Nisi Shawl's short stories

Filter House, Nisi Shawl

Filter House is Nisi Shawl’s first book, a collection of short stories that all fit under the broad umbrella of speculative fiction, some leaning more toward science fiction, some toward fantasy, some toward magic realism, some toward the supernatural, all drawing on African/African-American experience and story. Shawl tends toward a literary voice, but I found all the stories in this collection accessible and immensely readable. Shawl looks fearlessly at the intersection of race, class and gender, and speaks from a post-colonial perspective that makes her work thought-provoking as well as entertaining.

I’m very much anticipating Shawl’s next published fiction, no matter what it is or when it arrives on the bookstore shelves.

Two for the wi(sco)n

Plugged In, Maureen McHugh & L. Timmel Duchamp

A slim volume containing just two stories, this book was released in limited edition by Aqueduct Press at WisCon 32 in 2008, where both Maureen McHugh and L. Timmel Duchamp were Guests of Honour (and I am extremely grateful to my WisCon-going friends for snagging a copy for me).

Both stories are solid science-fictional offerings dealing with the interaction of humans and technology; McHugh tackles the complexities of contact with an evolving AI, while Duchamp looks at the effects of advances in reproductive technologies on gender role and identity. Both are worth reading.

We are climbing Jacob's ladder

Dust, Elizabeth Bear

Start with a traditional science fictional setting: the multi-generational space ship (The Jacob's Ladder) stalling in its journey whose passengers, long years after the original catastrophe, have forgotten their goal and begin to evolve their own society, feudal/medieval in structure, with strict lines of caste/national identity based on the ship's duties of their ancestors. Add in some nifty new science fiction concepts, like artificial intelligences and bio-engineered nanoorganisms. Now toss in a big dose of Biblical and Arthurian legends and archetypes, from the grail story to the Garden of Eden, and give the recipe to one of the most original minds writing speculative fiction today, Elizabeth Bear.

What you get is not easy to describe, but very rewarding to read. And it’s the first in a trilogy, so there’s much more to come. This makes me happy.

A thoughtful space opera

In Conquest Born, C. S. Friedman

At one level, C. S. Friedman’s In Conquest Born is space opera at its best – two galactic civilisations, the Azeans and the Braxins, locked in a centuries-old conflict, brought to a head by the personal opposition of two powerful and charismatic personalities, each the war leader of one side. And on that level, it’s a magnificent read, full of political machinations and battles in space and daring forays into enemy territory and betrayals and surprising alliances and everything else you could want.

But it’s a lot more than that. It’s also an interesting examination of gender and race. Both empires are highly homogenous in physical type, to the extent that the Azean protagonist, Anzha, is virtually an outcast for much of her early life because she does not bear the racial imprint of golden skin and white hair. Furthermore, Azea’s culture can be seen as a somewhat feminised culture by traditional gender stereotypes, while Braxin culture is highly male-dominated and hierarchical. Think Athens and Sparta, and you’re headed in the right direction.

Another area that Friedman explores is that of the difficulties of interpretation between cultures – something that is often overlooked in space opera. In Friedman’s universe, alien cultures are really alien to each other, and you can’t just match up words and concepts and communicate with ease.

This is definitely a thinking person’s space opera.

Those who live by the sword...

Black Man. Richard Morgan

Richard Morgan’s Black Man (published in the US as Thirteen) is a powerful examination of race, religion, gender, identity politics, the ethics of genetic engineering, the future of American fundamentalism, the nature vs. nurture argument, society’s treatment of returned soldiers, the question of what happens when people or nations do something just because they have the power to do so, and probably a few more things I’m blanking out at the moment, all wrapped up in the guise of a fast-paced and violent crime thriller.

It’s complex, and exciting, and a little unwieldy in places, but I found it fascinating reading.

The storm god who fell to earth

The Grass-Cutting Sword, Catherynne M. Valente

In this book, Valente turns her exquisite literary style and her extensive knowledge of the roots and meanings of myth to a tale based on Japanese legends. The storm god Susanoo-no-Mikoto, cast out of heaven by his sun goddess sister, sets out to find his mother, the goddess Izanami, dead before his birth and now become the Root country, the land below the surface of the world, the place of death and decay. En route, he learns of the sad tale of eight daughters, all stolen away by an eight-headed, eight-tailed serpent, and decides to kill the monster and rescue the women. Valente tells the story from multiple perspectives, that of the god, the monster, and each of the eight sisters who have been consumed into the body of the monster.

Running through the various threads of the story is a grim examination of the experience of women in the family, whether they be goddesses or mortals. Particularly disturbing is the revelation that the eighth sister, having witnessed her older siblings' relationships with men, chooses to give herself to the monster rather than marry.

Very interesting reworking of Japanese mythology, but then, would you expect any less from Valente?