Why am I passionate about this?

I was born in 1957, the year the Space Race started when the USSR launched its first satellite and grew up with astronauts and cosmonauts on the TV. Yuri Gagarin and Gordon Cooper were familiar names to me as a child but I only really started to take notice as the Apollo programme ramped up. Science fiction influenced me at an very early age with books like Kemlo and Tom Swift and, having pestered my English teacher with my embryonic works decided at seventeen to write my own novel. Some years later and just short of sixty I finally wrote Sirkkusaga and now have seven published works out there - as well as two anthologies.


I wrote

Sirkkusaga

By Kyt Wright,

Book cover of Sirkkusaga

What is my book about?

Set in an alternate dimension following a catastrophic war, it deals with the trials, tribulations, and life journey of a…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Triplanetary

Kyt Wright Why did I love this book?

I read these as a young teenager and loved them, they’re star-spanning, rip-roaring tales of civilisations pitted against each other across the universe. Triplanetary is the first book of the Lensman series but we have to wait until book two; First Lensman, for the arrival of the titular characters.

The good guys (Hooray! Including Earth, of course) have an advantage in that certain of them have been selected by the Arisians to wear a device called the Lens - which allows them to harness their mental powers against the Boskonians (the bad guys - boo!), who are assisted by the evil Eddorians.

It’s all good fun, and I admit to the stories having influenced me slightly.

By E.E. Smith,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Triplanetary as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Triplanetary is a space opera by E. E. Smith. This is the original version first serialized in Amazing Stories magazine in 1934. Smith later reworked the story into the first of two Lensman prequels which was then published in 1948. Triplanetary covers an eons-long eugenics project of the super-intelligences of the Arisians an alien race breeding two genetic lines to become the ultimate weapon in their cosmic war with the Eddore.


Book cover of A Princess of Mars

Kyt Wright Why did I love this book?

Written by the author perhaps better known for Tarzan, the series takes place on a Mars very different to the one we know and follows the adventures of John Carter who is mysteriously transported to Barsoom - where he finds himself a stranger on a very hostile planet. Of course, being an Earthman, Carter is stronger than the native Martians and soon becomes a powerful warlord with a winsome female partner.

When written, this was science fiction combined with sword and sorcery at the very dawn of the genre, it is perhaps gung-ho by today’s standards but as a callow youth I found them irresistible.

By Edgar Rice Burroughs,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked A Princess of Mars as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Rediscover the adventure-pulp classic that gave the world its first great interplanetary romance-now featuring an introduction by Junot Diaz

In the spring of 1866, John Carter, a former Confederate captain prospecting for gold in the Arizona hills, slips into a cave and is overcome by mysterious vapors. He awakes to find himself naked, alone, and forty-eight million miles from Earth-a castaway on the dying planet Mars. Taken prisoner by the Tharks, a fierce nomadic tribe of six-limbed, olive-green giants, he wins respect as a cunning and able warrior, who by grace of Mars's weak gravity possesses the agility of a…


Book cover of The Colour of Magic

Kyt Wright Why did I love this book?

What can be said about these that hasn’t already been said? Obviously intended as an affectionate spoof on the fantasy genre, the Discworld has garnered a following as great as that of Tolkien (albeit with tongue firmly in cheek) and has covered virtually every subject known to man (and troll, dwarf, undead, etc.).

My favourite story is probably “Guards! Guards!” in which we are introduced to the cynical and hard-bitten captain of the Watch, Sam Vimes – along with his motley crew.

Another character of which I am particularly fond is Death, represented as the typical skeleton in a black robe with a scythe. Death always speaks in small caps and has a voice described as the sound of tomb doors slamming but despite this has an almost protective attitude towards humanity – he also likes cats.

Then there are the Witches… I could wax lyrical about the late Mr. Pratchett’s work forever but the best thing to do is read them yourself.

By Terry Pratchett,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Colour of Magic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious buy inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course The Edge of the planet...


Book cover of Body Work

Kyt Wright Why did I love this book?

Urban fantasy novels following the adventures of a police officer called Peter Grant who discovers he has magic powers and is brought under the wing of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale - the last officially sanctioned police Wizard with the rivers themselves represented by various magical characters. The series starts as a sort of police procedural and is very enjoyable and easy to read.

By Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Body Work as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Peter Grant, having become the first English apprentice wizard in fifty years, must immediately deal with two different but ultimately inter-related cases. In one he must find what is possessing ordinary people and turning them into vicious killers, and in the second he must broker a peace between the two warring gods of the River Thames.


Book cover of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters

Kyt Wright Why did I love this book?

A three novel serial with tones of Victorian adventure and steampunk fantasy that sets three disparate characters against a mysterious cabal with influence in the government of an unnamed European country (possibly an analogue of Victorian England) – with the sinister glass of which the books are made able to record and play back real-life events (quite often sexual or violent) to be experienced (quite literally) by the reader.

Each chapter of the books are seen from the point of view of one of the main characters; Miss Celeste Temple – a stereotypical Victorian adventuress and heir to a fortune who finds herself drawn to both Cardinal Chang – neither a cardinal nor Oriental, he is a dichotomy, capable of extreme violence but with a decent side and a love of poetry; and to the Contessa – ostensibly evil, she is a beautiful, cunning and deadly woman who seems to pursue her own agenda

The last is Doctor Svenson – a military man who is dismayed by the failings of his employers and throws his lot in with the others.

There has been a mixed reaction to the series but I think they are fascinating and worth a read.

By Gordon Dahlquist,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


Here begins an extraordinary alliance—and a brutal and tender, shocking, and electrifying adventure to end all adventures.

It starts with a simple note. Roger Bascombe regretfully wishes to inform Celeste Temple that their engagement is forthwith terminated. Determined to find out why, Miss Temple takes the first step in a journey that will propel her into a dizzyingly seductive, utterly shocking world beyond her imagining—and set her on a collision course with a killer and a spy—in a bodice-ripping, action-packed roller-coaster ride of suspense, betrayal, and richly fevered dreams.


Explore my book 😀

Sirkkusaga

By Kyt Wright,

Book cover of Sirkkusaga

What is my book about?

Set in an alternate dimension following a catastrophic war, it deals with the trials, tribulations, and life journey of a quirky singer called Sirkku (Sirki) Vigsdottir, and her lovers – both male and female.

Sirki Vigsdottir is a self-centered woman who is fond of drink and a recovering addict to boot, not the sort of girl a boy brings home to mother. Following an attack from an unexpected quarter, abilities awaken within Sirki, who begins a journey of self-discovery. These newfound skills attract the attention of both the Psi, a mysterious group of telepaths headed by the fearsome Mina, and an equally sinister government department, the ACG.

Book cover of Triplanetary
Book cover of A Princess of Mars
Book cover of The Colour of Magic

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Book cover of The River of Eternity

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What is my book about?

1184 BCE. Ramesses III, who will become the last of the great pharaohs, is returning home from battle. He will one day assume the throne of the Egyptian empire, and the plots against him and his children have already started. Even a god can die.

Ray was raised with the teenage children of Ramesses as their friend, but his own mysterious past exposes him to threats inside and outside of the Egyptian court. When a prince is killed, Ray is framed for the murder and must run to protect Bull, the oldest son of Ramesses. So begins Ray’s dangerous journey…

The River of Eternity

By Bruce Balfour,

What is this book about?

From the national bestselling author of The Forge of Mars and The Digital Dead, an Ancient Egyptian epic adventure thriller series, based on real events, for fans of Wilbur Smith, Steven Saylor, and Paul Doherty.

This is the first book of a series leading up to the event known as The Harem Conspiracy, the assassination of Pharaoh Ramesses III in New Kingdom Egypt (1184 BCE), which was led by members of his own family. Details were drawn from the first recorded judicial trial transcript ever recovered (Judicial Papyrus of Turin plus other fragments of the original papyrus).


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