David Pringle

Was it a good month for sci-fi? Calder's Lilim is weird and makes you want more; MacLeod's Well Loved is dark fluff; Beetlestone's Articifial Life likewise; Brooks' The Greatest Game Of All is a bleak look at patriarchal insecurity; Grant's Memetic Drift is a story about the near future that has turned out to be very prescient (its almost as if the bad future was already very clear in 1990 and no-one did anything about it); Nicola Griffith is the big name here (the big name of the future) show more but you wouldn't have guessed it from this story, which isn't bad as such, in fact its well written in general, but relies on the rape and murder of a child to give the protagonist the outcome they desired, without touching on what that means or having the feelings created by that outcome part of the story. This makes it an unsatisfactory story that I think a more experienced writer would have recognised. Dickens' The Great Chain Of Being is the lesser story here, but is still entertaining enough without being especially interesting. show less

Some fantastic stories here. Whilst not as immediate as predecessor Ignorant Armies, there are still nothing but good reads in this book. Wolf Riders itself is a great story, full of fine characters and compelling action. You can feel the grey wetness of winter in the mountains in this story. One of Bill King's best. Elsewhere a halfling crime fighter character should have been picked up for a series, Brian Stableford's Phantom of Yremy adds an eerie jealousy story to the mix, Cry of the show more Beast also has the feel of a prospective novel series, as does The Hammer of the Stars. Both are decent stories though lack what we might now think of as the Warhammer essence. The Way of the Witchfinder is excellent writing but perhaps too dense for the average Warhammer reader (alas). Pulg's Grand Carnival is problable the least of the stories in this collection, but its definitely Warhammer! Finally No Gold In The Grey Mountains vies with Wolf Riders to be the best in the series. A companion to Drachenfels but one not normally included in the Genevieve collection, its a fine read. show less

A fine collection. This time I made an effort to read Storm Constantine's short story, and found that after a slow start it really is a wonderful gothick story that shows some dark truths about the Imperium. In the end Ian Watson's stories are by far the best, whether Warped Stars' brush with chaos, or Alien Beast Within's look at the Genestealer Cults. Definitely worth your time.

Five stars as this books is one of the single biggest influences on my reading in my early adult life. 100 SF novels 1949-1984. A subjective selection but most of the genre classics from period are here, with perhaps a lean toward New Wave and progressive but representation from the hard field too. Yes, it is very white and male, but the second half of the list is more diverse, with the inclusion of work from Angela Carter, Suzy McKee Charnas, Joanna Russ, Octavia Butler etc. indicative of show more changing times. show less