Book Review: WHERE THE DROWNED GIRLS GO

TITLE: Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children Book 7)

AUTHOR: Seanan McGuire

160 pages, TorDotCom, ISBN 9781250213624 (hardcover, also in e-book and audio)

DESCRIPTION: (from the Goodreads page): Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you've already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company.

There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again.
It isn't as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.
And it isn't as safe.

When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her Home for Wayward Children, she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn't save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school, where things are run very differently by Whitehorn, the Headmaster.

She will soon discover that not all doors are welcoming...

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5.

MY THOUGHTS: Seanan McGuire’s “Wayward Children” series has settled into a comfortable rhythm: the odd numbered books are set in the present and usually involve several students going on a quest, while the even numbered books show us someone’s portal adventure – usually a character we’re already familiar with. In Book 6, Across the Green Grass Fields, McGuire veered from expectations by giving us the portal story of a brand-new character with no ties to the “present day” volumes. She continues to break expectations in Book 7, Where the Drowned Girls Go (releasing tomorrow, January 4, 2022), by having a student we’ve come to love decide that Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children is no longer a place she wishes to be and requesting transfer to the other boarding school we’ve heard mention of. Cora’s had enough of quests, enough of trauma, enough of other beings trying to gain control over her life. It’s not a spoiler to say that despite Eleanor’s most persuasive arguments, the transfer goes through; the book isn’t focused on whether Cora will leave but rather what happens when she does.

I don’t think it’s out of line to call this Seanan’s “gothic romance without the romance” installment of the series, as opposed to the gothic horror of Down Among the Sticks and Bones and Come Tumbling Down. I love the Moors. I want an entire series set in the Moors. I don’t honestly think we’ve seen the last of the Moors. But this is not that kind of gothic story. No vampires, no revenants, no deep-dwelling elder gods (the last of which is exactly what Cora is trying to escape being controlled by). What this story has is a mansion walled off from all surrounding civilization, with dark drafty halls and stern unsmiling adult caretakers and rooms students aren’t allowed to visit and a headmaster with a secret; it has a scared and unhappy girl who thinks she has nowhere else to turn falling under the sway of someone who turns out to be at least as controlling as what she’s running away from and who must find her way out before things go from bad to worse. (And this is a Seanan McGuire book, so you know things are going to get worse before they get better.) I loved all the gothic tropes McGuire incorporates and occasionally upends. The Whitehorn Institute has an embedded, palpable sense of menace. I don’t know that I would describe Eleanor West’s Home as particularly joyous (the students are mostly happy, yes, many seem as content as kids waiting for a portal to reopen to the place the truly feel at home can be, but joyous? No.), but it looks like a constant carnival compared to the Whitehorn Institute. So dour and grey a place must haunt us going forward, and I have no doubt that we haven’t seen the last of the place or of its staff, remaining students, and headmaster.

The wonderful thing about the “Wayward Children” series is that the installments really can be read in any order. Each installment includes whatever information a reader might need to “catch up” on previous volumes without having everything about those previous volumes spoiled. In Drowned Girls, we are reminded of (or introduced to) the bits of Come Tumbling Down and Beneath the Sugar Sky that are pertinent to Cora’s present journey, and they are enough to refresh ongoing readers’ memories and hopefully intrigue new readers.

And this is Cora’s journey we’re on. Mood and classic tropes can only take us so far if we don’t care about the character we’re following into the place. And we do care about Cora. Even if you haven’t read any of the previous books she’s appeared in, you’ll care about her within the first few pages. You’ll recognize her fear that the home she loves is out of her reach, that she’s stuck in a world that doesn’t understand her, that she’s drawn the attention of otherworldly beings who might, through her, find a way to lay waste to the home she loves. (Okay, yeah, most of us don’t encounter that last one – but many of us do encounter thoughts in our own heads that feel otherworldly and controlling and that we’d do anything to escape from. Has McGuire given us ocean-dwelling elder gods as a metaphor for mental illness? I think maybe she has.) You will recognize her need to do something, anything, to change her situation because her situation has become unhealthy and untenable. And you will recognize all the doubts that come along with the thing she does, and the steps she takes to make things as right as she can.

Cora is not the only familiar character appearing in Where the Drowned Girls Go. But telling you who else shows up and what roles they end up playing is a level of spoiler to which I will not descend. Because of when I’m posting this, it’s likely the book is already available in e-format wherever you are, with the print edition easily orderable. So get to it. You won’t be disappointed if you like gothic tales, boarding school tales, tales with magic and danger and in which portals are not the only way to find adventure.

NOTE: I did receive an e-ARC of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.

Sunday Shorts: Three from Uncanny #41

I love short fiction, and Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it. Posts will range from flash to novellas. At some point, I might delve into individual stories/episodes of anthology formats in other media, like television and comics, but for the time being, I’m sticking to prose in print and audio.

Today I’m taking a look at three stories from the chock-full-of-greatness Uncanny Magazine #41, their July/August 2021 issue, edited as always by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas. Seriously, there’s a ton of great stuff in this (and every) issue of Uncanny. Go back their current Kickstarter to fund year 8 of the magazine.

“From the Archives of the Museum of Eerie Skins: An Account” by C.S.E. Cooney

Sometimes when reading a story narrated in first person, I find myself wondering to whom the narrator is speaking. C.S.E. Cooney neatly addresses the issue by positing this whole story as a transcript of an interview with Firi Kanaphar, former wolfcaster in the city of Doornwald, as she relates how the loss of her wolfskin resulted in a societal shift in the relationship between wolfcasters (and other shifters) and witches. This is a wonderful slow-burn story, told conversationally, that builds to a horrific climax where revenge is achieved but the narrator’s life has already been irrevocably changed. The loss of Firi’s wolf-skin is a potent metaphor for rape or dismemberment, and the treatment of wolfcasters by witches is an equally obvious metaphor for racial prejudice. The story also addresses power dynamics – the abuser’s ability to continue to harm the abused even from a distance – and the ability of art to foment social justice and social change when the structures that are supposed to do so fail. It’s a powerful story that I am sure will reveal more layers and inspire deeper thinking each time I re-read it. (Side note: fans of Cooney’s “The Witch in the Almond Tree” and “The Bone-Swans of Amandale” will notice some familiar names in cameo appearances as well as place names.)

“The Wishing Pool” by Tananarive Due

“The Wishing Pool” is about the power and costs of wishes, in the finest fairy tale tradition. Joy ventures out to her family’s remote cabin to check on her ailing father, who is not doing well since his wife’s passing. The sights and sounds remind Joy of a brief childhood friendship centered around a “wishing pool” located between their cabins, and how their few wishes came true but went wrong (as is expected in this kind of story). Joy is desperate for her father to be happy and healthy again – but is she desperate enough to risk wishing on the pool and savvy enough to craft the wish in such a way to avoid it going wrong? Due imbues the story with all of the modern frustrations of dealing with an ailing parent who will not seek out the medical attention they so clearly need: carving out time from regular life and work to travel a great distance to check in on them, the realization that their health has deteriorated far more than suspected (in this case, lung disease and cognitive/memory decline), shouldering the decision-making burden when other siblings fail to step up. All of this adds great depth to Joy as a character and to the memories that bring her to her ultimate decision. I also appreciated Due including what ‘Nathan Burgoine sometimes refers to “that slight nod to reality that makes some people uncomfortable.” In this case, it’s a mention of how the family came to have this remote cabin: built by her grandfather to “hide from lynch mobs roused by their envy that a negro businessman could afford a shiny new Ford Model T.” It’s a throw-away line, but a reminder of history and a moment that ties this story with fantastical elements to our reality.

“Immortal Coil” by Ellen Kushner

Students of drama have been as fascinated by what we don’t know about the life of William Shakespeare as what we do know of his work, and it’s always fun reading genre stories that investigate that life. I personally also tend to be a little obsessed with genre stories about writers that explore their relationship with craft, process, and legacy (see, for instance, my “Top Ten-ish Stephen King Books”). Ellen Kushner brings both of those interests together in “Immortal Coil,” which gives us a mid-career(ish) William Shakespeare seeing what seems to be the ghost of his deceased friend and fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe. The figure leads Will on a merry chase across town using book titles as clues to where to go next, and when they finally are face-to-face, the truth of the situation is laid out and Will is made an offer. Kushner beautifully addresses the question every creative person asks themselves eventually: is it preferable to walk away/retire/die at the height of your career or to stay in the game/live a longer life and watch your skills, and reputation, deteriorate? I won’t spoil Will’s choice, nor the delightful coda Kushner gives the story. But I will say that I wonder if, given the opportunity, I would make the same choice.

Series Saturday: Frank Schildiner's Frankenstein novels

This is a blog series about … well, series. I love stories that continue across volumes, in whatever form: linked short stories, novels, novellas, television, movies, comics.

The Frankenstein novels (3 volumes)

Written by Frank Schildiner

published by Black Coat Press (2015 – 2019)

Titles:

·       The Quest of Frankenstein (2015)

·       The Triumph of Frankenstein (2017)

·       The Spells of Frankenstein (2019)

Mary Shelley’s classic creation Frankenstein has spawned more sequels and reinterpretations than I have the energy to count at the moment. Back in 1957-58, French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière wrote a series of novels featuring Frankenstein’s Monster, now named Gouroull and traveling the world following an agenda of his own making. Gouroull has utter disdain for humanity as a whole and is as likely to murder temporary allies as he is enemies. I’ve never read the Carrière novels (English translations appear to be out of print and highly priced on the secondary market), but I have read Frank Schildiner’s three sequels published by Black Coat Press, which are the subject of today’s post.

Frank Schildiner is a wonderful “new pulp” author whose work runs from pulp adventure (The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade) to sword-and-sorcery (The Warrior’s Pilgrimage) to espionage (The Klaus Protocol) to westerns, science fiction, and horror. Much of his work mixes genres, and the Frankenstein novels are no exception. Primarily horror, the books also include elements of classic pulp adventure (scientific or occult investigator type characters) and espionage thrillers (the political machinations of the fictional South American country in which The Triumph of Frankenstein takes place).

Gouroull himself is a far cry from the sympathetic Monster of Shelley’s original novel (who simply wanted to understand his place in the world and have a mate to love) and the childlike force of nature of the early Universal Studios films. If any connection/comparison is to be made, I’d say the Monster as played by Bela Lugosi (when evil hunchback Ygor’s brain had been transplanted into the Monster’s body) comes closest tonally to Carrière/Schildiner’s Gouroull. But where Lugosi’s Monster simply had the potential to be a Force of Evil, Gouroull IS that force. We are meant to be afraid of a creature made by Man but unaffected by human emotions of love and want. Gouroull’s search for someone capable of creating him a Mate is powered by the biological imperative to propagate the species as much as by his disdain for weaker/lesser humanity – there’s not a speck of sentiment or loneliness to be seen. This makes Gouroull a hard character to sympathize with – which is not the same as making him a hard character to root for.

On the contrary, throughout the three books I found myself mostly wanting Gouroull to succeed, mostly because the other characters he encounters and does battle with are even less friendly/sympathetic. (I say “mostly” only because Gouroull’s quest in The Spells of Frankenstein involves bringing the Elder Gods of the Lovecraft Mythos back to Earth, and I mean really, who wants that mission to succeed?) Gouroull does battle with vampires (including but not limited to several “soul clones” of Dracula), sorcerers, necromancers, ghosts, mad scientists (paging Doctors Herbert West and Elizabeth Frankenstein) and other supernatural menaces, but even the theoretically heroic characters he meets (monster hunters named Hezekiah Whately and Martin Mars) are reprehensible, highlighting the worst in human greed and hubris. It’s a pleasure to see characters like these get their come-uppance against a force of nature they cannot overcome.

Even though Gouroull is the focus of each book, these are very much ensemble cast novels. Chapters switch between various characters’ points of view as they are drawn into contact with the Monster, and we get insight into who they are before they encounter in (and why they’re searching for him, when they are) as well as how their encounter changes them (when they survive, that is). It’s an effective way to build tension in each book, but is particularly effective in The Spells of Frankenstein, where we meet a pair of heroic human characters of Schildiner’s creation who I would love to see more of in their own books/stories: the Muslim adventurers Faisal and Fatimah. (To a lesser extent, I was also intrigued by  Moraika, the tribal wise woman/shamaness Schildiner created for a sub-plot in Triumph and would like to see her plotline continued as well.)

As is the wont of many “new pulp” writers, Schildiner tosses “easter eggs” liberally throughout these books – nods at classic horror and adventure literary and movie characters. And he does it in ways that don’t distract from the on-going narrative. If you know who is being referenced, great. If not, you can always check the author’s notes at the end of each book. I found those notes inspiring interest in a long list of books I’ve not yet read and movies I’ve not yet seen, especially where the nods were in the form of pastiche or homage rather than outright use of a character.

It’s rare these days for an author to write a series in which the books can be read in any order. Like Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, Frank Schildiner’s Frankenstein books each stand alone, complete unto themselves while still having an obvious place in the overall structure of the series. Read the series in publication order (as I did) or in character chronology order (or, I guess, if you’re one of the lucky folks who have the Carrière novels, read Schildiner’s books where they take place within that chronology), whichever fits your fancy.

There may or may not be further Gouroull novels by Schildiner and Black Coat Press. If there are, I look forward to which gaps in the character’s history Schildiner fills in next. If there aren’t, these books together still tell a trio of tales about a version of Frankenstein’s Monster that is not sympathetic but is compelling.

Reading Round-Up: June 2021

Not quite as belatedly, the monthly summary of what I read and listened to in June 2021!

BOOKS

I read 8 books in June: 3 in print, 5 in e-book format, and 0 in audio format. They were:

1.       Lightspeed Magazine #133 (June 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Sam J. Miller’s “The Nation of the Sick,” Nalo Hopkinson’s “Inselberg,” Adam R. Shannon’s “When You Die on the Radio,” and Theodora Goss’s “How to Become a Witch Queen.”

2.       Lumberjanes Vol 18: Horticultural Horizons by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, Kanesha C. Bryant, Julia Madrigal, others. Collects issues 69-72 of the monthly comic run, in which the ‘Janes follow camp director Rosie into the woods and discover a creeping killer vine and Rosie’s former best friend Abigail. A really solid storyline this time out spotlights each of the ‘Janes and gives us more background/movement with Rosie and Abigail.

3.       All We Ever Wanted by Seth King. Near the end of his life, a grandfather writes down the story of his lost true love, another man. King charts their hidden love affair across the decades, starting with their first meeting in the 1950s. It’s full of love, but also heart-breaking and angering.

4.       The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag. A new original graphic novel from the creator of the “Witch Boy” series that I love so much. This one takes place on a coastal Island community and focuses on a teen girl who is hiding her sexuality until she can leave – but the selkie she meets might alter those plans. Heartfelt and lovely.

5.       May the Best Man Win by ZR Ellor. A transgender boy who is already class president and a head cheerleader decides to compete with his ex-boyfriend for the Homecoming King crown. Their battle threatens to hurt each other and people they love. I got so invested in this I was yelling at the characters for being so single-minded and selfish.

6.       Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller. In a post-climate change future, various denizens of the titular city find their lives intertwining when a mysterious woman on a mission comes to town. A great ensemble story with lots of characters to root for, and rich assholes to root against.

7.       A Writer Prepares by Lawrence Block. Block’s memoir of his early days working for a literary agency in New York, writing crime fiction and erotica for paperback publishers and paying his dues to build a career.

8.       Fair Youth by M. Dalto and Laynie Bynum. A modern-day, gender-flipped take on the oft-speculated relationship between Elizabethan playwrights William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, only here they’re budding scriptwriters in Hollywood.

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) this year. Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it.

1.       “The Nation of the Sick” by Sam J. Miller, from Lightspeed Magazine #133 (June 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “Different People” by Timothy Mudie

3.       “Inselberg” by Nalo Hopkinson

4.       “Do Nothing” by Indria Isa Richardson

5.       “A Tableau of Things That Are” by Adam-Troy Castro

6.       “Wolf Tones” by Sofia Samatar

7.       “When You Die on the Radio” by Adam R. Shannon

8.       “How to Become a Witch Queen” by Theodora Goss

9.       “Dos Coyotes” by Catherine J. Cole, from Fantasy Magazine #68 (June 2021), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg

10.   “Your Ticket to Hell” by Rajan Khanna

11.   “The Port of Le Havre, Night Effect, 1873” by Christine Tyler

12.   “A Gift from the Queen of Fairie to the King of Hell” by Cara Masten DiGirolamo

13.    “To Build a Better” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.

So that’s 13 short stories in June, possible the fewest I’ve ever read in a calendar month since I started tracking my short story reading. Fewer than “1 per day” and I’m behind again for the year. (June 30th was the 181st day of 2021.)

Summary of Reading Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 6 of 24 main titles read. (0 of 4 alternate titles read)

365 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 13 read; YTD: 176 of 365 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 2 read; YTD: 15 of 52 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 8 read; YTD: 67 of 125 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 9 of 24 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 read/watched.

Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 book read; YTD: 0 of 14 read.

                                                          Series fully completed: 0 of 4 planned

Monthly Special Challenge:   June’s mini-challenge was to read some works by LGBTQIA+ authors for Pride Month. I did well, as the majority of the books read were by queer-identifying creators (apart from the Block memoir), and several of the short stories were as well.

I decided not to set a mini challenge for July and to use the month to catch up on some of the on-going challenges. We’ll see how that goes…

Reading Round-Up: May 2021

Once again belatedly, the monthly summary of what I read and listened to in May 2021!

BOOKS

I read 13 books in May: 8 in print, 3 in e-book format, and 2 in audio format. They were:

1.       Lightspeed Magazine #132 (May 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Andrea Kriz’s “There Are No Hot Topics on Whukai,” Gene Doucette’s “Hypnopompic Circumstance,” Kristina Ten’s “Bones in It,” and Howard Andrew Jones’s “The Palace in the Moonlight.”

2.       Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard. A princess haunted by a fire that occurred when she was a political prisoner of another nation must navigate negotiations with the representatives of that same colonizing nation as an adult, complicated by the arrival of a new friend and an old lover.

3.       Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden. Sci-fi “retelling” of The Little Mermaid, although that retelling is briefly in flashbacks and the story really focuses on the characters quite a few years later. FULL REVIEW HERE.

4.       Burning Roses by S.L. Huang. A novella about running from one’s past mistakes and the uses and misuses of personal power, featuring a version of Red Riding Hood and a version of Hou Yi who help each other deal with their slowly unveiled pasts.

5.       Adler, Volume 1 by Lavie Tidhar (writer), Paul McCaffrey (artist). Collection of the graphic novel series teaming up versions of fictional characters Irene Adler, Jane Eyre, Miss Havisham, orphan Annie, and others against Ayesha.

6.       Miles Morales: Spider-Man Volume 4: Ultimatum by Saladin Ahmed (writer), Cory Smith, Carmen Carnero, Javier Garrón, others. Collection of issues 16-21 of the monthly comics run.

7.       The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo. Vo’s reinvention of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, narrated by Jordan Baker, who here is a queer Asian adoptee in a world where magic actually works. FULL REVIEW HERE.

8.       Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed Volume 3: Outlawed by Saladin Ahmed (writer), Minkyu Jung, others. Collection of issues 13-18 of the monthly comics run, in which Kamala and friends must avoid being caught by government agency CRADLE while acting as super-heroes without adult sponsors.

9.       Ghost-Spider Volume 2: Party People by Seanan McGuire (writer), Ig Guara (artist), others. Collecting issues 6-10 of the monthly comics run, during with Gwen navigates life on two different Earths and meets her Earth’s versions of Sue and Johnny Storm. Shame this run was cancelled so early.

10.   Shang-Chi by Gene Luen Yang Volume 1: Brothers & Sisters by Gene Luen Yang (writer), Dike Ruan, Philip Tan (artists). Collection of the monthly mini-series that introduced a new status quo for Shang-Chi in the comics, as he learns he has more biological half-siblings than he ever thought he could have. It’s not the Shang-Chi I grew up reading, but an interesting reinterpretation.

11.   The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I don’t remember reading this in either high school or college, but after reading Nghi Vo’s reinterpretation, I felt like I had to in order to understand her inspiration. It’s an interesting story as far as it goes, with some interesting turns of phrase.

12.   The Witch in the Almond Tree & Other Stories by C.S.E. Cooney. Three wonderful fantasy short stories featuring magic, romance, and a bit of erotica. I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author and loved every minute of it.

13.   Dodge & Twist: A Sequel to Oliver Twist by Tony Lee. I listened to the audio production, which was more of a radio play than a reading (and my understanding is that Lee wrote it specifically as such for Audible). It’s a fun tale of Oliver and Dodger running into each other in their early twenties and getting involved in a caper together. I’m not sure it’s quite the sequel “Dickens would have written,” as some of the press materials claimed, but it’s a fun and fast-paced tale nonetheless.

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) this year. Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it.

1.       “Hypnopompic Circumstance” by Gene Doucette, from Lightspeed Magazine #132 (May 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “Carnivores” by Rich Larson

3.       “There Are No Hot Topics on Whukai” by Andrea Kriz

4.       “Saudade” by Nelson Rolon

5.       “An Invitation to a Burning” by Kat Howard

6.       “Bones In It” by Kristina Ten

7.       “Dead Men in Central City” by Carrie Vaughn

8.       “The Palace in the Moonlight” by Howard Andrew Jones

9.       “Like Birdsong, The Memory of Your Touch” by Izzy Wasserstein, from Fantasy Magazine #67 (May 2021), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg

10.   “The Sweetest Source” by J.L. Jones

11.   “Disenchantment” by P.H. Low

12.   “By Our Own Hands” by Anya Leigh Josephs

13.    “By Any Other” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.

14.   “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, from The New Yorker (June 26, 1978)

15.   “Crooked House” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, from The Dark #72 (May 2021), edited by Sean Wallace

16.   “Of Claw and Bone” by Suzan Palumbo

17.   “Water Child” by Frances Ogamba

18.   “The Witch in the Almond Tree” by C.S.E. Cooney, from The Witch in the Almond Tree and Other Stories

19.   “Witch, Beast, Saint” by C.S.E. Cooney

20.   “Braiding the Ghosts” by C.S.E. Cooney

So that’s 20 short stories in May. Fewer than “1 per day” but I’m still slightly ahead for the year. (May 31st was the 151st day of 2021.)

Summary of Reading Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 6 of 24 main titles read. (0 of 4 alternate titles read)

365 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 20 read; YTD: 163 of 365 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 5 read; YTD: 13 of 52 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 13 read; YTD: 59 of 125 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 8 of 24 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 read/watched.

Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 book read; YTD: 0 of 14 read.

                                                          Series fully completed: 0 of 4 planned

Monthly Special Challenge:   May’s mini-challenge was to read some works by authors of Asian Pacific and/or South Asian descent, for Asian Pacific and South Asian Heritage Month. Didn’t do too badly on this one: three novels (de Bodard, Huang, Vo), one graphic novel (Shang-Chi by Yang, Ruan, Tan and co.).

June’s mini-challenge is, quite naturally, LGBTQIA+ authors and works, since June is Pride Month.

READING ROUND-UP: April, 2021

Very much belatedly, the monthly summary of what I read and listened to in April 2021!

BOOKS

I read 9 books in April: 5 in print, 2 in e-book format, and 0 in audio format. They were:

1.       Lightspeed Magazine #131 (April 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were An Owomoyela’s “The Equations of the Dead,” Seanan McGuire’s “Swear Not by The Moon,” Ashok K. Banker’s “The Giving One,” and Genevieve Valentine’s “Blood, Ash, Braids.”

2.       Angel of the Overpass (Ghost Roads, Book 3) by Seanan McGuire (writer). The third novel featuring hitch-hiking ghost Rose Marshall (also known as The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, the Phantom Prom Date, and more) brings her afterlife-long battle with her killer, the immortal Bobby Cross, to a head. There’s action, character growth, world-changing moments, and my favorite ghost dinosaur ever. FULL REVIEW HERE. (Did I mention the ghost dinosaur? Seriously worth the price of admission alone.)

3.       Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn’t Die edited by dave ring. Wonderful collection of post-apocalyptic short stories centering characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

4.       A Field Guide to the Spirits: Poems by Jean LeBlanc. Poems about life, love, grief, and more, many with a fantasy, science fiction, or mythological tone.

5.       Harryhausen: the Lost Movies by John Walsh. Interesting coffee table book tracking all the film projects Ray Harryhausen ended up not working on, from his own aborted ideas to the opportunities he turned down to work on others’ projects. Tons of original sketches, test models, and photographs make this a must-read for any Harryhausen fan.

6.       Ancient Songs of Us by Jean LeBlanc. More poems by a truly wonderful poet.

7.       The Impossible Resurrection of Grief by Octavia Cade. A stunningly emotional novella in which loss and sadness bring on Grief, an irreversible mental and physical deterioration. FULL REVIEW TO COME.

8.       Prince Neptune by Cody Simpson. Poems by the former teen singer/songwriter/YouTube star (and current potential Olympic swimmer), focused on saving the environment but also on teen emotional and sexual angst.

9.       A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. The first full-length novel in Clark’s alternate history, magic-infused steampunk Cairo is a wonderful fair-play murder mystery. FULL REVIEW HERE.

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) this year. Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it.

1.       “The Equations of the Dead” by On Owomoyela, from Lightspeed Magazine #131 (April 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “Swear Not by The Moon” by Seanan McGuire

3.       “The Ocean Between the Leaves” by Ray Nayler

4.       “Complete Exhaustion of the Organism” by Rich Larson

5.       “The Justified” by Ann Leckie

6.       “The Giving One” by Ashok K. Banker

7.       “Blood, Ash, Braids” by Genevieve Valentine

8.       “Single Origin” by A.Z. Louise, from Fantasy Magazine #66 (April 2021), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg

9.       “The Woman with No Face” by Alice Goldfuss

10.   “So. Fucking. Metal.” by Shane Halbach

11.   “How I Became MegaPunch, or, Why I Stay with Dylan” by Y.M. Pang

12.    “Earth to Charity” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.

13.   “Forward, Victoria” by Carlie St. George, from The Dark #71 (April 2021), edited by Sean Wallace

14.   “A Study in Ugliness” by H. Pueyo

15.   “Worm Blood” by Octavia Cade

16.   “Wrath of a Queer God” by Anthony Moll, from Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn’t Die, edited by dave ring

17.   “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” by Christopher Caldwell

18.   “The Descent of Their Last End” by Izzy Wasserstein

19.   “Soft” by Otter Lieffe

20.   “The Black Hearts of La Playa” by Jordan Kinella

21.   “The Bone Gifts” by Michael Milne

22.   “When the Last of the Birds and Bees Have Gone” by C.L. Clark

23.   “A Future in Color” by R.J. Theodore

24.   “Champions of Water War” by Elly Bangs

25.   “A Sound Like Staying Together” by Adam R. Shannon

26.   “Be Strong, Kick Many Asses” by Ann-Julie Riddle

27.   “Venom and Bite” by Darcie Little Badger

28.   “The Currant Dumas” by L.D. Lewis

29.   “The Limitations of Her Code” by Marianne Kirby

30.   “You Fool, You Wanderer” by Brendan Williams-Childs

31.   “A Party-Planners Guide to the Apocalypse” by Lauren Ring

32.   “Imago” by A.Z. Louise

33.   “Safe Haven” by A.P. Thayer

34.   “Note Left on a Coffee Table” by Mari Ness

35.   “The Valley of Mothers” by Josie Columbus

36.   “For the Taking, For the Making” by V. Medina

37.   “When She Nothing Shines Upon” by Blake Jessop

38.   “The Last Dawn of Targadrides” by Trip Galey

39.   “The Dreadnought and the Stars” by Phoebe Barton

So that’s 39 short stories in April. Back to a bit more than “1 per day” but I’m still slightly ahead for the year. (April 30th was the 120th day of 2021.)

Summary of Reading Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 6 of 24 main titles read. (0 of 4 alternate titles read)

365 Short Stories Challenge: This month: 39 read; YTD: 143 of 365 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 0 read; YTD: 8 of 52 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 9 read; YTD: 46 of 125 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 8 of 24 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 read/watched.

Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 book read; YTD: 0 of 14 read.

                                                          Series fully completed: 0 of 4 planned

Monthly Special Challenge:   April’s mini-challenge was poetry, as April is National Poetry Month. I am not a consistent reader of poetry, but in April I usually try to read at least a couple of poetry collections. I managed three: two by American poet Jean LeBlanc and one by Australian Cody Simpson. I also read a couple of poems in Fantasy Magazine #66: “Appeal to the Doppleganger” by Terese Mason Pierre, and “The Knitting Bowl” by Tristan Beiter.

May’s mini-challenge is to read some works by authors of Asian Pacific and/or South Asian descent, for Asian Pacific and South Asian Heritage Month.

Reading Round-Up: March 2021

Much belatedly, the monthly summary of what I read and listened to in March 2021!

BOOKS

I read 13 books in February: 7 in print, 6 in e-book format, and 0 in audio format. They were:

1.       Lightspeed Magazine #120 (March 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Claire Wrenwood’s “Homecoming,” Yoon Ha Lee’s “The Empty Gun,” Sarah Grey’s “Brightly, Undiminished,” and P H Lee’s “The Bear Prince.”

2.       Lumberjanes Vol. 17: Smitten in the Stars by Shannon Watters and Kat Leyh (writer), Kanesha C. Bryant (art), Maarta Laiho (colors), Aubrey Aiese (letters), Sophie Philips-Roberts (editor). This graphic novel collects issues #65-68 of the monthly Lumberjanes series. This time out, Camp Director Rosie and counselor Jen’s attempt to take the Lumberjanes on a night of stargazing is interrupted by the arrival of a goddess, a cat-napping, and the Roanoke and Zodiac cabins sneaking out to search for aliens. It’s another really fun installment, and I’m going to be sad when the series draws to its announced end in the near future.

3.       The Inconvenient God (The Polity Book 1) by Francesca Forrest. This novelette serves as the introduction to the world of The Polity, where the prevailing government is moving the populace from worship of individual gods to themed abstractions. Old, waning gods are “decommissioned,” that is, turned mortal, through the efforts of a specialized department. The novelette is narrated by Decommissioner Thirty-Seven, who has arrived on a college campus to decommission a local trickster god (and patron of lazy students) named Ohin. Things do not go smoothly and secrets about the university’s and Ohin’s histories are laid bare. I was totally sucked into this story. FULL REVIEW HERE.

4.       Lagoonfire (The Polity Book 2) by Francesca Forrest. Decommissioner Thirty-Seven’s adventures continue in this novella. The action starts with Thirty-Seven being sent to investigate the possibility that the first god she decommissioned, Laloran-morna, is involved in corporate sabotage. More of Thirty-Seven’s personal history is revealed in this story, as is more about the Polity itself. You can read Lagoonfire without having read The Inconvenient God, but reading the novelette first adds some depth to the novella. FULL REVIEW HERE.

5.       Village Fool (A Little Village novella) by ‘Nathan Burgoine. The latest holiday-themed gay romance novella from ‘Nathan Burgoine shifts the action from Christmas to April Fool’s Day and gives us the back-story to the relationship between IT worker Owen and physical therapist Toma, who had been mentioned briefly in previous Little Village novellas. Burgoine’s usual warmth, romance, and fine character work are all present (along with plenty of trademark geeky good-natured snark). It’s a sweet story I highly recommend. And one does not have to have read the previous novellas in order to read this one. FULL REVIEW HERE.

6.       The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in a world in which women are second-class citizens: adult women must wear masks in public and can only hold certain jobs. Social status is indicated by the expensiveness of the masks women wear. At sixteen, girls are put through a ceremonial bleeding: if their blood runs red, they enter society. If their blood runs gold, they are put under the death mandate. Deka loses all hope when her blood runs gold – but then she is conscripted into a special battle corps of Alaki – near-immortal warrior women whose blood runs gold – to protect the empire from invading deathshrieks. Forna’s world-building, from the socio-political aspects to the magic, is fantastic and Deka is an intriguing narrator. This is billed in various places online as “The Deathless, Book 1” so I’m assuming there’s more to come in this world and with these characters.

7.       A Voice in the Darkness: Memoir of a Rwandan Genocide Survivor by Jeanne Celestine Lakin. The third book I’ve read about the Rwandan Genocide Against the Tutsi, a horrific event I’m still trying to wrap my mind and heart around. The two books I read in February were memoirs by men who survived the genocide by taking refuge in the “Hotel Rwanda.” Lakin’s memoir is of survival on the streets and in the fields, narrowly evading death multiple times in the company of her 3-year-old twin sisters. Lakin talks about the fear, the abandonment by Hutu family members and former friends, and the physical and sexual abuse she experienced as a child survivor of only 11-years old. The difference in experience between the hotel survivors and those who had to fend for themselves, and between men and women, is stark. My next planned read about the subject is a memoir by the leader of UN forces in the Rwandan capital during the Genocide, Romeo Dallaire.

8.       Blind Tiger (The Pride, Book 1) by Jordan L. Hawk. A new series set in the same alternate history of Hawk’s Hexworld/Witch Police novels, but with the action set in Prohibition-era Chicago. Sam Cunningham flees small town life to live with his hexmaker cousin in the big city, but when that cousin is murdered Sam must team up with the operators of a local speakeasy (called The Pride because the owners are a family of familiars who shift to various Big Cat forms) to solve the mystery and stay alive. As is usual with the Hexworld novels, there’s an awkward meet-cute between the two lead characters, a romance, and some hot sex. FULL REVIEW HERE.

9.       Faery Tales: One Woman’s Search for Enchantment in a Modern World by Signe Pike. One of my non-fiction To Be Read Challenge titles for 2021. Pike recounts her search for faeries across North America and the United Kingdom and how it changed her view of herself and what she wanted to accomplish. Along the way she meets a variety of colorful local folks and learns about the ways people approach the possibility of the supernatural co-existing with us. An interesting, easy read.

10.   Biff! Bam! Eee-Yow! The Subterranean Blue Grotto Guide to Batman ’66 Season Two edited by Jim Beard. Another wonderful book of essays covering each episode of season two.

11.   Minky Woodcock: The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini by Cynthia von Buhler. One of my fiction TO Be Read Challenge titles for 2021, this graphic novel collects von Buhler’s first mini-series for Titan Books’ Hard Case Crime imprint. Minky Woodcock is the daughter of a famous detective who will not train her to take over his agency, so while he’s away and her ne’er-do-well brother is absent, she takes on a case to prove herself. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hires her to prove Harry Houdini is a fraud. Mixing real-life events and people with fictional characters, von Buhler proposes a “true” reason for Houdini’s unfortunately early death. It’s a compelling story with interesting characters, and the second mini-series, The Girl Who Electrocuted Tesla, is currently releasing in monthly comics form.

12.   First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara. Szpara’s second novel explores self-discovery after trauma and outgrowing abusive origins in the context of a multi-narrator road-trip story. Dealing as it does explicitly with physical and emotional abuse, rape, and consent violations, this will not be an easy read for many people. FULL REVIEW HERE.

13.   The Black Canary: Bird of Prey by Robert Kanigher and Gardner F. Fox (writers), Carmine Infantino, Murphy Anderson, Alex Toth (artists). This graphic novel collects a number of Black Canary’s seminal Golden Age and Silver Age solo stories from Flash Comics #86-88 and 90-104, Comics Cavalcade #25, DC Special #3, Adventure Comics #399 and 418-419, and The Brave and the Bold #61-62 (her team-ups with Starman). Black Canary is one of my favorite characters and revisiting her evolution from mysterious guest-star in Johnny Thunder’s feature to replacing him and gaining a supporting cast of her own to returning in the Silver Age with powers is always fun. The Golden Age episodes feature an awful lot of BC and her male companion (first JT, then detective Larry Lance) getting knocked unconscious, and the early Infantino art feels a bit rough in comparison to the Murphy Anderson and Alex Toth art of the later stories, but they’re all enjoyable.

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) this year. Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it.

1.       “Homecoming” by Claire Wrenwood, from Lightspeed Magazine #130 (March 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit -- Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts” by Ken Liu

3.       “And Now, A Preview of Coming Attractions” by Adam-Troy Castro

4.       “The Empty Gun” by Yoon Ha Lee

5.       “Olivia’s Table” by Alyssa Wong

6.       “The Bear Prince” by P H Lee

7.       “A Place for Hiding Precious Things” by Amber Sparks

8.       “Brightly, Undiminished” by Sarah Grey

9.       “The Code for Everything” by McKinley Valentine, from Fantasy Magazine #65 (March 2021), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg

10.   “Man vs. Bomb” by M. Shaw

11.   “Close Enough to Divine” by Donyae Coles

12.   “Arenous” by Hal Y. Zhang

13.    “The Hand of the Forest” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.

14.   “The Sin of America” by Catherynne M. Valente, from Uncanny Magazine #39 (March 2021), edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas

15.   “Colors of the Immortal Palette” by Caroline M. Yoachim

16.   “The Book of the Kraken” by Carrie Vaughn

17.   “It Accumulates” by Joanna Parypinski, from Nightmare Magazine #102 (March 2021), edited by Wendy N. Wagner

18.   “Forever is Composed of Nows” by Will Ludwigsen, from Bachelors #1, edited by Steve Berman

19.   “Babydog” by Ryan Vance

20.   “Whatever A Body is Not Obliged to Do” by L.A. Fields

21.   “Last Night at Manscape” by Nick Mamatas

22.   “Little Doors” by Claire Madrigano, from The Dark #70 (March 2021), edited by Sean Wallace

23.   “Immortelle” by Jelena Dunato

24.   “Las Girlfriends Guide to Subversive Eating” by Sabrina Vourvoulias, from Apex Magazine #122 (March 2021), edited by Jason Sizemore

25.   “A Future of Towers Made” by Beth Cato, from Clockwork, Curses, and Coal: Steampunk and Gaslamp Fairy Tales), edited by Rhonda Parrish

So that’s 25 short stories in March. Not quite “1 per day” but I’m still slightly ahead for the year. (March 31st was the 90th day of 2021.)

Summary of Reading Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 2 read; YTD: 6 of 24 main titles read. (0 of 4 alternate titles read)

366 Short Stories Challenge: This month:  53 read; YTD: 104 of 365 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 3 read; YTD: 8 of 52 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 13 read; YTD: 37 of 125 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 3 read; YTD: 7 of 24 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 read/watched.

Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 book read; YTD: 0 of 14 read.

                                                          Series fully completed: 0 of 4 planned

Monthly Special Challenge:   March was Women’s History Month, so my intent was to read as many female authors as possible. On the “short story” side of things, I did pretty well: 17 of the 25 stories read were by female-identifying authors. On the “books” side of things, comparatively, I did less well: if I include all the creators involved in Lumberjanes Vol 17, 9 of the books I read were written/created by female-identifying authors/artists.

April’s mini-challenge is poetry, as April is National Poetry Month. I am not a consistent reader of poetry, but in April I usually try to read at least a couple of poetry collections, so we’ll see how I do.

Sunday Shorts: Two by Francesca Forrest

I love short fiction, and Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it. Posts will range from flash to novellas. At some point, I might delve into individual stories/episodes of anthology formats in other media, like television and comics, but for the time being, I’m sticking to prose in print and audio.

I get a lot of book recommendations from a variety of sources, including, of course, close friends. Every now and then, one of those recommendations leads to an author becoming a “favorite”/ “must-read everything.” For instance, it is Jim Savenkoff’s fault that you all now get inundated with so many Seanan McGuire reviews, interviews, and social media comments from me. I suspect, based on my enjoyment of the novelette and novella I’m about to talk about, that in the future you’ll be able to blame Claire Cooney for all the Francesca Forrest posts I’ll be making. Fair warning. (Claire’s first recommendation was Forrest’s The Gown of Harmonies, which I listened to as an audiobook last year and loved and briefly reviewed HERE. But me being me, it wasn’t until Claire recommended these two stories that I remembered I wanted to read more by the author.)

In The Inconvenient God, we are introduced to the world of the Polity through the first-person narration of Decommissioner Thirty-Seven, who occasionally allows people to call her by her childhood nickname of “Sweeting” rather than her job title or her real name. Thirty-Seven is a decommissioner of deities for the Polity’s Ministry of Divinity. The Polity is slowly migrating its citizens from worship of local gods to worship of universal Abstractions (like Justice, Peace, Mischief, etc.); when the time comes, fading gods are decommissioned – that is, their divinity is removed and they become mortal. They remember their divine existences but now age and die as mortals do. In this introductory novelette, Thirty-Seven has been called to distant Nando University to decommission a troublemaking minor local deity named Ohin, who is worshipped nowhere else but this campus and who is kept from fading because he’s basically the patron god of failing students. What should be a straightforward decommissioning takes several interesting turns as Thirty-Seven learns that the Ministry was not provided enough information about Ohin for her to do her job properly. I don’t want to spoil what the information is or how it affects the outcome of Thirty-Seven’s mission, but I will say that the twists and reveals flow logically from each other, expand our understanding of how decommissionings work, and lead to a great conclusion to the story. In fifty-five pages, Forrest gives us a chance to really get to know Thirty-Seven/Sweeting: her focus on doing her job well, her insecurities based on previous cases that were shall we say less-than-smooth, her aggravation when incomplete or inaccurate information hampers her efforts, her emotional ties to the now-decommissioned gods of the Sweet Harbor district where she grew up. I was as intrigued by what Thirty-Seven tells us about herself as what she doesn’t (her real name, for instance). Forrest also weaves in some hints about what kind of society the Polity is: world (or at least, continent) wide, pushing towards a state religion over the freedom to worship whatever gods a person chooses to (a move not everyone is happy about).

Both Thirty-Seven’s personal history and the Polity’s dystopian nature are revealed in the novella Lagoonfire. It turns out that one of Thirty-Seven’s earliest decommissionings was of the last still-deified Sweet Harbor god, Laloran-morna, and she botched the job. Laloran-morna is mortal but when he gets upset saltwater rushes from and through him, usually leaving unsightly puddles wherever he’s been. So naturally, when an unusual incursion of seawater threatens the stability of a land development project over the former Lotus Estuary section of the Sweet Harbor District of the Capitol, Laloran-morna is suspected and Thirty-Seven is sent to investigate. Neither Thirty-Seven nor the reader is surprised when the case turns out to be more complicated (involving a former lover of Laloran-morna’s as well as a human college professor of history and archaeology) and Thirty-Seven’s unorthodox problem-solving skills (so well displayed in The Inconvenient God) are needed, despite the preferences of her boss and other officials. Those other officials are the Civil Order – the state police. It’s through Thirty-Seven’s encounters with the professor and the Civil Order that we come to understand just how much of a dystopia this society is: “Big Brother” in a fantasy setting, out to subsume and overwrite local culture and even history itself – whatever it takes to solidify control and eliminate resistance. Everyone is watched and monitored via communications devices called “unicoms” and anyone suspected of questioning the Polity or working against its mandates is arrested and questioned. Thirty-Seven’s family history gives her plenty of reasons to avoid contact with the Civil Order and also explains her focus on just doing her job well and not being noticed. We get to see a great deal more of Thirty-Seven’s interactions with her co-workers (mostly her immediate superior, Decommissioner Five, and her closest peers, Decommissioners Thirty-Three (whose name is Tailin) and Thirty-Six (Feshi). We also learn Thirty-Seven’s real name and that her nickname of “Sweeting” comes from the decommissioned gods of Sweet Harbor, who treat her like a niece or daughter. The novella length allows Forrest to tease out these personal and world-building details slowly, allowing each reveal to breath a bit before the next one comes along. The slow build of tension is wonderfully paced until the action of the final act where it all comes together, and I had several “ohmygod, did that really just happen” moments along the way.

Each of these books wraps up its own major storyline, so there are no cliffhangers to entice you into the next book. That enticement comes through the wonderful character voice of Thirty-Seven and the world Forrest reveals through her. You could really read these books out of publication order and not feel lost in the world-building. The good news is, there’s a third Polity book in the works, and I cannot wait to see how Forrest builds on some of the sub-plots of Lagoonfire especially. In the meantime, I’ll be reading all the other short stories and novel (PenPal) by Francesca Forrest that I bought and downloaded before writing this column.

Reading Round-Up: February 2021

The monthly summary of what I’ve been reading and listening to in 2021!

BOOKS

I read 12 books in February: 6 in print, 5 in e-book format, and 1 in audio format. They were:

1.       Lightspeed Magazine #129 (February 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Phoebe Barton’s “The Mathematics of Fairyland,” Keith Brooke and Eric Brown’s “Me Two,” A.T. Greenblatt’s “The Memory of a Memory is a Spirit,” and Autumn Brown’s “Small and Bright.”

2.       Abbott by Saladin Ahmed (writer), Sami Kivelä (art), Jason Wordie (colors), Jim Campbell (letters), Chris Rosa and Eric Harbur (editor). This graphic novel collects the first Abbott mini-series about intrepid reporter Elena Abbott, who happens to be both black and a woman working at a white-run newspaper in 1972 Detroit. As Abbott investigates a string of unusual murders (of black men and animals), she uncovers supernatural events tied to the death of her first husband. I absolutely loved this: the pacing of the story, the multi-faceted characters (and their full representation of racial/gender/sexuality marginalized groups), and the supernatural threat – the Umbra – along with Elena’s role in fighting it. A second mini-series, Abbott 1973, has just started monthly publication.

3.       The Worker Prince (The Saga of Davi Rhii Book 1) by Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Schmidt takes the Moses myth and jumps in into far-future interstellar space, where the human leader of the Borali Alliance declares the first-born sons of all human Workers must be killed. The one child spared grows up thinking he’s the leader’s nephew until the truth comes out and he rallies the Workers to revolution. Fast-paced space opera with engaging lead characters and a scenery-chewing villain you can’t help but hate.

4.       Lumberjanes True Colors by Lilah Sturges (writer), Polterink! (art and colors), Jim Campbell (letters), Sophie Philips-Roberts (editor). The focus of this stand-alone graphic novel (which does not reprint material from the regular monthly Lumberjanes book) is on Ripley. Ripley, the youngest and most excitable of the ‘Janes, starts to feel like standing out and being noticed isn’t the great thing she’s always thought, and then she meets a zebracorn (yes, you read that correctly, and it’s exactly what you think) who grants her wish to fit in and be like everyone else. Downside? She’s so bland everyone forgets her, which causes problems when her fellow ‘Janes encounter a problem only Ripley’s unique persona can solve. Once again, Sturges and Polterink deliver a story that shows the power of friendship and human need to be liked/respected/needed.

5.       The Returning (The Saga of Davi Rhii Book 2) by Bryan Thomas Schmidt. In the second book of the Davi Rhii trilogy, the Workers (Vertullians) have been made full members of the Borali Alliance, but not everyone is happy about that. Political and personal tensions bubble over. Just as fun and fast-paced as the first book, while adding layers to the characters and to the society as a whole.

6.       An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina. I bought this book a few years back after several people recommended it. Reading Rusesabagina’s memoir of his role in saving refugees during the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 was an interesting experience. He has an engaging style, very personable and expressive. The early chapters do a nice job of laying out not just his personal history but a bit of Rwanda’s history that led to the genocide. But about halfway through the book, I started to question what I was reading: were his actions really as altruistic as he was painting? why does he insist on describing the Hutu leaders of the genocide movement as “good men” when they clearly aren’t? Every memoir is subjective – ask five people who witnessed the same event to describe it and you’re going to get five different stories – but this felt a bit like the author was trying to unsuccessfully gloss over things he didn’t think fit the narrative that’s been built around him thanks to the movie Hotel Rwanda. So, I’m reading more about the genocide, from other refugees/survivors. Because one of the things the author is accurate about is the lack of knowledge in the US when it comes to genocide in general and especially to genocides in other countries.

7.       Nine Bar Blue by Sheree Renée Thomas. What an amazing short story collection. Every story here was new to me, even the reprints. I have no idea how I’ve managed to not read anything by Thomas even while being aware of her via Twitter, Facebook, and posts by so many other authors – it’s kind of embarrassing. As the title implies, a lot of these stories have music as a background or basis, and many of them take place in or near Memphis. They also skirt the genre line between horror and fantasy – quite a few gave me chills and a sense of wonder. I’m planning to post a full review soon.

8.       Later by Stephen King. The protagonist of Stephen King’s third novel for Hard Case Crime calls to mind King favorites like Geordie LaChance and Bill Denbrough but is set in the 2000s. There’s a solid supernatural element to this alongside the crime, so something for everyone. FULL REVIEW HERE.

9.       Hawkman Vol 4: Hawks Eternal by Robert Venditti (writer), Fernando Pasarin, Marco Castiello, Marcio Takara (art), Jeromy Cox (colors), Rob Leigh, Richard Starkings (letters), Harvey Richards (editor). Collecting the final issues of Venditti’s fantastic reinvention/expansion of the Hawkman mythos. I regret not picking this series up in monthly format, the story is that good. The run ends as strong as it started, while leaving room for other people to work with the character. I’m planning to do a Series Saturday post sometime soon.

10.   Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story … and Why It Matters Today by Edouard Kayihura. While I was reading the Rusesabagina memoir, this book and several others about the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsis in Rwanda popped up as recommendations. So, when I decided I wanted a broader look at the Hundred Days, it made sense to start here. Kayihura’s style is not as immediately personable as Rusesabinga’s; his style is more tense, fully acknowledging the danger everyone was in. Again, the early chapters cover his life pre-genocide and a bit of the country’s history – but Kayihura also extends the story beyond the end of the Genocide, covering his life and the nation’s attempts to heal. There’s also a lot of anti-Rusesabagina talk throughout the book, which matched some of what I thought was suspect about Rusesabagina’s story. I have two more memoirs (one by a female survivor, one by the leader of the UN peacekeeping forces) that I’m going to read this month to try and round out my understanding of what happened.

11.   The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier. The only audiobook I listened to this month (I’m traveling far less these days), and what a great listen. Poitier is a wonderful storyteller (no surprise there). What I found interesting is that this is not a linear memoir; Poitier bounces between his early childhood in the Bahamas, his teen years in Miami, his adult married life and acting career and his present (at the time he recorded this) reasons for looking back. He tackles moments in life and those of his parents when those moments tie into whatever point he’s making about being human. And it’s really enthralling all the way through. And he leaves in all the natural verbal tics (the “you knows” and “you understand what I’m saying” type phrases) that most memoirists leave out. There’s nothing effected at all in his style.

12.   How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin. The first of my fiction To Be Read challenge titles hasn’t been sitting on my shelf as long as some of the other titles on this year’s list, since the book came out in 2018, but it was an appropriate choice for Black History Month, don’t you think? I had previously read a handful of these stories in other venues (“The Ones Who Stay and Fight,” “The Effluent Machine,” “Cloud Dragon Skies,” “Valedictorian,” and “Non-Zero Probabilities”) but most of them were new to me. As with the Sheree Renée Thomas collection, I really tried to savor this one, but could never put it down after just one story. Every single story is thought-provoking, whether it’s science fiction or fantasy, present-day, far-future, or otherworldly. This is not just Afrofuturism/Afrofantasy at its finest, it’s science fiction/fantasy as a whole at its finest.

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) this year. Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it.

1.       “The Mathematics of Fairyland” by Phoebe Barton, from Lightspeed Magazine #129 (February 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “Bulletproof Tattoos” by Paul Crenshaw

3.       “Me Two” by Keith Brooke and Eric Brown

4.       “Sidewalks” by Maureen F. McHugh

5.       “Church of Birds” by Micah Dean Hicks

6.       “The Memory of a Memory is a Spirit” by A.T. Greenblatt

7.       “Small and Bright” by Autumn Brown

8.       “Destinations of Beauty” by Alexander Weinstein

9.       “Kisser” by David James Brock, from Fantasy Magazine #64 (February 2021), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg

10.   “Of Course You Screamed” by Sharang Biswas

11.   “Like a Box of Chocolates” by Dani Atkinson

12.   “Flight” by Innocent Chizaram Ilo

13.    “Inflatable Angel” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.

14.   “Spyder Threads” by Craig Laurence Gidney, from Come Join Us by The Fire Volume 2, (not sure who edited it)

15.   “Navigational Errors” by Lucy A. Snyder, from Fireside #88, edited by Maurice Broaddus

16.   “Ancestries” by Sheree Renée Thomas from Nine Bar Blues

17.   “Thirteen Year Long Song” by Sheree Renée Thomas

18.   “Aunt Dissy’s Policy Dream Book” by Sheree Renée Thomas

19.   “Nightflight” by Sheree Renée Thomas

20.   “River, Clap Your Hands” by Sheree Renée Thomas

21.   “Stars Come Down” by Sheree Renée Thomas

22.   “Child’s Play” by Sheree Renée Thomas

23.   “Headstatic” by Sheree Renée Thomas

24.   “The Parts That Make Us Monsters” by Sheree Renée Thomas

25.   “The Dragon Can’t Dance” by Sheree Renée Thomas

26.   “Who Needs the Stars if the Full Moon Loves You” by Sheree Renée Thomas

27.   “310 Lucy” by Sheree Renée Thomas

28.   “Shanequa’s Blues – Or Another Shotgun Lullaby” by Sheree Renée Thomas

29.   “Madame & the Map: A Journey in Five Movements” by Sheree Renée Thomas

30.   “Teddy Bump” by Sheree Renée Thomas

31.   “Origins of Southern Spirit Music” by Sheree Renée Thomas

32.   “The Ones That Stay and Fight” by N.K Jemisin, from How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?

33.   “The City Born Great” by N.K Jemisin

34.   “Red Dirt Witch” by N.K Jemisin

35.   “L’Alchemista” by N.K Jemisin

36.   “The Effluent Machine” by N.K Jemisin

37.   “Cloud Dragon Skies” by N.K Jemisin

38.   “The Trojan Girl” by N.K Jemisin

39.   “Valedictorian” by N.K Jemisin

40.   “The Storyteller’s Replacement” by N.K Jemisin

41.   “The Brides of Heaven” by N.K Jemisin

42.   “The Evaluators” by N.K Jemisin

43.   “Walking Awake” by N.K Jemisin

44.   “The Elevator Dancer” by N.K Jemisin

45.   “Cuisine des Mémoires” by N.K Jemisin

46.   “Stone Hunger” by N.K Jemisin

47.   “On the Banks of the River Lex” by N.K Jemisin

48.   “The Narcomancer” by N.K Jemisin

49.   “Henosis” by N.K Jemisin

50.   “Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows” by N.K Jemisin

51.   “The You Train” by N.K Jemisin

52.   “Non-Zero Probabilities” by N.K Jemisin

53.   “Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters” by N.K Jemisin

So that’s 53 short stories in February. Quite a bit more than “1 per day” and putting me ahead so far for the year. (February 28th was the 59th day of 2021.)

Summary of Reading Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 3 read; YTD: 4 of 24 main titles read. (0 of 4 alternate titles read)

366 Short Stories Challenge: This month:  53 read; YTD: 79 of 365 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 3 read; YTD: 5 of 52 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 12 read; YTD: 24 of 125 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 3 read; YTD: 4 of 24 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 read/watched.

Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 book read; YTD: 0 of 14 read.

                                                          Series fully completed: 0 of 4 planned

Monthly Special Challenge:  February was Black History Month and Women in Horror Month, so my challenge, as usual, was to read as many Black authors and women horror writers as I could, and with hopefully a few overlaps. I read 5 books (An Ordinary Man; Nine Bar Blues; Inside the Hotel Rwanda; The Measure of a Man; and How Long ‘Til Black Future Month) by black authors, which was not quite half of the total books read for the month. Most of those short stories I read by black authors were accounted for by the Sheree Renee Thomas and N.K. Jemisin collections, but there was also work by Gidney, Ilo, and Brown. Thomas and Jemisin also accounted for most of my minimal “women in horror” reading, alongside short stories by Seanan McGuire and Lucy A. Snyder.

March is Women’s History Month, so my intent is to read as many female authors as possible.

Reading Round-Up: January 2021

The first monthly summary of what I’ve been reading and listening to in 2021!

BOOKS

To keep my numbers consistent with what I have listed on Goodreads, I count completed magazine issues as “books.” I read 12 books in January: 3 in print, 8.5 in e-book format, and .5 in audio format I started We Are Totally Normal in audio but finished it in e-book). They were:

1.       Lightspeed Magazine #128 (January 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories. This month’s favorites for me were Anjali Sachdeva’s “The Incorruptible World,” An Owomoyela’s “The Hard Spot in the Glacier,” Maria Dhavana Headley’s “The Orange Tree,” and P H Lee’s “Frost’s Boy.”

2.       By the Way, I Love You by Seth King. Cute New Year’s Day romance novella in which a college boy who has always thought he was straight falls for his out-and-effeminate new roommate. King gives the characters depth and personality.

3.       Lumberjanes Volume 16: Mind Over Mettle by Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh (writers), AnneMarie Rogers (artist), Maarta Laiho (colors), Aubrey Aiese (letters) and Sophie Philips-Roberts (Editor). Mal’s attempt to overcome her fear, which she thinks is a detriment to the other ‘Janes, lands her in dinosaur land again – but things have changed there, and the Janes must not only rescue their friend but all the dinosaurs. Another fun adventure with great character advancement for several of the main cast.

4.       The Christmas Accomplice by Hank Edwards. A gay holiday romance novella. Socially awkward geek Welton winds up on vacation at a ski resort after breaking up with his boyfriend, and immediately has an awkward meet-cute with resort employee Reece. Complications ensue (the arrival of the ex-boyfriend, nosy co-workers, and Reece’s challenges to earn a possible promotion) but there’s a HEA ending. The characters are endearing, the stumbling-blocks not insurmountable. Highly recommended.

5.       The Warrior’s Pilgrimage by Frank Schildiner. Schildiner takes on, in novella form, one of his favorite genres: the “sword and sandal” movies, and he nails it. His new take on the legend of Romulus and Remus focuses on the forgotten brother. FULL REVIEW HERE.

6.       The Final Decree by Jeffrey Ricker. All Bill Templeton wants is to marry his fiancée – but first he needs a divorce from Travis, the smuggler he left behind for a different life. To get it, Bill must travel to a city under siege by corporate armed forces. This is a really fun adventure story (light on the romance, although it underpins everything that happens) and I hope Ricker writes more novellas set in this universe with these characters.

7.       Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor. A girl with strange powers travels Ghana in search of explanations and the seed that gave her her abilities, while legends grow around her. Once again, Okorafor blends magic and science with strong characters to give us a fantastic novella. FULL REVIEW HERE.

8.       We Are Totally Normal by Rahul Kanakia. A YA novel about coming out and coming to understand yourself. The main character, Nandan, is highly confused about his attractions and spends a good portion of the book contradicting himself in terms of what he wants and what he believes. There are scenes in which he’s even pretty unlikeable and manipulative. His friends seem to understand him a lot better than he does. I started this one in audio form, but finished in e-book partially because I just wasn’t driving long distances enough to make progress with the book, and partially because I found the narrator’s character voices irritating/grating (as this is the only thing I’ve heard this particular narrator on, I can’t judge whether it’s the narrator overall or just these particular voices).

9.       Kill the Man by Steve Orlando and Philip Kennedy Johnson (writers), Al Morgan (art and colors), Jim Kennedy (letters), Mike Marts (editor). Up and coming Mixed Martial Arts star James Bellyi watched his father be killed in the ring by a contender who happened to be gay, so he keeps his own sexuality quiet – until he’s publicly outed by the current MMA champ. This is a story not just of coming out in a notoriously homophobic sport, but also of finding peace with your past. Fantastic character work is accompanied by Morgan’s moody detailed artwork, and the limited black-white-red color palette increases the sense of claustrophobia, of being “in your own head.” Content Warning for homophobic language and physical violence.

10.   Calculated Risks (InCryptid #10) by Seanan McGuire. McGuire’s latest entry in her InCryptid series picks up immediately where the cliffhanger ending of the previous installment, Imaginary Numbers, left off. I read an e-ARC obtained through NetGalley, so a full review is forthcoming.

11.   Defensive Play (a Boys on the Brink novella) by Jamie Deacon. I do seem to have developed an interest in gay sports romances over the past year or so. In this one, a closeted British teen who suffers from social anxiety and panic attacks but who is a fantastic soccer defenseman finally meets the boy of his dreams – a striker for a rival team who is very openly gay. I loved the way this one develops both characters (without bouncing POVs, as so many romances seem to) and doesn’t let the roadblocks to their happy-for-now ending linger. I also thought the author took a realistic view of modern high school social dynamics.

12.   Poisoning for Profit: The Mafia and Toxic Waste in America by Alan A Block and Frank R. Scarpitti. The first of my non-fiction To Be Read challenge titles has been sitting on my work bookshelf for a long time. It’s an interesting, if now somewhat outdated, look at the links between organized crime and the waste disposal industry as it developed in New York and New Jersey in the late 70s and early 80s. A bit dry and repetitive in places, but still a solid read.

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) this year. Here’s what I read this month and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too. If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it.

1.       “The Incorruptible World” by Anjeli Sachdeva, from Lightspeed Magazine #128 (January 2021 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams

2.       “The Hard Spot in the Glacier” by An Owomoyela

3.       “The Memory Plague” by D. Thomas Minton

4.       “On the Fringes of the Fractal” by Greg Van Eekhout

5.       “The Orange Tree” by Maria Dhavana Headley

6.       “Answering the Questions You May Have About the Kharbat” by Adam-Troy Castro

7.       “The Mushroom Queen” by Elizabeth Zienska

8.       “Frost’s Boy” by P H Lee

9.       “Things to Bring, Things to Burn, Things Best Left Behind” by C.G. McGill, from Fantasy Magazine #63 (January 2021), edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg

10.   “Incense” by Megan Chee

11.   “10 Steps to a Whole New You” by Tonya Liburd

12.   “The Billionaire Shapeshifters’ Ex-Wives Club” by Kristiana Willsey

13.    “What You Build” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.

14.   “Let All the Children Boogie” by Sam J. Miller, from Tor.com, edited by Jonathan Strahan

15.   “A Fairy Tale for the Little Acorn” by ‘Nathan Burgoine, on the author’s website

16.   “Goal Invariances Under Radical Self-Modification” by Julie Nováková from Future Science Fiction Digest #6 (March 2020), edited by Alex Schvartsman

17.   “Our Lady of the Golems” by Irene Punti

18.   “Vic From Planet Earth” by Yevgeny Lukin (translated by Mike Olivson)

19.   “Sankofa” by Nnedi Okorafor, from Decision Points, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

20.   “The Van Etten House” by Carrie Laben, from The Dark #68 (January 2021), edited by Sean Wallace

21.   “Love for Ashes” by Frances Ogamba

22.   “There, in the Woods” by Clara Madrigano

23.   “Each Night an Adaptation” by Osahon Ize-Iyamu

24.   “Singing the Comic-Con Blues” by Seanan McGuire, novella included in the paperback of her InCryptid novel Calculated Risks

25.   “Wild Geese” by Lavie Tidhar, from F&SF January/February 2021, edited by C.C. Finlay

26.   “How to Break into a Hotel Room” by Stephen Graham Jones, from Nightmare Magazine #100, edited by John Joseph Adams and Wendy N. Wagner.

So that’s 26 short stories in January. A bit less than “1 per day.” (January 31st was, of course, the 31st day of 2021.)

Summary of Reading Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 1 of 24 main titles read. (0 of 4 alternate titles read)

366 Short Stories Challenge: This month:  26 read; YTD: 26 of 365 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 2 read; YTD: 2 of 52 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 12 read; YTD: 12 of 125 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 1 read; YTD: 1 of 24 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 read/watched.

Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 book read; YTD: 0 of 14 read.

                                                          Series fully completed: 0 of 4 planned

Monthly Special Challenge:  I didn’t set a specific “mini challenge” for January, other than to work on staying on track or getting ahead on the yearly challenges. I didn’t really get ahead on any, but at least I made partial progress on the graphic novel challenge (Kill the Man and Lumberjanes Volume 16), the non-fiction challenge (Poisoning for Profit), the “To Be Read” Challenge (Poisoning for Profit), and the 365 Short Stories and Goodreads Challenges. No progress on the Read/Watch or Complete the Series Challenges this time out.

February is Black History Month and Women in Horror Month, so my challenge, as usual, is to read as many Black authors as I can and as many women horror writers as I can, and hopefully a few who overlap.