Author: Jenn Northington

Happy Friday, lieutenants and loup garou! Today we’re talking Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee, Borderline by Mishell Baker, adaptation updates, queer SF/F, magical apocalypses (I always want to say ‘apocalypsi’), and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Prisoner of the Crown, the first book in the Chronicles of Dasnaria series from award-winning author Jeffe Kennedy.

In a society where women are valued only for their ability to produce heirs and provide pleasure, even the eldest daughter of the emperor has no power. Her Imperial Highness Princess Jenna is raised to be a dutiful wife, polished and docile. But Jenna’s new husband is a terror, and she must escape the brutal marriage or die trying.

Now, unprotected and alone for the first time in her life, she finds that a chance at freedom outweighs her fears. Resolved to become stronger, not just for herself but for her kingdom, Jenna makes a vow of her own. To take revenge.

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The Wheel of Time turns, and we still are maybe getting an adaptation. Probably. Maybe.

Speaking of adaptations, The Changeling by Victor LaValle has been picked up by FX! I cannot control my glee for him! But also who will they cast????

Also in gleeful news, Marlon James’ forthcoming fantasy novel now has a gorgeous cover and some details. If those details pique your interest, be sure to pick up David Anthony Durham’s Acacia series and Maurice Broaddus’s Buffalo Soldier while you’re waiting — they both seem like excellent comps to what James is working on.

Do you need more queer publishers and characters in your life? Of course you do! And this string of Tumblr posts is a wealth of information.

Peng Shepherd loves a good magical apocalypse and she wrote about a few favorites for Tor.com, and it’s a great list. It does not surprise me that we have similar taste, since her novel The Book of M is one of my favorites of 2018!

Find some living favorites: So often our all-time, top-of-the-list authors have already died. Here are 15 of the best SF/F authors publishing right now, so there’s more to look forward to!

Today’s reviews deal with some heavy topics, so buckle up.

Revenant Gun (Machineries of Empire #3) by Yoon Ha Lee

Trigger warnings: rape, coercion, suicide

Rather than talk plot points for a third-in-series (which always feels strange, because spoilers!) let’s talk about what makes Machineries of Empire one of my all-time favorite SF series to date.

Lee has done some of the most original world-building I’ve had the pleasure to witness — the bizarre maths that run this universe are incomprehensible, but ultimately believable. And with a world this complex the temptation to infodump must have been strong, but there’s very little (if any?) of that to be found. He lets us find our way through this maze of the book, trusts us to hang tight and pick up on context, and proceeds with the actual story.

Then there’s his mastery of POV, about which I cannot say enough. As the universe of these books unfold, we get new POV characters — but he also knows when to withhold a certain POV to keep us guessing. (Raven Stratagem, I am looking at you.)

And then there’s the story itself. It’s dark and brutal (some of the math runs on torture, after all), and none of the characters are blameless. In Revenant Gun, Lee follows all of that world-building to its ultimate implications, and they are not pretty. Is consent possible when the choices are rigged? What does it mean to be a self-aware monster? What does it mean to struggle against a society that sets you up to be a monster? Lee is exploring these questions and more, and taking us along for the ride.

I’ll be over here with a box of tissues, starting a reread as soon as possible. Gird yourselves, friends, and dive in.

Borderline by Mishell Baker

Trigger warning: depiction of suicide

Millie Parker, the narrator of Borderline, is caustic, depressed, a failed filmmaker, and kind of a jerk. She’s also a recent double amputee, a suicide-attempt survivor, and has Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). She is also being recruited by this thing called the Arcadia Project, which would have her believe that magic is real and fairies are deeply involved in the Los Angeles film scene. She has some feelings about this, as you might expect.

It’s a lot, right? That Borderline doesn’t somehow buckle under the weight of all this is a testament to Baker’s skill as a writer. Baker shares the BPD diagnosis with her main character, which explains how sensitively written Millie is; Baker also did her research about amputees. Combined with her full-speed-ahead imagination, these details make Borderline a complicated, compelling read. And while Millie isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, the supporting cast adds dimensions that are very welcome; there’s a lot of heart to balance out the hurt. They call her out on her crap and become one of the strangest, most fascinating found families I’ve read.

With plenty of gallows humor and action, Borderline is a magical whodunnit that kept me turning the pages. Millie’s struggle to come to terms with the hidden layers of supernatural LA play off her struggles with her mental health, sometimes to her benefit and sometimes … not so much. I’ll never think about fauns the same way, or George Lucas for that matter. If you’re looking for fantasy that grapples with the very real issues of mental illness with a hefty does of Hollywood, look no further.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda.

May the odds be ever in your favor,
Jenn

Happy Friday, aliens and archivists! Today I’ve got reviews of The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt and The Book of M by Peng Shepherd, plus some film news, SF in translation, YA picks, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Epic Reads and The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen.

When the kingdom is conquered by enemy forces, Jinghua she finds herself a conspirator in the escape of Prince Khalaf and his father.

While on the run, Jinghua’s feelings for Khalaf begin to evolve into an impossible love. But Khalaf seeks to restore his kingdom by forging a marriage alliance with Turandokht, who requires all potential suitors to solve three impossible riddles to win her hand. If they fail, they die.

With Khalaf’s life and kingdom at stake, Jinghua must reconcile her past with her feelings for Khalaf . . . even if it means losing him to the girl who’d sooner take his life than his heart.

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Craving some feminist YA fantasy? Us too, and these have all been released in 2018!

Thinking about sci-fi in translation is something Dale Knickerbocker (editor of the Lingua Cosmica anthology) has done a lot of, and I love this interview with him.

A film historian sat down and ranked Star Wars by screen time for women, and the results are not surprising, but very telling. It is deeply sad that all of the prequels underperform everything except for A New Hope. Not because I care for the prequels (I do not!) but because we clearly lost ground there.

In exciting film news, Cat Valente’s Space Opera is getting an adaptation! I cannot wait to hear how they interpret the music from the book.

And of course, I could not pass up this Patronus quiz. I got a Komodo dragon which is miles more exciting than whatever I got on Pottermore (clearly, since I don’t even remember).

How about some ebook deals? Molly Tanzer’s queer rewrite of The Picture of Dorian Grey, Creatures of Will and Temper, is on sale for $2.99. The first book in Michelle Sagara’s Elantra series, Cast in Shadow, which I’ve recommended several times on various podcasts, is on sale for $1.99! And Zoo City, by personal favorite Lauren Beukes, is $2.99. Enjoy!

And now, reviews!

The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt

Take some Firefly and Aliens, mix with a dash of Douglas Adams and Lovecraft, then make it queer and racially diverse, and you’ve got something like The Wrong Stars. I found it thanks to this excellent Twitter thread, which exploded my library holds list, and I am so grateful to the OP for it!

The White Raven’s motley crew are a little bit mercenaries, a little bit salvage, and a little bit freighters; they patrol the edges of the solar system, taking what jobs they can get. They’re doing pretty well when they stumble across a wreck of a 500-year-old spaceship and discover it has a survivor on board, in cryo-sleep. A lot of things don’t add up about this (what is the craft doing where it is? How did it survive for so long? How did it not get found earlier?), and things only get more complicated when they wake up the survivor. The story she tells about an alien encounter doesn’t jive with the established relationships humanity has with the alien race they call the Liars. In the process of trying to find out what really happened to her, they stumble upon a galactic conspiracy that changes everything.

This book takes a ton of my favorite tropes and mashes them all together with glee and skill. Found family; alien encounters; wormhole travel; space stations; the complications of galactic law enforcement; AI; and a ticking clock race to the finish — I literally could not ask for more. Pratt gives all his characters and his galactic civilizations depth, his action sequences are page-turners, and the tone stays light-hearted (and sometimes even meta) despite the high stakes. I don’t use the word “rollicking” often, but it applies here. The sequel should be out this fall, and I will be awaiting it with the grabbiest of grabby-hands.

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

Set in a version of our world where people’s memories are disappearing along with their shadows, The Book of M asks big questions about identity and love, and provides a road trip through a shattered America along the way. It is, hands down, one of my favorite books of 2018 so far.

Max and Ory have been holed up in a hotel ever since the epidemic started. No one knows how or why it spreads, but people around the world are losing their shadows, then their memories, and then dying. It’s not just memories of friends and families; eventually, the shadowless forget to eat, or how to breathe. So far the couple is managing fine — until the day Max’s shadow disappears. Ory comes back from a supply-gathering trip to find her gone, and heads off in search of her. Meanwhile Naz — an Olympic-bound archer who is forced on the run with her sister — is just trying to stay alive. Her journey from her apartment in Boston to DC gives us a close-up view of the crumbling urban spaces of the Northeast. As Max, Ory, and Naz’s stories begin to overlap and intersect, there is hope, terror, and magic aplenty.

I white-knuckled my way through the last few chapters of this plot, both because of the final battle sequence (it’s a doozy) and the final puzzle piece of character interactions. Then I cried, and had to just sit on the couch for a bit to put myself back together again. Shepherd has written a beautiful, thoughtful, and engrossing debut, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda.

Happy Pride this month and all months!,
Jenn

Happy Friday, banshees and bounty hunters! This week, I’ve got reviews of Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells and Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn, plus Afrofuturism, YA sci-fi, time travel, queer reads, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Flatiron Books and Legendary by Stephanie Garber.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and the time to repay the debt has come.

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Reminder: you’ve got til June 21 to enter our $500 bookstore gift card giveaway, right here.

Where is the YA sci-fi? That’s what Fonda Lee wants to know, in this piece discussing the publication process for Exo and Cross Fire. It’s an interesting question; as she notes, there are plenty being published, but anecdotally, they’re definitely not getting the same amount of public recognition. I checked my reading spreadsheet, and I’m reading at least double the amount of YA fantasy as YA sci-fi.

When I get around to fixing that ratio, here’s where I’m going to start: 100 Must-Read YA Sci-Fi!

For time travel fans: Jess has assembled a list of time travel romances, to scratch that Outlander/The Time Traveler’s Wife itch. I confess that time travel stories (specifically ones with time loops) frequently drive me batty, and yet I can’t stop reading them…

A reading pathway for a movie director: That’s right! You can read your way into Guillermo Del Toro’s work, not just watch it.

“Breathtaking” is admittedly a wiggly category, but Martin Cahill makes his case for five SF/F novels. One of these days I really need to read Max Gladstone.

Did Black Panther leave you wanting more Afrofuturism? I made you a list of options!

Are you reading along with Tor’s QUILTBAG book club? Here’s the latest book review, for Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories.

Today in reviews, I give you space motorcycle gangs and an even weirder San Francisco, with bonus fire powers!

Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells

I picked this book up both because it is by a Book Riot contributor (oh hey!) and because it won a Golden Tentacle for Debut (I adore the Kitchies). You should pick it up immediately, for those reasons and also because it’s one of the most fun, most unexpected additions to the Weird Space Western genre I’ve read in a long while.

Set on the dusty, arid planet called Tanegawa’s World, it follows several characters as they navigate an increasingly overlapping tangle of personal and political crises. Hob, part of a mercenary biker gang, is still working her way up the hierarchy from a huge error in judgement a few years back. She gets no special treatment being the adopted daughter of the leader — if anything, the opposite. Her former best friend, Mags, is supposed to be headed off-world for a chance at a better life, away from the corporation that controls life on their world, but her father is murdered and Mags herself disappears under strange circumstances. There are a few others, but I’ll leave you to discover them on your own. Suffice it to say that Wells tosses the narrative back and forth with ease and great timing, unfolding both the backstory of Tanegawa’s World and the characters while balancing it nicely with action.

And there is action aplenty — train heists, miner strikes, gun battles, covert operations, undercover hijinks, backstabbing, murder, mayhem, you name it. There’s also a hefty dose of magic that reminded me of nothing so much as the earth-shifting powers from the Earth 2 series (oh, ’90s sci-fi), in the best way. If you’re craving an inclusive found family story that’s also an outerspace Western, and/or a new read in the vein of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarer series, Felix Gilman’s The Half-Made World, and Firefly, you need this on your shelf. Bonus: the sequel, Blood Binds the Pack, is out now!

Heroine Complex (Heroine Complex #1) by Sarah Kuhn

This book features demon cupcakes, quirky super powers, friendships and sibling shenanigans, a romance, and an alternate San Fransisco. Some of you have already TBR’d it; for the rest of you, let me tell you a bit more.

Evie Tanaka is the personal assistant to a highly strung crime-fighting diva called Aveda Jupiter, and she’s great at her job. She’s also been best friends with Aveda since they were little, which is why she puts up with all the drama. That, and Evie has a secret, one that means she needs a secure, steady, predictable job to keep her calm. One wouldn’t think that chasing around after a demon-killing superhero would work for that, but it does for Evie. That is, until Aveda gets injured and Evie has to pose as her until she’s better. All bets are suddenly off, and Evie has to contend with her own secrets, her changing friend status with Aveda, a sudden attraction for a geeky and infuriating scientist, her rebellious younger sister, and, of course, the ever-present demon infestation.

This book is an absolute delight, and I inhaled it from start to finish. Evie is a snarky and entertaining narrator, the relationships among the characters are both drama-filled and beautifully complex, and the plot moves along at a brisk pace. This is a perfect summer read — take it to a cabin or a beach or a pool, make sure you have some cupcakes handy, and dive in.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda.

Peace favor your sword,
Jenn

Happy Friday, you hoopy froods, and happy Towel Day! Today we’re talking MEM by Bethany C. Morrow and The Queen of Sorrow by Sarah Beth Durst, young Aragorn, the Nebulas, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Penguin Teen.

Unforgivable betrayals, devious motives, and forbidden love collide in the first installment of internationally bestselling author Sally Green’s epic new fantasy series, perfect for Game of Thrones fans.

In a land tinged with magic and a bustling trade in an illicit supernatural substance, destiny will intertwine the fates of five players:
A visionary princess determined to forge her own path.
An idealistic soldier whose heart is at odds with his duty.
A streetwise hunter tracking the most dangerous prey.
A charming thief with a powerful hidden identity.
A loyal servant on a quest to avenge his kingdom.
All are driven by ambition, honor, and desperation on the cusp of war. But who will be left standing when the smoke clears?

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The Nebulas have been awarded! Huge congratulations to the winners — there are a lot of personal and Book Riot favorites in here, and I talked about Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience TM” in the Short Fiction episode of SFF Yeah.

Elementary, my dear Watson: Along with the many in the mystery/thriller genre, here are a few speculative takes on Sherlock Holmes. (I’m a huge fan of that Aliette de Bodard series as well!)

There’s been no official statement yet, but rumors abound that Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings TV series will follow Aragorn. This sounds at least plausible to me (although I have to say that if I had my druthers we would get the Adventures of Galadriel).

Let’s get steamy: Need more erotic fantasy and sci-fi in your life? Here’s a list. There are some classics on there, as well as a few surprises.

Emo zombies! It’s a thing. This headline made me laugh so hard, and then I actually read the piece, and can’t really argue with any of their recommendations. I will add, however, that if you need a “cozy” zombie movie to chase all those feelings (BECAUSE THAT ALSO EXISTS), may I recommend Fido?

Because you don’t have enough nerdy swag, here are some very excellent further options. I need the Octavia Butler AND the Ursula Le Guin shirts, to round out my collection (which already includes this one).

Today’s reviews include got extracted memories and tree spirits.

MEM by Bethany C. Morrow

What if you could pull a memory from someone’s mind? Set in Montreal in an alternate 1900s, MEM plays with identity, personhood, and medical ethics. In the process of playing with these concepts, Morrow delivers a thought-provoking and page-turning novel.

The inventors of the procedure specifically wanted to help their patients heal from trauma — and what better way than to just remove the trauma entirely? A human can undergo the treatment up to three times in their lives, and many of those able to afford the procedure do just that. The resulting Mems are embodied, zombie-esque creatures, stuck in the loop of the memory that created them until they die. All except for Elsie, a.k.a. Dolores Extract #3, who has survived for decades as a fully functioning being. While she’s not exactly granted full personhood, and remains the property of the original Dolores, she is granted a certain level of freedom. But then she’s recalled to the Vault; procedures are going awry, Dolores is in failing health, and the scientists think Elsie holds the information they need to make things work again.

As Elsie learns more about both herself and the science that created her, she’s also thrown into interactions with new people that shake up the life she’s known. What does it mean to be a person? What makes one memory different from another? What makes Elsie so special? The answers are connected in MEM, and the journey to them is an excellent one.

Atmospheric, beautifully detailed, and thought-provoking, MEM is a strong debut, and I can’t wait to see Morrow’s next works.

The Queen of Sorrow (Queens of Renthia #3) by Sarah Beth Durst 

Last June, I reviewed Books 1 and 2 in the Queens of Renthia series, and I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since. I said it then and I’ll say it again now: this is a great summer reading series, full of blood, magic, intrigue, and heroines you can’t help root (ahem) for.

Daleina, Naelin, and their friends and family survived the invasion of Renthia and are focused on rebuilding. It should be fine: there are two queens now, working together. What could go wrong? Naelin’s children getting kidnapped, that’s what. As Naelin struggles to control her emotions and do what’s best for her family as well as her country, Daleina has to try to out-think her former best friend, now her greatest threat.

The main plot alone would make this a good third book; the expansion of the world makes it a great one. As Daleina and Naelin head out on their adventures, they dig deeper into the origins of Renthia and the neighboring countries. Why are the spirits the way they are? What if there was another way to co-exist? And just what is Baen anyway? Durst deepens her world-building as she expands the scope of the story, with the result that while I’m content with how the current story arc has tied up, I need MORE. Thankfully, in the afterword she mentions she’s working on a companion story; hopefully we won’t have too long to wait.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda.

Always know where your towel is,
Jenn

Happy Friday, outriders and oracles! Today’s newsletter includes reviews of Foz Meadows’ An Accident of Stars and Jason Mott’s The Crossing, plus AAPI reads, exciting news from Earthsea, awards news, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Vault Comics.

NYT best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson and TV writer-producer Steven L. Sears collaborate with artist Mike Ratera to bring to life this sci-fi story about space exploration, aliens, and war. Joe Human is taken to a harsh P.O.W. camp on a distant planet where he will be examined, tortured, and forced to endure experiments that rip into his very mind, as the alien Krael seek to answer the question: What is human? At 192 pages, this full-length hardback graphic novel also offers an original novella written by Anderson and Sears with art by Nathan Gooden.

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May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and this list of books by Asian women that should be movies is the perfect way to celebrate. Also, I have read most of these books and extremely cosign.

When everything is awful, why not read about OTHER things that are awful? Here’s a list of 15 dystopias that might make you feel better about life — and at the least, will provide some nice distraction.

ALERT ALERT, the illustrated edition of Ursula Le Guin’s The Books of Earthsea finally has a release date! Please join me in drooling over the beauty of Charles Vess’s work.

Did your favorite SF/F show make it? A slew of shows got cancelled last week, including Syfy’s The Expanse (although many are holding out hope that another network will pick it up). While this doesn’t necessarily help with that, I was delighted to see that Lost in Space is getting a second season (it is better than it has any right to be, y’all) and 3%, Netflix’s Brazilian dystopia that I have mentioned before, has a second season available now.

And speaking of James S.A. Corey, the writing team has announced a new series! They cite both Left Hand of Darkness and Dune as inspirations; you have my attention, sirs.

In genre-bendey sort-of-SFF news, the Shirley Jackson award nominees for this year have been announced! Big congrats to The Changeling by Victor LaValle, which is also the only book of the batch that I’ve read. The Jackson awards specifically honor “psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic,” and these are a great starting point if that’s a wheelhouse you want to explore.

Today’s reviews have nothing in common other than that I read them recently and they gave me Thoughts.

An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows

In the opening book of this series, Foz Meadows asks us to consider something that, as a white reader, I had not put much thought into. When a person from Earth goes through a portal to a fantasy land, that person is more than just a fish out of water; they’re also a person bringing all their Earthy moral, ethical, and political baggage with them. Which, for example, means that a young white teenager from Australia who gets ported into a kingdom inhabited mostly by brown people will indeed have to reckon with internalized racism, as well as learn to ride a two-legged beastie and undergo magical trials.

Portal fantasy is a favorite subgenre of mine, partly because there’s still the 10-year-old kid in me who thinks it could happen and checks every coat closet, and partly because it can play with received wisdom in interesting ways. Meadows offers up a fully fledged, detailed world-building experience, but also makes explicit the baggage that a (Western, white, cis) reader might grapple with alongside an adventure. She balances it out with alternating POVs; we’re treated to multiple characters, both Earth-citizens and inhabitants of Kena. Political intrigue, magic, heretical sects, dragons, and tangled family alliances all come together in a high-stakes adventure that ends on a “So help me I will throw this book across the room, HOW DARE YOU, now I must get Book 2” plot point. It is also, as one reviewer put it, “hella queer” and thoroughly delightful.

I realize I haven’t told you much about the actual plot (here’s a link for that). I did very much enjoy the plot, but it’s the meta-examination of portal fantasy that Meadows has worked into the text that made this book so thought-provoking. In a genre where I frequently read for escapism, it was a welcome nudge to think through the implications of a favorite trope.

The Crossing by Jason Mott

As I mentioned on this week’s episode of All the Books, I’m new to Jason Mott’s work — and The Crossing will definitely be the start of a dive into his backlist. It’s a thinky, slow-burn of a near-future novel about war, grief, and family above all.

Teenaged twins Virginia and Tommy are on a road-trip, but not the fun kind. Tommy has received a draft notice for a war long made pointless by an epidemic that is sweeping the globe, and Virginia is determined to get to Cape Canaveral, to see a rocket launch — probably the last ever launch. They run away from their foster home, and as their adventure unfolds we also learn about their past. Orphaned at the age of 5, they’ve only had each other to lean on. Their sibling bond is made more intense by Virginia’s perfect memory and Tommy’s forgetfulness. As we learn about their world and their lives, this seemingly simple story acquires layer after layer. With the clock ticking down on both the characters and humanity as a whole, this book asks us to consider the importance of identity and the push-me, pull-you bonds of family.

If speculative fiction that focuses more on character than plot is your jam; if you love sibling stories; if a tour through a very possible, but still strange, new world appeals to you; if you love warped road-trip novels; if you want clean, crisp prose that nevertheless meanders along the way; this book is for you.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda.

Don’t panic,
Jenn