One of the things I’m trying out this year is blogging months based around a theme. WarhamMarch has proven successful these past few years, and my scheduled readthroughs of Foundation and Dune were also fun to do. I’m not going to structure every month, but for April I’m going to be celebrating the best of British science fiction. That means prioritising British authors in my TBR, and putting out some articles to go alongside them. We’ll start by looking at the books.

TBR

I’ve got more than enough British authors in my TBR to keep me going for the whole month, helped by the fact that us Brits tend to read and write some chunky books. One such monolith I’ particularly happy to have come across is Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee omnibus. This is four books in one, and was a steal at three pounds for a used copy. Xeelee is Baxter’s biggest series, and I have high hopes for it. I’ve also lucked my way into his World Engines series in hardback. These books have a real chance of securing Baxter’s place as one of my favourite living authors.

If we’re talking about chunky books, we have to mention Peter F. Hamilton. I am nowhere near as enthusiastic about his work as some others, , but he is a lynchpin of British science fiction, and I plan on digging deep to find out what all the fuss is about.

One much-hyped author I do understand the fuss over is Adrian Tchaikovsky, and I’m happy to be reading his latest, Alien Clay, this month. Along with last year’s The Sanctuary by Andrew Hunter Murray, these books show that British SF is still in good shape.

Then we have some older novels that I’m looking at for the first time. First up is the work of Eric Brown. I’m a few chapters into Engineman at the moment and loving it, so I’m glad I bought a bundle of his books earlier in the year. Another ‘B’ author is Chris Beebee. I know absolutely nothing about the man beyond his nationality, but The Hub looks like a really interesting read. Then there’s Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, best known for their work with the BBC, but who also authored The Dynostar Menace. The perfect little book to cram in between longer reads.

Rounding up the British onslaught are a pair of genre titans. I think everyone knows the name Arthur C. Clarke, but I’ve hardly touched his work. This month I’ll be reading the ultimate collection of all his short fiction. If I enjoy those, there’s a good chance I’ll be seeking out his novel-length output in the near future. The last big name on the list is John Brunner. He’s often overlooked these days, but Stand on Zanzibar is regarded as a classic by just about everyone who’s heard of it, so once again I’m turning up late to see what all the fuss is about.

I’ll also be listening to the classic Douglas Adams novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as part of my Discord’s buddy read. If you want to get involved with that, you can join by clicking HERE. Any other audiobook time I get will be spent with my backlog of Warhammer 40,000 books.

Yes, I do believe it’s going to be a very busy month.

& BEYOND

As well as the reading and reviewing, I’ve got some articles planned for my Best of British month. The first is a celebration of some of my favourite bookshops across the country, and maybe a few other places of science fiction interest that any self-respecting book nerd should put on their bucket list. This may or may not be heavily influenced by my recent trip around said bookshops that built my TBR into what it is.

Then I’m going to take a look at what makes British science fiction so British. This will be one of my more academic essays, so it’ll be nice to flex those muscles after a long break.

Less academic but likely more popular, I’ll likely be ending the month with a breakdown of how I’d rate every Brisitsh author in my library. And people said I was crazy for spending so much time on my spreadsheets.

RELEASE SCEHDULE

2nd – Toll of Honor, by David Weber – A standalone story is exactly what the Honorverse needs to reinvigorate itself, so I’m happy to see this one hitting shelves. I’ll be waiting for the paperback myself, but if you read it first, be sure to let me know your thoughts.

11th – The Sun Eater #6: Disquiet Gods, by Christopher Ruocchio – The penultimate book in the series (despite what certain Twitter accounts might say) is one I’m very excited for. Especially if it can recapture the wonder of the earlier novels.

13th – Warhammer 40,000: Deathworlder, by Victoria Hayward – The novel debut of one of my favourite up and coming Black Library authors, this one features Catachans and Tyranids, so you know it’s going to be brutal. Hayward is also the star of the author interview I’ve been teasing for some time, so stay tuned to find out what makes the Tyranids tick.