11 Sep, 2017
This is a work in progress. Open to suggestions. In 2015 and 2016, I devoted Fridays to Norton and Lee, respectively. That led to a certain level of fatigue towards the end of the projects. In 2017, I focused on authors from Waterloo Region, which side-stepped the fatigue issue at the cost of causing problems with the gender ratio of authors reviewed1. In 2018, my idea is to
11 Sep, 2017
Three thousand years from now, galactic transportation relies on the
sentient energy field known as the Deep. Its immortal human emissaries call
themselves Witches, and they control how the Deep is used. When
eight-year-old Tembi Moon wakes on an unfamiliar world, she knows the Deep
has to be involved, but to leave her home planet and become a Witch
herself? No, that life isn’t for her.
Or so she thought.
At sixteen, Tembi takes her rightful place with the other Witches. They
believe the Deep is a tool; Tembi knows it’s a person with its own hopes
and dreams, and a *wicked* sense of humor! With a war coming that could
cost the lives of millions, Tembi has to find a way to convince the Witches
that the Deep wants them to join the fight.
Because something worse than war is coming, and the Deep needs its Witches
to be ready.
STONESKIN is a prelude to the DEEP WITCH TRILOGY, coming soon.
An odd Eritrean coin travels from lovers to thieves, gathering stories before meeting its match. Google becomes sentient and proceeds toward an existential crisis. An idealistic dancer on a generation ship makes an impassioned plea for creativity alongside survival. Three Irish siblings embark on an unlikely quest, stealing enchanted items via bad poetry, trickery, and an assist from the Queen of Cats.
In her first collection, multi-award-winning novelist Jo Walton (Among Others, Farthing, Necessity, The King’s Peace) delivers subtle myths and wholly reinvented realities. She soars with eclectic stories, subtle vignettes, inspired poetry, and more — rising from the everyday into the universe itself.
7 Sep, 2017
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As with the previous core lists, here are twenty Cyberpunk Speculative Fiction Works chosen entirely on the basis of merit and significance to the field1. No implication is intended that these are the only twenty books you should consider2.
iD by Madeleine Ashby
Hammered by Elizabeth Bear
Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
Synners by Pat Cadigan
The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
Exit to Reality by Edith Forbes
Web of Angels by John M. Ford
The Many Selves of Katherine North by Emma Geen
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand
God’s War by Kameron Hurley
Arachne by Lisa Mason
Glass Houses by Laura J. Mixon
Spin State by Chris Moriarty
Outlaw School by Rebecca Ore
Chimera by Mary Rosenblum
Trouble and Her Friends by Melissa Scott
The Matrix by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Persons unfamiliar with one or two of the works, congratulations! You’re one of today’s Ten Thousand!
1: There are two filtering rules:
Only one work per author per list
Any given work by a particular author can appear on only one list. A given author may, however, have works on various lists but each instance of their work will be unique.
2: NO IMPLICATION IS INTENDED THAT THESE ARE THE ONLY TWENTY BOOKS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER.
4 Sep, 2017
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The Only Harmless Great Thing is a heart-wrenching alternative history by Brooke Bolander that imagines an intersection between the Radium Girls and noble, sentient elephants.
In the early years of the 20th century, a group of female factory workers in Newark, New Jersey slowly died of radiation poisoning. Around the same time, an Indian elephant was deliberately put to death by electricity in Coney Island.
These are the facts.
Now these two tragedies are intertwined in a dark alternate history of rage, radioactivity, and injustice crying out to be righted. Prepare yourself for a wrenching journey that crosses eras, chronicling histories of cruelty both grand and petty in search of meaning and justice.
Vada’s To-Do List:
- Turn 18 (check!)
- Register super name
- Order supersuit
- Attend superhero indoctrination
- Graduate high school
- Start kicking criminal tail
Vada Lawson can’t wait to be a superhero. Born into a family with special powers, she’s been training to fight criminals and villains her whole life. But her indoctrination into the underground super community is derailed when normals start breaking out in superpowers themselves.
Not trained to control their new abilities, the normals are frightened and vulnerable. Then their mutilated corpses begin turning up all over town. What the heck?
Somehow, with the help — and hindrance — of an annoying newly-minted super named Orion, Vada has to stop the chaos before it destroys her and everything she holds dear…and ruins her superhero debut.
The September issue features interviews with Matt Ruff and Karin Tidbeck, a column by Cory Doctorow, an obituary and appreciations of Brian Aldiss, lists of forthcoming books through June 2018, and reviews of short fiction and books by Annalee Newitz, Josh Malerman, Kat Howard, Linda Nagata, and many others.
30 Aug, 2017
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August
22 books read. 12.5 by women (57%), 8.5 by men (37%), 1 by N/A (5%)
Works by POC: 5 (23%)
Year to Date
168 works reviewed. 91.5 by women (54%). 71.5 by men (43%). 4 by non-binary authors (2%). 1 by N/A (0.6%)
Works by POC: 51.5 (31%)
And now, the meaningless table.
28 Aug, 2017
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All acquired for commissions. It was a very heavy week for requests for authors named “Brennan”.
24 Aug, 2017
Here are twenty core Speculative Fiction Works it may surprise you to learn I’ve never read, chosen entirely on the basis of merit and significance to the field1. No implication is intended that these are the only twenty books you or for that matter I should consider2.
I’ve owned copies of some of these for a significant fraction of my life to date.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue by Rosel George Brown
Bone Dance by Emma Bull
Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrellby Susanna Clarke
The Start of the End of It All by Carol Emshwiller
Hild by Nicola Griffith
Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Jansson
Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta by Doris Lessing
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
England Swings SF edited by Judith Merril
The Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce
Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack
Always Coming Home by Ursula Le Guin
Among Others by Jo Walton
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny
Persons unfamiliar with one or two of the works, congratulations! You’re one of today’s Ten Thousand! SO AM I. ALWAYS NEW FRONTIERS TO EXPLORE.
1: There are two filtering rules:
Only one work per author per list
Any given work by a particular author can appear on only one list. A given author may, however, have works on various lists but each instance of their work will be unique.
2: NO IMPLICATION IS INTENDED THAT THESE ARE THE ONLY TWENTY BOOKS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER.
14 Aug, 2017
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Welcome to Gluttony Bay High Security Supernatural Prison. We value your patronage. For your entertainment this evening, we are delighted to welcome the world’s most renowned paranormal culinary experts.
And on the menu: You.
10 Aug, 2017
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As with the previous core lists, here are twenty Young Adult Speculative Fiction Works, chosen entirely on the basis of merit and significance to the field i. No implication is intended that these are the only twenty books you should considerii.
Persons unfamiliar with one or two of the works, congratulations! You’re one of today’s Ten Thousand!
i There are two filtering rules:
ii NO IMPLICATION IS INTENDED THAT THESE ARE THE ONLY TWENTY BOOKS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER.
7 Aug, 2017
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In a galaxy where the super-powers are the megacorporations, and ambitious executives play fast and loose with ethics in order to secure resources, where can good people turn for help? The megacorps control the jump gates and trade routes. They use psi-techs, implant-enhanced operatives with psionic abilities, who are bound by unbreakable contracts.
Psi-tech Cara Carlinni once had her mind turned inside out by Alphacorp, but she escaped, found her place with the Free Company, and now it’s payback time.
Ben Benjamin leads the Free Company, based on the rogue space station, Crossways. The megacorps have struck at Crossways once — and failed — so what are they planning now?nCrossways can’t stand alone, and neither can the independent colonies, though maybe together they all have a chance.
But something alien is stirring in the depths of foldspace. Something bigger than thesquabbles between megacorporations and independents. Foldspace visions are supposed to be a figment of the imagination.
At least, that’s what they teach in flight school. Ben Benjamin knows it’s not true. Meeting a void dragon was bad enough, but now there’s the Nimbus to contend with. Are the two connected? Why do some ships transit the Folds safely and others disappear without a trace?
Until now, humans have had a free hand in the Galaxy, settling colony after colony, but that might change because the Nimbus is coming.
Fifteen-year old Fanny and her step-sister are drawn into mysterious occurences around their home in Scotland which seem to be connected to the unexplained disappearance of a young man in 1914.
A super-genius in a small underground colony of survivors of nuclear war, eighteen-year-old Casey risks journeying back to the twentieth century to discover why the survivors are dying and how he can save them all.
Angel Crawford has finally pulled herself together (literally!) after her disastrous dismemberment on Mardi Gras. She’s putting the pieces of her life back in order and is ready to tackle whatever the future holds.
Too bad the future is a nasty bitch. There’s a new kind of zombie in town: mindless shamblers, infectious and ravenous.
With the threat of a full-blown shambler pandemic looming, and a loved one stricken, Angel and the “real” zombies scramble to find a cure. Yet when Angel uncovers the true reason the plague is spreading so quickly, she adds “no-holds-barred revenge” to her to-do list.
Angel is busting her ass dealing with shambling hordes, zombie gators, government jerks, and way too many mosquitos, but this white trash chick ain’t giving up.
Good thing, since the fate of the world is resting on her undead shoulders.