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Mining the Genre Asteroid: The Coming of the Quantum Cats

Cover of The Coming of the Quantum Cats, by Frederik Pohl, featuring a businessman, a soldier, a scientist, and others ascending a staircase set against the stars.

“… Pohl’s thesis, in this book, is that people are a mixture of nature AND nurture. The relatively retiring Nicky DeSota IS the same person as the hardbitten general, or the philandering Senator, and when push comes to shove, they can transcend their natures, or their upbringing, as the case may be. …”

Interview with K.V. Johansen, by Paul Weimer

Cover of The Wolf and the Wild King by K.V. Johansen, featuring a black/gray wolf sniffing at the base of a tree, against which a sword leans; the ground is snowy, and there are bushes in the background, and the sky is lit with aurora colors.

“Now, with The Wolf and the Wild King, I’ve done something I’m calling high fantasy, an older term not used so much any more, but to me it suggests a subtly different flavour of secondary world fantasy from epic — a world more mysterious, less explained; more folkloric roots showing through the moss, more things half-seen in the shadows. “

Mining the Genre Asteroid: An Elephant for Aristotle

Cover of an Elephant for Aristotle, featuring a man and woman in antique costumes, with an elephant and soldiers in the background.

“… This reinforces the clear point of view that De Camp promotes in the book, and that is one of multiculturalism and diversity being good things for people to experience and for polities to have. Time and again, having a wide and diverse group, or tribe, or nation is superior, clearly, to monoculture alternatives.”

Book Review: The Cost of Power: Return, by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Cover of The Cost of Power: Book One: Return, by Joyce Reynolds-Ward. Orange-gold lettering against a dark red background, with gold decorations on the borders.

Gabe and Ruby’s story is the heart of The Cost of Power: Return, by Joyce Reynolds-Ward. Their story in this iteration, looking at the oeuvre of the author, is to be one of a series of futures/worlds in a multiverse of stories revolving around the Martinieres in general and Gabe and Ruby as well.

Book Review: Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham

Cover of Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham: Book One of the Kithamar trilogy. Features a woman's face superimposed onto a city map.

This is not a non-fiction book, there definitely is a protagonist and her name is Alys.  But in a real way, this novel (and I am going to venture, the entire series) really has the city of Kithamar as its real protagonist and telling Alys’ story is a way to tell part of the story of Kithamar.