James Nicoll Reviews

Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore’s 1947 Tomorrow and Tomorrow was originally published under their Lewis Padgett byline. It came out in Astounding in two parts. It was later packaged with another short novel and re-published by Gnome Press in 1951. It was re-published again by Consul, in 1961. That latest version is the one I read. Had it been revised in the meantime? I don’t know. 

A third world war almost broke out in the mid-20^th century; it was stopped by the Global Peace Commission, which seized control of a planet seemingly on the verge of self-destruction. In the century since then, the GPC has kept the peace … but at a cost. It enforces strict social conformity and stifles scientific progress.

Joseph Breden is one of the elite few trusted with atomic power. Everyone knows atomic power plants are catastrophes waiting to happen. Only the most stable, most intelligent individuals are permitted to work at Uranium Pile One.

Lately Breden has had reason to doubt his stability, what with the murder dreams and all…

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Q Hayashida’s manga Dorohedoro was serialized in a number of publications¹ from 2000 to 2018. Volume One collects the first seven chapters, which for reasons that will become clear are called ​“curses.”

Tourists are often troublesome. The Hole is troubled by some nasty ones: sorcerers from the universe next door. They pop over to the Hole to practice their magic on humans, leaving dead and deformed victims in their wake. 

Kaiman (spelled Caiman in the Viz translation) is one such victim. 

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2019’s Monstress, Volume 4¹, collects issues 19 – 24 of Marjorie Lui’s ongoing epic fantasy comic. The series is drawn by Sana Takeda.

Having saved the city of Pontus and the world in general from a cosmic horror from beyond the stars, Maika Halfwolf sets out to rescue her small friend, fox girl Kippa, who was betrayed by a trusted friend and carried off in the previous installment. 

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2018’s Son of a Liche is the second installment in J. Zachary Pike’s Dark Profit Saga.

Dwarf adventurer Gorm’s quest in Orconomics: A Satire was something of a mixed success. Well, more of a catastrophic failure: the orcs of Guz’Varda Tribe befriended by Gorm and his friends dropped their guard and were massacred by gold-hungry humans; two of Gorm’s friends died; and the party was unjustly branded as criminals by the government of the Freedlands. 

The only up-note was that Gorm and company dealt the Liche Detarr Ur’Mayan a resounding defeat.

Well, less a resounding defeat and more a minor set-back. Cue the undead legions carving their way across the continent. 

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Green Ronin’s 2019 Superteam Handbook is intended for use with their Mutants and Masterminds superhero roleplaying game. It’s a source book for game masters, with advice on how to run superhero teams in an SHRPG.

As is appropriate for a product of this nature, Superteam Handbook is a team effort:

• Writing & design: Jennifer DK, Crystal Frasier, Steve Kenson, Jack Norris, John Polojac, Lucien Soulban, Miranda Sparks, Fred Wan, and Jordan Wyn
• Development: Crystal Frasier Editing: Samantha Chapman
• Art direction: Hal Mangold Graphic Design: Crystal Frasier
• Cover art: Conceptopolis
• Interior art: Domenico Neziti, Alberto Foche, & Denis Medri
• Publisher: Chris Pramas

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1979’s Convergent Series is a collection of shorter pieces by Larry Niven. It’s either the final or second to last entry¹ in my informal, irregular ​“essential collections by Larry Niven” review series. 

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Sarah Kuhn’s 2020 Haunted Heroine is the fourth volume in her Heroine supernatural superhero series.

Pyrokinetic superhero Evie Tanaka already has enough on her plate, what with pregnancy, worries about motherhood, and problems with her hunky half-demon husband Nate.

But she adds more worrification when she returns to the site of a much regretted mistake. 

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Ryū Mizunagi’s contemporary fantasy manga Witchcraft Works (Witchikurafuto Wākusu) has been serialized in Kodansha’s good! Afternoon magazine since March 2010. Volume one of the tankōbon series collects the first four installments.

Honoka Takamiya is an unremarkable high school student. His otherwise normal life is subject to ongoing disruption thanks to … propinquity [1]. The statuesque Ayaka Kagari not only has the desk next to Honoka, she takes the same route to school. Her legion of adoring fans sees Honoka’s uninvited (and unwilling) proximity to their idol as an affront to be punished whenever possible.

One day the school’s clock tower is dropped onto Honoka and his life changes forever.

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Lois McMaster Bujold’s 2020 The Physicians of Vilnoc is the eighth installment in the Penric & Desdemona series.

Penric has finally settled down. The sorcerer has a wife (Nikys), a child (Florina), a home, and no reason to go haring off on dangerous missions.

One day, a dangerous mission comes to Penric.

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Laura Lam’s 2020 Goldilocks is a standalone science fiction novel.

Good news, bad news: Cavendish (an Earth-like, life-bearing world) is just ten and a half light years away and, thanks to the Alcubierre Drive, it is within humanity’s reach. Due to generations of poor choices, humanity needs Cavendish if it is to survive. The Earth is racing towards its final greenhouse doom.

Dr. Valerie Black, CEO of Hawthorne, believes that the Earth is doomed and that humanity must be saved. She has convinced the US government to construct the ship and the infrastructure needed for a voyage to Cavendish. At the last moment, however, a misogynistic administration has removed her from the project and replaced her handpicked crew with astronauts who were less trained but more acceptably male.

No worries! Black has vast cunning and even greater resources. The men stole the starship Atalanta from her. Black simply steals it back.

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