Sci-Fi

Very Quick Review: UNEXPLODED REMNANTS by Elaine Gallagher (TorDotCom)

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GallagherE-UnexplodedRemnantsUSHCA fast-paced, intriguing new sci-fi novella

An A.I. wages war on a future it doesn’t understand.

Alice is the last human. Street-smart and bad-ass.

After discovering what appears to be an A.I. personality in an antique data core, Alice decides to locate its home somewhere in the stargate network. At the very least, she wants to lay him to rest because, as it turns out, she’s stumbled upon the sentient control unit of a deadly ancient weapon system.

Convincing the ghost of a raging warrior that the war is over is about as hard as it sounds, which is to say, it’s near-impossible. But, if Alice fails and the control unit falls into the wrong hands, the balance of power her side of the Milky Way could fall apart. As Alice ports throughout the known universe seeking answers and aid she will be faced with impossible choice after impossible choice and the growing might of an unstoppable foe.

A very quick/short review, for this one. This is a pretty fast-paced, galaxy-trotting science fiction novella. After a slightly shaky start, I quickly fell into the setting and became invested in the characters’ fates. It doesn’t quite stick the landing, but I nevertheless enjoyed it. Continue reading →

Excerpt: CALYPSO by Oliver K. Langmead (Titan Books)

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LangmeadOK-CalypsoHCToday, we have an excerpt from the new epic verse novel Calypso, by Oliver K. Langmead: “A saga of colony ships, shattering moons and cataclysmic war in a new Eden.” It’s out now, published by Titan Books. Here’s the synopsis:

Rochelle wakes from cryostasis to take up her role as engineer on the colony ark, Calypso. But she finds the ship has transformed into a forest, populated by the original crew’s descendants, who revere her like a saint.

She travels the ship with the Calypso’s creator, the enigmatic Sigmund, and Catherine, a bioengineered marvel who can commune with the plants, uncovering a new history of humanity forged while she slept.

She discovers a legacy of war between botanists and engineers. A war fought for the right to build a new Earth – a technological paradise, or a new Eden in bloom, untouched by mankind’s past.

And Rochelle, the last to wake, holds the balance of power in her hands.

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Excerpt: THE YEARS SHALL RUN LIKE RABBITS by Ben Berman Ghan (Wolsak & Wynn)

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BermanGhanB-YearsShallRunLikeRabbitsHCOn May 14th, Wolsak & Wynn are due to publish The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits, a “complex work of literary speculative fiction that spans centuries”, by Ben Berman Ghan. To mark the upcoming release, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share — specifically, taken from Chapter 3. Before we get to that, though, here’s the synopsis:

The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits starts in 2014 with a winged alien sowing the seeds of a strange forest on the moon. The novel then moves through humanity’s colonization of the moon and its consequences, onto a war with alien beings within a space-going whale, a cyborg mind that sleeps for hundreds of years after sheltering the city of Toronto from the worst of the war and finally a re-creation of humanity.

Ghan poses thoughtful questions about artificial intelligence, humanities quest for the stars and ecological destruction in this wide-ranging story, which is held together equally by beautiful writing and deft characterization. The end result is an ambitious debut that leaves the reader contemplating many amazing possibilities for the future of our world.

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Excerpt: THE WINGS UPON HER BACK by Samantha Mills (Tachyon)

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MillsS-WingsUponHerBackUSHCThe Wings Upon Her Back, the new novel from Samantha Mills, has been getting a lot of pre-publication buzz, and today we are happy to share with you an excerpt, provided by Tachyon Publications. First, though, here’s the synopsis:

A loyal warrior in a crisis of faith must fight to regain her place and begin her life again while questioning the events of her past…

Zenya was a teenager when she ran away from home to join the mechanically-modified warrior sect. She was determined to earn mechanized wings and protect the people and city she loved. Under the strict tutelage of a mercurial, charismatic leader, Zenya became Winged Zemolai.

But after twenty-six years of service, Zemolai is disillusioned with her role as an enforcer in an increasingly fascist state. After one tragic act of mercy, she is cast out and loses everything she worked for. As Zemolai fights for her life, she begins to understand the true nature of her sect, her leader, and the gods themselves.

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Excerpt: THESE FRAGILE GRACES, THIS FUGITIVE HEART by Izzy Wasserstein (Tachyon)

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WassersteinI-TheseFragileGracesUSHCToday we have an excerpt from Izzy Wasserstein‘s debut novel, These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart. Due to be published by Tachyon Publications in a couple of weeks (March 12th), it’s a “a queer, noir technothriller of fractured identity and corporate intrigue”. Check out the synopsis…

In mid-21st-century Kansas City, Dora hasn’t been back to her old commune in years. But when Dora’s ex-girlfriend Kay is killed, and everyone at the commune is a potential suspect, Dora knows that she’s the only person who can solve the murder.

As Dora is dragged back into her old community and begins her investigations, she discovers that Kay’s death is only one of several terrible incidents. A strange new drug is circulating. People are disappearing. And Dora is being attacked by assailants from her pre-transition past.

Meanwhile, it seems like a war between two nefarious corporations is looming, and Dora’s old neighborhood is their battleground. Now, she must uncover a twisted conspiracy, all while navigating a deeply meaningful new relationship.

Now: on with the excerpt…!

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Upcoming: GLASS HOUSES by Madeline Ashby (Tor)

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AshbyM-GlassHousesUSHCThe next novel from Madeline Ashby is Glass Houses. Pitched as a “near future whodunit for fans of Glass Onion and Black Mirror“, it certainly sounds intriguing. Due to be published in August, by Tor Books, I imagine there are a lot of people who will be interested in reading this. Here’s what it’s about:

Join a stranded start-up team led by a terrifyingly realistic charismatic billionaire, a deserted tropical island, and a mysterious AI-driven mansion — as the remaining members disappear one by one.

A group of employees and their CEO, celebrating the sale of their remarkable emotion-mapping-AI-algorithm, crash onto a not-quite-deserted tropical island.

Luckily, those who survived have found a beautiful, fully-stocked private palace, with all the latest technological updates (though one without connection to the outside world). The house, however, has more secrets than anyone might have guessed, and a much darker reason for having been built and left behind.

Kristen, the hyper-competent “chief emotional manager” (i.e., the eccentric boyish billionaire-CEO Sumter’s idea of an HR department) is trying to keep her colleagues stable throughout this new challenge, but staying sane seems to be as much of a challenge as staying alive. Being a woman in technology has always meant having to be smarter than anyone expects… and Kristen’s survival skills are more impressive than anyone knows.

Madeline Ashby’s Glass Houses is due to be published by Tor Books in North America and in the UK, on August 13th.

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Very Quick Review: THE NINTH METAL by Benjamin Percy (William Morrow)

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PercyB-CC1-NinthMetalUSPBThe first book in the Comet Cycle trilogy

IT BEGAN WITH A COMET…

At first, people gazed in wonder at the radiant tear in the sky. A year later, the celestial marvel became a planetary crisis when Earth spun through the comet’s debris field and the sky rained fire.

The town of Northfall, Minnesota will never be the same. Meteors cratered hardwood forests and annihilated homes, and among the wreckage a new metal was discovered. This “omnimetal” has properties that make it world-changing as an energy source… and a weapon.

John Frontier — the troubled scion of an iron-ore dynasty in Northfall — returns for his sister’s wedding to find his family embroiled in a cutthroat war to control mineral rights and mining operations. His father rightly suspects foreign leaders and competing corporations of sabotage, but the greatest threat to his legacy might be the US government. Physicist Victoria Lennon was recruited by the Department of Defense to research omnimetal, but she finds herself trapped in a laboratory of nightmares. And across town, a rookie cop is investigating a murder that puts her own life in the crosshairs. She will have to compromise her moral code to bring justice to this now lawless community.

I read Benjamin Percy’s The Ninth Metal little while ago, but somehow completely forgot to write a review! It’s the first novel in his Comet Cycle trilogy, and it’s quite the start, too: it’s the story of a devastating natural calamity, and its impact on the inhabitants of Northfall. Coupled with greed, small-town and national politics, this makes for a very intriguing start. I very much enjoyed this.

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Interview with LAVIE TIDHAR and NIR YANIV about LOONTOWN

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TidharYaniv-Loontown

The new short film Loontown was released yesterday. Written by multi-award winning author Lavie Tidhar and directed by Nir Yaniv, here’s some info from the press release:

Imagine The Wire crossed with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, add a healthy dose of classic film noir, and you’ll come close to this absurdist sci fi fable about lonely balloons with big dreams. Picture Humphrey Bogart reincarnated as a balloon detective hot on the case of a missing shipment of helium (“street name H”), and this might be the movie for you!

When Mordy “The Mouth” is gruesomely – and literally! – popped in an alleyway, it’s down to world-weary detective Muldoon to solve the case. His quest quickly takes him up against a mysterious gangster just out of prison (a “twelve stretch in Blimpsville”), a seductive femme fatale named Red (who he helplessly falls for), and an inevitable meeting with destiny.

Filmed in and around Los Angeles, in locations including the famous alleyway from They Live and Chinatown’s LA River, the film mixes live action backgrounds with animated characters.

Here are the film’s credits:

  • Written by Lavie Tidhar
  • Directed by Nir Yaniv
  • Starring Digger Mesch, Anne Wittman, Kenneth Jay, Nathan Osgood, Al Lubel, Russell Wilcox and Katie Snyder

As a long-time fan of Tidhar’s fiction, I am very much looking forward to watching this! I am also happy to share with you an interview with Tidhar and Yaniv…

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Very Quick Review: THE TUSKS OF EXTINCTION by Ray Nayler (Tor.com)

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NaylerR-TusksOfExtinctionUSHCAn intriguing, intelligent, and empathetic “eco-thriller”

When you bring back a long-extinct species, there’s more to success than the DNA.

Moscow has resurrected the mammoth, but someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out, again.

The late Dr. Damira Khismatullina, the world’s foremost expert in elephant behavior, is called in to help. While she was murdered a year ago, her digitized consciousness is uploaded into the brain of a mammoth.

Can she help the magnificent creatures fend off poachers long enough for their species to take hold?

And will she ever discover the real reason they were brought back?

Ray Nayler’s novel The Mountain in the Sea has been generating a lot of buzz since its publication, and racked up a number of award wins and nominations (most recently, the Locus Best First Novel Award). When The Tusks of Extinction popped up available for review, I thought it would be a good introduction to the author’s work, and I dove in as soon as I got it. I’m happy to report that I enjoyed it, and it’s a well-written and engaging eco-mystery. Continue reading →

Very Quick Review: STARTER VILLAIN by John Scalzi (Tor)

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ScalziJ-StarterVillainUSHCSo you suddenly find yourself in charge of an evil corporation…

Inheriting your uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who’s running the place.

Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn’t all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they’re coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It’s up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world… be a cat.

An entertaining and unusual fish-out-of-water story about a man who inherits his uncle’s evil empire. Fast-paced, amusing, and starring some cats, I enjoyed this.
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