Author Archives: Martin McGrath

REVIEW: VIRTUES OF WAR AND GHOSTS OF WAR BY BENNETT R COLES

Posted on September 1, 2018 by

The latest issue of The BSFA Review (no.4, Summer 2018) has been published. It contains two of my reviews.  The first one – of a pair of military sf novels by Bennet R Coles – is below. The second will … Continue reading →

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REVIEW: AURORA RISING/THE PREFECT BY ALASTAIR REYNOLDS

Posted on May 11, 2018 by

The latest issue (no. 3) of the BSFA Review is out, and it contains my review of Alastair Reynolds’ Aurora Rising (previously released as The Prefect). This is a slightly extended version. I jumped into the ebook of Alastair Reynolds’ … Continue reading →

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REVIEW: CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BY THOMAS PIKETTY

Posted on May 10, 2018 by

I was just reminded of this after a random comment on Twitter (hi @redrichie). I wrote this review back in 2014 for an editor who, in the end, never used it. The row over inequality hasn’t moved on much and, … Continue reading →

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GENRE HIGHLIGHT OF 2017 – OCCUPY AVENGERS #8

Posted on March 28, 2018 by

The BSFA’s Vector Review of 2017 was delivered today, which includes a piece I wrote on the bit of genre reading that stuck in my mind most clearly in the past year. I chose a few panels from a crossover … Continue reading →

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SOME REASONS TO BE SCEPTICAL OF THE HYPE ABOUT CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA (PART ONE)

Posted on March 23, 2018 by

Like lots of people, I’ve been thinking about the current row about Cambridge Analytica and their supposed influencing of the US election and Brexit and possibly other elections around the world. I understand people’s anger and I understand the degree … Continue reading →

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REVIEW: THE HIGH GROUND BY MELINDA SNODGRASS

Posted on February 12, 2018 by

The High Ground by Melinda Snodgrass (Titan Books, 2016) When I was a child I loved the breakfast cereal Ready Brek – instant porridge whose television advertisements used to feature a young boy protected from the winter elements by a … Continue reading →

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REVIEW: WITCHES OF LYCHFORD BY PAUL CORNELL (AND A RANT ABOUT CLASS)

Posted on July 23, 2017 by

Those she talked to who wanted the store to come here had hardly embraced evil. They talked about how hard things were, how they needed to shop more cheaply without spending a lot of money on petrol, how they and … Continue reading →

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BOOK REVIEW: OCCUPY ME BY TRICIA SULLIVAN

Posted on October 22, 2016 by

The overwhelming sensation left at the end of Tricia Sullivan’s strange, awkward, new novel is of things straining and stretching and struggling to be free. This is true of the characters, all of whom seem to be constantly pushing against … Continue reading →

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BARBARIANS RISING, HISTORY FALLING

Posted on September 3, 2016 by

Last night I watched the first episode of The History Channel’s Barbarians Rising. The episode dealt with Hannibal’s invasion of Italy and it was not good. It started with a definition of barbarian (“anyone who was not Greek or Roman”) … Continue reading →

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LOOKING FOR CORBYN’S MAGIC MONEY TREE

Posted on August 4, 2016 by

Jeremy Corbyn set out his 10 point policy plan today – with lots of good intentions in it, though it didn’t quite address the concerns I have about Corbyn offering actual detailed policies – it remained a bit vague. In … Continue reading →

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