James Nicoll Reviews

Wolf at the Door by J. Damask (May 2013)

Jan Xu, a Singaporean Chinese Lang (wolf), mother and daughter, receives a phone call from her sister, Marianne, who returns to Singapore with a new boyfriend and a hidden agenda. Is Jan Xu able to accept this new Marianne and a threat to her stable life? What can an ex-teen vigilante do? Welcome to Singapore, where the Myriad co-exist with ordinary humans; where ancient urges and needs wrestle with human ones. Where the Lang straddle between many worlds. 

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Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow (June 2024) 

Hearts will race and anti-grav boots will fly in this scifi rom-com perfect for fans of WINTER’S ORBIT and THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE.Ruth Johnson and her sister Jules have been small-time hustlers on the interstellar cruise lines for years. But then Jules fell in love with one of their targets, Esteban Mendez-Yuki, sole heir to the family insurance fortune. Esteban seemed to love her too, until she told him who she really was, at which point he fled without a word. Now Ruth is set on revenge: disguised as provincial debutante Evelyn Ojukwu and set for the swanky satellite New Monte, she’s going to make Esteban fall in love with her, then break his heart and take half his fortune. At least, that’s the plan. But Ruth hadn’t accounted for his older sister, Sol, a brilliant mind in a dashing suit… and much harder to fool. Sol is hot on Ruth’s tail, and as the two women learn each other’s tricks, Ruth must decide between going after the money and going after her heart. 

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Astounded that I had somehow escaped reading Mark Clifton’s They’d Rather Be Right, a supporter commissioned a review.

The Clifton novel is notorious as the worst novel to win a Hugo Award¹. Having to read it serves me right for not immediately saying no to the commission.

The commission got me to thinking

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The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power by Terry J. Benton-Walker (July 2024)

13 SCARY STORIES. 13 AUTHORS OF COLOR. 13 TIMES WE SURVIVED… THE FIRST KILL.The White Guy Dies First includes thirteen scary stories by all-star contributors and this time, the white guy dies first. Killer clowns, a hungry hedge maze, and rich kids who got bored. Friendly cannibals, impossible slashers, and the dead who don’t stay dead.…A museum curator who despises ​“diasporic inaccuracies.” A sweet girl and her diary of happy thoughts. An old house that just wants friends forever.… These stories are filled with ancient terrors and modern villains, but go ahead, go into the basement, step onto the old plantation, and open the magician’s mystery box because this time, the white guy dies first. 

Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, including stories from bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming contributors: Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker. 

A collection you’ll be dying to talk about… if you survive it.

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Mutant Year Zero: Ad Astra by Jens Alm et al (February 2024)

Ad Astra is a thrilling campaign module for Mutant: Year Zero that takes the player characters from the devastated surface of Earth into orbit, out into the solar system, and perhaps further still. Ad Astra can be played stand-alone or as a direct continuation of the Path to Eden campaign in the Mutant: Year Zero core rulebook.

The book also includes rules for playing Mutant: Year Zero in space and an overview of the solar system with ideas for further adventures.

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Good news! Fig, the cat above, about whom I was so pessimistic last month, rallied, survived surgery, survived the recovery – barely noticed his cone of shame – and was pronounced back to full health.

James Nicoll Reviews is supported by spontaneous donations, review commissions and Patreon subscribers. If you would like to commission a review, please see my guidelines. My Patreon is here. Spontaneous donations can be done via my Paypal.

Thanks to a commission, I have an idea for an exciting new review project. More on that when I get to the novel that inspired me. 

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A new year! A new header image!

January 2024

22 works reviewed. 13 by women (59%), 9 by men (36%), 0 by a non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 9 by POC (41%).

2024 to Date

22 works reviewed. 13 by women (59%), 9 by men (36%), 0 by a 
non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 9 by POC (41%).

Grand Total to Date

2551 works reviewed. 1425 by women (56%), 1064 by men (42%), 40 by non-binary authors (2%), 22 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 780.75 by POC (30%).

Government Types January 2024

Total 22, Not Applicable 3 (14%), Unclear 1 (5%), Anarchy 1 (5%), Pure democracy 0 (0%), Representative democracy 9 (41%), Oligarchy 7 (32%), Autocracy 1 (5%).

Government Type 2024 TD

Total 22, Not Applicable 3 (14%), Unclear 1 (5%), Anarchy 1 (5%),
Pure democracy 0 (0%), Representative democracy 9 (41%), Oligarchy 7 (32%), Autocracy 1 (5%).

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It belatedly occurs to me I should post this here as well. Which 1968 Nebula finalists have you read? I’ve bolded the ones I’ve read.

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Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera (June 2024) 

Rakesfall is a groundbreaking, standalone science fiction epic about two souls bound together from here until the ends of time, from the author of The Saint of Bright DoorsSome stories take more than one lifetime to tell. There are wrongs that echo through the ages, friendships that outpace the claws of death, loves that leave their mark on civilization, and promises that nothing can break. This is one such story. 

Annelid and Leveret met as children in the middle of the Sri Lankan civil war. They found each other in a torn-up nation, peering through propaganda to grasp a deeper truth. And in a demon-haunted wood, another act of violence linked them and propelled their souls on a journey throughout the ages. No world can hold them, no life can bind them, and they’ll never leave each other behind. But their journey will not be easy. In every lifetime, oppressors narrow the walls of possibility, shaping reality to fit their own needs. And behind the walls of history, the witches of the red web swear that every throne will fall. 

Tracing two souls through endless lifetimes, Rakesfall is a virtuosic exploration of what stories can be. As Annelid and Leveret reincarnate ever deeper into the future, they will chase the edge of human possibility, in a dark science fiction epic unlike anything you’ve read before. 

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A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall (April 2024)

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other. Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.‘s home, and she and Henerey vanish. A year later, E.‘s sister Sophy, and Henerey’s brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery, piecing together the letters, sketches and field notes left behind — and learn what their siblings’ disappearance might mean for life as they know it. Inspired, immersive, and full of heart, this charming epistolary tale is an adventure into the depths of a magical sea and the limits of the imagination from a marvelous debut voice. 

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