Tag: 2019

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In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang

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Before I begin: This is the last of my pre-prepared posts (because The Slump is nowhere near over … *sigh*) which I wrote back in August. After this anything I post will be me winging it – for which I apologise in advance!   Even if you were to glance at this and think it’s not your kind of thing, I can recommend reading Doctorow’s introduction. In it he talks about economics, how the internet is changing ways of doing things, the importance of knowing where your stuff comes from and the power of protest. In the story that then … Continue reading In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang

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The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

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  I love reading about people who can do a thing I find incomprehensible really well. One of the best things about reading is that you get to imagine what it must be like to love something or be good at something that you have no experience of – it makes the world feel wider and more interesting. “There are times when numbers paint pictures in my head.” I can’t do maths. I don’t understand anything more than basic addition, subtraction and multiplication. I still get in a sweat when I have to work out people’s change at work. So … Continue reading The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

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Saga, volume 1 Brian K Vaughan & Fiona Staples

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Oh the glee! Don’t you just love that feeling when you read (or watch) the first in a series, enjoy yourself thoroughly and get to anticipate everything you have still to read (or watch)? I’m wallowing in that feeling right now. After finally buying volume one of Saga at the end of last year (thanks to Dragons and Zombies making it sound exactly like something I’d want to read – you can read her thoughts here, here and here on the first three volumes) and being all in a hurry to get on with it, I only picked it up … Continue reading Saga, volume 1 Brian K Vaughan & Fiona Staples

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Nightflyers by George R R Martin

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Originally published back in 1980, Nightflyers is a novella-length story that was recently repackaged and turned up on the shelves at work. I wouldn’t have picked it up but for the fact that this new edition is illustrated by David Palumbo (the man responsible for those gorgeous painterly Binti novella covers *all the hearts*) and I really love his stuff. And, yeah, it’s a short, quick scifi read and my month is going to hell in a handcart so I’ve had to restack a couple of bigger tomes I intended to read. Ugh, life gets in the way sometimes, you … Continue reading Nightflyers by George R R Martin

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Changing Vision by Julie E Czerneda

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Changing Vision is book two in Czerneda’s Web Shifters trilogy. Book one was Beholder’s Eye, which I first read for SciFi Month last year – thoughts here if you’re interested – which I find a very pleasing; there’s a symmetry in that. Nothing I have to say here is going to overtly spoil the first story for you, but if you’re thinking of reading them my advice would be to read these books in order. A lot of what happens in Changing Vision is directly related to events and characters from Beholder’s Eye and you really don’t want to miss … Continue reading Changing Vision by Julie E Czerneda

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The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag

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  A young girl and her little bobble-headed robot travel across a dystopian America, heading for the coast. Doesn’t sound too worrying, does it? Might even be adorable. Don’t be fooled. This is an infectiously spooky, creep-inducing story told in sparse prose and stunning digital paintings. The mounting unease I felt while reading this was unexpected, but, man, did I enjoy myself. In Stålenhag’s America, circa 1997, the country (perhaps the world? We never find out) has fought some sort of massive war using technology that has allowed humans to pilot giant warships and battle-robots remotely. The scars and detritus … Continue reading The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag

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Implanted by Lauren C Teffeau

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It seems appropriate for me to kick off this year’s participation in Scifi Month by reading the book I won during last year’s Scifi Month: Implanted by Lauren C Teffeau – the first thing I have ever won, and which I am still very excited about one year later (it’s even signed by the author – squeee). I have a soft spot for stories set in enclosed societies. I don’t know quite what it is that appeals to me about these worlds in miniature, but if the planet’s gone to hell in a handcart and survivors are living underground or … Continue reading Implanted by Lauren C Teffeau

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The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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I enjoy that moment, when you start to read a little more by an author, and get a feel for the characteristics of their writing or the themes that preoccupy them. Having only read Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle previous to this (my thoughts here if you’re interested) I didn’t know quite what to expect going in, although I had hopes. On finishing The Haunting of Hill House I desperately want to go scoop up everything Jackson has written and anything that has been written about her and greedily gobble it all down, because I really like … Continue reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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The Thread that Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

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OK, this wasn’t quite as spooky as a Halloween read should be, but I’m still counting it because there were ghosts. Jo Walton only had to write one sentence about the type of magic Hoffman writes to make me hunt down this first Chapel Hollow book: “If you’re asking how it works then you’re reading it wrong”. Because that’s the kind of magic I want to read about. (And some of Walton’s thoughts on Hoffman can be found here at tor.com if you’d like to be similarly enthused). It’s great magic: instinctive and intuitional and not bound by a lot … Continue reading The Thread that Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

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The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

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It’s time for something creepy, something a little bit spooky; it’s time to wonder at the things that go bump in the night. It’s time, in fact, for the Wyrd & Wonder mini event: Spooktastic Reads 2019.   Let’s get this out of the way first: I am a huge scaredy-cat. Horror movies terrify me and I never go to the cinema to watch one because I need the lights on and to be able to tuck my feet up on my seat and … you can snigger all you want … I need a soft toy or my blanky … Continue reading The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson