Exploring Worlds

Sunday Short: Aliette De Bodard's Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight

2016-09-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Sunday Short is Aliette De Bordard's ‘‘Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight’’, published in Clarkesworld. It was nominated for a Locus Award and won a BSFA for best short fiction.

The story, set in the far future in Aliette De Bodard's Xuya universe, takes part in three parts with three different viewpoints, each introduced with a cup of tea. All three are individuals mourning the loss of Duy Uyen, a biological mother to two and colleague to another.

First, Quang Tu - the firstborn son of Duy Uyen - is mourning the death of his mother and the loss of her memory implant. In this future, memory implants are typically inherited by children, but Duy Uyen was working on research important to the empire and the implants are passed along to her colleague Tuyet Hoa instead. The second part focuses on Tuyet Hoa as she adjusts to someone else's memories and continues the work that is Uyen's legacy. Last, we see the perspective of The Tiger in the Banyan, a mindship who was Duy Uyen's child.

I did find the grief of each perspective poignant. Everyone grieves a loss differently, and even the least 'human' of perspectives still rings with truth in this story. As a mother now, the scenes of Uyen's children grieving got me in the gut.

The science was distracting, though. As interesting an idea of growing food by starlight might sound, there are many other low light food plants that could have been the starting point for any serious research into creating a staple to grow in space. The idea that a human mind could be set up to work as a mind ship for many times longer than a human could live was also distracting -- how is one life prolonged but not the other?

Overall, it was an interesting peak in an alternative history universe, but I was distracted by some of the details. I was left a little unsatisfied on the story front, as not much happened - no action, not much character growth; I am not sure if it would have been aided by a focus on just one perspective.

Favorite quote: Because the answer to Professor Duy Uyen’s death, like everything else, was deceptively, heartbreakingly simple: that no one was irreplaceable; that they would do what everyone always did—they would, somehow, forge on.

I'm baaaaaack (again)!

2016-09-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

So. I took a hiatus. (Can it be called a hiatus if I have taken more months away from the blog than I've actually written? I am going to say Yes.)

Things happened. I delivered my second daughter in January, went back to work in May, developed a hardcore coffee habit, and have generally wondered where the time has gone since. But I have kept reading*!

I am not sure what kind of pace I will actually be able to maintain on this blog. Certainly it probably wont match those who post a few times a week or even more than a few times a month. I don't know if I'll review everything (or even most novels) that I read. But I do miss writing here, and I do want to get back to it. So I am going to try again!

But I am going to start small and manageable by bringing back the Short Story Sundays. Next Sunday, I'll read and review the first of the Locus nominees for Short Story available online:

‘‘Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight’’, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 1/15)
‘‘Madeleine’’, Amal El-Mohtar (Lightspeed 6/15)
‘‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’’, Alyssa Wong (Nightmare 10/15) - 2016 Nebula Award Winner
‘‘Cat Pictures Please’’, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld 1/15) - 2016 Locus Award Winner.

*snapshot of the books I've read thus far in 2016 (so much good!!!):

Sunday Short: Amal El-Mohtar's The Truth About Owls

2015-09-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Sunday Short (coming a day late -- sorry!) is The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar, available via Strange Horizons.

This coming-of-age story follows Anisa, a teenage girl who lived in Lebanon in a time of war and now lives in Glasgow near an owl center. It is light in terms of fantasy or sci-fi, but focuses more on Welsh folk stories and the emotional experiences of an immigrant girl. She witnesses an owl killing the family's rooster in her youth and feels the first stirrings of power / her impact on the world around her.

The story didn't pull me in as much as other short stories recently have -- I don't have too much familiarity with Welsh folktales and the story of Mabinogion / Blodeuwedd wasn't really fleshed out enough for me to appreciate it's implications in this story. There were some beautiful moments, and I did appreciate the background (another coming of age story affected by war, similar to Bodard's Breath of War featured last week).

Favorite quote:

"You're well into this, you are."

"It's just—" Anisa bites her lip, looking at Blodeuwedd, raising her slightly to shift the weight on her forearm, watching her spread her magnificent wings, then settle, "—sometimes—I feel like I'm just a collection of bits of things that someone brought together at random and called girl, and then Anisa, and then—" she shrugs. "Whatever."

Izzy is quiet for a moment. Then she says, thoughtfully, "You know, there's another word for that."

"For what?"

"What you just described—an aggregation of disparate things. An anthology. That's what The Mabinogion is, after all."

Anisa is unconvinced. "Blodeuwedd's just one part of someone else's story, she's not an anthology herself."

Izzy smiles, gently, in a way that always makes Anisa feel she's thinking of someone or something else, but allowing Anisa a window's worth of view into her world. "You can look at it that way. But there's another word for anthology, one we don't really use any more: florilegium. Do you know what it means?"

Anisa shakes her head, and blinks, startled, as Blodeuwedd does a side-wise walk up her arm to lean, gently, against her shoulder. Izzy smiles, a little more brightly, more for her, and says: "A gathering of flowers."

Next week's story will be When it Ends, He Catches Her by Eugie Foster available via Daily Science Fiction.

Sunday Short: Aliette de Bodard's The Breath of War

2015-09-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Sunday Short is Aliette de Bodard's The Breath of War, published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Cover art for BCS's Issue #142 - Sojourn by Ferdinand Dumago Ladera.

The Breath of War is set in a world where women carve breath-siblings (or stonemen) out of stone at their accession to adulthood that are needed to breathe the very first breathe of life into a baby at birth. The protagonist we follow is Rechan, who is very pregnant and on a journey into mountains to find her breath-siblings. It is rare for a woman to live apart from her carved stoneman/stonewoman, mainly because any child born without the breath-sibling present would be stillborn.

In her youth, Rechan went into the mountains and carved a mysterious breath-sibling named Sang, that didn't return with her to civilization post-carving. The reader is given small details throughout the story of Rechan at her time of carving into adulthood -- a teenage girl denied life abroad because of local war, who uses that frustration to create something altogether an antithesis of what you'd thing a breath-sibling (and bringer of life to a small, helpless newborn) would be. Years later, Rechan wants to become a mother and avoids seeking out her stoneman until the last possible moment, because confronting Sang means confronting the decisions she made and the emotions she felt in her youth

I found Bodard's worldbuilding fascinating, if a little foreign / difficult to get into at first, and I think she weaves a tale both interesting and worthy of telling. An adult is protected by the weapon she creates in her angry youth; a reminder that our lives are something more (or that they should at least be) than what we might experience or feel in our youth. And that war / violence has far reaching consequences that can be easy to dismiss in stories we read for entertainment. Maybe I am the target audience for a story like this (being in my *cough* 30s and also not exactly where I thought I'd be or want in my teenage years), but I found it unique and most timely after some of the images this week of Syria refugees.

Favorite quote:

Sang was silent, for a while. I will come back, he said.

He wouldn’t. Rechan knew this with absolute certainty—Sang was the desire to escape, the burning need for flight that she’d felt during her adolescence. Once he found space, he would be in the home he’d always been meant for; and who could blame him for not looking back? “Of course,” she lied—smoothly, easily. “You can always come back.”

Interested in hearing another opinion on this story and the others I will cover in the Sunday Shorts this month? Check out Alicia at The Cyborg Knight who is doing a read along with me!

Next week's story will be The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar, which is available via Strange Horizons.

announcing short story september!

2015-08-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

I have made no secret in the past of my love for the short story format with my regular Sunday Shorts feature, where I highlight one sci-fi / fantasy / horror short story available online. I have also guest posted about my love for the short story at Oh the Books. But now I am going a step further and declaring September the month of the short story* -- Short Story September!

What does that mean for the blog? My plan for the month is to continue with my weekly Sunday Short feature, with the following schedule for the month and where each story can be found:

September 6: The Breath of War by Aliette de Bodard available via Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

September 13: The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar available via Strange Horizons.

September 20: When it Ends, He Catches Her by Eugie Foster available via Daily Science Fiction

September 27: A Kiss With Teeth by Max Gladstone available via Tor.

An astute reader might notice that these stories (along with Ursula Vernon's Jackalope Wives, featured this past weekend on the blog) can be found on the short list that io9 put together on what the Hugo ballot for the short story category could have looked like this year without Puppygate. These are the stories that other WorldCon members thought were the best of 2014, and I think they are going to be fun to explore here!

Additionally, I will have weekly posts devoted to some of my favorite venues for short stories online, plus a review of a recent short story anthology or two. And for the first time, I am also hoping to feature other bloggers that read / review short stories, plus maybe link up with a few bloggers who want to read some short fiction for the first time.

Which brings me to the big invitation -- are you interested in adventuring into the world of the short story with me? If so, sign up via the linky below, and I will make sure to follow along with your short story adventure and include it in a weekly highlights post this month! You can read / review your favorite short stories, do a read along of the stories I will feature each Sunday, or do something else promoting short stories -- it is really your choice!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me at exploringworldsfiction@gmail.com or comment below!

*While doing my research putting together this post, I did find out that May has previously been declaring as short story month (to follow April's National Poetry Month), but I am pretty certain that short stories are cool enough to have an extra more alliterative month devoted to them... right? :)

Sunday Short: Ursula Vernon's Jackalope Wives

2015-08-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Sunday Short was the 2014 Nebula award winning short story, Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon, published in Apex. It was also listed in io9's list of what the Hugo ballot this year could have been.

by Lauren Marx

This story begins with a young man in a town who has a touch of magic and a heap of brooding about him. On moonlit nights, this town can hear the wild music of the jackalope wives, who slip out of their jackalope skins and dance. The young man decides that one jackalope wife in particular that he would catch:

She danced farther out from the others and her horns were short and sharp as sickles. She was the last one to put on her rabbit skin when the sun came up.... She danced a little apart from her fellows, as he walked a little apart from his.

The story then takes off as he catches her and throws her skin in the fire. The jackalope wife screams, he realizes the wrongness of what he is doing, and he rescues the skin half-burned from the fire. She tries to put it on, but it doesn't transform her back into a jackalope. The young man goes to his grandma for aid.

I thought it was a beautiful story -- an interesting mash-up of the selkie fairytales and 'modern folktale' of the jackalope. The character of Grandma Harken made it shine, and the ending was delightful. This flavor of magical realism in fantasy/folktale is wonderful, especially in the short story format. This story is definitely worth a read in my book -- 5/5 stars!

Favorite line:
Perhaps he thought she might understand him. Perhaps he found her as interesting as the girls found him.

Perhaps we shouldn't always get what we want.

Alicia at the blog Cyborg Knight will be reading along and sharing thoughts on the upcoming short stories I am featuring in September. Look out for a post this week for more information about the upcoming short stories, in case anyone else is interested in reading along.

Next week's short will be the 2014 Nebula nominee The Breath of War by Aliette de Bodar, published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

thoughts on introducing kids to fandom

2015-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Another blog post? Only a day after the last, which was only a day after the last? I guess everything that happened this past weekend at WorldCon has gotten to me. And I have THOUGHTS.

There is a facebook post making the rounds post Hugo awards. Michael Rothman took his two sons the watch the Hugo awards after they'd all read and voted on them, not explaining the conflict that surrounded them this year beforehand, and they all left feeling left out when puppygeddon happened. The original post can be found here, but Brad Torgensen (one of the Sad Puppies leaders) also posted about it here.

I think if I had a chance to talk with Rothman’s kids, I would first sit us all down and watch Wil Wheaton’s speech to a newborn captured on YouTube as “Why it’s awesome being a nerd,” which you can watch below or find here:

Find the things that you love and

love them the most that you can.

That video always hits me in the feels.

Then, after we watched the video, I’d tell them that there will be times in fandom and in life that others don’t love the same exact thing that they love and that is OK. We all have had our own experiences, I am sure, of being told how weird it is to love the geeky things we do. Growing up geek was an incredibly lonely experience at times for me (as I imagine it was for many many others). We can’t control what other people do, and we can’t let adult conflicts (such as the Hugo awards) dictate how we love the things we love. I think that is a very important lesson for all of us to learn at some point.

In this Hugo awards conflict, it is disingenuous to continually just say that the other side needs to make it better, be better, for the next generation. We ALL need to be better. I have sort of entered late into trying to understand everything going on, but I see issues in how things have been handled on ALL sides.

My daughter (who is only 2, so a little ways off from fandom... although you could probably call her a Curious George / Sophie the First fangirl) will probably not like the same things as Rothman’s kids. She probably will not geek out about the same things as me, either.

I can hope my mommy hope that she never ever experiences rejection and disappointment for her geeky loves, but it is going to happen at some point and there is nothing I can do about it unless I want to raise a bubble-child. Instead, I hope I can raise her in a way that she knows she can geek out about almost anything and find someone else who loves it too… and also probably find others that DON’T love it too.

Fandom/civilization/life isn’t composed of this homogeneous crowd that will celebrate the same things that I love, and that diversity of opinions and viewpoints isn’t a bad thing.

If it were me, I wouldn’t have brought my kids to the Hugo awards as an introduction to fandom. I’d find out what exactly they most want to see / do at WorldCon outside of the awards ceremony (that was only ever going to be some level of controversy) and make sure we did that instead — be it meet an author, attend a talk on something awesome and weird, go to ballroom/regency dancing lessons, check out the cool art on display and maybe bid on something original and unique, find a geeky pride shirt, learn to shoot a bow and arrow from the local LARP group, etc. I didn’t attend WorldCon this year, but those are the type of events that I’ve seen and participated in at my local cons and loved. And that is where I think cons shine as a way to introduce kids to fandom.

Sunday Short: Seanan McGuire's The Myth of Rain

2015-08-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday Shorts are back this week with a story published originally in Lightspeed and soon to be released as part of an anthology Loosed Upon The World.

I have been thinking about the future a lot recently. I think it is partly hormones (I'm pregnant with #2, due in January), and partly just a normal part of adulthood. What will my generation's impact be?

So, when I read Seanan McGuire's short story The Myth of Rain this week... it caught me in the gut. Is McGuire's future what my daughters have to look forward to? I have friends who work on climate change issues. I live in southern California, in the midst of the deep drought. I am from the Pacific Northwest and hope my family can make it's way there in the not too distant future. Because I know where I live / how things are going isn't entirely sustainable and may already be too late.

In McGuire's short, we follow a biologist who is helping to capture owls to save before a new development takes over their protected habitat. She is trying to capture one more female spotted owl for an ark. Her musings on the topic of climate change (from a historical perspective versus our in-the-moment perspective) are a bit heart wrenching. I love science fiction for its speculative nature, but sometimes I don't always love what it gets me speculating on.

But overall, this story is crafted in a way I've truly come to appreciate of Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant). She tackles interesting science in her fiction (short and long forms) while targeting interesting moral topics. This short story isn't fun nor optimistic, but maybe we need more stories like it to truly do something. I'm definitely planning on picking up the anthology this story will be apart of when it comes available. And maybe lose more than a few nights sleep after reading it.

Naomi Novik's Uprooted

2015-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

It is probably no surprise to anyone who has seen my reading list that I am a sucker for epics. I can't say no to stories that span hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of pages, where an author can take his/her time to introduce us to the characters and their relationships, construct complex mysteries and politics, and develop interesting and intricate magic / fantasy systems. I can't help but see big books (and the worldbuilding they promise) and sometimes get a little giddy -- hello new world, I want to devour and delight in you!

But there is something delightful to me about finding a standalone novel that satisfies my epic fantasy hunger. And Novik's latest novel Uprooted does that so well!

Uprooted follows the story of Agnieszka, who has lived her entire life in the shadow of The Wood, a malevolent and corrupted forest miles from her valley home. We meet her just before she is chosen by the Dragon, a wizard who serves as the noble lord for her valley (and protects it as best he is able alone). The Dragon takes a girl from the valley aged 17 every 10 years, and the girls always return changed.

Within Agnieszka's story, Novik develops a complex world of sorcery and magic, with interesting characters and complex mysteries... all in under 500 pages. I couldn't put the book down once I started it; even when pesky things like child rearing and work made me do other activities, I was thinking about this story.

I loved Agnieszka's relationship with Kasia, her childhood friend. I loved the fact that there was a love interest in the story for Agnieszka, but that it wasn't the central facet of her story/development. I just plain loved Agnieszka; she was a bit stubborn but also often right about things despite everyone else's doubts. The pacing of the story was fantastic, and the plot moved unexpectedly enough that I wasn't certain where it was going to end up.

As much as epic-loving me would love to revisit the world Novik has built here (maybe following a few other characters' tales), the ending was satisfying to me. I am definitely going to recommend this to friends/family/anyone who ever makes the mistake of asking me for an interesting story to read in the coming months! Five out of five stars.

Erika Johansen's The Queen of the Tearling

2015-08-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

I read this book in preparation for the first meeting of a new local sci-fi/fantasy bookclub Cyborg Knights.This Thursday will be the first meet-up (details here), and I am definitely interested to hear what other bookworms thought of this month's pick.

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

There are many things to love about this book -- the main character Kelsea is introspective and earnestly trying to do her best when there are no good choices, the dystopian medieval/future setting is interesting, the Queen's guard is full of well developed characters. I couldn't put the book down when I started it in the evenings; the pacing (which started at a slow burn that caught along faster as you progressed) worked for me. I am a sucker for stories where magic is an unknown quality that you discover with the characters. I thought the story was brought to a good conclusion, for the first in the series. And I definitely plan to read onward in the land of Tearling.

I just... didn't need the constant reminders that Kelsea was ugly. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and physical beauty is just one aspect of a person. The author discussed her motivation for creating an ugly heroine in this blog post last year, and I can attest for plenty of beautiful / perfect female characters in fantasy/sci-fi and applaud her for trying something different. But by focusing on it so steadily, she hasn't created a character that is ugly; she has created a character that is insecure. As the mom of a daughter (with another one on the way), I think we need examples of heroes/heroines doing awesome regardless of physical appearance. I wanted Kelsea to acknowledge that physical beauty may never be hers... and then recognize that she can be awesome and heroic and even feminine without a perfect body or perfect hair or perfect features. She is tantalizingly close to that realization at times, but then it slips away.

To me, there wasn't much in the way of mystery or romance as the book blurbs touted, either. Kelsea develops a crush and then spends most of her time thinking about the crush in terms of how ugly/unappealing she must be to him. One of the central mysteries is simply Kelsea figuring out what her childhood caregivers were unable / unwilling to tell her about her mom. It was an awkward mystery to me; I cannot see how a good citizen of Tearling would not want to educate the future ruler of the kingdom on recent history for some sense of loyalty. It seemed contrived.

Overall, it was a fast read with a few flaws, but one I'd recommend to fans of the fantasy genre in the mood for coming-of-age. I give it a solid 3.5/5 stars.

Favorite Line: “Even a book can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and when that happens, you blame the hands, but you also read the book.”

If you are in the mood for a fantastic fantasy coming-of-age new-royalty-in-a-hostile-environment story -- I have to recommend wholeheartedly is the Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. It has been nominated for a Hugo this year for best novel and is definitely there by merit. It features the story Maia, a half-goblin heir (and thus, physically not considered attractive to most in his kingdom) to the throne who was previously exiled. Everyone (including Maia) is surprised when all other heirs perish along with his father and he is made emperor. There is plenty of court intrigue -- who can Maia trust, as he was never fully educated / prepared for the role he has been thrust into. Maia tries to be a kind ruler in much the same way as Kelsea tries. Neither succeeds to wholly save or win over all, but I think it makes all the better a story that way.

I'm baaaaack!

2015-08-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

So. Hi? Remember me? Yea. It has been awhile. I am sorry about my absence; life sort of took me through a few loops (and twists and squiggly lines) the last six months.

But I think I am ready to get back at it. Missing my own first year blog anniversary at the end of June was a bit of the depressing kick in the pants I needed to start writing again. I am not promising I will be as awesome as I was or have as many posts overall, but I am hoping for at least 2 novel length (plus a few Sunday Shorts) reviews a month. (And someday I will have the courage to write my review on the final book in the Dark Tower series / finish my Weird Western Battle of the Books. I will!)

See, it isn't as if I haven't been reading some spectacularly awesome speculative fiction. Case in point, a screenshot of what I've read this year thus far:

Now, you may spot a few definitively NOT sci-fi/fantasy/horror picks in there (although, a book on parenting toddlers may or may not be defined as horror, parents-amIright?), but I'm still reading and loving myself some speculative fiction. My average star review rating on goodreads this year has been over 4/5 stars. I dare say I have hit a groove in terms of my growing to-read list. And I am getting the recommending itch again -- in the past month I may have bombarded a hapless person or three with why Mira Grant is so much awesome (parasites and brains!) or explained why Harry Dresden is so fun to read (I don't believe in fairies!). And that urge -- to spread the love on why reading sci-fi, fantasy, and horror can be soooo good -- is exactly why I wanted to start this blog in the first place. So it is time. Let the reviews ala Exploring Worlds begin again!

See you soon!

Sunday Short: David D. Levine's Damage

2015-02-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

This week's short is David D. Levine's short story Damage, published in January via Tor.com.

Illustration by Victor Mosquera, published in Tor.

In this story, we are told the story of the final battles of the Free Belt base Vanguard versus the Earth Alliance, from the perspective of Scraps -- the AI of a Free Belt fighter ship. Scraps is made of parts of other ships that have died, and has been programmed a unique AI to handle the specifications.

Honesty time: I am actually not much of a space military opera fan. Ships shooting ships in groups of people fighting just as they did here on Earth -- it isn't as interesting an area of sci-fi to me as some other areas right now. It has to have something special -- questions of identity / survival (ala BSG) or political intregue (ala Ancillary Justice) -- to get me interested.

But I did enjoy this short story, mainly for the narrator. Scraps struggles with her programming that enables a conscious. As told in the story, the programmer's reasoning is that a fear of death begets a better fighting machine (as it doesn't want to die), but it also creates the knowledge of the impact of death on the enemy. And this definitely has implications on how far an AI will go to follow orders that will destroy many lives.

Scraps is also programmed with an unconditional love for her pilot, which reminded me a little of Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice/Sword series (with a little less subtlety -- which can be forgiven given the short story vs novel setting). By the end of the story, I was rooting for Scraps, and I did want to see what happened.

If you are a fan of Leckie's series or like near space / military stories, you might enjoy this short. It has made me realize that I do probably need to give space opera another try. Readers -- have you any recommendations for a special space opera I should try?

Sunday Short feature: Top Shorts for 2014

2014-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

Around the interwebs, others have been listing out their favorite stories published this year. I thought it would be a good idea to compile them -- there are some great recommendations here (and my to-read list has skyrocketed).

Charlotte Ashley's Clavis Aurea #20: Best Short Fiction of 2014 in Apex Magazine

Sabrina Vourvoulias's Looking for the best Speculative fiction of 2014 in expected, and unexpected, places

Fran Wilde's 2014 Favorite Reads

Speculative Short Fiction Deserves Love! discussion - Best/Favorite Short Fiction of 2014

Sword & Laser Discussion - Potential 2015 Hugo Nominees - Short Stories

Do you have any favorites from short stories published this year? Leave them in the comments!

Karen Lord's The Galaxy Game

2014-12-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord

I really wanted to like this book -- I've always enjoyed my space opera with a side of political intrigue before. The Galaxy Game follows one teenage boy, Rafi, as he escapes government investigation for his psychic powers, travels to another planet, and tries to play his favorite game (wall running) with the elites.

But... I couldn't finish this book.

I spent the first 15% of this book confused -- so many different cultural references, so many different planet/base/city names to try and keep straight. I am a reader of epic fantasies and complicated space operas, so I like to think I can keep my character straights with the best of them... but this book was out there. I haven't read Lord's other book set in the same greater world (The Best of All Possible Worlds), but this book is being marketed as a standalone. As a standalone, it has a rather large learning curve for the backstory.

I kept trying until Chapter 6 / 34%, but I couldn't do it anymore. The central character (Rafi) isn't really all that likable. When the adults in his life let him make a potential disastrous decision to go on the run from the government and then... they pout about it... I couldn't convince myself to continue to try and put the work in. I was just not all that interested in the central characters.

One bright moment for me was the first time Rafi tries wall running. It was fun, as a reader, trying to keep up with the way gravity shifted with each level (and noting how quickly clumsy me would fail). But it was an interesting aside for a story that overall confused and frustrated me.

Rating 2/5.

Sunday Short: S. L. Huang's Hunting Monsters

2014-12-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

One of the funnest parts of this review feature, for me, is finding new sources of short fiction. I was particularly excited, then, when I found out that the Book Smugglers were starting a short story publishing venture. On their website, they explain: 'With the goal of discovering the best voices in speculative fiction from across the world, Book Smugglers Publishing publishes original short fiction featuring subversive, feminist, and diverse perspectives.'

Book Smugglers Publishing first story, S. L. Huang's Hunting Monsters, was published back in October, and is the short I am featuring this week.

A beautiful retelling of two fairy tales (Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast), it is a story told from the perspective of Xiao Hong, a girl raised by her mother Mei and 'aunt' Rosa. In the world that Huang crafts here, there are beings called Grundwirgen -- humans in animal form. Xiao's mother is arrested and accused of grundwirgen murder, and when Xiao begins to search for evidence in her mother's defense, secrets from the family's past come to light.

I loved this story -- each of the characters was memorable and the retelling unique to my experience with fairy tale retellings. I also enjoyed that the family were all hunters and all female -- anything to promote something other than the traditional 'women are the gentler sex' role in fantasy fiction is a win in my book.

Favorite lines:

My mother taught me to shoot, but it was Auntie Rosa who bought me my first rifle. It was long and sleek and shiny, varnished wood and brass and just my size. I fell in love at first sight.

“Isn’t she a trifle young for a firearm?” said my mother.

“Too young? Ha. Seven is almost too old,” said Auntie Rosa. She reached down and ruffled my hair as I ran my fingers along the stock over and over again, marveling at the living smoothness of the wood. “Happy birthday, child. Careful not to shoot any grundwirgen.”

Apologies for the relatively quiet on the blog lately -- my family was all stricken with colds again and work has been busy. I've still got great plans for the next year and reviews upcoming -- they'll just not be on my original schedule. :( With that said -- next week, the Sunday Shorts feature will be a little different: I am going to highlight blogs listing their top short stories for 2014. Do you have any favorites?

A.M. Dellamonica's The Color of Paradox

2014-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

This Sunday's Short is another sci-fi story for Sci-Fi November -- A. M. Dellamonica's The Color of Paradox, published via Tor.com.

In this story, we read the experiences of one time traveler in a series of many, sent back in time to Seattle in the 1920s to delay the end of the world (during WWII, I think). The story is full of little references to important events of the later war and Seattle's involvement in some of them (as the child of a Boeing employee, I definitely enjoyed the snippets involving that company!).

And honestly? I love the character Willie-- the take-no-nonesense time travel agent who has sacrificed so much to help save the world and now help her fellow time travel agents recover from the journey to the past. The narrator (Jules/Julie) is sexist and cocky, but he makes an interesting transformation through-out the story that makes him tolerable. I'd love to see a longer story surrounding these two characters (or at least Willie!), as this short seemed just a glimpse of what would be possible to explore in the telling of their stories.

Favorite line:

But something was wrong with the color of the future, seven weeks out. Seattle, below, the sky above, even the air around me . . . it was all splashed with color I’d never seen before. Everything was off the accepted painter’s wheel of red, blue, yellow.

Rating: 4/5.

Any thoughts on this story or any of the other sci-fi short stories reviewed this month for Sci-Fi November? Leave them in the comments!

The Wicked + The Divine

2014-11-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

First things first: I am a graphic novel newbie. I started reading Saga about a year ago, and I'll occasionally pick up a title that has been getting positive reviews to browse. The Wicked + The Divine has been getting buzz, so when I saw the opportunity to review the first volume via NetGalley I took it!

The Wicked + The Divine: Faust Volume

Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead... Welcome to The Wicked + The Divine, where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you're immortal, doesn't mean you're going to live forever.

The premise of this series is that 12 gods are made incarnate in teenagers. These 12 gods live for adoration... and then they die, within two years. The first volume collects issues 1-5 of the comic and tells the story of Luci / Lucifer and one of her fans as Luci is framed for murder (or was she?). And so begins the story of what would happen if hormonal teenagers were made into gods.

The art and coloring for this series is truly gorgeous. Each of the covers featured in the collection (and showing one of the gods or goddesses) is stunning. The storyline itself is interesting at parts and a little overplayed at others (but I think that is partly because nuance does not an interesting graphic novel make). I loved the gender-bending on the gods and goddesses. I didn't love the way we are introduced to the main character when she has already fallen for all the gods and therefore isn't as easy to relate to.

Overall, I think this series definitely has a ton of potential. It is packed with a ton of mythology and beautiful artwork. I'll definitely pick up the rest of the series as it comes out.

Favorite line: We don't get to change anything, we get to change you, and then you choose what to do with it. - Baal

Rating 4/5.

Chris Evan's Of Bone and Thunder

2014-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Of Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans

I read a lot fantasy outside what is considered the norm. It is not that I have anything against medieval Europe (or Lord of the Rings), but I enjoy the way authors have managed to mash up fantasy tropes with many different times in human history. So, when I saw Of Bone and Thunder pitched as fantasy in a Vietnam-War era, I was definitely interested.

And in that regard, the book did not disappoint. I am not a historian (far from it!), but I recognized a few pivotal Vietnam War scenes remade in this story of the Kingdom's war in Luitox. The story may have been fantastic (dwarves and dragons and elven people, oh my!), but it discusses very human issues of racism, drugs, authority, disenchantment, guerrilla warfare, and more.

One major element of the book is the multiple points of view. While these viewpoints will seem all over the map at first (a new mage, a commander of the dragonriders, a few perspectives within a ground unit of soldiers), they do eventually connect in a satisfying way.

Occasionally the remaking of the war into a fantasy setting just didn't work for me. The whole storyline of the giant catapults being dragged around in the jungle took me out of the story every time. And I was definitely annoyed that one of the only females in the story ended up being there only to sleep around with the soldiers.

Overall, I would recommend this story to someone who enjoys remaking history to explore history's lessons. This story isn't a fantasy that tells just one epic tale. It is a story of stories, with fantastical elements, that explores the gritty reality of war.

Favorite line:

"It isn't about the valley," Vorley said. "Maybe Weel thinks it is, but he's wrong. It's about you and me and Jawn and that shield leader Carny and everyone else. The criers can tell the people back in the Kingdom we're fighting for ideals and philosophies at odd sounding places on a map, but what we're fight for is each other. Our sacrifice out here isn't for this valley --it's for them."

Rating 3/5

Sunday Short: Carrie Vaughn's The Best We Can

2014-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

This Sunday's short is another sci-fi short story for Sci-Fi November -- Carrie Vaughn's The Best We Can, published via Tor.com.

First contact was supposed to change the course of human history. But it turns out, you still have to go to work the next morning.

It is no secret that I love the short story format and the science fiction genre at this point, right? I love the variety and diversity of ideas and viewpoints. This story had a unique viewpoint (the science academic) that I can relate to as a former (disgruntled) graduate student.

The main character has made a discovery -- an unidentified object in our solar system. She was the first to grasp the significance of the image, and she has become something of a crusader to get started a project of studying the object closer / bringing it back despite all the hopeless (and depressingly accurate) bureaucracy holding up any effort. Because identifying an object from another civilization would be a really big deal for humanity, right?

I loved this story even if it was more than a little depressing. I loved this story because it actually tells a pretty accurate tale of the current field of research at large.

So much of science fiction is optimistic views of scientific communities working together to bring about the greater good for all. And honestly? Science is a lot like that. Scientists love their science and most want to do something to impact the future in a positive way. But scientists are humans, too. Scientists have a sense of ownership over their day to day work that can be borderline obsessive / possessive. Science, in the present day incarnation, does involve a battle with other scientists for a finite amount of resources. And it is fun to have a story that depicts that all pretty accurately with a fair amount of well written prose about how wonderful it would be to actually find proof of other intelligent life outside Earth.

So, this week's story doesn't feature mythical creatures or fancy new technology -- but I like to mix my sci-fi up on occasion. I love that sci-fi short stories give me (and others) the opportunity to explore both far away future technology and it's implications in addition to modern day issues. And I happen to love an ambiguous ending such as what we are left with here (even though I know many -- such as my husband -- aren't!).

Favorite line:

Essentially, there are two positions on the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence and whether we might ever make contact, and they both come down to the odds. The first says that we’re here, humanity is intelligent, flinging out broadcasts and training dozens of telescopes outward hoping for the least little sign, and the universe is so immeasurably vast that given the odds, the billions of stars and galaxies and planets out there, we can’t possibly be the only intelligent species doing these things. The second position says that the odds of life coming into being on any given planet, of that life persisting long enough to evolve, then to evolve intelligence, and then being interested in the same things we are—the odds of all those things falling into place are so immeasurably slim, we may very well be the only ones here.

Is the universe half full or half empty? All we could ever do to solve the riddle was wait. So I waited and was rewarded for my optimism.

Rating: 4.5/5

Any thoughts on The Best We Can? Read any good sci-fi short stories you'd recommend to others this month for Sci-Fi November? Leave a comment below!

Sci-Fi November: Interview with Tobias Buckell

2014-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

As an awesome Sci-Fi November feature, today I am happy and honored to feature my interview with Tobias Buckell, the sci-fi author of the novels Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, Sly Mongoose, Halo ®: The Code Protocol, and Arctic Rising!

Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times Bestselling author born in the Caribbean. He grew up in Grenada and spent time in the British and US Virgin Islands, which influence much of his work.

His novels and over 50 stories have been translated into 17 different languages. His work has been nominated for awards like the Hugo, Nebula, Prometheus, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Author.

He currently lives in Bluffton, Ohio with his wife, twin daughters, and a pair of dogs. He can be found online at www.TobiasBuckell.com

What inspires you to write science fiction? What excites you about the genre?

I've always loved science fiction’s boundless imagination. There’s a lot of room in the field for me to pursue whatever excites me. When I started reading it, my mind was always blown by these big ideas, this imagination, the daydreaming. Thinking about what the future might be like. Or other worlds. It took me to places far away from my humble and strained childhood.

Now I get the entire universe to play with as a writer, including time and space. What if is a question I get to ask every day. And whether I want to experiment with different styles, or kinds of stories, there is room for it. It gives me tremendous freedom as a creator.

Who are some of your influences?

They range extremely wildly, from John D. MacDonald’s Florida mysteries, to oral folk tales I heard growing up, and to the science fiction books that left a big impact on me as a kid. Arthur C. Clarke was a favorite well known writer, but Cordwainer Smith is one of my favorite lesser known authors. The cyberpunk writers of the 80s got me started writing, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling featured people from the Caribbean in their books and that convinced me there was room in the genre for me to write the stories I had in mind.

You wrote in the foreword for the anthology Diverse Energies that you 'wanted to see all the sides of families in your stories about the future... the whole human race'. Do you think that sci-fi fiction is moving toward a more diversity/inclusive space or exclusivity?

The field has come a long way since I first joined it. But it still has a long way to go to represent the demographics of a rapidly changing US, or just to reflect the world at large, which is the field we all stand on. Western culture at large struggles with inclusive space and diversity, and a lot of the genre’s struggles mirror that back. I see similar struggles in many other genres to bring diversity to it, so I think it’s a society-wide thing. In our genre, we are getting more voices, but I’d like to see many more.

Do you have any recommendations for someone new to sci-fi?

Sample widely! It’s a genre like any other else, with a wide range of authors and books, not everything will be to your taste, but I’m betting something will be. I usually recommend a friend just read a number of first chapters, and if you find yourself still reading, you’ve found a book! A lot of people are intimidated by the ‘science’ in the name of the genre. That’s just a reference to where some of our original artists found, and still find, inspiration. But that doesn’t mean you need to have a science degree to read it anymore than you need a degree in couple’s counseling to read a good romance, or be a detective to read a mystery; a good writer can bring the reader along and get them up to speed on the way.

What are you working on right now? Any projects you want to highlight in particular?

My current projects are still under wraps, sadly, but I’m still doing some promotion for my most recent novel, Hurricane Fever. It’s a thriller set in the near future in the Caribbean. It was a tremendous amount of fun to write, including a research trip to Barbados to see the ruins of an experiment to launch satellites into orbit using a massive cannon.

A big thank you again to the author for taking the time to answer my questions! Readers -- have comments or thoughts on the interview? Leave them in the comments below!!

Sunday Shorts: Tobias Buckell's Toy Planes & The Found Girl

2014-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Sci-Fi November continues! I'm excited to note that this week, I'll be posting an interview with sci-fi author Tobias Buckell!

To start the week off right, this Sunday I am going to highlight two of his short stories - Nature's Toy Planes & Clarkesworld's The Found Girl (co-authored with David Klecha).

Toy Planes was published as part of Nature magazine's Futures series. In this story, we follow a Caribbean rocket pilot preparing for his first flight. The story deftly discusses racial identity, thoughts on what someone might owe their hometown, and questions of whether basic science research is worth it. And I loved it.

My favorite part of the story was the sense of wonder in exploring the awesome that is space. Buckell conveys it beautifully in my favorite quote:

We weren't even the first, but we were the first island.

The countdown finished, my stomach lurched, and I saw palm trees slide by the portholes to my right. I reached back and patted the package, the hammered-together toy, and smiled.

In The Found Girl, we learn about a world wherein technology has advanced to a point where humans can fully integrate their consciousness with machinery and one another. The adults that fully integrate into a community are said to have transcended, and humankind has reaped the benefits of advanced thinking/computing. The story is told from the perspective of a girl, Melissa, who has been left behind after her mother died. She lives in an orphanage run by a group of transcended called collectively The Street.

This story was a little tough to get into at first, because it is told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator in the young girl Melissa. Her mother seems to have been pretty superstitious, and we read of Melissa's beliefs of demons such as Llorona roaming the streets outside the safe confines of The Street. I was actually delighted when I realized what was happening (explained slowly through Melissa's discussions with The Street), and I love when science fiction can truly delight me. My only disappointment is that the story felt rushed at times; the plot could have easily been fit into the novella or novel format. I wanted to hear more about Melissa's world.

Favorite line:

Technology got faster. Better. And then technology started designing technology. Evolving. What used to take a lifetime took a decade, then years. And then last year, months. Weeks. Days.

People transcended. Became other things. Many other things. Some were still here. Some had left. Some were different.

Some stayed the same. The Found Children had been left behind.
Ratings: 4/5 Toy Planes, 4.5/5 The Found Girl

Any thoughts on either of these short stories? Read anything lately that delighted you? Leave a comment below! And don't forget to check back later this week for the interview with Tobias Buckell.

Sci-Fi November: Weeks 1 & 2 - my favorite posts so far!

2014-11-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm back from the sunny and sandy shores of my vacation to Maui! It was a great time to refuel my energy tank, and I am ready to blast off with new and fun things planned for the blog. (And I have some grand plans a-coming!)

Most importantly -- I'm still catching up with all the awesome that has gone around with Sci-Fi November so far, but a few of my favorite posts on other blogs so far:

Oh The Books: Blogger Panel #1 - Defining Sci-Fi: I am loving these blogger panels -- it is great to get a variety of opinions on the questions posed!

Rinn Reads: Blogger Panel #2 – Scientific Knowledge: Do you think science knowledge is necessary to enjoy sci fi?

Oh The Books: Get Your Sci-Fi On: I love love love the bingo card! I'm going to try and see how many I can complete via short stories / novels / tv / movies this month and update with a post at the end!

Worlds In Ink: Blind Book Challenge: Can you figure out any of the books based on the clues? I'm going to be puzzling on some all month long, me thinks!

Annie Jackson Books: The Genre Divide: I loved what she had to argue against a division in sci-fi/fantasy:

If the explainable and the numinous exist side by side, however, it’s a scary world… and an efficient one; beautiful and understood and wild all at the same time.

Upcoming posts to look forward to from me: two Sunday Shorts this weekend + an interview with the author Tobias Buckell next week! I'm also still planning some reviews and other sci-fi fun, so stay tuned!

Have you been following Sci-Fi November (via twitter #RRSciFiMonth)? Any great posts to share that caught your eye? Leave a comment below!

Sunday Short: Seanan McGuire's Each to Each

2014-11-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to all who might be stopping by via Sci-Fi November! One of the regular features of my blog is the Sunday Short, where I highlight great short stories / novellas available online. You can check out the past stories featured on my Sunday Short page.

This week's short is a science fiction from Lightspeed Magazine -- Seanan McGuire's Each to Each.

Originally published in Lightspeed. Art by Li Grabenstetter.

Each to Each blends science fiction with mermaids. Yes, mermaids... and bad ass military mermaids, at that. And it is incredible! In the world that McGuire creates here, mankind has decided to explore the depths of our seas in search of resources and space. The US navy has started all female crews of submarine bases that survey underwater areas. These bases are all female because women are smaller / get along better with one another in tight spaces, and the government has asked these women to be modified genetically / anatomically to better survey / protect the US's interests underwater.

While the basic premise is pretty awesome, I was surprised at how rich this short story really was! Not all mermaids are alike; some are modified to be like sharks, others jellyfish, others eels. McGuire creates a culture within the mermaids that is eerie and not entirely human-like; the narrator points out that no one has ever chosen to be modified back after service. Overall, Each to Each does what sci-fi I love does -- it uses a plausible science fiction to present a plausible future that challenges my expectations.

Rating: 5/5. Favorite line:

The Navy claims they’re turning these women into better soldiers. From where I hang suspended in the sea, my lungs filled with saltwater like amniotic fluid, these women are becoming better myths.

Have any thoughts on this story? Any recent great sci-fi short reads you'd suggest for the group? Leave them in the comments below!

Next week, I'll be taking a break -- it is vacation time for me with my family. I had hoped to maybe have something more lined up before I left, but alas -- work and life conspired against my best laid plans! I'll be back for double Sunday Shorts on November 15, though.

Sci-Fi November Intro

2014-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

After a few months of anticipation, the month of science fiction is finally upon us! Sci-Fi November is hosted this year by Rinn Reads & Oh, the Books -- the official website tracking everything can be found here. Essentially, Sci-Fi November is a month long event celebrating the awesome genre of science fiction. There are over 80 blogs participating this year, and it is going to be amazing!

I've been a fan of science fiction since discovering Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series oh-so many years ago. I was captivated by the world created (also -- dragons!), and then I found other wonderful worlds by other sci-fi authors.

Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible.

- Rod Sterling

I have a bachelors degree in bioengineering and a masters in human genetics, so I love when I read a new story take on the biological sciences. Outside of reading, I tend to watch an embarrassing amount sci-fi TV (Doctor Who / Fringe / Orphan Black / Defiance ... etc) and movies. And I am so excited to share in my favorite genre with others this month!

One thing to note: I will be on vacation for my sister's wedding this week and next. I have awesome stuff scheduled, but I wont be checking + responding to comments regularly.

Exploring Worlds

Sunday Short: Aliette De Bodard's Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight

I'm baaaaaack (again)!

Sunday Short: Amal El-Mohtar's The Truth About Owls

Sunday Short: Aliette de Bodard's The Breath of War

announcing short story september!

Sunday Short: Ursula Vernon's Jackalope Wives

thoughts on introducing kids to fandom

Find the things that you love and

love them the most that you can.

read more short fiction!

Sunday Short: Seanan McGuire's The Myth of Rain

Naomi Novik's Uprooted

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Erika Johansen's The Queen of the Tearling

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

I'm baaaaack!

Sunday Short: David D. Levine's Damage

Sunday Short feature: Top Shorts for 2014

Karen Lord's The Galaxy Game

The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord

Sunday Short: S. L. Huang's Hunting Monsters

A.M. Dellamonica's The Color of Paradox

The Wicked + The Divine

The Wicked + The Divine: Faust Volume

Chris Evan's Of Bone and Thunder

Of Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans

Sunday Short: Carrie Vaughn's The Best We Can

Sci-Fi November: Interview with Tobias Buckell

Sunday Shorts: Tobias Buckell's Toy Planes & The Found Girl

Sci-Fi November: Weeks 1 & 2 - my favorite posts so far!

Sunday Short: Seanan McGuire's Each to Each

Sci-Fi November Intro