United States of America - Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

There are dozens and dozens of Science fiction titles of my bookshelf and in my audio books library, that are written by American authors. I originally picked Rey Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, as it's an absolute classic and one of my favourite books. But once I read Project Hail Mary, I realised that this is brilliant representation of American science Fiction. Even the title is pure stars and stripes, referencing American football! 

I'm going to be as polite as possible to America and Americans. But I will be  throwing no end of stereotypes and  misconceptions. Firstly when I visited America, I had a great time, I only scratched the surface with a couple of weeks based around LA and then 10 days in New York. But it was a great part of my trip. I know it's easy to paint Americans as dumb gun toting meat heads, and there are definitely a few of those. But there are far more kind generous and funny people!

The Physical Book:

I pre-odered this when it was available to do so, after enjoying The Martian so much and the film too, Artemis didn't hit the right spot for me so i'll leave that there. My local bookstore excelled themselves and managed to get me a signed copy of the hardback! Boom! The book itself is a nice, a good cover. Nothing outstanding, just does the job nicely.

The Story:

Love it, and this is were the true America heritage comes at you with all guns blazing. And that is a hell of a lot of gun! Basically a white, young America saves the world, by using good ol' gumption, grit and common sense! Even though the mission was a joint mission with China and USA, only our Anglo pretty boy survived! The alien interactions in the book are great fun, and very very 'alien' which was really cool. It was refreshing to see an Earthling, learn the alien language rather than the usual trope of teaching the Alien how to speak English! Because all Aliens speak the same language and all earthlings speak English!

I can't wait for the film in 2027

Chile - Pedro The Vast - Simon Lopez

31st Jan 2026

Found whilst reading a 'most Antipater science fiction books of 2026' on the new scientist web page. Usually these lists are pretty crappy, but this time it pulled up a gemstone, as I don't have a Chilean author on my radar, so it's always nice when one is delivered to me with out much effort. Just need to pop to my local book store to see if they can source me a copy.

Ghana - Third Loch from the sun - Rex Burke

How I found the Book: I follow Rex on Facebook and Bluesky, and subscribe to his newsletter, I'm not a stalker. Promise. and having read Orphan Planet, Twin Landing and Star Bound I've become a huge fan of Rex Burke, his easy style with loads of humour, and neat ideas. He also builds wonderful characters and relationships. So when I was give a voucher for my local independent book shop for my birthday I purchased this, (and Special Delivery, and The Wrong Stop). I also saw that Third Loch was available on Audibe too. So I plumped for the audio book, and wasn't disappointed. The voice actor was great, great Scottish accents, and great character voices, especially for the General.

The Story: A brilliant twist on the first contact Theme with Aliens crash landing on a remote Scottish Island, into an even more remote loch. A British lad stumbles on the hidden aliens whilst doing a summer job on the island. The aliens had been in contact with two of the locals on the island who kept it all a big secret. Much fun and japes is had with the three humans trying to maintain the secret and there is even a little romance on the side.

The Physical Book: It's a great quality book, with a fun cover. What I do love about Rex's books are the short chapters, maybe 10 or 20 pages. This makes progresses much easier. I can just get a chapter in here and there whilst having a coffee or before bed. Means I really can crack on with the books.