Book Review
One thing long-time readers of the blog will know about me is that I’m incapable of starting a book series at the beginning. Another thing about me is that I am really good at avoiding touchstone pieces of media. The films of Martin Scorsese? Never seen’em. Super Mario?
Book Review
There are a lot of valid critiques of Western gender norms and the ideologies which venerate binarism and “traditional” sex roles. Many have taken to science fiction to air these critiques in various formats and frames. What Benjamin Rosenbaum asks with his book The Unraveling, is what if you had
Book Review
Because there are many SFF novellas at the library. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells Par for the course for me, I pulled down a random Murderbot book from the library shelf and started reading the series there. My goal was to prepare myself for the upcoming AppleTV+ series. You might
Book Review
Last year I read Jo Walton’s Among Others, a lovely book about a Welsh teen’s magical coming-of-age in the wake of her twin sister’s death. I thought that book was quietly bold, so I looked into Walton’s other work and marked My Real Children for priority
Book Review
I’m trying something new this year to take my mind off the horrors: I’m going to read all the 2025 Best Novel Hugo nominees. Probably not in time for the actual awards ceremony, but you never know. How hard can it be to read six books by August…
Book Review
Last week, I reported on P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout and The Haunting of Tram 015, as well as (sigh) Catherynne M. Valente’s Speak Easy. But they are not my only recent fantasy checkouts. Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia McKillip Another barrier between me and Speak
Book Review
With a newly minted library card in hand, I’m excitedly exploring the stacks of my local with a mind to dare. For the last year or so, I’ve been in a between-residences limbo which denied me the comfort of a local library to call my own. This has
Book Review
Big news in weird decisions by me: I’ve started reading a lengthy novel series by picking up a random installment in the middle. That series is The Vorkosigan Saga, and that installment is Mirror Dance. Now, in my defense, I didn’t go in entirely unprepared. I had previously
Book Review
Two questions, to begin with: Do you wish there was more Disco Elysium? And do you wish the original Disco Elysium had contained more tantric sex rituals? If you answered yes to both questions, 1) I never want to meet you, and 2) boy howdy, do I have a book
Book Review
Every December (or January) I buy the annual Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy (BASFF) collection. Every year I suffer a certain amount of trepidation, knowing that the guest editor will swing the pendulum on the selections in an unpredictable direction which may or may not align with my tastes.