Ho Ho Ho!!

Yes Santa Womble returns to help you with holiday reading suggestions and for today its the turn of science fiction and its been a good year with lots of suggestions to tempt you with

The Cruel Stars by John Birmingham — and The Shattered Skies by John Birmingham — - do not miss out space opera fans on this big take of a technological society being undermined by human zealots and then a fightback begins. The scale is BIG and I look forward to seeing how it ends!

Outcast by Louise Carey — - a great entry in this SF thriller series and this time exploring a bit more of the wider politics of this strange augmented reality ruled world.

Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi — - a powerful SF tale that explores gentrification but this time on a planetary scale and there are no easy answers but you will find haunting tales to follow characters living on a world not quite either destroyed or rebuilt

Stars and Bones by Gareth L Powell — - A very interesting idea of AIs, aliens and humans being exiled from out own world. It neatly comes together and has a sense of humour too.

Kundo Wakes Up by Saad Z Hossain - a gorgeous return to a very inventive premise and a fascinating tale unfolds

The Entropy of Loss by Stewart Hotston - look I don’t pre-tempt my end of year list but there is a 99% chance this brilliant take mixing first contact with a final goodbye is on the list - READ IT

Plutoshine by Lucy Kissick — - A very strong tale that delivers good old-school awe and some very cool and well explained science too on terraforming and little old Pluto

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi — - sometimes we need big monsters fighting each other and so this tale brings us all the Kaiju and a fun snarky thriller on top

Ocean of Stars by John Dodd — - A rather brilliant tale of pirates in space but also tasty time travel and its an epic standalone tale too. An author very much to watch in British SF!

Resilient by Allen Stroud — - a strong return to this gritty space opera series that this time delivers Dir Hard on a space station with lots of surprises. You need to get onto this series!

Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin — - an absolutely fascinating SF tale of what happens if you edit your memories and have the chance to remember what you’ve lost. It makes the reader get involved and decide what is right and wrong and will push you on your conclusion. A favourite of the year

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine — - another conclusion to a duology and this for me is in dialogue with A Memory Called Empire but this time exploring Empire outwards not inwards. Beautiful scenes await also exploring the power of communication

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia — - a touch of historical SF with Moreno-Garcia exploring the strange Doctor and his experiments but from a different perspective.

Our Child of Two Worlds by Stephen Cox — - SF tends to be thought as lacking heart but this conclusions to a often surprising duology I think is warm storytelling that never makes the reader too comfortable that a happy ending will be for everyone.

The Coral Bones by E J Swift — - not a spoiler but this in now in my top SF reads ever with a powerful tale of science, climate change and our relationship with both - past, present and future

The Compelled by Adam Roberts and Francois Schuiten — - a visual feast of a tale as humanity faces a strange compulsion to constantly build strange devices but why? Wil keep you guessing

Composite Creatures by Catherine Hardaker — - a really interesting dark tale of a mystery and two people with the strangest of pets that is well worth discovering

The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard — - not just pirates but pirates in space. A great mix of space opera drama and also a strong character focused romance that underline de Bodard is a brilliant storyteller

Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky - A stunning entry into the Children of Time series part mystery and part smart SF asking big questions on life and intelligence.

Last but not least Fantasy is a coming soon!!