I've just finished reading William Gibson's latest novel Spook Country, a fragmented, leisurely paced, ultimately unsatisfying intelligence thriller about a group of disparate characters searching for a mysterious cargo container from Iraq. While it does feature present day virtual reality technology and GPS, there's not an ounce of real science fiction in it - no matter what William Gibson would have you believe.

"Personally I think that contemporary reality is sufficiently science fiction for me," Gibson told Reuters when asked why his last two books, Pattern Recognition and Spook Country, had moved away from science fiction. "Some critics are already maintaining that science fiction is a sort of historical category and it is not possible any more," he said.

In an earlier interview with CNN in 1997 he was more direct in expressing his belief that science fiction is already with us:

"I actually feel that science fiction's best use today is the exploration of contemporary reality rather than any attempt to predict where we are going… Earth is the alien planet now."

So the man who coined the phrase "Cyberspace" appears to believe that present day reality is so much like science fiction already that writing about the present is the same as writing science fiction?

In Dreamers of the Day Mary Doria Russell gives us the story of Agnes Shanklin, observer and unlikely participant in the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference which saw the modern Middle East take shape. If it is possible to pinpoint a moment in time from which to explain the conflicts now raging in the Middle East, it is this one. And if ever you need evidence that Russell is a master story teller, consider this: the narrative traces the threads of conflict in the region today to decisions made at the 1921 Conference, decisions by the Super Powers of the day (Britain and France) that reveal a startlingly familiar motivation, namely the desire to control the supply of oil. All of which is wrapped up in a compelling narrative about a woman’s mid life crisis!

So why is SFFMedia reviewing what appears to be historical fiction? One answer might be that Agnes is in fact a fictional character situated in a historical setting and for that reason the novel could very loosely be described as a historical fantasy. More relevantly however, Russell does employ the fantastic, although for a purely practical purpose: through a sleight of hand that I won’t give away, she allows her fictional narrator (born circa 1880) to recount her life and through observation compare her times to ours:

I suppose I ought to warn you at the outset that my present circumstances are puzzling, even to me. Nevertheless, I am sure of this much: my little story has become your history. You won’t really understand your times until you understand mine.

Dora Machado’s debut novel, Stonewiser: The Heart of the Stone, is an accomplished adult fantasy, entertaining and thought provoking in equal measure. Due out in June, this is a page-turner with heart and deserves to find a wide readership. Read our review of the novel.

Through the generosity of Mermaid Press and Dora Machado we have two signed copies of the novel to give away. Details of the competition can be found at the end of this interview.

The novel raises many interesting questions and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to put some of them to the author:

Between truth and deception, between justice and abuse, a Stonewiser stands alone with the stones... Or so begins the Stonewiser's oath. But what happens when a rebellious Stonewiser discovers that lies have tainted the stone tales? In Stonewiser: The Heart of the Stone, Dora Machado creates a spell-binding combination of action, adventure, intrigue and romance, set against a vivid, imaginative and timeless background.

So much for the press release and if that doesn't grab you, read no further, because on this occasion the publicity is remarkably close to the truth.

As with many additions to the fantasy genre nowadays (and as far back as I can recall) there's much that is familiar here: a rugged, taciturn Roamer, faintly reminiscent of Tolkien's Strider, and corruption or Rot in the land recalling Donaldson's Thomas Covenant. The ghost of Frank Herbert's Dune haunts these pages too, with a will-o'-the-whisp whiff of the Bene Gesserit in Machado's Guild, and a Fremen-like people, the New Blood, with their ecological mission to repair the blasted land, fierce loyalty and exceptional fighting skills.

Nonetheless, Machado's creation is far from imitative and she has found something fresh to add to this mix. In a world devastated by the Rot's widespread destruction, history and law - the very foundations of truth and justice - are quite literally preserved in stone. Only the Guild and its Stonewisers are able to read and interpret the stones: in a state of trance, gripping the stones in their hands, the Stonewisers experience visions of the past preserved as virtual realities.

Robert Charles Wilson’s Darwinia is as near perfect as fiction comes. It’s literary, intelligent and entertaining in equal measure. Rarely does a writer get it this right. Wilson’s characters are complex and believable, the prose is frequently beautiful, and he has an eye for original imagery wrapped up in an exquisitely apt turn of phrase: consider how the urbane but amoral Timothy Crane slides into the ranks of Washington’s elite “like a gilded suppository”.

You’ve got to smile.

Although Darwinia was a finalist in the 1999 Hugos, the award for Best SF novel that year went to Connie Willis’s To Say Nothing of the Dog. Willis also took first place in the Locus Poll for Best SF Novel. Darwinia came second. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Well, almost always. Darwinia did take first place in the Aurora Awards, Canada’s award for Canadian writers of science fiction and fantasy. Wilson has lived in Canada since age 9.

Critically acclaimed writer Gregory Frost has been nominated for every major fantasy award. His latest novel Shadowbridge was released in January and will be concluded in Lord Tophet, due out in June.  If you’re generally impatient for answers, wait for the sequel before setting out on this journey because not only does the first part end with one humdinger of a cliffhanger, it poses far more questions about this intriguing world than it answers. But whether you wait or jump in, this is one journey well worth the undertaking.

Shadowbridge is remarkable for several reasons, all of which would be worth discussing here, many of which have been commented on elsewhere: Frost's superb prose style, the Scheherazade motif of tales within tales, and so on. But what particularly struck me was the refreshing way in which that old fantasy chestnut, the Quest, is handled. For much of the novel Frost pursues a non-linear timeline that effectively challenges our jaded expectations of the fantasy Quest: we’re introduced to the novel’s sixteen year old protagonist, Leodora, well into her journey, return to her past, pick up the threads of a seemingly parallel tale about Diverus, a musician gifted by the gods, only to find ourselves back in Leodora’s present. Two thirds of the way through the novel we're back at the start!

Arthur C. Clarke, author of over 100 fiction and non-fiction books, has died at age 90. Regarded as one of science fiction's leading lights, Clarke is perhaps best known for the ground breaking 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on Clarke's short story The Sentinel.

"Sir Arthur passed away a short while ago at the Apollo Hospital," said Rohan de Silva, Clarke's personal assistant. "He had a cardio-respiratory attack."

Born in Minehead, Somerset, England on 16 December 1917, he had made Sri Lanka his home since 1956. Clarke had battled post-polio syndrome since the 1960s.

Gary Gygax, father of RPGs (Role Playing Games, for those of you from another dimension), sadly passed away on the morning of 4 March 2008 at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, aged 69.

Author and game designer, Gygax was responsible with Dave Arneson for the creation of the gaming system Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).  In 1973 Gygax founded Tactical Studies Rules (TSR, Inc.) with Don Kaye, publishing the first version of D&D in 1974, the seminal and most popular RPG system ever to captivate the imagination of its players.

Besides his wife, Gail, Gary Gygax is survived by six children.

I propose that those of us who have whiled away glorious days, weeks and months in the universes inspired by the genius of the man, take out and roll our four sided dice and pass 1d4 minutes silence in tribute: vale Gary Gygax!

With a career spanning two decades, British writer Peter F. Hamilton is one of today’s most prominent authors in the science fiction field. He is renowned worldwide for his production of complex and vibrant space opera novels, and with over a dozen acclaimed books under his belt, he’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Hamilton was born in 1960 in England, where he still lives, and sold his first story in 1988 to Fear Magazine. His debut novel Mindstar Rising was published five years later. He then went on to write A Quantum Murder and The Nano Flower.

The main protagonist in these three books is Greg Mandel, a detective with psychic powers. Filled with scientific inventions and strong political and social commentary, the novels (also known as the Greg Mandel Trilogy) received some criticism for their portrayal of a near-future Britain run by a left-wing authoritarian regime. Of course, these are far from the first novels to use such a background – for example, George Orwell’s famous novel 1984 as well as Alan Moore’s highly praised graphic novel V for Vendetta employ similar dystopic settings – and Hamilton explained in an interview with British SF magazine SFX that he chose the setting to make people question their presumptions, arguing that it would be simplistic to portray the former British government as authoritarian.

Hugo and Nebula awards are presented annually for achievements in science fiction and fantasy literature. 

The Hugo award, named in honour of one of the founders of magazine science fiction in the US, Hugo Gernback, is determined by popular vote of members of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). There are four award categories: novel, novella, novelette, and short story.

The Nebula award in contrast is determined by votes of members of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), and, as the name suggests, includes fantasy works. Founded by Damian Knight, the SFWA is a non-profit organisation with over 1,200 writers, artists and editors in its ranks. There are five award categories: novel, novella, novelette, short story and script.

Hugo and Nebula award winner lists are a great resource if you're looking for that unread gem and since they're voted on yearly, there's always something new to explore.

In particular, check out the books that have won dual Hugo and Nebula awards (highlighted in orange), such as Arthur C Clarke's The Foundations of Paradise, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed. The Dispossessed has always been at the top of my list of science fiction classics.

Other stand out books are Gateway by Frederik Pohl, Ringworld by Larry Niven, and American Gods by Neil Gaiman, the most recent dual award winner.

Surprisingly, while Frank Herbert won a Nebula for Dune in 1965, none of the other six books in the classic Dune series would ever win a Hugo or Nebula.

Hugos were first awarded in 1953, while Nebula awards began in 1965. If votes resulted in a tie in any particular year, the two works have been highlighted in blue.

Bestselling British author Richard Morgan had been writing for a long time without seeing anything of his work in print, but when Gollancz published Altered Carbon Morgan was suddenly a major star on the spaceship-clogged sky of science fiction literature.

Altered Carbon is a titanium-coated murder mystery, with a noir, edgy atmosphere similar to the mood found in many works by William Gibson and Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Introducing protagonist Takeshi Kovacs, who reappears in other works by Morgan, this novel offers a bleak, violent future described in a streetwise yet poetic voice. Morgan’s various futuristic renderings of Earth (and other planets) are typically dystopic, with cruel and aggressive corporations in control of much of society. In addition, the merciless tactics and implications of military force are also addressed in many ways, often from a critical point of view. But while his work features many elements found in novels that glorify war and violence, Morgan’s work uses his characters to illustrate the atrocities of brutality from the inside. In that way, his books are compelling and insightful statements against violence...

Every review of The Somnambulist I’ve read begins by quoting the novel’s opening paragraph, an extremely critical review of the book by its own narrator. I’m going to resist the temptation to do the same. Suffice it to say that the narrator’s criticism of his own work (or her own work – we don’t know for some time who the narrator is) is an amusing tease that sets the scene for a sustained attack on our expectations. The Somnambulist is Jonathan Barnes’ debut novel and it is an absolute ripper! This is a masterfully written novel, witty, sometimes hilarious, sometimes grotesque, and at times quite moving. Although, be warned: our narrator confesses that he (or she), will have occasion to lie to us.

So, naturally, I’m now going to quote the opening paragraph:

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Hurin is a dark and tragic story. A tale of faerie it might be, but this is certainly no fairy tale! Too grim to be enchanting, it does however enthrall with horrific fascination as it draws the reader forcefully to the inevitable, terrible conclusion. So, a warning: if you’re looking for an experience akin to reading The Hobbit, don’t fool yourself: as you read the Children of Hurin you’ll probably only ever crack a smile in appreciation of the prose. There’s not a laugh in it.

Having said that, you’ll be doing yourself a favour if you do seek out this refashioned jewel from Tolkien.

For those who tried reading The Silmarillion but found it impenetrable, this could be the way back into what is universe building at its very best...

The urge to read Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson’s continuation of Frank Herbert’s Dune series is a bit like the urge to purchase a lotto ticket. Buying the ticket makes sense because what you’re gaining is the thrill of anticipation. What makes very little sense is checking your numbers as your chance of being disappointed is infinitely greater than your chance of actually winning. Checking your numbers is frankly a complete waste of time.

Almost...

China Mieville has written some of the most profound and imaginative dark fantasy since Mervyn Peake and, perhaps more successfully than anyone writing in (or out) of genre, has captured the sheer size and multi-layered complexity of the Big City from London in King Rat to the unforgettable sprawl of New Crobuzon in Perdido Street Station. Successful author and academic, Mieville is also a political activist, member of the British Socialist Workers Party, and occasional contributor to The Socialist Review. In January he contributed a sardonic article called The Struggle for Intergalactic Socialism, a title that encapsulates his political and genre interests - Trotskyism and SF.

American writer Kurt Vonnegut has died aged 84.

Vonnegut is best know for his science fiction classics Slaughterhouse 5, The Sirens of Titan, and Player Piano.

His unconventional style and savage wit appealed to many. He started writing after witnessing the firebombing of Dresden in 1945 as a prisoner of war in the closing stages of World War II. His war experiences were used extensively in the novel Slaughterhouse Five.

He would go on to write 14 novels.