The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Debut writer Ian Hocking kindly got in touch with us recently to let us know about his first SF novel, Déjà Vu. Set in 2023 it follows David Proctor, a scientist on the run, blamed for bombing the ‘West Lothian Project’ years before. David doesn’t remember committing this atrocity, but it seems everyone else does. Saskia Brandt is a detective on his trail, but she too is having memory problems. In fact she’s not sure she’s who she thinks she is.

The novel mixes real and virtual worlds with an absorbing near-future thriller narrative and intriguing ruminations on the nature of memory and self and has genuine cross-over appeal beyond the SF&F genre and should appeal to readers of Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon or Sue Rann’s Looking for Mr Nobody. Ian’s name and that of the independent UKA press who are publishing him may not be overly familiar to many folk yet, but the reviews he’s picked up from people such as top author Jon Courtenay Grimwood and Andy Sawyer of the Science Fiction Foundation and Alien Online point to a new voice in Brit SF that we should all be taking an interest in. The novel is available from our webstore, where we were so impressed we’re offering 25% off, so you’ve no excuses for not exploring an intriguing new voice in Brit SF.