Here’s my latest round-up of recommended sci-fi games sitting in my library I’ve been able to give some time to in the last few months. Starship Troopers: Terran Command After 10 hours’ worth of play, I can happily recommend this Starcraft-style top-down RTS that adheres faithfully to Verhoeven’s visualisation of Heinlein’s timeless sci-fi world. There’s […]
The world of Warhammer seems a confusing place from the outside. The franchise has amassed a wealth of well-loved lore and literature around its iconic Space Marines that makes it one of the most developed military sci-fi properties out there… but where do you start? I recently delved into the literature and lore-proper of the Warhammer […]
Hot on the heels of last month’s release, Rise Of The Exiles, comes the latest scribbling from my fevered, sci-fi-obsessed mindscape. It’s called Fleet Rats (Dropzone #1) and is a new military sci-fi series of novels, set in the same universe as my previous sci-fi books – Conversations With Droids, The Kassini Division and Rise […]
Rise Of The Exiles, my sequel to The Kassini Division, is out now to buy on Amazon. Suffice to say, it’s been through many updates and rewrites. I wanted to ensure the story of Kassini, Krieger, Taro, Vonya, Mak, Rust and co was sufficiently compelling to expand out into a series of books that fuses […]
Hello Ortegamers! Winter is really starting to make itself felt where I am, so I thought I’d write a few words on what I’ve been playing to insulate myself from the blues. Playing now: MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries The MechWarrior games are another of these institutions I admit I didn’t have much insight into because I’ve never been […]
Yes, the Commodore 64 is celebrating an anniversary this month, having arrived on these shores 40 years ago. I’ll spare you too much history here (this 10-year-old article does a great job of that); the psychology behind why retro games get so much love (Wired have already covered that) and discussion of its place in culture […]
Dead Formats (A Rand Hoté Mystery) is my new book, available now on Amazon. It’s a science-fiction mystery novel, featuring a detective investigating a murder in a near-future world that’s extrapolated from our own. Here’s the blurb: When holo lawyer Rand Hoté meets Tegan Kolechko, she hires him to investigate her death. Tegan’s been resurrected as a hologram, but has no memory of […]
My latest novel is a sci-fi mystery story set in 2064, in a world based loosely on our own where immortality has been achieved via workable, but imperfect, hologram simulation technology. Check out the amazing cover, which was designed by Kat Bastow and incorporates elements by Bruno Thethe and Irina Bg. I think it manages […]
Sci-fi’s impact on the mainstream is surely stronger than it has been for a long, long time – but let’s hope that the in-depth characterisation that elevated the SF of yesteryear isn’t sacrificed on the altar of beautiful surfaces. Take the mega-success of Squid Game, the survival-game dystopia with a strong anti-capitalist theme that has, ironically, […]
Dystopian fiction just became even harder to write today, as reality upped its game considerably with Amazon’s announcement of the Astro domestic robot… This 20lb, two-foot-tall domestic surveillance droid is designed to offer its owners “peace of mind” – ‘in exchange for you handing over every last scrap of you and your family’s privacy forever’, […]
