Something Coming Through – aliens, LA noir, techno-thriller, dystopia ALL in the mix

Something Coming Through is a story that manages to be all over the genre map but still somehow work. We’re in clear sci-fi territory in one way – humanity has made first contact with aliens known as the Jackaroo, we’re now living on alien worlds and it’s a short hop into the future in Earth time. But otherwise, the book has …

[Destroy All Monsters]

The next Alastair Reynolds?

[x 7]

jackaroo???

so the first aliens we meet are going to be a bunch of trainee "sheep" herders ?

so who are the "sheep" and who gets to eat them?

[Kurgan]

Bought it

Nice to see an affordable price for the ebook edition. Just bought it.

[Pedigree-Pete]

Re: Bought it

Me too> Enjoy.

[oldcoder]

Aliens that refuse to show their faces is new?

I think the reviewer missed Clarks "Childhoods End".

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Aliens that refuse to show their faces is new?

+1. And at least a few others I've read over the years.

On the other hand, a story which doesn't start by explaining the way of the world over the first few chapters but assumes the reader is intelligent enough to pick it as they go along is an ok author in my book :-)

[beep54]

Re: Aliens that refuse to show their faces is new?

Or Gene Wolfe's 'Book of the New Sun".

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Aliens that refuse to show their faces is new?

Or Janusz Zajdel's "Out of the Shadows" - in which the aliens had more than one excellent reason not to show their faces... Yeah yeah, I know one of the commentards has already said "a few others" - but I am rather partial to Zajdel and his works deserve being mentioned as frequently as possible. Wish someone would finally translate Zajdel into English.

[James 51]

£2 for the ebook? If correct +1 sale on the back of this review.

[Martin Gregorie]

Could this saga turn out to be a longer version of Damon Knight's short story "To Serve Man".

[Zot]

Damn it!

I'm not buying a blooming cookery book!

[Pedigree-Pete]

In the reading queue...

@ 2 quid who wouldn't.

[Paw Bokenfohr]

Purchased - it's the right price for an ebook.

+1 purchase for the ebook version - at £2 it's the right price that I'm willing to give it a go without any personal recommendations, which I usually need if I'm actually buying books (rather than using the library) because books are so expensive, even ebooks normally.