James Nicoll Reviews

Megan Giddings’ 2022 The Women Could Fly is a stand-alone modern satirical fantasy.

21^st century America enjoys a golden age of civil liberties, in which scapegoating and murdering women on suspicion of being witches is discouraged (in law, if not always in fact), in which licensed witches enjoy a degree of official tolerance, and in which women in general are free to do what they like, as long as what they like involves being married by the age of thirty.

Deviation from the norm, deliberate or otherwise, is always profoundly suspicious. This spells trouble for Josephine ​“Jo” Thomas.

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The Iron Children by Rebecca Fraimow is a stand-alone science fantasy novella.

Having tolerated Cesteli independence for decades, the Levastani empire is determined to reabsorb their break-away province. Cesteli is sparsely populated and their resistance seems doomed to failure. But … Cesteli has a supply of godstone. Godstone makes command plates possible; command plates allow a commander of a squad of metal-skinned cyborg soldiers — Dedicates — to act as one. Dedicates deal handily with opposition. Cesteli may be able to win this war.

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Léo’s science fiction graphic novel series Aldebaran was first serialized between 1994 and 1998. Aldebaran is available in English in three volumes: Volume 1 — The Catastrophe, Volume 2 — The Group, and Volume 3 — The Creature. The English translation is by Luke Spear.

Faster-than-light travel appeared to offer humanity an escape from worsening conditions on Earth. Only a single colony ship managed to deliver its settlers to the Earth-like world orbiting Aldebaran before contact was lost with Earth. In the century since, the colonists have done their best to create a viable civilization.

Colonist Mark Sorenson is determined to win the heart of Kelly Keller. Unfortunately for the love-smitten seventeen-year-old, Kelly has eyes only for hunky Lindon Gropius. It’s a painful situation that Kelly’s younger sister Kim is quick to mock.

Luckily for Mark, his romantic woes will soon be irrelevant.

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