Welcome to Starfarer Science Fiction, an amateur fan site for SF literature. Under the various links you can find bibliographies of certain authors, various 'feature articles' including award lists, a few personal lists of recommended reading, reading order of SF book series and other SF book trivia that I've compiled as part of my hobby and enthusiasm for the genre. I predominantly read the 'classics' of the genre, so information and reviews will tend to focus on well established and 'classic' authors. As a reviewer for Tangent Online, my reviews of current SF magazines can be found on the Tangent site, but summaries and links to the full reviews can be found if you hit the Magazines link.
Recommended reading - the best novels, short stories and SF anthologies ever published
** LATEST SITE UPDATES - Aug 2026 **
Updated magazine review page with recent reviews published by Tangent Online, see here.
Currently reading New Earth, by Ben Bova.
MINI REVIEW 25 August 2026
New Earth - Ben Bova
While most of Bova's later novels were set in the solar system, and explored the challenges of colonizing or investigating the planets and moons we are all familiar with, this novel breaks out from that structure and describes the voyage to and exploration of an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting Sirius, 8.6 light ears away.
The New Earth is very surprisingly much more Earth-like than anyone on the voyage could ever have imagined, and without giving away too much, the underlying idea (which gradually becomes understandable) is well-thought out and interesting. The colonists ultimately become aware of a very great threat to all of humanity. This is used as a metaphor for Earth's climate change and the difficulty many have of accepting the reality and addressing it in a timely way.
This is a decent novel, and worth a read, though I was reminded that while Bova has some great ideas and writes in a nice easy style, he is not great at character and dialogue. Some of the actions and speech from the characters makes them come across as immature teenagers, not the kind of mature and sensible professionals that would be chosen for such an important mission.
MINI REVIEW 20 July 2026
The Scarab Mission - James L. Cambias
The Scarab Mission continues adventures in Cambias' "Billion Worlds" universe, set within our solar system about 8 thousand years in the future. Albeit set in Cambias' same universe, and including a recurring robot character from The Godel Operation, this is nevertheless a standalone novel.
A disparate band of 'scarabs' travel to a derelict space station which had been the scene of a dreadful massacre, to loot it of treasure. The characters are good, the tension is well maintained, and the threats that develop against the band of scarabs is exciting and well-plotted.
This is an exciting and well-written novel, by an author who is becoming a favourite of mine. More novels set in this universe have been published and are upcoming, and I'll be checking them out.
MINI REVIEW 12 April 2026
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
A recent re-read of Huxley's classic dystopian novel, published in 1932, reminded how immensely impressive a book is. Moreover, with its themes of destroying humanity and freedom in life, through the political structure it describes, it now seems much more prescient for our times than Orwell's 1984. Huxley was, in fact, much more on the money, as far as the descent of western culture goes. Biological perfection through genetic controls, stratification of society into overtly classified 'haves' and 'have-nots', and the quieting of the masses through the provision of endless entertainment and easy luxury, sounds not unlike the world we seem to be moving into.
MINI REVIEW 10 January 2026
Proxima - Stephen Baxter
First published in 2013, Proxima is classic Baxter, with some big ideas, centered on some highly extrapolated hard SF ideas. The story starts as a pretty standard novel of travel to and colonization of a new world, but the difference here is that the method of travel is through an ancient alien 'gate' to Proxima. Rather than proceed as a novel of colonization per se, the book becomes more of a mystery regards the purpose and use of the gates that are discovered.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read, and Baxter writes well. If there's any fault to be found, it may have been more satisfying if the mysetry of the gates was ultimately explained a little more. Nonetheless, this is recommended.
YEAR SUMMARY 02 December 2025
2025 SFF Recommended Short Fiction - Tangent Online
At the end of each year, Tangent Online (for whom I review short SFF fiction), publish a list of the most highly recommended short fiction. From the print and online SFF magazines I reviewed over the course of 2025, these are the stories I personally recommended. 3 stars is the maximum rating, though even a no star 'rec' is better than most short fiction, as most stories are not notably 'recommended'. There were not a huge number of recommended stories this year, but this may be because I reviewed few issues of Analog, for example, which usually garners a fair few recs. It was good to see certain issues of Lightspeed were especially strong (especially Issue #182).
Short Stories
“NOT Optimus Prime” by Lorraine Alden (Analog, 3-4/25) SF
“Eyes Grown Thick on the World” by Will McMahon (Lightspeed
#181, 6/25) Fantasy
“Un-Pragmagic: A Tyler Moore Retrospective” by Spencer
Nitkey (Lightspeed #182, 7/25) Fantasy
“Finding Love in a Time Loop: A How-To Guide” by Leah
Cypess (Lightspeed #182, 7/25) SF
“You Knit Me Together in My Mother’s Womb” by Paul Crenshaw
(Lightspeed #182, 7/25) Fantasy
“Everyone Hates the Auditor” by Megan Chee (Lightspeed
#185, 10/25) SF
“Imperfect Simulations” by Michelle Z. Jin (Clarkesworld
#231, 12/25) SF
“Multi-Spatial Apartment Complex Malfunction Results in
Body Horror” by Reyes Ramirez (Lightspeed #181, 6/25) SF*
Novelettes
“The Code of His Life” by Owen Leddy (Analog, 3-4/25) SF
“With Only a Razor Between” by Martin Cahill (Reactor,
8/25) SF
“The Hole” by Ferenc Samsa (Clarkesworld #231, 12/25) SF
SHORT REVIEW 02 December 2025
Lord Valentine's Castle - Robert Silverberg
First published in 1980, Lord Valentine's Castle is the first book in Silverberg's series of books set on the giant planet of Majipoor. A man called Valentine awakes with an almost complete loss of memory and with no knowledge of who he is, where he is, or what he should do, he joins up with a travelling juggler troupe, crossing one of the mighty continents on the huge world of Majipoor. We learn fairly soon that he is the king (or 'Coronal') or Majipoor, but his body has been taken by a usurper, leaving his broken mind in another's body. The book thereon follows his travails as he works in the troupe as an apprentice juggler, crosses many lands and has numerous adventures on the way to seeking reinstatement as Coronal.
The book is very readable, as of course is almost everything Silverberg ever wrote, with a clean, approachable style and a depth to the writing that draws the reader in. The world itself, and the classification of this book is an interesting one. The different races on Majipoor are aliens to the humans and come from other home-worlds. Earth is mentioned in passing as the cradle of humanity, and certain SF technologies are mentioned (floater sleds, and energy rifles), but in the main this is a fantasy. One of Valentine's friends in his travels is a small alien wizard who casts spells. Perhaps these are SF-style psionic powers, but the boundaries between SF and fantasy are definitely blurred in this universe. I usually like a clear distinction drawn between fantasy and SF, but the mixture here works surprisingly well. It's perhaps the best example of 'science-fantasy' that I have read.
Overall, this is a super book (it was nominated for the Hugo Award for best novel in 1981), and it marked a return to form and popularity for Silverberg, who had taken time away from SF for several years since his very successful late 60's-early 70's writing period. This novel was followed by numerous sequels that continue the storylines of Majipoor. The sequence of the books in the cycle are as follows:
Lord Valentine Cycle:
Lord Valentine's Castle (1980) Novel
Majipoor Chronicles (1982) Collection
Valentine Pontifex (1983) Novel
The Mountains of Majipoor (1995) Novel
Tales of Majipoor (2013) Collection
Lord Prestimion Cycle:
Sorcerers of Majipoor (1997) Novel
Lord Prestimion (1999) Novel
The King of Dreams (2001) Novel
SHORT REVIEW 21 November 2025
Forty Thousand in Gehenna - C. J. Cherryh
Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C. J. Cherryh is a SF novel first published in 1983, and set in the author's Alliance-Union universe. To gte stright to the point, this is the weakest Cherryh book I've read and would not necessarily recommend it. The initial premise (of a new colony of humans settling a world that has strange lizard-like endemic lifeforms) is quite interesting and Cherryh develops the setting in the first 100 pages quite nicely. Unfortunately, the mysteries Cherryh sets up - i.e. whether the endemic life forms ('calibans') can communicate, whether they are sapient, and why some humans lose start to change (or lose) their humanity in living with them - are never satisfactorily developed or resolved.
The author explains very little, doesn't develop her ideas especially well, and there is not much tension except on rare occasions. The book skips decades or centuries between sections in developing a longer history of the colony, but the downside of this is that we don't stick with any one character long enough to care about them. A problem I've seen in many other Cherry books is that the author will often 'tell', rather than 'show'. This is especially noticeable in this novel. If a character decides to go and stay with the calibans for a time, they seem to do so without many misgivings, but we are later told that in doing so they are now in mortal danger. But the danger doesn't really surface or provide any tension, we just get oblique, clouded references to the danger, without any consequence. And if the danger was great, why put yourself in the position? Clear motivations are not given for actions, and we are left to try and make sense of what's going on, with little help.
With only forty pages to go, I decided I really didn't care what happened, and that there were insufficient pages left to provide a satisfying resolution and rescue the book, so I put it aside and moved on.
SHORT REVIEW 28 October 2025
Janissaries - Jerry Pournelle
Janissaries was first published in 1979 and is the first in a four-part series, following a group of modern-day soldiers abducted by aliens and tasked with conquering a medieval-technology planet.
The idea of aliens taking soldiers and depositing them on another planet is a nice enough framework, but Pournelle doesn't develop the story in a very satisfactory way. The translocation to the new world leads to discovery of humans taken there at previous times, so there is a Roman empire, an ancient Scots kingdom, etc.
Ultimately this makes the setting seem overly contrived, with the entertainment being offered through the juxtaposition and contrast of the technologies between the arriving American troops and the existing less advanced human groups. This theme was developed much better by Eric Flint in his 1632 series. Sample text. Click to select the Text Element.
SHORT REVIEW 20 September 2025
Flinx's Folly - Alan Dean Foster
Flinx's Folly, originally published in 2003, is the eighth chronological installment in Foster's long-running Pip and Flinx series, which follows the adventures of Philip "Flinx" Lynx and his companion, the mini-dragon Pip.
The story is enjoyable, and highly readable, as is almost always the case with Foster, though this instalment reads more like a chapter of a larger series than any I've read before. Flinx's life is under threat from agents of an extremist group who fear he may save the galaxy from a distant threat.
The larger underlying story - of Flinx's dilemma of how to address his knowledge of this cosmic menace - is moved forward here, though not perhaps at the pace to to the extent the reader would ideally want.
SHORT REVIEW 09 September 2024
Star Trek: Destiny Trilogy - David Mack
I've not read a great deal of tie-in SF, based on famous film franchises, but this series was hugely entertaining, and well-written, and I'm glad I gave it a go. The Star Trek: Destiny trilogy - comprising Gods of Night, Mere Mortals and Lost Souls was released between Sept and Nov 2008. Set in 2381, five years after the finale of the show Deep Space Nine, the trilogy is a crossover event featuring characters from The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Titan (notably, Ezri Dax, Picard and Riker).
While a knowledge of the Star Trek universe and the preceding shows and films will add to the enjoyment for most readers, this does standalone pretty well, and offers up a space opera that has some good new SF ideas, not only the rehashing of Star Trek tropes. The scope is huge, the stakes are high, and the action is almost continuous. Well-known characters speak and behave as you would expect them to, and so fans of the shows will also not be disappointed.
Without giving too much away, the story arc revolves around the fate and discovery of a Federation starship, that was lost 200 years from the present time. This plot is interwoven with a new invasion of the Borg, with all the threat that the Borg 'collective' brings. The plot is well-worked out, and ultimately satisfying. There are literally hundreds of Star Trek tie-in novels, but this seems to be both a very good jumping on point for the post TV-series books, as well as key crossover series that ranks highly among fans. Recommended for all lovers of space opera..
MINI REVIEW 18 July 2024
The Godel Operation - James L. Cambias
This was a good read, and Cambias writes well and persuasively. In a far future, our solar system has a billion habitats, from Earth through to stations orbiting the distant gas giants. It offers a throw back to 1950's 'sense of wonder' SF, but with super cool, very modern tech.
The protagonist has fallen for a girl who doesn't exist - she was created for his memory by a powerful AI - but with the help of his ancient bot pal, he needs to try and find her anyway to save the billion worlds.
I'd not previously read any work by James Cambias, but this was highly enjoyable, so I'll be back at least to try book two in the same universe: The Scarab Mission.
MINI REVIEW 17 May 2024
Savage Trade - Gareth L. Powell
This was a Star Trek Original Series novel, and offered exactly what it should, managing to meet the brief of far-flung ideas and offbeat plotting common to the original series. All sorts of historic figures take part (sort of) from the likes of George Washington to Galileo. The book also introduces some modern science concepts, so it's not entirely steeped in the past.
It's not perfect, and the plot seems to swerve from the initial theme to focus on something else about a third of the way through; because of this, it reads a little like a 1960's fix up novel by one of the golden age writers. But then, that's kind of the vibe one ought to get, so I was happy enough with it. If you want to scratch a Star Trek itch in reading form, and enjoy Kirk being very Kirk, and Spock being very Spock, this will do the job.
SHORT REVIEW 19 April 2024
Light of Impossible Stars - Gareth L. Powell
This is the final volume in his Embers of War trilogy, and I enjoyed the first two. This one, not so much. It started out okay, introduced some new characters and scenarios, and built on the fall-out from the first two books with the characters from those books. So far, so good. However... ultimately, this last volume in the series was rather a let down. When a book ends badly and it's the end of a trilogy, it taints the series as a whole. What was shaping up to be very good for two and a half books, turned out to be a weak trilogy when viewed as a piece, and I cannot now recommend it especially highly. So what was wrong with it? Well, several things, so let's look at them in turn:
(i) The first two books set up a significant and interesting dilemma, with well-developed characters on established sides of the conflict, and it was hard to see a way out for our heroes. How will Powell wrap this up, we wonder? This would take a very clever idea or plot-twist from our protagonists to rectify, it seemed. Easy apparently. The way out for Powell was not to think up a clever ruse for his existing characters, but to drop in new characters in book three that have almost magical, God-like power. It's a book-long Deus-ex-machina, in essence. If you set up a SF problem over two novels, you cannot resolve the problem with sudden god-like power from new characters, obeying new SF rules, in book three - it seems like 'cheating' to me.
(ii) A perfectly interesting character who'd had a good supporting role to play in the book - a character we love to hate - decides a few chapters from the end that they are unhappy, not for the perfectly good reasons we've read about for the past 200 pages, but because they are a transexual and are stuck with a gender they no longer prefer. What affect does this sudden transexual theme have on the plot? None whatsoever. This unheralded theme from left-field dominates a chapter, and is then barely mentioned again. I can hear the editor now: "Gareth, all the cool writers in SF have transgender themes and characters, could you shoehorn something like that in here somewhere?". It's incongruous, virtue signaling and it doesn't fit into the book. I have no problem with trans characters or themes of course, but all plot elements need to serve the novel.
(iii) The end makes no sense to me. I can't say too much without spoilers but, while the final actions of some characters made some sense as an idea - at one point - other subsequent outcomes mean they had no need to follow through on their desperate notion... but they do it anyway! Which had this reader want to cry out "WHY?" with exasperation.
After the enjoyment of the first two books, this was rather disappointing as one might imagine. Afterall Powell can write well, and his books are inventive and highly readable. But I do wish SF writers would only write trilogies when they have a great idea for the entire story arc, not just the start and middle. Alistair Reynolds has been as culpable on this front, from personal experience. More and more, I find I want to read either standalones, or otherwise never-ending series, of which there are many. Defined trilogies often seem to let me down - great premise, poor resolution. At least never-ending series have no conclusion so I'm unlikely to feel shortchanged at the end.
SHORT REVIEW 15 April 2024
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K. Dick
This famous novel, published in 1968, served as inspiration for the equally famous film Bladerunner which was released in 1982 shortly after Dick's death. The novel focusses on a police bounty hunter Rick Deckard, who's job is to 'retire' androids who have escaped from their colony world and returned illegally to Earth. Deckard is given a list of 6 new Nexus 6 androids who are at large in San Francisco. All which will sound very familiar to those who have seen the film. But there are several key differences between the original book and Ridley Scott's film, with the book offering a deeper and more complex plot. This was a re-read after a space of about 30 years and I was interested to remind myself how the book and film differ.
While bounty-hunting is a key aspect of the plot, it is used here as a vehicle for Dick to explore the nature of humanity and the soul. In the book, Deckard spends as much time dreaming of owning a real animal, rather than only his electric sheep facsimile, as he does searching for and retiring androids. Moreover, Dick spends a fair amount of time on 'Mercerism' - a rather nutty religious movement - as a way of approaching the question of religion in maintaining a sense of community, but also control.
Many of the main characters in the film also feature in the book, including Rachael, Roy Batty, and Pris. However, in the book Roy is married to another android, exemplifying ways in which the book's androids are more human than they are in the film - yes, they only live a few years and are made not born, but in many ways they are quite human. They are not physically advantaged here either, unlike in the film, and almost seem to accept their fate when a bounty-hunter runs them to ground. In this way, Dick blurs the distinction between human and android, and asks, what is it to be human, and why do we both kill life that we condescend, and then paradoxically also mourn its loss?
The subtleties in the book would not easily translate to film, perhaps, and so the film settles for themes that are a little easier to digest. Both are great, but in slightly different ways. A criticism Harrison Ford has been heard to voice about the movie is that he played a detective who didn't seem to do much detecting. But in the book he does even less detecting! He follows a list of names and addresses provided to him, and then undertakes his job of retiring them - he isn't a detective, he's a killer. The purpose of Deckard is not to propel a detective thriller storyline, but to enable Dick to ponder on some of his favourite themes - the value we place on life (animal or human) and the question of what it means to be human. This is rather deep book, and is highly recommended to SF fans who've not yet read it.
SHORT REVIEW 01 April 2024
A Far Sunset - Edmund Cooper
Edmund Cooper's A Far Sunset (1967) is a superior short SF novel, and is generally considered to be one of the author's best. Several slower-than light colony ships leave Earth to find new habitable planets at various destinations, including the star-system Altair. Upon arrival after a 20-year flight (16 years of which the crew of 12 spend in deep-sleep), it is discovered that the planet Altair 5 is extraordinarily well-suited to support humanity.
However, after setting down, successive small exploratory groups that set out from the ship go missing, until we are left following a sole known survivor, Paul Marlowe. Marlowe falls in with an indigenous human-like alien race, who live according to extreme and terrifying religious rules and sanctions (coming across rather like ancient Aztecs). For the first half of the book, the prose styling and the narrative of the aliens and their way of life is reminiscent of Robert Silverberg's work from the same period. As the book progresses, and the central 'big idea' of the novel starts to become clearer, and it started to resemble Poul Anderson's style more. These similarities are to its credit; the book is well-plotted and engaging, and the characterisation is good.
Cooper wrote numerous good SF novels and his books are well-worth checking out. As well as this volume, I've very much enjoyed his novels The Uncertain Midnight (1958) Transit (1964) and The Overman Culture (1971) in recent years.
MINI REVIEW 25 February 2024
The Man in the Maze - Robert Silverberg
Silverberg's The Man in the Maze (1969) was originally serialized in If magazine the previous year, and therefore comes from the author's most successful writing period, which I felt ran from about 1967-1975. The book is thoughtful, inventive and well paced.
The protagonist is a man who made first contact with an alien race, and in so doing became changed. Now, he gives off a psychic smell that causes intense depression to all who come near him, as he exudes the inherent stench given off by humanities souls. To escape this awful predicament he runs away and hides within a fabled maze on a far-flung planet, that was built by a long-dead race. The concept is neat and the book will be enjoyable for Silverberg fans.
MINI REVIEW 10 February 2024
Fleet of Knives - Gareth L. Powell
The second volume in Powell's Embers of War trilogy, this continued the exciting and well-drawn space opera the author started with Embers of War. Having freed the mysterious Fleet of Knives from its place in a pocket universe, the consequences for the ship Trouble Dog, and in fact all of humanity, are catastrophic.
Powell is very good at maintaining the reader's interest. His chapters are short and he cycles through character POV's with each chapter, so the tale races along. These are better written than much of the space opera I've read. I'm looking forward to reading how the tale concludes.
For earlier years' articles hit the relevant archive button below
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