James Nicoll Reviews

Into the Windwracked Wilds by A. Deborah Baker

Adventurous readers of Kelly Barnhill and Cat Valente’s Fairyland books will be sure to soar among the dark marvels that can be found in Into the Windwracked Wilds, by Seanan McGuire’s latest open pseudonym, A. Deborah Baker. 

When the improbable road leaves Avery and Zib in the land of Air and at the mercy of the Queen of Swords, escape without becoming monsters may be impossible. But with the aid of the Queen’s son, the unpredictable Jack Daw, they may emerge with enough of their humanity to someday make it home. Their journey is not yet over; the dangers are no less great. 

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Longshadow by Olivia Atwater

Proper Regency ladies are not supposed to become magicians — but Miss Abigail Wilder is far from proper. 

The marriageable young ladies of London are dying mysteriously, and Abigail Wilder intends to discover why. Abigail’s father, the Lord Sorcier of England, believes that a dark lord of faerie is involved. But while Abigail is willing to match her magic against Lord Longshadow, neither her father nor high society believes that she is capable of doing so. 

Thankfully, Abigail is not the only one investigating the terrible events. Mercy, a street rat and self-taught magician, insists on joining Abigail in unraveling the mystery. Mercy is unpredictable, and her magic is strange and foreboding — but the greatest danger she poses may well be to Abigail’s heart. 

A queer romantic faerie tale of defiant hope and love against all odds, set in Olivia Atwater’s enchanting version of Regency England. 

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Desert Creatures by Kay Chronister

In a world grown desiccated and treacherous, one young woman will find salvation or become just another rot-lonely skull in the sand. 

Nine-year-old Magdala and her father have been exiled from their home; they flee through the harsh landscape of the American West, searching for refuge. As violence pursues them, they join a handful of survivors on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Las Vegas, where it is said that vigilante saints reside, bright with neon power. Magdala, born with a clubfoot, is going to be healed. But when faced with the strange horrors of the Sonoran Desert, one by one the pilgrims fall victim to a hideous sickness — leaving Magdala to fend for herself. After surviving for seven years on her own, Magdala is tired of waiting for her miracle. Magdala turns her gaze to Las Vegas once more, and this time, nothing will stop her. She recruits an exiled Vegas priest at gunpoint to serve as her guide, and the pair form a fragile alliance as they navigate the darkest and strangest reaches of the desert, on a journey that takes her further from salvation even as she nears the holy city. With ferocious imagination and poetic precision, Desert Creatures is a story of endurance at the expense of redemption. What compromise does survival require of a woman — and can she ever unlearn the instincts that have kept her alive? 

Combining the subversive inventiveness of Inland by Téa Obreht with the eco-surrealism of Jeff Vandermeer’s Dead Astronauts and the themes of survival and morality in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, award-winning short fiction writer Kay Chronister transfigures genre and the myth of the West in this stylish and original debut novel. 

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MegaTraveller (DGP) Adventure: Manhunt by Philip Athans

Manhunt is an adventure module for MegaTraveller which takes your players on a quest for the legendary Victory Belt, an asteroid belt consisting entirely of the rare and expensive element onnesium-118. Only the basic three-volume MegaTraveller rules set is required to play Manhunt, and the referee should familiarize herself with both those rules and this module before play begins. Other MegaTraveller supplements and sourcebooks are available that will, though not essential, provide a wealth of further background information. Particularly useful is the Rebellion Sourcebook from GDW. Both of these provide the rich detail that made Traveller famous.

Manhunt was projected for publication in 1990, but its publisher DGP closed their doors before Manhunt saw print. Now, the original manuscript, recovered from a 3.5 inch floppy, has been rehabilitated and polished for publication.

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June 2022

22 works reviewed. 11.5 by women (50%), 9.5 by men (43%), 1 by a non-binary author (5%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 9 by POC (41%)

Year to Date

129 works reviewed. 72 by women (56% ), 52 by men (40%), 5 by a non-binary author (4%), 0 by authors whose genders are unknown (0%), and 48 by POC (37%).

Grand Total to Date

2137 works reviewed. 1196 by women (56%), 892 by men (42%), 31 by non-binary authors (1%), 18 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 622.75 by POC (29%).

Government Types June

Total 22, Not Applicable 4 (18%), Unclear 4 (18%), Anarchy 0 (0%), Pure democracy 0 (0%), Representative democracy 6 (27%), Oligarchy 7 (32%), Autocracy 1 (5%)

Government Type 2022 TD

Total 129, Not Applicable 21 (16%), Unclear 8 (6%), Anarchy 4 (3%), Pure democracy 1 (1%), Representative democracy 37 (29%), Oligarchy 42 (33%), Autocracy 16 (12%)

Definitions of government types here.

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