+ SHIP’S LIBRARY +
+ The Ship’s Library is an essential reading list of books, comics and magazines for those long haul interplanetary flights.
+ If it’s on the list, it has either been read or about to be (there are only so many hours in the day).
+ Books +
>Abnett, Dan
Horus Rising
The Horus Heresy – #1
Book 1 of the Horus Heresy, the long-running series of betrayal in the 31st Millennium from Games Workshop. My signed copy sat on my bookshelf for ages, forgotten until someone urged me to read it. To start Horus Rising should not be undertaken lightly. You set out upon a road of over 30 books and counting, written by a selection of excellent authors including; Graham McNeill, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Gav Thorpe to name a few. The world of Warhammer 40,000 is a place well worth spending time in. Whether you start out and read, read, read, or dip in and out between other reads, no Science Fiction library can ever be complete without this series.
>Asher, Neal
Gridlinked
Agent Cormac – #1
First in the Agent Cormac series and kicks its off with a blinding introduction
Brass Man
Agent Cormac – #2
Second in the Agent Cormac series. This book contains my all time favourite character – Mr Crane. It details how Mr Crane became Mr Crane and why he is Mr Crane. A masterpiece.
Dark Intelligence (2015)
This is the latest book from Neil Asher and it is a very good one. Set in the Polity universe, it brings what has gone before into itself and expands to produce what is a great story of black Artificial Intelligence. I had read the first two books of the series before I picked this up, upon its publication and fell straight under its spell. Great characters in a great setting.
> Corey, James S. A.
Leviathan Wakes
The Expanse – #1
Space opera – now reading…
> Dick, Philip K.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
A masterwork of Science Fiction with Cyberpunk & Noir undertones that spawned the film; Blade Runner.
>Dietz, William C.
Legion of the Damned
A Legion Of The Damned novel – #1
Military SF – criminals or the terminally ill at the point of death, are given a choice; die or join the ranks of the Legion of the Damned. If they elect to join the Legion, they become Cyborgs or bio-enhanced humans. The beauty of it is that the Legion is that its lineage can be traced back to the French Foreign Legion. Genious! Aliens are attacking, the Legion has to defend – what’s not to like?
The Final Battle [Adult content]
A Legion Of The Damned novel – #2
After an arousing start we are plunged once again into the Legion Etrangere of the far future and it feels great. The alien ‘Hudathans’ are cowed and down but not out and are planning their rise. Oh, they’re planning on doing this by building a cyborg army!
Legio Patria Nostra
> Gibson, William
Neuromancer (1984)
The seminal Cyberpunk work from 1984.
He cannot be credited with the first use of the C-work (that credit goes to Bruce Bethke – Infinity +) but in mind, the opening line of Neuromancer ‘The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.’ (William Gibson Books) will always announce Cyberpunk.
>Gonzales, Tony
EVE Templar One
My first introduction to the world of EVE Online. Not the first novel from ‘this persistent-world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) – wikipedia‘ but the technical detail suffused throughout this story and its scope makes it a definite read – and one day, I will log on to EVE Online and get slaughtered almost immediately one day!
>Hamilton, Peter F.
Great North Road
I have many Peter F. Hamilton books in my collection but I have only gotten around to reading Great North Road. It is a long standalone novel with no plans by Peter to re-visit it but it is a fantastic read – a murder mystery, Science Fiction masterpiece set in Newcastle (should that be Neo-Newcastle?).
>Karpyshyn, Drew
Mass Effect – Revelation
This story is a prequel to the BioWare Corp’s video game Mass Effect. It features the ship commander David Anderson (the character you play in the game) investigating the mystery surrounding a secret military research station and deals with Artificial Intelligence as well as setting out the world of Mass Effect.
>Leckie, Ann
Ancillary Justice
Artificial Intelligence embodied in a spaceship that narrates this story builds an intelligent story. It slowly invades your consciousness, takes over your mind and makes you read it. An important Science Fiction book that won the Arthur C Clarke award Science Fiction prize, in the year of it’s publication, 2014.
>McNeill, Graham
Priests of Mars
Graham McNeill stands as one of my favourite Science Fiction writers. His novels, set in the Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 world, are always excellently written and a breeze to read. Priests of Mars is the first in a trilogy of The mechanicum; seriously augmented individuals from the planet Mars that provide the technology for the Space Marines, among other things.
>Moorcock, Michael
Dancers At The End Of Time
Fin-de-siecle decadence with ‘Jherek Carnelian’ and ‘Mrs Amelia Underwood’ at the end of time. The true English Science Fiction masterpiece from a master of English fiction. I loved this book!
>Morgan, Richard K. (2002)
Altered Carbon
This book deals with the re-‘sleeving’ of human personality into new bodies via ‘cortical stacks’ and features Takeshi Kovacs as an investigator with a military background looking into the suicide/murder of a long-lived ‘Meth’. With this novel, Morgan took the baton of Cyberpunk from the old guard and ran headlong into the retro-future and delivered a worthy successor of a read.
>Sanders, Rob
Legion Of The Damned – A Space Marines Battles Novel
this was the first Space Marines Battles Novel I read and it holds a special place in one of my augmented hearts to this day. This is one of many stories about Space Marines from Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 world. However, this band of Space Marines have an other-worldly origin, appearing only when all is but lost, to purge the universe of the Imperium’s enemies and then disappear, into legend and mythology. The story is set on the planet ‘Certus-minor’ as the ‘Blood Crusade’ sweeps down to annihilate everything in it path. Not the first but an excellent introduction to Space Marine Battles series.
>Stephenson, Neil
Cryptonomicon
A big, multi-faceted novel about cryptography and cryptanalysis amongst a million other things… Flipped from continent to continent and from time to time, I am still reeling from reading this!
>Stross, Charles
Halting State
For me, Halting State has one of the most memorable jacket covers of any Science Fiction book, being pixel art by Army Of Trolls. It is a thriller set in the world of a massively multiplayer online computer game (MMORPG) where a ‘Cybercrime’ has been committed. It is pigeonholed as a post cyberpunk novel and all the better for it.
Rule 34 (2011)
Is a loose sequel to Halting State, it had a working title of 419 (The Charles Stross FAQ) .
>Wooding, Chris
Retribution Falls – A Tale of the Ketty Jay
Retro-future adventure aboard the ‘Ketty Jay’, a ugly, bulky glorious ship that suits the swashbuckling, space-faring captain and his crew down to a tee. There is something gloriously old-fashioned about this book, the first of four in the ‘Tales of the Ketty Jay’ series that makes you just breeze through it. The characters are people you want to follow, like they follow the Captain; Darian Frey. Stephan Martiniere’s jacket artwork captures Wooding’s world perfectly. Everything about this book just gels.
+ Comics +
>Tokyo Ghost
Rick Remender, Sean G. Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth – Image Comics
A comic series to die for. Cyberpunk tendencies melting into a feudal Japanese ethos. Rick Remender writing, simply some of the best artwork by Sean G. Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth colours. A future classic in comics. [#1, #2, #3, #4…]
>Space Riders
Fabian Rangel Jr., Alexis Ziritt, Ryan Ferrier – Black Mask Studios
Psychedelic, Seventies vibe in outer space with extra added madness. The greatest covers that bleed straight into the body of the comic. No, it looks better on the tin compared to what’s actually in it here! Black Mask’s ‘punk ethics‘ are so ‘on point’ with this. [#1, #2, #3…]
+ Magazines +
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