Reviews

Books Reviews 

We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson: Review by Niall Harrison

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We Are All Ghosts in the Forest, Lorraine Wilson (Solaris 978-1-83786-144-6, 400pp, £18.99, hc). November 2024. Cover by Jo Walker.

The image that I think will stay with me longest from Lorraine Wilson’s resonant new novel, We Are All Ghosts in the For­est, comes a little over halfway through the book. The novel’s protagonist, Katerina, has completed a trade in a village on the shore of Lake Peipus, ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Sargassa by Sophie Burnham: Review by Liz Bourke

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Sargassa, Sophie Burnham (DAW 978-0-7564-1936-3, $28.00, 416pp, hc) October 2024.

Sophie Burnham’s Sargassa is another first novel, and another novel that flits with playful seriousness between the trappings of fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history, using all three to question and upend the reader’s assumptions about the world of the novel (and perhaps the world at large) and how it works. Sargassa takes the aura of Rome – perennial ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

The Presidential Papers by John Kessel: Review by Gary K. Wolfe

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The Presidential Papers, John Kessel (PM Press 979-8-88744-058-3 , $16.00, 160pp, tp), October 2024.

PM Press’s series of “Outspoken Author” collec­tions, reaching its 30th volume with John Kessel’s The Presidential Papers, has long provided use­ful short overviews of the fiction and nonfiction of some of our field’s most distinguished writers (always accompanied by insouciant but revealing interviews by the late series editor Terry Bisson). While some authors have ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister: Review by Ian Mond

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The Bog Wife, Kay Chronister (Counterpoint 978-1-64009-662-2, $28.00, 336pp, hc) October 2024. Cover by Nicole Caputo.

Like all conscientious and well-meaning read­ers, I strive to bring an open mind unsullied by prejudice and bias to any fiction work. However, based solely on the title and cover of Kay Chro­nister’s new novel, The Bog Wife, I assumed it was a revisionist fairytale based on Celtic mythology that takes place ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy: Review by Alex Brown

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The Sapling Cage, Margaret Killjoy (The Femi­nist Press 978-1-55861-331-7, $17.95, 336pp, tp) September 2024.

The trope of gender-based magic is an old one in fantasy fiction. It never fails to annoy me, and not just because I’m gen­derqueer. Besides the whole gender essentialism thing, I just find it to be lazy and uninspired. At this point, the only time I’ll read a ‘‘girls do this magic and boys do ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle: Review by Jake Casella Brookins

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On the Calculation of Volume I, Solvej Balle (New Directions 978-0-81123-725-3, 160pp, $15.95, tp) November 2024.

In Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume I, translated from the Danish by Barbara Haveland, rare book dealer Tara Selter has found herself trapped in a time loop on the 18th of November; the first entry in Balle’s septology begins with November 18 #121. For reasons unknown, time for her has “fallen ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

New Year, New You edited by Chris Campbell: Review by Alexandra Pierce

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New Year, New You, Chris Campbell, ed. (Im­mortal Jellyfish Press 979-8-99077-550-3, 312pp, $25.00, tp). Cover by Melinda Smith. October 2024.

In my experience, it’s often the case that once you hear a good idea, you think “Of course! Why has no one done that before?” In that spirit: the “new year, new you!” slogan seems a perfect theme for a speculative fiction anthology – now that Chris Campbell has ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

A Simple Intervention by Yael Inokai: Review by Niall Harrison

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A Simple Intervention, Yael Inokai (Peirene 978-1-90867-087-8, 187pp, £12.99, pb). October 2024. Cover by Tessa Mackenzie.

There are different ways of writing medical SF. One, as in the case of Rajaniemi above, or Greg Egan occasionally, is to crank up the verisimilitude and extrapolate specific diseases or treatments in the best net-up hard-SF fashion; another is to lean into medicine as a system rather than a sci­ence and build ...Read More

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The Last Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison & J. Michael Straczynski: Review by Gary K. Wolfe

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The Last Dangerous Visions, Harlan Ellison & J. Michael Straczynski, eds. (Blackstone 979-8-212-18379-6, $27.99, 450pp) October 2024.

Speaking of unusual ways to assemble an anthol­ogy, here we have The Last Dangerous Visions, nominally edited by Harlan Ellison, but also by El­lison’s executor J. Michael Straczynski, who added seven stories he solicited himself after Ellison’s death. By my count, nine of the 24 stories were among the nearly 90 ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

At the Fount of Creation by Tobi Ogundiran: Review by Archita Mittra

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At the Fount of Creation, Tobi Ogundiran (Tor­dotcom 978-1-25090-803-2, $21.99, 224pp, hc) January 2025.

At the Fount of Creation is a thrilling con­clusion to Tobi Ogundiran’s Guardians of the Gods duology, packed with cinematic action and with more deities from the Yoruba pantheon making an appearance. It continues the story of Ashâke, a failed acolyte who is later revealed to be the vessel for the surviving orisha, and is ...Read More

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Reviews Short Fiction 

GigaNotoSaurus, Diabolical Plots and Hexagon Fall ’24: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

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GigaNotoSaurus 9/24 Diabolical Plots 9/24 Hexagon Fall ’24

September’s GigaNotoSaurus is Monte Lin’s “Here in the Glittering Black, There is Hope”, which introduces Kavita, the captain of a ship contracted out to the ultrarich to go out and bring back previous materials from the reaches of space, staying young thanks to cryo-sleep while generations pass on Earth. She’s part of a tradition, a movement to the stars ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune: Review by Colleen Mondor

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Somewhere Beyond the Sea, TJ Klune (Tor Books 879-1-250-88120-5, $28.99, 416pp, hc) September 2024.

Fans of TJ Klune’s enormously popular The House in the Cerulean Sea were no doubt thrilled to hear about the unexpected sequel, Somewhere Beyond the Sea. The continuing story of Arthur, Linus, and the group of orphaned magic children they care for is as heartfelt and political as readers could want. Make no mistake, ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-il Kim: Review by Sean Dowie

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Blood of the Old Kings, Sung-il Kim (Tor 978-1-25089-533-2, $27.95, 368pp, hc) October 2024.

Sung-il Kim’s 2016 fantasy novel Blood of the Old Kings features heroic characters and an innovative, engaging magic system. It makes for a breezy fantasy story where exposition is skillfully allotted in brief bursts that don’t mar its pacing. And the action scenes are breathlessly propulsive. Those ingredients launch a tale of a band of ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Demon Daughter by Lois McMaster Bujold: Review by Liz Bourke

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Demon Daughter, Lois McMaster Bujold (Subter­ranean Press 978-1-64524-219-2, $45.00, 224pp, hc) January 2025. Cover by Lauren Saint-Onge.

I first read Lois McMaster Bujold’s Demon Daughter when it was initially released in e-book. Now that it is coming out from Subterranean Press in hardcover – the latest of the Penric and Desdemona novellas set in the World of the Five Gods to do so – I have read it again ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

The Nightward by R.S.A. Garcia: Review by Liz Bourke

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The Nightward, R.S.A. Garcia (Harper Voyager US 978-0-06-334575-1, $19.99, 448pp, tp) Oc­tober 2024.

The Nightward is R.S.A. Garcia’s first traditionally published novel. From the outside, it looks like a work of epic fantasy in the classic mode, in which a small team of he­roes must outwit and stand against a nebulously defined threat to all they know and love. A closer examination, however, finds it taking this classic form ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

An Earthquake Is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth by Anna Moschovakis: Review by Jake Casella Brookins

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An Earthquake Is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth, Anna Moschovakis (Soft Skull 978-1-59376-783-9, 208pp, $16.95, tp) November 2024. Cover by Gregg Kulick.

I’m continually interested in how the corona­virus pandemic does – or commonly doesn’t – make its way into fiction. It’s such a huge event, but one that “realistic” novels, movies, and television series seem hesitant to engage with, opting instead for a kind of hazy ...Read More

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Reviews Short Fiction 

Clarkesworld: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

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Clarkesworld 9/24

In “The Music Must Always Play” by Marissa Lingen in the September issue of Clarkesworld, aliens crash land in Minnesota, but are all killed as a result, before the residents of Earth have a chance to meet them. It’s a unique take on a first contact story, focusing on Maryam, a member of the team studying the crash, who feels guilty for not being at home ...Read More

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Reviews Short Fiction 

Lightspeed, Small Wonders and Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

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Lightspeed 9/24 Small Wonders 9/24 Beneath Ceaseless Skies 9/5/24, 9/19/24

Gabriela Santiago returns to Lightspeed in September with the metatextual “Reconstruct­ing ‘The Goldenrod Conspiracy,’ Edina Room, Saturday 2:30-3:30”, which is framed as a pre­sentation at a fan convention dedicated to the Doctor Who–esque television show Backwards Man. The presentation is on a lost episode that has been remade by fans based on what people could remember ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

The Lost Souls of Benzaiten by Kelly Murashige: Review by Colleen Mondor

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The Lost Souls of Benzaiten, Kelly Murashige (Soho Teen 978-1-641-29574-1, $19.99, 304pp, hc) July 2024.

Debut author Kelly Murashige mixes a tender coming-of-age story with the unexpected antics of a bored Japanese goddess to give readers the highly original fantasy The Lost Souls of Ben­zaiten. The author’s clever plot and thoroughly en­gaging characters manage to make all too relatable the protagonist’s wish early on to “become one of ...Read More

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Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson: Review by Ian Mond

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Good Night, Sleep Tight, Brian Evenson (Cof­fee House Press 978-1-56689-709-9, $19.00, 256pp, tp) September 2024.

The best horror fiction is about dislocation, the growing feeling that something is askew or lopsided with the world and only you, no one else, is aware. Brian Evenson gets this. In a recent article for Lit Hub, he points out that:

Writing Horror is about tapping into something that resonates for you, some­thing ...Read More

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Reviews Short Fiction 

Uncanny, Nightmare and Apex: Short Fiction Reviews by Paula Guran

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Uncanny 9-10/24 Nightmare 10/24 Apex #146

I found three stories in Uncanny’s 60th issue to be standouts. “The 6% Squeeze” by Eddie Robson will appeal to anyone who has ever designed for a corporation with a strict “bible” or even anyone who has experienced such a corporation’s need for a scapegoat. Tananarive Due’s engaging “A Stranger Knocks” is set in 1926 Washington, DC, where newlyweds ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 by Hugh Howey & John Joseph Adams, eds.: Review by Gary K. Wolfe

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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024, Hugh Howey & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner 978-0063315785, $18.99, 384pp, tp) October 2024.

There are a lot of different ways of assembling an anthology, but none seem quite so programmatic as John Joseph Adams’s The Best American Sci­ence Fiction and Fantasy series, now in its tenth year. Adams describes his methodology with admirable clarity: As series editor, he compiles a list ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

The Enchanted Lies of Céleste Artois by Ryan Graudin: Review by Alexandra Pierce

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The Enchanted Lies of Céleste Artois, Ryan Grau­din (Redhook 978-0-31641-869-0, 544pp, $30, hc). Cover by Lisa Marie Pompilio. August 2024.

Paris, 1913, saw the first public performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and it caused a sensation – indeed, some have said it caused a riot, but there seems to be disagreement over that interpretation. Whatever the historical truth, it probably didn’t happen because of magic, which is ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Darkome by Hannu Rajaniemi: Review by Niall Harrison

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Darkome, Hannu Rajaniemi (Gollancz 978-1-47320-332-7, 245pp, £18.99, tp). September 2024.

Mind you, better an ending that fades than no ending at all. I’ve had a good run recently, but it turns out that I was overdue an encounter with that frustrating species, the unmarked Book One that cannot be read as a standalone. Hannu Rajaniemi’s Darkome is the offender: After 250-odd brisk pages of biohackers vs. capitalists it ends ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron: Review by Colleen Mondor

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Sleep Like Death, Kalynn Bayron (Bloomsbury 978-1-547-60976-5, $19.99, 368pp, hc) June 2024.

As she previously did with Cinderella, author Kalynn Bayron turned another classic on its head this year with Sleep Like Death, her smart and scary reimagining of Snow White. There’s a temptation when an author revisits a famous tale to assume they will simply modernize or dress it up a little, all of which can be ...Read More

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A Hunger With No Name by Lauren C. Teffeau: Review by Jake Casella Brookins

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A Hunger With No Name, Lauren C. Teffeau (University of Tampa Press 978-1-59732-207-2, 156pp, $28.00, hc) September 2024. Cover by Madeline M. Eisele.

Lauren C. Teffeau’s novella A Hunger With No Name might take place on a far-future Earth, or in a similar secondary world; regardless, it’s told by a people who have survived some vast disaster, a ‘‘Great Scatter’’ that has receded into a mythic past. The Astravans have ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Augur: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

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Augur 7.1

Grief, loss, healing, and recovery are themes running through Augur 7.1, and it’s interesting to see how different authors approach similar subject matter. “Sagal, the-Witch-in Training” by Ardo Omer follows the titular witch-in-training on her first solo case, trying to help a young woman with a broken heart. The woman happens to be the sister of one of her classmates, and they work together to convince ...Read More

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Reviews Short Fiction 

Cast of Wonders, Strange Horizons, and Fusion Fragment: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

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Cast of Wonders 8/24/24 Strange Horizons 8/19/24, 8/26/24 Fusion Fragment 8/24

Cast of Wonders also closed out August strongly with J.M. Bueno’s haunted house story, “Double Yellow Lines”. Unlike many that use the ele­ment, this story’s haunted house isn’t nearly as malevolent as it could be. Instead, it seems to be a way for people metaphorically haunted by the past and their own grief to try and ...Read More

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The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time 4 edited by Allan Kaster: Review by Alexandra Pierce

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The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time 4, Al­lan Kaster, ed. (Infinivox 978-1-88461-258-9, 276pp, $18.99, tp). Cover by Maurizio Manzieri. September 2024.

Allan Kaster’s fourth edition of The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time collects 14 stories, almost all of which originally appeared in familiar periodicals – including Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Asimov’s Sci­ence Fiction, Clarkesworld – and one anthology, Life Beyond Us. Some of ...Read More

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City of Dancing Gargoyles by Tara Campbell: Review by Ian Mond

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City of Dancing Gargoyles, Tara Campbell (Santa Fe Writers Project 978-1-95163-139-0, $16.95, 280pp, tp) September 2024.

What struck me about Tara Campbell’s 2019 collection, Midnight at the Or­ganporium, was the breadth of her imagination and the way she switched between surrealism, revisionist fairytales, and horror. Her story ‘‘Speculum Crede’’ about a very odd work picnic (an understatement) still makes me smile. Campbell’s second novel, City of Danc­ing Gargoyles ...Read More

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Reviews Short Fiction 

The Dark, The Sunday Morning Transport, and Reactor: Short Fiction Reviews by Paula Guran

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The Dark 8/24, 9/24 The Sunday Morning Transport 7/21/24 – 9/15/24 Reactor 7/24/24 – 9/4/24

Both originals in The Dark #111 are centered on homes. The haunting “Once There Was Water” by Katie McIvor is really two tales. One is about the past of the fenlands where children are transformed into darkly furred creatures with webbed, clawed hands; the other about a time closer to our present when ...Read More

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The Tapestry of Time by Kate Heartfield: Review by Gary K. Wolfe

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The Tapestry of Time, Kate Heartfield (Harper Voyager 978-0-00-856781-1, £16.99, 384pp, hc) October 2024.

Sometimes a trope seems so familiar that it begins to feel like a tire that’s lost its tread, even though it’s still fun to drive on. The Nazi preoccupation with occult powers has itself been a preoccupation for writers from all over the spectrum – horror (F. Paul Wilson, Robert McCammon), fantasy (Katherine Kurtz, Ian ...Read More

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