Recommended Reading: The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction

Filed by: Darren on February 16, 2007 at 12:41
Filed In: Books

The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, the debut release from Games Workshop's Solaris Books imprint, is a very good collection indeed: a good selection of varied and (on the whole) interesting stories, themes and tropes. The anthology also acts as a showcase for some of the best British authors currently writing in the field, with the honourable inclusion of one or two overseas guests to provide a shot of alternative flavour.

Personal highlights included James Lovegrove's wittily amusing 'The Bowlder Strain', Paul Di Filippo's 'Personal Jesus' - an eye-opening tale of techno-spirituality for the Apple age - the exotic and colourful 'Bioship' by Neal Asher, the vividly visceral 'The Wedding Party' by Simon Ings and Eric Brown's 'Last Party', which rounded things off quite nicely, and had me pining for a proper local pub to call my own. But my absolute favourite was Stephen Baxter's powerfully cathartic end of the world offering, 'Last Contact', which stayed with me long after I'd finished the rest of the anthology.

There was a couple of flat notes - based purely on my own subjective opinion etc. - as you'd expect from so wide and varied a selection of work, including what I couldn't help feeling was a rather indulgently self-referential piece, 'Jellyfish' from Mike Resnick and David Gerrold. Another one was Brian Aldiss' 'Four Ladies of the Apocalypse' snippet. I'm probably showing my ignorance here, and I fully expect that those better-read than me will look down their noses with utter disdain for my having the temerity to say so, but I really didn't get much out of it apart from a density-induced headache.

Definitely worth tracking this antho down if you'd like to sample a good selection of current writing, and I do hope that it goes on to become a regular feature of the Solaris list, preferably with companion Fantasy and Horror volumes to match: it's not like the market isn't big enough. It was published on Feb 5th so should be available right now from all good bookstores, Amazon.co.uk etc.

Filed on: February 16, 2007
Filed under: Books
Tagged with: anthology | recommended-reading | Solaris-Books |

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7 Responses to 'Recommended Reading: The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction'

Ed on February 16th, 2007 9:50 pm

Got my copy already. Some of the authors I'm familiar with and looking forward to reading their contributions, others I'm looking forward to reading for the first time.
Ariel on February 17th, 2007 9:37 am

Always great to discover a new writer, mate... Joe Abercrombie was my last big discovery.
Ed on February 17th, 2007 11:20 pm

And I wonder how many of my new discoveries are down to you.
Liked both the Eric Brown ones in Postscripts so I'm hoping The Farewell Party keeps up the standard, then I might get that Golden Gryphon collection.
Ed on February 17th, 2007 11:25 pm

This one also looks worth checking out

http://www.nightshadebooks.com.....bookid=156

has a new Margo Lanagan for you.
Ariel on February 18th, 2007 10:27 am

Yeah, the Night Shade antho looks great. Might even be tempted to actually spend some money on that one...
Ed on February 18th, 2007 2:13 pm

Can you remember how that works, buying a book:)?
Ariel on February 18th, 2007 2:16 pm

:)

If it's the same procedure as for second-hand CD's then I'm sorted. Otherwise, it could get tricky, aye...