, as a good SF story should be, for me at least. Military operations across the globe provide plenty of action. Yet it’s the ethical questions Dogs of War poses around the AI team that makes it the stand out factor. The humans with their need for profit weaving fantastically around the cognitive development of Rex and his pack makes for an addictively frightening potential future. Book two, Bear Head, is my first much awaited book post of 2021.
Duskfall by Christopher Husberg
Published by Titan Books
Compared to the doorstops more associated with the genre Duskfall is a compact epic fantasy. Husberg takes the usual opening of an injured hero, unable to recall his past, and spins it. His characters all have their reasons, but the author doesn’t drown us in backstory. Likewise, he doesn’t introduce every tree and leaf in the landscape, but because of how the characters interact with the world, you see them anyhow. When it comes to re-reads, The Chaos Queen series has plenty to return to.
The Record Keeper by Agnes Gormillion
Published by Titan Books
A Science Fiction/Fantasy novel, Set in post World War III America, this is an excellent exploration of society, and what it is willing to be blind to. It’s a challenging read, not because of the complexity, but because of how it makes the abhorrent acceptable and thus a ‘Marmite’ book, with many characters challenging stereotypes and expectations. For it to work so well, the characters and their beliefs could be nothing other than lifelike. I’m glad it found its way onto the bookshelves.
Along the Razor’s Edge by Rob J. Hayes
Self-Published
One of my more recent reads and is reluctant to let go. Hayes writes to be read. Using fear, Hayes drives the world of Along the Razor’s Edge and creates a book that you all but inhale. It’s the first in the War Eternal series and the way the author quietly weaves fear into the novel makes for a tense, brutal read, there is little time to analyse the character’s background or motives. Eskara Helsene, weaves angrily through a volatile underground society, and refuses to give up. It sets up promising character and world development for what is to be an epic adventure. I have no reason to believe that Hayes won’t deliver.
Bio
Shellie Horst
Never far from a castle or a cuppa, Shellie Horst first started writing for local newszines after handing over her ice-cream van keys. Her most recent fiction ‘My Little Mecha’ was published in Distaff: A Science Fiction Anthology by Female Authors. Shellie graduated Hull University with a Creative Writing degree in 2015 and contributes to SFFWorld, FutureFire.net, and BSFA Review. You can find out more on her website: www.shelliehorst.com or follow her antics on Twitter: @millymollymo
