For the first half of the this novel I was confused, due to my limited knowledge of Turkish locales, the dialect, people, and the nation's relation with other countries (primarily Greece). Coupled with a plot that I felt was overshadowed by River of Gods, where, in both, unrelated characters come...
A story about the multiverse is bound to be exciting and cool, and this book delivers. The parallel universe Everett ends up in is exciting, and the possibility of the other universes is enticing (thank goodness for sequels!). The book does drag a bit at first before Everett starts traveling, and...
I have loved Ian McDonald's books in the past. However, I'm not a fan of this attempt to break into the suddenly popular and lucrative area of YA speculative fiction. He has dumbed down his storytelling in some misguided attempt to appeal to the YA audience. And he's added Steampunk elements to...
Ethan Ring is a former graphic design student with a dark and powerful secret. As an undergraduate, he and some classmates developed the ultimate in high-concept visual art: computerized images capable of bypassing rational thought and controlling the mind of the perceiver, whether for good or il...
A Mars of the imagination, like no other, in a colourful, witty SF novel; Taking place in the kaleidoscopic future of Ian McDonald's Desolation Road, Ares Express is set on a terraformed Mars where fusion-powered locomotives run along the network of rails that is the planet's circulatory system a...
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)As I've mentioned here several times before, there are many of us science-fiction fans who believe...
As constant (some may say obsessive) readers, we have all come to know our individual tastes rather well. We know what books will hit our literary G spots and which will leave us feeling cold and dirty, like the regretful afterglow of a one night stand. We learn to savor those reads that are a ...
The end of the universe happened at around ten o'clock at night on 22 December 2032. It's just that humanity hasn't realized it yet. And the Chaga, the strange flora deposited from the stars, is still busy terraforming the tropics into someone else's terra. Gaby McAslan was once a hungry news rep...
A playful romp and the onset of rebellion among the citizens of a utopia run by computers. It is about 500 years since the big “Break”, when most of humanity destroyed itself in some war or ecological disaster, and one city, Yu, was preserved and nurtured by the AIs and now comprises about 1.5 ...
Protestants, Catholics, aliens . . . Just another division in BelfastWhen the alien Shian come to Earth, they offer technology in exchange for a home. Belfast, Northern Ireland, is where eighty thousand of them settle. From that point on, the already-divided city takes on yet another partition. T...
Contains:Empire Dreams (Ground Control to Major Tom) • novelette by Ian McDonald (aka Empire Dreams 1985 )Scenes from a Shadowplay • (1985) • shortstory by Ian McDonaldChristian • (1984) • novelette by Ian McDonaldKing of Morning, Queen of Day • (1988) • novelette by Ian McDonaldThe Catharine Whe...
Before the water war, that was not so strange a thing: Delhi, split in two like a brain, has been the city of djinns from time before time. The sufis tell that God made two creations, one of clay and one of fire. That of clay became man; that of fire, the djinni. As creatures of fire they have al...
Her words were clear and terrible. “Eighty percent of humanity is…no, not dead. It's much worse than that. Transformed. ‘More than human,’ the Nahn says—as much as it has ever said anything to us. All those people changed. Lost to us. We were bright and w...
A small gift, wrapped in Japanese print paper, soft as fabric. ‘What is it?’ Lucas loves to bring his mother gifts when he visits. He is assiduous: at least once a week he takes the tram to Boa Vista and meets his mother in the Santa Barbra pavilion. ‘Open it,’ Lucas Corta says. He sees delight d...
Citizens checking their barometers first thing in the morning found the needle sitting stolidly on 1030 millibars and the thermometer heading for the upper eighties. Living memory had never seen the like. “Three weeks and still no relief in sight!” the newspapers bewailed. Lunchtime saw the city’...
Sixteen to midnight serving chowder, bouillabaisse and gumbo, then up at eight in the morning and off to the Party offices on Kayanga Prospect to fill envelopes and canvas down on Pier 66. Party supporter, party member, party worker, then the time had come to decide between party candidate and fi...
In the docks and warehouses of Old Hackney Captain Anastasia had heard every race abused and sexual practice accused and deity offended, but even she looked up at Sen’s outburst. Sen sucked the burn on her forearm. ‘Dorcas, if you covered up a bit more,’ Captain Anastasia suggested. Sen scowled a...