Mostly read around bedtime. Mostly.
He/him/they cishet white fragile trying dreamer antiracist gullible.
Since the ratings on the Bookwyrms don't impact authors' livelihoods, I feel comfortable getting more granular and using all the stars, so if you see a 3/5 rating on a book I say I liked, this is a rough breakdown of what I mean by my stars:
As always, the text of my review is a much more accurate representation of my feelings.
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A script supervisor for an AI media conglomerate is caught between her intense need for …
Looks like a really interesting intersection of a lot of topics of interest in the world, and personally. >_>
At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through …
TBH I'll read anything with Becky Chambers' name attached, but this sounds like a delicious Big Concept book, kind of like the social scifis of the 60s I'm so fond of (making many assumptions)
TBH I'll read anything with Becky Chambers' name attached, but this sounds like a delicious Big Concept book, kind of like the social scifis of the 60s I'm so fond of (making many assumptions)
NOVELLAS:
Firstly, the change in physical quality of the magazine is a pretty severe downgrade. It went from being like a sturdy, high quality paperback, to around comic book quality. By the end of finishing the magazine, the cover is ruffled and some pages are beginning to come loose. It's exactly like an Analog magazine (which isn't surprising, given the change in ownership).
I don't even know if I'm complaining--it's just noticeable.
But, like Analog, despite the pulpy exterior you've still got some good stuff in between those flimsy cover sheets. And this one is no exception.
All the fiction was great, and super idiosyncratic. Really, very fresh stuff! The kinds of things that open you up to new reading experiences and perspectives.
Maurice Broaddus' Soul Rebel will definitely bait you into seeking out more of his writing, but I loved the actual tech/anti-colonial/steampunk themes, with lots …
Firstly, the change in physical quality of the magazine is a pretty severe downgrade. It went from being like a sturdy, high quality paperback, to around comic book quality. By the end of finishing the magazine, the cover is ruffled and some pages are beginning to come loose. It's exactly like an Analog magazine (which isn't surprising, given the change in ownership).
I don't even know if I'm complaining--it's just noticeable.
But, like Analog, despite the pulpy exterior you've still got some good stuff in between those flimsy cover sheets. And this one is no exception.
All the fiction was great, and super idiosyncratic. Really, very fresh stuff! The kinds of things that open you up to new reading experiences and perspectives.
Maurice Broaddus' Soul Rebel will definitely bait you into seeking out more of his writing, but I loved the actual tech/anti-colonial/steampunk themes, with lots of Jamaican Patois as well as a little bit of introduction to the Rastafari culture and ethos.
My apologies to the other stories as I'm a very slow reader with a foggy memory, I won't have as much to say about the other, earlier entries in the magazine. If I leave anything out it's because I don't have anything to say, not because I thought it was bad.
Threat Assessment, by Matthew Kressel & Mercurio D. Rivera was very topical (AI super intelligence) to one of our latest collective anxieties, and a great mindfuck story.
The Final Trial of Jalen, Oba of Uhuri, by Justin C. Key will really get your blood going. Horror coded, "elevated" and with some of the most striking depictions of animals I've experienced since playing Animal Well, by Billy Basso.
The Corporate Soul, by John Shirley, despite being about a world that's sort of fallen to the corpos, felt good to read. It has that punchy hopeful streak through it, which comes out in the ways characters relate to each other. Like the bonds between people haven't been totally atomized away. Just straightforward and good.
The Apology Tour, by Nnedi Okorafor is really well written, I just don't know how I feel about it. It has a real clarity about it that makes it very legible, and the world it describes is one of those pseudo S-risk dystopias of personhood denied (MMAcevedo vibes). I need to think about this one a bit more, because maybe I bristle at the perceived soft-peddling of artificial intelligence/consciousness as inevitable... in the light of people anthropomorphising LLMs with chat bot interfaces tacked in front of them already waaay too much.
Not to start debating authors, but I feel like LLMs prove you don't need sentience to process information.
And a Little Garlic, by William Mangieri: lol, no notes.
The Red River Summers, by Inda Lauryn was hard to read (about enslaved people), but has that streak of hope against hope can turn a story into fuel for change, or maybe just wake some people up.
Finally, I'm just happy this magazine finally got made. I think it's been about a year? since I've seen the last issue? I was not hopeful about ever seeing another issue, so just the fact that it's here in my lap is wonderful.
When Boss Fight Books first gave fans the chance to vote for the game they …
HAha the cover. I'm currently replaying the game, so this would be the perfect capper!!
HAha the cover. I'm currently replaying the game, so this would be the perfect capper!!
The inventor of the World Wide Web explores his vision’s promise—and how it can be …
:eyes:
I'm just reading pretty much nothing but short stories right now.
I'm just reading pretty much nothing but short stories right now.
FICTION
Just getting into these now. First story ("Remember me in the Meat" by Sarah Pauling) was punchy as hell, so we're off to a great start!
Just getting into these now. First story ("Remember me in the Meat" by Sarah Pauling) was punchy as hell, so we're off to a great start!
In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial …
I guess I should read some more of the normie canon
Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, …
Not sure how I feel about this one yet. The end, I don't know, it leaves a lot of questions.
Not sure how I feel about this one yet. The end, I don't know, it leaves a lot of questions.
NOVELLAS:
Kind of gave up on these ever gracing my doorstep again. Shame as part of the merger that the material quality joins Analog et al as a more temporary/disposable product (the old s&sf mag was sturdier than many a $30 paperback).
Let's see what the creamy filling has to offer, though...
Kind of gave up on these ever gracing my doorstep again. Shame as part of the merger that the material quality joins Analog et al as a more temporary/disposable product (the old s&sf mag was sturdier than many a $30 paperback).
Let's see what the creamy filling has to offer, though...
I've only read one small quote and had my eyes feather over the jacket, picking up just enough words to be sure this book is entirely up my alley. 👀
I've only read one small quote and had my eyes feather over the jacket, picking up just enough words to be sure this book is entirely up my alley. 👀
Frank, no ordinary sixteen-year-old, lives with his father outsIde a remote Scottish village. Their life …
Not sure what this is actually like, but it sounds super interesting!
The security droid with a heart (though it wouldn’t admit it!) is back in Fugitive …
Loved the detective/investigatory angle. Reminds me of some of the old Asimov robot stories in a way, while introducing more of the politics and ethos of Preservation.
Pleasant little bite of Murderbot with some great Pin-Lee moments, but definitely not as heavy (plot wise, or--speaking subjectively--emotionally) as some of the other entries.
Hugo Award–winning authors Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal team up in this exclusive audio-first …
Love these super conceptual scifis!
Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, …
Friend who's a big activist lent this to me. Excited to get into my first actual cli-fi novel.
The presentation is really interesting; super minimal, no quotation marks or chapter headings -- it's all just from the protagonist's perspective/retelling. No exposition that I can see, you just have to figure out what things are by context.
Reading kind of like a diary so far.
Friend who's a big activist lent this to me. Excited to get into my first actual cli-fi novel.
The presentation is really interesting; super minimal, no quotation marks or chapter headings -- it's all just from the protagonist's perspective/retelling. No exposition that I can see, you just have to figure out what things are by context.
Reading kind of like a diary so far.