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DEEP WHEEL ORCADIA by Harry Josephine Giles
Tuesday May 30, 2023
A unique, minimalist space-drama written in poetic-verse using the Orkney dialect.
Harry Josephine Giles' DEEP WHEEL ORCADIA has a simple plot - it's a love story with familiar complications taking place on a space station that's purpose is to gather resources from the gas giant planet that it orbits. The groundbreaking originality and beauty of this work are derived from the subtle nuances of the Orcadian language, as well as Giles' gift for poetry and showcasing a minority language.
The mechanics of this 'novel' are brilliant, utilizing page-foot prose translation into English, giving clarity to the Orkney poetic-verse above. The former includes...
THE EXTRACTIONIST by Kimberly Unger
Sunday May 28, 2023
Cyberpunks rejoice! Don your bionic readers and hold on tight, because our sub-genre has been upgraded to 2.0.
THE EXTRACTIONIST is a fast-paced, high-tech thriller about Eliza McKay, a woman that's been cast out of the profession that she loves - licensed experimental tech design for a government agency - because she pushed the envelope a little too hard and caused some major damage. Fortunately for the reader, this has resulted in her taking up her much more intriguing fallback gig, extracting people that get stuck in "the Swim" (fully immersive virtual reality/internet of the near future).
Eliza used computers...
THE STRANGE by Nathan Ballingrud
Wednesday May 24, 2023
New Galveston is a rough frontier town, barely hanging on to existence by the sheer willpower of its hard folk and gritty inhabitants. At its center stands a beacon of light, The Mother Earth Diner, run by a sad man, his kitchen engine (robot), “Watson”, and his tough-as-nails 14-year-old daughter, Belle, who is our protagonist and the narrator of the story. Oh, and New Galveston happens to be smack dab in the middle of nowhere, on Mars.
Belle is low maintenance. As long as you pay for your coffee and treat her father with respect, she’s perfectly content, but...
Nebula Awards 2023
Wednesday April 26, 2023
By Abe Ziesing
The 58th Annual Nebula Awards ceremony will take place on May 14th, during the 2023 SFWA Nebula Conference in Anaheim, CA. With this year's crop of nominated works having been announced several weeks ago, I decided to read all of the best novel nominees, as I have for the past few years. It can sometimes be painful attempting to complete a reading challenge like this, especially if you're fully committed to finishing each work in it's entirety, regardless of how well you enjoy it; but, overall it has been worth it to discover recent literary gems and...
LOTS OF LOVECRAFT
Tuesday April 25, 2023
We are very pleased to report that we have acquired a significant Lovecraft collection. Yes, we believe all the usual suspects will be in evidence, and we love and honor those suspects. "Suspects", in this case, refers to Lovecraft hardcover editions from publishers both large and small. However, we would like to point out that this particular collection includes an abundance of ephemera. It is, in fact, this kind of out-of-the way material that we find most interesting. At any rate, the long and short of it is this: If you like Lovecraft, we suggest you check our site with...
NONA THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir
Tuesday April 25, 2023
NONA THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir
2023 Nebula Award Nominee Reviews Part 6/6
Review by: Abe Ziesing
On par with the first two installments of THE LOCKED TOMB series, NONA THE NINTH is distinct, original and highly entertaining.
If you've read either of the first two books in this series then you already know the deal - necromancy, body horror, ass jokes - zombie science-fantasy featuring lots of kickass lesbians and gratuitous gore. These novels are also many-layered puzzles and difficult reads. If you don't keep your attention keenly focused, you'll surely miss some of the good stuff, and there...
LEGENDS & LATTES by Travis Baldree
Monday April 24, 2023
LEGENDS & LATTES by Travis Baldree
2023 Nebula Award Nominee Reviews Part 5/6
Reviewed by: Abe Ziesing
After deciding to read all of this year's Nebula Award nominees, and upon examining the book covers of each, I immediately predicted that LEGENDS & LATTES was going to be my least favorite. It turns out that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Huh, who would've thought?
Viv is an enormous sword-wielding orc that's grown weary of fighting, bounty hunting and adventuring for treasure. She's ready to put an end to her rough and rugged lifestyle, retire the sword, and of...
BABEL by R. f. Kuang
Sunday April 23, 2023
BABEL by R. F. Kuang
2023 Nebula Award Nominee Reviews Par 4/6
Reviewed by: Abe Ziesing
It was the best of novels, it was the worst of novels... a sophomoric Charles Dickens pens HARRY POTTER AND THE SILVER TOWER OF TRANSLATION.
The pros:
-The prose: Kuang has a nice flow to her writing that feels like a decent attempt at Dickens or Swift, two authors who she isn't shy about aggrandizing. Unfortunately, it's a case of diminishing returns, as the writing quality decreases the further along you read.
-The language: There is a ton of scholarly content when it comes to...
NETTLE & BONE by T. Kingfisher
Saturday April 22, 2023
NETTLE & BONE by T. Kingfisher
2023 Nebula Award Nominee Reviews Part 3/6
Reviewed by: Abe Ziesing
Kingfisher picks through her bag of tropes and tricks to brew up an original fairy tale worthy of its award nomination(s).
Marra is on a quest to simultaneously rescue a princess and avenge her sister's murder with an unlikely alliance of quirky, mismatched characters... sound familiar? It doesn't matter how many times this brand of plot has appeared in sword and sorcery, and epic fantasy, because this fresh take, with a cast of enchanting heroes, anti-heroes and villains is sure to whisk you...
