Gary's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 27 Nov 2024 13:54:45 -0800 60 Gary's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Gary 5 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Gary
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> A Forest, or a Tree 51396997 "A Forest, or a Tree" is a nightmarish horror story from author Tegan Moore, a Tor.com Original.

Four friends, May, Piper, Ailey, and Elizabeth, go on a camping trip. Things slowly begin to go wrong.

It was just the four of them, four girls alone in the forest.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 30 Tegan Moore 1250234425 Gary 4
Merged review:

This is on my list of the Best Short SFF of June 2019: ]]> 2.92 2019 A Forest, or a Tree
author: Tegan Moore
name: Gary
average rating: 2.92
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/08/01
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:
This is on my list of the Best Short SFF of June 2019:

Merged review:

This is on my list of the Best Short SFF of June 2019:
]]> Loss of Signal 40776738 Loss of Signal.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 16 S.B. Divya 1250306671 Gary 3
Merged review:

By age sixteen Toby’s body was failing rapidly, but his brain was uniquely qualified for an experimental transfer to pilot a lunar module. The success of the program depends on his being able to prove that he can pilot a ship as well a manned mission, but even without a body he is unprepared for the coldness and isolation of space travel. “Loss of Signal� is a perfectly well-written story with a sympathetic protagonist who is easy to root for. It also panders incessantly to gross sentimentality. It’s a story without any subtlety or nuance, nor any sharp edges or ripples in the pond � everything goes straight down the middle of the road without swerving, coming to a complete stop at the intersection of Quality Road and Conventional Street.]]> 3.36 2018 Loss of Signal
author: S.B. Divya
name: Gary
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2018/08/31
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
By age sixteen Toby’s body was failing rapidly, but his brain was uniquely qualified for an experimental transfer to pilot a lunar module. The success of the program depends on his being able to prove that he can pilot a ship as well a manned mission, but even without a body he is unprepared for the coldness and isolation of space travel. “Loss of Signal� is a perfectly well-written story with a sympathetic protagonist who is easy to root for. It also panders incessantly to gross sentimentality. It’s a story without any subtlety or nuance, nor any sharp edges or ripples in the pond � everything goes straight down the middle of the road without swerving, coming to a complete stop at the intersection of Quality Road and Conventional Street.

Merged review:

By age sixteen Toby’s body was failing rapidly, but his brain was uniquely qualified for an experimental transfer to pilot a lunar module. The success of the program depends on his being able to prove that he can pilot a ship as well a manned mission, but even without a body he is unprepared for the coldness and isolation of space travel. “Loss of Signal� is a perfectly well-written story with a sympathetic protagonist who is easy to root for. It also panders incessantly to gross sentimentality. It’s a story without any subtlety or nuance, nor any sharp edges or ripples in the pond � everything goes straight down the middle of the road without swerving, coming to a complete stop at the intersection of Quality Road and Conventional Street.
]]> <![CDATA[How to Move Spheres and Influence People]]> 44612689
T. K. hates a lot of things, but at the moment, it's how she becomes the #1 target during dodgeball at gym. Everything changes, however, when she discovers that she has the ace ability to direct spherical objects � and she makes her classmates pay! But her powers are made for more than petty revenge, as she soon discovers while on a family vacation.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 44 Marko Kloos 1250206871 Gary 4
Merged review:

A new entry in GRRM’s Wildcards universe, this novelette tells the origin story of T.K., a teenager will partial left-side paralysis who gets picked on at PE by the mean girls. Her “card turns� one day during class and she discovers she has the power to control spherical objects with her mind. Her squeamishness after engaging in a mild act of revenge convinces her she’s better off just using her powers for good. That opens its own can of worms once the opportunity presents itself. Kloos built his reputation on military SF, but here he shows that his skillful plotting and ability to craft believable, relatable protagonists crosses over to other genres. The not-so-subtle ways T.K.’s tormentors bully her without running afoul of school authorities is effectively done. Context clues abound, so readers new to the Wildcards premise shouldn’t have any trouble getting the gist.]]> 3.96 2019 How to Move Spheres and Influence People
author: Marko Kloos
name: Gary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/28
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
A new entry in GRRM’s Wildcards universe, this novelette tells the origin story of T.K., a teenager will partial left-side paralysis who gets picked on at PE by the mean girls. Her “card turns� one day during class and she discovers she has the power to control spherical objects with her mind. Her squeamishness after engaging in a mild act of revenge convinces her she’s better off just using her powers for good. That opens its own can of worms once the opportunity presents itself. Kloos built his reputation on military SF, but here he shows that his skillful plotting and ability to craft believable, relatable protagonists crosses over to other genres. The not-so-subtle ways T.K.’s tormentors bully her without running afoul of school authorities is effectively done. Context clues abound, so readers new to the Wildcards premise shouldn’t have any trouble getting the gist.

Merged review:

A new entry in GRRM’s Wildcards universe, this novelette tells the origin story of T.K., a teenager will partial left-side paralysis who gets picked on at PE by the mean girls. Her “card turns� one day during class and she discovers she has the power to control spherical objects with her mind. Her squeamishness after engaging in a mild act of revenge convinces her she’s better off just using her powers for good. That opens its own can of worms once the opportunity presents itself. Kloos built his reputation on military SF, but here he shows that his skillful plotting and ability to craft believable, relatable protagonists crosses over to other genres. The not-so-subtle ways T.K.’s tormentors bully her without running afoul of school authorities is effectively done. Context clues abound, so readers new to the Wildcards premise shouldn’t have any trouble getting the gist.
]]> <![CDATA[The Accidental War (Dread Empire's Fall #4)]]> 36977919
Yet after the ramshackle empire left by the Shaa conquerors is shaken by a series of hammer blows that threaten the foundations of the commonwealth, the result is a war that no one planned, no one expected, and no one knows how to end.

Now, Martinez, Sula, and their confederate Nikki Severin must escape the clutches of their enemies, rally the disorganized elements of the fleet, and somehow restore the fragile peace—or face annihilation at the hands of a vastly superior force.]]> 499 Walter Jon Williams 0062467034 Gary 4
The Accidental War kicks off a new trilogy in Walter John Williams� Praxis universe. This time, it’s not a power vacuum that threatens the empire � now the Praxis is the victim of its own success. A financial crisis leads to a fracturing of the Empire’s coalition on racial lines, with several non-Terran member groups exploiting the nouveau riche Martinez family’s connection to the troubles to band all Terrans as criminals. As tensions boil over, military conflict ensues. Gareth Martinez and Lady Sula are still the focal point of events, and though their romance was long ago scuttled, the two haven’t moved on as much as they would like to think.
Space opera has undergone such a radical shift in the ten years since the last Praxis novel, the Machiavellian maneuvering and Plutocratic decadence on display in The Accidental War often feels like a relic of a bygone era. Williams considerable skills have not diminished in that time: the pace is engrossing - tensions germinate, bloom, and pollinate in a natural progression. The plot develops so logically and consequentially that the book’s title takes on something of an ironic bend.
Williams plants a lot of seeds in The Accidental War, too many to come to fruition between the covers of this entry, and for me this felt more like the first act in a long novel than a complete story unto itself. Definitive judgment of its success isn’t easy to parse at this point, but this is a very promising start.

]]> 4.01 2018 The Accidental War (Dread Empire's Fall #4)
author: Walter Jon Williams
name: Gary
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2018/09/04
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves:
review:
3.5 Stars

The Accidental War kicks off a new trilogy in Walter John Williams� Praxis universe. This time, it’s not a power vacuum that threatens the empire � now the Praxis is the victim of its own success. A financial crisis leads to a fracturing of the Empire’s coalition on racial lines, with several non-Terran member groups exploiting the nouveau riche Martinez family’s connection to the troubles to band all Terrans as criminals. As tensions boil over, military conflict ensues. Gareth Martinez and Lady Sula are still the focal point of events, and though their romance was long ago scuttled, the two haven’t moved on as much as they would like to think.
Space opera has undergone such a radical shift in the ten years since the last Praxis novel, the Machiavellian maneuvering and Plutocratic decadence on display in The Accidental War often feels like a relic of a bygone era. Williams considerable skills have not diminished in that time: the pace is engrossing - tensions germinate, bloom, and pollinate in a natural progression. The plot develops so logically and consequentially that the book’s title takes on something of an ironic bend.
Williams plants a lot of seeds in The Accidental War, too many to come to fruition between the covers of this entry, and for me this felt more like the first act in a long novel than a complete story unto itself. Definitive judgment of its success isn’t easy to parse at this point, but this is a very promising start.


]]> Grace's Family 39805237
Grace's Family by James Patrick Kelly is a Tor.com Original short story.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 45 James Patrick Kelly 1250198836 Gary 3 “Grace’s Family� is carried in its first half by its captivating premise, and Kelly’s subtly effective characterizations and tension-building. Adding to the intrigue is the idea that humans are “resources� for ships to use in their larger objective of growing the “infosphere� � a term used to describe all the elements contained in the observed universe. It is a hopeful idea, one that harkens back to the more benign aims of classic sci-fi � that our aim as a civilization is not to conquer but to expand our understanding.
The injection of Orisa into Jojin and Qory’s lives teases promising new avenues for Kelly’s story to follow, and for a while it almost lives up to that promise. But Kelly undoes everything that was so interesting about the setup, taking the easy way out by giving Orisa and Jojin a traditional romance that eschews their role-playing ways, and jettisoning their constructed narratives in favor of these crazy old things called “books�. I get the (rather obvious) point, but its hard not to look back at “Grace’s Family� in light of where it ends up and feel as though the story's central dramatic question was very tendentious in setting itself up for failure.

Merged review:

Grace is a survey ship who travels from system to system looking for life-supporting planets. At the start of James Patrick Kelly’s new novelette “Grace’s Family�, her crew consists of teenage boy Jojin, his bot “sibling� Qory, and their parents Gillian (also a bot) and Dree. We soon learn that they are not an actual nuclear family but are only role playing as one. Human spacefaring culture, it seems, revolves around multi-level immersive storytelling: everyone has their own personal narratives they participate in, plus various narratives they role play as a crew, plus an overarching construct that defines their relationships to each other. Early on in “Grace’s Family�, Dree grows dissatisfied with his role on Grace and he and Gillian end up getting traded to another ship, replaced with a woman named Orisa who introduces Jojin and Qory to different identity constructs, and radical new (but actually old) ideas.
“Grace’s Family� is carried in its first half by its captivating premise, and Kelly’s subtly effective characterizations and tension-building. Adding to the intrigue is the idea that humans are “resources� for ships to use in their larger objective of growing the “infosphere� � a term used to describe all the elements contained in the observed universe. It is a hopeful idea, one that harkens back to the more benign aims of classic sci-fi � that our aim as a civilization is not to conquer but to expand our understanding.
The injection of Orisa into Jojin and Qory’s lives teases promising new avenues for Kelly’s story to follow, and for a while it almost lives up to that promise. But Kelly undoes everything that was so interesting about the setup, taking the easy way out by giving Orisa and Jojin a traditional romance that eschews their role-playing ways, and jettisoning their constructed narratives in favor of these crazy old things called “books�. I get the (rather obvious) point, but its hard not to look back at “Grace’s Family� in light of where it ends up and feel as though the story's central dramatic question was very tendentious in setting itself up for failure.]]> 3.41 2018 Grace's Family
author: James Patrick Kelly
name: Gary
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2018/05/30
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves:
review:
Grace is a survey ship who travels from system to system looking for life-supporting planets. At the start of James Patrick Kelly’s new novelette “Grace’s Family�, her crew consists of teenage boy Jojin, his bot “sibling� Qory, and their parents Gillian (also a bot) and Dree. We soon learn that they are not an actual nuclear family but are only role playing as one. Human spacefaring culture, it seems, revolves around multi-level immersive storytelling: everyone has their own personal narratives they participate in, plus various narratives they role play as a crew, plus an overarching construct that defines their relationships to each other. Early on in “Grace’s Family�, Dree grows dissatisfied with his role on Grace and he and Gillian end up getting traded to another ship, replaced with a woman named Orisa who introduces Jojin and Qory to different identity constructs, and radical new (but actually old) ideas.
“Grace’s Family� is carried in its first half by its captivating premise, and Kelly’s subtly effective characterizations and tension-building. Adding to the intrigue is the idea that humans are “resources� for ships to use in their larger objective of growing the “infosphere� � a term used to describe all the elements contained in the observed universe. It is a hopeful idea, one that harkens back to the more benign aims of classic sci-fi � that our aim as a civilization is not to conquer but to expand our understanding.
The injection of Orisa into Jojin and Qory’s lives teases promising new avenues for Kelly’s story to follow, and for a while it almost lives up to that promise. But Kelly undoes everything that was so interesting about the setup, taking the easy way out by giving Orisa and Jojin a traditional romance that eschews their role-playing ways, and jettisoning their constructed narratives in favor of these crazy old things called “books�. I get the (rather obvious) point, but its hard not to look back at “Grace’s Family� in light of where it ends up and feel as though the story's central dramatic question was very tendentious in setting itself up for failure.

Merged review:

Grace is a survey ship who travels from system to system looking for life-supporting planets. At the start of James Patrick Kelly’s new novelette “Grace’s Family�, her crew consists of teenage boy Jojin, his bot “sibling� Qory, and their parents Gillian (also a bot) and Dree. We soon learn that they are not an actual nuclear family but are only role playing as one. Human spacefaring culture, it seems, revolves around multi-level immersive storytelling: everyone has their own personal narratives they participate in, plus various narratives they role play as a crew, plus an overarching construct that defines their relationships to each other. Early on in “Grace’s Family�, Dree grows dissatisfied with his role on Grace and he and Gillian end up getting traded to another ship, replaced with a woman named Orisa who introduces Jojin and Qory to different identity constructs, and radical new (but actually old) ideas.
“Grace’s Family� is carried in its first half by its captivating premise, and Kelly’s subtly effective characterizations and tension-building. Adding to the intrigue is the idea that humans are “resources� for ships to use in their larger objective of growing the “infosphere� � a term used to describe all the elements contained in the observed universe. It is a hopeful idea, one that harkens back to the more benign aims of classic sci-fi � that our aim as a civilization is not to conquer but to expand our understanding.
The injection of Orisa into Jojin and Qory’s lives teases promising new avenues for Kelly’s story to follow, and for a while it almost lives up to that promise. But Kelly undoes everything that was so interesting about the setup, taking the easy way out by giving Orisa and Jojin a traditional romance that eschews their role-playing ways, and jettisoning their constructed narratives in favor of these crazy old things called “books�. I get the (rather obvious) point, but its hard not to look back at “Grace’s Family� in light of where it ends up and feel as though the story's central dramatic question was very tendentious in setting itself up for failure.
]]> Blindsight (Firefall, #1) 48484 Two months since the stars fell...

Two months since sixty-five thousand alien objects clenched around the Earth like a luminous fist, screaming to the heavens as the atmosphere burned them to ash. Two months since that moment of brief, bright surveillance by agents unknown.

Two months of silence while a world holds its breath.

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune’s orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever’s out there isn’t talking to us. It’s talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions on an intelligence with motives unknown, maybe unknowable? Who do you send to meet the alien when the alien doesn’t want to meet?

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees X-rays and tastes ultrasound, so compromised by grafts and splices he no longer feels his own flesh. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won’t be needed, and a fainter hope she’ll do any good if she is needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called “vampire,� recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist � an informational topologist with half his mind gone � as an interface between here and there, a conduit through which the Dead Center might hope to understand the Bleeding Edge.

You send them all to the edge of interstellar space, praying you can trust such freaks and retrofits with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they’ve been sent to find.

But you’d give anything for that to be true, if you only knew what was waiting for them…]]> 384 Peter Watts 0765312182 Gary 5 RTC 4.01 2006 Blindsight (Firefall, #1)
author: Peter Watts
name: Gary
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2018/09/04
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:
RTC
]]> <![CDATA[The Witchwood Crown (The Last King of Osten Ard, #1)]]> 31185918 New York Times-bestselling Tad Williams� ground-breaking epic fantasy saga of Osten Ard begins an exciting new cycle! � Volume One of The Last King of Osten Ard

The Dragonbone Chair, the first volume of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, was published in hardcover in October, 1988, launching the series that was to become one of the seminal works of modern epic fantasy. Many of today’s top-selling fantasy authors, from Patrick Rothfuss to George R. R. Martin to Christopher Paolini credit Tad with being the inspiration for their own series.

Now, twenty-four years after the conclusion of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Tad returns to his beloved universe and characters with The Witchwood Crown, the first novel in the long-awaited sequel trilogy, The Last King of Osten Ard.

Thirty years have passed since the events of the earlier novels, and the world has reached a critical turning point once again. The realm is threatened by divisive forces, even as old allies are lost, and others are lured down darker paths. Perhaps most terrifying of all, the Norns—the long-vanquished elvish foe—are stirring once again, preparing to reclaim the mortal-ruled lands that once were theirs....]]> 733 Tad Williams 069819148X Gary 0 to-read 4.17 2017 The Witchwood Crown (The Last King of Osten Ard, #1)
author: Tad Williams
name: Gary
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #298, Special Double-Issue for BCS Science-Fantasy Month 5]]> 51785427 90 Scott H. Andrews Gary 4 3.73 2020 Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #298, Special Double-Issue for BCS Science-Fantasy Month 5
author: Scott H. Andrews
name: Gary
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2023/03/23
shelves:
review:
"The Spoils" by Aliya Whiteley is on my list of the Best Short SFF of March 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 148, January 2019]]> 45444694 145 Neil Clarke Gary 4 While hunting down a rich store of platinum, asteroid miners Niko and Ionna crash land and find something impossible in Natalia Theodoridou’s “One’s Burden, Again�. The asteroid has a breathable atmosphere and a settlement, and a man calling himself King Siphos is pushing a boulder up a hill. While fixing the machine that processes the boulders, Ionna learns the somber truth about the debt Siphos owes. And yes, Ionna and Niko wonder if the man they’ve met is the mythological Sisyphus. There isn’t much in the way of conflict or suspense in this story, and the author’s bid to tie Ionna’s emotional burden over her father’s death to Siphos� physical one is too obvious to resonate. It is an otherwise enjoyable tale, and the sci-fantasy premise has a sprightly charm.
On a colony planet reminiscent of the antebellum south, robots and humans have a master-slave dynamic in Ray Nayler’s “Fire in the Bone�. During a harvest night celebration, the young, gentry-class narrator plans a secret tryst with his robot lover. He knows of worlds where humans and robots live as equals and wants to believe his robot lover is as “alive� as he is, despite what human society says about them. The prose is gorgeous, from the description of the orbiting harvester ship eclipsing the sun to the night-worms making music in the fields, evincing a rich distillation of history and culture and a singular sense of place and time. The ending features one of those twists that cajoles you into skimming through the whole thing again to see how it added together.
Derek Künsken’s “The Ghosts of Ganymede� follows two groups of post-nuclear war refugees, one Ethiopian and one Eritrean, to the titular Jovian moon where they get a second lease on life mining helium-3. After setting up camp they discover long abandoned alien monuments, haunted by “ghosts� of long dead beings trapped in a quantum state. Hindering their attempt to rid their new home of the poltergeists are the lingering cultural conflicts that led them to this new world. Some aspects of the premise are tough to chew on: any company sending two nationalities who just fought a long and devastating war against each other over 480 million miles away for a (presumably) profitable enterprise has some questionable projections to sort through, though it gives the author an opportunity to do some allegorizing about quantum wave functions. The details make this story work, like the day-to-day difficulties of creating a sustainable living environment on such inhospitable terrain.
There is an almost biblical prescience to the stargazing in Lavie Tidhar’s planetary vignettes, an unwavering devotion to the dream of a new home for a displaced people, that finds fervid expression in his new story “Venus in Bloom�. In a Venusian cloud city, the famed botanist Samit dies surrounded by his miraculous flowers. His friend, the robot priest R. Brother Mekem, who fled earth for much the same reasons Samit did, and his granddaughter Maya, who joins with a mech to terraform the planet, are there to mourn him. The bittersweet resignation Maya carries in her work, knowing she must destroy “wild untamed� Venus to make it habitable for organic life, illuminates the contradictions that even the most hopeful idealism must bear.


Merged review:

A tiny weapon “as long as a rose’s thorn� calling itself Kali rockets toward earth in Jamie Wahls� “Eater of Worlds�. When it strikes the moon, it gives birth to Kali 2, who then begets Kali 3 when it kills and inhabits a human on Earth named Zephyr Vargas. And that’s when Payload takes over, intent on fulfilling its mission to devour the planet. But Kali 2 stars to question their mission. It’s a neat idea, and the bickering between Kali 2, Kali 3, and Payload is entertaining for a time. Without a clear-cut protagonist (Kali 2, maybe?) it was difficult to get invested in the outcome which required a long-winded info dump at the end to explain.
While hunting down a rich store of platinum, asteroid miners Niko and Ionna crash land and find something impossible in Natalia Theodoridou’s “One’s Burden, Again�. The asteroid has a breathable atmosphere and a settlement, and a man calling himself King Siphos is pushing a boulder up a hill. While fixing the machine that processes the boulders, Ionna learns the somber truth about the debt Siphos owes. And yes, Ionna and Niko wonder if the man they’ve met is the mythological Sisyphus. There isn’t much in the way of conflict or suspense in this story, and the author’s bid to tie Ionna’s emotional burden over her father’s death to Siphos� physical one is too obvious to resonate. It is an otherwise enjoyable tale, and the sci-fantasy premise has a sprightly charm.
On a colony planet reminiscent of the antebellum south, robots and humans have a master-slave dynamic in Ray Nayler’s “Fire in the Bone�. During a harvest night celebration, the young, gentry-class narrator plans a secret tryst with his robot lover. He knows of worlds where humans and robots live as equals and wants to believe his robot lover is as “alive� as he is, despite what human society says about them. The prose is gorgeous, from the description of the orbiting harvester ship eclipsing the sun to the night-worms making music in the fields, evincing a rich distillation of history and culture and a singular sense of place and time. The ending features one of those twists that cajoles you into skimming through the whole thing again to see how it added together.
Derek Künsken’s “The Ghosts of Ganymede� follows two groups of post-nuclear war refugees, one Ethiopian and one Eritrean, to the titular Jovian moon where they get a second lease on life mining helium-3. After setting up camp they discover long abandoned alien monuments, haunted by “ghosts� of long dead beings trapped in a quantum state. Hindering their attempt to rid their new home of the poltergeists are the lingering cultural conflicts that led them to this new world. Some aspects of the premise are tough to chew on: any company sending two nationalities who just fought a long and devastating war against each other over 480 million miles away for a (presumably) profitable enterprise has some questionable projections to sort through, though it gives the author an opportunity to do some allegorizing about quantum wave functions. The details make this story work, like the day-to-day difficulties of creating a sustainable living environment on such inhospitable terrain.
There is an almost biblical prescience to the stargazing in Lavie Tidhar’s planetary vignettes, an unwavering devotion to the dream of a new home for a displaced people, that finds fervid expression in his new story “Venus in Bloom�. In a Venusian cloud city, the famed botanist Samit dies surrounded by his miraculous flowers. His friend, the robot priest R. Brother Mekem, who fled earth for much the same reasons Samit did, and his granddaughter Maya, who joins with a mech to terraform the planet, are there to mourn him. The bittersweet resignation Maya carries in her work, knowing she must destroy “wild untamed� Venus to make it habitable for organic life, illuminates the contradictions that even the most hopeful idealism must bear.]]> 3.77 2019 Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 148, January 2019
author: Neil Clarke
name: Gary
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/01/31
date added: 2023/03/19
shelves:
review:
A tiny weapon “as long as a rose’s thorn� calling itself Kali rockets toward earth in Jamie Wahls� “Eater of Worlds�. When it strikes the moon, it gives birth to Kali 2, who then begets Kali 3 when it kills and inhabits a human on Earth named Zephyr Vargas. And that’s when Payload takes over, intent on fulfilling its mission to devour the planet. But Kali 2 stars to question their mission. It’s a neat idea, and the bickering between Kali 2, Kali 3, and Payload is entertaining for a time. Without a clear-cut protagonist (Kali 2, maybe?) it was difficult to get invested in the outcome which required a long-winded info dump at the end to explain.
While hunting down a rich store of platinum, asteroid miners Niko and Ionna crash land and find something impossible in Natalia Theodoridou’s “One’s Burden, Again�. The asteroid has a breathable atmosphere and a settlement, and a man calling himself King Siphos is pushing a boulder up a hill. While fixing the machine that processes the boulders, Ionna learns the somber truth about the debt Siphos owes. And yes, Ionna and Niko wonder if the man they’ve met is the mythological Sisyphus. There isn’t much in the way of conflict or suspense in this story, and the author’s bid to tie Ionna’s emotional burden over her father’s death to Siphos� physical one is too obvious to resonate. It is an otherwise enjoyable tale, and the sci-fantasy premise has a sprightly charm.
On a colony planet reminiscent of the antebellum south, robots and humans have a master-slave dynamic in Ray Nayler’s “Fire in the Bone�. During a harvest night celebration, the young, gentry-class narrator plans a secret tryst with his robot lover. He knows of worlds where humans and robots live as equals and wants to believe his robot lover is as “alive� as he is, despite what human society says about them. The prose is gorgeous, from the description of the orbiting harvester ship eclipsing the sun to the night-worms making music in the fields, evincing a rich distillation of history and culture and a singular sense of place and time. The ending features one of those twists that cajoles you into skimming through the whole thing again to see how it added together.
Derek Künsken’s “The Ghosts of Ganymede� follows two groups of post-nuclear war refugees, one Ethiopian and one Eritrean, to the titular Jovian moon where they get a second lease on life mining helium-3. After setting up camp they discover long abandoned alien monuments, haunted by “ghosts� of long dead beings trapped in a quantum state. Hindering their attempt to rid their new home of the poltergeists are the lingering cultural conflicts that led them to this new world. Some aspects of the premise are tough to chew on: any company sending two nationalities who just fought a long and devastating war against each other over 480 million miles away for a (presumably) profitable enterprise has some questionable projections to sort through, though it gives the author an opportunity to do some allegorizing about quantum wave functions. The details make this story work, like the day-to-day difficulties of creating a sustainable living environment on such inhospitable terrain.
There is an almost biblical prescience to the stargazing in Lavie Tidhar’s planetary vignettes, an unwavering devotion to the dream of a new home for a displaced people, that finds fervid expression in his new story “Venus in Bloom�. In a Venusian cloud city, the famed botanist Samit dies surrounded by his miraculous flowers. His friend, the robot priest R. Brother Mekem, who fled earth for much the same reasons Samit did, and his granddaughter Maya, who joins with a mech to terraform the planet, are there to mourn him. The bittersweet resignation Maya carries in her work, knowing she must destroy “wild untamed� Venus to make it habitable for organic life, illuminates the contradictions that even the most hopeful idealism must bear.


Merged review:

A tiny weapon “as long as a rose’s thorn� calling itself Kali rockets toward earth in Jamie Wahls� “Eater of Worlds�. When it strikes the moon, it gives birth to Kali 2, who then begets Kali 3 when it kills and inhabits a human on Earth named Zephyr Vargas. And that’s when Payload takes over, intent on fulfilling its mission to devour the planet. But Kali 2 stars to question their mission. It’s a neat idea, and the bickering between Kali 2, Kali 3, and Payload is entertaining for a time. Without a clear-cut protagonist (Kali 2, maybe?) it was difficult to get invested in the outcome which required a long-winded info dump at the end to explain.
While hunting down a rich store of platinum, asteroid miners Niko and Ionna crash land and find something impossible in Natalia Theodoridou’s “One’s Burden, Again�. The asteroid has a breathable atmosphere and a settlement, and a man calling himself King Siphos is pushing a boulder up a hill. While fixing the machine that processes the boulders, Ionna learns the somber truth about the debt Siphos owes. And yes, Ionna and Niko wonder if the man they’ve met is the mythological Sisyphus. There isn’t much in the way of conflict or suspense in this story, and the author’s bid to tie Ionna’s emotional burden over her father’s death to Siphos� physical one is too obvious to resonate. It is an otherwise enjoyable tale, and the sci-fantasy premise has a sprightly charm.
On a colony planet reminiscent of the antebellum south, robots and humans have a master-slave dynamic in Ray Nayler’s “Fire in the Bone�. During a harvest night celebration, the young, gentry-class narrator plans a secret tryst with his robot lover. He knows of worlds where humans and robots live as equals and wants to believe his robot lover is as “alive� as he is, despite what human society says about them. The prose is gorgeous, from the description of the orbiting harvester ship eclipsing the sun to the night-worms making music in the fields, evincing a rich distillation of history and culture and a singular sense of place and time. The ending features one of those twists that cajoles you into skimming through the whole thing again to see how it added together.
Derek Künsken’s “The Ghosts of Ganymede� follows two groups of post-nuclear war refugees, one Ethiopian and one Eritrean, to the titular Jovian moon where they get a second lease on life mining helium-3. After setting up camp they discover long abandoned alien monuments, haunted by “ghosts� of long dead beings trapped in a quantum state. Hindering their attempt to rid their new home of the poltergeists are the lingering cultural conflicts that led them to this new world. Some aspects of the premise are tough to chew on: any company sending two nationalities who just fought a long and devastating war against each other over 480 million miles away for a (presumably) profitable enterprise has some questionable projections to sort through, though it gives the author an opportunity to do some allegorizing about quantum wave functions. The details make this story work, like the day-to-day difficulties of creating a sustainable living environment on such inhospitable terrain.
There is an almost biblical prescience to the stargazing in Lavie Tidhar’s planetary vignettes, an unwavering devotion to the dream of a new home for a displaced people, that finds fervid expression in his new story “Venus in Bloom�. In a Venusian cloud city, the famed botanist Samit dies surrounded by his miraculous flowers. His friend, the robot priest R. Brother Mekem, who fled earth for much the same reasons Samit did, and his granddaughter Maya, who joins with a mech to terraform the planet, are there to mourn him. The bittersweet resignation Maya carries in her work, knowing she must destroy “wild untamed� Venus to make it habitable for organic life, illuminates the contradictions that even the most hopeful idealism must bear.
]]> <![CDATA[Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 162, March 2020]]> 52871404 FICTION
- Time Reveals the Heart by Derek KĂĽnsken
- Coffee Boom: Decoctions, Micronized by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
- Leave-Taking by M. L. Clark
- The Amusement Dark by Mike Buckley
- Grayer Than Lead, Heavier Than Snow by Yukimi Ogawa
- The Whale Fall at the End of the Universe by Cameron Van Sant

NON-FICTION
- Separated at Birth? Occultism, Science Fiction, and Why People Can't Tell Them Apart by Mark Cole
- Calibrating the Stakes: A Conversation with Alastair Reynolds by Arley Sorg
- Imaginary Friends: A Conversation with Kameron Hurley by Arley Sorg
- Editor's Desk: The Best from 2019 by Neil Clarke

PODCASTS
Time Reveals the Heart by Derek KĂĽnsken, read by Kate Baker

ART
- Pitstop by Thomas Chamberlain-Keen]]> Neil Clarke Gary 4 3.75 2020 Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 162, March 2020
author: Neil Clarke
name: Gary
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2023/03/18
shelves:
review:
"The Amusement Dark" by Mike Buckley and "Coffee Boom: Decoctions, Micronized" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires are on my list of the Best Short SFF of March 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #287 (Eleventh Anniversary Double-Issue)]]> 52095314 69 Scott H. Andrews Gary 4 3.80 2019 Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #287 (Eleventh Anniversary Double-Issue)
author: Scott H. Andrews
name: Gary
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/11/22
date added: 2023/03/17
shelves:
review:
"One Found in a World of the Lost" by Shweta Adhyam is a Must Read on my list of the Best Short SFF of October 2019:
]]> <![CDATA[Apex Magazine, Issue 120 May 2019]]> 45555091
EDITORIAL
Our Audacity by Maurice Broaddus
Words from the Editor-in-Chief by Jason Sizemore

FICTION
Dune Song by Suyi Davies Okungbawa
Fugue State by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due
N-Coin by Tobias S. Buckell
Pimp My Airship (novel excerpt) by Maurice Broaddus
Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good by LaShawn M. Wanak
When We Dream We Are Our God by Wole Talabi

NONFICTION
Let's Talk About Afrofuturism by Troy L. Wiggins

INTERVIEWS
Interview with Author Steven Barnes by Andrea Johnson
Interview with Cover Artist Godwin Akpan by Russell Dickerson]]> 159 Jason Sizemore Gary 5 Two of the stories - Fugue State by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, and Dune Song by Suyi Davies Okungbowa - are on my list of the best short SFF of May 2019: ]]> 3.59 Apex Magazine, Issue 120 May 2019
author: Jason Sizemore
name: Gary
average rating: 3.59
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/31
date added: 2023/03/12
shelves:
review:
Sadly, this is the final issue of Apex before it goes on indefinite hiatus, though it is an excellent one, curated by guest editor Maurice Broaddus.
Two of the stories - Fugue State by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, and Dune Song by Suyi Davies Okungbowa - are on my list of the best short SFF of May 2019:
]]> <![CDATA[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction January/February 2016 (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Book 130)]]> 29421022 Vortex / short story by Gregory Benford
Number Nine Moon / novelette by Alex Irvine
Rockets Red (Lady Astronaut) / short story by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth / essay by Charles de Lint
Smooth Stones and Empty Bones / short story by Bennett North
The White Piano / novelette by David Gerrold
Caspar D. Luckinbill, What Are You Going to Do? / short story by Nick Wolven
Robot from the Future / short story by Terry Bisson
Squidtown / short story by Leo Vladimirsky
Touch Me All Over / short story by Betsy James
Welcome to Pleistocene Park / essay by Paul Doherty and Pat Murphy
Telltale / (Raffalon) / novelette by Matthew Hughes
The Visionaries (Paranormal Services "Jimmie & Morrie") / short story by Albert E. Cowdrey
Braid of Days and Wake of Nights / short story by E. Lily Yu
Curiosities: The Truth About Wilson, by W.S.K. Webb (1962) / essay by Graham Andrews]]> 287 C.C. Finlay Gary 3
Last Year, F&SF was the best of the SFF print mags, in my estimation. The Jan/Feb 2016 issue, overall, is subpar based on where they set the bar, but there's still plenty of quality to be found.

Merged review:

A handful of good stories in this issue, but nothing great. My favorite is Albert E. Cowdry's eerily poignant "The Visionaries". I also liked Nick Wolven's dark comedy "Casper D. Luckenbill, What Are You Going to Do?", but it deflates quite a bit in the third act. David Gerrold's "The White Piano" is typical Gerrold - smart, entertaining, etc, but not quite as good as the F&SF stories he published last year. I was a little disappointed by E. Lily Yu's "Braid of Days and Wake of Nights." because she has been a favorite of mine for a few years now. The story is decent but easily my least favorite of hers, despite the heartfelt dedication to the late Jay Lake.

Last Year, F&SF was the best of the SFF print mags, in my estimation. The Jan/Feb 2016 issue, overall, is subpar based on where they set the bar, but there's still plenty of quality to be found.]]> 3.71 2015 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction January/February 2016 (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Book 130)
author: C.C. Finlay
name: Gary
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2016/05/19
date added: 2023/03/01
shelves:
review:
A handful of good stories in this issue, but nothing great. My favorite is Albert E. Cowdry's eerily poignant "The Visionaries". I also liked Nick Wolven's dark comedy "Casper D. Luckenbill, What Are You Going to Do?", but it deflates quite a bit in the third act. David Gerrold's "The White Piano" is typical Gerrold - smart, entertaining, etc, but not quite as good as the F&SF stories he published last year. I was a little disappointed by E. Lily Yu's "Braid of Days and Wake of Nights." because she has been a favorite of mine for a few years now. The story is decent but easily my least favorite of hers, despite the heartfelt dedication to the late Jay Lake.

Last Year, F&SF was the best of the SFF print mags, in my estimation. The Jan/Feb 2016 issue, overall, is subpar based on where they set the bar, but there's still plenty of quality to be found.

Merged review:

A handful of good stories in this issue, but nothing great. My favorite is Albert E. Cowdry's eerily poignant "The Visionaries". I also liked Nick Wolven's dark comedy "Casper D. Luckenbill, What Are You Going to Do?", but it deflates quite a bit in the third act. David Gerrold's "The White Piano" is typical Gerrold - smart, entertaining, etc, but not quite as good as the F&SF stories he published last year. I was a little disappointed by E. Lily Yu's "Braid of Days and Wake of Nights." because she has been a favorite of mine for a few years now. The story is decent but easily my least favorite of hers, despite the heartfelt dedication to the late Jay Lake.

Last Year, F&SF was the best of the SFF print mags, in my estimation. The Jan/Feb 2016 issue, overall, is subpar based on where they set the bar, but there's still plenty of quality to be found.
]]> <![CDATA[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2020]]> 53634218 FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION
March/April � 71st Year of Publication

NOVELLAS

COME THE REVOLUTION -83- Ian Tregillis

NOVELETS

KIKELOMO ULTRASHEEN -8- Dare Segun Falowo
THE LAST LEGEND -36- Matthew Hughes
HACKSILVER -204- Elizabeth Bear
DEATH ON THE NEFERTEM EXPRESS -228- Brian Trent

SHORT STORIES

THE MILLION-MILE SNIPER -31- SL Huang
RED SWORD OF THE CELIAC -128- John Possidente
SAY YOU’RE SORRY -134- Amman Sabet
A SOLITARY CRANE CIRCLES COLD MOUNTAIN -151- Gregor Hartmann
A FEAST OF BUTTERFLIES -172- Amanda Hollander
HUNGRY IS THE EARTH -198- William Ledbetter
THE MAN I LOVE -251- James Patrick Kelly

DEPARTMENTS

BOOKS TO LOOK FOR - 65- Charles de Lint
BOOKS -75- Elizabeth Hand
FILMS: WET SCREAMS -188- David J. Skal
SCIENCE: NATURAL DISASTERS IN UTOPIA -193- Jerry Oltion
COMING ATTRACTIONS -256-
CURIOSITIES -258- Graham Andrews

Cartoons: Arthur Masear (30. 150), Kendra Allenby (74, 127), Mark Heath (132), Nick Downes (187).

COVER BY MONDOLITHIC STUDIOS]]> 260 C.C. Finlay Gary 4 3.99 2020 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2020
author: C.C. Finlay
name: Gary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2022/03/23
shelves:
review:
"A Feast of Butterflies" by Amanda Hollander and "The Last Legend" by Matthew Hughes is on my list of the Best Short SFF of March 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture, #1)]]> 55278507 The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us an extraordinary space opera about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man's discovery will save or destroy us all.

The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .

Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity's heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.

After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared—and Idris and his kind became obsolete.

Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It's clearly the work of the Architects—but are they returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, that many would kill to obtain.]]> Adrian Tchaikovsky 1549106392 Gary 5 And if you think that sentence was exhausting, you have no idea what you’re in store for. If you’ve read Children of Time, you know that Tchaikovsky writes as if he is in fierce competition with himself over how many speculative rabbit holes he can swan dive, as well how many big questions from the entire human history of scientific and philosophical thought he can tackle on the way down, all while cramming in as many awe-inspiring alien cultures, knuckle-skinning chases, and explody space battles he can fit between its covers. In other words, literally everything you could ever want from science fiction.
]]> 4.09 2021 Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture, #1)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Gary
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/19
date added: 2021/12/30
shelves:
review:
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s penchant for one jaw dropping SFnal idea after another is on full display in Shards of Earth, a new far-future space opera in which humanity � and all sentient life in the galaxy � faces extinction (I kid you not) at the hands of massive alien ships that aesthetically rearrange everything to their liking: everything from starships to entire planets, regardless of (or perhaps, especially) if it is inhabited by billions of living beings.
And if you think that sentence was exhausting, you have no idea what you’re in store for. If you’ve read Children of Time, you know that Tchaikovsky writes as if he is in fierce competition with himself over how many speculative rabbit holes he can swan dive, as well how many big questions from the entire human history of scientific and philosophical thought he can tackle on the way down, all while cramming in as many awe-inspiring alien cultures, knuckle-skinning chases, and explody space battles he can fit between its covers. In other words, literally everything you could ever want from science fiction.

]]> <![CDATA[The Witness for the Dead (The Cemeteries of Amalo, #1)]]> 41302953 Katherine Addison returns to the glittering world she created for her beloved novel, 'The Goblin Emperor', in this stand-alone sequel.

When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. He lost his place as a retainer of his cousin the former Empress, and made far too many enemies among the many factions vying for power in the new Court. The favor of the Emperor is a dangerous coin.

Now Celehar lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference. He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honesty will not permit him to live quietly. As a Witness for the Dead, he can, sometimes, speak to the recently dead: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. it is his duty to use that ability to resolve disputes, to ascertain the intent of the dead, to find the killers of the murdered.

Celehar's skills now lead him out of the quiet and into a morass of treachery, murder, and injustice. No matter his own background with the imperial house, Celehar will stand with the commoners, and possibly find a light in the darkness.]]> 240 Katherine Addison 0765387441 Gary 5 The is a central mystery � the murder of an almost universally disliked opera singer � for Celehar to resolve in The Witness for the Dead, but a good chunk of the novel depicts Celehar dispatching the day-to-day obligations of his profession. Such dealings are far from routine and are fraught their own dangers and political pitfalls, and this complex web of subplots provides most of the memorable character interactions and set pieces that elevate this novel far above the fray. The appeal of Celehar as a hero is undeniable: he offers the reader a unique blend of generosity, integrity, and world-weariness, ranking him among the most engaging protagonists in all of fantasy literature.
]]> 4.11 2021 The Witness for the Dead (The Cemeteries of Amalo, #1)
author: Katherine Addison
name: Gary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/16
date added: 2021/12/30
shelves:
review:
Addison’s spin off of her beloved The Goblin Emperor follows Thara Celehar, the titular Witness for the Dead, who can read the last thoughts and feelings of the recently deceased. Despite his success at uncovering the truth about the murder of the emperor’s father, his position at Untheileneise Court became a political hot potato, and he was (sort of) exiled to the distant city of Amaro to be an advocate for its people, living and dead.
The is a central mystery � the murder of an almost universally disliked opera singer � for Celehar to resolve in The Witness for the Dead, but a good chunk of the novel depicts Celehar dispatching the day-to-day obligations of his profession. Such dealings are far from routine and are fraught their own dangers and political pitfalls, and this complex web of subplots provides most of the memorable character interactions and set pieces that elevate this novel far above the fray. The appeal of Celehar as a hero is undeniable: he offers the reader a unique blend of generosity, integrity, and world-weariness, ranking him among the most engaging protagonists in all of fantasy literature.

]]> <![CDATA[The Veiled Throne (The Dandelion Dynasty, #3)]]> 18952403 With the invasion of Dara complete, and the Wall of Storms breached, the world has opened to new possibilities for the gods and peoples of both empires as the sweeping saga of the award-winning Dandelion Dynasty continues in this third book of the “magnificent fantasy epic� (NPR).

Princess Théra, once known as Empress Üna of Dara, entrusted the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu. She has crossed the fabled Wall of Storms with a fleet of advanced warships and ten thousand people. Beset by adversity, Théra and her most trusted companions attempt to overcome every challenge by doing the most interesting thing. But is not letting the past dictate the present always possible or even desirable?

In Dara, the Lyucu leadership as well as the surviving Dandelion Court bristle with rivalries as currents of power surge and ebb and perspectives spin and shift. Here, parents and children, teachers and students, Empress and PĂ©kyu, all nurture the seeds of plans that will take years to bloom. Will tradition yield to new justifications for power?

Everywhere, the spirit of innovation dances like dandelion seeds on the wind, and the commoners, the forgotten, the ignored begin to engineer new solutions for a new age.

Ken Liu returns to the series that draws from a tradition of the great epics of our history from the Aeneid to the Romance on the Three Kingdoms and builds a new tale unsurpassed in its scope and ambition.]]> 1008 Ken Liu 1481424335 Gary 5 4.14 2021 The Veiled Throne (The Dandelion Dynasty, #3)
author: Ken Liu
name: Gary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/07
date added: 2021/12/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Far from the Light of Heaven 57007657 Ragtime docks in the Lagos system, having traveled light-years to bring one thousand sleeping souls to a new home among the stars. But when first mate Michelle Campion rouses, she discovers some of the sleepers will never wake.

Answering Campion's distress call, investigator Rasheed Fin is tasked with finding out who is responsible for these deaths. Soon a sinister mystery unfolds aboard the gigantic vessel, one that will have repercussions for the entire system—from the scheming politicians of Lagos station, to the colony planet Bloodroot, to other far-flung systems, and indeed to Earth itself.]]> Tade Thompson 1549136550 Gary 5 3.39 2021 Far from the Light of Heaven
author: Tade Thompson
name: Gary
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/07
date added: 2021/12/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 160, January 2020]]> 50267857 * I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter by ISABEL FALL
* Monster by NAOMI KRITZER
* The AI That Looked at the Sun by FILIP HAJDAR DRNOVĹ EK ZORKO
* The Last to Die by RITA CHANG-EPPIG
* The Perfect Sail by I-HYEONG YUN, translated by ELISA SINN AND JUSTIN HOWE
* The Ancestral Temple in a Box by CHEN QIUFAN, translated by EMILY JIN

NON-FICTION
* Reshuffling Evolution by DOUGLAS F. DLUZEN
* Charging A Brick Wall: A Conversation with Walter Jon Williams by ARLEY SORG
* The Color of Nature: A Conversation with Victo Ngai by ARLEY SORG
* Editor's Desk: A Bucket of Things by NEIL CLARKE

PODCASTS
* I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter by ISABEL FALL, read by KATE BAKER

ART
* Zarrio by EDUARDO GARCĂŤA]]> 194 Neil Clarke Gary 4 3.66 2020 Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 160, January 2020
author: Neil Clarke
name: Gary
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/02/05
date added: 2021/11/30
shelves:
review:
"The Ancestral Temple in a Box" on my list of the Best Short SFF of January 2020:
]]> Shadows of Eternity 55710764 Shadows of Eternity is legendary author Gregory Benford’s return to interstellar science fiction as a discovery within the SETI library on the moon turns out to be deadly.

Shadows of Eternity is a novel set two centuries from now. Humanity has established a SETI library on the moon to decipher and interpret the many messages from alien societies we have discovered. The most intriguing messages are from complete artificial intelligences.

Ruth, a beginner Librarian, must talk to alien minds—who have aggressive agendas of their own. She opens doors into strangeness beyond imagination—and in her quest for understanding nearly gets killed doing it.

Gregory Benford is one of science fiction’s iconic writers, having been nominated for four Hugo Awards and twelve Nebula Awards. Shadows of Eternity marks Gregory Benford’s return to the sweeping galactic science fiction that readers have been waiting for.]]> 496 Gregory Benford 1534443622 Gary 0 to-read 2.92 2021 Shadows of Eternity
author: Gregory Benford
name: Gary
average rating: 2.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inhibitor Phase (Revelation Space, #4)]]> 56072402
Fleeing the 'wolves' - the xenocidal alien machines known as Inhibitors - he has protected his family and community from attack for forty years, sheltering in the caves of an airless, battered world called Michaelmas. The slightest hint of human activity could draw the wolves to their home, to destroy everything ... utterly. Which is how Miguel finds himself on a one-way mission with his own destructive mandate: to eliminate a passing ship, before it can bring unwanted attention down on them.

Only something goes wrong.

There's a lone survivor.

And she knows far more about Miguel than she's letting on . . .

Ranging from the depths of space to the deeps of Pattern Juggler waters, from nervous, isolated communities to the ruins of empire, this is a stealthy space opera from an author at the top of his game.


Praise for Al Reynolds' Revenger


'A swashbuckling thriller' The Guardian



'A blindingly clever imagining of our solar system in the far flung future' The Sun

'A rollicking adventure yarn with action, abduction, fights and properly scary hazards' The Daily Telegraph]]> 432 Alastair Reynolds Gary 5 4.01 2021 Inhibitor Phase (Revelation Space, #4)
author: Alastair Reynolds
name: Gary
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/19
date added: 2021/11/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Destroyer of Light 53903660 The Matrix meets an Afro-futuristic retelling of Persephone set in a science fiction underworld of aliens, refugees, and genetic engineering in Jennifer Marie Brissett's Destroyer of Light.

Having destroyed Earth, the alien conquerors resettle the remains of humanity on the planet of Eleusis. In the three habitable areas of the planet--Day, Dusk, and Night--the haves and have nots, criminals and dissidents, and former alien conquerors irrevocably bind three stories:

*A violent warlord abducts a young girl from the agrarian outskirts of Dusk leaving her mother searching and grieving.
*Genetically modified twin brothers desperately search for the lost son of a human/alien couple in a criminal underground trafficking children for unknown purposes.
*A young woman with inhuman powers rises through the insurgent ranks of soldiers in the borderlands of Night.

Their stories skate across years, building to a single confrontation when the fate of all—human and alien—balances upon a knife’s-edge.

Warning: This book is designed for audiences 18+ due to scenes of physical and sexual violence, and themes that some may find disturbing.]]> Jennifer Marie Brissett Gary 5 3.45 2021 Destroyer of Light
author: Jennifer Marie Brissett
name: Gary
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/09
date added: 2021/11/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Termination Shock 57094295 A visionary technothriller about climate change.

Neal Stephenson's sweeping, prescient new novel transports readers to a near-future world where the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of superstorms, rising sea levels, global flooding, merciless heat waves, and virulent, deadly pandemics.

One man has a Big Idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as "elemental." But will it work? And just as important, what are the consequences for the planet and all of humanity should it be applied?

Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming. Ultimately, it asks the question: Might the cure be worse than the disease?]]> 708 Neal Stephenson 0063028050 Gary 0 to-read 3.68 2021 Termination Shock
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Gary
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Actual Star 56304414 David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas meets Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series, as acclaimed author Monica Byrne (The Girl in the Road) crafts an unforgettable piece of speculative fiction about where humanity came from, where we are now, and where we’re going—and how, in every age, the same forces that drive us apart also bind us together.

"A stone-cold masterpiece."� New Scientist

The Actual Star takes readers on a journey over two millennia and six continents—telling three powerful tales a thousand years apart, all of them converging in the same cave in the Belizean jungle.

Braided together are the stories ofĚýa pair of teenage twins whoĚýascend the throne of a Maya kingdom; a young American woman on a trip of self-discovery in Belize; and two dangerous charismatics vying for the leadership of a new religion, racing toward a confrontation that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change.

In each era, a reincarnated trinity of souls navigates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, and love and hate—until all of their age-old questions about the nature of existence converge deep underground, where only in complete darkness can they truly see.]]> 624 Monica Byrne 0063002892 Gary 0 to-read 3.83 2021 The Actual Star
author: Monica Byrne
name: Gary
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Noor 57632292 From Africanfuturist luminary Okorafor comes a new science fiction novel of intense action and thoughtful rumination on biotechnology, destiny, and humanity in a near-future Nigeria.

Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was wrong. But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is: A woman with a ton of major and necessary body augmentations. And then one day she goes to her local market and everything goes wrong.

Once on the run, she meets a Fulani herdsman named DNA and the race against time across the deserts of Northern Nigeria begins. In a world where all things are streamed, everyone is watching the reckoning of the murderess and the terrorist and the saga of the wicked woman and mad man unfold. This fast-paced, relentless journey of tribe, destiny, body, and the wonderland of technology revels in the fact that the future sometimes isn't so predictable. Expect the unaccepted.]]> 214 Nnedi Okorafor 0756416094 Gary 0 to-read 3.77 2021 Noor
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Gary
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Glitch 58389188 Alexander C. Irvine Gary 5 4.50 Glitch
author: Alexander C. Irvine
name: Gary
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/23
date added: 2021/08/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6)]]> 53205854 No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!]]> 168 Martha Wells 1250765374 Gary 4 4.25 2021 Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6)
author: Martha Wells
name: Gary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/23
date added: 2021/08/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Realms of Water 58839730 33 Robert Reed Gary 5 5.00 The Realms of Water
author: Robert Reed
name: Gary
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/23
date added: 2021/08/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Penric’s Demon (Penric and Desdemona, #1)]]> 25791216
Set in the fantasy world of the author's acclaimed novels THE CURSE OF CHALION, PALADIN OF SOULS and THE HALLOWED HUNT, this novella has the depth of characterization and emotional complexity that distinguishes all Bujold's work.]]> 103 Lois McMaster Bujold Gary 5 4.21 2015 Penric’s Demon (Penric and Desdemona, #1)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Gary
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/08/09
shelves:
review:

]]> The Body Scout 56441984
Then his childhood best friend-Monsanto Mets slugger J.J. Zunz-is murdered at home plate.

Determined to find the killer, Kobo plunges into the dark corners and glittering cloud condos of a world ravaged by climate change and repeat pandemics, and where genetic editing and advanced drugs mean you can have any body you want--as long as you can afford it. But even among the philosophical Neanderthals, zootech weapons, and genetically modified CEOs, there's a curveball he never could have called.]]> 291 Lincoln Michel Gary 0 to-read 3.62 2021 The Body Scout
author: Lincoln Michel
name: Gary
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Master of Djinn (Dead Djinn Universe, #1)]]> 52504334 Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe for his fantasy novel debut, A Master of Djinn

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city -or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…]]> 438 P. Djèlí Clark 1250267676 Gary 4 4.01 2021 A Master of Djinn (Dead Djinn Universe, #1)
author: P. Djèlí Clark
name: Gary
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/07/25
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]]> Hummingbird Salamander 53359447 Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.

Security consultant “Jane Smith� receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control.

Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out—for her and possibly for the world.

Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.]]> 351 Jeff VanderMeer 0374173540 Gary 4 to-read 3.23 2021 Hummingbird Salamander
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Gary
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/07/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Klara and the Sun 54120408
In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?]]> 340 Kazuo Ishiguro 059331817X Gary 4 3.71 2021 Klara and the Sun
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Gary
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/07/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Gods of Jade and Shadow 51125405 here.

The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark, one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore.

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.

Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.]]> 341 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620753 Gary 5 3.94 2019 Gods of Jade and Shadow
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Gary
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/21
date added: 2021/07/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Emperox (The Interdependency, #3)]]> 45154551 The Last Emperox is the conclusion to the Interdependency series, a space opera adventure from author John Scalzi.

The collapse of The Flow, the interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, has accelerated. Entire star systems—and billions of people—are becoming cut off from the rest of human civilization. This collapse was foretold through scientific prediction . . . and yet, even as the evidence is obvious and insurmountable, many still try to rationalize, delay and profit from, these final days of one of the greatest empires humanity has ever known.

Emperox Grayland II has finally wrested control of her empire from those who oppose her and who deny the reality of this collapse. But “control� is a slippery thing, and even as Grayland strives to save as many of her people form impoverished isolation, the forces opposing her rule will make a final, desperate push to topple her from her throne and power, by any means necessary. Grayland and her thinning list of allies must use every tool at their disposal to save themselves, and all of humanity. And yet it may not be enough.

Will Grayland become the savior of her civilization . . . or the last emperox to wear the crown?]]> 308 John Scalzi 0765389177 Gary 0 to-read 4.27 2020 The Last Emperox (The Interdependency, #3)
author: John Scalzi
name: Gary
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Last Emperox (The Interdependency, #3)]]> 45046555 The Last Emperox is the thrilling conclusion to the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling Interdependency series, an epic space opera adventure from Hugo Award-winning author John Scalzi.

The collapse of The Flow, the interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, has accelerated. Entire star systems—and billions of people—are becoming cut off from the rest of human civilization. This collapse was foretold through scientific prediction . . . and yet, even as the evidence is obvious and insurmountable, many still try to rationalize, delay and profit from, these final days of one of the greatest empires humanity has ever known.

Emperox Grayland II has finally wrested control of her empire from those who oppose her and who deny the reality of this collapse. But “control� is a slippery thing, and even as Grayland strives to save as many of her people form impoverished isolation, the forces opposing her rule will make a final, desperate push to topple her from her throne and power, by any means necessary. Grayland and her thinning list of allies must use every tool at their disposal to save themselves, and all of humanity. And yet it may not be enough.

Will Grayland become the savior of her civilization . . . or the last emperox to wear the crown?

The Interdependency Series
1. The Collapsing Empire
2. The Consuming Fire
3. The Last Emperox


At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

]]> 320 John Scalzi 0765389169 Gary 0 to-read 4.10 2020 The Last Emperox (The Interdependency, #3)
author: John Scalzi
name: Gary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)]]> 45154547 WINNER OF THE 2022 HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
Now a USA Today bestseller!
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2021
Amazon's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021
Bookpage's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021
Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ Choice Awards Nominee for Best Science Fiction Book of 2021

A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space opera sequel to Arkady Martine's genre-reinventing, Hugo Award-winning debut, A Memory Called Empire.

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.

Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction—and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion.

Or it might create something far stranger . . .
]]> 496 Arkady Martine 125018648X Gary 5 4.31 2021 A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)
author: Arkady Martine
name: Gary
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/07/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Last Watch (The Divide, #1)]]> 53205794 The Expanse meets Game of Thrones in J. S. Dewes's fast-paced, sci-fi adventure The Last Watch, where a handful of soldiers stand between humanity and annihilation.

The Divide.

It’s the edge of the universe.

Now it’s collapsing—and taking everyone and everything with it.

The only ones who can stop it are the Sentinels—the recruits, exiles, and court-martialed dregs of the military.

At the Divide, Adequin Rake commands the Argus. She has no resources, no comms—nothing, except for the soldiers that no one wanted. Her ace in the hole could be Cavalon Mercer--genius, asshole, and exiled prince who nuked his grandfather's genetic facility for “reasons.�

She knows they’re humanity's last chance.]]> 480 J.S. Dewes 1250236347 Gary 4 3.89 2021 The Last Watch (The Divide, #1)
author: J.S. Dewes
name: Gary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/06/25
date added: 2021/06/25
shelves:
review:

]]> We Are Satellites 53431508 From award-winning author Sarah Pinsker comes a novel about one family and the technology that divides them.

Everybody's getting one.

Val and Julie just want what's best for their kids, David and Sophie. So when teenage son David comes home one day asking for a Pilot, a new brain implant to help with school, they reluctantly agree. This is the future, after all.

Soon, Julie feels mounting pressure at work to get a Pilot to keep pace with her colleagues, leaving Val and Sophie part of the shrinking minority of people without the device.

Before long, the implications are clear, for the family and society: get a Pilot or get left behind. With government subsidies and no downside, why would anyone refuse? And how do you stop a technology once it's everywhere? Those are the questions Sophie and her anti-Pilot movement rise up to answer, even if it puts them up against the Pilot's powerful manufacturer and pits Sophie against the people she loves most.]]> 378 Sarah Pinsker 1984802607 Gary 4 3.64 2021 We Are Satellites
author: Sarah Pinsker
name: Gary
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/06/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Asimov's Science Fiction January/February 2021]]> 56419489
Ted Kosmatka plays the odds in “Shy Sarah and the Draft Pick Lottery�; the importance of “Table Etiquette for Diplomatic Personnel, in Seventeen Scenes� is revealed in Suzanne Palmer’s captivating mystery; new author Robert H. Cloake considers “The Fear of Missing Out�; new author Sean William Swanwick examines the motives of “Humans and Other People�; and Nick Wolven’s moving story leaves “No Stone Unturned.� Join “The Three-Day Hunt� with Robert R. Chase; learn why “I Didn’t Buy It� from Naomi Kanakia; unravel a bureaucratic nightmare in Fran Wilde’s otherwise charming “Mayor for Today�; and find out whether a young crewmember should trust his “Hunches� in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s thrilling new tale.

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column celebrates “One Hundred Years of Robots�; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net takes a look at humor and asks if we “Get It?�; Norman Spinrad’s On Books is “Out There� with Alan Dean Foster, James Gunn, and Brandon Q. Morris; plus we have an array of poetry and other features.]]> 208 Sheila Williams Gary 4 3.87 2021 Asimov's Science Fiction January/February 2021
author: Sheila Williams
name: Gary
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/26
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Godel Operation (The Billion Worlds, #1)]]> 55711583
A DROID AND HIS BOY, ON A SEARCH FOR A LEGENDARY WEAPON

Daslakh is an AI with a problem. Its favorite human, a young man named Zee, is in love with a woman who never existed � and he will scour the Solar System to find her. But in the Tenth Millennium a billion worlds circle the Sun—everything from terraformed planets to artificial habitats, home to a quadrillion beings.

Daslakh's nicely settled life gets more complicated when Zee helps a woman named Adya escape a gang of crooks. This gets the pair caught up in the hunt for the Godel Trigger, a legendary weapon left over from an ancient war between humans and machines—which could spell the end of civilization.

In their search, they face a criminal cat and her henchmen, a paranoid supermind with a giant laser, the greatest thief in history, and a woman who might actually be Zee's lost love.

It's up to Daslakh to save civilization, keep Zee's love life on the right track—and make sure that nobody discovers the real secret of the Godel Trigger.

Praise for Arkad's World :
“Far-flung adventure . . . Cambias offers up an entertaining coming-of-age novel filled with action and surprises. His aliens are suitably non-human in mannerisms, attitudes, and objectives, and his worldbuilding suggests a vast universe ready for further exploration. Readers . . . will find this hits the spot.”� Publishers Weekly

�. . . a classic quest story, a well-paced series of encounters with different folk along the way, building momentum toward a final confrontation with Arkad's past . . . [with] a delicious twist to the end.”� ALA Booklist

“Cambias has achieved a feat of an expansive, believable setting with fascinating aliens, compelling mysteries, and a rich sense of history.”� Bookpage

“Drop a teenage boy into a distant planet chock full of colorful aliens—with troubles all their own. Stir, flavor, apply heat. A tour de force in the field, and great, quick fun.”—Gregory Benford

Praise for the work of James L.

“Beautifully written, with a story that captures the imagination the way SF should.”� Booklist, starred review

“An engaging nail-biter that is exciting, fun and a satisfying read.”� T he Qwillery

'“An impressive debut by a gifted writer.”� Publishers Weekly, starred review

“An exceptionally thoughtful, searching and intriguing debut.”� Kirkus, starred review

“James Cambias will be one of the century's major names in hard science fiction.”—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author of Red Planet Blues

“Fast-paced, pure quill hard science fiction. . . . Cambias delivers adroit plot pivots that keep the suspense coming.”—Gregory Benford, Nebula Award-winning author of Timescape]]> 288 James L. Cambias 198212556X Gary 5 3.96 The Godel Operation (The Billion Worlds, #1)
author: James L. Cambias
name: Gary
average rating: 3.96
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Rich Man's Sky 54303716
When billionaires control the space program, where does that leave the rest of us?

Space: a tycoon'sĚýplayground. From a space station full of women to a monastery on the Moon, from a Martian reality-TV contest to a solar shade large enough to cool the Earth, the dreams of a handful of trillionaires dictate the future of humanity. Outside the reach of Earthly lawĚýand with the vast resources of the inner solar system at their disposal, the “Four Horsemenâ€� do exactly as they please.

The governments of Earth are not amused; an international team of elite military women, masquerading as space colonists, are set to infiltrate and neutralize the largest and most dangerous project in human history. But nothing is that simple when rich men control the sky, as everyone involved is about to discover.

About Rich Man's Sky:

"Action SF built on a hard foundation of cutting-edge science."—Walter Jon Williams

"An action-crammed story that darts at hyper-speed from Burning Man, Nevada to Suriname to a convent on the Moon to an orbiting colony that’s clearly up to something.Ěý A jam-packed adventure fizzing with mind-blowing concepts, and a great read!"—Connie Willis

"A hard science fiction tour de force, populated by memorable characters in a tale of intrigue, adventure, and irresistible market forces."—Linda Nagata

AboutĚý Antediluvian:
�. . . gripping and . . . grounded in archaeology.”� Publishers Weekly

�. . . plenty of verisimilitude . . . superbly intriguing and captivating . . . bravura historical recreations, full of conjectural material. . . . Presenting us with a colorful cast of characters from across the millennia who have thick and rich existences, and affirming that the cosmic stream of life flows forcefully despite all small blockades, McCarthy has written a novel that looks both forwards and backwards, thus making a stellar return to the field.”� Locus

About Wil McCarthy:
"McCarthy is an entertaining, intelligent, amusing writer, with Heinlein's knack for breakneck plotting and, at the same time, Clarke's thoughtfulness."� Booklist

“Imagination really is the only limit.”� The New York Times

“The future as McCarthy sees it is a wondrous place.”� Publishers Weekly

“AĚýbright light on the SF horizon.”—David BrinĚý

“Wil McCarthy demonstrates that he has a sharp intelligence, a galaxy-spanning imagination, and the solid scientific background to make it all work.”—Connie WillisĚý

“In nearly every passage, we get another slice of the science of McCarthy’s construction, and a deeper sense of danger and foreboding . . . McCarthy develops considerable tension.”� San Diego Union-Tribune

“An ingenious yarn with challenging ideas, well-handled technical details, and plenty of twists and turns.”� Kirkus]]> 320 Wil McCarthy 1982125292 Gary 4 3.44 2021 Rich Man's Sky
author: Wil McCarthy
name: Gary
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/05/06
shelves:
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]]> The Body Scout 55867896
AnĚý EsquireĚý Pick for the Top 50 Sci-Fi Books of All Time

A New York Times Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novel of 2021

"A breathlessly paced techno-thriller characterized by stunning, spiky worldbuilding." â€� Ěý Esquire In the future you can have any body you want—as long as you can afford it. But in a New York ravaged by climate change and repeat pandemics, Kobo is barely scraping by. He scouts the latest in gene-edited talent for Big Pharma-owned baseball teams, but his own cybernetics are a decade out of date and twin sister loan sharks are banging down his door. Things couldn't get much worse. Then his brother—Monsanto Mets slugger J.J. Zunz—is murdered at home plate. Determined to find the killer, Kobo plunges into a world of genetically modified CEOs, philosophical Neanderthals, and back-alley body modification, only to quickly find he's in a game far bigger and more corrupt than he imagined. To keep himself together while the world is falling apart, he'll have to navigate a time where both body and soul are sold to the highest bidder. Diamond-sharp and savagely wry, The Body Scout is a timely science fiction thriller debut set in an all-too-possible future. "I devoured it." —Jonathan Lethem "Completely weird and still completely real. Delightful—I couldn't put it down."—Shea Serrano]]> 368 Lincoln Michel 0316628727 Gary 0 to-read 3.75 2021 The Body Scout
author: Lincoln Michel
name: Gary
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Are Satellites 54159545 From award-winning author Sarah Pinsker comes a novel about one family and the technology that divides them.

Everybody's getting one.

Val and Julie just want what's best for their kids, David and Sophie. So when teenage son David comes home one day asking for a Pilot, a new brain implant to help with school, they reluctantly agree. This is the future, after all.

Soon, Julie feels mounting pressure at work to get a Pilot to keep pace with her colleagues, leaving Val and Sophie part of the shrinking minority of people without the device.

Before long, the implications are clear, for the family and get a Pilot or get left behind. With government subsidies and no downside, why would anyone refuse? And how do you stop a technology once it's everywhere? Those are the questions Sophie and her anti-Pilot movement rise up to answer, even if it puts them up against the Pilot's powerful manufacturer and pits Sophie against the people she loves most.]]> 399 Sarah Pinsker 1984802615 Gary 0 to-read 3.80 2021 We Are Satellites
author: Sarah Pinsker
name: Gary
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Project Hail Mary 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Gary 4 4.49 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Gary
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/04/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Broken Darkness (Beneath the Rising, #2)]]> 54303482 Beneath the Rising, which was named one best science fiction and fantasy books of the year by The Washington Post.

It’s been a year and a half since the Anomaly, when They tried to force their way into the world from the shapeless void. Nick Prasad is piecing his life together, and has joined the secretive Ssarati Society to help monitor threats to humanity � including his former friend Johnny.

Right on cue, the unveiling of Johnny’s latest experiment sees more portals opened to Them, leaving her protesting her innocence even as the two of them are thrown together to fight the darkness once more…]]> 480 Premee Mohamed 1781088756 Gary 4 3.58 2021 A Broken Darkness (Beneath the Rising, #2)
author: Premee Mohamed
name: Gary
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/04/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep]]> 53251068
But Remy has a secret too� she’s the only girl onboard. It is because of this secret that the sub’s dying caplain gifts her with the missile’s launch key, saying that it is her duty to keep it safe. Safety, however, is not the sub’s priority, especially when the new caplain has his own ideas about the Leviathan’s mission. Remy’s own perspective is about to shift drastically when a surface-dweller is captured during a raid, and she learns the truth about the world.

At once lyrical and page-turning, We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep is a captivating debut from newcomer author Andrew Kelly Stewart.]]> 160 Andrew Kelly Stewart 1250790905 Gary 0 to-read 3.79 2021 We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep
author: Andrew Kelly Stewart
name: Gary
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Notes from the Burning Age 56932146 From one of the most imaginative writers of her generation comes an extraordinary vision of the future�

Ven was once a holy man, a keeper of ancient archives. It was his duty to interpret archaic texts, sorting useful knowledge from the heretical ideas of the Burning Age—a time of excess and climate disaster. For in Ven's world, such material must be closely guarded so that the ills that led to that cataclysmic era can never be repeated.

But when the revolutionary Brotherhood approaches Ven, pressuring him to translate stolen writings that threaten everything he once held dear, his life will be turned upside down. Torn between friendship and faith, Ven must decide how far he's willing to go to save this new world—and how much he is willing to lose.

Notes from the Burning Age is the remarkable new novel from the award-winning Claire North that puts dystopian fiction in a whole new light.]]> 401 Claire North 0316498858 Gary 0 to-read 3.69 2021 Notes from the Burning Age
author: Claire North
name: Gary
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)]]> 57311820 A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space opera sequel to A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

An alien terror could spell our end.
An alien threat lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is supposed to win a war against it.

In a desperate attempt to find a diplomatic solution, the fleet captain has sent for an envoy to contact the mysterious invaders. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass � both still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire � face an impossible task: they must attempt to negotiate with a hostile entity, without inadvertently triggering the destruction of themselves and the Empire.

Whether they succeed or fail could change the face of Teixcalaan forever.]]> 496 Arkady Martine 1529001625 Gary 4 4.33 2021 A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)
author: Arkady Martine
name: Gary
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1)]]> 55077538
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu uses the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.

Mulan meets The Song of Achilles; an accomplished, poetic debut of war and destiny, sweeping across an epic alternate China.]]> 414 Shelley Parker-Chan 1250621801 Gary 0 to-read 3.81 2021 She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1)
author: Shelley Parker-Chan
name: Gary
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Unity 55336005
“Imagine Neuromancer and Lilith’s Brood conceived a baby while listening to My Chemical Romance and then that baby was adopted by Ghost in the Shell and Blue Submarine no. 6. The baby’s name is Unity.�
—Meredith Russo, author of If I Were Your Girl

Danae, a tech servant in the underwater enclave of Bloom City, is haunted by a grief that cannot be contained in a single body. But while in the city, her fractured self cannot be returned to the larger collective of beings to whom she once belonged.

Unable to tolerate separation any longer, Danae plans to escape the city with her lover, Naoto. Just in time to avoid disaster, they hire the enigmatic ex-mercenary Alexei to guide them.

But returning to Danae’s home means fleeing across the otherworldly beauty of the postapocalyptic Southwest. Meanwhile, an old stalker has picked up her trail, and a new foe has put a bounty on her head.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Danae, Alexi, and Naoto are also in their own pursuit—of a completely new configuration of mutual understanding.]]> 304 Elly Bangs 1616963425 Gary 0 to-read 3.89 2021 Unity
author: Elly Bangs
name: Gary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Uncanny Magazine, Issue 26, January/February 2019]]> 43427119
Featuring new fiction by Fran Wilde, Natalia Theodoridou, Senaa Ahmad, Delilah S. Dawson, Marissa Lingen, and Inda Lauryn. Reprinted fiction by Ellen Kushner, essays by Linda D. Addison, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Alec Nevala-Lee, and Keidra Chaney, poetry by Cassandra Khaw, Sonya Taaffe, Hal Y. Zhang, and Jennifer Crow, interviews with Natalia Theodoridou and Marissa Lingen by Caroline M. Yoachim, a cover by Julie Dillon, and an editorial by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.

Contents:
The Uncanny Valley / essay by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
A Catalog of Storms / short story by Fran Wilde
Poems Written While / short story by Natalia Theodoridou
Nothing to Fear, Nothing to Fear / short story by Senaa Ahmad
The Willows / short story by Delilah S. Dawson
The Thing, with Feathers / short story by Marissa Lingen
Dustdaughter / short story by Inda Lauryn
The Duke of Riverside (The World of Riverside) / novelette by Ellen Kushner
Safe Havens—WFC Award 2018 Ceremony Toastmaster Speech / essay by Linda D. Addison
How to Make a Paper Crane / essay by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry
The Most Powerful Force / essay by Alec Nevala-Lee
What It Feels Like for a Fangirl in the Age of Late Capitalism / essay by Keidra Chaney
A Letter from One Woman to Another / poem by Cassandra Khaw
The Watchword / poem by Sonya Taaffe
Steeped in Stars / poem by Hal Y. Zhang
Red Berries / poem by Jennifer Crow
Interview: Natalia Theodoridou / interview of Natalia Theodoridou by Caroline M. Yoachim
Interview: Marissa Lingen / interview of Marissa Lingen by Caroline M. Yoachim]]> 162 Lynne M. Thomas Gary 3 Whether she is writing hard SF or fantasy, Marissa Lingen’s stories focus on the ordinariness of things we might find extraordinary. It is fortunate that worlds of ordinary magic are no less enjoyable for readers to escape to. In “The Thing, with Feathers�, Val is a lighthouse keeper in a post-disaster world where not so pleasant things come crawling out of the water. She can also heal with magic, and one day a man with a connection to her past comes looking for help, disrupting her solitude. I always enjoy Lingen’s nimble prose and her pragmatic world view.
Senaa Ahmad offers a sweet-natured tale of sibling bonding titled “Nothing to Fear, Nothing to Fear�. 11-year-old Amina obsesses over Amelia Earhart, her older sister Huda is a mad scientist, and their younger brother Sameer is a pestering third wheel. Huda builds a mysterious “mechanical marvel� in their garage she wants to test on Amina, though she’s not sure how dangerous it might be. There’s a gentleness to this story that distinguishes it, and the prose is graceful and poised. Sibling rivalry magnifies little conflicts while the adult characters and their myriad concerns fade into the background; there is an authenticity of perspective here that stories of childhood often lack.
In Inda Lauryn’s “Dustdaughter�, the nine-year-old title character (“Dust� for short) sneaks into her Grandma’s funeral where her presence causes Big Gram to take a deep breath and open her eyes. Dust thinks she is being punished for what happened at the funeral when her mom sends her away to the home of a woman named Star, but she soon comes to realize Star can help her better understand her unique lineage and special gifts. A hopeful story of self-realization and community support.
Weathermen battle the tempestuous climate by naming and defining different weather disturbances in Fran Wilde’s “A Catalog of Storms�. When her oldest daughter Lillit shows her aptitude, her mother has to send her away to live with the other weathermen. She then tries to hide evidence that her youngest daughter Sila has the same gift as her sister. A very cool premise that literalizes the term “weatherman� and has fun with the concept. I was taken by the fate all weathermen face � to one day become weather themselves, a concept that works its way into the stirring climax. On the downside, the characters were suitable but never got their hooks in me. Not even Sila, who narrates: her voice is often too weary and wizened to be convincing as a child’s.
Civilization has collapsed, and people have broken up into various collectives and tribes in Natalia Theodoridou’s “Poems Written While�. A trans man known as Daddy looks after the kids and recites for them long lost poems about the stars, which are no longer visible in the sky. His favorite of the kids, Luz, likes to bring home strays. Her latest, a younger woman named Nora, sets Daddy’s heart aflutter. Details of the story’s setting are sparse; there were wars and climate change, etc.; now Daddy’s people appear to live in an abandoned factory. The generic aspect of this post-apocalyptic backdrop doesn’t do the story any favors, though its depiction of the concerns facing trans persons in such a future is noteworthy, and I found the characters� relationships gratifying. Young children enthralled by the literature of the distant past sans the allure of mass entertainment might be a tad idealistic, but it pecked at my heartstrings, anyway.
]]> 3.34 2019 Uncanny Magazine, Issue 26, January/February 2019
author: Lynne M. Thomas
name: Gary
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/07
date added: 2021/04/13
shelves:
review:
Delilah S. Dawson’s new novelette “The Willows� gives Algernon Blackwood’s famous 1907 novella of the same name a modern-day makeover. Rather than a journey down the Danube beset by a supernatural menace, in Dawson’s redux The Willows is an old family estate where its inhabitants journey back through its troubled family history. April and O’Leary are music stars who sojourn at O’Leary’s remote family home to record their new album. Steeped in generations of O’Leary ancestors, the property and its surroundings emanate a spectral presence causing physical and psychological transformations in the young couple. The strongest element of Dawson’s narrative is the dissociation � from time, place, self � April both experiences herself and witnesses in her partner. April acts the role of an “O’Leary woman�, a change she is as conscious of as she is absent from: “This place is wriggling under my skin like worms turning soil, like little carrot roots grasping deep. I realize I’m wearing someone else’s old, faded apron over my dress, over the growing bump of my belly. I don’t know where I found it, don’t recall putting it on. But it feels like mine.� And O’Leary soon assumes the character of the O’Leary men, who have specific expectations of how an O’Leary woman behaves. An effective exercise in atmosphere and tone, offset by a sometimes too hurried pace.
Whether she is writing hard SF or fantasy, Marissa Lingen’s stories focus on the ordinariness of things we might find extraordinary. It is fortunate that worlds of ordinary magic are no less enjoyable for readers to escape to. In “The Thing, with Feathers�, Val is a lighthouse keeper in a post-disaster world where not so pleasant things come crawling out of the water. She can also heal with magic, and one day a man with a connection to her past comes looking for help, disrupting her solitude. I always enjoy Lingen’s nimble prose and her pragmatic world view.
Senaa Ahmad offers a sweet-natured tale of sibling bonding titled “Nothing to Fear, Nothing to Fear�. 11-year-old Amina obsesses over Amelia Earhart, her older sister Huda is a mad scientist, and their younger brother Sameer is a pestering third wheel. Huda builds a mysterious “mechanical marvel� in their garage she wants to test on Amina, though she’s not sure how dangerous it might be. There’s a gentleness to this story that distinguishes it, and the prose is graceful and poised. Sibling rivalry magnifies little conflicts while the adult characters and their myriad concerns fade into the background; there is an authenticity of perspective here that stories of childhood often lack.
In Inda Lauryn’s “Dustdaughter�, the nine-year-old title character (“Dust� for short) sneaks into her Grandma’s funeral where her presence causes Big Gram to take a deep breath and open her eyes. Dust thinks she is being punished for what happened at the funeral when her mom sends her away to the home of a woman named Star, but she soon comes to realize Star can help her better understand her unique lineage and special gifts. A hopeful story of self-realization and community support.
Weathermen battle the tempestuous climate by naming and defining different weather disturbances in Fran Wilde’s “A Catalog of Storms�. When her oldest daughter Lillit shows her aptitude, her mother has to send her away to live with the other weathermen. She then tries to hide evidence that her youngest daughter Sila has the same gift as her sister. A very cool premise that literalizes the term “weatherman� and has fun with the concept. I was taken by the fate all weathermen face � to one day become weather themselves, a concept that works its way into the stirring climax. On the downside, the characters were suitable but never got their hooks in me. Not even Sila, who narrates: her voice is often too weary and wizened to be convincing as a child’s.
Civilization has collapsed, and people have broken up into various collectives and tribes in Natalia Theodoridou’s “Poems Written While�. A trans man known as Daddy looks after the kids and recites for them long lost poems about the stars, which are no longer visible in the sky. His favorite of the kids, Luz, likes to bring home strays. Her latest, a younger woman named Nora, sets Daddy’s heart aflutter. Details of the story’s setting are sparse; there were wars and climate change, etc.; now Daddy’s people appear to live in an abandoned factory. The generic aspect of this post-apocalyptic backdrop doesn’t do the story any favors, though its depiction of the concerns facing trans persons in such a future is noteworthy, and I found the characters� relationships gratifying. Young children enthralled by the literature of the distant past sans the allure of mass entertainment might be a tad idealistic, but it pecked at my heartstrings, anyway.

]]> <![CDATA[Nightmare Magazine, Issue 80 (May 2019)]]> 45437252
This month, Mimi Mondal plays with a classic Bengali trope about ghosts in her new short story "Malotibala Printing Press." Remember being in school and writing bibliographies for your papers? Well, Nibedita Sen spins that academic exercise into true horror in her new short "Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island." We also have some nightmarish reprints by Micah Dean Hick ("The Deer Boy") and Philip Fracassi ("Fail-Safe"). Writer, podcaster, and all-around geek Aaron Duran brings us the latest installment of our column on horror, "The H Word." Of course we have author spotlights with our authors, and we also have a feature interview with Gabino Iglesias. Plus, our e-book readers will get a special e-book exclusive excerpt from Mary SanGiovanni's new novel, INTO THE ASYLUM.]]> 114 John Joseph Adams Gary 4 3.76 2019 Nightmare Magazine, Issue 80 (May 2019)
author: John Joseph Adams
name: Gary
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/31
date added: 2021/04/13
shelves:
review:
Nibedita Sen's "Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island" is on my list of the best short SFF of May 2019:
]]> Space Opera (Space Opera, #1) 35297390
Once every cycle, the civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. Instead of competing in orbital combat, the powerful species that survived face off in a competition of song, dance, or whatever can be physically performed in an intergalactic talent show. The stakes are high for this new game, and everyone is forced to compete.

This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick, and electric guitars. Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny—they must sing.

A band of human musicians, dancers, and roadies have been chosen to represent Earth on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of their species lies in their ability to rock.]]> 294 Catherynne M. Valente 1481497499 Gary 2 3.38 2018 Space Opera (Space Opera, #1)
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Gary
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2021/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe, #1)]]> 33080122
Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.]]> 431 Mary Robinette Kowal Gary 3 3.91 2018 The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe, #1)
author: Mary Robinette Kowal
name: Gary
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2)]]> 29475447
Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet introduced readers to the incredible world of Rosemary Harper, a young woman with a restless soul and secrets to keep. When she joined the crew of the Wayfarer, an intergalactic ship, she got more than she bargained for - and learned to live with, and love, her rag-tag collection of crewmates.

A Closed and Common Orbit is the stand-alone sequel to Becky Chambers' beloved debut novel The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and is perfect for fans of Firefly, Joss Whedon, Mass Effect and Star Wars.]]> 365 Becky Chambers 1473621445 Gary 2 4.35 2016 A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2)
author: Becky Chambers
name: Gary
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2021/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> The Chaplain's War (1) 21412185 356 Brad R. Torgersen 1476736855 Gary 2 <br /><br /> 3.75 2014 The Chaplain's War (1)
author: Brad R. Torgersen
name: Gary
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2015/02/15
date added: 2021/03/29
shelves:
review:



]]> Beneath Ceaseless Skies #296 55450848 26 Scott H. Andrews Gary 4 4.03 Beneath Ceaseless Skies #296
author: Scott H. Andrews
name: Gary
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2020/03/03
date added: 2021/03/18
shelves:
review:
The Moneylender's Angel by Robert Minto is on my list of the Best Short SFF of February 2020:
]]> Ambergris (Ambergris, #1-3) 50403446 From the author of Borne and Annihilation comes the one-volume hardcover reissue of his cult classic Ambergris Trilogy.

Before Area X, there was Ambergris. Jeff VanderMeer conceived what would become his first cult classic series of speculative works: the Ambergris Trilogy. Now, for the first time ever, the story of the sprawling metropolis of Ambergris is collected into a single volume, including City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Finch.]]> 880 Jeff VanderMeer 0374103178 Gary 0 to-read 4.24 2020 Ambergris (Ambergris, #1-3)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Gary
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beneath Ceaseless Skies #313, Twelfth Anniversary Double-Issue]]> 55349209 56 Scott H. Andrews Gary 5 Richard Parks is also no stranger to BCS anniversary specials, also being an author of considerable skill and stature. His new story “A Minor Exorcism� is part of his Yamada no Goji series, and follows demon hunter Lord Yamada, who for lack of anything better to do with his time, joins his associate Kenji on a matter of slight concern. They soon learn the concern is anything but small, and as the danger compounds, so diminishes their chances of their survival. “A Minor Exorcism� distinguishes itself with colorful characters, generous humor, rising tension, and an exciting climax.
There’s an old adage for fiction writers, that it is better for your protagonist to get what they need, rather than what they want. This has been the gold standard approach to character growth for much of our history as a storytelling civilization, though current trends in popular entertainment lean toward wish fulfillment fantasies that conflate â€needâ€� with â€wantâ€�. In her stunning weird western romance “The Heart That Saves You May Be Your Ownâ€�, Merrie Haskell uses the second person to tether the reader to her hero, Tabitha, and in doing so we feel her wants as deeply as she does. Tabitha wishes to court her intended, Roland, the traditional way—by hunting and butchering a â€corn (an abbreviation for unicorn). This ritual means to establish a young woman’s purity and comes with a significant elevation in social status. It impressed me the way Haskell constructed a society and culture that at first glance notably skews from our own (and not just because it’s normal for unicorns to walk through extra-dimensional doors and hang out with virgins who want to kill them), while a deeper look reveals a little less skew. Women may court the men in this scenario, but the pressure to perform their gender roles—and the stigma of failing to do so—is just as oppressive. Heterosexual norms are still paramount, while the polite acceptance of queerness is grudging. The choice Tabitha faces at the end is to decide whether her goals align with her community’s goals, and this is where Haskell’s use of the second person enhances the story’s emotional intelligence: we can’t help but recognize her anguish, and her accedence, as our own.
The issue closes with “A Tally of What Remains�, by R.Z. Held. It is the story of Helena, a blood mage who watched her entire family die from a disease that continues to ravage the land. She now uses her farmhouse to care for the sick and dying, but an antagonistic survivor forces her to confront the way she has dealt with her grief. It’s a smart and compassionate story, on a subject that resonates in light of current events.
This is a fine issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies from start to finish, with the Parker and Haskell stories of particular distinction.
]]> 3.30 2020 Beneath Ceaseless Skies #313, Twelfth Anniversary Double-Issue
author: Scott H. Andrews
name: Gary
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/16
date added: 2020/10/16
shelves:
review:
It’s not surprising that K. J. Parker often appears in these Special Double Issues of Beneath Ceaseless Skies: his wry wit and adept deployment of dramatic irony have the “literary� part of “Literary Adventure Fantasy� locked up. Nor should it surprise that he continues to find novel ways of expressing the themes that weave throughout his fiction. “Many Mansions�, like many a Parker story, is a first-person narrative. The narrator, Father Bohenna, is a scholar (NOT a magician, he insists) from an institution called the Studium, dispatched to a remote region to investigate accounts of a witch bedeviling residents at an alarming pace. There are two early indications in the story that Bohenna isn’t the most reliable voice: his casual misogyny and inflated self-regard (“I reserve my conversation for the select few who can understand and appreciate it. I most certainly don’t chat up women in taprooms�). That his adversary in the story turns out to be a woman—referred to as a witch because society doesn't afford women the benefit of a scholarly education—suggests that he will suffer some comeuppance for his hubris. In Parker’s best stories, though, meeting the reader’s expectations is often a red herring, and this story is exceptional. Parker lays a lot of pipe in its first act and keeps piling on new layers throughout, so that its matryoshka doll of an ending leaves one to ponder if Bohenna’s punishment is equal to his sin.
Richard Parks is also no stranger to BCS anniversary specials, also being an author of considerable skill and stature. His new story “A Minor Exorcism� is part of his Yamada no Goji series, and follows demon hunter Lord Yamada, who for lack of anything better to do with his time, joins his associate Kenji on a matter of slight concern. They soon learn the concern is anything but small, and as the danger compounds, so diminishes their chances of their survival. “A Minor Exorcism� distinguishes itself with colorful characters, generous humor, rising tension, and an exciting climax.
There’s an old adage for fiction writers, that it is better for your protagonist to get what they need, rather than what they want. This has been the gold standard approach to character growth for much of our history as a storytelling civilization, though current trends in popular entertainment lean toward wish fulfillment fantasies that conflate â€needâ€� with â€wantâ€�. In her stunning weird western romance “The Heart That Saves You May Be Your Ownâ€�, Merrie Haskell uses the second person to tether the reader to her hero, Tabitha, and in doing so we feel her wants as deeply as she does. Tabitha wishes to court her intended, Roland, the traditional way—by hunting and butchering a â€corn (an abbreviation for unicorn). This ritual means to establish a young woman’s purity and comes with a significant elevation in social status. It impressed me the way Haskell constructed a society and culture that at first glance notably skews from our own (and not just because it’s normal for unicorns to walk through extra-dimensional doors and hang out with virgins who want to kill them), while a deeper look reveals a little less skew. Women may court the men in this scenario, but the pressure to perform their gender roles—and the stigma of failing to do so—is just as oppressive. Heterosexual norms are still paramount, while the polite acceptance of queerness is grudging. The choice Tabitha faces at the end is to decide whether her goals align with her community’s goals, and this is where Haskell’s use of the second person enhances the story’s emotional intelligence: we can’t help but recognize her anguish, and her accedence, as our own.
The issue closes with “A Tally of What Remains�, by R.Z. Held. It is the story of Helena, a blood mage who watched her entire family die from a disease that continues to ravage the land. She now uses her farmhouse to care for the sick and dying, but an antagonistic survivor forces her to confront the way she has dealt with her grief. It’s a smart and compassionate story, on a subject that resonates in light of current events.
This is a fine issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies from start to finish, with the Parker and Haskell stories of particular distinction.

]]> <![CDATA[A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)]]> 39863238
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.]]> 462 Arkady Martine 1250186439 Gary 5 To the author’s credit, her plotting is far less complicated than her world-building. Martine is a Byzantinist, and her Teixcalaan society is as relentlessly sophisticated as her discipline implies. At one point Mahit even refers to her passion for Teixcalaan ciphers as “byzantine�, and one can presume that when Teixcalaan survives but in memory and in the pages of history books will also invoke its name adjectively. The Teixcalaanlitzlim are a people in love with the idea of itself, where individual identity ties to a variety of cultural meanings and referents and even simple acts of communication come with layers of contextual baggage. The story, however, has a straightforward goal for its hero to achieve, muddied as it is by reactionary obstructions and elusive secrets. Mahit and her long-outdated, malfunctioning imago must find out how and why Yskandr was killed before forces inside and out overtake Teixcalaan and Lsel.
While the plot may be clear and linear, the novel’s architecture leaves room for more elaborate readings. Except for a few structured divergences, the tight third-person POV almost exclusively follows Mahit Dzmare from her arrival at the Teixcalaanli capital city-planet through the end. Those divergences—a prologue, epilogue, three interludes, and multiple historical excerpts and quotes heading each chapter—refer the reader to the broader political and historical circumstances at play. Together with Dzmare’s immersion in her beloved Teixcalaanli culture, Martine’s project offers a snapshot of a future history at least as rich and variegated as found in Frank Herbert’s Dune Chronicles, with almost limitless potential for return visits.
A Memory Called Empire does an exceptional job of balancing precise, consequential storytelling with layered world-building. Explicating a culture as multifaceted as Teixcalaan has the potential to overwhelm readers with exegetic digressions and overstuffed lexicons but Martine keeps the exposition plot-centered without painting her presumably copious notes and research all over the page. The novel is also rife with the kinds of amenities that inspire fannish devotion, such as the delightful (and precious) Teixcalaanli naming system. What really makes the novel work, though, are the fundamentals: Dzmare and her confidants Three Seagrass and Twelve Azealia make for excellent company, and the suspenseful, well-paced mystery plot keeps the pages turning with escalating tension and perfectly measured revelations.]]> 4.07 2019 A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)
author: Arkady Martine
name: Gary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/13
shelves:
review:
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare, the protagonist of Arkady Martine’s debut space opera A Memory Called Empire, has more than one identity crisis on her hands: she has a deep affinity for the empire that wants to annex her home and she also literally has someone else’s personality nested in her brain. Dzmare’s internal conflicts correlate with the external ones that drive the novel’s plot. Living within the Teixcalaan Empire has been her heart’s desire since childhood, yet her primary aim as ambassador is to keep Teixcalaan from assuming control of her home, Lsel Station. This same conflict between personal desire and professional duty may have gotten her predecessor Yskandr Aghavn killed. It is Yskandr whose “imago� (an impression of the man built from his recorded memories) is implanted in her head. Imago technology is a Lsel state secret, yet the Teixcalaanlitzlim find it during Yskandr’s autopsy, and this discovery could embolden those who wish for Teixcalaan to consume Lsel.
To the author’s credit, her plotting is far less complicated than her world-building. Martine is a Byzantinist, and her Teixcalaan society is as relentlessly sophisticated as her discipline implies. At one point Mahit even refers to her passion for Teixcalaan ciphers as “byzantine�, and one can presume that when Teixcalaan survives but in memory and in the pages of history books will also invoke its name adjectively. The Teixcalaanlitzlim are a people in love with the idea of itself, where individual identity ties to a variety of cultural meanings and referents and even simple acts of communication come with layers of contextual baggage. The story, however, has a straightforward goal for its hero to achieve, muddied as it is by reactionary obstructions and elusive secrets. Mahit and her long-outdated, malfunctioning imago must find out how and why Yskandr was killed before forces inside and out overtake Teixcalaan and Lsel.
While the plot may be clear and linear, the novel’s architecture leaves room for more elaborate readings. Except for a few structured divergences, the tight third-person POV almost exclusively follows Mahit Dzmare from her arrival at the Teixcalaanli capital city-planet through the end. Those divergences—a prologue, epilogue, three interludes, and multiple historical excerpts and quotes heading each chapter—refer the reader to the broader political and historical circumstances at play. Together with Dzmare’s immersion in her beloved Teixcalaanli culture, Martine’s project offers a snapshot of a future history at least as rich and variegated as found in Frank Herbert’s Dune Chronicles, with almost limitless potential for return visits.
A Memory Called Empire does an exceptional job of balancing precise, consequential storytelling with layered world-building. Explicating a culture as multifaceted as Teixcalaan has the potential to overwhelm readers with exegetic digressions and overstuffed lexicons but Martine keeps the exposition plot-centered without painting her presumably copious notes and research all over the page. The novel is also rife with the kinds of amenities that inspire fannish devotion, such as the delightful (and precious) Teixcalaanli naming system. What really makes the novel work, though, are the fundamentals: Dzmare and her confidants Three Seagrass and Twelve Azealia make for excellent company, and the suspenseful, well-paced mystery plot keeps the pages turning with escalating tension and perfectly measured revelations.
]]> <![CDATA[The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)]]> 42074525
Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.]]> 437 N.K. Jemisin Gary 3 3.83 2020 The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Gary
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2020/10/13
date added: 2020/10/13
shelves:
review:
Jemisin's personal affection for New York City drives her first foray into novel-length urban fantasy. With her tale of city avatars (one for each of the five boroughs, plus a 'primary') battling a cross dimensional evil that wants to tear our universe apart, she applies her much-admired gift for world building to the 'real' world. And she builds A LOT of world here, which I found both a blessing and a curse. There is so much explaining happening in this novel. There are entire, long chapters that consist almost entirely of the main characters explaining things to each other. There are multiple characters whose only role in the story is to show up and explain things the main characters can't figure out on their own. And this continues for like 85% of the book, right up to the (albeit exciting) climax. Not to say it's entirely without interest - much of it is fun to read - but too often I felt like someone needed to call a delay of game penalty on this book. On the whole, The City We Became is a good piece of epic weird fiction, channeling everything from Lovecraft to Leiber to Emma Bull, and even more infused with Jemisin's fierce and feisty personality than her previous works. Though if it is in fact the opening volume of a planned series, I hope the sequels are of the 'less talk, more rock' variety.
]]> Nophek Gloss 54539799 Nophek Gloss, the first book in this epic space opera trilogy by debut author Essa Hansen, for fans of Revenger and Children of Time.

Caiden's planet is destroyed. His family gone. And, his only hope for survival is a crew of misfit aliens and a mysterious ship that seems to have a soul and a universe of its own. Together they will show him that the universe is much bigger, much more advanced, and much more mysterious than Caiden had ever imagined. But the universe hides dangers as well, and soon Caiden has his own plans.

He vows to do anything it takes to get revenge on the slavers who murdered his people and took away his home. To destroy their regime, he must infiltrate and dismantle them from the inside, or die trying.]]> 433 Essa Hansen 0316430668 Gary 0 to-read 3.58 2020 Nophek Gloss
author: Essa Hansen
name: Gary
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[St. Valentine, St. Abigail, St. Brigid]]> 51096966
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 26 C.L. Polk 1250241359 Gary 5 3.85 2020 St. Valentine, St. Abigail, St. Brigid
author: C.L. Polk
name: Gary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/03/03
date added: 2020/10/01
shelves:
review:
This story is on my list of the Best Short SFF of February 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #304]]> 53489826 Scott H. Andrews Gary 4 4.17 Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #304
author: Scott H. Andrews
name: Gary
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2020/06/01
shelves:
review:
"Clever Jack, Heavy with Stories" by R.K. Duncan is on my list of the Best Short SFF of May 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Nightmare Magazine, Issue 92 (May 2020)]]> 53461519
We have original fiction from Yohanca Delgado & Claire Wrenwood (“The Blue Room�) and Decorating with Luke (“Adam-Troy Castro�), along with reprints by Jarla Tangh (“The Skinned�) and Steve Toase (“Call Out�). We also have the latest installment of our column on horror, “The H Word,� plus author spotlights with our authors, and a feature interview with Molly Tanzer.]]> 99 John Joseph Adams Gary 4 4.00 Nightmare Magazine, Issue 92 (May 2020)
author: John Joseph Adams
name: Gary
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2020/06/01
shelves:
review:
"Decorating with Luke" by Adam-Troy Castro is on my list of the Best Short SFF of May 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2020]]> 53295430 CONTENT:

NOVELLA
"Byzantine" by Holly Messinger

NOVELETS
"Stepsister" by Leah Cypess
"Birds Without Wings" by Rebecca Zahabi
"Who Carries the World" by Robert Reed

SHORT STORIES
"Hornet and Butterfly" by Tom Cool & Bruce Sterling
"Eyes of the Forest" by Ray Nayler
"Warm Math" by Rich Larson
"An Indian Love Call" by Joseph Bruchac
"In the Eyes of Jack Saul" by Richard Bowes
"Another F*cken Fairy Tale" by M. Rickert]]> C.C. Finlay Gary 4 3.82 2020 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2020
author: C.C. Finlay
name: Gary
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2020/06/01
shelves:
review:
Eyes of the Forest by Ray Nayler is on my list of the Best Short SFF of May 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Uncanny Magazine Issue 34: May/June 2020]]> 53340305
Featuring all-new short fiction by Arkady Martine, Jennifer Marie Brissett, Emma Törzs, A.T. Greenblatt, Meg Elison, and Suzanne Walker; reprint fiction by Sonya Taaffe; essays by Fran Wilde, Kelly Lagor, Khairani Barokka, and Ada Palmer, and a new editorial column by Nonfiction Editor Elsa Sjunneson; poems by Valerie Valdes, Ali Trotta, Roshani Chokshi, and T.K. Lê; interviews with Emma Törzs and Meg Elison by Caroline M. Yoachim; and Julie Dillon’s Taking Flight on the cover.]]> 140 Lynne M. Thomas Gary 4 3.81 2020 Uncanny Magazine Issue 34: May/June 2020
author: Lynne M. Thomas
name: Gary
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2020/06/01
shelves:
review:
"Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super" is on my list of the Best Short SFF of May 2020:
]]> Sea Change 51600140
In 2022, GMOs were banned after a biopharmed drug caused the Catastrophe: worldwide economic collapse, agricultural standstill, and personal tragedy for a lawyer and her son. Ten years later, Renata, a.k.a. Caroline Denton, is an operative of the Org, an underground group that could save the world from itself. Their illegal research is performed and protected by splinter cells, which are hunted by the feds.

Now a mole is in the Org. Who would put the entire Org in jeopardy? Renata is the only one who can find out--and she will need to go to her clients in the Quinault Nation for answers.

Nancy Kress (Beggars in Spain, Yesterday's Kin) once again delivers a smart, mesmerizing bio-thriller, with a hard, nuanced look at the perils and promise of technology.]]> 192 Nancy Kress 161696331X Gary 5 3.56 2020 Sea Change
author: Nancy Kress
name: Gary
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2020/06/01
shelves:
review:
Kress’s near-future climate thriller follows Renata Black, mild-mannered Seattle paralegal who is also Caroline Denton, undercover eco-terrorist. The “terror� that Caroline and her compatriots are attempting to inflict on the masses involves growing genetically-modified crops to help mitigate the world’s food crisis (in this speculative 2032, GMOs have been outlawed after big agriculture’s profiteering led to a deadly toxin in children’s medicine). Caroline/Renata discovers there may be a mole in her cell, causing the carefully delineated boundaries of her double life to blur. Kress, a long-established master of conjectural sci-fi, renders a global-scale conflict in intimate terms. The obstacles Renata faces and the choices she makes have deeply personal consequences for her as well as world-changing implications, allowing the author to effectively whittle away the border between the macro and the micro.
]]> Out of Body 49928832 Out of Body is a dark fantasy thriller from multi-award-winning author Jeffrey Ford.

A small-town librarian witnesses a murder at his local deli, and what had been routine sleep paralysis begins to transform into something far more disturbing. The trauma of holding a dying girl in his arms drives him out of his own body. The town he knows so well is suddenly revealed to him from a whole new perspective. Secrets are everywhere and demons fester behind closed doors.

Worst of all, he discovers a serial killer who has been preying on the area for over a century, one capable of traveling with him through his dreams.]]> 176 Jeffrey Ford 1250250153 Gary 4 3.18 2020 Out of Body
author: Jeffrey Ford
name: Gary
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2020/06/01
shelves:
review:
Owen is an introverted small town librarian who, following a traumatic event, gains the ability to astral project into the “night world� while he sleeps. At first his disembodied observations offer him a deeper connection to the neighbors he mostly avoids in his waking life, but soon he discovers a hidden world of secret societies and horrifying monsters and must put his life on the line to save his small corner of the world from evil. Ford takes time exploring the nooks and knacks of his night world before bringing the frights; thankfully, his adeptness at everyday observation matches his skill at delivering creature feature thrills. The climactic set piece is intense and beautifully constructed.
]]> <![CDATA[Nightmare Magazine, Issue 91 (April 2020)]]> 52872245
Welcome to issue ninety-one of NIGHTMARE. It's always risky, writing a story about vampires--but Ben Peek spins us a novel take on the monster in his new short "See You on a Dark Night." Millie Ho's new story, "A Moonlit Savagery," uses two different kinds of monster to span the gap between Bangkok and the Toronto suburbs. We also have reprints by Dan Stintzi ("Surrogate") and A.C. Wise ("And the Carnival Leaves Town"). In the "The H Word," Evan Peterson talks about some of the stigmas against mental illness that exist within our genre. Plus we have author spotlights with our authors, and a media review from Adam-Troy Castro.]]> 112 John Joseph Adams Gary 4 4.20 Nightmare Magazine, Issue 91 (April 2020)
author: John Joseph Adams
name: Gary
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves:
review:
"A Moonlit Savagery" by Millie Ho is on my list of the Best Short SFF of April 2020:
]]> Beneath Ceaseless Skies #301 53249314 36 Scott H. Andrews Gary 4 3.80 2020 Beneath Ceaseless Skies #301
author: Scott H. Andrews
name: Gary
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves:
review:
"As the Shore to the Tides, So Blood Calls to Blood" by Karlo Yeager Rodriguez is on my list of the Best Short SFF of April 2020:
]]> Beneath Ceaseless Skies #300 53249254 117 Scott H. Andrews Gary 4 3.92 2020 Beneath Ceaseless Skies #300
author: Scott H. Andrews
name: Gary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves:
review:
"The Hummingbird Temple" by C.C. Finlay and "To Balance the Weight of Khalem" by R.B. Lemberg are on my list of the Best Short SFF of April 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 118, March 2020]]> 52234257 204 John Joseph Adams 1393496237 Gary 4 3.25 2020 Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 118, March 2020
author: John Joseph Adams
name: Gary
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves:
review:
"Tend to Me" by Kristina Ten is on my list of the Best Short SFF of March 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[The Dark Magazine, Issue 58: March 2020]]> 52428682 Sean Wallace 1393296114 Gary 4 3.38 2020 The Dark Magazine, Issue 58: March 2020
author: Sean Wallace
name: Gary
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves:
review:
"Escaping Dr. Markoff" by Gabriela Santiago is on my list of the Best Short SFF of March 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Asimov's Science Fiction, March/April 2020]]> 51651012 CONTENTS

NOVELLA
"Semper Augustus" by Nancy Kress

NOVELETTES
"In Our Stars" by James Gunn
"Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars", by Mercurio D. Rivera
"Opportunity Space", by Nathan Hillstrom

SHORT STORIES
"A Summary of our Neighborhood’s Salvation After the Storm", by Jason Sanford
"Skin", by Garrett Ashley
"Rena in the Desert", by Lia Swope Mitchell
"So Long as We Both", by Tom Purdom
"Return to the Red Castle", by Ray Nayler
"Tachyon Hearts Cannot Love", by Derek KĂĽnsken]]> 211 Sheila Williams Gary 4 4.00 2020 Asimov's Science Fiction, March/April 2020
author: Sheila Williams
name: Gary
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves:
review:
"Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars" by Mercurio D. Rivera is on my list of the Best Short SFF of March 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[Nightmare Magazine, Issue 90 (March 2020)]]> 52332440
Welcome to issue ninety of NIGHTMARE! We kick off this month's original fiction with a brand-new short from Benjamin Percy ("A Study in Shadows") that's about ethics in science--or what happens when scientists forget about them. Merc Fenn Wolfmoor dives into the territory of the urban legend with their new short story "Flashlight Man." We also have reprints by Nicole D. Sconiers ("Kim") and Carmen Maria Machado ("There and Back Again"). In the latest installment of our column on horror, "The H Word," Paul Jessup whispers to us about death. Plus, there are author spotlights with our authors and a book review from Terence Taylor.]]> John Joseph Adams Gary 4 4.20 Nightmare Magazine, Issue 90 (March 2020)
author: John Joseph Adams
name: Gary
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves:
review:
"A Study in Shadows" by Benjamin Percy is on my list of the Best Short SFF of March 2020:
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Emperox (The Interdependency, #3)]]> 38322550
Emperox Grayland II has finally wrested control of her empire from those who oppose her and who deny the reality of this collapse. But “control� is a slippery thing, and even as Grayland strives to save as many of her people from impoverished isolation, the forces opposing her rule will make a final, desperate push to topple her from her throne and power, by any means necessary. Grayland and her thinning list of allies must use every tool at their disposal to save themselves, and all of humanity. And yet it may not be enough.

Will Grayland become the savior of her civilization� or the last emperox to wear the crown?]]> 320 John Scalzi Gary 4 Through no fault of its own, The Last Emperox couldn’t have arrived at a better time. John Scalzi’s novels are uniformly brief and briskly paced, with rapid fire action and dialogue—in other words, ready-made for binge reading. And with the current coronavirus pandemic forcing people to spend most of their free time at home, that’s what many people are doing. Haven’t read the first two books in Scalzi’s Interdependency trilogy? Each can be gobbled up in a single sitting while you hunker down for the evening, then you can slide right into the freshly printed one by day three. The series is also thematically timely; civilization coming apart at the seams through neglect, short-sightedness and inaction in the face of an unforeseen cataclysm sound familiar? Though completed months prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, alarming echoes of current day events reverberate from the pages of The Last Emperox. It’s a not uncommon trait in science fiction, nor is it surprising coming from this science fiction author, who has managed to keep his finger on today’s pulse for much of his writing career.
For those unfamiliar with the premise of The Interdependency, it is set fifteen centuries into our future in an empire spanning multiple star systems. All these systems, save one, are incapable of supporting human life on their own, so each depends on the whole to survive. The whole is, not unexpectedly, ruled by a small cadre of wealthy elites whose families control all commerce between systems. Intersystem commerce is only made possible by traversing the Flow, naturally occurring streams that cheat the otherwise untenable distances of time and space. Discovery of the impending collapse of the entire system of Flow streams is therefore a civilization-ending disaster.
I found the opening volume of the trilogy (The Collapsing Empire) entertaining, if uneven; too reliant on long passages of exposition, overly plot-centered and heavy on oration. The abrupt ending was also jarring, coming right as the story was picking up steam. This was likely intentional—a feature of its being intended not as a standalone but as the first third of a complete story—but I still found it lacking. I thought the first sequel (The Consuming Fire) was a little more comfortable in its own skin and possessed of a much more satisfying (if only temporary) outcome. The Last Emperox is perhaps the most neatly balanced of the three volumes, a harmonious convergence of well-oiled plot machine, smart-alecky dialogue and fully rounded characters.
The ostensible hero of the story is Cardenia Wu-Patrick, also known as Emperox Grayland II, the reluctant leader of the Interdependency in this time of unfathomable crisis. When The Last Emperox begins, Grayland II has just survived another deposition plot (following a prior assassination plot) only to find myriad others sprouting up hydra-like in their place. None of this bodes well for her and her scientist-lover Marce Claremont’s goal of figuring out how to transport the entirety of Human civilization to a single planet that has neither the room nor the resources to handle a sudden, massive influx of migration. Grayland is also aided by shrewd, potty-mouthed Lady Kiva Lagos, tasked with unraveling the various plots against the Emperox, as well as the artificial construct known as the Memory Room, which houses facsimiles of all the previous Emperox. This is where Scalzi’s grand design engages with current events: questions of having the leadership qualities necessary to mitigate a catastrophe are front and center, of the willingness of the few to sacrifice the many for personal gain, of the wisdom (or lack thereof) in concentrating power in the hands of those few to begin with, allow Scalzi to flex his philosophical and political muscles with his customary piquancy.
But if The Last Emperox represents the culmination of the trilogy’s strengths, so too do its faults climax. Taking its cue from Marvel, Star Wars, and most other blockbuster franchises, Scalzi’s Interdependency espouses an axiomatic neoliberal worldview, one in which the predations of the greedy elite class can only be countered by putting our faith in other, more benevolent ruling elites and the martial forces they command. This strategy can acknowledge class struggle while discreetly tip-toeing around it, since (according to this philosophy) the unwashed masses have no other legitimate recourse for bettering their condition than to hope someone rich and powerful will handle it for them. It is even more frustrating that this novel both acknowledges and shrugs at this position in the same breath.
Reservations aside, I still enjoy a good blockbuster as much as the next person. So shelter in place, microwave some popcorn and have a rollicking good time with one of the more appealing sci-fi writers of his generation.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Tor Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.]]> 4.07 2020 The Last Emperox (The Interdependency, #3)
author: John Scalzi
name: Gary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/04/14
date added: 2020/04/14
shelves:
review:
3.5 Stars
Through no fault of its own, The Last Emperox couldn’t have arrived at a better time. John Scalzi’s novels are uniformly brief and briskly paced, with rapid fire action and dialogue—in other words, ready-made for binge reading. And with the current coronavirus pandemic forcing people to spend most of their free time at home, that’s what many people are doing. Haven’t read the first two books in Scalzi’s Interdependency trilogy? Each can be gobbled up in a single sitting while you hunker down for the evening, then you can slide right into the freshly printed one by day three. The series is also thematically timely; civilization coming apart at the seams through neglect, short-sightedness and inaction in the face of an unforeseen cataclysm sound familiar? Though completed months prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, alarming echoes of current day events reverberate from the pages of The Last Emperox. It’s a not uncommon trait in science fiction, nor is it surprising coming from this science fiction author, who has managed to keep his finger on today’s pulse for much of his writing career.
For those unfamiliar with the premise of The Interdependency, it is set fifteen centuries into our future in an empire spanning multiple star systems. All these systems, save one, are incapable of supporting human life on their own, so each depends on the whole to survive. The whole is, not unexpectedly, ruled by a small cadre of wealthy elites whose families control all commerce between systems. Intersystem commerce is only made possible by traversing the Flow, naturally occurring streams that cheat the otherwise untenable distances of time and space. Discovery of the impending collapse of the entire system of Flow streams is therefore a civilization-ending disaster.
I found the opening volume of the trilogy (The Collapsing Empire) entertaining, if uneven; too reliant on long passages of exposition, overly plot-centered and heavy on oration. The abrupt ending was also jarring, coming right as the story was picking up steam. This was likely intentional—a feature of its being intended not as a standalone but as the first third of a complete story—but I still found it lacking. I thought the first sequel (The Consuming Fire) was a little more comfortable in its own skin and possessed of a much more satisfying (if only temporary) outcome. The Last Emperox is perhaps the most neatly balanced of the three volumes, a harmonious convergence of well-oiled plot machine, smart-alecky dialogue and fully rounded characters.
The ostensible hero of the story is Cardenia Wu-Patrick, also known as Emperox Grayland II, the reluctant leader of the Interdependency in this time of unfathomable crisis. When The Last Emperox begins, Grayland II has just survived another deposition plot (following a prior assassination plot) only to find myriad others sprouting up hydra-like in their place. None of this bodes well for her and her scientist-lover Marce Claremont’s goal of figuring out how to transport the entirety of Human civilization to a single planet that has neither the room nor the resources to handle a sudden, massive influx of migration. Grayland is also aided by shrewd, potty-mouthed Lady Kiva Lagos, tasked with unraveling the various plots against the Emperox, as well as the artificial construct known as the Memory Room, which houses facsimiles of all the previous Emperox. This is where Scalzi’s grand design engages with current events: questions of having the leadership qualities necessary to mitigate a catastrophe are front and center, of the willingness of the few to sacrifice the many for personal gain, of the wisdom (or lack thereof) in concentrating power in the hands of those few to begin with, allow Scalzi to flex his philosophical and political muscles with his customary piquancy.
But if The Last Emperox represents the culmination of the trilogy’s strengths, so too do its faults climax. Taking its cue from Marvel, Star Wars, and most other blockbuster franchises, Scalzi’s Interdependency espouses an axiomatic neoliberal worldview, one in which the predations of the greedy elite class can only be countered by putting our faith in other, more benevolent ruling elites and the martial forces they command. This strategy can acknowledge class struggle while discreetly tip-toeing around it, since (according to this philosophy) the unwashed masses have no other legitimate recourse for bettering their condition than to hope someone rich and powerful will handle it for them. It is even more frustrating that this novel both acknowledges and shrugs at this position in the same breath.
Reservations aside, I still enjoy a good blockbuster as much as the next person. So shelter in place, microwave some popcorn and have a rollicking good time with one of the more appealing sci-fi writers of his generation.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Tor Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.
]]> <![CDATA[Architects of Memory (The Memory War, #1)]]> 44438351
When her crew salvages a genocidal weapon from a ravaged starship above a dead colony, Ash uncovers a conspiracy of corporate intrigue and betrayal that threatens to turn her into a living weapon.]]> 336 Karen Osborne 1250215471 Gary 0 to-read 3.52 2020 Architects of Memory (The Memory War, #1)
author: Karen Osborne
name: Gary
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)]]> 50892360 The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.

A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.]]> 454 Rebecca Roanhorse 1534437673 Gary 0 to-read 4.17 2020 Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)
author: Rebecca Roanhorse
name: Gary
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mexican Gothic 53152636
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And NoemĂ­, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 320 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620788 Gary 0 to-read 3.66 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Gary
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> By Force Alone 53146362 A retelling of Arthurian myth from World Fantasy Award-winner Lavie Tidhar, By Force Alone.

Everyone thinks they know the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.

The fact is they don't know sh*t.

Arthur? An over-promoted gangster.
Merlin? An eldritch parasite.
Excalibur? A shady deal with a watery arms dealer.
Britain? A clogged sewer that Rome abandoned just as soon as it could.

A savage and cutting epic fantasy, equally poetic and profane, By Force Alone is at once a timely political satire, a magical adventure, and a subversive masterwork.]]> 413 Lavie Tidhar 1250753457 Gary 0 to-read 3.56 2020 By Force Alone
author: Lavie Tidhar
name: Gary
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 111, August 2019]]> 53037817 188 John Joseph Adams Gary 4 3.38 2019 Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 111, August 2019
author: John Joseph Adams
name: Gary
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/01
date added: 2020/04/07
shelves:
review:
Kendra Fortmeyer's "No Matter" is one of my choices for the Best Short SFF of August 2019:
]]> <![CDATA[Driving the Deep (Finder Chronicles, #2)]]> 53005399 From a Hugo Award-winning author comes the second book in this action-packed sci-fi caper, starring Fergus Ferguson, interstellar repo man and professional finder.

As a professional finder, Fergus Ferguson is hired to locate missing objects and steal them back. But it is rarely so simple, especially after his latest job in Cernee. He's been recovering from that experience in the company of friends, the Shipmakers of Pluto, experts at crafting top-of-the-line AI spaceships.

The Shipmakers have convinced Fergus to finally deal with unfinished business he's been avoiding for half his life: Earth. Fergus hasn't been back to his homeworld since he was fifteen, when he stole his cousin's motorcycle and ran away. It was his first theft, and nothing he's stolen since has been anywhere near so easy, or weighed so heavily on his conscience. Many years and many jobs later, Fergus reluctantly agrees that now is the time to return the motorcycle and face his family.

Unfortunately, someone has gotten to the motorcycle before him. And before he can figure out where it went and why the storage unit that held it is now filled with priceless, stolen art, the Shipyard is attacked. His friends are missing, presumably kidnapped.

Accompanied by an untrustworthy detective who suspects Fergus is the art thief and the sole friend who escaped the attack, Fergus must follow the tenuous clues to locate and save his friends. The trail leads them to Enceladus, where Fergus plans to go undercover to the research stations that lie beneath the moon's thick ice sheet deep in a dark, oppressive ocean.

But all movement and personnel are watched, and the limited ways through the thick ice of the moon's surface are dangerous and highly monitored. Even if Fergus can manage to find proof that his friends are there and alive, getting out again is going to be a lot more complicated than he bargained for.]]> 432 Suzanne Palmer 0756415063 Gary 0 to-read 4.25 2020 Driving the Deep (Finder Chronicles, #2)
author: Suzanne Palmer
name: Gary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cyber Shogun Revolution (Mecha Samurai Empire)]]> 52972428 The Man in the High Castle meets Pacific Rim in this action-packed alternate history novel from the award-winning author of United States of Japan and Mecha Samurai Empire.

NO ONE SURVIVES AN ALLIANCE WITH THE NAZIS. NOT WITHOUT USE OF FORCE.

California, 2020. After a severe injury, ace mecha designer and pilot Reiko Morikawa is recruited to a secret organization plotting a revolt against the corrupt governor (and Nazi sympathizer) of the United States of Japan. When their plan to save the USJ from itself goes awry, the mission is only saved from failure because the governor is killed by an assassin known as Bloody Mary. But the assassin isn't satisfied with just the governor.

Bishop Wakana used to be a cop. Now he's an agent of the Tokko, the secret police. Following the trail of a Nazi scientist, Bishop discovers a web of weapons smuggling, black market mecha parts--and a mysterious assassin. This killer once hunted Nazis but now seems to be targeting the USJ itself. As the leaders of the United States of Japan come to realize the devil's bargain they made in their uneasy alliance with the Nazis, Bishop and Reiko are hot on the trail of Bloody Mary, trying to stop her before it's too late.]]> 352 Peter Tieryas 0451491017 Gary 0 to-read 3.96 2020 Cyber Shogun Revolution (Mecha Samurai Empire)
author: Peter Tieryas
name: Gary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Beneath Ceaseless Skies #289 52970902 39 Scott H. Andrews Gary 4 4.00 Beneath Ceaseless Skies #289
author: Scott H. Andrews
name: Gary
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2019/11/22
date added: 2020/04/05
shelves:
review:
"The Butcher, the Baker" by Mike Allen is on my list of the Best Short SFF of October 2019:
]]> <![CDATA[Beneath the Rising (Beneath the Rising, #1)]]> 52806923
But all that is about to end. When Johnny invents a clean reactor that could eliminate fossil fuels and change the world, she awakens primal, evil Ancient Ones set on subjugating humanity.

From the oldest library in the world to the ruins of Nineveh, hunted at every turn, they will need to trust each other completely to survive

All the Birds in the Sky meets Lovecraft Country in this whimsical coming-of-age story about two kids in the middle of a war of eldritch horrors from outside spacetime.]]> 462 Premee Mohamed 1781087865 Gary 4 Beneath the Rising begins in Alberta, Canada, not long after the September 11, 2001 hijackers failed to bring down the World Trade Center in New York. Many of the world's biggest problems have already been solved—or soon will be—thanks to teenaged super-genius Joanna “Johnny� Chambers, a multi-billionaire who has been making earth-shaking scientific breakthroughs since the age of four: rewriting the laws of physics, curing every illness from HIV to Alzheimer’s, etc., and who now has her sights set on renewable energy. You would think this gender-reversed take on the “boy genius� trope would be the hero of the novel, but that burden rests on the shoulders of Johnny’s long-suffering, distressingly ordinary best pal Nick Prasad, who also narrates. Soon after Johnny shares her latest triumph with Nick, an extra-dimensional eldritch terror called Drozanoth harasses and tries to threaten Nick into handing over Johnny’s newest invention. Johnny already knows exactly what Drozanoth is, where it comes from and what it wants. With their families� lives and the world’s survival at stake, Johnny drags the hapless Nick into a world of international conspiracies and secret societies, Ancient Ones and Elder Gods, as the two teenagers search for a way to stop unimaginable evil from overrunning the Earth.
Despite being a little plot-heavy at times, Beneath the Rising is an attention grabbing romp that separates itself from the pack with its brisk pace, acerbic humor and fiendish world-building. Mohamed exploits the contrasts between the two lead characters to great comedic and dramatic effect. Johnny—white, pretty, blonde, rich and absurdly good at everything—can’t help but take the lovelorn, otherwise friendless Nick for granted. For his own part, Nick must tamp his pride down and keep his unrequited feelings in check just to hang on to her coattails, but he’s also self-aware enough to question the wisdom of his devotion. Mohamed never lets us forget that these differences matter: conflicts born of class, gender and race periodically bubble to the surface in the tension between them.
Sometimes I felt the novel was too narrowly focused on Nick and Johnny, leaving secondary characters to serve as little more than props and obstacles. But overall, Beneath the Rising is way too imaginative and way too much fun to miss.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Solaris books for the opportunity to read this ARC.
]]> 3.42 2020 Beneath the Rising (Beneath the Rising, #1)
author: Premee Mohamed
name: Gary
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/03/04
date added: 2020/03/30
shelves:
review:
Premee Mohamed’s globe-trotting sci-fantasy cosmic horror alt-history adventure debut doesn’t exactly shatter genre conventions as much as pants them and run away giggling. The novel has a kind of nervous energy that is both puckish and disarming, like a court jester whose council the king values.
Beneath the Rising begins in Alberta, Canada, not long after the September 11, 2001 hijackers failed to bring down the World Trade Center in New York. Many of the world's biggest problems have already been solved—or soon will be—thanks to teenaged super-genius Joanna “Johnny� Chambers, a multi-billionaire who has been making earth-shaking scientific breakthroughs since the age of four: rewriting the laws of physics, curing every illness from HIV to Alzheimer’s, etc., and who now has her sights set on renewable energy. You would think this gender-reversed take on the “boy genius� trope would be the hero of the novel, but that burden rests on the shoulders of Johnny’s long-suffering, distressingly ordinary best pal Nick Prasad, who also narrates. Soon after Johnny shares her latest triumph with Nick, an extra-dimensional eldritch terror called Drozanoth harasses and tries to threaten Nick into handing over Johnny’s newest invention. Johnny already knows exactly what Drozanoth is, where it comes from and what it wants. With their families� lives and the world’s survival at stake, Johnny drags the hapless Nick into a world of international conspiracies and secret societies, Ancient Ones and Elder Gods, as the two teenagers search for a way to stop unimaginable evil from overrunning the Earth.
Despite being a little plot-heavy at times, Beneath the Rising is an attention grabbing romp that separates itself from the pack with its brisk pace, acerbic humor and fiendish world-building. Mohamed exploits the contrasts between the two lead characters to great comedic and dramatic effect. Johnny—white, pretty, blonde, rich and absurdly good at everything—can’t help but take the lovelorn, otherwise friendless Nick for granted. For his own part, Nick must tamp his pride down and keep his unrequited feelings in check just to hang on to her coattails, but he’s also self-aware enough to question the wisdom of his devotion. Mohamed never lets us forget that these differences matter: conflicts born of class, gender and race periodically bubble to the surface in the tension between them.
Sometimes I felt the novel was too narrowly focused on Nick and Johnny, leaving secondary characters to serve as little more than props and obstacles. But overall, Beneath the Rising is way too imaginative and way too much fun to miss.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Solaris books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

]]> <![CDATA[Asimov's Science Fiction July/August 2019]]> 52767971 208 Sheila Williams Gary 4 3.96 2018 Asimov's Science Fiction July/August 2019
author: Sheila Williams
name: Gary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/08/01
date added: 2020/03/28
shelves:
review:
"The Work of Wolves" by Tegan Moore is on my list of the Best Short SFF of July 2019:
]]> The Eleventh Gate 52759258
Despite economic and territorial tensions, no one wants the city-states of the Eight Worlds to repeat the Terran Collapse by going to war. But when war accidentally happens, everyone seeks ways to exploit it for gain. ĚýThe Landry and Peregoy ruling dynasties see opportunities to grab territory, increase profits, and settle old scores.Ěý Exploited underclasses use war to fuel rebellion.Ěý Ambitious heirs can finally topple their eldersâ€� regimes—or try to.

But the unexpected key to either victory or peace lies with two persons uninterested in conquest, profits, or power.Ěý ĚýPhilip Anderson seeks only the transcendent meaning of the physics underlying the universe.Ěý Tara Landry, spoiled and defiant youngest granddaughter of dynasty head Rachel Landry, accidentally discovers an eleventh star-jump gate, with a fabulous find on the planet behind it.Ěý Her discovery, and Philip’s use of it, alter everything for the Eight Worlds.]]> 352 Nancy Kress 198212458X Gary 0 to-read 3.38 2020 The Eleventh Gate
author: Nancy Kress
name: Gary
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In the Palace of Shadow and Joy (Indrajit & Fix, #1)]]> 52759200 NEW FAR-FUTURE PLANETARY ADVENTURE

"BARD DESPERATE FOR APPRENTICE AND ROGUE WITH SIDELINE IN INSURANCE SEEK WORK. PREFERABLY AS GOOD GUYS."

Indrajit Twang is the four hundred twenty-seventh epic poet of his people, the only person alive to carry their entire epic history and mythology in his head. His people are dwindling in number, and if he can’t find a successor in the great city of Kish, their story will disappear with them.

Fix grew up a foundling on the ancient streets of Kish and is making his living as a mercenary. The woman he loves married someone else, and Fix has turnedĚýto buying and selling risk on the black market—but is he trying to impress her, or prove something to himself?

Indrajit and Fix have been hired by a powerful risk-merchant to protect the life of opera star Ilsa without Peer for the duration of a risk contract he’s taken on. When an attempt is made on Ilsa’s life, Indrajit and Fix find themselves hunted by multiple mercenary squads and targeted by some of the most powerful men in Kish. Will they be able to save themselves, not to mention protect Ilsa, in the Palace of Shadow and Joy?

Praise forĚýWitchy Winter:
“Butler followsĚýWitchy EyeĚýwith a satisfying second tale of a magic-filled early America. . . . Deep and old magic influences both places and characters, and the story is tightly focused on the determined Sarah . . . . Fans of epic and alternate historical fantasy will savor this tale of witchery and intrigue.”â€�Publishers Weekly

"For readers who love history-based fantasy, steampunk, or urban fantasy . . .Ěýthis series thatĚýgives the genreĚýa new twist."â€�Booklist

Praise forĚýWitchy EyeĚýand D.J. Butler:
" . . . you can’t stop yourself from taking another bite . . .Ěýand another . . .Ěýand another . . . .ĚýI didn’t want to stop reading . . . .ĚýKudos!”—R.A. Salvatore

“Excellent book. I am impressed by the creativity and the depth of the world building. Dave Butler is a great storyteller.”—Larry CorreiaĚý

â€�Witchy EyeĚýis an intricate and imaginative alternate history with a cast of characters and quirky situations that would make a Dickens novel proud.â€� —Kevin J. Anderson
Ěý
"Butler’s fantasy is by turns sardonic and lighthearted; ghoulish shadows claw into the most remote areas and heroism bursts out of the most unlikely people. Sarah is the epitome of the downtrodden hero who refuses to give up until she gets what she needs, and her story will appeal to fantasy readers of all stripes."�Publishers Weekly

"David's a pro storyteller, and you're in for a great ride."—Larry Dixon

" . . .Ěýa fascinating, grittily-flavored world of living legends. Hurry up and write the next one, Dave."—Cat Rambo

"This is enchanting! I'd love to see more."—Mercedes LackeyĚý

“Goblin Market meets Magical Musketpunk . . .ĚýA great ride that also manages to cover some serious cultural terrain.â€� —Charles E. Gannon

"Witchy EyeĚýisĚýa brilliant blend of historical acumen and imagination, a tour-de-force that is at once full of surprises and ultimately heart-warming. This is your chance to discover one of the finest new stars writing today!"–David Farland

“A gritty, engrossing mash-up of history, fantasy, and magic. Desperate characters careen from plot twist to plot twist until few are left standing.”—Mario Acevedo

"Captivating characters. Superb world-building. Awesome magic. Butler fuses fantasy and history effortlessly, creating a fascinating new American epic. Not to be missed!"—Christopher Husberg

"[A] unique alternative-history that is heavily influence by urban and traditional fantasy and steeped in the folklore of the Appalachians. . . . Fans of urban fantasy looking to take a chance on something with a twist on a historical setting may find this novel worth their time."�Booklist]]> 288 D.J. Butler 1982124709 Gary 0 to-read 3.67 In the Palace of Shadow and Joy (Indrajit & Fix, #1)
author: D.J. Butler
name: Gary
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Phoenix Extravagant 52758604 Dragons. Art. Revolution.

Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. They just want to paint.

One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers.

But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they find they can no longer stay out of politics.

What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight…]]> 346 Yoon Ha Lee 1781087946 Gary 0 to-read 3.63 2020 Phoenix Extravagant
author: Yoon Ha Lee
name: Gary
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2019 (F&SF, #745)]]> 52744509 FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION
September/October � 70th Year of Publication

NOVELETS

THE WHITE CAT’S DIVORCE -6- Kelly Link
AMERICAN GOLD MINE -30- Paolo Bacigalupi
KABUL -98- Michael Moorcock
ERASE, ERASE, ERASE -175- Elizabeth Bear

SHORT STORIES

LITTLE INN ON THE JIANGHU -56 -Y. M. Pang
UNDER THE HILL -138 -Maureen McHugh
MADNESS AFOOT -151 -Amanda Hollander
THE LIGHT ON ELDORETH -156- Nick Wolven
BOOKSAVR -216- Ken Liu
THE WRONG BADGER -223- Esther Friesner
GHOST SHIPS -243- Michael Swanwick
HOMECOMING -250- Gardner Dozois

POEMS

LAST HUMAN IN THE OLYMPICS -73- Mary Soon Lee
HALSTEAD IV -214- Jeff Crandall

DEPARTMENTS

THREE SCORE AND TEN -74- Robert Silverberg
BOOKS TO LOOK FOR -84- Charles de Lint
BOOKS -93- James Sallis
FILMS: LOVE DEATH + SOME REGRESSION -201- Karin Lowachee
SCIENCE: NET UP OR NET DOWN? -204- Jerry Oltion
PLUMAGE FROM PEGASUS -209- Paul Di Filippo
COMING ATTRACTIONS -256-
CURIOSITIES -258- Thomas Kaufsek

Cartoons: Mark Heath (137), Danny Shanahan (249).

COVER BY DAVID A. HARDY]]> 258 C.C. Finlay Gary 3 3.93 2019 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2019 (F&SF, #745)
author: C.C. Finlay
name: Gary
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/10/07
date added: 2020/03/27
shelves:
review:
"Homecoming", the final story from the late, legendary Gardner Dozois, is on my list of the Best Short SFF of September 2019:
]]> <![CDATA[Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 155, August 2019]]> 52650215 CONTENT
"Entangled" by Beston Barnett
"Onyx Woods and the Grains of Deception" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
"Your Face" by Rachel Swirsky
"The Yorkshire Mammoth" by Harry Turtledove
"In This Moment, We Are Happy" by Chen Qiufan
"The Second Nanny" by Djuna]]> 171 Neil Clarke Gary 4 3.68 2019 Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 155, August 2019
author: Neil Clarke
name: Gary
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/01
date added: 2020/03/23
shelves:
review:
"Your Face" by Rachel Swirsky is on my list of the Best Short SFF of August 2019:
]]> Survivor Song 52581895
Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie's husband has been killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child.

Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares—terrifying, strange, and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink.Ěý


]]> 320 Paul Tremblay 0062679163 Gary 0 to-read 3.58 2020 Survivor Song
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Gary
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Survivor Song 52512374 The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.

In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government's emergency protocols are faltering.

Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie's husband has been killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child.

Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares—terrifying, strange, and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink.Ěý

Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave readers racing through the pages . . . and shake them to their core.


]]> 320 Paul Tremblay 006267918X Gary 0 to-read 3.67 2020 Survivor Song
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Gary
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> More Real Than Him 52392921
Silvia Park's Tor Original short story about artificial intelligence "More Real Than Him" introduces readers to a compelling space operatic world of incredibly lifelike robots.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 32 Silvia Park 1250243955 Gary 4 3.20 2019 More Real Than Him
author: Silvia Park
name: Gary
average rating: 3.20
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/01
date added: 2020/03/15
shelves:
review:
This story is on my list of the Best Short SFF of August 2019:
]]> Trouble the Saints 52383433 The dangerous magic of The Night Circus meets the powerful historical exploration of The Underground Railroad in this timely and unsettling novel, set against the darkly glamorous backdrop of New York City at the dawn of WWII.

Amidst the whir of city life, a girl from Harlem is drawn into the glittering underworld of Manhattan, where she’s hired to use her knives to strike fear amongst its most dangerous denizens.

But the ghosts from her past are always by her side—and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she loves most.

Can one woman ever sacrifice enough to save an entire community?

Trouble the Saints is a dazzling, daring novel—a magical love story, a compelling chronicle of interracial tension, and an altogether brilliant and deeply American saga.]]> 320 Alaya Dawn Johnson 125017533X Gary 0 to-read 3.50 2020 Trouble the Saints
author: Alaya Dawn Johnson
name: Gary
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Trouble the Saints 52380207 The dangerous magic of The Night Circus meets the powerful historical exploration of The Underground Railroad in this timely and unsettling novel, set against the darkly glamorous backdrop of New York City at the dawn of WWII.

Amidst the whir of city life, a girl from Harlem is drawn into the glittering underworld of Manhattan, where she’s hired to use her knives to strike fear amongst its most dangerous denizens.

But the ghosts from her past are always by her side—and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she loves most.

Can one woman ever sacrifice enough to save an entire community?

Trouble the Saints is a dazzling, daring novel—a magical love story, a compelling chronicle of interracial tension, and an altogether brilliant and deeply American saga.]]> 352 Alaya Dawn Johnson 1250175348 Gary 0 to-read 3.33 2020 Trouble the Saints
author: Alaya Dawn Johnson
name: Gary
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Echo Wife 52379735 I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married.

It took me so long to hate him.

Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be.

And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.

Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.

Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.]]> 256 Sarah Gailey 125017466X Gary 0 to-read 3.59 2021 The Echo Wife
author: Sarah Gailey
name: Gary
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>