The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

The Naked Light by Bridget Collins; Exiles by Mason Coile; Alchemised by SenLinYu; Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei; Big Time by Jordan ProsserThe Naked Light by Bridget Collins (Borough, £18.99)The latest from the bestselling author of The Binding is set in England and focuses on three “surplus women” after the first world war: bored, lonely Florence, her fey niece Phoebe, and Kit, a bohemian artist haunted by memories of wartime France, where she painted masks for wounded soldiers to wear over horrifically damaged faces. Their village is on the Sussex Downs, overlooked by an ancient face carved into the chalk, reputed to protect inhabitants from a hungry spirit. But since the death of the last member of the family traditionally bound to look after it, the face is fast disappearing beneath the grass, and something frightening is stirring in the land. Atmospheric, psychologically astute and beautifully realised, this is a brilliantly original literary take on folk horror.Exiles by Mason Coile (Baskerville, £16.99)In 2030, three astronauts arrive on Mars, on a one-way mission to prepare for full-scale colonisation. They find their robot-built base, the Citadel, severely damaged, and one of the robots missing. The remaining two offer different explanations: the missing robot malfunctioned and caused the damage before fleeing, or the Citadel was attacked by an unseen, hostile alien force, and the third robot went in pursuit and has not returned. A taut, terrifying thriller, sadly the last work from Mason Coile, a pseudonym of award-winning author Andrew Pyper, who died in January. Continue reading...

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Strictly 2025 ones to watch revealed by Oti Mabuse

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Strictly 2025 ones to watch revealed by Oti Mabuse

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