Book Review: Of Light and Shadow, by Tanaz Bhathena (by Shazzie / readeratworkblog)
As an own voices reader, it’s always exciting to discover a promising book that draws from my culture.
Review: The Mimicking of Known Successes, by Malka Older
Malka Older’s The Mimicking of Known Successes is a lovely cozy mystery and sapphic romance in a tonally nearish-future SF setting. If, like me, you struggled a bit with author Malka Older’s Centenal Cycle trilogy (I admit I haven’t made it past the first book, Infomocracy), please consider giving this novella a try. It was one of my favorite things to read this year. One of the reasons I had stumbled during Infomocracy was the multiple characters and POVs – sometimes I’m good with that, but I started reading it in 2019, not a great year for me to be challenging myself during leisure time. But TMoKS starts with a tight-focus third-person narrative focused on Mossa, a professional detective, and switches to a first-person narrative from Pleiti, a scholar, so it’s a lot easier to track what’s happening (although intentions and motivations aren’t revealed for quite a while). Also helping with the ease of reading is that although this is science fiction, the tone feels like gaslamp Victorian/Edwardian-style fiction, minus the racism and sexism (there’s still some degree of classism, though, at least with some characters being arrogant about their academic status). Humanity has moved to Jupiter after wrecking the Earth’s environment, with a series of platforms in the upper atmosphere of the gas giant that are connected via a rail system. So as Mossa and Pleiti follow leads from platform to platform, it reminds me a lot of various Sherlock Holmes mysteries where he and Dr. Watson move about tEngland via rail. Also, Pleiti’s university quarters provide tea and scones by the fireside as a welcome warm-up for the pair in Chapter 1, so the mystery is literally cozy. It is also pretty hot in places! Mossa and Pleiti are ex-flames from college, who had a bad breakup. The two have very different interests, competencies, and personalities, but the heat is still there; at least we see that on Pleiti’s side before too long. And when one of them is injured, the other helps bathe the wound clean and has to struggle to keep her mind, emotions and voice under control… Fortunately, frustrations are eventually resolved satisfyingly – but I definitely want to see this relationship continue to progress in future stories. As for the mystery, I love how it spins up step by step (with a few twists and turns along the way) from a missing person to a case with much broader implications. Some SF mysteries are basically just present-day puzzles with a technological gloss, but the futuristic setting here is integral to the mystery and to people’s motivations, and the complex details of the worldbuilding (from simple elements like an atmoscarf that helps one breathe outside, to vital plot-spoilery ones) really immerse the reader into the story. Incidentally, the title comes from humans on Jupiter trying to figure out how to recreate Earth’s environment – Pleiti’s Classics discipline actually centers not so much on interpreting literature as on using literature to infer whole working ecologies, such as cataloging plant life in (implied) Watership Down. It’s certainly not cozy to imagine the devastated Earth, but I’ve been reading some other “cozy catastrophes” lately, where the coziness lies in survivors starting small and building futures together, and this fits that description. Older has said that she set out to write a comfort read, and I believe she succeeded masterfully. Worldbuilding, mystery, characters and romance combine delightfully in this novella. I eagerly await the sequel in February 2024, and, fortified by this lovely story, I may even return to the Centenary Cycle. The Mimicking of Known Successes, available here from Barnes & Noble, has a sort of subtitle these days: “The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti Book 1.” Yes, that means there is a follow-up coming! The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles is available now for preorder. I am definitely looking forward to reading that! Content warnings: Violence, death, past background environmental catastrophe, sexy scenes (not graphic). Comparisons: C.L. Polk’s Even Though I Knew the End (noirish f/f romance-fantasy-mystery), Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit (mostly cozy m/m romance-SF with some mystery), P. Djeli Clark’s A Master of Djinn (steampunk-mystery with f/f romance). Disclaimers: I received a free ARC of this novella from NetGalley. IIRC, I may have had a few very brief exchanges with Older on social media.
Short Fiction Review: March 2019
This past month, my three favorite stories all happened to be love stories. None of these stories are exactly typical or traditional love stories, which I think is the reason I liked them so much. “Green Glass: A Love Story” by E. Lily Yu feels like a fun romcom about the super-wealthy. It’s also a sharp critique of the 1%. It appears in If This Goes On, a new anthology edited by Cat Rambo. “Every Song Must End” by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, which appears in Uncanny Magazine, is a moving, intelligent meditation on love, which centers around two polyamorous couples. “Octonet” by Keyan Bowes appears in Escape Pod and was part of Artemis Rising 5, an annual event put on by the Escape Artists podcast network featuring authors of marginalized genders and sexes. Although “Octonet” does include a lovely romance between two women, it’s mostly a love story about octopuses. If you agree octopuses are awesome, you’ve got to read this. If you haven’t yet realized how awesome octopuses are, you should also check this out.
Book Review: New Reality by Jessica Payseur
New Reality by Jessica Payseur is a sweet and sensual gay romance that warms the heart. It’s a relatively fast read at just under 50 pages, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’d classify this novella as more of a romance that is sci-fi adjacent, but I enjoyed reading it for the characters and their love story. With well-timed tension and a slight danger factor (this is mostly in space, after all), Payseur sets the stakes in her universe and follows through with them. Her character-driven love story with a squee-worthy ending is worth a read. It is NSFW at times, so you may want to be wary of anyone reading over your shoulder. This is the story of Connell, a tired courier of slightly less-than-legal goods, drifting across the stars alone after the sudden death of his former partner in smuggling and in bed, left bereft and abandoned in the middle of a world he’s not sure he wants to fit into anymore. On his journey across the stars, picking up the odd job and the odd man, he somehow connects with a mysterious man through their seemingly shared dreams. Wystan Kreeger has been stranded on a distant planet for seventeen years, trapped with no possibility of escape. Their shared dreams send Connell on the haul of a lifetime: a lover, a planet, and a happiness that neither man could have ever predicted.
Adorable lesbian werewolves in love: Moonstruck #1 and #2
Welcome to the latest installment of my comics review column here at Skiffy & Fanty! Every month, I use this space to shine a spotlight on SF&F comics (print comics, graphic novels, and webcomics) that I believe deserve more attention from SF&F readers. This month, I’d like to focus on the first two issues of a new ongoing comics series, Moonstruck #1 and 2. (This review contains spoilers!)
Book Review: Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Everyone knows and loves Miles Vorkosigan. The “little admiral”, who thanks to a chemical attack on his mother while she was pregnant suffers from a shortness of build, brittle bones, and an drive to prove himself against all comers. He is the heart and center of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan universe. But what about Ivan? “Ivan, you Idiot”? The breezing through life cousin of Miles, who seems mostly engaged in trying to avoid the wrath of his mother, and any responsibility whatsoever? Wine, women, and having a good time as much as he can, without a care in the world or a thought in his brain. Is he really as stupid and shallow as Miles makes him out to be? Aral Vorkosigan, father of Miles, once mused that Ivan couldn’t possibly be faking his stupidity — or is Ivan better at this than even Aral realized? Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance gives us an entire novel to explore a story about Ivan and of Ivan, and a reconsideration of who and what he is, what he thinks he is, and what he wants to be.
