Author: Patricia Elzie

This anthology has won a Locus Award, a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, an Ignyte Award, and the Brave New Words Award. After reading it, I could see how it deserved each and every one. The introduction is by Levar Burton, and any book that has Levar Burton’s stamp of approval is an immediate addition to my TBR. There is an absolutely phenomenal line-up of talent in these pages. This book includes stories by Minsoo Kang, Jaymee Goh, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, and so many more brilliant authors. I love the variety of stories in this anthology. Yes, it’s speculative fiction, but it covers a wide range, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror — often at the intersections of these subgenres and sometimes nestled comfortably in the spaces in between.

The first story in the book had me absolutely hooked. It’s “The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex” by Tobias S. Buckell. Imagine Earth in the future with hovercars and the like, but it’s a complete dump that is actually an intergalactic tourist trap. Alien tourists come from all over the universe to Manhattan because the laws and safety regulations are incredibly lax. Maybe too lax. Another interesting story is about how the fate of an empire is in the hands of two translators, which makes readers think about how we never truly know how close we may be to utter destruction. The story “Come Home to Atropos” was incredibly dark, incredibly disturbing, and also made me giggle. I didn’t know I could both cringe and laugh at the same time, yet here we are. I’m a sucker for a story that involves a human making a deal with a non-human, whether it be a god or a demon or the fae or otherwise. “The Fine Print” by Chinelo Onwualu hit so many right notes. It’s the one story that I went back and read again after finishing the book.

This book has so many things: ghosts, witches, monsters that eat little children, terrifying yet lovely mermaid-type creatures, aliens, human colonies on distant planets, technology to take away all bad feelings and replace them only with pleasant ones, Smart Houses of the Future, and so much more. The title of this book stems from an Octavia E. Butler quote, “There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” This anthology lives up to its name, for sure.

Schuyler Bailar is a speaker, educator, and author who was also the first transgender athlete to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division 1 men’s team. His public transition to the Harvard Men’s Swim Team made headlines, and he is an important voice in trans advocacy. He/She/They is primarily for readers who consider themselves or would like to be allies to transgender folks. It’s also a really great read for folks who have someone transgender in their lives but don’t know the first thing about being trans. The tone of Bailar’s writing mirrors his online content, which is accessible, compassionate, and remarkably patient. He weaves in personal stories about his own experience of his gender and transition, as well as some of the tough conversations he has had, sometimes with family. He strives to teach readers how to approach these conversations ourselves.

He goes over the basics of definitions of terms like “sex,” “gender,” and “the gender binary,” which are all complicated, and he does an excellent job of conveying the complications without getting too far into the weeds for the sake of the book. He goes over what gender-affirming care is, detailing that it can be very different for a child than for an adult and that many people have wild ideas about what gender-affirming care for a child is when it’s really usually maybe some different clothes, a haircut, and maybe using a different name and pronouns.

He answers so many questions that people use to try to debate transgender folks’ right to care and have a peaceful existence. Throughout the book, the information he teaches readers is based on science, research, history, and basic human decency. He teaches readers about the importance of pronouns (in the English language) and the myth of being transgender as a mental illness. His chapter on transgender athletes was particularly poignant, given that he was himself a nationally ranked trans athlete.

While I mentioned the primary audience for this book seems to be folks who are not in the trans community themselves, he does speak to folks who are at some points through this book. He answers questions like, “Does it get better?” and offers his own stories about coming out and telling his family and teammates. He also takes some time to talk about the intersections of his gender and race.

This was such a wonderful and informative read. Content warnings for transphobia and discussions of gender dysphoria and eating disorders.

Georgina Lawton grew up in the suburban outskirts of London. Her father was British, her mother Irish, and both parents were white, which is an interesting fact when you learn that Georgina is Black. When Georgina was born to her white mother, she was clearly a Black baby. Georgina’s father, however, said nothing and so the mother said nothing. The nurse or midwife threw them a lifeline and said something to the effect of, “It must be those recessive genes of yours from Western Ireland,” and Georgina’s mom and dad took that story and ran with it for over two decades. Yes, for two decades, they insisted that they were both Georgina’s biological parents and everyone around them, including family and friends, were too polite to say anything so they just went along with the lie. This includes things like filling out that she was white on official school paperwork.

I want to reiterate here that Georgina obviously looked different from her parents and yes, I realize there are some complications with judging the race of people solely on looks, especially when some people are multiracial, such as myself. That being said, Georgina really did not look like the biological child of two white parents.

Of course, Georgina went along with it for a long time because why would her parents lie to her about something like this? Why would everyone else lie to her about it? If it weren’t true, surely someone would have said something, wouldn’t they? As Georgina got older, she tried asking both her parents. She brought it up multiple times, and they both just doubled down on the lie. As Georgina worked on discovering who she is and contemplating the meaning of family, she explored many locales. She goes to places like New York and Nicaragua to immerse herself in Blackness. She does some investigative reporting on where hair extensions come from, and yes, there is a lot of hair talk in this book, and for good reason.

It would be so easy to hear of her situation and think that it’s unbelievable but also to judge her parents harshly. Lawton does an amazing job of telling her story and her family’s story with tender care and showing that there was a lot of love in her home growing up, and she truly loves her parents. This was a deeply engaging book. Content warning for the death of a parent from cancer.

I have read an increasing amount of books about various forms of activism and systems of oppression in the last few years, and I know I’m not alone in this. It’s pretty overwhelming. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of oppression, the varieties of oppression, and the sheer number of things that need to be done or ways that people can show up to fight. I become immobilized from trying to make a decision because I am one person, and there is just so much.

This new release has helped me take steps toward action. The first main idea of this book is narrowing your focus because you can’t do everything. Once you decide where you’re going to focus your activism energy, the book encourages you to take consistent and sustainable actions. It is very easy to get burnout, and this book aims to avoid that.

The author has created four activist archetypes to help readers figure out what kinds of activism they would thrive participating in. Are you someone who likes to work in the background or run the show? Or maybe you’re the headliner who makes the speeches? Williams makes it clear that not everyone can be the Beyoncé of the rally, and we need all types of folks to go up against oppression. As the author says, a lot of activism isn’t glamorous, and it shouldn’t be.

There is a lot of pressure for each of us to create our own unique thing and be the loudest out there, while what needs to be done is the opposite. Activism needs to be done in community because that is how it moves the needle, and this book not only has a chapter on finding community but also weaves the thread of community throughout. This book also includes short interviews with activists around the world interspersed throughout the chapters. They talk about what their specific activist focus is, what keeps them going, and how they practice self-care. In addition, each chapter also has reflection questions and key takeaways. Finally, the fantastic illustrations help tie the messages together while also adding to the impact of the writing.

This young adult anthology has 14 stories about mermaids (or rather, merfolk because they aren’t all maids), and there is such a wide range of stories: sweet, creepy, hilarious, vengeful, enraging, exhilarating, heartbreaking, and more. The variety keeps it super interesting, and the pacing and organization of the stories flow really well.

There are some stories, like “We’ll Always Have June” by Julian Winters, that are contemporary, and the merfolk in this world aren’t known by humans, in general. Other stories, like Preeti Chhibber’s “The Dark Calls,” don’t even bother with humans. This story keeps us with the merfolk under the water and dares to imagine going even deeper. Kalynn Bayron’s “Return to the Sea” will definitely squeeze your heart in a few different ways when you read it. In this story, merfolk are not only known to humans, but they live among each other, work together, and go to school together. Of course, there are humans who love to appropriate merfolk culture without actually having an ounce of respect for them or for the ocean. Two specific stories, “The Deepwater Vandal” by Darcie Little Badger and “The First and Last Kiss” by Julie Murphy, reminded me why I love the short story format so much. Both stories in themselves are as fulfilling a read as reading an entire novel, and they just hit all the right notes.

Some of the stories are historical fantasy, and I appreciate that not all the stories take place in the United States. It’s so refreshing to have merfolk from various cultural backgrounds and also just merfolk as their own culture and not just a Hans Christian Anderson mermaid “but make them brown.” The characters in these stories have real depth (pun intended). There were also stories that made me laugh out loud, like Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s “Shark Week” and others that brought tears to my eyes.

I enjoyed the wide exploration of how the humans react to mermaids: awe, fear, disrespect, adoration, etc. I had so much fun reading this anthology, and I hope you do, too.

This book is integral in bridging the gap between knowing many of us need rest and practical tips on how we can get that rest. How do we actually rest? What the heck is rest aside from napping? Divest from capitalism, sure, but what does that even look like in reality when we live in a capitalist society? Rest Easy by Ximena Vengoechea is the book I didn’t even know I needed, and now that I’ve read it, I need to share it with everyone.

Ximena Vengoechea wrote another book I love titled Listen Like You Mean It, which pulled from her knowledge as a User Experience Researcher at large tech companies. As one can imagine, she got really burned out from that job plus being an author plus being a new mom, so she decided to put on her researcher hat and look into what rest is because she really, really needed it. She experimented with so many types of rest, interviewed a ton of people, and read a bunch of writing about rest not only in the United States but elsewhere. In this book, she shares not only some of her research but also the actual activities (or non-activities) that she found were restful.

At the beginning of the book, she addresses the social, racial, political, economical, etc. reasons why rest may not be accessible to some folks or why some folks look at rest in different ways depending on their situation and background. She digs into not only how others get in our way but also how we get in our own way of rest. The way a lot of us “rest” now, by shoving all our rest into our days off of work, is not sustainable and not actually helpful, according to Vengoechea’s research.

The author writes about why it is important to rest for resting’s sake and not only so that we can do more, even though rest can promote creativity. She also explains how rest doesn’t only mean being still and how things like exercise, knitting, baking, and other hobbies can be rest. The hallmark of rest is that we generally feel better after we do it, which is why she says that mindlessly scrolling the internet doesn’t usually count as rest.

As soon as I finished this book, I felt I needed to give it a reread. There is just so much in it that I want to absorb and try to implement in my every day.

Marion Shaw has grown up in the South of Prane in the slums. In this fictional world, the South and the North are at odds in almost every way. Marion’s parents died when she was younger, leaving her with her abusive older brother, Raul, who depends on his maudlum addiction to numb him of his physical and emotional pain. Marion is a maid in town, and she’s pretty much the only source of money to be coming into her and Raul’s home.

Marion dreams of so much more, and she knows there is money to be made in the North. The nobles of the North have peculiar tastes, which is to say, they drink blood. If a person is lucky enough to be chosen and brought on as a bloodmaid, they would be set for life after their few years of service. They live in the great noble houses of the North, existing in opulence and luxury, and they would regularly be bled for their masters and mistresses. It is understood that after their tenure, bloodmaids are given a large pension to remain in luxury for the rest of their days. There are 24 great houses in the North, and Marion dreams of leaving Prane and becoming a bloodmaid, which is super frowned upon in the South. Southerners think it’s disgusting and depraved, but Marion sees it as a way to a better life.

Marion spots an ad in the paper for a bloodmaid. She sneaks out on her brother to go be “interviewed” and meets a taster who bleeds her and offers her a place in one of the great houses. Marion agrees and leaves Prane, not without a lot of difficulty and violence. But when Marion arrives at the House of Hunger, that’s when the real story begins. The house employs a number of bloodmaids, all of whom serve the Countess Lisavet Bathory. Countess Bathory has an exceptional need for blood, which is why she employs so many bloodmaids. Of course, things are not what they seem, and the bloodmaids vie for rank and attention.

Content warning: there is a lot of blood and gore in this book, as well as taxidermy. Humans aren’t the only beings harmed in these pages.

Our protagonist and narrator is Shay Johnson, a biracial Black superstar student at TK Anderson Magical Magnet School. Shay’s parents aren’t wealthy, so they’ve sent her to this well-resourced high school in order for her to have a better chance at success. The specific success they hope for would be winning the Brockton Scholarship. The Brockton Scholarship guarantees a full ride to her top university of choice, a university that her family could not afford to send her to otherwise.

The scholarship is not only based on GPA but on extracurriculars both at school and outside of school and magic levels, which are tested regularly by blood tests. There is a giant leader board at school that broadcasts who is in the top spot for the scholarship, mostly based on GPA and magic levels. Shay’s fiercest competition is Ana Alvarez, her nemesis. Shay and Ana use every opportunity to drag each other, and the competition is fierce.

Shay is an absolute genius when it comes to potion work, and the whole school knows it. She is the head of the potions club, and she has a part-time job at a potion shop with her best friend Lex. Lex is in that time between high school and college, where she is trying to get into the college of her choice, or really, any college at this point. Shay’s mom thinks that Shay and Lex are dating ever since Shay came out to her parents as a lesbian, so it’s always awkward to mention Lex at home.

To add to the drama, there is a teacher. The drama teacher, actually, Mr. Brockton, as in the head of the scholarship committee for the Brockton Scholarship, which his very wealthy family gave a lot of money to create. This year, Mr. B has chosen an aggressively diverse musical for the drama club to put on. There aren’t many students of color, and Mr. B not-so-subtly lets Shay know that her eligibility to win the scholarship would increase if she did the musical. He may have told Shay’s enemy, Ana, the same thing. Shay is really weirded out by how comfortable Mr. B seems to be with being physically up in her space. She thinks she might be overreacting, and she definitely doesn’t want to ruin her chances to win the scholarship.

I had fun reading this book! I like that it’s set in Florida. Not all stories featuring witches or prestigious schools need to be in New England, and I found this refreshing. Content warnings for racism, homophobia, and abusive adults, including grooming.

We begin on Ben Rosencrantz’s 30th birthday. Ben was an English professor in the Pacific Northwest, and he recently divorced his husband and moved back to the Salt Lake City area. He now helps run his father’s board game shop as well as takes care of his father, who is having some health issues. Ben’s heart is really tender from having to leave a teaching job he loved, from the divorce, from his father’s deteriorating health, and also not expecting to be moving back in with his father at age 30.

The board game shop is named Of Dice and Decks, and it’s in a small, tight-knit community of shops in the Sugar House neighborhood, the kind of neighborhood where everyone knows each other and some of the elders have been around since Ben was a kid. Ben doesn’t mind this, and while it’s not ideal, he still loves the community he grew up in, and there is a certain amount of comfort he gets from being around people he has known his whole life. Of Dice and Decks is not doing well financially. Ben’s father added a bit of a coffee shop element to it, and folks do come in for their caffeine, and that may be the main thing keeping the shop afloat.

Ben is at Of Dice and Decks when an incredibly shady guy named Clive comes in. Ben doesn’t know him personally, but he does know that Clive is always trying to sell some kind of knockoff or something to his father (who turns him away every time). As you can imagine, Clive gives off really bad vibes. He goes into the shop, telling Ben that he has something to offer him that Ben is not going to want to turn down. He finally verbally wears Ben down, and Ben takes him to the office to hear what Clive has to say before throwing him out. Clive claims to have an original copy of The Landlord’s Game, which is a game that actually existed, and that Monopoly basically stole its idea from. Copies of The Landlord’s Game go for a lot of money, and Clive is trying to offload this game fast. Ben turns him away, and late that night, Ezra, the florist from next door (and possible love interest?), and Ben are alone in the game shop when there’s a knock at the door. It’s Clive, with a knife stuck in his chest.

This quozy mystery was a ton of fun, and I’m excited for the series to continue.

Our heroine is a Black rapper who goes by the moniker Duchess. The nods to reality in this book are heavy-handed, and it’s absurd in the most delightful way. Duchess (her real name is Dani) is always on the move working, whether it’s as a performer or with her own skincare line, Mela-skin. In fact, there are some major corporations interested in partnering with her line.

Of course, there are people getting in Duchess’s way. One of them is Samantha Banks, a pop star who keeps riding on Duchess’s coattails and creating beef where there is none. Duchess has tried to ignore her but the bad press is getting in the way of her success with Mela-skin. Another person who is getting in her way is her manager, who keeps trying to play up Duchess’s sexuality as if she is a one-dimensional character, and he’s keeping her from expanding and from accepting some amazing opportunities.

Our hero is Prince Jameson, grandson of the Queen of England. Prince Jameson has been able to mostly stay out of the spotlight and do what he wants, shrugging royal duties to instead be a philosophy professor at a university. Unexpectedly, the Queen volun-tells Jameson that he will be the forward-facing royal for a benefit concert in honor of his deceased grandfather. Jameson is at a pub when the royal project manager asks him to name some musical acts that should be in the concert. He only listens to long-dead composers so he pulls aside a lad at the pub and asks his opinion and the lad names Duchess. Jameson submits her name, sight unseen.

He eventually looks up her music videos and he is simultaneously incredibly turned on and also thinking he may have made a mistake in including her in the benefit concert for his deceased grandfather. Still, he will be an absolute gentleman and do his best to give her a lot of space because he could very easily fall into debauchery. His plan would have worked, too, if she didn’t show up early and he had to host her at his estate for the couple weeks before the concert.

This book is incredibly steamy and has explicit, open-door sex scenes. Content warnings for racism and discussion of the death of a parent.