In 2014 humanity didn’t stand a chance. A series of fatal climatic disasters struck, entirely drowning the planet. Now, just one hundred and twenty-five souls remain, surviving on a flotilla of damaged ships. But their survival isn’t guaranteed. Facing severe threats to their numbers by a fatal bacterium and increasingly warring factions, they discover a serial killer within their midst. When the murderer targets Eva Morgan’s friend, her investigations draw her into a deadly mystery and a race against time before the killer’s actions destroy the fragile existence on the flotilla. The further she digs, the more secrets she uncovers, and the truth becomes a pawn in a game for ultimate survival.   Regular readers of The Eloquent Page will know that I can’t ever let an opportunity to revel in good apocalyptic fiction pass me by. I just love this devilish little sub-genre. I wish I could tell you exactly why, but in all honesty I’m not sure I can. All I know is that apocalyptic fiction really resonates with me, just can’t get enough of it. The latest work I’ve cast my beady eye over is SALT by Anachron Press supremo, Colin F Barnes. So let’s sit back,…

Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He’s living a comfortable, quiet life, obeying the law and minding his own business while raising his son Carter … on those occasions when he isn’t having to bail him out of one scrape or another. His days of adventure are – thankfully – long behind him. Carter Carnehan is going out of his mind with boredom. He’s bored by his humdrum life, frustrated that his father won’t live a little, and longs for the bright lights and excitement of anywhere-but-here. He’s longing for an opportunity to escape, and test himself against whatever the world has to offer. Carter is going to get his opportunity. He’s caught up in a village fight, kidnapped by slavers and, before he knows it, is swept to another land. A lowly slave, surrounded by technology he doesn’t understand, his wish has come true: it’s him vs. the world. He can try to escape, he can try to lead his fellow slaves, or he can accept the inevitable and try to make the most of the short, brutal existence remaining to him…. unless Jacob gets to him first and, no matter the odds, he intends to. No one kidnaps his…

Fifty years ago, the world was almost destroyed by a chemical war. Now the world is divided: the mutants and the pure, the broken and the privileged, the damaged and the perfect. Thirteen years ago, a covert government experimental facility was shut down and its residents killed. The secrets it held died with them. But five extraordinary kids survived. Today four teenagers are about to discover that their mutant blood brings with it special powers. Rush and three brothers and sisters he can’t remember. Two rival factions are chasing them. One by one, they face the enemy. Together, they might just stay alive . . . At first glance, the inhabitants of City Four all appear perfect. Science has helped to make them that way. All disease, sickness and the genetic differences that exist in humans have been removed. Parents can choose exactly what their children will look like, everything down to the colour of their eyes and their hair. Nothing is left to chance. The only fly in the ointment of this, otherwise perfect, existence is the groups of individuals who live outside the city walls. The other survivors of the last war, the mutants (mutes) exist in the slums…

Earth has been invaded and the insect-like Crays have established secret hives across the world. The only thing standing between Earth and domination by these creatures are the Grunts, men whose business is soldiering. But this time they must learn how to defeat a very different kind of enemy from any human foe. Last year I read Seal Team 666: Age of Blood by Weston Ochse and enjoyed the non-stop action and supernatural adventure. When I heard that the same author was going to take on the end of the world, and would be adding a liberal dose of aliens to boot, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. The premise is pretty straight forward. An imminent alien invasion has been discovered and a clandestine organisation, known as Task Force OMBRA, are planning our planet’s response. The only problem? Who should be part of this group? What are the best qualities for a soldier facing off against an entirely new kind of threat? Made up from men and women from all over the globe each team member has been individually selected due to the nature of their pre-invasion experiences. They are a fascinating group. Primarily, we follow a new recruit called Mason but I don’t…

Back in the day, Captain Abraham Idaho Cleveland had led the Fleet into battle against an implacable machine intelligence capable of devouring entire worlds. But after saving a planet, and getting a bum robot knee in the process, he finds himself relegated to one of the most remote backwaters in Fleetspace to oversee the decommissioning of a semi-deserted space station well past its use-by date. But all is not well aboard the U-Star Coast City. The station’s reclusive Commandant is nowhere to be seen, leaving Cleveland to deal with a hostile crew on his own. Persistent malfunctions plague the station’s systems while interference from a toxic purple star makes even ordinary communications problematic. Alien shadows and whispers seem to haunt the lonely corridors and airlocks, fraying the nerves of everyone aboard. Isolated and friendless, Cleveland reaches out to the universe via an old-fashioned space radio, only to tune in to a strange, enigmatic signal: a woman’s voice that seems to echo across a thousand light-years of space. But is the transmission just a random bit of static from the past—or a warning of an undying menace beyond mortal comprehension? After an explosively rip-snorting prologue, to confirm our protagonist’s suitably heroic credentials, there…

Kim Curran’s last book, Control, ended on an epic cliffhanger. I’ve been waiting patiently for Delete to arrive* Sadly it’s not quite with us yet, we have to wait until August to find out how Scott Tyler fares. In the meantime, we’ll just have to content ourselves with the striking cover art. Great stuff, it fits perfectly with it’s predecessors. I can’t fault the fella that came up with cover quote either!   * I’m lying obviously I want to read immediately, if not sooner.

France’s first nuclear submarine, Plongeur, is on her first sea trail. On board, one of the Navy’s most experienced captains and a tiny skeleton crew of sailors, engineers and scientists. The Plongeur makes her first dive and goes down, and down and down… Out of control, the submarine plummets to depth where the pressure will crush her hull, killing everyone on board. And beyond. The pressure builds, the hull protests, the crew prepare for death. The boat reaches down and finds…nothing. Her final dive continues, the pressure begins to relent, but the depth gauge is useless. They have gone miles down. Hundreds of miles, thousands… And so it goes on. And on board the crew succumb to mania and murder. Has the Plongeur left the limits of our world and gone elsewhere?  This book can I think best be described as odd. Things start off in a reasonably conventional manner; a French submarine crew take a new automatic submersible on its maiden voyage. However, the further away they get from dry land the more surreal events become. As they travel deeper and deeper, way beyond all possible depths, they start to encounter stranger and stranger phenomena.  Led by the formidable…

Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars, generations of people who spend their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that, one day, people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left. Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. That Mars has been habitable – and inhabited – for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down at Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought. Until the day Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield – and Darrow isn’t the only student with an agenda. Pierce Brown has created a stark vision of the future in Red Rising,…

Time for a guest review. Here’s @MrSamStrong taking a look at Breach Zone by Mike Cole. Take it away Sam.  (Please note: Breach Zone is the third book in a trilogy. As such, this review most definitely includes spoilers for Control Point and Fortress Frontier. You have been warned.) The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began “coming up Latent,” developing terrifying powers—summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Those who Manifest must choose: become a sheepdog who protects the flock or a wolf who devours it…In the wake of a bloody battle at Forward Operating Base Frontier and a scandalous presidential impeachment, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Thorsson, call sign “Harlequin,” becomes a national hero and a pariah to the military that is the only family he’s ever known.In the fight for Latent equality, Oscar Britton is positioned to lead a rebellion in exile, but a powerful rival beats him to the punch: Scylla, a walking weapon who will stop at nothing to end the human-sanctioned apartheid against her kind. When Scylla’s inhuman forces invade New York City, the Supernatural Operations Corps are the only soldiers equipped to prevent a massacre. In…

Please note Pandemic is a direct sequel to Infected and Contagious. Read them first to avoid potential infection/spoilers in the following review.  To some, Doctor Margaret Montoya is a hero—a brilliant scientist who saved the human race from an alien intelligence determined to exterminate all of humanity. To others, she’s a monster—a mass murderer single-handedly responsible for the worst atrocity ever to take place on American soil.  All Margaret knows is that she’s broken. The blood of a million deaths is on her hands. Guilt and nightmares have turned her into a shut-in, too mired in self-hatred even to salvage her marriage, let alone be the warrior she once was. But she is about to be called into action again. Because before the murderous intelligence was destroyed, it launched one last payload — a soda can–sized container filled with deadly microorganisms that make humans feed upon their own kind.  That harmless-looking container has languished a thousand feet below the surface of Lake Michigan, undisturbed and impotent . . . until now. A new Scott Sigler novel being published is always a cause for much rejoicing here at The Eloquent Page. Ever since I first stumbled across Infected, I’ve been a fan. I’ll freely…

Junk’s sister has been stolen. Snatched from her bed in the dead of night, Ambeline doesn’t stand a chance. No one believes Junk saw a monster take his sister. No one believes he’s not to blame. So begins Junk’s quest to find Ambeline’s kidnapper. His journey will take him to a future world where animal species have evolved, and where the cult of the League of Sharks – the cult that stole Junk’s sister – is etched into folklore… Colin Itzhak Eugene Doyle, Junk to his friends, is just a normal boy but when his younger sister is kidnapped by a mysterious creature his life changes overnight. No one can accept his rather outlandish explanation of events, so Junk is forced to take matters into his own hands. He sets out on a journey to locate the criminal and discover his sister’s fate.  I warmed to Junk immediately. Initially he comes across as entirely average but it quickly becomes obvious how utterly driven he is in reaching his goal. Nothing will stand between him and the truth he is so desperate to uncover. He is willing to travel any distance for as long as it takes, no matter how far,…

Hive Monkey is a sequel to the rather wonderful Ack-Ack Macque. In order to avoid spoilers I demand you go and read that first. It’s ok I’ll wait….Your done already? Good show. Onwards!  With a barrel-full of trouble and a chamber-full of attitude, charismatic but dangerous former Spitfire pilot Ack-Ack has gone into hiding working as a pilot on a world-circling nuclear-powered Zeppelin. But when the cabin of one of his passengers is invaded by the passenger’s own dying doppelganger, our hirsute hero finds himself thrust into another race to save the world this time from an aggressive hive mind, time-hopping saboteurs, and an army of homicidal Neanderthal assassins! I’ve made no secret about that fact that I adored the first novel featuring Ack-Ack Macaque. Hell, I chose the primate pilot as my outstanding character of 2013. I’ve been waiting, almost patiently, for months now and finally book two has arrived. Straight off the bat, Gareth Powell has upped the ante in this second adventure. A new religion/cult, the sinister Gestalt, has appeared and are growing in power. They are more than a little keen to induct a certain monkey into their ever-growing ranks. Add to that a mysterious murder,…

Gosh, has it really already been twelve months since we all survived the Mayan apocalypse? It’s amazing how quickly we all forgot about that isn’t it? All those giant beasties, strange lights in the sky and everything. Crazy times, eh? Never mind, I’m sure there will another rapture-like event arriving imminently. While we’re waiting, why not pull up a chair and we can talk a bit about some of the top genre books that have arrived in the last year. I’ve decided, as I’ve done in the past, to hold an impromptu little awards ceremony. As ever the categories and winners are decided on by a crack team of intelligent, well-educated genre experts me. Here they are then, in no specific order, without any further rigmarole/needless waffle. Welcome Return of the Year Award – The Republic of Thieves delivered exactly the experience I was hoping for. I found myself getting happier and happier with each passing chapter. Just wonderful to have Locke Lamora, Jean Tannen and the other Gentlemen Bastards back. Great to see Scott Lynch’s return and to confirm he is still delivering exquisitely crafted fantasy. Character of the Year – Ack-Ack Macaque – This was a no brainer. C’mon people, he’s a cigar smoking, smart-mouthed simian who flies…