Synopsis Fleeing the final days of the generations-long war with the alien Felen, smuggler Jereth Keeven’s freighter the Jonah breaks down in a strange rift in deep space, with little chance of rescue — until they encounter the research vessel Gallion, which claims to be from 152 years in the future. The Gallion’s chief engineer […]
Science Fiction
Review: What Branches Grow by T.S. Beier
hat Branches Grow is one of the SPSFC semi-finalists and was assigned to FanFiAddict in the semi-finals.
This is very much the story of a journey. Early on Delia and Gennero meet and Gennero ends up following Delia into the wastelands. Somewhere along that journey he decides he doesn’t want to return to the town he lived in, and instead befriends her and joins her on her quest to reach a mythical city that isn’t ravaged by the wastes. I enjoyed all of the nods to other post-apocalyptic worlds.
Review: Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater
Lost Solace is a semi-finalist in SPSFC and was assigned to FanFiAddict in the semi-finals.
Lost Solace starts in the middle of the action, at some point in the past Opal has stolen a ship and hacked the AI so it is helping her. The backstory to this gets revealed slowly over the course of the book and it’s so well woven into the narrative. We quickly find a lost ship and the story really goes from here.
Review: The Broken Room by Peter Clines
Summary: Hector was the best of the best. A government operative who could bring armies to a halt and nations to their knees. But when his own country betrayed him, he dropped off the grid and picked up the first of many bottles. Natalie can’t remember much of her life before her family brought her […]
Blog Tour: Stringers by Chris Panatier
Bug sex, aliens, and pickles.
Review: Six Gun Shuffle (Black Sun #2) by David Dixon
Synopsis: Snake and the boss have made a lot of enemies, but up until their trip to Yaeger, they’ve never had any beef with Michael Ver, the galaxy’s most bankable popstar-mainly because they hadn’t met him before. After the boss teaches Ver a lesson about the difference between looking tough and being tough, he finds […]
Review: Resilient (Book #2 of The Fractal Series) by Allen Stroud
Synopsis AD 2118, Earth. The world is about to change as a terrorist strike obliterates the planet’s biggest solar farm. AD 2118, Mars. Phobos Station is ready to receive an emergency shuttle full of wounded miners, but when those miners turn out to be insurgents, Doctor Emerson Drake realises he’s trapped and must fight to […]
Review: Doors of Sleep (Journals of Zaxony Delatree #1) by Tim Pratt
A fun and unique ride in the life of Zaxony Delatree, a world hopper via the means of sleeping.
Review: The Memory Librarian and Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe
To be blunt, I’m not a big reader of short story collections. It’s something that has been a sore spot in my reading history, and something I’ve wanted to amend—at some point. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t found the right collection, or there’s a part of me that connects much more deeply with a novel. But, when I was presented with the opportunity to read and review Janelle Monáe’s new sci-fi collection, The Memory Librarian and Other Stories of Dirty Computer, I was able to slip past whatever mental hurdle I had and dove right in. As a fan of Monáe’s music and amazing concept albums, it came as no surprise that the world and atmosphere of these five stories (which are actually more like novelette length) bleed off the page. While not all of the stories succeed, the interconnected nature of this rich world and its poignant themes makes this collection a worthwhile investment.
Book Review/Tour: Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire by G.M. Nair
Synopsis Michael Duckett is fed up with his life. His job is a drag, and his roommate and best friend of fifteen years, Stephanie Dyer, is only making him more anxious with her lazy irresponsibility. Things continue to escalate when they face the threat of imminent eviction from their palatial 5th floor walk-up and find […]
Book Tour and Review: Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire by G.M. Nair
Hello and welcome to my (second) stop on on the Escapist Book Tours book tour for Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire by G.M. Nair! I’ve already kicked off the tour by sharing a spotlight and mini-review over on my IG account, but I wanted to follow that up with a full review of this excellent novel!
Review: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Out of everything I’ve read since the beginning of the pandemic, Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility is the book that truly snuck up on me and made me soak in the reality of what we are living in. I write this from a place of relative isolation: I am a stay-at-home dad who makes a podcast, writes and gets most of his social fix virtually. So here we all are, in the midst of a strange world, a strange time, and Sea of Tranquility captures that isolating strangeness with a sublime beauty and simplicity. This book is at once a thought experiment in loneliness and the human condition, while also reveling in the love and connection that binds us a species across time and space. No other story in recent memory has made me think so deeply about what I have experienced during this pandemic, nor to ponder on the realities of what it means, for me, to be human.