A mother. A son. A virtual world they both share where each could live forever and achieve their fullest potential. Until one of them decides that isn’t enough for life.
The Need for Air
Quantum Leap Traveled into the Past to Give Us America’s Best Future
Given our current national political mood (I think “enraged and frothing” sums it up) I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking about what Quantum Leap had to say about America—and how the creators of Quantum Leap took a particularly weird subgenre of road trip show, and turned it into a blueprint for how America could live up to its potential.
The Expert System’s Brother Sweepstakes!
We want to send you a galley copy of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novella The Expert System’s Brother, available July 17th from Tor.com Publishing!
Bestselling British master of science fiction Adrian Tchaikovsky brings readers a new, mind-expanding science fantasia.
After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn’t understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine.
Can an unlikely saviour provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends?
Comment in the post to enter!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of 50 United States and D.C., and Canada (excluding Quebec). To enter, comment on this post beginning at 2:30 PM Eastern Time (ET) on July 3rd. Sweepstakes ends at 12:00 PM ET on July 7th. Void outside the United States and Canada and where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules here. Sponsor: Tor.com, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.
City of Lies Audio Excerpt
I was seven years old the first time my uncle poisoned me…
Jovan is the lifelong friend of the Chancellor’s charming, irresponsible Heir. In secret, he’s a master of poisons and chemicals, trained to protect the Chancellor’s family from treachery. When the Chancellor succumbs to an unknown poison and an army lays siege to the city, Jovan and his sister Kalina must protect the Heir and save their city-state.
We’re pleased to share an excerpt from City of Lies, the first novel in the epic fantasy Poison War series from debut author Sam Hawke. Listen to chapter 1 below, as read by Dan Morgan.
One Giant Leap: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
It’s no secret that I’m an immense Mary Robinette Kowal fan. Just check out my review of Ghost Talkers. But it’s not just her fiction that impresses me, but also her kindliness, generosity, and willingness to share knowledge with the rest of the writing community through her blog, Twitter, and as part of the Writing Excuses crew.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2014 Hugo Awards ceremony, Kowal was kind enough to take me and another fellow winner under her wing, guiding us through the craziness that followed. She was basking in her own victory that night, but also took the time to give her time and attention to others that needed it.
Reading V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic (Part 3)
What’s up, magic friends? (Can we do that? Call each other magic friends? It seems just as good of a name as any.) If you’re back here, that means that it’s time for another Shades of Magic Read! It’s a short one this week, but that’s all good because we’re gearing up for the meatier chapters. This week, we meet someone new—Lila Ward.
Link to the index of posts is here so you can check back on other reads.
Series: Reading V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic
Sleeps With Monsters: Melissa Scott’s Shadow Man
Original cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg
Originally published by Tor Books in 1995, and co-winner of the 1996 Lambda Literary Award for Gay/Lesbian Science Fiction (with Nicola Griffith’s Slow River), Shadow Man was reissued in 2009 by Lethe Press. It’s taken me a few years to get around to reading it, which I rather regret—Shadow Man is a fascinating work of social science fiction, and an excellent novel with an ambitious approach to the social issues that it concerns itself with; an approach that still feels novel nearly 25 years on.
5 SFF Books Exploring Sibling Relationships
I am sandwiched in the middle of a basketball team sized family of brilliant siblings so I am, generally speaking, pro-sibling, and perhaps for that reason I love finding portrayals of this unique relationship in SFF. But while it’s common to find children’s books with siblings as joint protagonists, working together, this natural grouping seems to die out abruptly in YA and adult novels. Our protagonists fight and magic and politick their way through realms of fantastic worlds and alternative futures but more commonly they do so as loners, or with friends or romantic partners, rather than with family. Amidst all the orphans and only children and protagonists whose families have been killed off off-screen, where do all our siblings go when we grow up?
Obviously having your protagonist out on their own can be convenient from a narrative point of view, but leaving siblings in to support, antagonise, frustrate and really know our protagonist opens up all kinds of excellent potential for fascinating, nuanced relationships that add to the story even as they complicate it. Here are five SFF books that take on this challenge and run with it.
Series: Five Books About…
Reading The Wheel of Time: For the Love of Egwene in Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World (Part 20)
Well, here we are. Rand and company have come to the end of their first adventure, and so have I. There are many more to come, of course, but for the moment, evil is beaten down and spring has come again to the world spun into being by the Wheel of Time. And yet, there is much loss and sadness too, and the future of our heroes, especially the boys, contains more questions than answers. This installment of Reading The Wheel of Time covers the final two chapters: 52 and 53.
Series: Reading The Wheel of Time
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Winterfair Gifts, Part 2
Last week, we started discussing Winterfair Gifts by looking at Roic and Taura. This week, we’re looking at the mystery the two of them unravel. Initially, this looks like the keys to this mystery might be the story of Miles and Elli.
Elli Quinn didn’t make it to the wedding—I can’t blame her. The wedding of a former lover whose proposals you declined multiple times doesn’t HAVE to be awkward, but that certainly is well within the range of possibilities. This is not her official excuse; She has responsibilities with the Fleet. She has sent a gift. Arde Mayhew gets to play Exposition Fairy here—he reveals that Elli contemplated sending the bride a barbed wire choke chain for keeping Miles in line, but decided it would be too easy to misinterpret. I see Elli’s point. Instead, she sent Miles and Ekaterin a live fur accompanied by a dirty limerick. This is the perfect combination of warmth and humor—Elli is always amazing, even as an ex.
Series: Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga
Colonizers’ Comeuppance: Space Unicorn Blues by T.J. Berry
Science fiction and fantasy blur together in this rolicking space opera about a half-unicorn and a down-on-her-luck spaceship captain. In the future, the US, India, and Oceania band together out of the ashes of a ruined Earth to form the Reason. With the help of omniscient alien beings called the Pymmie, Reasoners launch generation ships into space and “discover” the Bala, alien beings that inspired our mythological creatures. Unicorns, fauns, dryads, necromancers, and more inhabit the worlds around Earth… that is, until Reason colonizes the hell out of them.
Technically, Gary Cobalt is only half-unicorn, but it’s enough to send him to a harvest center after he’s released from prison on a murder rap. He escapes the clutches of Reason with the help of Jenny Perata, his nemesis who once held him captive and used his horn to power his ship’s faster-than-light drive. They’re joined by her cantankerous co-pilot, Cowboy Jim, and rebellious roustabout, Ricky Tang. Jenny and Gary have plans of their own, but when the Sisters of the Supersymmetrical Axion conscript them into making a delivery come hell or high water, they have no choice but to comply. They better get those boxes to the Century Summit before the Pymmie return to judge humanity … or else!
[“Humans were never more persistent than when they were in the wrong.”]
Spinning Silver
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.
When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar.
But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love.
A fresh and imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the bestselling author of Uprooted, Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver weaves a multilayered, magical tapestry that readers will want to return to again and again. Available July 10th from Del Rey.
Family First! — Marvel’s Luke Cage Season 2, Episodes 5-8
There’s a lot going on in the middle episodes of this season of Luke Cage, with the title character moving closer to the hero-for-hire that he has historically been in the comics since his very first appearance (in a title called Hero for Hire), and also finally starting to have the conversation with his father he needs to have. They haven’t finished the conversation yet, and in fact they keep having the same one over and over again, which is a common refrain (literally and figuratively) as way too many dialogues are repeated in these four episodes.
Having said that, as much as Cage gets, it’s as nothing compared to what we get with Mariah Dillard, Misty Knight, and Shades & Comanche…
Horse of Bronze, Pony of Earth: Joy Chant’s Red Moon and Black Mountain
Of all the books that shaped my youth as a writer, Red Moon and Black Mountain has to be in the top five. The prose, the characters, the plotting—they sank into my bones. And they’re still there, many years later.
A lot of years. When I pulled the book off the shelf and checked the copyright page, I was startled to see “First Printing.” Omigod, dare I even crack this precious and much-read volume? But there was a deadline, and there is no ebook, and hard copies are not terribly difficult to find but they take a while to travel to my hinterland. So I read with care, and I read, this time, for the horses.
Read Mary Robinette Kowal’s “The Lady Astronaut of Mars”
Art by Richie Pope
Thirty years ago, Elma York led the expedition that paved the way to life on Mars. For years she’s been longing to go back up there, to once more explore the stars. But there are few opportunities for an aging astronaut, even the famous Lady Astronaut of Mars. When her chance finally comes, it may be too late. Elma must decide whether to stay with her sickening husband in what will surely be the final years of his life, or to have her final adventure and plunge deeper into the well of space.
Learning Fantasy from Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
Sarcophagus depicting the triumph of Dionysos and the Seasons (Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Great books, like possessed people, speak in many voices. My favourite books are not about one thing: they are large (not necessarily long) and contain multitudes. Writers are guides to other worlds, and the guides I am glad to follow are smart enough to show me the coolest sights, but not so chatty as to silence my own thoughts with their talk. The ideal story will give me some anchors—I don’t think you can love Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber if you have no interest at all in sex and gender—while aiming for the kind of fuzzy beauty which you glimpse in dreams.
When I got to the last page of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, I was in love. Here was a book which gave me magic as an anchor (not only magic—it was large, and contained multitudes), and talked about it with rare clarity. I had just read a one-in-a-million kind of book, and I couldn’t wait to share my thoughts with the world.
The world disagreed.
Series: That Was Awesome! Writers on Writing
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