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I love a fantastical narrative, but I guess I have a heart of SF underneath it all so I found the shifting internal story-logic (not unlike dream-logic) a bit unsatisfying. But I also love a good yarn, and this one has enough to keep an entire battalion of kittens occupied until Spring.

I loved the characters and place descriptions, and the plot is a total page turner. The visuals: unique and haecceitous. The media references: chef's kiss.

A good issue of Clarkesworld, with fascinating stories by Fiona Moore, H.H. Pak and Greg Egan.

• "Wire Mother" by Isabel J. Kim: in the future where parents can be biological or digital, one daughter is unable to form an emotional attachment to her digital mother.

• "The Cancer Wolves" by Fiona Moore: in a future after the collapse of civilisation, a village now finds its flock being eaten by wolves. But instead of killing the wolves, they come up with a solution to live with them and, in the process, learn to live with each other better.

• "Crabs Don't Scream" by H.H. Pak: a 'Clerk' assigned to record the last fifteen seconds of a person's life before the world ends instead finds himself falling in love with the person. But is really love if the emotion causes him to catapult through time and space instead? The only way to find out is to force himself to observe those last fifteen seconds; but they may turn out to be his last.

• "Understudies" by Greg Egan: a boy gets help from a study aid, and finds himself developing a strong aptitude for mathematics. But is it enough to live on, when others are getting enhanced via direct connections to AIs instead? Perhaps the only way to find out it to challenge the enhanced people to a match of wits and show that AIs can only do so much when it comes to lateral thinking.

• "Giant Grandmother" by Liu Maijia, translated by Blake Stone-Banks: in a future where genetic defects are common and humanity may be in danger of dying out, one person is preparing for a change in his genetics that may preserve humanity. But before that he must have one final meeting with his grandmother, who has already gone through such a genetic change, and it now a much bigger person.

• "The Job Interview" by Carrie Vaughn: the supervisor in charge of navigation on a space station is being frustrated in her job by endless memos as she tries to find out why communications are currently glitchy. When she finally overrides authorities to find out for herself, it might be too late for the station; but perhaps not for herself.

• "In Luck's Panoply Clad, I Stand" by Phoebe Barton: after a nuclear exchange devastates the earth, one off-world human tries his best to help. But helping can be tough when the off-worlder is much bigger than earth people, but he is determined to do what he can, even when his world demands his return.A

@unsuspicious@wyrms.de I listened to the audiobook, and found it enlightening. Anyone who's woke to systemic injustices already won't find it shocking or anything, but the way Klein phrases things and the concepts she builds up, are going to stick with you forever.

Jackpot! Found this a book giveaway and oh my god, I had heard that Octavia Butler was one of The scifi authors to read, but I had no idea it would be this riveting.

Immediately I see the themes and topics in the first section of this book mirrored in so many contemporary stories I've read. Really really fascinating, learning about a different people, and getting to know the character of Dawn, the protagonist.

@picklish I love your read on the Murderbot character. I'm going through the series again, and it definitely reads it as neurodivergent. It's exhaustion, discomfort, and prickliness is so refreshing.

@throatmuppet@ramblingreaders.org Beautiful book. I want to read more Earthsea books (and Le Guin generally). This one starts off as somewhat subversive YA fantasy, and I'm lead to understand the series gets more hmm ethically? advanced? as it goes on.

In any case a great comfort read!

It was amazing how stupid teenagers could be, Walden thought, with enormous, grieving fondness. She knew she wouldn’t change them for the world.

The Incandescent is a fun novella about a magic boarding school and its demon summoning problems, but from the perspective of an older teacher.

This book could have been a "gosh those teenagers" story, but I love that the narrator Saffy herself is an adult who remembers her own teenage failures and is able to bring a lot of compassion as a result. And also, she makes the same mistakes her teenagers do--she internally comments on their relationships while she's having her own awkward romance; she also makes mistakes from the same place of hubris that they do.

Because an elite education was an investment in power. Magic was the least of what you gained at Chetwood. What mattered was the power to walk the walk and talk the talk, to have your résumé picked out of the pile and the interviewer already speaking your language.

One component I liked about this book that I feel like gets skipped in a lot of stories like this is the worldbuilding around the privilege around attending a private magic school. Given that the narrator Saffy went to the school herself and then is now a teacher, I appreciate that we get the opposite of this in the marshal Laura Kenning who is shocked that kids can live in the postcard environment and feel like it's normal, all because they have rich parents.

(In the books about magic schools department, I think A Deadly Education does this really well too, although that book is more about how outside wealth and privilege reflect on standing inside the school and at graduation, but that also makes sense given its student point of view rather than the teacher perspective here.)

No sensible woman over the age of twenty-five felt anything but dubious in the face of a smiling posh chap with good cheekbones.

This book has a romance component, but it's pretty minor. Saffy is a workaholic and primarily the book is about her relationship with her work and her school and her past. If anything, I appreciate the romance more than a lot of other books. Saffy and Laura are staid and awkward in a way that feels authentic, and I will admit that I do like the progression of professionally butting heads to an eventual appreciation of each other's talents.

ALSO, let me repeat that the main character is nicknamed """Saffy"""; her two main love interests are: (1) butch lesbian with a motorcycle and a sword, and then (2) smarmy posh guy. We'll leave it to the romance experts to figure out where the cards fall on this one.

There's something about Berlant's voice that I find so captivating.

Actually my second time reading this, but the first time around I read it too quickly and so a lot of it went way over my head. For the reread, I'm taking my time and giving each sentence enough attention to sink in.