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,…

It is the near future, following a devastating Holy War. Once part of the US colonies, Maalside, the New Republic, now stands alone in the Pacific, separated from the heartland by 200 miles of salty ocean. Lark City is its capital, watched over by a 50 foot, pouting, stiletto-heeled and garter-belted ‘Miss Liberty’, a crude parody of the famous landmark across the water.  In this brutal neon jungle, Code Guy Johnny Lyon writes a Jesus social networking AI, to rebrand religion following the war. But something goes wrong; a virtual hell breaks on the streets of Lark – a violent, surreal and uncontrollable social breakdown.  Caught in this terrifying web of danger are Sarah Lee, Johnny’s co-worker, drug lord Paul McBride who is determined to exploit the chaos to wipe out his enemies, and McBride’s junkie daughter, a prostitute called Kitty.  Now, only Johnny can save Sarah, Kitty and the city. All the characters in Plastic Jesus are lost or broken in one way or another. They’re all looking for something that’s missing from their lives. For Johnny Lyon, the rawness of a recent bereavement still weighs heavy. He’s conflicted, looking for some sort of closure, but in the same breath unable…

Forget everything you know about the big bad wolf. It’s not that simple any more. Here are werewolves, skin walkers, demons and unknown dangers. Nothing can be relied upon, not species not shape, not gender. In this second Fox Pocket collection of short flash fiction we explore what happens when nothing is what it seems. You’ll need more than a red hood this time. The idea of this collection immediately appeals. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of weres and shapeshifters. Hell, I‘ll even go so far as admit I was a devotee of Manimal back in the day (oh yeah, I went there). The promise of an entire book full of shape-shifting tales is just too good to pass up. Fifteen stories from fifteen different authors, each promising insight into the animal within. Here are some of the standouts – Carlos by K.A. Laity – Poor old Carlos. Everyone deserves the chance to indulge in the thing that they love, but the life of a shape-shifting rodent isn’t always a happy one. This rather beautiful little story ends on a pitch perfect bittersweet note. Eigi Einhammr by Rahne Sinclair – Harald has been caught poaching the King’s…

Corvis Correll is a lethal revenant, sworn to serve the Umbra Syndicate in destroying the Moratalis Church. After six long years in cold war, his death looks like a better possibility. When a mission goes horribly wrong, Corvis finds himself stranded in the middle of the Outlands desert, thousands of miles from home and at the complete mercy of cannibalistic tribes. His only companion is a mysterious woman left for dead amid the wreckage.  She might not remember who she is or how she got there, but one thing’s for certain: she remembers how to kill. For the Moratalis Church, religious doctrine is everything. Their faith controls everything they do. They have no medicines, only relying on the power of prayer to heal wounds and diseases. To the members of the Church, technology is a total anathema. Meanwhile the people of the Umbra Syndicate have thrown off the constrictive yoke of the old religion. Fleeing the all-powerful Church the Syndicate have embraced technology and are using it to eke out an existence under their own terms. The growth of these two opposing ideologies has led to an inevitable war, both factions utterly convinced that they are in the right. On…

WEWELSBURG CASTLE, 1940. The German war machine has woken an ancient threat – the alien Vril and their Ubermensch have returned. Ultimate Victory in the war for Europe is now within the Nazis’ grasp. ENGLAND, 1941 Foreign Office trouble shooter Guy Pentecross has stumbled into a conspiracy beyond his imagining – a secret war being waged in the shadows against a terrible enemy. The battle for Europe has just become the war for humanity.   I don’t read a massive amount of alternate history, but I have to admit that something about the premise of this novel immediately appealed to me. Secret Nazi schemes involving advanced alien races and the quest for the Nietzschean superman. A plot like that sounds as though it could certainly hold the promise of something entertaining. Rising against the Nazi/Vril threat are the men and women of Station Z, the British department who exist shrouded in the utmost secrecy. They are tasked with stopping Axis plans by any means necessary, even if that involves working with “the most evil man who ever lived”. There are also a handful of chapters that cover the action from the perspective of the Axis soldiers. These provide a nice…

Something a bit different today from The Eloquent Page. A bit of non-fiction with its own unique sci-fi slant. Neil loves Sue. He also loves Doctor Who. But can he bring his two great loves together? And does he have the right? In January 2011, Neil Perryman set out on an insane quest to make his wife Sue watch every episode of the classic series of Doctor Who from the very beginning. Even the ones that didn’t exist any more. And so, over the next two and half years, Sue gamely watched them all: William Hartnell (the Miserable Git); Patrick Troughton (the Scruffy Drunk); Jon Pertwee (the Pompous Tory); Tom Baker (the Mad One); Peter Davison (the Fit One); Colin Baker (the Court Jester); Sylvester McCoy (the Crafty Sod) and Paul McGann (the One-Night Stand). The result was a wildly successful and hilariously revealing blog called Adventures with the Wife in Space. But the adventure continues. From awkward years at school, terrified of giant insects, Daleks and rugby players, to even more awkward years as an adult, terrified of unexpected parenthood and being called a Whovian, here Neil tells the all too true story of life as a Doctor Who fan. Funny, honest and surprisingly brave, he…