Classic SF with Andy Johnson

Countess (2024) by Suzan Palumbo ✅ - begins as an intensely compressed retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo in thin science fictional clothes, but then deviates sharply.

At its best, this reminded me of the kind of thing John Brunner might have written for an Ace Double in the early 1960s. It has that same hectic pace, the sense of a big story crammed into a small space.

Bear Head (2021) by Adrian Tchaikovsky ✅ - a somewhat loose sequel to Dogs of War (2017), which I still think is required reading beforehand. A blue collar grunt on a partly terraformed Mars gets Honey, the smarter than average bear, in his head.

Tchaikovsky's style make for smooth and swift reading but I found this very padded at nearly 400 pages, especially in the final third or so.

Very cool to see lines from "Deleted Scenes" in this artwork in Cardiff - for me it's a real highlight of the Manics' Critical Thinking album from last year.

A Stab in the Dark (1981) by Lawrence Block ✅ - Matthew Scudder picks up a cold trail, trying to solve a decade-old murder misattributed to a serial killer. Another excellent entry in this series.

There is something so deceptively simple about these early novels, and something quietly devastating about them. They're also very observant about New York, and people, and their lives and deaths.

Tower of Glass (1970) by Robert Silverberg ✅ - a billionaire industrialist is building an immense tower to house a tachyon transmitter that can reach out to the stars. Meanwhile, the androids he created pursue two paths to freedom.

I much preferred this to Nightwings (1969), the previous Silverberg I read - in fact it's up there, for me, with The World Inside (1971). The plot is quite complex, but elegant, and the philosophical dimension is strong.

Open Road and Humble are at it again, with another classic SF bundle: this time featuring the works of Brian Aldiss. 41 books, nearly that many half-arsed covers.

I recently received my first royalty statement, and I'm pleasantly surprised by the sales of MANIC STREET PREACHERS: SONG BY SONG. Get your copy: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/mani...

Caught the third and final Chinese film of my trip on the flight home. Dongji Rescue (2025) is a pretty stirring dramatisation of the efforts of Chinese villagers to rescue British POWs during the sinking of the Lisbon Maru in 1942.

The main star, Zhu Yilong, is also in "Empty Gun" which I saw earlier in the week, although he looks very different in this role. bsky.app/profile/andy...

Caught the third and final Chinese film of my trip on the flight home. Dongji Rescue (2025) is a pretty stirring dramatisation of the efforts of Chinese villagers to rescue British POWs during the sinking of the Lisbon Maru in 1942.

Back to the cinema today to see Kong Qiang or "Empty Gun", rather vaguely known as "V" in English. An epic crime thriller about an ambitious mainland criminal, set largely in Hong Kong between 1994 and 1998.

The plot may have been slightly inspired by Yip Kai-foon, a notorious real mainland criminal who operated in Hong Kong. The ultimate outcome may be predicted, but it's a good ride, though a long one (160 minutes).

Back to the cinema today to see Kong Qiang or "Empty Gun", rather vaguely known as "V" in English. An epic crime thriller about an ambitious mainland criminal, set largely in Hong Kong between 1994 and 1998.

Dinosaur Summer (1998) by Greg Bear ✅ - essentially YA science fiction, this is an unofficial sequel to The Lost World (1912) by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Bear's decision to focus mainly on fictional dinosaur species seems an odd one to me, especially if he aimed to capitalise on the interest sparked by Jurassic Park. That said, this is quite a good read.

Dinosaur Summer (1998) by Greg Bear ✅ - essentially YA science fiction, this is an unofficial sequel to The Lost World (1912) by Arthur Conan Doyle.

With interest in the creatures waning, an expedition aims to return the last dinosaurs from a failing circus to the primeval plateau in Venezuela where they were found.

Saw "Traces of Justice" at a mall cinema last night - possibly the best mainland Chinese film I've seen. An episodic film following the career of China's real-life godfather of forensic science, Cui Daozhi.

I was a bit perplexed by some minor choices. For example, one case covered is a 1998 bus bombing in Wuhan. The real perpetrators are named, but the incident occurs in a different, fictional city.