No Fools This April
Instead, have a hare…because I don’t have a rabbit. I don’t do April Fool’s jokes, so here’s your regularly scheduled reviews.
Review: After World by Debbie Urbanski
First of all, the very concept of this novel troubles me. This novel is about voluntary human extinction.
The Amazon is a garden.
Every part of the world we live in is shaped by humans. There is no such thing as wilderness. If we were to vanish, then the world would change completely. Not necessarily for the worse, but I’m not okay with the implication it would be for the better.
Okay, so, they’re uploading, so it’s fine. But it’s not. The entire concept that humans are worth less than the planet is as disturbing as the idea that we are worth more.
Urbanski is a talented writer, and makes some interesting choices. She’s very keen on writing about maternal love, and because of that she gives Sen not two lesbian mothers, but three. (Her father was apparently a test tube).
It’s also about the relationship between humans and Ais and apparently she used current LLMs heavily for research.
But I couldn’t get past the concept. I have no doubt many readers will disagree with me, but all this book left me feeling was “No.” Not just no to the concept, but no to people’s reactions to the sterility virus.
It’s not the human way to give up. So, I can only recommend this book to people who want to read a beautiful downer. Sorry, Debbie.
Copy provided for review and award consideration.
Review: Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee
The three most subjective genres of fiction are comedy, horror, and erotica.
Which was my problem with this book. It’s apparently comedy. Guess who didn’t find it funny. It’s not McGhee’s fault..this happens to me a lot.
It’s satire at its heart…it’s about the things we will do to get a paycheck and the things companies will do for their bottom line. Including literally stealing pieces of somebody’s soul.
It’s also being described as surrealist. I didn’t like it, but I appreciated the skill that went into it. I suspect it will do well.
The problem is my sense of humor, not this book.
Copy provided for review and award consideration.
Review: The Limits of my World by Gregory Coles
Generation ship novels where the crew forget they are on a generation ship are a common trope. Coles explores the concept but adds a divided crew where each half thinks the other isn’t human…a division between those who try to pretend they’re still on a planet and those who embrace technology.
Both sides are, honestly, pretty evil. And he postulates that their languages have become so separate they can’t communicate and anyone who tries to speak with both goes kinda insane.
I think he’s trying to make some points about rhetoric and our divided society…clumsily strengthened by both societies lacking gender but dealing with pronouns differently.
I’m more interested in the characters. I’ve read this plot many times before, but Coles does bring some new twists to it.
(Also, on a generation ship, you wouldn’t ever airlock people. You need the biomass. Just saying).
CW, btw, for cannibalism.
Copy provided for review and award consideration.
Review: Hexagon 15
The issue has two themes, one is stories about taking down tyrants…and the other is self-awareness. I enjoyed all of these stories.
I was particularly fond of “Midgard 1943” because it involved doing nasty things to Nazi. I’m also fond of “The King’s Ending,” which makes a strong point about our obsession with kings in fantasy. So does “The Library of Esk.”
These stories are all fantasy, and they’re all good. A solid issue, and I always appreciate doing nasty things to Nazis.
Copy provided for review and award consideration.
Review: Grease Monkeys: The Heart And Soul of Dieselpunk, ed. Danielle Ackley-McPhail and John L. French
Dieselpunk seldom gets the same amount of press as steampunk, although that also means it tends not to be reduced to a mere aesthetic as often.
This anthology is dedicated “For those kids – past, present, and future – taking their toys apart to figure out how they worked.”
That tells us the specific theme. Every protagonist in these stories is, in some way shape or form, a mechanic. A tinkerer. Building things, repairing them. Some of the stories, in the full -punk tradition, do include magic. Bernie Mojzes “Hyena Brings Death” actually has the mechanic also be a trickster god and Misty Massey’s “My Mechanical Girl” involves what might be a ghost or an extra-dimensional alien. A couple also cross over into superheroes.
All of these stories are quite enjoyable. If you like reading what I call “blue collar” science fiction, I recommend picking this one up. The dedication is on point.
Copy provided for review and award consideration.
Review: The Flying Man of Stone by Dilman Dila (novella)
Science fiction? Fantasy? Superhero? A young boy watches his mother and siblings die, and his father gets possessed by…something…and starts building supertech.
He tries to rescue his one surviving brother. Nothing goes well in this story, which is really about power (and more than a little bit about race).
I enjoyed this, but it IS very dark (and occasionally gory).
Copy provided for review and award consideration.
Review: Wolf of Withervale by Joaquin Baldwin
Baldwin has created the kind of fantasy world I like…rigorous science and the entire solar system built, combined with magic that feels like technology while still being most definitely magic.
The titular wolf is Lago, a young man who grows up in the town of Withervale. After his father kicks him out of the house on suspicion of being gay (he is), he works at the observatory and lives with his friend Alaya, who is a member of a race (species?) that produce bony nubs and are, at best, an undercaste when not actually enslaved. I’m not usually a fan of fantasy racism, but in this case, perhaps because the author is Hispanic, it works.
When a hunted fox dies and turns into a woman, she asks Lago to get her magic mask to her heir…her grandson.
Of course, that’s not what ends up happening. The world includes mysterious domes made of vines, and it turns out that a powerful civilization built/grew them to protect people from a comet hit…except the domes never opened. It’s definitely fantasy, but it builds on a science fiction base. I really enjoyed this book. And the maps are fantastic too. (Warning, it’s a tome…almost 600 pages in my ereader including the appendices).
Copy provided for review and award consideration.