Another issue of Mothership Zeta has landed and it features an actual, literal Mother Ship along with a full roster of excellent stories ranging from zany time travel science fiction to sincere and heartfelt contemporary fantasy. And more than anything else I'm struck by the framing techniques of the issue. There is a series of one sided emails and a detailed bill, a conversation of people remembering an event and a man preparing for a press conference. This alongside more traditional stories that nevertheless manage to present wry and witty narrators, earnest and yearning voices. It's an issue that flows nicely, kicking things off with a smile and a nudge and then slowly drawing to more serious topics and leaving me at least, with a quiet longing for more. For now, though, it's time to review!
This month's offerings from Uncanny Magazine bring a bit of everything. Two original fiction pieces, two poems, and two works of nonfiction covering fairy tales and AI insurrections and ghosts and desires and distorted realities and lineages of SFF. The fiction is gripping and challenging, difficult and unflinching. The poetry is moving and all about desire and nostalgia and looking back. And the nonfiction is about perception and how it can be changed, either in the brain or by those around you, and how that can effect the inroads to SFF. It's a full month and a nice balance of the strange, the heartbreaking, and the affirming. So yeah, time to review!
November continues right along with a pair each of stories, poems, and nonfiction pieces from Uncanny Magazine. The Fiction is a bit on the long side but quite good, exploring faith and age and balancing self-care with doing the right thing. The poetry is dark and tinged with fairy tale, with a feeling of decay and loss and devastation. And the nonfiction shows off a nice range with one article on cover art in SFF (and seriously, Julie Dillon is everywhere this month, which is great!) and one critical essay on some sad Whelkfins. All in all, a fine month. To the reviews!
Fuck it has been a long time since I posted one of these. Like, wow. Sorry, peeps. I will admit that things have been very difficult for me recently, mood-wise. Summer for whatever reason has been kicking my ass and I just find it hard to get the normal reviews done and then Sunday is there and I haven't done my links and sigh. Sorry. I will strive to do better. In the mean time, here is the long list of reviews I've had go live since May (yes, it's been that long).
Jinn and Juice by
Nicole Peeler (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - The more I thought about this after my review at Nerds of a Feather, the more I liked it. So it got bumped up a bit, score-wise. Otherwise, thoughts are similar to those I had before.
Shadowshaper by
Daniel José Older (Goodreads, my score 5/5) - oh man I want to read and review this for all the sites. It is so much fun and I love the characters and yes. My third five-star review on Goodreads this year (so in very good company). It was amazing. Go read it.
Shadowshaper by
Daniel José Older (Teenreads) - And here again is me gushing about this book, though in perhaps a more constrained manner. It is an amazing book and I was so lucky to get to read it early. Yes. All the yes.
The Klingon Art of War by
Keith R.A. DeCandido (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - fun and for fans of Star Trek an excellent resource. It's still a wholly fandom project, though, expanding and collecting Klingon canon, basically. Still, an entertaining read.
Tide of Shadows and Other Stories by
Aidan Moher (Nerds of a Feather, my score 6/10) - An interesting collection with a structure that made me enjoy it despite being a little iffy on some of the stories. Definitely a writer I'd be interested in another similar project by.
Tide of Shadows and Other Stories by
Aidan Moher (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - And here it is again because I'm like that. Really I just insist that for sites that I don't solely run, they own those reviews so I have to write new ones for myself and my own Goodreads. Which is an excuse to write more reviews. So yeah...
Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw's Adventure in Moonshine by
Max Watman (Goodreads, my score 3/5) - Nonfiction! Gasp! But I am interested in booze (go figure) and was interested in doing a bit of research into a few things for writing purposes. It was not what I was expecting but I did indeed get some good material.
Secrets of Selkie Bay by
Shelley Moore Thomas (Goodreads, my score 4/5) - this book surprised me at the level of the prose, at the layers and complexity. It really is quite a good read, providing a dark backdrop to tell a children's story. Some good stuff.
Secrets of Selkie Bay by
Shelley Moore Thomas (Kidsreads) - And here it is again. Sensing a pattern yet? Yes, I reviewed three different books more than once. But here again the book was good and I enjoyed reading it. Dark and with some magic realism elements that made it memorable. Indeed.
Oh, and ICYMI, THE MONTHLY ROUND went up this last week. So be sure to check that out...
So there you! Sorry it took so long to get these up. But life. Sometimes... Anyway, thanks for reading!
