These stories link back to Dirty Computer the album and Dirty Computer [Emotion Picture] that you can watch in YouTube. Written in collaboration with These stories link back to Dirty Computer the album and Dirty Computer [Emotion Picture] that you can watch in YouTube. Written in collaboration with Yohanca Delgado, Eve L. Ewing, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore, and Sheree Renée Thomas, all stories are set in this dystopian tech-totalitarian society where people who are outside the norms (aka Dirty Computers) are hunted down and imprisoned, memories wiped, and more.
All stories are full of queerness, feminism, quirky creative elements, and positive spins on how humans could interact with one another.
Thanks to the publisher for providing access to this title via NetGalley. This book came out April 19th, 2022....more
Bertie and Kate are the kind of friends who reconnect in an instant, have inside jokes and their own universe when they are together. The world aroundBertie and Kate are the kind of friends who reconnect in an instant, have inside jokes and their own universe when they are together. The world around them is falling apart with bombings and refugees, and Kate decides to move to Los Angeles instead of buying a house in northern California like they'd planned.
They end up in Paris on a last hurrah, where they meet a mysterious man who can get them into the Louvre even though it is closed for safety. And that's where the strangeness begins, or at least, when they start to notice it. Is it part of the apocalypse? Is someone experimenting with them? Is it the museum or the world? Regardless, days seem very familiar, and then Kate disappears.
This was a fun read..I'm not sure I'm satisfied by the ending entirely but I did enjoy the journey. I feel like this is a mix of Piranesi and the film Seeking a Friend for the End of World, but I liked it more than Piranesi. Another reading friend also found the tone to be similar to Leave the World Behind, and I thought that was a good comparison, the doom of the surrounding events that aren't entirely understood, and knowing that what is happening simultaneously has something to do with what is happening and that it wouldn't be happening without those events.
Thanks to the publisher for providing access through NetGalley. The book came out April 19, 2022....more
"The Shao family had become a textbook case study in trauma. But with aliens."
I first heard of Mike Chen on the Reading Glasses podcast, as he's a fri"The Shao family had become a textbook case study in trauma. But with aliens."
I first heard of Mike Chen on the Reading Glasses podcast, as he's a friend of their show. This book is a different sort of read because it really is more about this one family than it is a more traditional science fiction novel, and even the idea of whether it is a science fiction novel depends on which character you find most trustworthy.
It's been 15 years since Jakob disappeared on a family hike at a lake, and 14 years since the father died trying to look for him. Kass, the self proclaimed responsible one, is caring for her mother who has dementia, while Evie has become the host of a show about alien abductions. Evie and Jakob are twins and she's convinced he was abducted. Kass is pretty sure he is dead or being irresponsible, probably on drugs in some foreign country. Then Jakob returns, dot dot dot.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley. The book came out January 25, 2022....more
I really didn't read anything about this book before I started, so I went in expecting Kafka and ended up with scifi! Humans and humanoids are employeI really didn't read anything about this book before I started, so I went in expecting Kafka and ended up with scifi! Humans and humanoids are employed on ship called the Six-Thousand, and they have also taken in some objects from a nearby planet. The creators, unnamed, have attempted to give the humans what they perceive them as needing - connection, seratonin, comfort - but can someone/thing nonhuman ever fully understand humanity in that sense? The entire very short novel is told in interview transcripts, most less than a page, so it is a short albeit bizarre reading experience. Much is unfolded but I won't spoil it for the reader.
This was on the long but not shortlist for the International Booker Prize; it was indeed on the shortlist for 2021. It's the fourth from the shortlist that I've read, and I'm surprised by the preference for shorter works! I read this in one setting while getting my oil changed.
The translator, Martin Aitken, is known to me for his work with Hanne Ostavik and Karl Ove Knaussgard. ....more
This was a fantastic read..it starts with a man visiting the Arctic to see where his scientist daughter died, all because a virus that the melting polThis was a fantastic read..it starts with a man visiting the Arctic to see where his scientist daughter died, all because a virus that the melting polar ice has revealed. From there the story moves through new characters and pieces in a global virus situation. Many of the characters are Japanese American or even just Japanese, many are scientists deep in the thick of working on aspects of the virus, but there are other characters that come up as well. The topics of death and dying are rich with cultural nuance (some people attend cremations and pick through the remaining bone fragments as part of the death ritual) and complications because of a lack of travel. Climate change and family separation are frequent themes, and some of the chapters are pretty "out there" in ways I think the reader will enjoy discovering.
I'll talk more about this book on an upcoming podcast (240) and probably still not cover everything, but what a debut! It's fantastic and a bit morbid and it was a great read. I can see why some compare him to David Mitchell, whom I love, and in some ways I'd connect it to Bewilderment by Richard Powers as well. There is a lot on death and dying in here, so treat yourself with care, as it might not be the right time....more
This month's pick for the Sword and Laser combines a musician's deal with the devil and a family running a donut shop in Los Angeles who happen to be This month's pick for the Sword and Laser combines a musician's deal with the devil and a family running a donut shop in Los Angeles who happen to be running from an intergalactic war.
I was amused by some of the moments but I'm not sure this all worked for me; I'd be invested in the violinist's story and then jarred into a stargate discussion. I did like the ending so maybe it all works out. And ironically reading more books with music as a central theme was one of my failed reading goals for last year, so this felt like an appropriate follow-up....more
Former soldiers from the Hive Mind have been running a restaurant together - The Last Chance. The day the top restaurant critic is due for a visit, thFormer soldiers from the Hive Mind have been running a restaurant together - The Last Chance. The day the top restaurant critic is due for a visit, there is a big explosion at TwiceFar Station and they escape in a bioship owned by an uber wealthy customer. It is space opera, found family, and foodie all together, so I bet this will work for many readers. I'm hoping we get more of the story! ...more
This is the March read for the Indigenous Reading Circle and I'm looking forward to discussion this weekend. Most of the stories share a theme of the This is the March read for the Indigenous Reading Circle and I'm looking forward to discussion this weekend. Most of the stories share a theme of the destruction of the earth, from climate change or alien intervention, and how characters from indigenous communities are dealing with circumstances. If you are a guardian of the earth, do you stay to the end? What kind of new communities can be formed? What about AI or VR?
Most of the time when I read short stories, I expect every word to matter, for a high value to be placed on scarcity. I found many of these stories to be more in a storytelling voice (two in particular are very much telling instead of showing, like a faux memoir or history tone) and I wonder if that has anything to do with the framing of indigenous voices, is there some level of traditional technique being employed here? So the discussion should be interesting!...more
This was the original March pick for the Indigenous Reading Circle but it was discovered to be out of print. I took advantage of interlibrary loan to This was the original March pick for the Indigenous Reading Circle but it was discovered to be out of print. I took advantage of interlibrary loan to read it anyway.
First of all, I skipped the Gwen Benaway story after learning she had lied about an indigenous background. Come on people, stop doing that, sheesh.
My favorite stories were ALIENS by Richard Van Camp, LEGENDS ARE MADE, NOT BORN by Cherie Dimaline, and NÉ LE! by Darcie Little Badger....more
1143 pages later, I finally finished Pandora's Star, the March pick for @swordandlaser. I didn't love every minute but kept going because the whole po1143 pages later, I finally finished Pandora's Star, the March pick for @swordandlaser. I didn't love every minute but kept going because the whole point is exposure to a wide variety of fantasy and science fiction books! . Where to even begin. If lives can be repeated through rejuvenation and the entire universe is your worldbuilding, how can an author even fit it into one book? (He didn't; this ends on a cliffhanger and moves right into Judas Unchained.)
The book was published in 2004 and sometimes feels so outdated (some language use is downright offensive!) while other times it feels very current (people in Santa Monica care more about their power disruption than the plight of intergalactic refugees.) Some of the aliens were interesting, the underlying mystery was frustrating, and by the time threads were being pulled together I'd forgotten where they'd started. And since the story doesn't end, I may never know if some of my suspicions are accurate.
I'd rather read eight shorter novels focused in on eight of the story lines. And of all the world building, I really just want to be able to hop on a loop train, thanks.
Still, I'm glad to have read a book by this author, because he's a sci-fi staple and I'd never tried him.
Jenny (Reading Envy)
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