Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn as they chat with author/journalist Annalee Newitz about their new novella Automatic Noodle, robots as allegory, near-future San Francisco, writing cozy science fiction, food as a form of community, journalism and founding io9.com, the blogger diaspora, podcasts and punk media, information and storytelling in relation to propaganda, AI, LLMs, ancient Minoan cat ladies and much more.
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Book Review: Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon
TL;DR Review: Big on the adventure and action, even bigger on the feelings. A visceral and emotional exploration of identity and vulnerability. Synopsis: This is How You Lose the Time War meets Ex Machina: Seth Haddon’s science fiction debut, Volatile Memory, is a sapphic sci-fi action adventure novella. With nothing but a limping ship and an outdated mask to […]
Review: The Emilie Adventures by Martha Wells
Synopsis Two novel-length YA steampunk adventures from the author of the wildly successful Murderbot Diaries Together in one volume for the first time: Emilie and the Hollow World Running away from home, and stowing away on the wrong ship, Emilie embarks on a fantastic adventure. Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use an experimental […]
Review: Time’s Agent by Brenda Peynado
Synopsis Following humanity’s discovery of pocket worlds (hidden offshoots of our own reality, sped up or slowed down by time), teams of academics embarked on groundbreaking exploratory missions, eager to study this new technology and harness the potential of a seemingly limitless horizon. Archaeologist Raquel once dreamed the pocket worlds held the key to solving […]
Review: The Night Cyclist by Stephen Graham Jones
Synopsis: “The Night Cyclist” by award-winning author Stephen Graham Jones is a horror novelette about a middle-aged chef whose nightly bicycle ride home is interrupted by an unexpected encounter. There must be no compulsion to hide the bodies. Otherwise I’d have never found them. Review: Every now and then, I need to remind myself that […]
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark
Synopsis The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats. Nor do they have tails. But they are most assuredly dead. Nebula and Alex Award winner P. Djèlí Clark introduces a brand-new world and a fantastical city full of gods and assassins. Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs […]
Spear by Nicola Griffith
Synopsis The girl knows she has a destiny before she even knows her name. She grows up in the wild, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake come to her on the spring breeze, and when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she knows that […]
Review: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Synopsis Murderbot meets Redshirts in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder from the Hugo-nominated author of Elder Race and Children of Time. To fix the world they must first break it, further. Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they […]
Review: Daughter of Calamity by Rosalie M. Lin
Synopsis In Jazz-Age Shanghai, Jingwen carefully balances a double life of glamour and grit, dancing as cabaret showgirl while also running errands for the city’s most powerful gang. When a series of cabaret dancers are attacked and their stolen faces start appearing on wealthy foreign socialites, Jingwen realises that to help save her closest rivals […]
Review: The Lies of the Ajungo (Forever Desert #1) by Moses Ose Utomi
Synopsis They say there is no water in the City of Lies. They say there are no heroes in the City of Lies. They say there are no friends beyond the City of Lies. But would you believe what they say in the City of Lies?In the City of Lies, they cut out your tongue […]
Review: The Archive Undying (The Downworld Sequence #1) by Emma Mieko Candon
Emma Mieko Candon is clearly a very talented writer, she’s created this incredibly unique world filled with fascinating ideas and intricate characters. The idea of AI Gods who corrupted and ruined the cities they created and kept is what really hooked me. Add in humans who can communicate with these AI and control what I imagined as huge mechs, this is a great book for anyone who loves a complex tale with sci-fi elements.
SFF Addicts Ep. 56: Worldbuilding 101 with Martha Wells (Mini-Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn as they delve into a mini-masterclass on Worldbuilding 101 with bestselling author Martha Wells. During the episode, Martha unravels the intricacies of worldbuilding, including what it means, why well-crafted worlds are important for stories, first steps for worldbuilding, research vs. creativity, keeping track of details, how to convey information through description, avoiding infodumping, drawing maps, naming shit and more.