On several levels this is one of the most original science-fiction series I’ve met in a long time and L. Timmel Duchamp’s The Marq’ssan Cycle rather defies summary or even description. By sheer length, story scope, and because of Duchamp’s obvious feminist ties, the thought of reviewing the series intimidates me, but I’ll take a stab at it anyway, because I’d like to recommend them [...]
Books
Taking its cue from a classic SF/F/H trope of isolating a group of people to see how they deal (or not) with extraordinary circumstances, Mysterium (originally published in 1994, when it won the Phillip K. Dick Award) dresses up an old situation under a coating of metaphysics and gnosticism. What it gets right down to is a thinly disguised extremist religious regime taking over a middle American [...]
I love C.J. Cherryh, for her world-building, her characters, and her imagination. I picked up Cloud’s Rider before Rider At the Gate because of how difficult it is sometimes to get a complete list of a series in order, and probably because the nice lady stocking shelves at the library was chattering at me. I really enjoyed the world of Cloud’s Rider. Humans live on [...]
1. How does blogging fit into your work as an author? I started a blog in the early days of my career because my agent suggested it. It’s a good way to get news out, share snippets of works in progress, and hold contests. Over the years, however, I find I’ve developed a rapport with fans, and really enjoy the direct contact. On my live [...]
For me, Kerry’s Greenwood’s novel Cocaine Blues was a case of ‘not bad, but had potential to be a lot better’. It follows Phryne Fisher, an upper-class 1920′s English woman with a brilliant detective’s mind. She goes to Melbourne at the request of a family friend who is concerned that his daughter’s husband is poisoning her for her inheritance. Phryne is immediately embroiled in a [...]
You guys? Distances is a love letter to mathematics. Evocative, compelling, and wistfully beautiful, Distances reminded me of deliciously vintage le Guin. Anasuya’s people have athmis, which grants them the ability to see connections and patterns otherwise unknown. Anasuya’s specific athmis lies in mathematics – she eventually leaves home to further study the world her talent tells her exists, and in so doing, encounters the literal distances of space [...]
With Cornell’s last issue, we find out what was really going on with Una Nemo, our psychotic comic book straw feminist from last month. Surprise! The whole dead ex-girlfriend thing was just a front! Vikki Vale is fine (even though she’s tied up in a cupboard; girl can’t catch a break!), and the Dead Ex bag was filled with sawdust and cardboard. Una gets another [...]
