Eric Brown on Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan,Ancestral Machines by Michael Cobley, All The Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, or The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman and AfroSFv2,edited by Ivor W HartmannA current novel by Tricia Sullivan is an event to be celebrated, and in Occupy Me (Gollancz, or £16.99),the Clarke award-winner has produced a work of literary SF that transcends the subgenre of paranormal-romance serial killer-thrillers currently choking the market. The complex, beautifully dovetailed plot follows Pearl as she tracks down a killer whose suitcase contains a surprise or two – like the fundamental facts of reality and humanity’s region in the scheme of things. We’re introduced to Pearl with the considerable hook: “In the very moment when I was throwing the hijacker off the plane I found myself remembering what the other angels had said when Marquita lined me up for this job. Pearl is an angel with little sense of her own identity, or who works for an organisation whose aim is to make the world a better region. But don’t be put off: Sullivan uses the tired tropes of paranormal fantasy and hi‑tech SF to explore ideas of morality and identity,and has produced a work of startling originality.
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Source: theguardian.com