My life in books

I have been very ill, and the prognosis for recovery is not good. If I must choose in my limited time whether to read more, or write reviews if what I read, I choose to read more. While I’m still going to write about most books, for short fiction, I’m just going to give you my opinions as simple ratings unless there us something I really need to say. Short fiction will be rated excellent, very good, good, no comment or not my cup of tea. Interpret these as you will.

“No Flight without the Shatter,” Brooke Bolander; Tor.com, August 15 2019.
https://www.tor.com/2018/08/15/no-flight-without-the-shatter-brooke-bolander/
Excellent. A bittersweet requiem. Novelette.

“Firelight,” Ursula Le Guin; Paris Review, Summer 2018. Paywall; subscription required.
https://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/7176/firelight-ursula-k-le-guin
Excellent. Le Guin bids a final farewell to Ged, and to us. Short story.

“The Starship and the Temple Cat,” Yoon Ha Lee; Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 1 2018.
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-starship-and-the-temple-cat/
Very good. Short story.

“The Starfish Girl,” Maureen McHugh; Slate, July 23, 2018.
https://slate.com/technology/2018/07/the-starfish-girl-a-new-sci-fi-short-story-about-gymnastics.html
Very good. Short story.

“A Brief and Fearful Star,” Carmen Maria Machado; Slate, June 27, 2018.
https://slate.com/technology/2018/06/a-brief-and-fearful-star-a-new-short-story-from-carmen-maria-machado-author-of-her-body-and-other-parties.html
Good. Short story.

“Asphalt, River, Mother, Child,” Isabel Yap; Strange Horizons, October 8 2018.
http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/asphalt-river-mother-child/
Excellent. Powerful use of traditional Philippine religious figures to tell a modern, and all too widespread, story. Short story.

“Music for the Underworld,” E. Lily Yu; Motherboard, March 29, 2018.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xkxqx/music-for-the-underworld
Excellent. Powerful and disturbing. Short story.

“Ruby, Singing,” Fran Wilde; Beneath Ceaseless Skies, September 27 2018.
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/ruby-singing/
Very good. Eerie, like a folktale. Short story.

John Chu, "Making the Magic Lightning Strike Me"; Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2017
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/making-magic-lightning-strike/

What prices are we prepared to pay to become what we most want to be - or think we want to be? This science-fictional story of the proverbial 98-pound weakling who wants to be a muscle man explores this question with sensitivity and compassion. The protagonist has made a heavy bargain - taking a dangerous underground job in return fir extensive alterations that turn his body into the muscular machine he longs to be, but even with all the external changes, it isn't quite enough.


Nicole Kornher-Stace, "Last Chance"; Clarkesworld, July 2017
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kornher-stace_07_17/

A post-apocalyptic story about a young girl who is captured by scavengers and used as a labourer to search for 'Before' treasures in a dangerous ruin. The protagonist's voice is well-developed and consistent, the story interesting, and the ending holds out some hope that taking the proverbial last chance nay bring something good. A good read.


Vina Jie-Min Prasad, "Fandom for Robots"; Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2017
https://uncannymagazine.com/article/fandom-for-robots/

Computron is the only sentient robot ever created, by accident, by a scientist who was never able to recreate his achievement. Computron 'lives' in a museum devoted to the history of robotics; it displays its sentience to museum visitors by answering their random questions. One day, a young visitor asks Computron if it has ever watched a particular anime series about a human and a sentient robot seeking revenge for the destruction of the human's family. Computron watches the anime, and discovers fandom. It's a charming story with sone spot-on observations about fandom, shipping, and fanfic. It's also a bit of a parable, about the way that the most unlikely of outsiders can find acceptance and friendship in the online world of fandom.


Rebecca Roanhorse, "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience (TM)"; Apex Magazine, August 8, 2017
https://www.apex-magazine.com/welcome-to-your-authentic-indian-experience/

Jesse Turnblatt, like most of his co-workers at Sedona Sweats, is a 'real Indian' who sells VR fantasy experiences to white tourists who "don’t want a real Indian experience. They want what they see in the movies." So he gives them fantasies about Indians who never were, until one day he meets a client who wants so much more.

This is half science fiction, half horror, and all about the real Indian experiences of cultural appropriation, the intersection of racism and sexism, theft of land, culture and even identity, and ultimately, genocide. The ending floored me with its parallels to the history of white appropriation of everything Indigenous. Read it.


Malinda Lo, "Ghost Town"; Uncanny Magazine, September/October, 2017 (originally published in Defy the Dark, ed. Saundra Mitchell, 2013)
https://uncannymagazine.com/article/ghost-town/

It's Halloween in Pinnacle, a small town in Colorado with a history of mining prosperity during the 'Old West' and a tradition of celebrating its ghosts. Ty is a young butch transplanted from San Francisco with her family to a place where she doesn't fit in, where there's no real place for a young lesbian among all the Beckys and Chads. When popular girl at school McKenzie invites her to go ghost hunting on Halloween, Ty accepts.

This is a ghost story. A good one. It's also a story about bullying and anti-queer bigotry and the history of violence against transgressive women - and a sisterhood that transcends the grave. It's told in layers, peeling back the events of the evening until the reader finally understands everything, and the impact is all the more because of this. I liked it a lot.


Lavie Tidhar, "The Old Dispensation"; Tor.com, February 8, 2017
https://www.tor.com/2017/02/08/the-old-dispensation/

The short story is framed as the observations of a telepathic ruler (or rulers, or some intermediate being with multiple consciousness) known as the Exilarch torturing one of its trained assassins to determine just what happened on his latest mission, from which he returned somehow changed. It is set in an interstellar theocratic empire based on Jewish tradition and culture, but it's a nasty place indeed, where heresy merits death and the Treif - races outside the rules of acceptability - are freely warred on to the point of extermination. Lavie leaves quite a lot to the reader to work out, including the nature of the Exilarch, the origin of the Empire, and the consequences of what happened to the assassin during his mission. Interesting reading, but I found it unsatisfying despite the suggestion at the end that the Exilarch's reign of terror might be nearing its end.


Yoon Ha Lee, "Extracurricular Activities"; Tor.com, February 15, 2017
https://www.tor.com/2017/02/15/extracurricular-activities/

Lee's novelette is set in the same universe as his novels Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem, and features one of the protagonists from that series, but is more accessible to the casual reader. It is set early in Shuos Jedao's career, and demonstrates the combination of skill, daring and foresight that will make Jedao legendary. The narrative has a light, at tines almost comedic tone, but there are hints of what is to come, particularly in Jedao's consciousness of the number of kills he makes. Yet at the sane time it's clear that he is dangerous, and thinks in terms of threat and violence. For readers of the novels, it's an interesting glimpse into one of Lee's most interesting characters. For those who don't already know Shuos Jedao, it's a finely crafted sf spy story.

Lately, I've been reading with an eye to making Hugo nominations, so this batch of short fiction reads is mostly selected from various lists of recommendations.


"The City Born Great," N. K. Jemisin; Tor.com, September 9, 2016
http://www.tor.com/2016/09/28/the-city-born-great/

An urban fantasy - though not the kind we're used to - about the gritty birth and life of the great cities, set in New York. Evocative and filled with a sense of urgency that pulls the reader toward its conclusion.


"This Is Not a Wardobe Door," A. Merc Rustad; Fireside Magazine Issue #29, January 2016
http://www.firesidefiction.com/issue29/chapter/this-is-not-a-wardrobe-door/

A story about imagination and hope and holding on to the magic of childhood when you believed you could change the world. At the end, I was crying.


"Checkerboard Planet," Eleanor Arnason; ClarkesWorld, December 2016
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/arnason_12_16/

A new Lydia DuLuth talr from Arnason is always a treat. In this novelette, the AIs who control the interstellar stargates have asked Lydia to investigate conditions on a planet with a most peculiar ecology - the entire land mass and parts of the oceans are organised into giant squares, all of similar size, with all the life forms in each square the same colour. The planet has been colonised by a biogenetics corporation which, the AIs fear, is not acting in the best interests of the planet or humanity. An anti-imperialist first contact story with a gentle and at times even whimsical touch.


"Fifty Shades of Grays," Steven Barnes; Lightspeed Magazine, June 2016
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/fifty-shades-grays/

Carver Kofax is a master at marketing and sales. But when he and his colleague (and romantic interest) Rhonda, land the corporation they work for a lucrative and highly secretive contract, the nature of the campaign demands all their skills - and leads to unexpected and dire consequences for all of humanity. Barnes handles the revelations in the narrative and the protagonist's growing unease with a sure hand. Content warning: this novelette contains sexually explicit kink.


"A Dead Djinn in Cairo," P. Djeli Clark; tor.com, May 18, 2016
http://www.tor.com/2016/05/18/a-dead-djinn-in-cairo/

In an alternate pre-WWI Cairo, where djinn and angels from other dimensions mingle with humans, Special Inspector Fatma el-Sha’arawi of the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities investigates the apparent suicide of a djinn, only to discover a mad plot to destroy humanity. Will the dapper young inspector solve the mystery in time? Clark's novelette is a delighful genre-bending fantasy thriller with a touch of steampunk. Cairo comes to life in complex and sensual detail, and Fatma is a character I'd love to see again.


"The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight," E. Lily Yu, Uncanny Magazine, Sept-Oct 2016
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/witch-orion-waste-boy-knight/

A relatively young and inexperienced witch decides to accompany a young knight errant seeking dragons to kill, and learns a few bitter lessons about honor, trust and pride.


"The Green Knight’s Wife," Kat Howard; Uncanny Magazine, November 2016
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/green-knights-wife/

A compelling riff on the Arthurian tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, told from the perspective of the Green Knight's wife, in which one of those women who is always on the sidelines in such hero tales, treated as merely part of the mythic machinery, takes up agency and acts for herself.


"Foxfire, Foxfire," Yoon Ha Lee; Beneath Ceaseless Skies, March 3, 2016
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/foxfire-foxfire/

A novelette blending fantasy and sf, set in a Asian- derived alternate universe where loyalists and rebels do battle with giant powered mechas. A young spirit fox with a great desire to become human - which he can only achieve by killing and eating 100 humans - is faced with difficult choices when captured by a mecha pilot. A story about transformations, and finding one's self.


"Unauthorized Access," An Owomoyela; Lightspeed Magazine, September 2016
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/unauthorized-access/

You would think a high profile hacker who's already spent time in prison for releasing government information that there was no reason to hide would be seriously radicalised - but for Aedo Leung, getting out of jail is only the beginning. A cautionary tale about the sequestration of public information that has suddenly become even more timely and appropriate.

I seem to be on a bit of a short fiction binge. Trying to read some stories from 2015, recommended in various places, that interest me.



"The Missing Guest," Alice Sola Kim, December 22, 2015, Lenny
http://www.lennyletter.com/culture/a200/the-missing-guest/

An unsettling story about friendship circles and outsiders, about being both participant and observer, with distinct undertones of the weird. I'm still not sure who the missing guest is, nor am I certain that I'm supposed to be.


"Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight," Aliette de Bodard, January 2015, Clarkesworld
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/debodard_01_15/

A nuanced portrayal of the varied responses to grief, set in de Bodard's Xuya Empire universe. A scientist whose work is vital to the future of the Empire dies, and her children - one of whom is a Mindship - and the woman who must carry on her mentor's work follow different paths in grieving. Moving piece, well written, with strong characterisation.


"Variations on an Apple," Yoon Ha Lee, October 2015, Tor.com
http://www.tor.com/2015/10/14/variations-on-an-apple-yoon-ha-lee/

A scintillating sciencefictional symphony of imaginings drawn upon the myths of the apple of discord and the siege of Troy. Lee does things with words and images and multi-layered references to music and mathematics that I can't even begin to describe. An ever-shifting but never-changing meditation on desire, choice and conflict.


"Adult Children of Alien Beings," Dennis Danvers, August 2015, Tor.com
http://www.tor.com/2015/08/19/adult-children-of-alien-beings-dennis-danvers/

A somewhat pedestrian novelette that literalises the feelings of difference and - if you'll pardon the pun - alienation that most of us experience. A middle-aged man uncovers evidence suggesting that his parents may not have been who, or what, they seemed to be, and embarks on a search for the truth - but ultimately realises there is a better way to resolve his crisis of self.


"Pockets," Amal el-Mohtar, February 2015, Uncanny Magazine
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/pockets/

Nadia has a peculiar problem. She keeps finding things in her pockets. Things she's never seen before, things that make no sense and have no apparent relevance to her life. Things that could not possibly be in her pocket, that are larger than any pocket she owns. El-Mohtar treats this surreal premise with the greatest seriousness, and brings it to a profound conclusion that speaks both to the mystery of the connections between people and the power of the creative impulse.


"Cassandra," Ken Liu, March 2015, Clarkesworld
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/liu_03_15/

A meditation on the nature of causality, the meaning of free will, and the morality of interference wrapped up in a super-hero tale, in which the villain is a vigilante acting on pre-cognition in an attempt to save the innocent while the iconic defender of truth and justice focuses on protecting the proper unfolding of time, come what may.


"Eye," Wole Talabi, February, 2015, Liquid Imagination
http://liquidimagination.silverpen.org/article/eye-wole-talabi/

Powerful piece of flash fiction about impossible, abhorrent choices. How far will a mother go, what will she sacrifice, to save the life of one of her children?