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Book Review: THE TUSKS OF EXTINCTION by Ray Nayler

Cover of The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler, featuring the skull and huge, curving tusks of an elephant, mammoth or mastodon.

It touches on big issues, features biological speculation that is near and dear to me, but it does all this without skimping on character-driven aspects and precise language that evokes empathy and reflection.

Book Review: INVERSION by Aric McBay

Cover of Inversion, by Aric McBay, from the Black Dawn series from AK Press. Picture of a natural landscape, with a bird flying, encircled by technology and a hand reaching to grasp it.

Though relatively slim compared to most space operas at only 240 small-sized pages, Inversion packs a narrative punch along with rich world building and engaging thematic threads of ecology, collectivism, and resistant to militaristic colonization. 

Book Review: Dehiscent by Ashley Deng

Cover of Dehiscent by Ashley Deng. Shadow of a girl in front of a house with a lot of plant life evident.

Dehiscent has a form of New Weird that combines eco-horror with what might be considered cozy horror, despite unsettling themes of the prison that can form from the recognition of privilege while feeling powerless to change it. With rich, quiet atmosphere and an exceptionally compelling and realistic, empathetic protagonist, Deng lifts a mirror to our current lives to reflect a fantastic image of how divisions of humanity would continue.