16 Mar, 2019
0 comments
Colonists from Earth wanted the perfect home, but they’ll have to survive on the one they found. They don’t realize another life form watches…and waits…
Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet’s sentient species and prove that humans are more than tools.
8 Mar, 2019
0 comments
Captain Marta Ramos, the most notorious pirate in the Duchy of Denver, has her hands full between fascinating murder mysteries, the delectable and devious Deliah Nimowitz, Colonel Geoffrey Douglas (the Duke of Denver’s new head of security), a spot of airship engineering and her usual activities: piracy, banditry and burglary. Not to mention the horror of high society tea parties. In contrast, Simms, her second in command, longs only for a quiet life, filled with tasty sausages and fewer explosions. Or does he? Join Captain Ramos, Simms and their crew as they negotiate the perils of air, land and drawing room in a series of fast-paced adventures in a North America that never was.
Murder on the Titania and Other Steam-Powered Adventures includes 4 novellas and a short story about piracy, banditry, burglary, jail-breaking, several brilliant bits of detective work and all manner of otherwise lawless hijinks performed by the valiant Captain Ramos and her crew.
Murder on the Titania: Colonel Geoffrey Douglas, the Duke of Denver’s new head of security, is drawn into a high society murder mystery on the Airship Titania. None of the passengers are quite what they seem, including the mysterious young woman who always turns up where she is least expected.
The Curious Case of Clementine Nimowitz (and Her Exceedingly Tiny Dog): A simple burglary goes horribly awry when Captain Ramos and Simms stumble across a dead body, a small dog and the deceased’s heirs, the noisome Morris and the rather too interesting Deliah.
The Jade Tiger: a mysterious woman enlists Captain Ramos’s aid in getting her revenge on her former employer and Captain Ramos finds herself doing an unintentional good deed.
The Ugly Tin Orrery: Captain Ramos and her crew embark on what appears to be a perfectly ordinary train robbery, only to be drawn into the Duke of Denver’s political machinations via a strange metal artifact. Throw in a spot of jail breaking and an encounter with the lovely Deliah, and it’s all in a day’s work for Captain Ramos and Simms.
The Flying Turk: The Airship Titania is entering a new era and welcoming its first automaton pilot. Or, perhaps not. Captain Ramos and Simms are back aboard the Titania for a heady mix of murder, robbery, peeved scientists and oblivious peers, with a spot of engineering thrown in.
2 Mar, 2019
0 comments
During the time of the Crusades, an unlikely trio — a Christian princess, her affianced prince, and a Muslim assassin — embarks on a quest to the court of the most fearsome warrior the world has ever known, Genghis Khan.
A rousing tale of adventure and romance about three young people who must grapple with fundamental issues of loyalty, friendship, faith, honor, and courage against the backdrop of conflicts that still resonate today.
1 Mar, 2019
February
21 books read. 12 by women (57%), 8 by men (38%), 1 by unknown (5%)
Works by POC: 8 (38%)
Year to Date
41 books read. 22.75 by women (55%). 17.25 by men (42%). 1 by an author whose gender is unknown (2%).
Works by POC: 17.75 (23%)
And installment two of my year long slog up the meaningless table.
26 Feb, 2019
0 comments
Like updating my list of Tor pieces more than once six months…
13 Stories About Surviving a Nuclear War — At Least Briefly
Recent Interstellar Asteroid May Have Been Alien Artifact, Speculates New Paper
Get Out of My Head: SFF Stories About Sharing Brain-Space With Somebody Else
World States and Mega Empires in SF
Six SF Novels (and One Song) Built Around Space Travel and Time Dilation
Welcome to the New Golden Age of Interplanetary Adventure Stories
Good News, Everyone! Barnard’s Star Has Been Hiding a Secret Planet
SF Novels That Get Special Relativity All Wrong
Five Works of Hard Science Fiction That Bypass the Gatekeepers
Five Classic SF Novels of Anthropogenic Climate Change
100 SF/F Books You Should Consider Reading in the New Year
Classic SF Works Set on Thrilling Space Habitats
Saturn’s Rings are Doomed, so Enjoy Them While You Can!
SF Stories Featuring Abandoned Earths
5 SFF Stories About Surviving the Dangers of Boarding School
Stay Frosty: 5 SF Narratives About Global Cooling
Mapping the Stars for Fun and Profit
SF Stories That Cut the Vastness of Space Down to Size
There’s a Fine Line Between Theatre and Fantasy
Move Over, Westeros: Six SFF Series That Would Rule the TV Landscape
23 Feb, 2019
0 comments
Cairo, 1912: The case started as a simple one for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities — handling a possessed tram car.
Soon, however, Agent Hamed Nasr and his new partner Agent Onsi Youssef are exposed to a new side of Cairo stirring with suffragettes, secret societies, and sentient automatons in a race against time to protect the city from an encroaching danger that crosses the line between the magical and the mundane.
23 Feb, 2019
0 comments
Via File 770, the 2018 Nebula Awards Nominees!
A full list is after the cut. If I reviewed them, there is a link to the review.
16 Feb, 2019
0 comments
While winter snows keep the Witch Lord Ruven’s invading armies at bay, Lady Amalia Cornaro and the fire warlock Zaira attempt to change the fate of mages in the Raverran Empire forever, earning the enmity of those in power who will do anything to keep all magic under tight imperial control. But in the season of the Serene City’s great masquerade, Ruven executes a devastating surprise strike at the heart of the Empire — and at everything Amalia holds most dear.
To stand a chance of defeating Ruven, Amalia and Zaira must face their worst nightmares, expose their deepest secrets, and unleash Zaira’s most devastating fire.
9 Feb, 2019
0 comments
Thousands of years ago, the city of Athanor was set adrift in time and space by alchemists, called “the Curious Men”. Ever since, it has accumulated cultures, citizens and species into a vast, unmappable metropolis.
Isten and her gang of half-starved political exiles live off petty crime and gangland warfare in Athanor’s seediest alleys. Though they dream of returning home to lead a glorious revolution, Isten’s downward spiral drags them into a mire of addiction and violence. Isten must find a way to save the exiles and herself if they are ever to build a better, fairer world for the people of their distant homeland.
5 Feb, 2019
0 comments
January
20 books read. 10.75 by women (54%), 9.25 by men (46%).
Works by POC: 9.75 (49%)
Year to Date
See above. And now, the beginning of my long slog up the meaningless table.