Tag archives for speculative - Page 3
Book Review – The Summer Isles by Ian R MacLeod
The Summer Isles by Ian R. MacLeod My rating: 4 of 5 stars An alternative history through the eyes of a gay Oxford don. The premise is that the Germans won the First World War, their March 1918 offensive succeeded and the war ended in the August with the defeat of France and Britain. The Peace Treaty strips Britain of a number of colonies and overseas territories in much the same way that the Germans were in our own history. Britain has a violent period in the 1920s and a former corporal, John Arthur, becomes the leader of a Modernist movement. The story starts in the early part of 1940 when the Empire Alliance has been in power for at least a decade. A number of short victorious wars has restored much of the Imperial prestige lost at the end…
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Imperfect: Scene 09 – Free
Imperfect Free I had spent over five hours in the police station and still hadn’t been arrested. It was quite late and I wanted to go to sleep, so I rested my head on my arms on the desk in the interview room and nodded off. Not the best plan for staying alert under interrogation, but better than staying awake for days, and also in character for Huw. As I was dozing blue pinstripe reappeared, with Fletcher just behind him. I woke with a start and then remembered where I was. Blue pinstripe looked uncomfortable, which was odd. He sat down opposite me and Fletcher remained standing at the open doorway. “Mr Powell, I’m Inspector Smeeton. I’m sorry we’ve kept you this long, it has taken some time to check your credentials.” “Inspector, I’m always happy to help the guardians…
Imperfect: Scene 08 – Plans
Imperfect Plans With breakfast out of the way we got down to planning how we were going to get Mark, Geoff and Charlie out of police custody. The first step was to find out on what basis they were being held. Once we knew that we could get some lawyers to work on getting them out. The cell had plenty of money for that sort of thing, and while we needed to co-ordinate it, it was by far the easiest way of getting someone out of a police cell. That said we had some pretty wild back-up plans just in case bail was refused. We’d heard some pretty unsavoury things about where people like us went when we were detained indefinitely on public safety grounds. Those were all just rumours, because no-one had returned to deny them. That in itself…
Imperfect – Scene 07 – Hiding
Imperfect Hiding The first thing we did after we’d been shown our hiding place (a room at the back of the pub, up two flights of stairs and at the end of a corridor) was to get some sleep. The room was basic, obviously not used often but ready should there be a sudden influx of guests. It had all the usual features you’d expect, just a little older than you’d have in your home. It was like they’d furnished it from a second-hand shop rather than buying new. There was a double bed in the corner and a sofa with a small pull-out underneath it which faced the screen area. Above the sofa was a window with heavy net curtains and even heavier duty light-blocking curtains at either side. In the corner next to the bed there was a…
Imperfect – Scene 06 – Get Away Car
Imperfect Get Away Car Rosie, Cat and I were holed up in the George & Dragon about twenty miles outside Cambridge. We’d arrived there on foot after dark, coming in by the back door at three in the morning after the cleaning staff had long gone. We’d done our anti-surveillance drills as a team through Cambridge until we got to a lock-up garage in a quiet suburban street. It was one of a row of six in a housing development that looked at least one hundred years old. Some of the houses certainly looked more than a bit shabby. When Rosie opened the garage it contained a car with a dust sheet over it. “Here are our wheels!” she said, pulling the dust sheet off with a bit of a flourish. Underneath was a silver coloured car, of a type I…