Origin by Dan Brown A Review Dan Brown has established a very successful formula for his thrillers, entwining religious and scientific ideas with art and conspiracy theory. His latest, Origin, published in 2017, is no exception. It addresses two questions, posed by both science and religion for hundreds of years (in the case of religion, …
Cut Off
Unchosen Love by Ursula K LeGuin This, the third story in the collection The Birthday of the World, is set on a planet called O, where ideas of sex and family are even more bizarre than on Gethen or Seggri. [See my two previous posts, here and here.] 'When I explained our concept of incest …
Sixteen To One
The Matter of Seggri by Ursula K LeGuin 'Their gender inbalance has produced a society in which .... the men have all the privilege and the women have all the power.' The Matter of Seggri is the second story in LeGuin's collection The Birthday of the World. It depicts a planet where the ratio of …
Sex Without Gender
Coming of Age in Karhide by Ursula K LeGuin 'Until we come of age we have no gender and no sexuality, our hormones don't give us any trouble at all. And in a city Hearth we never see adults in kemmer. They kiss and go. Where's Maba? In the kemmerhouse, love, now eat your porridge.' …
Gold Rush!
Kiandra Gold by Hugh Capel A Review It is always a pleasure to return to one's favourite authors and genres. However, a reader and a writer should always be willing to set off in new literary directions. And often finding something new is just a matter of being in the right place at the right …
In Other Worlds
(SF and the Human Imagination) by Margaret Atwood A review In this non-fiction work, dedicated to her fellow sci-fi and fantasy writer, the late Ursula Le Guin, Margaret Atwood talks about the literary influences of her childhood. A series of essays and book reviews of works that have inspired her, In Other Worlds takes the …
The Date
by Louise Jensen A Review 'Pain slices through my skull as I sit up. I raise my hand gingerly to the side of my head. A lump ..... nausea crashes over me in sickening waves and I have the sensation of falling. Quickly lowering my hands to steady myself, I see it. The blood.' Alison …
