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Book Review: Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

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Lagos. It’s one of the most populous cities in the world and yet it is a city that is relatively mysterious to most Western audiences. Its geography, its nature, and even the languages spoken there (did you know the first language for many in Lagos is a Pidgin language and not English?) do not readily come to mind. But why would aliens, if they would come, necessarily park their ship above London, or crash into New York Harbor outside the U.N., or send troops into Los Angeles? Why wouldn’t they pick, instead, say, Lagos? What would a first contact be like if shapeshifting aliens who decided to come to stay on Earth for a while decided to skip the usual suspects and land in the lagoon outside the city of Lagos? Lagoon, by Nnedi Okorafor explores that exact first contact scenario.

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Book Review: The Edge of Worlds by Martha Wells

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If you have read any of Martha Wells’ Raksura novels and stories, you likely do not need me to coax you into reading her latest volume, THE EDGE OF WORLDS, now that you know it’s here. Go forth and get it, and enjoy it as I did. You’re excused from reading the rest of this review. For those of you who are new to Wells’ fiction, or her Three Worlds novels, let me open up this treasure of wonders for you. Imagine a fantasy world filled to the brim with more sentient species than a Talislanta corebook, and more diverse than the various types of hominids on Niven’s Ringworld. A fantasy world whose roots run deep, where ancient ruins of cities from civilizations long dead hold treasures, wonders and dangers. Where the foul Fell, an all-consuming race who view all other races as prey, seek to spread and devour the world.

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Book Review: Borderline by Mishell Baker

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Millie is broken, and perhaps not still good. But she is trying. Having lost her filmmaking career and her legs in a failed suicide attempt a year ago, her path back to a stable life has been a tough one. When Caryl Vallo from the Arcadia Project offers Millie a position, things are even more complicated. For the Arcadia Project, in the manner of the Men In Black, keeps track of the visitors to Earth not from space, but from the Fairyland next door. And Millie’s past problems and current nature are not a problem, but rather a selling point to the organization. Even as a simple sample assignment goes haywire, Millie learns that she is not the only person with issues in the Arcadia Project. But can Millie rise above these challenges before the fallout from that simple assignment causes problems that will extend far beyond her life, or even Tinseltown? Borderline is the debut novel from Mishell Baker.

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My Superpower: Jay Swanson

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My Superpower is a guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators usually tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. In this case, we’re hearing about the superpower best suited for the protagonist of Into the Nanten. “Of all my accumulated powers, I think my ability to influence the perceptions of those around me is the most useful — especially with regards to how they feel. It’s subtle, really, this capacity to touch the mind and leave no trace. It’s almost like an aura, one you’ll never truly leave should you enter it.

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Book Review: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold

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You and your husband have been at the center of a lot of events in history over the last few decades, especially involving a tricky succession and regency that nearly blew up an entire planet more than a few times. But all that is in the past. Sadly and tragically, your husband is now dead. Your former charge is now a secure Emperor on his throne, and you yourself are Vicereine of a colony. Your son is now firmly in the Ducal seat that your late husband held, and is doing well. More so, thanks to Betan genetic engineering and breeding, you are pretty sure that you have many decades of productive life left. So, what do you do *now* — especially if you are Cordelia Vorkosigan? Not go to Disneyland, that’s for sure. And definitely not fade away.

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Book Review: Revisionary by Jim C Hines

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After the game-changing events of Unbound, where the existence of magic and magical creatures were revealed to the world at large, what does one do for an encore? Isaac Vainio’s announcement and the blowing open of centuries-old secrets are, as it turns out, the beginning. Even as Isaac works to try and keep paranoid government agencies and a disturbed public from freaking out, elements from within and without the magic community see the revelation of magic to the world as a chance to advance their own agendas. In this new world order where magic exists, it’s going to take fast feet and thinking, as well as book smarts, for Isaac and his companions to keep the world together. Revisionary is the fourth and capstone book in the Magic Ex Libris series.

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