James Nicoll Reviews

Interstellar MegaChef is the first volume in Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s Flavour Hacker series.

Primus is the heart and soul of the star-spanning United Human Cooperative. Among the planet’s popular exports is the entertainment show Interstellar MegaChef. Winning the Interstellar MegaChef competition guarantees fame and fortune.

The woman now known as Saraswati ​“Saras” Kaveri hopes that winning the contest will free her from her odious family.

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2024’s Usurpation is the third volume in Sue Burke’s Semiosis science fiction series.

Starfarers returning from the distant planet Pax brought with them the so-called Rainbow Bamboo. The unsuspecting Terrestrial humans didn’t know that Rainbow Bamboo is intelligent.

Another big win for the humans messing up Earth’s ecology.

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2023’s Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 14 is the fourteenth tankōbon in Ryoko Kui’s secondary-world comedy-fantasy manga series. Originally published as Danjon Meshi, Delicious in Dungeon appeared in Enterbrain’s Harta. Volume 14 was translated into English in 2024 by Taylor Engel.

Laios and his dungeon-delving companions (half-elf mage Marcille, halfling security expert Chilchuck, dwarf fighter Senshi, and cat-beastkin ninja Izutsumi) set out to save Laios’ dead sister Falin. They found themselves in a struggle to save the world from a ravenous extradimensional being, the Winged Lion.

Laios outwitted the Winged Lion. The story isn’t quite over just yet. There are still consequences to be dealt with.

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John Brunner’s 1993 Muddle Earth is a stand-alone science fiction story. It is also, as far as I can tell, Brunner’s final novel, not counting posthumous collaborations. Various factors conspired against Brunner — actually, that describes his whole career — and his productivity towards the end of his life was affected.

Duckman’s Dumper is the unlikely name of the faster-than-light drive that gave humanity the stars. Other civilizations had FTL drives, but none as inexpensive as the Duckman’s Dumper. Earth licenses the Dumper and the licensing fees have allowed all of the better sort of people to leave Earth for better planets. This has left Earth with humanity’s dregs.

There was a further complication, one that had personal implications for one Rinpoche Gibbs.

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Harry Harrison’s 1970 The Daleth Effect, also published as In Our Hands, The Stars, is a stand-alone near-future¹ science fiction novel.

His laboratory explodes. Danish-born Israeli Professor Arnie Klein walks out of the ruins of his lab, hastily packs, and books a flight to Belfast.

Arnie’s supposed destination is a ruse. His true destination is plucky little Denmark, from whom Arnie begs refuge.

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B. L. Blanchard’s 2022 The Peacekeeper is the first book in the Good Lands alternate-history police-procedural series.

Twenty years ago, the village of Baawitigong was rocked by a brutal crime. Ishkode immediately confessed to his wife Neebin’s murder. The Adjudicators and Mediators assigned to the case saw no alternative but the most extreme: consigning Ishkode to prison.

Ishkode and Neebin’s children Chibenashi and Ashwiyaa were functionally orphans. Then seventeen, Chibenashi did his best to provide younger sister Ashwiyaa with a parent figure. Despite his best efforts, and those of auntie¹ Meoquanee, Ashwiyaa has spent the twenty years since Neebin’s death withdrawn and dependent on Chibenashi. Consequently, Chibenashi has had to set aside all ambitions to care for his sister.

On the twentieth anniversary of Neebin’s death, Meoquanee, Neebin’s best friend and Chibenashi’s auntie, is brutally murdered. This time nobody steps forward to shoulder the blame. This time, the peacekeepers will have to solve the mystery.

Chibenashi is a peacekeeper.

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Greg Gordon and Bryan Nystul’s 1993 DC Heroes Third Edition is (I know this will astonish readers) the third edition of the venerable superhero tabletop roleplaying game, DC Heroes Roleplaying Game.

Yes, I too am astounded that the tie-in game for one of the two comic book companies that claimed the trademark on ​‘superhero’ did not have the word ​‘superhero’ in the title of their superhero tabletop roleplaying game.

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2004’s Boredom is the first tankōbon of Tsugumi Ohba’s contemporary fantasy manga series, Death Note. Illustrations are by Takeshi Obata. Death Note was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2004 to 2006.

Existence in the Shinigami realm is exquisitely tedious. The only alternative appears to be to embrace death, something the supernatural beings are loathe to do. Stagnation and decline are terrible, but better than immediate total extinction.

Ryuk has a sudden inspiration. He knows how to entertain himself. Step one: cast his Death Note into the mortal realm.

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Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s 2006 Catalyst: A Novel of Alien Contact is a science fiction novel of alien contact. No doubt some might slide Catalyst over into the YA SF category, but I myself would not be putting this particular novel into little Timmy or Tammy’s Christmas stocking.

Thanks to his father’s involvement in illegal schemes, Kaslin’s family had to flee. Flight led the family to Chuudoku, a world whose Gini Coefficient is high and whose absence of the rule of law is utter. Impoverished Kaslin was attracted to wealthy, alluring Histly Mapworth. To quote:

Kaslin saw Histly and thought, yum. Histly saw Kaslin and thought, prey. After that first day, Kaslin saw Histly and thought, run.

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Clifford D. Simak’s 1972 A Choice of Gods is a stand-alone science fiction novel.

One day in 2135, eight billion humans vanished. For unknown reasons, whatever did this spared a handful of humans (as well as every robot on Earth) and every other living thing on the face of the planet.

Thousands of years later…

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