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defrogThe to-read pile is shrinking noticeable. I’m down to 13 books in the queue. Gonna have to stock up soon. Or start hitting the library. I’m good either way.
Questionable Practices: Stories by Eileen Gunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve never read Eileen Gunn before, but she has a great reputation in the SF/F community as a writer and editor and has won some awards, so I thought I’d try this collection of short stories, which also includes some collaborations (three with Michael Swanwick, one with Rudy Rucker). It’s an eclectic mix, and there’s a lot of imaginative ideas flying around here – Sasquatch love triangles, golems, social-media cyberpunk, time travel, steampunk spoofs, alternate pulp realities, savage elves and a wonderful poem in which Alice Kramden gets Norton to build her a rocket ship. Gunn’s writing is very accessible, and while the subject matter doesn’t always work for me personally, when it works it works well.
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the latest collection of short stories from Neil Gaiman. Subject-wise it covers many of Gaiman’s usual bases – British folk horror, remixed fairy tales, ghosts, witches, etc – plus a Doctor Who story, a new tale featuring Shadow Moon, the protagonist in American Gods, and a few random poems. But it also features some tribute stories to the likes of David Bowie, Sherlock Holmes, Ray Bradbury and Jack Vance, and the occasional writing experiment such as flash fiction based on the months of the year (and suggested by tweets from fans), and a one-sided interview with a teenage girl whose sister has a dangerous encounter with artificial tanning cream. Overall it’s a solid collection that affirms Gaiman’s reputation as a master storyteller – even when he's covering familiar territory, it's how he tells it that really pulls me in. NOTE: a couple of stories here have been previously published as standalone illustrated books (The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains and The Sleeper and the Spindle).
The Science of Herself by Karen Joy Fowler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another installment of the PM Press Outspoken Authors series. I tried this one because I liked Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. Included here are short stories about real-life 19th-century fossil hunter Mary Anning, a teen girl trapped in a brutal behavioral correction school, and a young boy’s experience playing Little League and dealing with bullies, as well as a Q&A and an essay on the concept (and recent absence) of motherhood in SF. Fowler’s a good writer, but compared to the rest of the series I’ve read so far, this one is the least “out there” in terms of provocative or radical ideas, or at least perhaps the most subtle. Still, the stories are pretty good and sometimes educational. For me, “The Pelican Bar” is the best and most harrowing story here – it resonates with me since I did some research on WWASP schools years ago for a project. And I learned a lot about Mary Anning. So there you go.
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is another re-read for me, thanks to coming across a cheap copy at a discount bookstore. I read it a few decades ago and I remember liking it then, but I couldn't remember much of the story, which – I now know – is a dystopian SF tale that explores the question of free will, or the lack thereof. Wealthy New Englander Winston Niles Rumfoord – trapped in a chrono-synclastic infundibulum that, among other things, gives him full knowledge of the past and the future – uses his powers to start a war between Mars and Earth (as well as a new religion), and also to meddle with the fate of Malachi Constant, a morally bankrupt rich man, and Rumfoord’s spiteful, unadventurous and humorless wife Beatrice. Vonnegut uses SF as a vehicle to satirize his usual targets – war, the military, religion, the stock market, etc – and while the storyline is a little convoluted, for the most part he really pulls it off. I will say it’s much more bleak than I remember – there are few admirable characters (one of which isn’t even human), and Vonnegut really puts them through the wringer, but he also injects enough humor into it to take the edge off.
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The latest novel from Lauren Beukes sees her revisiting the serial-killer genre, this time in Detroit where someone is leaving behind bodies that are half-human, half-animal. Which is a great hook, although given Beukes’ previous successes with genre-bending, it doesn't go quite as I imagined it would. In fact, it took until almost halfway through for me to really get into it, because the supernatural twist that Beukes specializes in stays under the radar for so long that the story comes across as a fairly standard serial-killer tale, albeit a well-written one populated with well-realized characters that also explores how this kind of tale plays in a world dominated by social media (with detours into online pedophiles, viral sexual assault videos and irresponsible bloggers). Also, the teenage drama angle via Detective Gabi Versado’s daughter Layla feels pretty standard and not that integral to the narrative, at least at first. But by around the halfway point everything kicks into gear and it becomes a thrilling page-turner. All up, it didn’t quite work as well for me as The Shining Girls, and I still consider Zoo City to be her most impressive novel so far. But while I think Beukes could have done more with this idea, she does more with it than most other writers in the serial killer genre would have done. And she does it so well. Extra points for writing about Detroit so in-depth as to make it a part of the story and not just a backdrop.
View all my reviews
Motor City madman,
This is dF
Questionable Practices: Stories by Eileen GunnMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve never read Eileen Gunn before, but she has a great reputation in the SF/F community as a writer and editor and has won some awards, so I thought I’d try this collection of short stories, which also includes some collaborations (three with Michael Swanwick, one with Rudy Rucker). It’s an eclectic mix, and there’s a lot of imaginative ideas flying around here – Sasquatch love triangles, golems, social-media cyberpunk, time travel, steampunk spoofs, alternate pulp realities, savage elves and a wonderful poem in which Alice Kramden gets Norton to build her a rocket ship. Gunn’s writing is very accessible, and while the subject matter doesn’t always work for me personally, when it works it works well.
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil GaimanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the latest collection of short stories from Neil Gaiman. Subject-wise it covers many of Gaiman’s usual bases – British folk horror, remixed fairy tales, ghosts, witches, etc – plus a Doctor Who story, a new tale featuring Shadow Moon, the protagonist in American Gods, and a few random poems. But it also features some tribute stories to the likes of David Bowie, Sherlock Holmes, Ray Bradbury and Jack Vance, and the occasional writing experiment such as flash fiction based on the months of the year (and suggested by tweets from fans), and a one-sided interview with a teenage girl whose sister has a dangerous encounter with artificial tanning cream. Overall it’s a solid collection that affirms Gaiman’s reputation as a master storyteller – even when he's covering familiar territory, it's how he tells it that really pulls me in. NOTE: a couple of stories here have been previously published as standalone illustrated books (The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains and The Sleeper and the Spindle).
The Science of Herself by Karen Joy FowlerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another installment of the PM Press Outspoken Authors series. I tried this one because I liked Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. Included here are short stories about real-life 19th-century fossil hunter Mary Anning, a teen girl trapped in a brutal behavioral correction school, and a young boy’s experience playing Little League and dealing with bullies, as well as a Q&A and an essay on the concept (and recent absence) of motherhood in SF. Fowler’s a good writer, but compared to the rest of the series I’ve read so far, this one is the least “out there” in terms of provocative or radical ideas, or at least perhaps the most subtle. Still, the stories are pretty good and sometimes educational. For me, “The Pelican Bar” is the best and most harrowing story here – it resonates with me since I did some research on WWASP schools years ago for a project. And I learned a lot about Mary Anning. So there you go.
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt VonnegutMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is another re-read for me, thanks to coming across a cheap copy at a discount bookstore. I read it a few decades ago and I remember liking it then, but I couldn't remember much of the story, which – I now know – is a dystopian SF tale that explores the question of free will, or the lack thereof. Wealthy New Englander Winston Niles Rumfoord – trapped in a chrono-synclastic infundibulum that, among other things, gives him full knowledge of the past and the future – uses his powers to start a war between Mars and Earth (as well as a new religion), and also to meddle with the fate of Malachi Constant, a morally bankrupt rich man, and Rumfoord’s spiteful, unadventurous and humorless wife Beatrice. Vonnegut uses SF as a vehicle to satirize his usual targets – war, the military, religion, the stock market, etc – and while the storyline is a little convoluted, for the most part he really pulls it off. I will say it’s much more bleak than I remember – there are few admirable characters (one of which isn’t even human), and Vonnegut really puts them through the wringer, but he also injects enough humor into it to take the edge off.
Broken Monsters by Lauren BeukesMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The latest novel from Lauren Beukes sees her revisiting the serial-killer genre, this time in Detroit where someone is leaving behind bodies that are half-human, half-animal. Which is a great hook, although given Beukes’ previous successes with genre-bending, it doesn't go quite as I imagined it would. In fact, it took until almost halfway through for me to really get into it, because the supernatural twist that Beukes specializes in stays under the radar for so long that the story comes across as a fairly standard serial-killer tale, albeit a well-written one populated with well-realized characters that also explores how this kind of tale plays in a world dominated by social media (with detours into online pedophiles, viral sexual assault videos and irresponsible bloggers). Also, the teenage drama angle via Detective Gabi Versado’s daughter Layla feels pretty standard and not that integral to the narrative, at least at first. But by around the halfway point everything kicks into gear and it becomes a thrilling page-turner. All up, it didn’t quite work as well for me as The Shining Girls, and I still consider Zoo City to be her most impressive novel so far. But while I think Beukes could have done more with this idea, she does more with it than most other writers in the serial killer genre would have done. And she does it so well. Extra points for writing about Detroit so in-depth as to make it a part of the story and not just a backdrop.
View all my reviews
Motor City madman,
This is dF
