Been using my time off to have a quick flick through some of the short stories collected in Toast by Charlie Stross. Ive been meaning to re-read some since finishing a proof of Charlies excellent forthcoming SF novel, Festival of Fools. Bloody good stuff, although some of the politics makes me think he and Ken MacLeod have been spending too much time talking about SF politics in the pub again.



Big Engine, a nice little SF independent run by Ben Jeapes has unfortunately folded. They were going to publish Festival, but now it is unsure when the UK release will be, although Charlie tells me the US release should be this summer. Hopefully it will be picked up by a British SF publisher soon. Intelligent SF with interesting, adult takes on politics and societies. Well worth reading and I'll post here and on the Alien - www.thealienonline.net - once it is due for publication.