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Blog Posts from January 2025 (6)

Books Received, December 8, 2024 — January 32025

4 Jan, 2025

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The Mother by B. L. Blanchard (May 2023)

In a present-day Britain where the British Empire never existed, wives and mothers strive for deliverance in a novel about oppression, autonomy, and family secrets by the author of The Peacekeeper.

What if Europe had never colonized the world? It is a world that never had overseas empires, the transatlantic slave trade, or the Protestant Reformation. There is, however, in an obscure island nation called England, a woman running for her life. 

Marie, Duchess of Suffolk, has no choice. In this society, women are a reproductive commodity. Marriage is the only available occupation. And barren wives like Marie are expendable trade. After absconding with the family jewels, Marie fakes her own death and finds an underground network of women seeking sanctuary from similar abuse. When she reunites with her estranged sister, Emma, Marie reveals she has a greater mission: find their mother, long thought dead, and discover the truth behind her inexplicable disappearance. 

Hunted and chased across borders by those she fled, Marie has stolen more than the family jewels. She is escaping with secrets. And all that matters now, no matter the risk, is stealing freedom. 

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The current list of James Nicoll Reviews Projects

3 Jan, 2025

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You may have wondered about the long list of categories into which my reviews are sorted. Have what I hope is a complete list of them all, along with short explanations. 

Each category header is a link, with the exception of Meetpoint and The Realized World because I don’t know how to link to a category with no posted reviews. I will have to come back and add links.

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The Realized World

1 Jan, 2025

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Walter Jon Williams has been publishing books almost as long as C. J. Cherryh1. Like Cherryh, he is prolific, with about three dozen books to his credit (unless I missed a few). Also, like Cherryh, he has been nominated for and in some case won many awards.

Unlike Cherryh, I have long been aware WJW’s public profile is less than one might expect. Some of that may be due to various publishing misadventures documented on his blog. Some might be because, as one might expect from someone who jumped genres early in his career, WJW is a mutable author whose varied works might be hard to market. Some readers prefer their genre boundaries clearly delineated, their peas kept well away from the carrots, and struggle to deal with any sort of ambiguity or novelty in their fiction. Their loss, as I will attempt to convince them.

I’ve only reviewed three of his novels so I am spoiled for choice.

1: Although he got his start in historical fiction.

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Meetpoint

1 Jan, 2025

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C. J. Cherryh has been publishing since the mid-1970s. I hesitate to put a number to the number of books she has published, as more might appear between the time I write this and its publication in a week. I would also hesitate to put a number on the number of awards she has won and for which she has been nominated, except to point out that she is a SFWA Grandmaster — which puts her in a class with Heinlein, Bradbury, Norton, and Le Guin — and has been nominated for the coveted Balrog award.

Imagine my surprise when someone referred to Cherryh as obscure1. How could such a prolific, awarded author be obscure? I see no alternative but to shout at kids to get onto my lawn.

It’s true I’ve reviewed ten Cherryh works, and some of those works were her best-known pieces, books such as Downbelow Station and Cyteen2. Nevertheless, there are still many books to consider. As you will see over the course of the Meetpoint reviews….

1: Paraphrase because I cannot find the conversation.

2: Which is a bit of a shame, as I’d like to complain about the ambiguity of Cyteen’s in-print status, not to mention its inexplicable lack of an ebook edition.

How is Cyteen not in my default dictionary?

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Because I Demanded It!

1 Jan, 2025

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With Shockwave Reader winding down, it’s time to replace that project with something new. Two somethings new, each one focused on a specific author. If there’s something that James Nicoll Reviews lacks, it’s enough review projects. Replacing one ongoing project with two will help address that.

The two authors have some common elements. Both are prolific. Both have won multiple awards. Both have been reviewed on James Nicoll Reviews, but not to the extent that I might have expected ten years on. Both authors appear to be more obscure now than they should be.

One can either curse a candle or set fire to the darkness. As I have a handy jerrycan of gasoline in the form of a review site, I will do the latter.

Which authors have I in mind? I am so glad you asked.

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