Rebecca Roanhorse's TRAIL OF LIGHTNING, book one of her series The Sixth World, combines two genres I'm usually lukewarm on (fantasy and post-apocalypRebecca Roanhorse's TRAIL OF LIGHTNING, book one of her series The Sixth World, combines two genres I'm usually lukewarm on (fantasy and post-apocalyptic fiction) and draws me in immediately. Maggie Hoskie kills monsters, and she's good at it. It's a much-needed skill in this near-future scenario in which global warming on a larger scale than currently envisioned has combined with a massive earthquake on the New Madrid fault and "the bottom fell out of the Midwest."
In taking on a dangerous mission to track down a monster responsible for a series of killings, Roanhorse gathers a colorful set of characters around Maggie, some of whom are allies, others enemies, still others, well, uncertain. Navajo mythology plays a large role in this story, which makes it stand out from other post-apocalyptic tales that travel down more well-worn paths.
It's easy to see how TRAIL OF LIGHTNING garnered its Nebula Award nomination, and I look forward eagerly to STORM OF LOCUSTS, the second book in this series.
Cat Rambo, in her Preface to her anthology IF THIS GOES ON, states, "This project is born of rage and sorrow and hope." She doesn't mention any names Cat Rambo, in her Preface to her anthology IF THIS GOES ON, states, "This project is born of rage and sorrow and hope." She doesn't mention any names or specific developments in current politics, but it's clear she and her contributors aren't happy about the direction of the country under the current administration. Some of the stories anthologized here, she acknowledges, "will despair," but others, she knows, will be "lamps to light the path and show the pitfalls as we continue upwards."
The writers whose work she chose come through in grand style. Just a few highlights:
E. Lily Yu's "Green Glass: A Love Story" shows us a country even more divided between the haves and have-nots than our current one. A man sends a robot to the moon to gather a glass bead to place on a chain for his fiancé. They spend a fortune to obtain the ingredients to make ice cream. But the tears of one server at their wedding form the introduction to how the "other half" lives.
In "Mr. Percy's Shortcut," Andy Duncan presents the folksy story of Mr. Percy Seaton. It's set in a future in which the only mining in Appalachia is data mining and flooding from global warming has brought disasters in Miami and Norfolk. Seaton is the nation's last coal miner, but even in retirement he finds a reason to dig. And dig.
"A Gardener's Guide to the Apocalypse" by Lynette Mejia is the story of a woman whose journal of her month-by-month effort to maintain her garden after a nuclear war reveals a desperate optimism. Seemingly mundane details of seeds, topsoil, and weeding remain her focus even as the ash continues to fall and her husband becomes deathly ill.
I'm certain IF THIS GOES ON will be listed as one of this year's best SF anthologies. Highly recommended....more
In the Author's Note to ANCESTRAL NIGHT, Elizabeth Bear tells us the book came about because her friend and occasional editor Simon Spanton was lookinIn the Author's Note to ANCESTRAL NIGHT, Elizabeth Bear tells us the book came about because her friend and occasional editor Simon Spanton was looking for a "big-idea space opera." She's succeeded in creating a tale that not only brings all the action and excitement we expect from that genre, but some sharp characterizations and some good old-fashioned sense of wonder, and what that wonder means to us.
Halmey Dz is the first-person narrator, a salvage operator aboard a ship called Singer, who is as deftly-drawn a character as any of the humans and aliens populating her story.
It's a narrative path we've seen before, as Dz and her human partner Connia Kunucz look for that big score, but find more than they bargained for. But Bear keeps it all fresh as Dz, Kunucz, and Singer discover much more than they anticipated, and Dz, in particular, learns more about herself and her own past than she bargained for. https://amzn.to/2TJoKAG...more
Martin Shoemaker's TODAY I AM CAREY is a triumph of science-fictional ideas that packs an emotional wallop worthy of comparison to FLOWERS FOR ALGERNOMartin Shoemaker's TODAY I AM CAREY is a triumph of science-fictional ideas that packs an emotional wallop worthy of comparison to FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON.
Shoemaker tackles what some observers have said is the core question science fiction asks -- what does it mean to be human? The android who comes to be known as Carey undertakes what longtime SF readers may see as a familiar journey, but Shoemaker provides an unusual depth of character development and emotion to his tale.
Carey tends to generations of a human family and helps them cope with the changes life brings, from strained emotional relationships to money problems to aging and death. As he helps others, he, in turn, forms connections within his brain that begin as objective insights into human emotions and behavior and, increasingly, become indistinguishable from caring and, eventually, love.
Shoemaker places the emotional content of his story up front throughout, but it's always earned, and comes from a deep understanding of his characters. For me, this is the first Hugo and Nebula-worthy SF novel of 2019. ...more
Will F. Jenkins is better known as SF writer Murray Leinster nowadays. He wrote the first alternate universe story, "Sidewise in Time," coined the terWill F. Jenkins is better known as SF writer Murray Leinster nowadays. He wrote the first alternate universe story, "Sidewise in Time," coined the term "First Contact" in the story of that title for humanity's first encounter with alien beings, and in "A Logic Named Joe" anticipated the internet.
But, as I learned in TEN UNIQUE STORIES FROM WILL F. JENKINS, SF was only a small part of his literary output. He wrote mysteries, adventure stories, and family dramas for the "slick" magazines and other markets. This volume is an attempt by his daughter Billee Stallings to bring some of those stories to a modern audience.
Highlights include "The Little Terror," a Twilight-Zone-ish story (published decades before the show existed) about a little girl who gains the ability to make anything she wants disappear. It starts with a penny and a caterpillar, but when the irritating kid next door suddenly isn't anywhere to be found, the story takes a darker turn. "No Road Too Hard" tells the story of a father who discovers his son has been keeping a big secret from him. In discovering that secret, he also learns something about himself.
For me, the true gem was "The Man Who LIved Alone," about a man's seemingly irrational devotion to his wife, even after he informs his co-workers and friends that she's left him.
Here's hoping that Billee Stallings keeps unearthing otherwise unknown gems from the Jenkins/Leinster catalog!...more
C.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher's ALLIANCE RISING begins as a slow burn, but then takes off with plenty of intrigue and fascinating characterizations. IC.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher's ALLIANCE RISING begins as a slow burn, but then takes off with plenty of intrigue and fascinating characterizations. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel....more
N.K. Jemisin shows herself to be as skillful a short story writer as novelist in her first collection, HOW LONG 'TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTH? Highlights inN.K. Jemisin shows herself to be as skillful a short story writer as novelist in her first collection, HOW LONG 'TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTH? Highlights include "The City Born Great," in which a young man becomes the "avatar" of New York City, "Cuisine des Mémoires," about a mysterious restaurant which can serve you any dish from any time period you like, even from your personal life, and stories set in the worlds of her Dreamblood Duology and Broken Earth trilogy. Highly recommended!...more
Mary Robinette Kowal's THE FATED SKY continues the adventures of the "Lady Astronaut" Dr. Elma York. As part of an effort to establish a human colony Mary Robinette Kowal's THE FATED SKY continues the adventures of the "Lady Astronaut" Dr. Elma York. As part of an effort to establish a human colony on Mars, after a meteor strike ravages the Earth, she must battle not just the physical universe, but sexist and racist attitudes that work against the project's success.
Kowal balances all these narrative threads expertly, and uses the distancing effect of alternate history to examine our real-world, present-day culture in insightful ways. At the same time, she crafts a rip-roaring SF adventure that maintains suspense and gives us characters to root for, and against. THE FATED SKY should be on a lot of lists for awards next year....more
Greg Benford's newest novel, THE BERLIN PROJECT, is something new for him -- an alternate history. He speculates on what might have happened if the U.Greg Benford's newest novel, THE BERLIN PROJECT, is something new for him -- an alternate history. He speculates on what might have happened if the U.S. had developed the A-bomb a year earlier during WWII.
Most of the characters depicted in the book really existed, and many of them Benford knew personally. There are also a couple great cameos by SF personalities of the period.
In all a "counterfactual" novel worthy of Harry Turtledove! ...more
John Wyndham is probably best known for his books THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS and THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, but I consider RE-BIRTH an undeservedly forgotten cJohn Wyndham is probably best known for his books THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS and THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, but I consider RE-BIRTH an undeservedly forgotten classic (it was also released under the title THE CHRYSALIDS).
This is one of those books you give that friend who "doesn't like science fiction." It's one of the earliest post-apocalyptic SF novels, but won me over again even though I've tired of most such stories.
This tale of the dangers of blind religious fervor that creates a culture of intolerance takes place in a rural setting that seems all too ordinary at first. That's until our lead character, David Strorm, meets a girl who has six toes on each foot.
That girl, Sophie, is considered a Deviation, or a Mutant, in David's society, and he has to hide their friendship and even the fact that she exists.
David's society can be harsh. He's punished when his mother has to help him bandage his hand and he says, without thinking, that he could've done it himself "if I'd had another hand." His father interprets that as David wishing he was a Mutant.
Soon, though, the question of who is a Mutant and who is not strikes much closer to home, and David must make a painful choice.
Wyndham slowly widens the scope of his story until we learn the true nature of those who differ from the norm. He makes every revelation personal, though -- the "villains" in this story are also many of David's own loved ones, making his emotional path a much more difficult one to walk.
Find that friend who doesn't like SF and hand over RE-BIRTH. I believe it's almost guaranteed to win over most readers looking for an emotional and imaginative narrative....more
Michael A. Burstein tells us in the introduction to I REMEMBER THE FUTURE that Isaac Asimov influenced him more than any other writer. That influence Michael A. Burstein tells us in the introduction to I REMEMBER THE FUTURE that Isaac Asimov influenced him more than any other writer. That influence is clear in this collection of his award-nominated stories -- his prose is straightforward and clear, and he's a natural storyteller.
What Burstein does consistently that Asimov did only intermittently is have a deep emotional content to his stories.
Perhaps the best-known story here is "Kaddish for the Last Survivor," a story from the November 2000 ANALOG that was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. The granddaughter of the last survivor of the Holocaust is distraught that her grandfather is on his deathbed. The grandfather, in turn, fears the "big lie" that the Holocaust was a hoax will become more credible when the last living witness is gone.
The stakes for these characters are intensely personal, but could also have great consequences for society as a whole. Burstein not only brings the story to a satisfying conclusion, he also provides notes telling us how the story developed and how its ending might have been quite different.
I love reading collections or anthologies as ebooks because I can bookmark individual stories as possible re-reads without marking up a physical book. I marked ten of the fifteen stories in I REMEMBER THE FUTURE for possible re-reads, a high percentage for me.
Burstein deals in classic SF tropes (starships, aliens, time travel, but uses them with a sure hand and shows us there's still plenty of narrative power and sense of wonder left in them. One of the best collections I've read in years....more
Science fiction isn't necessarily about predicting the future. Sometimes, as Ray Bradbury once said of some dystopian visions, it's meant to PREVENT iScience fiction isn't necessarily about predicting the future. Sometimes, as Ray Bradbury once said of some dystopian visions, it's meant to PREVENT it.
In the case of Allen Steele and his new novel ARKWRIGHT, it's clear he intends to demonstrate that SF can CREATE a particular future, as well.
Nathan Arkwright is one of the Big Four SF writers in the 20th Century, along with Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov. Upon his death, most of the assets of his estate go toward establishing the Arkwright Foundation. Its mission: explore space and establish space colonies.
It's been said about some of Clarke's novels, such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and CHILDHOOD'S END, that his real protagonist is time. I believe that's the case with Steele's novel, as we follow Nathan Arkwright's descendants across a span of decades as they work to achieve his dream. Eventually we follow them across a great distance, as well, though his dream is not quite realized in the way he would have assumed.
ARKWRIGHT introduces us to a series of viewpoint characters along the way, some of whom are enthusiastic about the foundation's work, others skeptical. Each contributes to the goal in their own way.
Steele knows his science, or, given the bibliography at the end of the book, at least researched it. But he avoids a lot of technobabble and keeps the narrative running smoothly.
Longtime SF enthusiast as well as writer, he also lays a lot of Easter eggs into the story, some of them explained, others just lying there for the "trufan" to notice.
This is a book for SF fans, space enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a page-turner of a story who doesn't mind that no single character takes us all the way through. A crowd-pleaser, and potential nominee (at least) in next year's award season....more
My first reaction as I closed Emily St. John Mandel's STATION ELEVEN: "Man what a book! What a helluva book!"
Let's get one thing out of the way -- I'mMy first reaction as I closed Emily St. John Mandel's STATION ELEVEN: "Man what a book! What a helluva book!"
Let's get one thing out of the way -- I'm very tired of post-apocalyptic stories. SO tired. I've read some of the classics such as ALAS, BABYLON and EARTH ABIDES, but I really wish the ongoing trend of pessimistic, we're-all-gonna-die stories would fade. For the most part I prefer SF stories that sail among the stars, that look upon the future with optimism.
But STATION ELEVEN is worth making an exception for. Though it paints a grim picture of the future, its characters seldom give themselves over to despair. Even after a type of flu kills about 99% of humanity, Mandel's characters portrays forage, hunt, form alliances, create a new community inside an airport, and one group creates an orchestra that doubles as a Shakespeare troupe. The characters within that group are the focus of the book.
Their motto is "Because survival is insufficient," and it's great to see the realization that those who survive have to have something to live FOR. Music and theater can provide that motivation, and many of Mandel's characters are wielding a knife or crossbow one minute and a cello or guitar the next. And taking the stage as one of Shakespeare's characters the moment after that.
STATION ELEVEN goes back and forth in time quite a bit, showing us what many of the main characters were doing before the catastrophic flu outbreak. Characters who start out in separative narratives come together in unexpected ways, reminding us that, as individuals, we're often more connected than we realize.
Several objects connect these characters, as well. In the book, STATION ELEVEN is the title of a comic book one of the characters, Kirstin Raymonde, spends years writing and drawing. It ends up being privately published, the number of copies in the single digits, but it's a presence for a number of characters in Mandel's tale, often in surprising ways. A snow globe also makes its way through the narrative.
I regret coming to this book somewhat late. If I'd read it a couple of years ago, I'd have nominated it for a Nebula. As it is, I suspect STATION ELEVEN is a book I will gladly go back and re-read someday, and I don't say that about many books....more
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