Paul Di Filippo Reviews Tomorrow’s Children by Daniel Polansky

Tomorrow’s Children, Daniel Polansky (Angry Robot 978-1915202857, trade paperback, 384pp, $18.99) February 2024

Postapocalypse tales don’t get any grimmer or funnier, more slambang or more nuanced, more hopeful or more despairing, than Daniel Polansky’s Tomorrow’s Children. If that catalog of virtues sounds oxymoronic, please restrain your doubts. Polansky’s accomplished novel is large and contains multitudes, and foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind.

This is my ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Equimedian by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Equimedian, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Hex 979-8988082712, hardcover, 326pp, $31.99) February 2024

I would venture to guess that most SF fans know Alvaro Zinos-Amaro as one of our best critics and interviewers. Case in point is his recent volume, Being Michael Swanwick, which I reviewed on this platform just a short time ago. But like Green Arrow or Hawkeye, the man has more than one arrow in his quiver. (I ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Beggar’s Sky by Wil McCarthy

Beggar’s Sky, Wil McCarthy (Baen 978-1982193188, hardcover, 320pp, $28.00) February 2024

Wil McCarthy has had an atypical career that is almost neatly bifurcated. He came out of the gate strong with a duology, Aggressor Six, from 1994-1996. With the dawn of a new century, he delivered an even better, more mature and inventive series, Queendom of Sol (2000-2005). But then, for whatever reason, he fell more or less ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Exordia by Seth Dickinson

Exordia, Seth Dickinson (Tordotcom 978-1250233011, hardcover, 544pp, $29.99) January 2024

Seth Dickinson’s Baru Cormorant trilogy, known collectively as The Masquerade, was a splashy debut, earning him many accolades and fans. So when his next book, “a gonzo space opera and alien techno-thriller” titled Exordia, was announced in 2018, excitement grew. Six years later, after some public wistful wondering as to when the book would actually appear, Exordia finally ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 15 edited by Ellen Datlow

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Fifteen, edited by Ellen Datlow (Night Shade 978-1949102727, trade paperback, 432pp, $19.99) January 2024

“Curation” is an overworked word these days, when, on the internet, everything from a collection of Pez dispensers to an Instagram stream of dinner photos is deemed to be “curated.” And yet there’s really no better term to be applied to an assemblage of art put together by ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Glass Box by J. Michael Straczynski

The Glass Box, J. Michael Straczynski (Blackstone 979-8212007795, hardcover, 350pp, $25.99) January 2024

We are lucky that Mr. Straczynski—hereafter, the familiar JMS—has taken some time off from his comics and television work to gift us with a fine new novel. Considering also his heavy duties administering the estate of Harlan Ellison—I for one eagerly await the reprinting of Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions, and the birth of ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Short and Long by Michael Blumlein

Short, Michael Blumlein (Subterranean Press 978-1645241522, hardcover, 424pp, $45.00) December 2023

Long, Michael Blumlein (Subterranean Press 978-1645241539, hardcover, 360pp, $45.00) December 2023

For many years, I saw Michael Blumlein regularly at Readercon. We had pleasant chats, for he was congenial, simpatico, funny, and smart. Then one year I asked him if he were returning to the West Coast immediately after the con. “No, we’re going to Rhode Island ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews HIM by Geoff Ryman

HIM, Geoff Ryman (Angry Robot 978-1915202673, trade paperback, 366pp, $18.99) December 2023

The subgenre of SF that deals with religion is a copious, healthy, and growing one, albeit not as large as some branches of fantastika. From del Rey’s “For I Am a Jealous People!” to Blish’s A Case of Conscience; from Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land to Russell’s The Sparrow; from Bishop’s “The Gospel According ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Collected Ogoense and Other Stories by Rebecca Ore

Collected Ogoense and Other Stories, Rebecca Ore (Aqueduct Press 978-1619762480, trade paperback, 222pp, $20.95) November 2023

Aqueduct Press reaches its twentieth anniversary in 2024. Helmed for all these years by the talented and dedicated L. Timmel Duchamp, the firm has—under the rubric of “Bringing challenging feminist science fiction to the demanding reader”—offered a wide range of stellar fiction and nonfiction that any of the Big Five would have been ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird edited by Jonathan Maberry

Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, edited by Jonathan Maberry (Blackstone 979-8200687992, hardcover, 200pp, $27.99) October 2023

I have yet to read any individual issue of the revived Weird Tales magazine, piloted by editor Jonathan Maberry. But I already know that this new periodical incarnation must be a class act, fully worthy of bearing forward into the future the celebrated name and lineage. My appraisal comes from enjoying this ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Being Michael Swanwick by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Being Michael Swanwick, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Fairwood Press 978-1958880142, trade paperback, 328pp, $20.95) November 2023

Consider the case of author Fran Leibowitz. Essentially the creator of a one- or two-book oeuvre, and featuring an absence of new publications over several decades, she is still sought-after for frequent interviews, and even had a recent documentary made about her by none other than Martin Scorsese: Pretend It’s a City (2020). Justifiably or ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Whole Mess and Other Stories by Jack Skillingstead

The Whole Mess and Other Stories, Jack Skillingstead (Fairwood Press 978-1958880128, trade paperback, 334pp, $20.95) November 2023

Reading Jack Skillingstead’s second story collection drives home two things:

One: short stories remain the essential mode whereby fantastika can experiment and develop, while delivering exquisitely compact and powerful aesthetic experiences, much more so than the vast majority of novels, however competent and enjoyable the longer, baggier works might be. (If one ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews This Island Earth by Dale Bailey

This Island Earth: 8 Features from the Drive-In, Dale Bailey (PS Publishing 978-1786368973, hardcover, 266pp, $36.00) April 2023

When I first became lucky enough to find a publisher for my early story collections—the much-missed Four Walls Eight Windows, under John Oakes—I decided to make each volume a thematic assemblage. I had by then accumulated enough stories with prior magazine appearances to make such picking and choosing possible. The Steampunk ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe

The Wolfe at the Door, Gene Wolfe (Tor 978-1250846204, hardcover, 480pp, $29.99) October 2023

Arriving just a few months after the publication of The Dead Man and Other Stories (my Locus Online review here), this mammoth compilation from Tor Books also helps to ensure—by its high-quality catholic selection (pun entirely intentional)—that Gene Wolfe’s reputation will continue to be justifiably burnished for future generations. There can be no legacy without ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu

Jewel Box: Stories, E. Lily Yu (Erewhon 978-1645660484, hardcover, 336pp, $27.00) October 2023

Recently I had the good fortune to acquaint myself for the first time with a classic of fabulism: Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki. Witty, elegant, timeless yet timely, these stories aim straight at the human heart, mind and soul, and lodge therein like arrows variously tipped with balm and bane. And now, encountering ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Starter Villain, John Scalzi (Tor 978-0765389220, hardcover, 272pp, $28.99) September 2023

Graham Greene was fond of labeling some of his books as “entertainments,” implying that they were lighter, less serious, more pop-culture-oriented than his “novels.” Other artists have made similar distinctions, either implicitly or explicitly, switching from solemn works to less weighty ones and then back again. For instance, after the gravitas-laden Nebraska album, Bruce Springsteen chose to release ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Creation Node by Stephen Baxter

Creation Node, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz 978-1473228955, hardcover, 448pp, £25.00) September 2023

Stephen Baxter’s latest foray into mind-blowing cosmic speculation, a truly satisfying “done in one,” features an enchantingly real cast of characters exploring our solar system (and beyond), commencing in the year 2255, and extending for decades of future history afterwards. However, the book is almost two different beasts in one skin. Up to Chapter 33, it’s one type ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Exadelic by Jon Evans

Exadelic, Jon Evans (Tor ‎ 978-1250877734, hardcover, 448pp, $29.99) September 2023

The neologism that constitutes the title of Jon Evans’s mind-blowing new book (it’s the name of an all-powerful corporation) is certainly meant to conjure up echoes of “psychedelic,” and that allusiveness is substantiated by the over-the-top, enjoyably gonzo story itself. This off-the-rails, generously overstuffed, continuously surprising tale is what you might have gotten if Greg Egan had written ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Lessons in Birdwatching by Honey Watson

Lessons in Birdwatching, Honey Watson (Angry Robot 978-1915202536, trade paperback, 312pp, $17.99) August 2023

In what appears to be her flying-out-of-the-gate debut novel, Honey Watson has essentially taken the territory that C. J. Cherryh staked out so brilliantly—humans and aliens communicating and miscommunicating across exotic scrims of politesse—and imbued it with New Weird stylings and gonzo action sequences to create something truly fresh and arresting. So if you anticipate ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews A Second Chance for Yesterday by R.A. Sinn

A Second Chance for Yesterday, R.A. Sinn (Solaris 978-1786188274, hardcover, 320pp, $24.99) August 2023

This provocative, assured, compelling debut novel proves to be the work of two collaborating authors hiding very traceably behind a publisher-disclosed pseudonym. They are Rachel Hope Cleves and Aram Sinnreich, who also happen to be siblings. While SF has boasted many intrafamilial partnerships, I cannot recall a previous brother-sister duo, and I stand in awe ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins

The Great Transition, Nick Fuller Googins (Atria 978-1668010754, hardcover, 352pp, $27.99) August 2023

This debut novel from Nick Fuller Googins, whose previous fictional outings have occurred in The Paris Review and other literary journals, is a cli-fi, hopepunk romp jampacked with ideas, energy, attitude, and action. Its themes are urgent and vital, and all the parts of its realtime future hang together cohesively and ingeniously. But before you can ...Read More

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Weekly Bestsellers, 11 September 2023

The trade paperback edition of R. F. Kuang’s Babel (Harper Voyager) debuts on the four print lists compiled here.

Also, an enormous 40th anniversary Star Wars: Return of the Jedi anthology, From a Certain Point of View (Random House Worlds), debuts on two lists. Both the Amazon page and the publisher’s site credits six authors (presumably editors), beginning with Olivie Blake; the others are Saladin Ahmed, Charlie Jane Anders, Fran

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two

The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two, MIchael Swanwick (Subterranean Press 978-1-64524-112-6, hardcover, 536pp, $50) July 2023

Is it too soon to assess the career magnitude of those writers who debuted in the 1980s? That era, after all, close as it seems to some of us, is forty years gone, offering us long track records of publication to peruse and also a certain lofty vantage from the year 2023. ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Jackal, Jackal by Tobi Ogundiran

Jackal, Jackal, Tobi Ogundiran (Undertow Publications 978-1988964430, trade paperback, 318pp, $19.99) July 2023

Well do I recall the birth of Undertow Publications in 2009. Right from the start, they manifested themselves as a classy, uncompromising, smartly curated firm. Now, scores of books later, that presentation remains a reality. (Curiously enough, they have published only one original novel since then—Mary Rickert’s The Shipbuilder of Bellfairie, in this manner concentrating ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Ready When You Are and Other Stories by Barry N. Malzberg

Ready When You Are and Other Stories, Barry N. Malzberg (Stark House Press 979-8886010473, trade paperback, 164pp, $14.95) July 2023

This accomplished, provoking, and masterful new collection from the legendary Malzberg is comprised of twenty stories not previously featured in any of his other dozen or so assemblages. With many another writer, this remit might signal a kind of barrel-scraping maneuver. But in a writer of Malzberg’s stature and ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories by Gene Wolfe

The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories, Gene Wolfe (Subterranean Press 978-1-64524-120-1, hardcover, 400pp, $50.00) June 2023

It is so thrilling and rewarding to have a new book from the death-lost pen of Gene Wolfe. The man passed away in 2019, and soon thereafter left us a last posthumous novel (Interlibrary Loan [2020]), but even the recency of those occurrences is beginning to seem like distant ages past. ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Airside by Christopher Priest

Airside, Christopher Priest (Gollancz 978-1399608831, hardcover, 304pp, £22.00) May 2023

By my rough count, Airside is Christopher Priest’s twentieth novel, all accumulated since 1966, when his first short story “The Run” saw print in Impulse magazine. Incredibly, it appears less than a year after the previous sterling example, Expect Me Tomorrow (which I reviewed in these same pages). More incredibly—but still living up to my expectations—it’s a major work ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Woods of Arcady by Michael Moorcock

The Woods of Arcady, Michael Moorcock (Tor 978-0765324788, hardcover, 496pp, $32.99) June 2023

I have always thought that, considered purely as a phrase, William Maxwell’s Time Will Darken It is one of the most poetically philosophical titles in literature. Surely it would be a fitting rubric for Michael Moorcock’s ongoing series The Sanctuary of the White Friars. At age 83, Moorcock is looking down from a ruminative vantage ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Pennies from Heaven by James P. Blaylock

Pennies from Heaven, James P. Blaylock (PS Publishing 978-1786368843, trade paperback, 304pp, $21.00) December 2022

I find it incredibly hard to believe that so many years have passed. But databases don’t lie. The Internet Science Fiction Database informs me that PS Publishing issued its first title in 1999—and since then has produced nearly one thousand more! That is some kind of dramatic major milestone for any small press, as ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Dual Memory by Sue Burke

Dual Memory, Sue Burke (Tor ‎ 978-1250809131, hardcover, 352pp, $29.99) May 2023

A small plucky polity full of rebellious freethinkers, under siege by outside aggressors, is led to victory by a quirky Artificial Intelligence eager to assist its humans, using asymmetric warfare. Of course, that’s Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, right? Right, but not in today’s particular case. Because we are talking about Sue Burke’s fourth ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Under the Hollywood Sign by Tom Reamy

Under the Hollywood Sign, Tom Reamy (Subterranean 978-1-64524-131-7, hardcover, 544pp, $50.00) May 2023

I got my first subscription to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1967. By the mid-seventies, I was a veteran F&SF reader, basking in the flow of new and familiar names. What a vintage era, under the editorship of Ed Ferman (who would later ennoble me and enlist me in his pantheon by buying ...Read More

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Paul Di Filippo Reviews Ragged Maps by Ian R. MacLeod

Ragged Maps, Ian R. MacLeod (Subterranean 978-1645240938, hardcover, 456pp, $45.00) April 2023

How best to convey to the uninitiated the contours and pleasures of Ian MacLeod’s fiction? I would start by saying it’s elegant, complex, mysterious, empathetic, melancholy, mystical, and, somehow, quintessentially British; full of startling ideas often verging on the surreal. Then I would say he’s a peer and heir to Aldiss, Peake, Ballard, Priest, and Moorcock. If ...Read More

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