Haloupek, Far-called (2011)

William Haloupek, Far-called. Smashwords, 2011. 75k words. ISBN 978-1-4660-2935-4. $3.99.

Reviewed by RJ Blain

Far-Called by William Haloupek is a hard science fiction novel that pursues so many ‘what-if’ questions that it is as much just pure ‘speculative fiction’ as it is a hard scifi. This blend is what makes this book stand out. If you’re a fan of questioning society and ‘what would happen if’ scenarios, all of which are founded in a great deal of science and research, this is very likely a book that you will enjoy.

Jackson, Secret Life of the Panda (2011)

Nick Jackson, The Secret Life of the Panda. Chomu Press, 2011. Pp. 190. ISBN 978-1907681134. £9.00.

Reviewed by Aishwarya Subramanian

Rather unusually, the cover of Nick Jackson’s collection The Secret Life of the Panda bears no mention of either author or title. Instead, what we get is a grid, blue-grey, with its cells filled with sketches of natural objects; small animals, insects, shells and teeth, feathers and bones. It’s sparse, and unusual, and vaguely scientific.

Bartlett, Royal Flush (2011)

Scott Bartlett, Royal Flush. Mirth Publishing, 2011. Pp. 198. ISBN 978-0981286709. $3.99.

Reviewed by Kate Onyett

A Royal Flush is a hand of cards in poker of an Ace, a King, Queen, Jack and a ten all of a suit. It’s the highest set, the dog’s particulars, the absolute best. And it’s the name of the short novella by Scott Bartlett. Which is four chapters long, each based around a different suit, and which, in the final reading, is not, unfortunately, the absolute best. Poker is a game of bluff, chance, scheming and calculation. Arguably authors play similar games with their readers; they bluff us into suspending disbelief, draw us along with narrative scheming, calculate their target audience reaction, and we take a chance on them by deciding to read their work. By comparison, Royal Flush is in-your-face, abrasive, often irrational and unstable.

Walton, Invocation (2012)

Jo L Walton, Invocation. Critical Documents, 2012. Pp. 90. ASIN B0091H7DP8. £0.99.

Reviewed by Kate Onyett

Invocation: a spoken or sung charm to concentrate focus and energies towards a desired alteration of state or change of direction; to draw something towards oneself. For such a highfalutin title, suggestive of mystique and quite possibly something occult, this little e-book (a slim 90 pages) is something of a narrative joke; if anything, it’s a little anticlimactic. Not to say I do not enjoy it—I did, a lot—but I was somewhat racking my brain to determine what the invocation in question was. I’m still trying to decide if the title was a clever or lazy choice; is this anticlimax of expectation a deliberate joke, or is the author trying to garner more ground for their story than it holds on its own?

Karey, Lilith's Reflection (2012)

Brigitte Wynn Karey, Lilith's Reflection: The Unseen. Trafford Publishing, 2012. Pp. 316. ISBN 978-1466936430. $18.70.

Reviewed by Martha Hubbard

Lilith's Reflection: The Unseen, self-published through the pay-to-publish Trafford Publishing by Brigitte Wynn Karey, author of two previous novels (including Lilith [2008], to which this is sequel), is a re-telling of the contentious story of Lilith, one of the fallen angels. While this is a promising backdrop for a story examining human relationships and the possibility of forgiveness, it falls badly short of its potential because of some deeply implausible plotting, and the terrible state of the writing.

Lockwood, Life In Our Galaxy (2012)

Christopher R Lockwood, Life In Our Galaxy. Lulu, 2012. Pp. 68. $9.01.

Reviewed by Paul Wilks

Life In Our Galaxy, written by Christopher R Lockwood and self-published via Lulu.com, is a contemplative and graphical new text that leaves you pondering its contents some time after you have put it down. While it struck me that it attempts to achieve a great number of things—education, activism and the exploration of ethics on both sides of the arguments around abortion—within its simply drawn pages, it nonetheless left me wondering how well these aims were then met.

Merrill, The Final Act (2012)

F.R. Merrill, The Final Act: From Woodstock to Broadway. From Death to Eternity. Red Fox Publishing, 2012. Pp. 266. ISBN 978-1466214941. $12.95 print/$9.99 Kindle.

Reviewed by Jessica Nelson

Faith Straton has just gotten her big break. She had always loved the Native American stories her grandmother used to tell her. After her dreams of dancing on Broadway fell to the wayside, Faith became a dance instructor. Over time, she decided to merge her passions, so Faith created her own theatrical production, melding the stories her grandmother used to tell with dance. Now, her play is set to show on Broadway, bringing back echoes of former dreams. But when Faith and her daughter, Amanda, move to New York City, Faith gets more trouble than she bargained for.

Ramey (ed.), Triangulation: Morning After (2012)

Stephen V. Ramey (ed.), Triangulation: Morning After. PARSEC Ink, 2012. Pp. 209. ISBN 978-09828606-2-5. $15.00.

Reviewed by Martha Hubbard

This collection of twenty-four original stories is the eighteenth annual release in the Triangulation series from the writers’ group PARSEC which is also the Con-runner for the Pittsburgh, PA Confluence. The anthology series has earned a long-standing and very positive reputation for providing a platform for new writers, a reputation which is well continued in this varied collection of stories.

Goliad Uprising (2012)

Goliad Uprising. dir. Paul Bright, 2012. Starring Shannon Lark, Aaron Weisinger.

Reviewed by Margrét Helgadóttir

The time has come. An underground group try to stop the Goliad Corporation from taking control of the government with their latest technology device that subversively brainwashes Americans. A politically charged sci fi drama about mass media’s powerful influence on our minds and how easily we are manipulated to support those in power.

These are not my words, but the description of the film Goliad Uprising on the film’s Facebook page. It sounds good, eh? You picture an action-filled science fiction film with dark political undercurrents, an intelligent story with surprising twists, a film you wouldn’t hesitate to choose if you are fond of science fiction, especially intelligent science fiction.

Well, I hate to say this, but you are going to be rather disappointed. I don’t like to give a film a bad review and rip it apart, and especially not an indie film, because I know how hard work it is to make a film on a low budget and how much enthusiasm it is on the film set, but this film does not deliver what it promises.

Plurality (2012)

Plurality, dir. Dennis Liu. Traffik Filmworks, 2012. Starring Jeff Nissani, Samantha Strelitz. 14 minutes.

Reviewed by Paul Wilks

Plurality, by director Dennis Liu, is a slick futuristic indie-short with high production values and a gripping and fast-paced plot. Set in 2023, New York is an incredibly secure and crime-free city. This is principally thanks to the Bentham Grid, a system where all your personal information is tied to your personal DNA and both are able to be traced via contact with nearly every surface in the city. This advanced biometric system, epitomising the notion of an ‘ultimate social network’ essentially rules out the need for cash or ID as a thumbprint will buy you a coffee, pay your bills and even open your car. While this creates a society that is incredibly secure, it raises various privacy issues that has led to underground movements decrying a ‘Big Brother Bentham’.

Vourvoulias, Ink (2012)

Sabrina Vourvoulias, Ink. Crossed Genres Publications, 2012. Pp. 234. ISBN 978-0615657813. $13.95 print/$5.99 e-book.

Reviewed by Djibril al-Ayad

Ink, the first novel by American and Latina journalist and writer Sabrina Vourvoulias, published by the successful and progressive small press Crossed Genres Publications, is an ambitious book. Telling the story of a wide group of protagonists in an only slightly futuristic, and only slightly exaggeratedly dystopian United States in which residents and citizens with recent immigration history are literally branded on their skin to mark their suspect status, it ranges over time, space and magic in a story by turns horrifying, heart-breaking, beautiful, hopeful, frustrating and terribly believable. Vourvoulias’s writing is effortless and effective, uncannily capturing the voices of her disparate protagonists and narrators; not uniformly sympathetic, certainly not always nice, but lucid, convincing and consistent. In some ways the ambition of this novel outreaches the execution, but I’d much prefer that to an insufficiently ambitious work, and Ink is wonderful, worthwhile and certainly worth reading.

Hughes, The Truth Spinner (2012)

Rhys Hughes, The Truth Spinner: The Complete Adventures of Castor Jenkins. Wild Side Press, 2012. Pp. 260. ISBN 978-1-4344-4107-2. $14.99.

Reviewed by Jessica Nelson

The Truth Spinner: The Complete Adventures of Castor Jenkins is the latest short story collection from Welsh author and essayist Rhys Hughes. Previous works by Hughes include The Coanda Effect and The Postmodern Mariner, both of which tie into The Truth Spinner, as well. The stories in this collection are all related, being stories Castor Jenkins tells his closest friends, Paddy Deluxe and Frothing Harris. Most of the stories involve Castor’s friends buying him beer or whiskey, either to keep him going, to shut him up, or just because people don’t know what else to do.