Tag: SF Page 1 of 28

Blood Reunion by JCM Berne: Space Vampires, Secret Identities, and a Promise of Something Worse

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On October 31, 2024

In Fiction, JCM Berne, The Hybrid Helix

Finally, after umpteen drafts, I have something finished. Not in a satisfying (to me, anyway) way. But I’ve covered everything that I want to in a way that doesn’t make me recoil. I’m going to have to call that good enough.

Cover of Blood Reunion by JCM BerneBlood Reunion

by JCM Berne

DETAILS:
Series: Hybrid Helix, Turn 3
Publisher: Gnost Hose
Publication Date: October 17, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 399 pg.
Read Date: August 15-17, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s Blood Reunion About?

There’s a nasty, Buffy-Summers-would-be-paralyzed-with-fear level vampire loose on Wistful. Rohan and his friends, some new allies, and a couple of people he’d really not rather work with have to stop it before it kills everyone aboard and countless others when it can escape—or before the Empire obliterates Wistful to achieve the latter end.

’nuff said.

Back to Wistful

I guess some readers complained that the second book in the series took place on Earth, not on Wistful, the sentient space station that Rohan calls home. I didn’t share the sentiment, but I guess I could understand that—it wasn’t just Wistful that we didn’t get that much from, it was most of the other characters that were introduced in the first turn.

Being back on Wistful, however, has me thinking that maybe those people were on to something. Having our hero back on his adoptive home turf—with the advantages and challenges that it brings really adds something to the story. Wistful is an interesting character and a great setting (and we get to see a lot more of both aspects of Wistful here). Having characters like Wei Li and the Ursans on hand is a major plus, too.

I won’t complain about Rohan going to visit Earth—but I’m sure glad to see him home.

Daddy Issues

We met Rohan’s fantastic mother in Return of The Griffin, and now it’s time to meet Dad. Boy, I missed Mom—and this isn’t a knock on Berne’s work introducing us to Dhruv, I think we’re supposed to find hi a problematic character.

He’s got quite the charm about him, do doubt. He’s determined, he’s focused, he’s powerful, he’s wily—things that he clearly passed on to his son. He’s also deceitful, egotistical, stubborn, and unwilling to consider opposing points of view (other things you can see in Rohan, but he’s fighting them).

He and Rohan have a complicated relationship, let’s say.

The addition of Rohan’s mother to the series was fun and mostly sweet. This is fun and…something else. I’m not sure what that something is quite yet. I think we need to see a little more from Dhruv, and I expect we will.

Rohan’s Dilemma

This right here is what draws me to Rohan (well, in addition to the banter, the action, and everything else)—Berne isn’t satisfied to just give us a super powerful, quippy, superhero. Rohan is trying to get away from his past and to live differently.

But…like the man said, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Rohan can’t get away from his reputation, his status, his errors/crimes, and even his inclinations to act as the Griffin. Not only can he not escape all that—he has to rely on it here. I don’t want to get into details here, but Rohan has to play the Rohan card to keep the il’Drach Empire from coming in making a bad situation worse.

He also has to wrestle with himself—he knows (on some level) and is being told repeatedly by just about everyone—that to save the people on the station (and maybe even beyond it), he has to kill the vampire. But he’s trying not to do that anymore. Also, he thinks there are ways to defeat the vampire without killing him…Rohan just has to figure out what those are. But he’s torn—if he does “the right thing” for him and his morals, what’s the risk/damage to the innocents on Wistful? Should he be willing to even consider that?

Beyond that…Rohan has to let some people jeopardize themselves—and even outright sacrifice themselves so he has a chance to stop the vampire.

I really love that Berne is making Rohan deal with this (it’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last, I trust).

So, what did I think about Blood Reunion?

It’s a JCM Berne book. This means I liked it and I think you should read it. I have two unread JCM Berne books on my TBR shelf—I can tell you now, with 98.732% confidence, that’s what I’m going to say about those. The question here is…what do I say specifically?

The vampires (both kinds we see here) are just cool. Nothing incredibly revolutionary about them—it’s nigh unto impossible to do something new with a vampire, it’s just about how can you make one of the most utilized creature-types feel fresh. Berne pulls it off. They’re even different than the vamps in Return of the Griffin, so that’s a neat trick. I want to say more about this, but that’d violate my spoiler policy.

Dhruv was just great—I mistyped that a second ago as “grate,” but maybe that was a slip of the Freudian-type. Because he can be a little grating, too. By design, I should stress. But I look forward to his return as much as Rohan is apprehensive about it.

The exploration of Wistful was interesting and the promise of finding more layers to her is fantastic. I would’ve liked a bit more of it now though, it’s the one point where I think Berne could’ve improved here. Maybe in the aftermath of this, Wistful and Rohan (or Rohan and Wei Li) can debrief some on this and I’ll feel better about it.

Speaking of Wei Li—if anyone is going to supplant Rohan in my book, it’s going to be Wei Li. Can we get a spinoff novella or seven?

I have to mention the dialogue, not just the bantering (but especially the bantering). Berne has reached Jim Butcher-levels here. I don’t care what the story is, I just want to read his characters talking.

I don’t have anything else to say, really—action, dialogue, great aliens, some good moral dilemmas, and some quality time with characters that are becoming old friends. Blood Reunion is another winner from Berne. Go grab Wistful Ascending and dive in!!

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

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On October 3, 2024

In Fiction, Science Fiction

Cover of The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah JohnsonThe Space Between Worlds

by Micaiah Johnson

DETAILS:
Series: The Space Between Worlds, #1
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: June 1, 2021
Format: Paperback
Length: 320 pg.
Read Date: 9/24/2024   9/28/2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

REASONS I HAVE DIED:

The emperor of the wasteland wanted to make an example of my mother, and started with me.

One of my mother’s boyfriends wanted to cover up what he did to me.

I was born addicted and my lungs didn’t develop.

I was born addicted and my brain didn’t develop.

I was left alone, and a stranger came along.

The runners came for a neighbor, and I was in the way.

The runners came for my mother, and I was in the way.

The runners came for my mother’s boyfriend, and I was in the way.

The runners came for no one, serving nothing at all but chaos and fear, and I was what they found.

Sometimes, I was just forgotten in the shed where she kept me while she worked or spun out, and in the length of her high and the heat of the sun I fell asleep alone and hungry and forever.

REASONS I HAVE LIVED:

I don’t know, but there are eight.

(that’s how you end a first chapter!)

A Quick Word

I read this to take part in Shared Stories Bookstore’s Sci-Fi Book Club—I’ve never been to a Book Club before, I’m looking forward to doing so again. But that’s not what I’m going to talk about here—but I need to say that some of what I’m going to say about this book has either been shaped/informed by or directly stolen from someone at that meeting. I won’t share their names, because I didn’t get permission, but I wanted it out there that the smarter things I say here comes from them.

What’s The Space Between Worlds About?

This is tricky for a few reasons, some of which I really can’t get into. In a sense there are four stories* in this book and each resolves (pretty much) before the next launches. So obviously, I can’t get into the latter stories. But the first one or two I can sketch out a little bit…

* This is stolen from our discussion leader.

In a pretty distant future world—following some sort of environmental collapse (and maybe some military-induced collapse, but mostly environmental) the world is covered in city-states (that’s actually a guess, we know almost nothing about the rest of the world). There’s a city called Wiley City—which is pretty much everything you think of when you think of a futuristic city—shiny buildings, cool tech, and whatnot. Outside the City is another settlement, called Ashtown. Ashtown is where the poor, the unwanted, the criminal classes live. There are also people who live outside Ashtown and in (or at least spend time in), called Ruralites—who are a strictly religious group and it seems most of the people of Ashtown are (at least nominally) dependent upon their efforts.

Travel between parallel universes is now possible. Maybe for just the residents of one Earth, anyway. The catch is, you cannot travel to a universe in which you exist—and it doesn’t go well for the person entering a world they exist in. This makes the ideal candidate someone on the fringes of society—those who are most likely to live a dangerous life or a life with inadequate resources, so they might die early from natural causes. The more realities that you’re dead in, the more you can travel on behalf of the corporate entity that runs the multiverse technology.

Enter Cara, a resident of Ashtown, who is dead on 372 of the worlds that humans can travel to. She’s largely keeping her head down, just trying to make it through the next few years without losing her job—which will result in her being removed from Wiley City—if she can last long enough, she’ll become a citizen and she can then relax a little. She cuts loose a little in the worlds she visits, but lives a pretty careful life on “Earth Zero.”

She receives word that she’s been assigned to a new world—yet one more version of her has died. When she gets there, things start to go wrong and she really can’t complete her mission. She can, however, by her mere presence, act as a catalyst for some big changes in the leadership of that world’s Ashtown and Wiley City. This will end up having some ramifications on Earth Zero—and maybe elsewhere, too.

The Technology/Its Depiction

This is one of those books that’s filled with all sorts of cool sci-fi technology—especially the traveling between universes, but it’s not limited to that. And Johnson gives us no Asimov-esque explanations for it. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I’ve already given you almost all of the details you’re going to get about the science behind the travel between universes.

And yet, it works. I’d hoped for a little more detail, but I wasn’t bothered by its lack. In fact, I cared so much about Cara and what she was doing—and the people she was surrounded by in the various Earths she went to, I didn’t stop to think about the tech. And when I did…it didn’t matter, really.

It’s there, it does what it’s intended to do. That’s all you need to know.

Spirituality/Religion

We get more of this, really, than the science behind the traveling and other tools they have in Wiley City.

The Ruralites have a hybrid religion with features of Christianity (that’s obvious) and Buddhism (I needed someone to help me see that) and some other things accumulated over the centuries. It’s pretty strict and regimented—but there’s grace and mercy, too.

There’s a burial scene—including a good part of the rituals used. It’s very detailed and tells you as much about the religion as it does the people taking part in it. It is so well done, that you almost want to see more people killed so Johnson will describe it again.*

* Sure, you can just re-read that part. But if she writes it again, she might include new details.

There’s also a superstition—if it’s not a full-blown mini-religion—that has developed among those who travel between worlds. It’s not endorsed by, or encouraged by, the company—but it’s pervasive and has a hold on those travelers. They will tell you there’s a presence, a person of some sort, governing the travel. Someone they can feel and sense between the worlds.

Our culture currently likes to pit science vs. religion/spirituality/whatever. There is no such division for Cara and most (if not all) of the people she knows. They exist side-by-side, informing actions and morality each in their own way.

This is such a good idea for Johnson to introduce and her execution of it—and explanation of both sets of beliefs are just great. We don’t get a creed or even a full idea about the religious tenants of the Ruralites—but we see enough to believe that such a creed exists.

So, what did I think about The Space Between Worlds?

In short, this is really just a stunning book. The back of the book promises “surprise twists” and yeah, there are some, but the book is about more than a twist or five, as skillfully as Johnson executes them. As someone at the book club said, you think the main story is about to wrap up but there’s a whole bunch of more pages to left. None of the storylines feel rushed nor do they feel stretched out. There’s one mini-arc you might want more time in, but that’s just because it’s so pleasant (and given the rest of the book, pleasant is nice).

Cara is a wonderfully complex character. When we meet her, she seems fully realized—like one of those characters that’s going to remain largely the same person at the end of the novel as she was at the beginning. But that’s not it at all—she goes through a great period of personal growth, of changing the way she sees the world and people in it. Her motivations behind her choices on Earth Zero get pushed to the limit, and she is going to be faced with some major changes in that reality (as well as others).

I don’t want to overlook the other characters…at least some versions of them. There are some truly despicable characters (one’s despicable on every world we see him on, one is despicable—vile actually—on most worlds—which makes it hard on the other to accept him (for Cara and the reader)). There’s an evil mastermind who is pretty chilling. There’s some criminal types who show more honor than anyone else in the book. There are some characters that are likable, admirable, and even loveable (depending on the world). It’s a rich, rich world full of wonderful people (that you meet several versions of).

I need to talk about the prose, and yet I don’t know how to adequately express how much I was blown away by it. You could almost open up to any random page and find something worthy of quoting, of meditating on, or marinating in. Johnson has this ability to take a benign, everyday, or plain sentence and turn on a dime and make it bleak, gutting, or even hopeful (that’s the less-popular option.) Cara does have some grit to her, she is a wiseacre. The book isn’t a doom and gloom, I frequently smiled. But her world is a harsh one, particularly outside the walls of Wiley City, and Johnson’s language reflects that.

Apparently, there’s a sequel. It didn’t feel like the first in a series—and can absolutely be read as a stand-alone. This is one of the best written books I’ve read this year—and the story is really compelling. With twists you won’t be able to guess most things that happen over the course of the novel. It’s a very SF novel, but it’s also the kind of SF that people who aren’t super-into SF can get into (like one person at the book club). I’m at the point where I’m just running in circles—so I’ll shut up, you go get the book. Deal?

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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The Irresponsible Reader On…Self-Published Science Fiction

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On July 25, 2024

In Books, Fiction, Miscellany, News/Misc., Science Fiction, Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week

(updated 7/257/24)
Self-Published Author Appreciation Week '24 Banner

From the first moment that people did the strange thing of asking me to talk about their books on my blog, I’ve been impressed by the quality of a lot of what’s been published by authors going out on their own, taking all the risks, shouldering all the responsibility and doing all the work to get their words, their dreams, their blood, sweat, and tears. This should be celebrated—it’s definitely appreciated, as we’re trying to show this week.

In addition to the Q&As and Guest Posts I have this week, I’m also continuing my habit of highlighting the self-published works that I’ve blogged about over the last few years—just a sentence or two.  Hopefully, this’ll be enough to make you click on the link to the full post. Beyond that, it’d be great if I inspired you to add a few of these to your TBR. Also, be sure you check out the other posts over at the SPAAW Hub.

Today we’re going to be looking at Self-Published Science Fiction. Old tropes in new garb, fresh ideas, and a creativity that astounds. These authors are well worth your time and money.

bullet Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne—if I start talking about this, I’m not sure how to stop. There’s a retired super-hero/super soldier working a menial job on a space station. There’s a revenge story. There are aliens that look like talking bears. It’s just so much fun. (my post about it)
bullet The MOST Powerful Christmas by JCM Berne—Rohan and friends save Christmas for Santa (my post about it)
bullet Return of the Griffin by JCM Berne—Rohan has to return to Earth to battle monsters that might be too much for him and the collective might of Earth’s superheroes. Rohan also has to battle the legacy he left behind when he left. (my post about it should be posted soon)
bullet The Elites by Matt Cowper—a Batman-esque figure rebuilds a government-sponsored team of heroes. They take on super-villains of all stripes and even an alien invasion.
bullet The World Savers (my post about it)
bullet Rogue Superheroes (my post about it)
bullet Nightfall (my post about it)
bullet Children of the Different by S. C. Flynn—a very different kind of YA take on post-apocalypse life in Austrailia. (my post about it)
bullet Full Metal Superhero by Jeffery H. Haskell—a young technical genius who lost the use of her legs in the accident that cost her parents their lives creates an Iron Man-esque suit and starts fighting crime in the hopes to be recruited into an Avengers/Justice League-type team. I’ve frequently talked on the blog (and even in this series of posts) about being frustrated that I haven’t caught up with a series. This one really gets to me. There’s also a spin-off series that looks great.
bullet Arsenal (my post about it)
bullet Unstoppable Arsenal (my post about it)
bullet Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes—The first in a series about a group of freshmen in a college-level Super-Hero Training program. (my post about it)
bullet Darkside Earther by Bradley Horner—this is a series about a privileged group of teens trying to get through school and into adulthood while on a space station orbiting Earth. Their parents are the elite of humanity and are trying to mold their children into very different types of leaders.
bullet Darkside Earther (my post about it)
bullet Degrading Orbits (my post about it)
bullet Saul by Bradley Horner—a professor of nanotech tries to save his daughter in the middle of a global catastrophe. (my post about it)
bullet Billy in Space by Harry L-B—Billy has been given telekenetic abilities, and instead of becoming the government agent he’d aspired to, he’s become a human forklift in a spaceship’s warehouse. Not glamorous at all, but it’s a job. Then an alien race attacks his ship. Then space pirates do, too. And then things get bad. You’ll also witness a really bad first date. I should stress that this is a comedy. (my post about it)
bullet Proxies by James T. Lambert—Jair Howard has some big challenges ahead of him–he has to deal with his mother, he has to fix his relationship with his girlfriend, he has to prove someone hacked into the military’s computers, then he has to prove it wasn’t him–oh yeah, and prevent interstellar war. His mother might be the biggest problem, really. I just finished reading the book and haven’t finished my post, but you’ll want to give it a look.
bullet Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire by G.M. Nair—This story felt like the love child of Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency (the Douglas Adams version) and Comedy Central’s Corporate, but sweeter. A pair of old friends-turned multi-dimensional P.I.s tackle a missing persons case. (my post about it)
bullet Serengeti by J.B. Rockwell—a damaged warship—and the AI who operates it—attempts to rejoin the fleet.
bullet Serengeti (my post about it)
bullet Dark and Stars (my post about it)
bullet AI Theist by Michael J. Svigel—The world’s most advanced and powerful AI struggles with its(?) conscience and gets religion. (my post about it)
bullet Please Return to the Lands of Luxury by Jon Tilton—an MG Dystopian thriller. There’s a fantastic world here—a very plausible one, too. The story is hard to sum up in a sentence or two, but this would be a great read for an MG reader who’s able to read some unpleasantness (and a lot of wholesome and hope-filled moments, too). (my post about it)
bullet The FATOFF Conspiracy by Olga Werby—Americans have lost the war on obesity and all but the elitist of the elite are dangerously obese (while tucking away a good portion of that fat into a pocket dimension), in pain, struggling, dying young, and yet eating almost constantly. (my post about it)
bullet Genrenauts by Michael R. Underwood—Parallel to our world are various worlds populated by fictional characters in a wide variety of genres (Western, SF, Romance, etc), and when things go wrong in the stories, things go wrong in our world. n this world, there are a number of teams of story specialists who shift to the other worlds to fix the stories and set things back on course here. The first two novellas in this series were published by Tor, but after that, Underwood took it over himself.
bullet The Cupid Reconciliation (my post about it)
bullet The Substitute Sleuth (my post about it)
bullet The Failed Fellowship (my post about it)
bullet Genrenauts: The Complete Season One Collection—a compendium of all the novellas/stories in Season 1. (my post about it)
bullet The Data Disruption—a Season One Prequel (my post about it)
bullet The Wasteland War—Season Two kicks off (my post about it)

If you're a self-published author that I've featured on this blog and I didn't mention you in this post and should have. I'm sorry (unless you're this guy). Please drop me a line, and I'll fix this. I want to keep this regularly updated so I keep talking about Self-Published Authors.

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REPOSTING JUST CUZ: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi: Delivers Everything the Title Promises

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On June 21, 2024

In John Scalzi, Science Fiction

Things are afoot at Irresponsible Reader HQ that made posting today impossible. However, I started the audiobook for this just for something to do. I remember thinking it was great, but I’d forgotten just how ridiculously fun this book is. Incidentally, Wil Wheaton is a fantastic choice to read this.

Kaiju Preservation SocietyThe Kaiju Preservation Society

by John Scalzi

DETAILS:
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: March 14, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 258 pg.
Read Date: April 1-4, 2022
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

You have no idea how difficult it was for me to not say, ‘Welcome to Jurassic Park!’ to all of you just now.”

“Jurassic Park didn’t end well for anyone in it,” I pointed out. “Book or movie.”

“Well, they were sloppy,” Tom said. “We’re not sloppy. And, they were fictional. This is real.”

What’s The Kaiju Preservation Society About?

Jamie Gray drops out of his Ph.D. program (writing a dissertation on utopian and dystopian literature) thanks to a quarter-life crisis that gets him to want to make a lot of money. So he goes to work for a tech startup, starts to make decent money, and gets fired just as COVID lockdowns start. He starts scraping by on his savings and meager work for a food-delivery app.

Until he delivers shawarma to Tom one day—the two were acquaintances in college, and they have a brief conversation where a couple of things come out—Jamie hates delivering food, and the NGO that Tom works for has an immediate need of someone on his team. He doesn’t give Tom a lot of information, but that the work involves travel and large animals. His team is set to depart soon, and they can’t without a full team. They just need someone who can, and is willing to, lift things. Tom points out his nice condo as proof that they pay well. Jamie signs on.

A few days later, Jamie and a few other new people on the team find out what the initials in KPS stand for—after it’s too late for them to back out. They’ve traveled to a parallel Earth populated by Kaiju for a six-month stint at one of the human bases.

Obviously, like the book and movie referenced above, things go wrong. They just have to for the sake of a novel, right? (but up until then, I think I could’ve made a case for this being an entire novel without that—it exists as one for longer than I expected—and I would’ve liked it just as much as the one Scalzi delivered).

The Science Fiction-y bits

Given Tom’s work, and Jamie’s, Scalzi’s able to gloss over a lot of the how-they-eat-and-breathe (and other science facts…la! la! la!) stuff, but he does reference things like the square-cube law when it comes to enormously big creatures. Jamie’s new friends include scientists who can deliver some of the biology, chemistry, etc. that are needed for the story—but when it’s needed, they’re always explaining it to the liberal arts guy on their team, so the reader doesn’t have to wade through the heady stuff (something Michael Crichton could’ve used, for example).

It’s not a perfect way to deal with these things, but it sure works well, and Scalzi feeds it to the reader in his usual charming way, so I embraced it.

Pop*.* Fiction

In his Author’s Note, Scalzi states:

KPS is not, and I say this with absolutely no slight intended, a brooding symphony of a novel. It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face. I had fun writing this, and I needed to have fun writing this. We all need a pop song from time to time, particularly after a stretch of darkness.

I’d been describing it as a popcorn movie in a book. He says pop song. It’s pop-something.

It’s the movie you escape to in the middle of a heatwave and forget about the oppressive weather, the sun, and everything else to enjoy the heat and some pure entertainment. It’s the song you find yourself overplaying because it’s just so catchy until you get sick of it (although you can’t help singing along) and abandon it for years until it comes up on some random mix and you become obsessed with it again for a couple of weeks.

What I found striking about Scalzi saying that is that it reminds me of Seanan McGuire’s comments about the last Toby Daye novel—she needed to write something like that (and I enjoyed it for similar reasons to this one). Are we going to see more books like this from other authors soon? Did 2020/2021 gift us a slew of authors writing happy books as a way to shake it off? (I wonder if Winslow’s Free Billy fits here).

Frankly, I hope so.

So, what did I think about The Kaiju Preservation Society?

“Why isn’t he eating us?” I asked. We were now close enough to Edward that this was not an entirely irrelevant question.

“He’s asleep,” Satie said.

I glanced over at him. “Asleep?”

“They sleep, yup.”

“How can you tell when he’s asleep?”

“He’s not eating us, for one,” Satie said. “You can’t see his eyes, for another.”

I love popcorn movies, I love pop songs like that…and well, you can probably see where that’s going. I’m not the world’s largest Kaiju fan (don’t actively dislike them, either), but it really doesn’t matter, this book skips all that and jumps right to the pleasure center of the brain the same way a catchy tune can.

Reading The Kaiju Preservation Society reminded me of the first time I read Ready Player One (before the movie, distance, and the sequel made me take a second/third/fourth look at it). Or Snow Crash (a wise reference for Scalzi to make early on). It sort of reminded me of the first time I read High Fidelity, too. The catchy, irreverent narrative; the snappy dialogue; the first-person narrator you click with right away*…it just took me a few pages to know that I was going to find nothing but joy in these pages.

*or probably never.

And really, I don’t have a lot to say about the book beyond this. It brought me joy for a couple of days. Thinking about it now is doing the same thing. Go get your hands on this text-based dopamine hit in your preferred medium (I bet Wheaton’s audiobook narration is perfect), sit back, and enjoy yourself.

5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

PUB DAY REPOST: Moonbound by Robin Sloan: The White Stripes Save the World (but not really)

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On June 11, 2024

In Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Science Fiction

MoonboundMoonbound

by Robin Sloan

DETAILS:
Publisher: MCD
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 432 pg.
Read Date: May 21-27, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

Let’s Get This Out of the Way Right Now

This is not like the Robin Sloan books you may have read. This is not Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (even if everything I’ve seen from the publisher says it’s part of the Penumbraverse) and this isn’t Sourdough. If you’re looking for something like that, I can’t help you by talking about this book.

And yet…some of the same themes, the same kind of ideas, the same oddball ways of thinking, the same characters that will fascinate and (sometimes) frustrate you, the same quality of writing are present. So it is like the Robin Sloan books you may have read. But not really.

What’s Moonbound About?

Maaaannnn….I don’t know, I really don’t know. In case those semi-contradictory paragraphs above didn’t give you a clue. Also, to really talk about it would involve a few pages on my part and several spoilers.

Let’s start with this: the events of the book begin in the year 13777. The number of things that the human race has gone through—cultural, technological, societal, scientific, and political changes (revolutions, really) are impossible to describe. Civilizations have come and gone—the planet Earth looks little like it does now, and humanity isn’t much like it is now (except humans are going to be human—it’s like Doctor Who‘s far future episodes that way—just without the space travel). Even the Moon—the Moon, for crying out loud—isn’t the same.

In William Goldman’s The Princess Bride (and the movie does something very similar), Goldman talks about his father coming in while he’s sick to read him a book by S. Morgenstern.

“Does it have any sports in it?”

“Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest Ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”

“Sounds okay,” I said and I kind of closed my eyes.

Similarly, let me tell you a little about what Moonbound contains:
Knights. Brothers. Talking swords. Dragons. Friendship. Robots. Bogs (which are very different than swamps). Raiders. Wizards. Bees that give direction. Gleaning coffee shops. Climate Warrior Beavers. Constructive debates (literally). Genetic engineering. Legendary warriors. Forty-three million dimensions.* Pizza rolls. Trash-pickers.

* Not really like Marvel’s Multiverse, more like the mathematical concept of three-dimensional or four-dimensional space, but much, much more expanded.

I’m not sure that’s helpful, but it’s something.

We begin when our protagonist, a boy named Ariel de la Sauvage, finds the remains of one of the greatest warriors in human history. This discovery ends up starting a chain of events that will lead to Ariel being on the run from the Wizard who rules the valley Ariel and his brother have grown up in—not just grown up in, but have never left. They have no knowledge of anything outside this valley—if anything exists beyond it, really. But to overthrow the Wizard and save his brother, Ariel will have to go into the wider world and learn about it. He needs experiences that his valley cannot give him. Equipped with this education and experience, Ariel should be able to confront the wizard and rescue his brother and the rest of the people he grew up surrounded by.

Oh, and he’s guided throughout this by an AI who has the accumulated knowledge of most of human history and is currently residing in a microorganism that has implanted itself in Ariel’s body.

Clear as mud, right?

Story

More than anything else—and there’s a lot of “anything else”—this is a novel about Story. The power of story to shape reality, to shape our expectations, the way we go about our lives, and the way we need others to go about their lives. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. The stories we tell others about ourselves. The stories that others tell us about themselves—and us. The stories that societies, governments, and other groups tell us and others about themselves and us.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, Moonbound about the way we can re-write our stories, the way we can take control of them (once we realize the story being told) and change things.

So, what did I think about Moonbound?

That’s a great question, and one I’ve been chewing on for more than a week now. I want to read this at least two more times before I think I’ll be ready to answer that. Maybe the fact that I want to read this at least two more times in the next year or so gives you and me both a hint about what I think about it.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this book since I started reading it two weeks ago. Part of that is to think about what I read and decide what Sloan was doing and what I thought about it. Another part of that thinking is just reveling in just how strange and wonderful it was.

While reading, when I was able to stop thinking things like, “what is going on here?” or “What is Sloan trying to accomplish?” and just enjoy it and get caught up in the story—I was able to lose myself in the book. And that got easier the further into the book I got. But I also spent an awful amount of time just trying to suss things out and overthinking things.

I don’t think that’s a bug when it comes to this book—it’s a feature. Sloan has given the reader so much to take in, that if you’re not chewing on almost every idea, you’re doing the book and yourself a disservice. But it’s also the kind of book you can relax with and enjoy. At a certain point in the book, Ariel learns to lay back and float in water—which is both one of those things that takes effort and can be incredibly relaxing at the same time. Like him, the reader has to learn how to “float” in this book. And when you do, you’ll be rewarded. How greatly you’ll be rewarded, I’m not sure—but you will be.

I’m not going to give this a star rating—sorry if that’s what you’re looking for. I just don’t know (in case I haven’t used that phrase enough yet in this post)—I can both defend every rating from 3-5 Stars, and I can wage a better argument against each of those. I encourage readers who find anything I’ve rambled about above intriguing, fans of Sloan, or people who read what the Publisher’s site says to give it a shot. And then let’s get together and talk about it, because I’d love to bounce some spoilery ideas off of someone.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Farrar, Straus and Giroux via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Moonbound by Robin Sloan: The White Stripes Save the World (but not really)

By

On June 5, 2024

In Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Science Fiction

MoonboundMoonbound

by Robin Sloan

DETAILS:
Publisher: MCD
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 432 pg.
Read Date: May 21-27, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

Let’s Get This Out of the Way Right Now

This is not like the Robin Sloan books you may have read. This is not Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (even if everything I’ve seen from the publisher says it’s part of the Penumbraverse) and this isn’t Sourdough. If you’re looking for something like that, I can’t help you by talking about this book.

And yet…some of the same themes, the same kind of ideas, the same oddball ways of thinking, the same characters that will fascinate and (sometimes) frustrate you, the same quality of writing are present. So it is like the Robin Sloan books you may have read. But not really.

What’s Moonbound About?

Maaaannnn….I don’t know, I really don’t know. In case those semi-contradictory paragraphs above didn’t give you a clue. Also, to really talk about it would involve a few pages on my part and several spoilers.

Let’s start with this: the events of the book begin in the year 13777. The number of things that the human race has gone through—cultural, technological, societal, scientific, and political changes (revolutions, really) are impossible to describe. Civilizations have come and gone—the planet Earth looks little like it does now, and humanity isn’t much like it is now (except humans are going to be human—it’s like Doctor Who‘s far future episodes that way—just without the space travel). Even the Moon—the Moon, for crying out loud—isn’t the same.

In William Goldman’s The Princess Bride (and the movie does something very similar), Goldman talks about his father coming in while he’s sick to read him a book by S. Morgenstern.

“Does it have any sports in it?”

“Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest Ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”

“Sounds okay,” I said and I kind of closed my eyes.

Similarly, let me tell you a little about what Moonbound contains:
Knights. Brothers. Talking swords. Dragons. Friendship. Robots. Bogs (which are very different than swamps). Raiders. Wizards. Bees that give direction. Gleaning coffee shops. Climate Warrior Beavers. Constructive debates (literally). Genetic engineering. Legendary warriors. Forty-three million dimensions.* Pizza rolls. Trash-pickers.

* Not really like Marvel’s Multiverse, more like the mathematical concept of three-dimensional or four-dimensional space, but much, much more expanded.

I’m not sure that’s helpful, but it’s something.

We begin when our protagonist, a boy named Ariel de la Sauvage, finds the remains of one of the greatest warriors in human history. This discovery ends up starting a chain of events that will lead to Ariel being on the run from the Wizard who rules the valley Ariel and his brother have grown up in—not just grown up in, but have never left. They have no knowledge of anything outside this valley—if anything exists beyond it, really. But to overthrow the Wizard and save his brother, Ariel will have to go into the wider world and learn about it. He needs experiences that his valley cannot give him. Equipped with this education and experience, Ariel should be able to confront the wizard and rescue his brother and the rest of the people he grew up surrounded by.

Oh, and he’s guided throughout this by an AI who has the accumulated knowledge of most of human history and is currently residing in a microorganism that has implanted itself in Ariel’s body.

Clear as mud, right?

Story

More than anything else—and there’s a lot of “anything else”—this is a novel about Story. The power of story to shape reality, to shape our expectations, the way we go about our lives, and the way we need others to go about their lives. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. The stories we tell others about ourselves. The stories that others tell us about themselves—and us. The stories that societies, governments, and other groups tell us and others about themselves and us.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, Moonbound about the way we can re-write our stories, the way we can take control of them (once we realize the story being told) and change things.

So, what did I think about Moonbound?

That’s a great question, and one I’ve been chewing on for more than a week now. I want to read this at least two more times before I think I’ll be ready to answer that. Maybe the fact that I want to read this at least two more times in the next year or so gives you and me both a hint about what I think about it.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this book since I started reading it two weeks ago. Part of that is to think about what I read and decide what Sloan was doing and what I thought about it. Another part of that thinking is just reveling in just how strange and wonderful it was.

While reading, when I was able to stop thinking things like, “what is going on here?” or “What is Sloan trying to accomplish?” and just enjoy it and get caught up in the story—I was able to lose myself in the book. And that got easier the further into the book I got. But I also spent an awful amount of time just trying to suss things out and overthinking things.

I don’t think that’s a bug when it comes to this book—it’s a feature. Sloan has given the reader so much to take in, that if you’re not chewing on almost every idea, you’re doing the book and yourself a disservice. But it’s also the kind of book you can relax with and enjoy. At a certain point in the book, Ariel learns to lay back and float in water—which is both one of those things that takes effort and can be incredibly relaxing at the same time. Like him, the reader has to learn how to “float” in this book. And when you do, you’ll be rewarded. How greatly you’ll be rewarded, I’m not sure—but you will be.

I’m not going to give this a star rating—sorry if that’s what you’re looking for. I just don’t know (in case I haven’t used that phrase enough yet in this post)—I can both defend every rating from 3-5 Stars, and I can wage a better argument against each of those. I encourage readers who find anything I’ve rambled about above intriguing, fans of Sloan, or people who read what the Publisher’s site says to give it a shot. And then let’s get together and talk about it, because I’d love to bounce some spoilery ideas off of someone.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Farrar, Straus and Giroux via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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COVER REVEAL: Cosmic Widow by Jonathan Nevair

By

On April 2, 2024

In Book Tour, Fiction, Science Fiction

I’m very pleased to welcome the Cover Reveal for Jonathan Nevair’s Cosmic Widow to The Irresponsible Reader this morning! This novel is the third in this series of stand-alone SF adventures. Incidentally, the other two books in the series, To Spy a Star and Stellar Instinct are on sale .99c on April 2nd for the Cover Reveal. Before we get to revealing the cover, let’s learn a little bit about the book and author, shall we? It’ll just take a moment, and then we can all feast on the cover.

Book Details:

Book Title: Cosmic Widow by Jonathan Nevair
Series: Agent Renault Adventures, Book 3
Genre: Adult Science Fiction
Publisher: Cantinool Books
Release date: November 19, 2024
Preorder Date: September 1, 2024

About the Book

A deadly race to recover a priceless portrait.

When the legendary Cosmic Widow vanishes from the galaxy’s premiere art museum, Agent Lilline Renault delves into a shadowy underworld to hunt down the missing masterpiece.

Her only clue: the thief’s enigmatic calling card. Following a scant trail of evidence, Lilline crosses paths with shady art dealers, eccentric university professors, and elusive forgers in a tangled search for the stolen work of art.

But the robber’s end game is more sinister than mere theft. Sleeping secrets stir inside the Cosmic Widow… If they wake, an arcane mystery locked away for ages could spell disaster across the stars.

About the Author

Jonathan NevairJonathan Nevair is a science fiction writer and educator originally from Long Island, NY. After two decades in the classroom, he finally got up the nerve to write fiction. His character-driven space operas and spy-fi thrillers have been nominated for multiple awards, including the National Fantasy Fan Federation Laureate Award (Stellar Instinct) and the Indie Ink Awards (Wind Tide and Stellar Instinct). Jati’s Wager was a 2022 Indie Ink Awards finalist and runner-up for the category, Writing the Future We Need: Nonbinary Representation. His short fiction is published in sci-fi journals, including Simultaneous Times.

Jonathan lives in southeastern PA with his wife and rambunctious mountain feist, Cricket. When not writing and teaching, he spends his time chasing his dog through the woods and stargazing with dreams of walking in space.

Website ~ Instagram ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Amazon Author Page ~ Goodreads ~ Indie Story Geek ~ Bookbub

and now…

The Cover

Cosmic Widow Cover

This eye-catching cover is the handiwork of Cover Artist/Designer: MIBLart.

Be sure to preorder this in September—and get the first books in the series, To Spy a Star and Stellar Instinct on sale .99c on April 2nd

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Kay-9 The Robot Dog by J.M. Gulmire: The Name Says it All

By

On March 29, 2024

In Dogs, Science Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Be sure to come back later this morning for a Q&A with the Author.

Kay-9 The Robot Dog Kay-9 The Robot Dog

by J.M. Gulmire

DETAILS:
Publication Date: September 2, 2023
Format: eARC
Length: 160 pg.
Read Date: September 16, 2023

What’s Kay-9 The Robot Dog About?

Ryan is having a rough time. His dad is overseas with the military—and Zoom calls just aren’t cutting it (actually, they may be making it worse). His mom’s allergies prevent them from getting a pet—and all Ryan really wants in the world is a dog.

So, he gets the idea of making one. Not in a bio-chem laboratory or editing genes to create a truly hypo-allergenic canine or something. But a robotic dog. His friend/neighbor Marcus helps out when he can—and Marcus’ little sister, Mariah, pushes her way into the project, too (and actually has some good ideas and contributions).

It’s not long before Ryan has moved beyond making a toy—between experimentation, online research, spare computer parts, and a little luck—he’s on his way to creating a real artificial pet.

Gulmire Zags Where Others Zig

It was in the 1980s that I first discovered stories where a kid/young person created computers, robots, androids, or spacecraft far beyond the capabilities of most professional computer engineers/corporate entities.* And while I rarely seek those out, I keep stumbling across them in various media to this day. I typically enjoy them—and have little trouble disengaging my disbelief for them, too.

* True, it was in the 1980s that I discovered pretty much everything, but that’s beside the point.

On the surface, Kay-9 The Robot Dog is one of a long line of those stories. But there’s something different about Gulmire’s approach to the creation of the Robot. Typically, most of the creation-stage happens off-screen (with maybe some comedic moments of trying it out in real life). But not here, the focus of this novel is on the creation. Trial and error. Going back to the drawing board. Thinking of a new feature and figuring out how to add it. Learning about processes necessary to get from Point A to Point B—and then beyond.

Sometimes, Ryan has to ask for help—and typically, that’s just a nudge in the right direction for research, not someone telling him what to do. The book could be titled “How to Build Your Dog” or something like that—it’s that focused on the process. I was perfectly fine with the “oh, I’ve seen this before” feeling—Gulmire was doing a good job with the usual pattern—but then when it became clear that he was taking the road less traveled, I became strongly invested.

Parenting

One of the big questions that every Middle Grade author has to deal with is “What do I do about the parents?” Often, they’re written out of the book somehow—the protagonist is at camp, or boarding school, lost in the woods, or whatever. Maybe they’re so busy at work that the protagonist rarely sees them (but generally in that case there’s some other authority figure to contend with). Sometimes, they’re written as witless or befuddled people who have to be avoided (which isn’t difficult), or they’re overbearing to one degree or another.

Ryan’s mom, however, is just a good mom. She’s involved, she makes sure he eats reasonably well, does his homework, and whatnot. They can enjoy a little back-and-forth in their conversation, but at the end of the day, she’s his mother, and he will act accordingly. She’s supportive and understanding of Ryan’s desire to have a dog, his difficulty without his father around, and then for his Kay-9 project. She’s his biggest cheerleader—but she makes sure to communicate the limits she’ll tolerate.

Marco and Mariah’s mom is also a great example of what a mom should be. The two of them together could be the focus of a TLC reality show.

So, what did I think about Kay-9 The Robot Dog ?

There’s this strong theme of a community supporting Ryan, running throughout this—and it only builds as the novel goes on. It’s understated, for the most part, but it’s there—and it generates more heart-warming energy than it should for the space it takes. I really appreciated that.

I also really appreciated the way that Gulmire addressed Ryan’s dad being overseas with the military and the stress it puts on everyone in the family. Like with so many of the things he succeeds with in this book, the depiction is strong and relatable. He never dips the toe into a “very special episode” kind of feel. But we see Ryan struggle with it, we see his mom struggle, too (we can imagine Dad’s struggle, but it’s not something the reader gets first-hand). Most importantly, this was dealt with honestly and compassionately.

This is a quick, light read (particularly for those not in the intended 7-12 year old audience). It’s full of joy and heart, with some good (and subtly delivered) life lessons. It’s a celebration of imagination, grit, and experimentation—all things we need more of. It’s also a tribute to the power of a kid-sister (your own or your friend’s) in getting things done. Best of all, it’s a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Check it out—or at least help the kid in your life give it a peek.

3 Stars

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A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen: Mike Chen + Time Travel + Love = A Real Winner

By

On March 25, 2024

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Mike Chen, Science Fiction

A Quantum Love StoryA Quantum Love Story

by Mike Chen

DETAILS:
Publisher: Mira Books
Publication Date: January 30, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Length: 346 pg.
Read Date: February 14-17, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

…it’s never changed. Nothing does.” Their eyes met, a sudden weariness to his pupils. “Except me.”

“And now me.”

“Yeah. It’s…” he bit his lip “…nice to not be alone. Everyone’s living their lives, and I’m just here.” He turned, the light catching his eyes enough to show a glisten. “It’s almost like playing a video game. You can do a few things differently, but everyone just returns back to start. You can scream and yell at the world, but everything snaps back. No one is aware. They just resume their lives. And then it repeats.” He bit his lip again, eyes scrunched as he shook his head. “It just repeats. Nothing matters. Nothing changes.”

What’s The Jacket Copy Say?

I’ve spent a month tossing out my summaries of the plot/setup to the book. I give up—I either make this bland (and that’s a crime), I get too detailed in trying to describe something (another crime, I’m dull at it, and Chen’s not), or it’s so sketchy on details that it’s pointless. So, let’s turn it over to the professionals:

Grieving her best friend’s recent death, neuroscientist Mariana Pineda’s ready fo give up everything to start anew, even her career—after one last week consulting at a top secref particle accelerator.

Except the strangest thing happens: a man stops her…and claims they’ve met before. Carter Cho knows who she is, why she’s mourning, why she’s there. And he needs Mariana to remember everything he’s saying.

Because time is about to loop.

In a flash of energy, it’s Monday morning. Again. Together, Mariana and Carter enter an inevitable life, four days at a time, over and over, without permanence except for what they share. With everything resetting—even bank accounts—joy comes in the little moments: a delicious (and expensive) meal, the purr of a tiny cat, a tennis match, giving a dog his favorite treat.

In some ways, those are all that matter.

But just as they figure out this new life, everything changes. Because Carter’s memories of the time loop are slowly disappearing, And their only chance at happiness Is breaking out of the loop—forever.

The Everyday Lifeness of it All

Mariana is not good at living in the day-to-day. She’s always been goal-driven, more focused on her dreams and plans and how to achieve them than about enjoying the journey. Her friend’s death has rattled her, yes, but she’s still essentially the same.

Carter, on the other hand, is great at living in the moment. Sure, he was (and could be again) good at the goal-driven life, too—but he chose a path his parents didn’t choose for him. He’s able to get Mariana to stop and smell the metaphorical roses–as well as the literal food in front of her. He shows her how to enjoy a good meal for the sake of a good meal, to take pleasure in the little things—not just to consume enough fuel to keep her going.

In the midst of trying to figure out what caused the time loop, what the effects of that flash of energy that sends them back to Monday are on the rest of the world, and how to stop it all, a real friendship develops—Carter and Mariana bringing out the best in each other.

The Groundhog Day/Time Travel

Now, if Chen’s Here and Now and Then taught us anything, it’s that Chen can write good Time Travel fiction—he gets the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas, the pitfalls to avoid, the way to keep it compelling. Adding in a Groundhog Day-like twist doesn’t change that, it just makes it better (and keeps this from being just a variation on his first novel).

This is a different kind of Time Travel than his previous book—and (as always) Chen gives us just enough of the science to make it believable, but not so much that you could go out and test it (or pick it to death in the details). The Time Travel aspect is important, but it’s not the core of the novel—that’s the stuff I talked about before.

What I personally found fascinating is how close Chen’s science-ish Time Travel resembled Gareth Brown’s magic-ish Time Travel, both in how it works and how it’s used. Two very different novels, with very different goals—but the overlap is fascinating. (at least to me)

So, what did I think about A Quantum Love Story?

I probably grinned through most of this book—particularly after the first loop for Mariana. I absolutely loved the friendship between the two—and then when it started to become more (not a spoiler, it’s literally the title), I was fully on board.

Chen was at his best here with his character design (the whole backstory about Mariana and her dead friend was so good…the kind of thing that other writers would devote a whole novel to) and the plot of the novel was even better. The best material happens so late that I don’t even know how to tell you about it without spoilers abounding—so I’ll be vague, once Carter’s memories start going, what was a great, heart-warming yet strange story becomes a dynamite emotionally-rich story with some of crazy turns.

No surprise for anyone who’s ever heard me talk about Mike Chen novels for the past six years—I strongly recommend that you pick this up. It’ll be one of those novels you relish and think about fondly for a long time to come.

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood by Bradley Sides: It’s the End(s) of the World As We Know It…

By

On February 29, 2024

In Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Science Fiction

Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the FloodCrocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood

by Bradley Sides

DETAILS:
Publisher: Montag Press
Publication Date: February 6, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 142 pg.
Read Date: February 23-26, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What The $#*! Did I Just Read?

This is a selection of short—sometimes very short—stories that the publisher describes as “magical realism.” Which I guess is fitting—some seem more like SF, Fantasy, or somewhere in-between, than what I think of as “magical realism.” But I’m not going to be finicky about the label—call it whatever you want, as long as “strange” fits into the definition. Because “strange” is the best word to describe every story (even if other words would do better for specific entries). And I truly mean that in the best of ways.

The other element element that characterizes these stories is “Southern Fiction.” This is incredibly apt—even when a story doesn’t mention a locale, or use a colloquialism or slang to show that this is Southern, there’s something about them that just screams Southern Fiction. You know it when you see it.

Economy Of Words

Other than “strange,” “weird,” and so on, the word that comes to mind when describing this book is “Economical.” How anybody can create a tone/tenor, voice, world, and characters in so few words time and time and time again is beyond my ken.

Sure, there are a handful of apocalypses in this book—but they’re distinct. The stories don’t feel like they’re talking about the same World-Ending Event (and they’re not, but you’d halfway expect them to feel similar). The monsters in Story X wouldn’t fit into Story Y, and probably wouldn’t even be noticed as all that monstrous in Story Z.

Bradley Sides is a skilled and gifted writer and you can see that on pretty much every page.

* I think “every page” would be a better way to put it, but let me understate it just in case there are 1-3 that miss.

So, what did I think about whatever that $#*! was?

The question that I started this post with is something I put in my notes more than once. And with maybe one exception, I followed it with “But I’m glad I read it.”

So, the collection started roughly for me—I liked the writing, but the story did nothing for me, but the second? “The Guide To King George” knocked my socks off. Most of the rest did, too. The titular story seemed like a miss to me, too (but what a great title).

Some of these made me laugh and/or chuckle—like the story of the young vampire girl who is desperate to leave her family farm, or the Choose Your Own Adventure story about a Father and Son during an apocalypse—but I stopped chuckling soon and shifted into something else. The setup to “Nancy R. Melson’s State ELA Exam, Section 1: The Dead-Dead Monster” was delightful, even if I felt guilty for being delighted by the end.

Then there are the sobering stories, the heart-wrenching stories. So many captivating, unnerving, and something-in-the-neighborhood of hopeful ways to look at death.

I really can’t explain this collection, as I think I’ve demonstrated pretty well here. I’m sure others can, and you should look for their comments. But I’ll tell you this, you’re not going to find many collections that are as pound-for-pound good as this one. Even when the story doesn’t quite strike you as successful or entertaining as the rest, you’re not going to forget it soon, or regret the experience.

Go grab a copy.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author and Lori Hettler of The Next Best Book Club in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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