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Books Received, March 9 — March 15

16 Mar, 2024

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Glass Houses by Madeline Ashby (August 2024)

A masterful near future whodunit for fans of Glass Onion and Black Mirror; join a stranded start-up team led by a terrifyingly realistic charismatic billionaire, a deserted tropical island, and a mysterious AI-driven mansion – as the remaining members disappear one by one. 

A group of employees and their CEO, celebrating the sale of their remarkable emotion-mapping-AI-algorithm, crash onto a not-quite-deserted tropical island. 

Luckily, those who survived have found a beautiful, fully-stocked private palace, with all the latest technological updates (though one without connection to the outside world). The house, however, has more secrets than anyone might have guessed, and a much darker reason for having been built and left behind. 

Kristen, the hyper-competent chief emotional manager” (i.e., the eccentric boyish billionaire-CEO Sumter’s idea of an HR department) is trying to keep her colleagues stable throughout this new challenge, but staying sane seems to be as much of a challenge as staying alive. Being a woman in technology has always meant having to be smarter than anyone expects.…and Kristen’s survival skills are more impressive than anyone knows. 

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Books Received, March 2 — March 8

9 Mar, 2024

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The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho (August 2024)

From the renowned, award-winning author Zen Cho comes a delightfully funny romance about family, class, and love in modern London. 

From the outside, Renee Goh’s life looks perfect. She’s thirty and beautiful, runs a glamorous — and profitable — women’s clothing company in London, and is dating a hot Taiwanese pop star. But Renee is lonely. Estranged from her family in Singapore, she practically lives at the office, and now she’s just been dumped by her supposed boyfriend. Who she never saw anyway, so why is she ruining her Instagram-ready makeup by crying?

Before she can curl up on the couch with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, Renee’s father calls. He’s retiring, and, thanks to the screw-ups of her wastrel brothers, he is considering her as the next CEO of the family business: Chahaya Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Southeast Asia. That stamp of her father’s approval would mean everything to Renee, but can she cooperate with the brothers who drove her out of Singapore? But fate isn’t done with her. That same night, Renee bumps into her first love, Yap Ket Siong, who broke her heart during university. They spend a wonderful night together, but Ket Siong is pursuing a dangerous vengeance for his family. In the light of day is there any hope for the two of them? 

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2024 Hugo Nomination deadline imminent

4 Mar, 2024

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The deadline for Hugo nominations is bearing down. To quote:

All ballots must be received by Saturday, 9 March 2024, 16:00 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) (UTC+0).

Per my 2 Jan 2024 post, I’d be chuffed to be a finalist again (or for Young People to be nominated). That said, there are many people and works worthy of nomination, not least of whom is Paul Weimer, who was unjustly excluded from the ballot last year. Consider nominating them. I am too modest to remind you that in this instance I am part of them.

Something to bear in mind: I expect the number of voters to dip substantially this year, mainly because the Chengdu scandal has undermined voter faith but also because the Glasgow voting process isn’t exactly user-friendly. Accordingly, your vote may represent a larger fraction of the vote than in recent years. If there was ever a year when your picks had improved odds of making the final ballot, 2024 is that year.

Instructions on how to vote may be found here. 

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All Shaking Thunder; or, Why I Didn’t Mention Your Favourite Book

2 Mar, 2024

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I have been known to muse on particular themes and tropes common to science fiction, fantasy, and related fields. Often, I provide five examples1. Just as often, sometimes even more often, people will helpfully point out that an obvious example has been omitted from my list. What dreadful reasons could possibly explain these inexplicable lapses?

Here are five explanations, which may apply singly or in concert to particular cases.

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March 2024 Patreon Boost!

1 Mar, 2024

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Another month, another funding plea! I am practically PBS. Come to think of it, I’ve never tried inserting these posts midway through reviews. I suppose that would just lead to soup ads. 

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.

The cunning idea to which I alluded last month was my new What’s The Worst That Could Happen?, in which I deliberately seek out SFF’s worst (or at least most notorious) works. First review here. I am certain this will not end in tears.

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February 2024 in Review

29 Feb, 2024

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This is where the monthly reports get complicated, as I need to add numbers and get the correct sums. Nothing startling this month, aside from representative democracy and oligarchy being tied for first place. Oh, and I noticed a glaring typo in the January stats, since fixed.

February 2024

21 works reviewed. 12 by women (57%), 9 by men (43%), 0 by a non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 7 by POC (33%).

2024 to Date

43 works reviewed. 25 by women (58%), 18 by men (42%), 0 by a 
non-binary author (0%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 16 by POC (37%).

Grand Total to Date

2572 works reviewed. 1437 by women (56%), 1073 by men (42%), 40 by non-binary authors (2%), 22 by authors whose gender is unknown (1%), and 787.75 by POC (30%).

Government Types February 2024

Total 21, Not Applicable 4 (14%), Unclear 1 (5%), Anarchy 1 (5%), Pure democracy 0 (0%), Representative democracy 6 (29%), Oligarchy 8 (38%), Autocracy 1 (5%).

Government Type 2024 TD

Total 43, Not Applicable 7 (16%), Unclear 2 (5%), An5archy 2 (5%),
Pure democracy 0 (0%), Representative democracy 15 (35%), Oligarchy 15 (35%), Autocracy 2 (5%).

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Books Received, February 17 — February 23

24 Feb, 2024

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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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Books Received, February 10 — February 16

17 Feb, 2024

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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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What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

13 Feb, 2024

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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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