29 Feb, 2024
Miscellaneous Reviews
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Izzy Wasserstein’s 2023 These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart is a science fiction mystery1.
Theodora Madsen is a security expert, not a detective. However, when an old friend from Dora’s former commune arrives with unwelcome news, detective is the role Dora finds herself playing.
Dora’s ex-girlfriend Kay is dead.
28 Feb, 2024
Translation
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Hye-young Pyun’s 2012 The Owl Cries is a horror-tinged thriller. The 2023 English translation is by Sora Kim-Russell.
Lawyer Ha-in Lee has no love for his abusive brother, Gyeong-in. Not only did Gyeong-in make Ha-in’s childhood a misery, as an adult Gyeong-in is a failure who sponges off Ha-in and their mother. Nevertheless, duty is duty. When Gyeong-in vanishes after a distraught, enigmatic phone-call, Ha-in sets out to find his missing brother.
This proves to have been a terrible decision.
27 Feb, 2024
Shockwave Reader
John Brunner’s 1974 Total Eclipse is a stand-alone hard-SF puzzle story.
After the disappointments at Proxima, Epsilon Eridani, and Tau Ceti, humans might have abandoned interstellar flight altogether. The 2020 discovery of alien ruins on the moon of a life-bearing planet orbiting Sigma Draconis saved the dream of interstellar exploration…
At least for a while. The 2028 expedition may be the final expedition.
25 Feb, 2024
Because My Tears Are Delicious To You
Joan Samson’s 1975 The Auctioneer is a stand-alone social horror novel.
Although they do not suspect it, John and Mim Moore’s life is doomed as soon as local cop Bob Gore arrives with news and a request. An out-of-towner named Perly Dunsmore has bought the Fawkes farm. A former small-town boy himself, Perly has plans for Harlow, New Hampshire. Step one, an auction of donated goods, over which experienced auctioneer Perly will preside.
23 Feb, 2024
Doing the WFC's Homework
Mariely Lares’ 2023 Sun of Blood and Ruin is an alternate historical fantasy.
Decades after Hernán Cortés invaded, Mexico is still divided. In the regions under Spanish rule, the largely indigenous population is subject to inflexible Spanish law and custom. Outside those regions, rebellion is rife.
Lady Leonora de las Casas Tlazohtzin’s position is an uncomfortable one. Her late father was Viceroy of New Spain. Her late mother, to whom the Viceroy was not wed, was indigenous. How to reconcile her two lineages?
By becoming the closest thing to a superhero New Spain has.
22 Feb, 2024
Big Hair, Big Guns!
1989’s Nightside City is the first of Lawrence Watt-Evan’s Carlisle Hsing hard-SF mystery novels, which are in turn a subset of Watt-Evan’s Shining Steel Universe.
Down-at-heel private detective Carlisle Hsing cannot be choosy about which cases to accept. Nevertheless, the case offered to her by Zarathustra Pickens is a new low. Not only is the pay laughably small, the case itself makes no sense. Why would someone be buying up doomed real estate?
But first! An infodump about the exoplanet on which the story is set.
21 Feb, 2024
Translation
Sven Holm’s 1967 Termush is a post-holocaust novel. Originally published in Danish as Termush, Atlanterhavskysten (Termush, Atlantic Coast), Termush was translated into English by Sylvia Clayton in 1969. This edition includes an introduction by Jeff Vandermeer, copyright 2023.
Although billions perished in the great disaster, there is happy news. Those possessed of prudence and sufficient funds were protected from the calamity by Termush’s shelters. So were the staff required to serve the wealthy hand and foot.
20 Feb, 2024
KW Science Fiction and Fantasy
Sarah Tolmie’s 2023 Sacraments for the Unfit is a diverse assortment of short pieces inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic. More specifically, by that short, very transient period in which society was taking it seriously.
18 Feb, 2024
Because My Tears Are Delicious To You
Terry Carr’s 1979 The Best Science Fiction Novellas of The Year 1 is the first volume in his The Best Science Fiction Novellas of The Year anthology series.
Frustrated that page count limits precluded including many noteworthy novellas in his Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies, Carr resolved to provide novellas with their own anthology series.
16 Feb, 2024
Doing the WFC's Homework
Liza Wemakor’s 2024 Loving Safoa is a stand-alone social-activist vampire novella.
Observers might expect the impediments to Cynthia and Safoa’s romance to be the age-gap (Safoa is somewhat older) and cultural differences between modern America (Cynthia) and Ghana (Safoa). There’s also the minor detail that Cynthia is alive while Safoa is a vampire.
But it turns out that the problem is Safoa’s tattoo.