James Nicoll Reviews

Thorn In My Side

The Death I Gave Him

By Em X. Liu

16 Nov, 2023

**Special Requests**

2 comments

Em X. Liu’s 2023 The Death I Gave Him is a vengeance-filled SF novel of revenge.

Hayden Lichfield returns to his father’s laboratory where he finds a corpse and a mystery. In the brief time that Hayden was gone, someone murdered his father Graham and erased the Elsinore Labs security camera footage. While direct evidence is now lost, the list of people with the necessary access is not long.

In fact, it would not even fully populate a hamlet.

To the Promised Land

If Found, Return to Hell

By Em X. Liu

7 Jul, 2023

**Doing the WFC's Homework**

4 comments

Em X. Liu’s 2023 If Found, Return to Hell is a stand-alone modern fantasy novella.

One Wizard (a company, not a person) has a passionate commitment to the right of every person to sign binding contracts with One Wizard and for customers to provide One Wizard with subscription fees. The company’s passion for delivering services in exchange for said fees is more muted but in principle, the company is not opposed to the idea, provided the end result is more profit.

Working in One Wizard’s phone center, journeyman Wen Mingyan is sufficiently bored that the journeyman finds a plausible excuse for Wen and close friend Nathaniel Feng to visit a caller in person. This proves an effective cure for boredom.