Author Archives: Ernest Lilley

The Sky Done Ripped (Ned the Seal) by Joe R. Lansdale

The Sky Done Ripped (Ned the Seal) by Joe R. Lansdale
Cover Artist: Timothy Truman
Review by Ernest Lilley
Subterranean Hardcover ISBN/ITEM#: 9781596069107
Date: 31 December 2019 List Price $40.00
Links: http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=18687

If you’re looking for an absurdist mash-up of H.G.Wells, Jules Verne, Authur Conan Doyle, and pretty much every other proto-steampunk adventure you can image, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re looking for the further adventures of Ned, the steampunk/cybernetically uplifted seal, ditto, and it’s a fine place to be. But if you’re looking for serious science fiction, don’t stop here. But if you’re up for some pulpy-steampunky-timey-whimy fun, by all means, pull up a chair. Continue reading →

Science Fiction Books to Look for November 2019

Originally posted in Amazing Stories Online: Science Fiction Books to Look for November 2019 

There’s a lot of good hard sf out this month, starting with Martin Shoemaker’s  The Last Dance, about an Earth-Mars Cycler whose captain has rubbed the wrong people the wrong way and is probably going to get court-martialed for it. Lighter space opera fans will like Fortuna, the start of a series starring a family of smugglers with sibling issues, not to mention the genocidal war they may have triggered. Eternal Shadow is an impressive debut by Trevor B. Williams, where a planet-eating object has Earth on the menu,  and Daniel Wilson, author of Robocalpse continues the story started by Michael Crichton in Andromeda Strain with Andromeda: Evolution. Speaking of hard sf, Robert Markley’s Kim Stanley Robinson (Modern Masters of Science Fiction) takes a look at the unchallenged master of the genre. Continue reading →

The Menace from Farside (Luna) by Ian McDonald

The Menace from Farside (Luna) by Ian McDonald
Publication: 11/12/2019 (Tor.com) Novella
(This review was originally published in the October 2019 Issue of SFRevu

Cariad Corcoran is the daughter in a group marriage on the Moon, and she’s definitely the alpha female to a pack of boys, which is just the way she likes it. Her world order is upset when a shift in the marriage brings with it a new sister, one that is much better equipped to turn the boys’ heads than she is.

Cariad doesn’t mind not being able to compete on attractiveness, but she really likes being in charge, so she comes up with a scheme that puts the new sister in a role that will show everyone who’s boss. Which is how they wind up exposed on the lunar surface receiving fatal doses of radiation and with no one to save them except themselves. Continue reading →

Supernova Era by Cixin Liu

Supernova Era by Cixin Liu
Tor Books Hardcover  ISBN/ITEM#: 1250306035
Date: 22 October 2019 List Price $27.99 Amazon US / Amazon UK /
Originally posted in SFRevu: http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=18755

When a nearby supernova’s wave of radiation and high energy particles hits Earth, everyone over twelve receives fatal doses of radiation, but younger bodies are able to shrug off the genetic damage. With only months left to live, the world tries desperately to teach the children enough to keep the lights on and the supply of rice sufficient for survival. The adults hope that the new world of children will be one without the old worlds politics and strife, but they evidently hadn’t read Lord of the Flies. Whatever happens, it won’t be the old world, but something only children could imagine. Continue reading →