Review of Orbitsville by Bob Shaw

Reading science fiction of old is a surprise package. What reflects as 'well-regarded' in the mirror of history can be highly contextual today. Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, for example, is lauded over the past 75 years—awards, critics' lists, best ofs, etc., etc. But it's the biggest piece of genre cheese you're likely to encounter. Elementary prose, low reader expectations, juvenile plot, wimpy characterization—it's one of the reasons Margaret Atwood decries sf as 'squids in space'. And then there are books like Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, a book which did and does receive a lot of attention that is still worthwhile today. Suffice to say I was nervous going in to Bob Shaw's 1975 Orbitsville. ”Shaw's best!” “70s British SF at its finest!”

Orbitsville is the dramatic life of Captain Vance Garamond after fate twists it upside down. Vance an interstellar explorer, he is taking a break on Earth when tragedy befalls a meeting with Earth's most powerful leader, Elizabeth Lindstrom. Forced on the run, Vance's wild flight from Earth takes him to humanity's biggest discovery: the biggest and dumbest of Big Dumb Objects. Adventure ensues!

Cardboard Corner: Review of Steampunk Rally

In the Polish language exists the word kombinować. Its meaning can be straightforward, as in the English “to combine”, but it is most often used in the sense “to cleverly manipulate a situation to one's advantage”. , In other words, to use the elements at your disposal in crafty fashion to get something beneficial for yourself or to avoid a bad outcome. The government warns citizens not to “combine” during tax season, and children who generate lengthy excuses for their capers are told “don't combine!”. Steampunk Rally, the 2015 racing game, is the ultimate opportunity for people to kombinować.

Building wonderfully from theme, Steampunk Rally is a racing game for two to eight players. In the course of a game players build and wreck steampunk jalopies, trying to generate movement while somehow staying wired together. Push too hard and you may find yourself in a trash heap aside the track. Push too little and you'll have a big beautiful machine but lag behind. Find the right balance of speed and safety, and you may be among the racers vying for the lead as the finish line comes into view. The player who crosses the finish line furthest, wins.

Review of Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler

A few years ago, a former professor of mine wrote a journal article on the positive power of alternate history. The reference material was a YA series that features Poland's underground resistance in WWII emerging victorious, as opposed to the brave defeat it suffered in reality. For context, Poland is a country that has had historical successes, but few recently. In WWII it survived the invasion of the Germans only to be overrun by the Soviet Union. Congrats! Oh, wait... Maybe the Nazis were better than the Soviets? Regardless, my professor argued that such use of alternate history, by making the Poles victorious, offers readers a form of catharsis, a relief from the historical weight of defeat. Whether you agree or disagree, it's an interesting idea. Spinning this concept into a Clone Trump future is Ray Nayler's Where the Axe Is Buried (2025).

Nayler has another name for him, but I will call him Clone Trump; the novel presents a naked extrapolation on current politics. So yes, the left's worst fears come true. Trump extends his grip on power by perpetually transferring his consciousness into new bodies, all in service of implementing a draconian regime based on limiting personal liberties and censorship. When a new term approaches, propaganda is dispersed, fake elections are staged, a body is made ready, and a new president takes power. But between the ears it's the same person: Clone Trump. Meanwhile, most other countries have chosen to opt out of human leadership and moved to AI prime ministers. These machine minds make the hard decisions—limiting energy usage, food consumption, commercial activities, etc. Beneath all this is an underground group of biohackers and tech wizards looking to “set things right”, which is where the book's rubber (quietly) hits the road.

Altered TCG Is Slipping: What In Tumult Is Going On?

Just over a year ago, Altered TCG took kickstarter by storm. It raised millions and millions of dollars, setting a TCG record at the time. And why not? It looked brilliant, offered a unique and interesting racing mechanism, and seemed to be taking an informed shot at evolving collectibility and trading. More than a year later, however, the game's popularity is fading. In what appears an attempt at rescuing Altered, Equinox has announced it will be moving away from standard distribution to Gamefound, a place some TCGs have gone to eek out another year or two of existence. For fans of the game, including myself, it's not a good sign. They then issued a statement to players, indirectly threatening them that if a certain pledge goal was not hit, the game would fail. Not a good look. In this post I want to take a semi-informed look at why Altered started strong but has not risen to meet the hype.

The following will be covered:

• Themeless-ness-ness-ness

• Fence-Sitting

• Lack of Faction Identity

• Evolving Fiddliness

• Buying, Selling, and Trading

Themeless-ness-ness-ness

It wasn't recognizable at first, but with several games under our belts it became clear Altered has a theme issue. It isn't controversial, or overdone, or annoyingly cutesy, or silly animals, or anime teens—I mean, women—with giant boobs. The issue is that theme is spread thin, at best. Where games like Dixit can thrive in an infinite dreamscape, a TCG cannot. It needs a confined concept which synergizes the game's win condition, phases, and mechanisms, and can then be complemented by art, keywords, symbolism, and card effects. For example, Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, which presents itself as a duel of wizards, features two players who cast spells and summon creatures in magical combat. Makes sense. There are futuristic hackers versus shady corporations in Android: Netrunner, which means installing programs and anti-virus software, making cyberruns, taking meat damage, and cleverly using PR to sneak an agenda. Makes sense. Altered's theme of... generic fantasy dreamland where players cast spells to influence a race won by counting terrain symbols carried by allies with names like Haven Warrior, because when you're racing you need a warri—wait, what?

Review of City under the Stars by Gardner Dozois & Michael Swanwick

Gardner Dozois has gone down in history as one of the great editors of science fiction and fantasy. I know. The history of sf has yet to be written. But it's fair to say he's secured his place. Which is a bit of a shame actually; Dozois was also a writer of short fiction, including the 1995 novella “The City of God” co-written with Michael Swanwick. But novella-length wasn't enough. In 2020, upon Dozois' passing, Swanwick picked up the notes the two had been working on for a novel and and finished it. City under the Stars is the result.

City under the Stars recalls the story of a man named Hanson. He spends his days shoveling coal in an industrial complex while a distant wall, promising freedom beyond, reminds him of the backbreaking limits of his situation. Getting long in the tooth, Hanson is wary of every new kid joining the shovel line. And his boss doesn't help. The two constantly irritating and badgering one another, things finally come to a head one day, and Hanson's fortunes shift in the blink of an eye.

Review of Making History by K.J. Parker

I've not read K.J. Parker's oeuvre. But what I have read brings to mind the glossy national parks photobook sitting on the undershelf of your uncle's coffee table. Great to look at, inspiring even, but you walk away and forget. Making History, a 2025 novella, is the first Parker story I've read in years. Something that sticks?

Making History, as the title hints, tells of a group of scholars who, at the behest of their king Gyges, have been tasked with creating the ruins of a fictional society. Our main character is given the task of creating a language, while his colleagues each receive their own—art, money, artifacts, relics, ancient buildings, etc. Knowing that both success and failure will likely result in death, the unnamed main character sets about trying to build a metaphorical escape hole in his creation of language. But one day when he accidentally hears sailors dockside speaking the language he's creating, things twist weird.

Horus Heresy Series: Symptom or Substance?

Two-and-a-half years ago I started reading the Horus Heresy. Forty-eight books later, comprising dozens and dozens of novels and hundreds of short stories, I've reached the end. What a journey. What a story. Time for reflection.

This post will cover the following:

• Introduction

• Structure

  • The Missile's Arc

  • The Triangle

• Mode: Mythopoeism

• Theme

  • The Classics

  • Imperialism/Colonialism

  • Perennial Wisdom

  • Free Will

• Tone: Grimdark or “Grimdark”?

• Challenges

  • Technique

  • Permadeath

  • Structural Variability

• The End & thee Conslusion

• Bonus: Top 10

Review of Era of Ruin anthology

It took sixty-four books, but Dan Abnett's three-volume The End & the Death marked the end-end of the Horus Heresy. Humanity's stage had been set for the 40^th millennia. But had it? In 2025 along came a surprise anthology: Era of Ruin, leaving readers to wonder: epilogue or something more?

A mood piece kicks off the anthology. “Angels of Another Age” by John French features three Astartes who have been separated from their legions, wandering the outskirts of the siege of Terra. The story rings a touch false through French's overt emphasis on art (particularly after book after book of blaster porn), but the story ultimately accomplishes its mission by defining the stakes for the average Astartes in the wake of the Heresy: on which side of history will they fall? “Fulgurite” by Nick Kyme stars the Word Bearer sniper Narek who stealthily maneuvers the Terran battlefield, picking off Traitor Astartes (yes, Traitor). His goal is to use fulgurite weapons to take down one particular primarch. Fulgurite (in our world) is the hollow glass tubes formed by lightning strikes in the desert, and Kyme makes appropriate use of the metaphor.

Review of The Zenith Angle by Bruce Sterling

Bruce Sterling was one of the strongest and most unique voices in science fiction. He's taken a significant break from fiction, producing little the past decade+, and as a result has faded from the genre's eye. But there was a time in the 90s and 2000s when most every reader of sf would have known his name. A godfather of cyberpunk, collaborations with multiple other well writers, and award recognition, Sterling was a prominent figure. In the wake of 9-11, he published the novel The Zenith Angle (2004).

The Zenith Angle is the story of a man named Van. Uber-intelligent programmer, his talents took him to the top of the 90's internet boom. Leader of a multi-million dollar dot.com, he finds himself looking for new challenges. 9-11 happens, and Van is successfully recruited by the US government and tasked with tightening up homeland IT security. He accomplishes this through an ingenious invention, but at what cost? Van's family life, corporate tech, and government control all cross paths leading to a Bond-esque conclusion.

Review of Isle of the Dead by Roger Zelazny

If ever there were an author who enjoyed playing with and incorporating the world's mythologies in his speculative fiction, it was Roger Zelazny. Wikipedia has even devoted a section of his bibliography to a breakdown. Egyptian, Greek, Navajo, Norse, Indian—there is a list of origin lore that Zelazny found ways of weaving into science fiction tales (and a gruff, cigarette-smoking, world-weary male lead to boot). Looking to Hades is 1969's Isle of the Dead.

If the internets are to be believed, however, the inspiration for Isle of the Dead is actually a series of paintings by the artist Arnold Bocklin featuring, you guessed it, isles of the dead. The fantastical isles are captured in a surprisingly warm ambiance that possesses more hints of shadow than overt darkness. It leans toward the highs and lows of mortality more in tone than color.