I have to admit to mixed feelings about this year's Clarke Award shortlist. On the one hand, it includes some of my favorite authors, including Kim Stanley Robinson, Nick Harkaway and Ken MacLeod. On the other hand, the Clarke Awards have been criticized in the past for honoring only male authors — and this helps fuel…

Ken MacLeod's novel Intrusion, which has been a hit in the UK since it was released earlier this year, tackles a familiar issue in a completely unexpected way. Hope is a mother-to-be in a near-future London, where pregnant women are under tremendous pressure to take "Fix," a pill that corrects most known genetic defects …

War and Space: Recent Combat, from editors Rich Horton and Sean Wallace is possibly one of the finest anthologies that I've ever come across. This anthology looks at the nature of war, and how it might impact our future civilizations in space. Fans of high-octane stories with lots of action might be let down by the…

Six major British science fiction authors have released an open letter calling for greater cooperation between scientists and creative people, saying that the U.K. is falling behind the U.S. in communication between the arts and sciences. The authors, including Paul McAuley, Geoff Ryman, Ken Macleod and Justina Robson, …

Science fiction features lots of characters who find their own way in the universe, regardless of what megacorps or governments try to tell them. So it's not surprising that one of the best ways to find some of the most exciting new reads is to pay attention to the Prometheus Awards for the best libertarian SF books.…

What does September have in store for you? A new Neal Stephenson novel! Not one, but two new releases from Cherie Priest! Plus faeries, vampires, digital revolutionaries, and a college in outer space. Here are all the new releases your bookshelf needs this month.

Ken MacLeod's latest near-future thriller The Restoration Game takes us deep inside a CIA plot to overthrow the government of Krassnia, an imaginary former Soviet republic — using an MMO designed to stir up nationalist sentiment among Krassnia's youth. Out this month in the U.S. from PYR Books, the novel traces a set…

Ken MacLeod, author of The Execution Channel, has a new book coming out in the UK next month: The Restoration Game. I interviewed him for Bloggingheads, and he told me about his future projects - including one with galactic princesses.

A truly great infodump is a work of art. The best science fiction authors can brief you on everything you need to know about their worlds, without making you feel lectured. Here are 20 great examples of the smooth infodump.