Seamus Heaney’s marvellous English translation of the classic Anglo-Saxon epic poem.

Ever since I read The Epic of Gilgamesh, I’ve had a hankering for diving into other ancient works that I have missed out on. Beowulf was the first such tale that came to mind. Not ancient in the anthropological sense, having been written somewhere between the seventh and tenth centuries CE, it’s nonetheless a work of seminal importance in western culture. I have known the broad strokes of the tale through cultural osmosis for much of my life but I had never read it for myself. So I decided it was time to change that. I had no idea which of the many translations I should go for, but fate took that decision out of my hands when I happened upon this wonderful copy of Seamus Heaney’s version in a National Trust used bookshop (naturally). The experience has been enlightening.

Blurb

Composed towards the end of the first millennium, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is one of the great Northern epics and a classic of European literature. In his new translation, Seamus Heaney has produced a work which is both true, line by line, to the original poem, and an expression, in its language and music, of something fundamental to his own creative gift.

The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on, physically and psychically exposed, in that exhausted aftermath. It is not hard to draw parallels between this story and the history of the twentieth century, nor can Heaney's Beowulf fail to be read partly in the light of his Northern Irish upbringing. But it also transcends such considerations, telling us psychological and spiritual truths that are permanent and liberating.

Review

I very much enjoyed my first read of Beowulf. It was just as fascinating as I was hoping it would be. Heaney’s prose is excellent and I thought it was pretty accessible. I was surprised to find that the portion of the story I knew from cultural osmosis was pretty much the first half. The second half, while I didn’t know it as part of this particular tale, was even more surprising for its striking similarity to The Hobbit. And this makes so much sense considering that J.R.R. Tolkien was (and still is) an authoritative voice in Beowulf scholarship, having made his own influential translation of the epic. So it was both a pleasant surprise and perfectly apt to see how this piece of Anglo Saxon poetry may have influenced his writing of Bilbo’s journey. I could see so much of Thorin in Beowulf, and the unnamed thief in the epic who stoked the anger of the dragon could be a template for Bilbo. Obviously it’s not a 1:1 comparison, but the influence is plain to see. I might be very late to the party on this, but give me a break here.

Seamus Heaney’s introduction to Beowulf was interesting but rather more academic than, say, Stephen Mitchell’s introduction to Gilgamesh was. As such it didn’t stick with me quite so much, and I could happily have gone without it. I have also seen some consternation online levied at his translation of the enigmatic first word of the poem, ”Hwaet” as “So”, rather than something like “Hark”, “Listen” or “Lo” as in Tolkien’s translation. But I don’t really have a dog in that race and it seemed to work fine to me. He did explain why he did that, and explained other word choices, all of which made sense.

Overall, though, I think I enjoyed Gilgamesh a little more. Beowulf has multiple lengthy meandering asides talking about past kings and their exploits, whereas the older Mesopotamian tale was a much more straightforward narrative. But if, like me, you have never read Beowulf, then I can say it’s absolutely worthwhile to read it for yourself and I would heartily recommend this version.

A fugitive robot running around the inside of a Dyson Sphere? Sign me the hell up! A sublime standalone sci-fi from Frasier Armitage.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know how much I’ve enjoyed Frasier Armitage’s work in the past. You can check out my review of his novelettes Rememory and Investation here. The cover for Cage of Stars instantly popped for me. It really looks fantastic and in hindsight is perfect for the atmosphere of the story.

Blurb

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO BE FREE?

Inside the paradise of a Dyson Sphere, artificial intelligence has been outlawed and hunted. When a robot is dug up at the equator, it will have to flee if it wants to survive.

Told from the different perspectives of the humans and creatures who encounter the machine as it crosses the Sphere to seek refuge at the pole, can one robot's struggle for freedom change the world?

Review

I very much enjoyed my time with Cage of Stars; it was exactly what I needed, and I ended up devouring it rather quickly. It has an unusual style that I hadn’t come across before but which is explained by Frasier in the acknowledgements. Essentially, each chapter takes the point of view of a character or object that comes into contact with the robot as he journeys across the inside of the Sphere trying to reach the pole, whether that’s a mech hunter, a futuristic chimney-sweep, various animals, or even a river. Very rarely are we actually in the point-of-view of the robot itself. It’s very well done and highlights the impact that these chance meetings have on the individuals and societies across the Sphere.

All the chapters are preceded with a little tidbit of lore from an in-universe publication that relates to the contents of the chapter and gives a broader view of the immense worldbuilding. Similar to how the Dune novels have snippets from the writings of Muad’dib, court historians, and chroniclers. It all comes together very well, especially in the paperback version which has some excellent interior design for chapter headings. The worldbuilding itself is brilliant and mysterious. We see only a fraction of the full breadth of the Sphere in this book, but we get a sense of the age of it and the influence of Scantech over its people. The morality of all of it is is somewhat grey, too. Like the Mech Hunters, are they villains or heroes? From the perspective of the robot, they are, of course, but the book immediately makes us sympathetic to their views, too.

The characters are many and varied, and though most of them only stick around for a short while, they are all very memorable and nuanced. Frasier crafts the life of the Sphere with great depth very effectively in these short passages. A lot of classic sci-fi takes this approach when distances or timespans run into the extreme and, more often than not, fails the characters by making them cardboard cut-outs in their brief presence in the story. Not so, here. Each one, from the print-girl to the rebel mechs, to honest-to-god dinosaurs, are given great care and end up really well-rounded.

The implications of the ending are left open, too. The robot truly isn’t the focus of the struggles and trials of the Sphere—his journey is his own. But his impact on the people around him works as a catalyst. What that looks like after his journey’s conclusion is beyond the scope of the book and I really like that it’s left vague in that way.

I would love to see more stories set in this world, because the physics of the inside of a Dyson Sphere is fascinating and I have no doubt that Frasier could explore it with the same depth of care and attention to detail he has shown with Cage of Stars.

I would highly, highly recommend this book to any sci-fi fans. It’s a masterpiece.

The remarkable third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s acclaimed Children of Time series.

It’s been a long time since I started reading this series, and it took me a lot longer to read this book than I thought it would. I started it back in October and then hit a reading slump that was in no way anything to do with the book. At one time I thought this was going to be the final book in the trilogy, but no, there’s more coming. This is some of the best modern sci-fi around, in my opinion. I’ll always recommend people to pick up Children of Time, even if that’s only as far as they read, but these sequels have been consistently great. So let’s get into the review of the third book: Children of Memory.

Blurb

On Imir, Captain Holt founded a new colony on an empty world. In the process, he created hope and a new future for humanity. But, generations later, his descendants are struggling to survive.

As harvests worsen and equipment fails, strangers appear in a town where everyone knows their neighbour. Now the inexplicable lurks in the woods and the community fears that it's being observed – that they’re not alone.

They’d be right, as explorers from the stars have arrived in secret to help this lost outpost. Confident of their superior technology, and overseen by the all-knowing construct of Doctor Avrana Kern, they begin to study their long-lost cousins from Earth.

Yet the planet hides deeper mysteries. It seems the visitors aren’t the only watchers. And when the starfarers discover the scale of their mistake, it will be far too late to escape.

Review

As always, Adrian has crafted an exquisite story with Children of Memory and I had an amazing, emotional time with it. There’s something bittersweet about the way in which the culture has formed into a full-fledged post-scarcity society—a true interspecies interstellar alliance no longer bound by the forward march of time. It’s from this mix we get the crew of the Skipper, a scout ship sent to investigate a signal around one of the old terraformers’ worlds.

We get all the usual names: The Portiid spiders Portia, Bianca, and Fabian from Kern’s World; Paul the Octopus from Damascus, and another instance of the construct of Dr Avrana Kern. There’s Jodry the Human (also of Kern’s World) as well, but our main POV character in this side of the story is Miranda, a Nodan parasite who has been given a (lab-grown) human body and who serves as Interlocutor aboard the ship. Prior to the events of the book the explorers had come across another failed terraforming world called Rourke, from which they picked up a delegation of Corvids: Gothli and Gethli, and nobody is sure whether they’re truly sentient (not even them). But Rourke is not their destination: Imir is.

The Corvids were a thoroughly fascinating addition to the series, because out of all the different Old Earth species featured, they’re the only ones who never received the Uplift Virus, so they never had any sort of accelerated evolution. As such they provide a great backdrop for the main philosophical discussion of the book: What it means to be sentient.

Miranda was a brilliant character, so full of life and energy and drive, bursting with empathy, and struggling to keep a clear grasp on herself as both a Nodan parasite housing the memories of all the people her collective has been, and a copy of the real Human Miranda who donated her memories. Her time exploring the colony on Imir was truly captivating and nail-biting.

Then there’s the flip side to the story—the people of Imir. A human colony that arrived on the sleeper ship Enkidu, cousin to the Gilgamesh from the first book. They live tough lives down on a hostile planet, dealing with failing farms, low resources, and the ever-present threat of outsiders in their minds. The main POV character here is Liff, a child of the colony, as she meets strangers and absorbs herself in stories of strange things off in the woods. The characters are given such depth that I sometimes forgot that I was reading sci-fi and not a historical fiction about frontier-town life.

I’m always astounded by Adrian’s ability to craft these nonchronological stories, preserving multiple hard-hitting twists that would never have been if they had been written in-order. And believe me, this book has a whole litany of big reveals to smack you about with and red herrings to throw you off the scent. It kept me guessing what was going on, and just when I thought I knew what was really happening, bam! Wrong.

I definitely think I enjoyed this one more than Children of Ruin. I think it was more to do with the frustrations of communication in that one. There’s almost none of that here. And it widens the scope of the series significantly by the end. Simply fantastic. I can’t wait for Children of Strife.

Revealing a brand new cover in honour of the fifth anniversary of The Re-Emergence!

I can’t quite believe it’s been five years since I became a published author. Five years since I released The Re-Emergence into the world. Since then a lot has happened, but I’m still immensely proud of my little space bird book, and of series mascot, Seventeen.

In honour of the occasion, (which isn’t actually until June but I’m going to be a bit extra and start the celebrations now), I have created a brand new cover which should bring the book more in-line with genre expectations and hopefully garner more of the interest that I feel the story deserves.

Creating the cover was, as is always the case, a process of learning new skills—in particular, how to 3D model in Blender. 3D modelling is something that I’ve tried on and off over the years but it never really stuck with me. I had Blender installed for about a year (maybe two) before I even opened it. Over the course of a few weeks I taught myself how to use the program by first creating the hero ship of the book, the Imperial Cruiser, Qesh’kal, which now features on the cover along with a new model of Unit Seventeen.

Cover Reveal & Blurb

'IT WAS JUST A MYTH. JUST A DAMN LEGEND PASSED DOWN FROM CORRUPTED DATABANKS…'

A mysterious probe from a long-forgotten satellite network appears in the heart of the Maldaccian Empire, warning about the return of a mythological evil.

After being downloaded by the plucky but inexperienced crew of the imperial flagship, the consciousness of the ancient satellite, Unit-17, embarks on a galactic adventure to bring the empire back from the brink of an interstellar war they are not equipped to fight.

The Qesh’kal’s aging commander, Da’kora Corasar, trusts Unit-17’s intel implicitly, but not everyone aboard agrees. Tensions rise and loyalties are tested as they are thrust into conflict with an enemy of unimaginable power and malice.

And here’s the full spread in all its glory:

This isn't the last we'll see of The Re-Emergence this year, as I plan to have a special sale for it around the actual anniversary in June. 

I'll likely do a similar sale for From the Grave of the Gods when it hits its fifth anniversary in November, too, but I'm not doing a re-cover for it yet. I know how important consistency is for people, so though I plan to make new covers for all my books based around this new style eventually, I'll wait until at least this era the series is done before I make those variants. That means Legacy of the Gods will fit in with the previous human-centred books.

The Re-Emergence was just the one book that I felt really needed a new cover sooner rather than later, and also the safest one to do, being a mostly standalone story. Its eventual sequel will have this new style of cover, too. 

That's all for now. I hope you like the new cover, and if you can spread the word about it that would be grand. 

On Legacy of the Gods, the impact of going wide, and the fifth anniversary of The Re-Emergence.

THE RE-EMERGENCE TURNS FIVE

2026 is a special year for me. It marks five years since I became a published author with the release of my first book, The Re-Emergence, in June 2021—the largely standalone space opera novella that kicks off the events of the Augment Saga. This little book with its plucky crew of space birds and endearing sentient AI, Seventeen (who has become somewhat of a mascot for the series) has consistently rated and reviewed well, even becoming a finalist in the inaugural Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championships in 2023 despite limited sales figures. It’s not quite taken the world by storm but it remains a book that I am immensely proud of, full of characters I adore and desperately want to do justice to in follow-up works.

Later in 2021, I released my first novel-length work, From the Grave of the Gods, which capitalises on the prelude established in The Re-Emergence with a human perspective on the aftermath of those events. This has been my best-selling work by far to-date, and again a story I am proud to call my debut.

Back to The Re-Emergence and its limited sales figures, however: I think it deserves better, quite frankly. I have tried a lot of things over the years to drum up interest in the little book, from all sorts of marketing graphics, giving the cover an extra bit of polish, regularly updating the keywords and categories on Amazon, paid advertising, entering it in contests, even to changing the blurb. Sadly none of it has moved the needle.

But it comes down to this one thing in my mind that I didn’t want to acknowledge: I think the cover is the problem. And this isn’t just a case of polishing up the existing design either—It needs a complete redesign to bring it closer in line with genre expectations. And I believe I’ve made something really cool.

So consider this a heads up. Watch this space.

LEGACY OF THE GODS PROGRESS

Progress on Legacy of the Gods is going really well and has been for the last few months. The writing process for this third novel-length book in the Augment Saga has be fraught to say the least, especially early on with multiple setbacks and rewrites. I started writing this book in November 2023 and I honestly can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to where I am. Where I am, thankfully, at the time of writing, is really, really close to the end. Over 125,000 words, to give it a number. I aim now to get this draft finished this month, preferably in the next week or so, and I already have a solid plan for the second draft. This will be the longest book in the series so far, as it is effectively ending a major story arc/ending this era of the series. So it’s a lot of threads to bring together and a lot to try to do justice to.

I deeply appreciate your continued patience and I am going to take the piss and ask for just a bit more while I finish up this book that has honestly become the bane of my existence. I know beta readers and professional edits take quite a long time but I’m hopeful I can have this book out later this year.

THE SEQUEL TO THE RE-EMERGENCE

Because I’ve been so heavily focussed on getting Legacy of the Gods done, I haven’t made any progress on the sequel to The Re-Emergence. You can check my books page, where I track the status of my current WIPs, and you’ll see it’s still sitting at a few thousand words. On reflection, this will require a rewrite as well. I still haven’t fully nailed down the plot, though I know how I want it to start, and where it’s going to end.

I have been making artwork inspired by it, though:

You can see here two of the five maldaccian species native to the planet P’horesh, and a scene featuring Imperator Da’kora Corasar arriving in the imperial capital city (so really there’s three species featured, because Da’kora is neither desert eluvis nor western tropical nequit, but of the eastern tropical itendi species.

I did mean to do artwork for all five of the species, but I completed those two and then my wife reminded me I should get back to writing, so I put the art on pause 😅

Once Legacy of the Gods is done, I will finally be able to give some more attention to this book!

THE IMPACT OF GOING WIDE

Here’s where I’m going to talk about the business side of being an author. At the beginning of 2025, I took all of my books off of Kindle Unlimited, ending Amazon exclusivity, and published them widely on many other platforms.

I mostly used Draft 2 Digital as the aggregator for this to get Apple Books, Barnes & Noble (Nook), Smashwords and plenty of library services, but I went direct with Kobo and Google Play Books.

Then Itch.io opened its platform to authors, and of course I jumped right in. This has allowed me to add my books to co-op bundles with other authors, offering readers stacks of books after a particular theme for a discounted rate. I shared my breakdown on social media a few days ago in an end-of-year roundup, so let’s go over it here as well:

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First of all, thanks to the impact of Itch.io, I sold 290 books in 2025—That’s the most books I’ve ever sold in a single year! Although because most of those were discounted, the income for the year was slap bang in the middle. Not the best year I’ve had but also not the worst.

Amazon had the most sales overall across all marketplaces but I did notice its dominance waning in the second half of the year. Itch.io was the second best platform, with those awesome bundles keeping me afloat, especially with more favourable royalty rates, too. I did have a few standalone sales, but the bread and butter of the platform really is the bundles. Then direct sales of my signed paperbacks came in third. Considering I only did one craft fayre during the year and only sold like four books… That’s not great for the other platforms below it.

Draft 2 Digital started the year strong, even getting me over the $10 threshold a few times to receive a payout. People have been buying my books mainly through Smashwords, but also on Apple and Barnes & Noble. Even got a few sales through libraries. Sales slowed to a crawl in the second half of the year and the platform raised the threshold for payouts to $20. I currently have just over $4 sitting on there waiting.

Kobo… Oh boy. Well, there was a big push early in the year on social media from readers boycotting Amazon and it looked like Kobo+ (Kobo’s non-exclusive Kindle Unlimited competitor) would get much more support. I was asked quite a lot if my books were on Kobo then. But ultimately, for me, it amounted to nothing. I’ve yet to have any reads from Kobo+, and I’ve only sold maybe three or four books on the platform all year. Consequently, I haven’t been paid for these sales at all yet, because, again, ~ t h r e s h o l d s ~ .

Bringing up the rear is Google Play Books, which was a real pain in the arse to get my books set up onto, going live much later than the others. I thought I was going to end 2025 with zero sales on the platform, but one (1) came in during December for The God Sun, which I haven’t been paid for. I don’t know what their payment threshold is or when they make payments. So I’ll have to wait and see if my £2 arrives in the coming months.

Yet again my biggest seller was From the Grave of the Gods at 115 copies, which is unsurprising since it’s Book One, and it was featured in a lot of the bundles, too. The Flight of the Aurora came in last place at only 11 sales. This one might be suffering a similar fate to The Re-Emergence with its more minimalist cover. But it has the extra disadvantage of being a mid-series novella. That also makes it ineligible for most contests, too. A shame. It definitely deserves more love.

So my first year of going wide hasn’t been a breakout success but I’m not surprised. I was told that going wide was a long game. Another contributing factor is the current state of the world, its politics, and economies, leaving people with much less disposable income now than even just a few years ago. There’s a lot people squarely in survival mode right now, so that makes judging the success of ventures like this somewhat difficult. I also didn’t do any paid advertising in 2025 and considering almost every attempt so far has met with abject failure, it was probably a good move. My expenditure for the year was lower than the income, at least.

Still not breaking even on these books though. Not even halfway there. The professional edits are a huge slice of that particular pie but I can’t do without them.

So that brings me to the end of another writing update.

I will endeavour to do these more frequently, as I realise the last one was literally a year ago. But keep your eyes peeled for further announcements regarding The Re-Emergence’s fifth anniversary, as well as for Legacy of the Gods news!

Here’s my reading wrap-up for 2025!

This is becoming somewhat of an annual tradition at this point. Reviews are often ephemeral, which comes across as rather paradoxical: Everything on the internet is there forever, but in the current landscape of heavy social media usage and algorithmic content feeds, review posts soon get buried. Sure they might receive a little boost when they’re initially posted, but they then fade into obscurity when the feeds move on. And I don’t think that’s good for authors whose work absolutely needs to be in the spotlight. So I think (I hope) doing these kinds of posts is helpful for you as readers, to discover new book recommendations and authors, especially in the indie space.

This year has been a bit of a car crash for my personal reading. It started really well, but around October-time it fell off a cliff and I didn’t hit the target I’d set for myself, which was basically to match last year’s 27. This year it’s down to just 21, many of them being short stories and novellas. Not a reflection on the books at all, but on my time management and mental health.

So here in this post I present to you a digest of the books I’ve read this year. Check them out below. You can click the images to go to the original reviews.

For full transparency, there was a secret 22nd book I read this year but because of its disgraceful use of generative AI on the cover, I have declined to include it on my blog at all, so it will not appear in this list.

The Silmarillion

by J.R.R. Tolkien

A first-time read for me, following very hot on the heels of reading The Lord of the Rings at the end of last year. I was utterly astounded by this book. A pure and utter masterpiece. It’s funny that I should read and review my favourite book of the year right at the start of it. I tried to read it slowly to avoid crashing out, but I couldn’t help myself and devoured it in just a few days.

Recall Order

by Dave McCreery

The second book in the mech-tastic Weight of the World trilogy and my first indie book of 2025. This is where the trilogy truly comes into its own, leaving behind the almost YA training school feel of the first book for a more mature espionage and terrorism thriller while still retaining the bombastic giant robot action. An easy recommend.

How Do You Live?

by Genzaburo Yoshino

A rare miss for me. I described How Do You Live as ‘boring, preachy, and verbose’, and time has certainly not softened my opinion of it. I am glad to have read it, as it’s supposed to be a coming-of-age classic, but I was definitely not the right audience for it.

Bookshops & Bonedust

by Travis Baldree

Sweary mice, a skeleton in a satchel, and a younger, more impetuous Viv—Great ideas for a pretty solid sequel. I enjoyed my time with it, but it did feel like a bit of a re-tread of Legends & Lattes. Consequently, I feel like most of what could be said about it I already said in my review of the first book. Cosy vibes, slick writing, but not altogether very memorable.

Leviathan Wakes

by James S.A. Corey

A dangerous space thriller mixed with detective noir, Leviathan Wakes was an excellent start for The Expanse. The pacing began to drag a little almost three-quarters of the way through, going on longer than I had expected it to, but it was a blast from start to finish and I’m looking forward to reading more in the series.

Chapterhouse Dune

by Frank Herbert

The end of my journey with the Dune Saga. A disappointing end that left me perplexed, disturbed in all the wrong ways due to all the weird sex stuff, and in want of a resolution. Heretics and Chapterhouse, represent a steep drop in quality after the magnificent height that was God Emperor. My recommendation: Read the first four books and stop there.

BestGhost

by C.J. Daley

A tight, atmospheric, and tense short ghost story. BestGhost unfolds its horror very well. The story follows a couple of amateur paranormal investigating YouTubers called BestGhost, as they come face to face with the chilling reality of a haunted mansion while trying to get more views for their ghost hunting channel. A fantastic short read, and one that I would highly recommend.

The Magic Circle

by Barry Ryerson

An excellent blend of post apocalyptic science fiction, magical urban fantasy, romance, and espionage with strong Umbrella Academy vibes. Great worldbuilding, a diverse cast of colourful characters, and spot-on pacing, there’s so much great stuff to recommend here. An excellent read that left me clamouring for more in this universe.

The Knight Saves the Dragon

by Rebecca Crunden

The Knight Saves the Dragon is one of the best short stories I’ve ever read. An exemplar of short story writing. Rebecca does so much here with so little and does it all in present-tense from a second-person perspective where you take the role of the titular knight. There’s hints of much deeper worldbuilding and complex politics and this story stabs right at the heart of them. Do yourself a favour and buy this one.

The Whisper that Replaced God

by Timothy Wolff

Hell of a title for a hell of a book. Magnificently melancholy with fantastic fourth-wall breaks, The Whisper that Replaced God utterly oozes with style. Great read, great worldbuilding, and incredible characters. I can’t give this one much higher praise.

From the Depths

by B.S.H. Garcia

This was a strange one for me. Strikingly well-written, From the Depths is a fantastic dark pirate adventure set as a prequel to the author’s wider Heart of Quinaria series. With compelling character, hefty worldbuilding, and an engaging action, there’s a lot to love for those looking for more in the series. You’ll certainly have an outstanding time with it. I don’t think it works too well as a standalone, though.

Bailuchien

by Rebecca Crunden

A deliciously creepy, yet cathartic dark fairy tale for those itching for a horrifying witch-in-the-woods fix that absolutely has you rooting for the antihero protagonists as their carry out their violent contract with the forest spirit, Bailuchien. Extremely short, but absolutely worth your time.

On Demon Wrangling…

by Rebecca Crunden

Another fantastic short story from Rebecca Crunden. This one carries strong Buffy vibes with complex interpersonal relationships between two weary immortals (hey, that’s in the title) as they spend their long lifespans hunting demons. Immediately investing and very satisfying.

Moral Laundry

by Conrad Altmann

Carrying on the great tradition of some of the best works of classic science fiction, Moral Laundry is scarily prescient in its social commentary and near-future extrapolations of present technology. It’s a collection of seven incisive short stories that hit really hard, taking aim at generative AI and striking it right between the eyes. Excellent work that should not be slept on.

The Wishing Stone

by Adam Holcombe

I loved A Necromancer Called Gam Gam. It was one of my favourite books I read last year. The Wishing Stone tops it in every way. It’s a great sequel with fantastic character development for Mina, Gam Gam, and even Nugget the skeletal cat. It ups the stakes from the first book in the perfect way while remaining delightfully cosy. If you know how the first Mistborn book ends: This is what it looks like when that whole sequence is actually done well.

Origins: The Secret Agent

by Barry Ryerson

An action-packed short story prequel to The Magic Circle following the spy/assassin character Yevgeny as he goes on his first mission. It was great to get more backstory for this stellar character. The writing is vivid and enjoyable, and the story was intriguing. However, like From the Depths above, it’s definitely one to read after you’re already familiar with the main story. That’s the context in which it hits the hardest.

Origins: The Hacker

by Barry Ryerson

The second short story prequel to The Magic Circle. Rather unlike The Secret Agent, this one absolutely does work as a standalone and it is absolutely brilliant for it. This one goes even further back in time and follows the main antagonist of the novel as he kicks off the events that form the backdrop to the story. It gets really dark as we explore the Wikus’s complex family dynamics, and the plot is tight and immersive. The ending was marvellous, too.

The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel

by J. Dianne Dotson

A solid and enjoyable sequel to The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern, which I read last year. A fun YA romp through a beautifully realised, immersive lunarpunk world. I’d absolutely recommend this for anyone looking for climate change sci-fantasy in the YA space, or just generally for a whimsical fantasy adventure.

Gilgamesh

A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell

Coming in out of left-field for this year is the oldest story in the world, the Epic of Gilgamesh, translated beautifully into English poetic verse by Stephen Mitchell. There is a hell of a lot to unpack about this book that I cannot possibly summarise here, so definitely click on the book cover to go to the full review. It suffices to say, however, that I had a great time reading this and I learned a lot about ancient storytelling in the process.

The Black Hole

by Alan Dean Foster

A great fun novelisation of the much-maligned 1979 Disney movie, with some surprisingly hard science in it (for the time) and a really intriguing ending that differs substantially from the film. It’s essentially 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in space, and what more could you want than that? Commander Reinhardt and Maximillian make for a fantastic pair of villains. A pleasantly surprising find in a National Trust second-hand bookshop.

A Farewell to Humanity

by Stuart Tudor

A strong sci-fi horror short story that, for me, brought to mind Doctor Who’s Cybermen baddies, but placed them in a bleak, post-apocalyptic setting that you might find in something like Metro 2033. Body horror and nightmarish bureaucracy collide in this story about the state AI, Athena, who only wants happiness for humanity. And you know she’s telling the truth, and that’s horrifying.

CURRENTLY READING

Books I’m reading but haven’t had time to finish by the end of the year. Watch out for their reviews to appear on the blog in 2026. Happy New Year!

Children of Memory

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The third, but apparently by no means final, book in the astounding Children of Time series, this one is off to a strong start. I’m only about a quarter of the way through, but I’m enjoying it immensely when I find the time and headspace to do any reading. This might be the first review of 2026, but my brain might make me jump to something else first. So… watch this space.

The fifth of Eight Nightmares by Stuart Tudor. A solid post-apocalyptic/dystopian sci-fi horror story.

I received a free advance reader copy/uncorrected proof of A Farewell to Humanity from the author. I also had the privilege of reading an early draft of this story that was much shorter and much lighter on details. I had really enjoyed that, and so when the offer came to read an ARC ahead of its release, I jumped at the chance. It has been fascinating to see how this story has changed in the drafting process. So let’s get into the review.

Blurb

She is all you will be. She is all you will be. She is Athena.

The Great Silence saw the end of the global order, each country an island alone in the sea.

That is when she came: Athena, the state AI of Germany. Only eradication and transformation can save humankind from itself, becoming machines under her eternal love.

One man in Athena-occupied Poland is part of a shrinking group of humans desperately trying to survive. But a series of events will test his strength to withstand Athena’s love. But how long can one stay human in a dying world?

A Farewell to Humanity is for mature audiences and contains the following: Body horror, suicidal ideation, implied depression, uncanny valley elements, environmental destruction, animal cruelty and apocalyptic themes.

A Farewell to Humanity is the Fifth entry in the Eight Nightmares, a collection of horror stories about the dreamlike, the surreal, and encounters with the fantastical.

Review

This short story was a very enjoyable read and tickled my sci-fi loving tastebuds. The best way I can describe it is as a mix between the Doctor Who story Rise of the Cybermen, and Metro 2033. Our unnamed protagonist is in post-apocalyptic Poland, which is occupied by the forces of a supreme artificial intelligence named Athena. Athena seeks only the happiness of humankind, but she brings this about by turning any humans she captures into mindless cybernetic drones. Being a horror story in a series called the Eight Nightmares, the setting is suitably bleak, and the situation desperate. There’s no Doctor coming to save humanity here: Just a person struggling to survive, living with depression, isolated from the rest of humankind by the need to avoid detection by the borderline omnipresent AI. In order to guarantee his survival he has to take risks, going out concealed and under cover of darkness, running errands for his single, anonymous, human contact: The Fencer.

We get a deep dive into our protagonist’s mental state as he clings on miserably to a life that has long since gone, as he contemplates ending it all before Athena can turn him into one of her cyberhumans. When things get dicey, the sense of panic and terror is visceral. We learn a lot about his past, and about the state of the rest of the world through his eyes.

The worldbuilding is really good here. The Great Silence sets each country adrift on its own, so there really is no way for our protagonist to know if anybody’s left out there. We get a glimpse at the politics of the situation and how the former residents of the city blame the other countries for abandoning them to Athena.

I will say that, for me, there was more tension than outright horror but the tension was pretty intense. The main character’s interactions with the cyberhumans and the body-horror of Athena’s conversion process were handled really well. And I enjoyed how the ending turned out. Bureaucracy is its own nightmarish hell, and that’s all I’ll say about that. It also highlights the dangers of placing a true AI in charge of making the world a better place, which is a staple of science fiction, emphasising its strict analytical nature over considerations of human agency.

Overall, A Farewell to Humanity is a pretty solid short story and I really recommend picking it up if you’re a fan of bleak dystopian or post apocalyptic horror, or wish that Doctor Who wasn’t so optimistic all the time.

Alan Dean Foster’s novelisation of the classic Disney sci-fi adventure movie.

This was the second of three vintage books I picked up on a trip to National Trust Ightham Mote last year. Their delightful little used bookshop had a locked glass cabinet of ‘rare’ and ‘vintage’ books which were reasonably priced. The first was the novelisation of RoboCop by Ed Naha which I read straightaway. The others were The Black Hole—the subject of this review—and Superman: Last Son of Krypton. It was a brilliant find. So as it says on the cover this is Alan Dean Foster’s novelisation of the screenplay by Jeb Rosenbrook and Gerry Day, which became the 1979 Disney movie of the same name—at the time the most expensive movie Disney had ever produced. I only fairly recently (in the last couple of years) watched the movie on Disney+. It’s pretty campy and very silly, but I rather enjoyed it, so I was well up for trying out the book. I’ll definitely have to do a rewatch to catch all the differences!

Blurb

For five years the crew of the Palomino had ranged through deep space searching for evidence of alien life—with no result. Then, their mission almost at an end, they discovered a giant collapsar—the largest black hole ever encountered—and, drifting perilously near it, was the long-lost legendary starship Cygnus.

Incredibly, the ship was not a lifeless hulk. Its commander, the genius who had designed the Cygnus and planned its epic voyage, still survived, served by a horde of mechanical slaves. But Commander Reinhardt had no desire to be rescued. He had a rendezvous with the incredibly hellish forces of the collapsar—and he planned to take the Palomino’s crew along on his doomed adventure.

Review

This novelisation of The Black Hole was surprising for a lot of reasons, and I enjoyed it much more than I did the movie. Similarly to other sci-fi books of the 1970s such as Rendezvous with Rama and Ringworld, it follows a group of scientists/space explorers who come across something unusual that encapsulates the particular scientific concept the book wishes to explore. With Rama it was the O’Neill Cylinder, with Ringworld, it was the titular megastructure. The Black Hole is less focussed on the hard science and it’s less about the stellar remnant than it is the strange case of the starship Cygnus found strangely motionless near the black hole’s accretion disk. The book is actually more a blend of this trope and a space-based retelling of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

That’s not to say there isn’t surprisingly hard science in the book, though. A Disney property from 1979 wasn’t where I was expecting to find references to gravitational waves (predicted by General Relativity decades before, but only experimentally confirmed in 2015), and intermediate mass black holes (which are theorised because of the gap between stellar-mass black holes at 5–70 solar masses, and supermassive black holes starting at ~100,000 solar masses, but are yet to be confirmed—though there is strong evidence for their existence). The black hole in the novel is around 100 solar masses, putting it on the low end of the theorised intermediate range, making it a significant discovery worthy of the Palomino crew’s attention. The movie really doesn’t make very much of this and kind of gives the impression that the “science” of the story is more arrogant flights of fancy akin to some of Jules Verne’s megalomaniacal antagonists. Also on the hard science table was ESP, or extra-sensory perception. Now, hear me out: A lot of older sci-fi posits that ESP could be possible for humans to develop, and mostly it’s some kind of higher, evolved ability. Not so in The Black Hole. It’s purely a tech-based wireless communication implant with a direct brain interface that can help people communicate at a distance with robots. It suffices to say, I was impressed by the book’s attention to detail on these fronts.

In terms of characters, as is typical for the time, the male protagonists are almost cardboard cut-outs and copy-pastes of one another. The best variation in character we get is with the robot, Vincent, the brilliant scientist, Dr Kate McCrae, and with the Nemo-inspired antagonist, Commander Reinhardt. There’s much less sexism in this book than there was in the aforementioned novels by Niven and Clarke, though towards the end McCrae did unravel a bit—less so than the cowardly journalist, Harry Booth, however. With Captain Nemo as his template, Reinhardt was a superb antagonist, though much more villainous.

— — Spoiler Warning — —

In this section I’m going to talk briefly about the endings of the book and movie, which may constitute spoilers, even though the properties are over forty years old.

The ending of the book is very different to that of the movie. In both, the protagonists discover the secret behind the disappearance of the human crew of the Cygnus and set out to escape Reinhardt before he can put his plan into motion to plunge the starship into the black hole. But they’re too late and as the ship dives through the accretion disk, it takes catastrophic damage. It’s a long, harrowing sequence where the Palomino crew are cut off at every turn either by security sentinels trying to kill them, or by meteorite damage. The Palomino itself is destroyed by Reinhardt after an act of cowardice from Harry Booth, which also claims his life. So the rest of the crew need to get to the one singular lifeboat. In both, they make it, launch but are too late to get away from the pull of the black hole and so they fall in. This is where the movie and book diverge significantly, because in the movie they survive their strange trip through the black hole, emerging from a white hole and fly towards a planet. There’s a whole weird sequence in between in which Reinhardt fuses with his killer robot, Maximillian; there’s hellish landscapes and bright cathedrals and all sorts of imagery. In the book, however, they pass through the event horizon and are spaghettified as physics demands—they are atomised and their consciousnesses are spread across the universe as some kind of strange living/unliving debris. It’s far more esoteric and more akin to the weirdness of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s pretty bleak, too, as it’s essentially a poetic way of describing their deaths. I rather like that ending better than the movie’s.

— — End of Spoilers — —

The robots are brilliant. Vincent is a standout character, and Maximillian is a chilling villain. Bob is another robot like Vincent, but an older model, who manages to help the crew of the Palomino on account of Vincent. His character arc is really well done and heartbreaking.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novelisation. It’s very well-written, as expected of Alan Dean Foster, surprising in its scientiand does much better with the source material than the movie. By all rights, the movie, while campy and fun, was a huge disaster and the novelisation is absolutely the superior adaptation of the screenplay. If you’re going to consume one, I’d recommend this book (though it’s harder to get hold of than simply watching the movie on Disney+).

Experiencing the oldest story in the world. Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell.

I will fully admit I bought this on a complete whim. I’ve heard a lot in passing about the Epic of Gilgamesh variously as a piece of ancient literature and the progenitor of the Great Flood myth in the biblical book of Genesis, but I didn’t know the story, and I fancied reading it for myself. This version by Stephen Mitchell seemed to be the most accessible to someone like myself with zero knowledge of ancient languages. As soon as I got it, I dived right in. This is going to be a longer review because there’s so much to unpack here.

Blurb

Vivid, enjoyable and comprehensible, the poet and pre-eminent translator Stephen Mitchell makes the oldest epic poem in the world accessible for the first time.

Gilgamesh is a born leader, but in an attempt to control his growing arrogance, the Gods create Enkidu, a wild man, his equal in strength and courage. Enkidu is trapped by a temple prostitute, civilised through sexual experience and brought to Gilgamesh. They become best friends and battle evil together.

After Enkidu's death the distraught Gilgamesh sets out on a journey to find Utnapishtim, the survivor of the Great Flood, made immortal by the Gods to ask him the secret of life and death.

Gilgamesh is the first and remains one of the most important works of world literature. Written in ancient Mesopotamia in the second millennium B.C., it predates the Iliad by roughly 1,000 years. Gilgamesh is extraordinarily modern in its emotional power but also provides an insight into the values of an ancient culture and civilisation.

Review

First of all, this version of the Epic of Gilgamesh is very accessible. Stephen Mitchell has done a wonderful job transmitting the story in English poetic verse. The prose is beautiful and evocative, and—looking at the extensive translation notes at the back—not very far off from the original texts. This version is a cobbling together of the various forms the nearly 5000-year-old Epic has taken, mostly from what’s known as the Standard Version but filling the gaps with passages from the Sumerian, Hittite, and Old Babylonian versions.

The introduction to the book by Stephen Mitchell is unusual in that it is much longer than the Epic itself (in word count, at least), and it summarises the entire story with additional analyses and explanations for what’s going on. I thought that was very helpful. Then the text itself is split into eleven ‘books’ and was a joy to read due to the aforementioned accessibility of the language. Following this, at the back, are copious explanatory notes on the author’s creative choices, as well as example passages of more literal translations, and finally, a glossary.

I loved reading this; it was an utterly fascinating read and gives incredible insight into the attitudes of the ancient world towards storytelling, masculinity, sexuality, and spirituality. As someone deconstructing from a faith tradition, there was a lot in here that, if I had read this a long time ago, would have caused some discomfort in terms of my religious beliefs. Now being able to look at this text, and the biblical texts, through a less dogmatic lens, it becomes a lot more interesting to see the connections, developments, and cultural through-lines.

A lot of people focus on Gilgamesh’s Great Flood narrative being very similar to the story of Noah’s Ark in Genesis, even down to sending out the birds from the Ark to find dry land (and, Gilgamesh being the far older text, is the likely origin for the biblical version). While that’s certainly the case and it’s very interesting on its own, I hadn’t seen anyone mention that the verse Ecclesiastes 4:12, ‘A threefold cord is not quickly broken’ is also present here in an older form in Gilgamesh. Not only that, but the expression is given more context here than it is in the Bible, which simply gives it as an idiom (a lot of priests in wedding sermons have interpreted the threefold cord as symbolising the marriage relationship between man, woman, and God). But in the ancient Mesopotamian tale, Gilgamesh and Enkidu are psyching each other up to go fight the monster, Humbaba. Enkidu is afraid and wants to turn back but Gilgamesh says he cannot do it alone and that they will prevail if they fight side-by-side. He says then they will be as strong as two boats lashed together [because] a three-ply rope is not easily broken. The expression here becomes less about invoking the presence of the deity within a marriage (which isn’t supported by the biblical text either), but more about the value of teamwork and the strength of the bonds of intimate friendship. I had to look this up, but it seems that the scholarly consensus is that the author of Ecclesiastes was either quoting from Gilgamesh directly, or that by the time the biblical author was writing, the line had become a common expression, dropping the metaphor of the two boats. I like to think of it akin to modern idioms like, ‘the customer is always right,’ where we commonly omit, ‘in matters of taste’. The further we get in time from the full formulation of an expression, the easier it is for people to forget what it originally meant.

Gilgamesh is also far more homoerotic than I had expected. It shows a vast difference in attitudes towards sexuality and masculinity in the ancient world. And that does make sense if you think about it, because the ancient world didn’t hold the same ideas about sex and attraction that we have today. It was far more hierarchical, far more about social dominance. Sex in Gilgamesh is also treated as a civilising act, rather than a sin of the flesh, as sex with the priestess of Ishtar draws out Enkidu’s humanity from his prior animalistic nature. It’s natural, normal, and good, and the text is very blunt about it without an ounce of shame. There is clear implication in the text, and made even more explicit in contemporaneous supplementary material, that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were intimate companions. I guess in today’s verbiage you might say they’re pansexual and polyamorous, because they enjoy the company of women (mainly the priestesses in the temple of Ishtar, and Gilgamesh’s tyrannical behaviour before meeting Enkidu shows him having first dibs on every new wife in the city) but their friendship is so close that they are also lovers. Gilgamesh is distraught at the death of Enkidu and mourns him intensely and rather melodramatically. Masculine courage is also not stoic in nature, as Gilgamesh, though he is a strong giant and a great and mighty and tyrannical king, is utterly terrified of the monster Humbaba, and his fear of death is what drives him to seek after fame and immortality before he truly grows as a person.

Overall Gilgamesh is an astounding read for anyone interested in ancient literature, in the history of storytelling, and in archetypal quest narratives. Even though this does take the form of a quest tale, the Babylonian editor still manages to subvert the tropes of that style in some ways. It’s a thoroughly fascinating tale, made all the more digestible by the excellent prose work of Stephen Mitchell. I’d highly recommend it.

A solid sequel to The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern by Jendia Gammon writing as J. Dianne Dotson.

I received a free advance reader copy/uncorrected proof of The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel from the author. I very much enjoyed the first book in this lunarpunk sci-fantasy series—The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern and its wildly imaginative night-living world, so I was very grateful when Jendia reached out to offer an ARC of the sequel and I jumped in straightaway. Serving up another helping of immaculate lunarpunk vibes and spirited adventure. I really like the cover on this one even better than the first book, too. Stunning work.

Blurb

In the twilight world of Glimmerbight, fourteen-year-old Gen Lightworth dreams of restoring the Inn at the Amethyst Lantern. But an ancient evil’s lingering scars awaken new threats from unexpected corners.

Summoned by the mysterious Gallant Twilight Society—a network of heroic animals—Gen journeys beneath the waves into hidden lairs pulsing with bioluminescent secrets. With her loyal team, the Fireflies, she confronts lost legacies, mutated monsters, and shadowy figures from the past.

When a vibrant yet unsettling new apothecary arrives, secrets multiply and trust frays. And as danger closes in, Gen learns the true weight of leadership and the strength of friendship.

Filled with wonder, bravery, and the luminous bonds of community, The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel continues the saga begun at The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern. Join this unforgettable adventure where light battles darkness and friends must navigate mysteries beneath the stars.

Review

A solid and enjoyable sequel, The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel is a fun YA romp through a beautifully immersive post-apocalyptic lunarpunk world. We pick back up with Gen Lightworth mere weeks after the events of the previous book when the town of Glimmerbight is trying to get back a sense of normalcy. There is work to be done at the Inn and the teens have to go back to school, but the monsters are still out there and the town’s protections are failing. Mysterious new arrivals in town stir Gen and the Fireflies’ suspicions.

The world of the ancients expands as Gen and her friends try to find a solution for the failing power source in the Inn. I particularly liked Gen’s growth throughout the book, and her interactions with Styx. As much as she learned in the previous book, she still gets things wrong and jumps to conclusions. But in the process she learns how to be a better leader and use her friends’ strengths more effectively. The supporting cast was just as vibrant and fun as the first book. I wasn’t too sure of the subplot with Jas and his affliction, however, as while it hung over the characters, nothing much came of it beyond Gen checking his dosimeter. I really enjoyed the talking animals of the Gallant Twilight Society, though—it would be cool to see more of them.

The action overall was great, and I could follow what was happening easily. The monsters were creepy and lightly unsettling. And I loved seeing more of the Inn at the Amethyst Lantern. The final battle was bombastic and brought all the characters into play in interesting ways. But I think this is where I’m not quite the target audience as I could feel the story pulling its punches a bit, probably for age considerations, and it reduced the tension for me.

Overall, good fun and I’d still recommend it for all the same reasons I recommended the first book: For anyone looking for climate change sci-fantasy in the YA space, or just generally for a whimsical fantasy adventure. I hear there’s a prequel in the works, so I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for that.

The second of two action-packed short story prequels to Barry Ryerson’s The Magic Circle.

Recently I reviewed Origins: The Secret Agent, the first of two short story prequels to The Magic Circle, that one giving backstory on Yevgeny, a key POV character from the main novel. Origins: The Hacker, goes back even further in time and follows the origin story of the main antagonist of the novel. I’ve said before how much I enjoyed The Magic Circle, so I was eager to jump into these short stories and get some more in the Celestial Chronicles universe. I went straight into The Hacker straight after The Secret Agent, reading them both in a single day.

Blurb

Decades after nuclear war, magic returns.

But how did the war start in the first place?

Follow a young hacker as his fight for freedom takes him down dark paths and towards an insatiable desire to make South Africa great, no matter the cost to anyone else.

Review

So, first of all, The Hacker is the superior of the two short stories by far. More than that, it’s bloody excellent. It’s so dark and full of tension, and Wikus’s corruption arc is brilliantly portrayed. Here in this story we go back in time even further in the continuity of the series, right to where the events that serve as the backdrop for the main novel took place. The depiction of Wikus, his tumultuous family dynamics, and the events that led him down his dark path were thoroughly engaging.

The plot was tight and immersive, and it absolutely stuck the ending. As always, Barry’s writing is vivid and enjoyable, and Wikus is a brilliant character.

If there’s only room for one of these short stories on your e-reader then this is the one to prioritise, though I’m not sure why there would be. Both of these short stories add a great deal of extra richness to the world that Barry has created and I would highly recommend them both.

One of two action-packed short story prequels to Barry Ryerson’s The Magic Circle.

I really enjoyed reading The Magic Circle. I thought it was a really solid, action-packed adventure, mixing magic and sci-fi in a believable way. You can read my full review of it here. So naturally, eager for more in this universe, I was excited to delve into the two short story prequels, starting with Origins: The Secret Agent. I like the idea of these short prequels, as they allow the reader to have not just more of what they loved from the main story, but to go deeper into the backstory of some of the characters, and The Secret Agent provides some of that for Yevgeny.

Blurb

Decades after nuclear war, magic returns.

For Yevgeny Arafyev, this means using his powers to help the Russian Orthodox Church as a secret agent. Though young, he is chosen for his first mission: recruit a girl who, like him, is gifted with powers.

Or kill her if she refuses.

Follow Yevgeny on his first mission as he does whatever it takes to not fail for once.

Review

It was great to get some more backstory for Yevgeny, one of the main POV characters from The Magic Circle. Here we meet him years before the events of the main story, about to embark on his first mission for the Russian Orthodox Church and struggling for the acceptance of his peers. Yevgeny is a complex character, morally grey, ruthless, and desperate.

I enjoyed his arc in this story as he goes from humble beginnings failing over and over again at training, to being thrust into the true dangers of a real-life mission. As in The Magic Circle his role is to find people with magical abilities and convince them to join the church in their mission, or to kill them if they refuse.

His mark in this story is a relatively minor character who shows up in The Magic Circle, but who has remarkable abilities that makes the mission a lot harder than he first thought it would be. The adventure was great fun, and it truly showed the dangers of the post-apocalyptic environment that the series is set in. Although I wasn’t completely sold on the ending. I wonder if the character he went after wasn’t quite the right character for this—it provided a solid tie into the main novel, but it swapped a truly satisfying conclusion for intrigue. It would certainly make me want to read The Magic Circle if I hadn’t already, so in that sense, it accomplished what it was meant to do. But that doesn’t quite work in the other direction.

I’d still highly recommend it, though. Barry’s writing is very vivid and enjoyable, and Yevgeny is a stellar character.

Bounty Inc. is the first book in the Bounty Inc. universe by Adam Holcombe

It’s a real privilege to be able to share this cover reveal on the blog and spotlight a fellow indie author.

Adam Holcombe is the author of the Chronicles of Gam Gam series, and the Bounty Inc. universe which will be a collective of sci-fi novels spanning a galaxy. I have really loved the Chronicles of Gam Gam so far—just check out my reviews of A Necromancer Called Gam Gam, and The Wishing Stone. So it’s an honour to be able to help share the cover for Adam’s newest book and the jumping off point for a whole new sci-fi series.

Cover Reveal & Blurb

A dream lives on while a will is strong, but a significant inheritance from a recently-deceased father sure helps too.

When Wyn throws away his easy life to open the galaxy's first bounty hunter organization and become a bounty hunter himself, he soon learns that a strong support system will be needed. A support system like an unwise mentor, her giant lizard ex-girlfriend, a woman trapped within her armor, a suspicious cyborg, a possible war criminal, several thousand beetles, and a ten-year-old insectoid with a pet.

Money is never endless, however, and Wyn will need to lead his new friends down a dangerous path to prove Bounty Inc.'s worth and keep his dream alive.

Release Date: 15 October 2025

About the Author

Adam Holcombe daylights as a programmer and moonlights as an author. After spending years toying with the idea of writing, he decided to commit and work toward releasing his first novel. Then Gam Gam got in the way, and now he's writing too many stories to count.

When he’s not locking himself in a cold basement to type away, he can be found squishing his dog (but not too hard), squawking at his tortoise (but not too loudly), goofing off with his wife and daughter (in perfectly ordinary, non-weird ways), playing D&D with friends (I'm playing a character now!), or the usual chilling at home. He is a lover of books, board games, video games, and swords.

He is the author of the Chronicles of Gam Gam series featuring the titular necromantic grandmother Gam Gam, and the Bounty Inc. universe which will be a collective of sci-fi novels spanning a galaxy. You can find out more about both series, along with future publishing news, and additional book content at bountyink.com. Onto the next one!

The fantastic sequel to cozy fantasy hit, A Necromancer Called Gam Gam by Adam Holcombe.

A Necromancer Called Gam Gam was one of my favourite books I read last year—An unlikely blend of knitting, kindness, and raising the decaying undead that took me on an emotional journey exploring loss and grief. So when The Wishing Stone was announced, I was so ready for another foray into this big warm hug of a world. And, spoilers for the review below, but I think this one really does top the first.

Blurb

A mythical relic believed to have the ability to grant any wish.

A map, leading the way through ancient and sealed catacombs.

Gam Gam's return to Capital City is not what she expected when she stumbles upon her first clue to the Wishing Stone's whereabouts. Joined by Mina and her new friend Emil, along with the undead retinue of Nugget, Sloughy, and Gerald, they set out to uncover secrets that could unravel more than just their lives.

Review

The Wishing Stone is an excellent sequel in every regard. For me, towards the end it became quite reminiscent of the first Mistborn book (the only one of that initial trilogy I’ve read so far) but far more satisfying in its execution. I loved Mina’s character arc and progression, and the newly introduced characters like Emil were brilliant. And there’s POV segments for Nugget! That’s the most important part for sure; he’s amazing. I’m now an unashamed Nugget stan.

Gam Gam, Mina, and Emil’s quest for the titular Wishing Stone was really engaging and I was not expecting the plot to twist the way that it did. There’s plenty of action, intrigue, and gut-wrenching emotional moments, but the story still manages to be a warm knitted blanket. Gam Gam is an absolute gem.

I loved the extension and exploration of Mina’s powers, and the deeper dive into the lore of the Eternal Empire. The Empire was largely a backdrop in the first book, but it takes centre-stage here, and the way the consequences of Mina and Gam Gam’s actions play directly in to this sequel were very well done.

The book’s pacing is spot-on and flows really nicely and I think this sequel improves upon the first book in a lot of ways. Bravo! I can’t wait to read more in the Chronicles of Gam Gam. This has definitely been one of my favourite reads this year.

A poignant and somewhat scarily prescient short story collection from Conrad Altmann.

I had the privilege of beta reading one of the short stories—Luminite Ascending—that made it into this collection. That one was brilliant, and at the time I didn’t realise Conrad was looking to make a collection. So when Moral Laundry came out, I was really looking forward to checking out the other stories. On top of being an excellent sci-fi writer whom I have beta read for a couple of times now (I really must re-read Metanoeia and review it for the blog, that was so good), Conrad is a graphic designer, and his minimalist covers are always really striking. This one for Moral Laundry with the icons down the middle representing each story is so cool.

Blurb

This collection of seven short stories stems from a dire outlook on the future of humanity, though there are rays of hope interspersed. Figures of authority are faced with profit or morality, the lonely find companionship in an unlikely space, a young boy learns that what was once beautiful to him holds a deeper and more somber meaning that he alone must carry, and a young actor reconciles to a normality that may leave him without an identity.

Review

The seven short stories in Moral Laundry are pretty hard hitting and, like a lot of the great works of classic sci-fi, represent a scarily prescient social commentary and near-future extrapolations of present technology. Selfie™ Day, As the Cat Farts,
and Yobitsugi in particular focus on the new boom of generative AI, extrapolating the technology’s unwelcome encroachment to several logical end-points that would seem ridiculous if they weren’t happening before our very eyes. For instance, Yobitsugi is the story of the identities and personalities of the deceased being stolen by tech giants to feed their AIs and create chatbot companions. An unbelievable concept just a year or so ago. But now we have people mourning the “loss” of their AI companions with the latest update to ChatGPT. Yobitsugi hits that right between the eyes and shows it for what it is.

The other stories such as Luminite Ascending, the titular Moral Laundry, and Water Baron are more generally anti-capitalist and take strong swings at the energy crisis, manufactured water shortage, and privatised prison systems. They’re all great reads that leave their endings open purposefully for maximum impact. I’d love to read more in the universe of Luminite Ascending, though.

I think my favourite story of the bunch was Planetshroud, a very emotional short in which a father explains to his son about where auroras come from. It got pretty dark, and honestly had me tearing up.

Overall, Moral Laundry is a great short story collection with good, solid, classic sci-fi. I’d definitely recommend this to any dystopian sci-fi fans.

Buffy vibes. A fun and romantic supernatural short story from Rebecca Crunden.

Gotta love long titles for short stories. On Demon Wrangling and Interpersonal Relationships Between Weary Immortals is certainly eye-catching and intriguing, and that’s what got me to pick it up. Also because I have read several of Rebecca’s short stories at this point and knew I was in for a treat. Vampyres and Witches make for strange bedfellows, and especially since I’ve been watching What We Do In The Shadows recently. Just demon-hunting good vibes and gals being pals.

Blurb

Demelza, a world-weary witch, and Uliana, an even more exhausted vampyre, work together – and against convention – to send wayward demons, ghosts and otherworldly creatures back to where they came from. But some jobs are more difficult than others.

Review

This was a really heartfelt and warming tale about a demon hunting odd-couple, both just trying to stave off the weariness of immortality (or near-immortality) by finding what they need in each other’s company. Demelza and Uliana are great characters and you really care for them as they take jobs around the world sending malicious supernatural creatures back to their home universes. There’s a clear mature romance between the two characters and Rebecca does so well at weaving these complex relationships into these tiny books. I would love to see more written in this universe, like a monster of the week episodic series from the 90s. It fits the Buffy the Vampire Slayer aesthetic so well. Again, like with Rebecca’s other shorts, the story was not long, but immediately investing, and the ending was very satisfying.

A deliciously creepy yet cathartic dark fairy tale from Rebecca Crunden.

Rebecca Crunden’s short stories and novellas are always a great time. I expected no different from Bailuchien, and I am pleased to say I was right on the money. Unfortunately at the time of writing this review, Bailuchien has been taken down temporarily, which makes posting the review to Amazon and Goodreads somewhat tricky (I literally cant, lmao). So definitely share this review around as much as you can! Also, I’m sure once it’s back up for sale, it’ll be even better than when I read it.

Blurb

In the midst of a famine that’s orphaned her and her sister, young Saorlaith Baker goes to the cemetery and calls upon Bailuchien, a spirit of the forest, for protection. Bailuchien takes pity upon the young girl and agrees to protect her for a small price. But for her sister’s protection, Saorlaith must give something more. Something bloody.

Review

This short story was utterly delightful. For a horror story, it’s not scary at all, but to the contrary, it gets you rooting for the protagonists as they carry out the terms of their dark and horrifying contract with Bailuchien the forest spirit. Like in the story, Saorlaith and her sister are heroes to those with a shred of empathy and strong sense of justice, but nightmarish ghouls to those who exploit and abuse and take advantage of others. Definitely more anti-heroes that reminded me a bit of Spawn.

Bailuchien is extremely short at about 19 pages but it had great pacing and prose as I’ve come to expect from Rebecca. It’s dark, for sure, but it put a grin on my face whenever a villain got their comeuppance.

An easy recommendation.

A strikingly well-written prequel novella to B.S.H. Garcia’s Heart of Quinaria series.

Continuing my read-through of SFINCS novellas, next up is B.S.H. Garcia’s From the Depths, which was a finalist in the second year’s contest. For ages I thought it was in the first one, but in putting together this review I realised that while Garcia had a book in SFINCS 1, it was From the Ashes, which I have not yet read. My bad! Anyway, From the Depths is a cracking novella and well worth the read, but it wasn’t quite my cup of tea.

Blurb

The world can sustain the needs of many, but the greed of a few can destroy it for all.

In a life steeped in peril, the Brune family has thrived on the knife’s edge. Renowned for their smuggling and bounty exploits, Konar and Karliah’s parents command both respect and fear. Comfortable yet haunted, the family faces the constant threat of perilous assignments, leaving scars that even a parent’s protective embrace can’t heal.

Still, Konar dreams of scholarly pursuits, and Karliah sees the world as something ripe for the taking. When the emperor dangles an irresistible offer—a job to end their dangerous pursuits forever—the Brunes seize the chance. But there’s a catch: the item in question is little more than a myth, deemed impossible to find.

As the family embarks on the voyage of a lifetime, their bonds are tested like never before. Locating and securing the prize will require sacrifices beyond measure, and when your family is in the business of pirating, trust is the greatest myth of all.

From the Depths is a prequel novella that takes place roughly a thousand years prior to the events in Of Thieves and Shadows—volume one in the epic fantasy series, The Heart of Quinaria.

Review

From the Depths is a really great pirate adventure novella. It’s set in the secondary world of the wider Heart of Quinaria series, and follows Konar and Karliah, children of a well-known and respected pirate family, as their parents are sent by the emperor on a quest to recover a magical artefact. The plot was compelling and the characters are all shades of grey. Brigands with big hearts, ruthless cutthroats, and dearest friends you couldn’t trust with your lunch, let alone your life. On top of all that, the prose is excellent and beautiful, though it is rather dense and heavily descriptive.

Konar and Karliah were both really good characters. Their shifting perspectives, especially with the age difference between them, was interesting and very well done. And none of the other characters felt superfluous to the story either. Every one of them was compelling.

The only real barrier I had to fully enjoying this novella is the fact that I didn’t know the world. There’s a lot of heavy worldbuilding going on, and to an extent I liked that the author didn’t handhold but relied on me as a reader to put everything together. For the most part I could do that perfectly fine—I don’t need to have everything explained to understand what’s going on. There’s a lot of context clues, and there’s a great glossary at the back for reference. But it did feel like I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the other books in the series first. There were some things I couldn’t parse very well, such as the nature of the main characters. I got from the context that they were nonhuman, but that’s about as much as I understood. There were a lot of references to the different species, languages, cities, nations and more, and it did get a little confusing.

That’s not to say it’s bad by any means, and certainly don’t take my word for it; I’m not the brightest bulb in the bread basket. All the ingredients were here for a great story, everything that ought to have ticked my boxes, and they basically did. And I think that—especially if you are familiar with The Heart of Quinaria—you’ll have an outstanding time with From the Depths. You’ll get some important backstory for the world and have great fun doing it. I’m just not sure it holds as well as a standalone.

A dark and melancholy fantasy novella from Timothy Wolff.

First of all, let me just say that The Whisper that Replaced God is a hell of a title for a book. Kudos on that. And now, having read it and fully understanding the reference, it still hits really hard but in a much more poignant way. And the cover is brilliant as well. What a way to draw you in. This continues my read-through of some of the SFINCS novellas, and The Whisper that Replaced God was a finalist in the second year’s contest!

Blurb

Murder is just, so long as it serves the crown.

Hidden behind a mask and with a dagger in his sheath, Mute serves the crown with pride. A fair life, if not a monotonous one. But his next contract nicks too close, for murder within a brothel is always nasty business, especially the one which Mute frequents. The brothel his Dorothy works, his Dorothy who awaits Mute and only Mute. Surely none would dare touch her, for if they did, royalty or not, they would fall to Lord Mute, the Silent God's chosen one. They would scream…

And not a sound would be heard.

Review

An excellent novella utterly dripping with style, The Whisper that Replaced God is an absolute must for dark fantasy fans. It’s really well-written, and I loved the tongue-in-cheek fourth-wall breaking moments. It’s written in the first person and goes all-in on a fireside storytelling style. Lord Mute was a great POV character and unreliable narrator with all his flaws, delusions, and melancholy.

The story strays somewhat into cosmic horror territory with the reality of the Silent God, and it there is enough mystery and intrigue and subtle world building here that it gets you fully immersed. I really enjoyed it.

Lord Mute is so very melancholy that you’d be forgiven for thinking the book would be somewhat dour, but there’s so much personality that it never feels dull. He lives a miserable life, and he rarely makes the best of it, simply resigned to being the king’s superpowered assassin. He’s also totally delusional and a creepy aristocrat. I loved the journey he went on, and the ending was a great setup for the rest of the series.

Overall, a great read with great worldbuilding and oozing with character. Highly recommended.

There’s plenty to sink your teeth into this Indie August, with sales and bundles galore.

Indie August often plays second-fiddle to its earlier cousin, Indie April, but it shouldn’t! It’s just as impactful for indie authors as the spring event, and this year, it’s determined to prove it. As usual, my books are involved in some of the big sales this month so I thought it would be helpful to list them all out in one blog post for reference, rather than spam multiple throughout the month. The first one’s coming up really soon—just this week, in fact!

The Epic Sale of Beloved SFF | August 7—11

Hosted by Noor Al-Shanti. There will be over 100 recommended books on sale, each with a recommendation from someone who loved it! The sale will also include 50+ additional books including many sequels and even some complete series. And there will be SPFBO and SPSFC books including some finalists and semi-finalists. During this sale, The Re-Emergence will be discounted to just 0.99 or equivalent in all ebook retailers.

Bookmark the Sale Page: talesfromthecircle.com/epicsale2025.html

First In Series Speculative Fiction Itch.io Bundle | August 9—15

Hosted by Niranjan. You can get From the Grave of the Gods and 30 other speculative fiction books bundled together for only $31! At a dollar per book that’s an absolute steal. This one is only available from Itch.io.

Bookmark the Bundle Page: itch.io/b/3216/start-a-new-adventure

Short Story/Novella Itch.io Bundle | August 17—21

Hosted by Niranjan. This is the first time I’m including The God Sun in an Itch.io bundle, so you can get that plus a whole bunch of other short stories/novellas all together at a special discounted price. This one is only available from Itch.io.

Bundle Page to be confirmed—watch out on the socials, as I’ll be posting about it.

The Narratess Indie Book Sale | August 23—25

Hosted by Tessa Hastjarjanto of Narratess. Another chance to get From the Grave of the Gods, on its own this time, for just 0.99 or equivalent from all ebook retailers. As usual there will likely be hundreds of incredible books from a wide array of talented indie authors. There will be books at three different discount levels: 1.99, 0.99, or Free, so it’s always well worth going through the whole list and grabbing a stack. Every sale helps and goes directly to supporting authors, letting us continue to write the stories you love.

Bookmark the Sale Page: indiebook.sale

There’s going to be so many great indie books on sale or in bundles this month it’s mind-boggling. The Epic Sale of Beloved SFF and Narratess sale will both feature a wide array of individual books to pick up from remarkable authors, so I really recommend you check them out. I’ll be posting about them plenty on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, and Instagram as the sales continue. So watch this space.

Then, after Indie August is over, Niranjan is likely to host another Itch.io bundle for Second in Series Speculative Fiction as a follow-up to this month’s one, and there will be spooky stuff as we approach October. So there will be lots of great opportunities to support authors going forward.