Mining the Genre Asteroid: The Morgaine cycle of novels by C.J. Cherryh
Imagine a universe where a set of Stargates connect distant worlds. Many of these worlds have a low level of technology, and often fear and distrust those who come through the Stargates. The secret of making the Stargates, and who and why they made them, is only distantly known. Now imagine an expedition of individuals going through the various Stargates, seeing the various worlds that they connect. Meeting the human and not quite so human races to be found on these worlds. So far, you should be thinking of Stargate, the movie and its sequel series Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: Universe. Now imagine that it was determined that the Gates had destroyed a galactic civilization, and could still change and wipe out worlds and polities with a careless bit of travel. And so this expedition’s mission isn’t just to explore the Stargate network — but to destroy it, one gate at a time. The science fantasy Morgaine novels, by C.J. Cherryh, explore the quest of the last member of an expedition to do just that.
Book Review: Radiant by Karina Sumner-Smith
Sitting squarely in the borderlands between science and fantasy, Karina Sumner-Smith’s first turn into novel length fiction (after a number of well received stories, including the Nebula nominated “An End to All things”) is the strongly crafted story of the ghost-seeing young woman Xhea in RADIANT, the first in the “Towers Trilogy”. The science fantasy city of the Lower City and the Towers floating above provides a secondary world urban fantastical environment for Radiant’s story. Class in this world is very much a function of the ability to use magic. Those who can and do practice magic competently live in the floating Towers that serenely hover over the ruination and post-apocalyptic state of the Lower City left behind. The dregs of society, on the other hand, live in those lower city ruins, in quarters ranging from makeshift shelters in ruined subway tunnels to skyscrapers that try and reach the sky.
Book Review: The Dragons of Heaven by Alyc Helms
In the darkened streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown, Missy Masters is struggling to take up the vigilante-hero mantle of her retired, estranged grandfather, Mr. Mystic. Missy shares his stubbornness, his intimate connections with Chinese culture, and his uncanny ability to cross into a realm of shadows and exert limited control over the creatures within. Just as she literally straddles worlds, Missy also dances a line of pretending to be an aged, but expert, male superhero while training to advance beyond her actual novice abilities. She aspires to the strength and moral right that her grandfather embodied while battling against memories of his emotional distance, his personal secrets, and the prejudices common of his generation. Typical of masked superheroes, she has two lives, the separate worlds of Missy Masters and of Mr. Mystic. And she has past experiences, a world away in China, that have led her to be the woman and vigilante of the present.
Book Review: Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
It is England during the reign of King George V. The Machine Age is at its peak, and human society is in flux, becoming increasingly urbanized, secular. The Great War has come to a close, but the traumatic devastation it has wrought echoes on in family’s lives. Nations struggle to recover and political/economic turmoil presages greater conflicts and changes to come. What the future holds is not only a concern for humanity, but also for The Besiders, a race that has lived alongside us in the margins, driven further into the isolated shadows as human civilization spreads. Eleven-year-old Triss Crescent awakens in a bed surrounded by her parents and a doctor, her memory fragmented and incomplete. She gradually recalls that the family is together on vacation, and that she has had an accident, coming close to drowning in the Grimmer, a local millpond. But she has difficulty remembering the details of how she fell in, or how she managed to get out. Triss’ younger sister Pen was there to witness the accident, but Pen sulks in the corner of the room, far from Triss, and won’t say more than angrily proclaim that Triss is lying, pretending; that Triss is not who she claims to be.
Book Review: Binary by Stephanie Saulter
Several years after the events of Gemsigns (see my review here at Skiffy and Fanty), the integration of Gems into society has continued. The violent spasm of reaction to Gems in the form of the godgangs has given way, some years later, to society seeking methods to harness the talents the Gems have in modern society. It hasn’t always been smooth, or easy, but society and people have started to move on and grapple with the consequences of the aftermath of the fateful Conference and the Declaration arising from it. As in Gemsigns, however, both Aryel Morningstar, leader of the Gems, and the industrialist Zavcka Klist find their paths crossing. However, rather than being overt adversaries, Klist has a proposition for Morningstar, an offer of a collaboration of talents and skills. Klist’s proposition is to use the power of a certain Gem to explore the infotech technologies that had been abandoned in the wake of the Syndrome over a century ago. That Gem, Harran, with extraordinary power to connect to computers on a fundamental level, might be just the Gem to lead the effort into exploring infotech, and safely. However, when delving into computers, and ancient records, sometimes dark and long forgotten secrets are discovered. Secrets of the past of Aryel Morningstar … and secrets of Zavcka Klist as well.
Book Review: Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter
The price of humanity’s use of computing technology was high. The Syndrome caused degenerative physiological and neurological problems to an ever increasing amount of humanity. The wired age, as we in the 21st century might know, meant a radical change in humanity. Even as genetic engineering came up with cures for The Syndrome, the sheer amount of labor and effort needed to keep the world going during the transitional period meant that a different sort of genetically engineered being was needed. Beings designed who could lift more, think more, do more, to keep society functioning even as the world came to grips with the fallout from The Syndrome. Called Gems, after a century of propping up the world, these beings are no longer necessary for the functioning of society, but how can humanity keep them in shackles? And what rights does a superhuman being designed in a test tube really have? Or should have? These issues come to a head in Gemsigns, the debut novel by Stephanie Saulter.
