Something has gone wrong…

Something has gone wrong…

As so often I’ve been thinking about robots, artificial intelligence and what will become of us humans in the future while creating this piece. Will we just endlessly keep consuming? Will robots take over human reproduction because all that is left is some greedy, organic matter? And why would they do it? Because we created them in our best image – the one that is caring, thoughtful and supportive? I will give it some more thought…  


“Artificial intelligence (AIin healthcare is the use of algorithms and software to approximate human cognition in the analysis of complex medical data. Specifically, AI is the ability for computer algorithms to approximate conclusions without direct human input.”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Girls Girls Girls

book cover with girl in the title

Bestselling books with ‘girl’ in the title

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, The Girl with all the Gifts, The Girl in the Red Coat, The Girl Who Lied – all been flying off the shelves, or rushing through the download ether. By the way, I have read them all and liked them.

So if you are an author at a loose end, not knowing what to write about, you should think about a young female lead (she doesn’t need to be a heroine, even though I would welcome it, she can be psychologically challenged or simply an alcoholic, even a child will do) and stick ‘girl’ somewhere in the title. And off into bestselling orbit, you should go. Oh, also make sure it is a page turner. The competition is stiff and you’ll be compared with the other ‘girl’ books.

The Girl with all the Gifts book cover
The Girl with all the Gifts book cover

Why do I go on about this on a dystopian blog you might wonder? Well, I wanted to present ‘The Girl with all the Gifts’ by M. R. Carey, one of the best zombie novels ever written. This is the ‘girl’ novel with the apocalyptic fix (you know what I mean), you really ought to read. It is utterly unique and stands head above shoulders in a genre that seems to attract the most talentless of writers.

More notable dystopian ‘girl’ books

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

And while we are on the subject of apocalyptic fiction featuring girls in the lead, the wonderful Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is another must-read book by an exceptionally gifted writer.

And it is not just me saying it. To prove it, Emily St. John Mandel has a handful of credentials to her name, among them: WINNER OF THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD 2015, as well as, New York Times Bestseller.

And last but not least, there is my favorite zombie book of all times: The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell. I have written a review a while back which you can read here.

If you have written a dystopian, apocalyptic or crime book with or without girl in the title and need a good book cover designer, Jacqueline Abromeit at goodcoverdesign.co.uk should be able to help.

Nod

Nod by Adrian Barnes

Nod by Adrian Barnes

Review:
Full marks for originality. Nod is a one person’s account of what happens when everybody, apart from himself and a bunch of kids, fails to be able to sleep. Well, nothing good. Maybe I would have liked the book better if it was another person’s account? I don’t know. Not that I disliked it. If I would give away stars on Amazon, I would have given a generous 4 and 3 of those would have been for the collective insomnia idea. Love the cover though!

I Have Waited, And You Have Come

I Have Waited, And You Have Come by Martine McDonagh

I Have Waited, And You Have Come by Martine McDonagh

Review:
Madness, obsession and bad weather.  Now, what does that remind me of…? Never mind, this is great stuff. Rachel is alone in a stormy future, in a society that has gone back to somewhere between medieval and biblical times. Excellent writing – I loved it!

Dear me, my reviews are so short I should twitter. Only, nothing good ever came out of twitter…

Cold Earth

Cold Earth by Sarah Moss

Cold Earth by Sarah Moss

Sarah Moss is one of my favourite authors and her début novel Cold Earth is right down my apocalyptic alleyway. It is tense, ice-cold, and like everything else by Sarah Moss, a real pleasure to read!

Outpost

Outpost by Adam Baker

Outpost by Adam Baker

Review:
I especially liked the setting. The end of the world happens while folks are stuck on an arctic outpost – at the end of the world.

This had everything you want in an apocalyptic read… …nothing more, nothing less.

The Dog Stars

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

Review:
I loved this book. It is zombie-like dystopian-  the struggle for survival, fighting over scarce resources and the thread of mindless violence.

There’s also a dog (good!) and a Cessna – what is it with Cessnas and apocalyptic fiction? They’ve been featuring in at least 4 books I’ve read so far – maybe I should get one? Never mind, it is an outstanding good read! It had me in tears…