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...

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...

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...

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...

THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SEA by Ray Nayler

2023 Nebula Award Nominee Reviews Part 2/6

Reviewed by: Abe Ziesing

An outstanding mashup of multiple SF subgenres including cyberpunk, dystopian near future, first contact, AI/robot/android and hard SF (not too hard), Ray Nayler's first novel is a science fiction juggernaut with marine biology sprinkled on top. I picked this up knowing nothing about the book or the author as part of my quest to read all Nebula Award nominees, and holy shit, am I glad that I did so! You're submersed (pun intended) into a very believable world of high tech...