Venomous Lumpsucker: A Novel

“This book feels like a very clever piece of origami that opens to reveal many layers. You think, oh, I see. But oh, no, there’s another corner in there. You peel that back and there’s a completely different picture. Then there’s another corner to peel back. It’s so cleverly done and so plausible. It’s harsher than Notes from the Burning Age, but it also feels like it could happen next year, it feels politically astute.” Read more...

The Best Eco-Thriller Books

Manda Scott, Novelist

“This book is set in a near future where human-led environmental degradation and climate catastrophe are the central focus of the plot, and the eponymous Lumpsucker is just one of the many critically endangered species being ruthlessly traded for extinction credits (a tradable stock-like asset companies acquire specifically in order to legally cover themselves should their resource extraction terminate a species). If that brief description sounds brutal, I can only agree. This is a dark, satirical, deeply angry book about our species. It’s also eminently readable, oddly hopeful at times, and very, very funny. I’d be tempted to compare Ned Beauman’s humour here to our sci-fi satirist grandmaster Douglas Adams, or maybe, more specifically, his evil twin.” Read more...

The Best Science Fiction of 2023: The Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist

Tom Hunter, Journalist