My life in books

"The Occidental Bride" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew, ClarkesWorld, #108, September 2015
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sriduangkaew_09_15/

Fascinating story on many levels. A young woman compromised by an innocent association with terrorists is forced by her government to help set up a trap for yet another terrorist by entering into an arranged marriage. And yet there is still the possibility of love and hope.


"Fabulous Beasts," Priya Sharma, July 27, 2015, Tor.com
http://www.tor.com/2015/07/27/fabulous-beasts-priya-sharma/

This is not a comfortable story. It is, however, a compelling one. Sharma's dark fantasy novelette is about family secrets, especially the ones that can't be told in the clean light of day, about mothers and sisters and daughters caught in those secrets, finding love as best they can. It's about living through the horror and pain, about surviving despite the wounds. Warning: sexual abuse, incest, rape.


"And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead," Brooke Bolander, February 2015, Lightspeed Magazine
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/shall-know-trail-dead/

Rhye is a foul-mouthed demobbed cyborg supersoldier with nothing left to do but cage fighting for spare change when she meets Rack, a cyberhacker and security expert. They make a good team, right up until they are hired to break into a data storage environment protected by a security system Rack himself designed. Then it all goes to hell. Adrenaline charged cyberpunk novelette with more than a few twists. A fast-paced, well-written novelette with strong characterisation, and fun to read.


"Look at Me Now," Sarah Norman, March 5, 2015, Omenana
http://omenana.com/2015/03/05/look-at-me-now/

An undocumented black woman living in London finds that she is able to become invisible, especially when upset or distressed - which is frequent enough in her day to day life in London, but becomes more and more common, as the news of political unrest and violence from her home country grows worse. Strong characterisation and one hell of an ending.


"Discovering Time Travel," Suleiman Agbonkhianmen Buhari, January 15, 2015, Jalada
http://jalada.org/2015/01/15/discovering-time-travel-by-suleiman-agbonkhianmen-buhari/

Interesting experiment in style. Aside from a brief introduction and conclusion, the story is told entirely in dialogue - an interrogation scene, in fact - and the reliability of the main character is in doubt throughout the entire scene. I found the dialogue awkward but the story it unveils interesting. And the end gave me a chill.


"Devil's Village," Dayo Ntwari, WRITIVISM Short Story Competition shortlist
http://munyori.org/writivism-2015-shortlist/devils-village-by-dayo-adewunmi-ntwari/

Tautly written milsf-flavoured story about factional violence and government malfeasance in Nigeria. A mercenary on a mission to deliver a priest to an outlaw village discovers just how great the gap is between reality and political propaganda.