Category Archives: Speculative Fiction

A Spindle Splintered

Short books seem to be the answer for my recent inability to focus on my reading for very long. I don’t have to hold all the elements of the plot in my head for days upon days, just a few … Continue reading

Posted in Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 4 Comments

The Prey of Gods

There’s a lot going on in this futuristic novel by Nikky Drayden. There are dik-diks overrunning Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where the book is set. There are personal assistant bots gaining consciousness, a drug that allows people to access special … Continue reading

Posted in Speculative Fiction | 3 Comments

Tyrannia: And Other Renditions

The short stories in this collection by Anya Johanna DeNiro are enjoyably dark and weird, sometimes a little too weird, in fact. But the stories that hit me right were so great that I don’t really mind the stories that … Continue reading

Posted in Short Stories/Essays, Speculative Fiction | Leave a comment

Project Hail Mary

How to write about a book in which a great deal of the pleasure is in not knowing what is going to happen next? And where an immense amount of what I loved about the book involves what happens after … Continue reading

Posted in Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 4 Comments

The Space Between Worlds

This novel by Micaiah Johnson is set in a future version of the earth where the technology exists to visit other versions of the earth. But it’s only safe to visit other earths where you parallel counterpart does not exist, … Continue reading

Posted in Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 1 Comment

Cuckoo Song

Triss is on holiday with her family when she falls into a pond and wakes up the next morning feeling strange. Most notably, she has an insatiable appetite. Plus, her dolls seem to be moving, and her little sister, Pen, … Continue reading

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Speculative Fiction | 1 Comment

Fugitive Telemetry

I’ve abandoned three books this August, which is an unusually high number for me. But almost immediately after I decided to give up on the third book, I got an email from the library saying that my hold for the … Continue reading

Posted in Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 4 Comments

We

First published in Russia in 1921, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is the literary ancestor of books like Brave New World by 1984. You have a totalitarian system, a regular dude within the system, a sexy lady, and rebellion that may or may not … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 6 Comments

Klara and the Sun

Klara, the narrator of Kazuo Ishiguro’s newest novel, is a solar-powered artificial robot friend who, as the novel begins, spends her days in a store for AFs, waiting for some child to come along and choose her. Each model of … Continue reading

Posted in Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 11 Comments

The Ministry for the Future

To be clear, concluding in brief: there is enough for all. So there should be no more people living in poverty. And there should be no more billionaires. Enough should be a human right, a floor below which no one … Continue reading

Posted in Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 4 Comments