It started as a scheme to embarrass her brother, but Ingray Aughskold isn’t entirely responsible for the interstellar incident developing around her. As she scrambles to get Garal safely offstation, the next phase of a ruthless Omkem plot unfurls around her. Will the unpredictable Geck offer the safe harbour they need?

The nights are drawing in, the air is growing (slowly but surely) colder, and my eye is turning toward books of a spooky nature. You know what that means…

Darker nights mean brighter stars, and this November the crew of the good ship Sci-Fi Month plan to celebrate those jewels of our night skies as we take off yet again on another intergalactic voyag…

Ingray Aughskold bought a convicted felon’s freedom in an ambitious gambit to embarrass her brother, but her questionable scheme has thoroughly derailed. Now she is at the centre of not one but two interstellar diplomatic incidents, and her closest ally stands accused of murder…

A Palestinian haunted house, nonbinary poetry magic, and…the British colonising literal Hell?!

I’m late to the launch pad, but delighted to confirm that ScifiMonth will be blasting off as usual this November for our annual celebration of one of our favourite genres. With the Artemis mission earlier this year, our eyes are set on the stars - will you join us for a month of delighting in all things SFnal? What is ScifiMonth?

Alt: A grey uniformed postal worker stood on top of a building launches his post-carrying pigeon into the air. It flaps wildly for a second then drops like a stone.

I’m late to the launch pad, but delighted to confirm that ScifiMonth will be blasting off as usual this November for our annual celebration of one of our favourite genres. With the Artemis mission earlier this year, our eyes are set on the stars - will you join us for a month of delighting in all things SFnal? What is ScifiMonth?

Autumn has well and truly started, and in one month’s time we’ll light our candles and tiptoe through the shadows for 13 days and nights of Spooktastic Reads in the run up to Hallowe’en.

Alt: Amos Burton, a bearded white man, wearing a big coat and saying YES. He’s not so much emphatic as utterly sure of himself

I skipped the short stories, so it feels like a long while since we read the Ancillary trilogy, but our Imperial Radch-along continues this month with Provenance. This is the first of three stand-alone novels that expand the Imperial Radch universe - we’ll be reading all three, finishing with Radiant Star in ScifiMonth if you care to join us.

August included buying a new (second hand) car; spending a wonderful week with an old friend who finally gave me an excuse to go to the gorgeous Inverewe Gardens and explore Cawdor Castle; heading to Split for a week for work (yes, I’m a lucky cow - I get sent to Split for work); and finished with a week in London for my beloved’s birthday.

A new issue of Asimov’s, the full unlocking of the most recent Uncanny, and an impressive run of intriguing tales in Future Tense Fiction have given me plenty

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish, and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s all about books, lists and sharing the love we have of both with our bookish friends. I’m catching up on a recent and rather wonderful prompt that invited us to revisit the books we were reading this month over the past ten years.

I would like to thank Solaris for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review Publisher – Solaris Published – out Now Price – £9.99 paperback £5.99 eBook “The ...

I’ve been meaning to post a round-up of my on-screen adventures for a while, but with work travel / deadlines, visitors and illness to contend with I haven’t watched a lot of new things through spring andsummer. At literally opposite ends of the cinematic scale, my recent cinema visits have been for Rose of Nevada and The Odyssey (I look forward to rewatching Rose of Nevada) - but what’s been the best big screen experience of the year so far?

I don’t always get round to this tag, but I love to take stock at the midsummer mark and ReadLikeWildfire and Earl Grey Books created a great format for it. July passed by without me actually getting round to posting this so without further ado, some highlights and sidelights from my reading year so far.

I’ve had a month away from the blog this July, celebrating a 25th anniversary and focusing on a big work deadline to launch new software to 4000 people. It’s terrifying waiting for the opinions of a lot of experts in what you do, people. In between, we almost bought a house and did sell my car - I pick up the new one next weekend.

Alt: Jurassic Park First Dinosaur Encounter - Dr Ellie Satler (Laura Dern) crouches down by an overwhelmed Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to watch brachiosaurs emerging from a lake

Watch truly great cinema. Wherever you are. From iconic, award-winning directors to emerging auteurs. Transformative films from all over the world. Stream Now. Download to watch Offline. Start your fr...

June, when the days stretch out and my body stops recognising bedtime. Being so far north, we escaped the worst of the heat wave but did get plenty of sunshine, including for my midmonth island trip with Mum to Mull. I love Mull, and this trip I finally got to meet a puffin and they are every bit as cute and sassy as I expected.

I'm keeping a fairly low profile on the blog over the summer, so book tags are my perfect speed. The Sunday Brunch Tag was invented by The Reading Chick and I found it - of course I did - via Zezee With Book( Tag)s. I've given it a remix to switch out some dishes for personal favourites, and to feature a wider range of options.

A mermaid dresses for the day. Based on an original linocut image.

It’s been a few summers since I last joined in, but this year I can’t resist the call up for 20 Books of Summer. This is a wonderful challenge created by Cathy at 746 Books and now expertly steered by AnnaBookBel where we aim to reduce our TBR over the summer. But what to read?

How’s it been going? My life is best summed up by my not realising I never did an April round-up until I sat down to do May (and it's a good way into June as I write this). I spent most of April travelling for work, the first half of May travelling for fun, and the last two weeks mostly unwell.

Afrofuturism, sapphic mermaids, and – hexing the moon?!

Better late than never, the very final Quest Log for this year's Wyrd & Wonder. It's been a quiet year for me due to travel and health drama (we'll be okay, but it has been A Month friends), but I've been enjoyed the awesome adventures reported by the party as they romped through the realms of fantasy. Gird your TBRs, it's time for some last lists and recommendations...

I'm kicking off the first Friday of Summer of Horror with a list! Last summer I explored color in horror book covers, and this year I'm tackling some horror tropes, both familiar and a little off the beaten path. Haunted or possessed dolls is one of the creepier themes in horror, and while it's not as popular as other tropes, I managed to find eight books that fit the theme.

After a five year hiatus, I have returned to Deverry in the excellent company of Mayri the Bookforager and Nic of Dragon Rambles. I intended to post this review for our Wyrd & Wonder prompt of new moon, which invited us to think about fresh starts - sequels, sidequels or in the case of A Time of Exile…