Beyond the Burn Line, Paul J. McAuley (Gollancz 978-1-39960-371-3, £22.00, 455pp, hc) September 2022. This tale opens with a clerk, a young fellow pursuing a promising career in anthropology and geology, until one day, his mentor, a jolly Fezziwigg-type scholar, dies. So sad. The mentor had been investigating reports of strange lights in the sky …