Tricia Sullivan is a US-born novelist now living in the UK. ISFDB lists 12 books for her (some were written under a pseudonym), she herself lists 8 of them as SF on her site. She has won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and has been nominated for a number of others (and twice more for the Clarke), but, according to her blog, this critical success has not always translated into sales figures. I would hope that her latest offering, Occupy Me, can change this. Yes, the market is fickle, but the book tells a cracking tale that's hard to pigeonhole, told in a convincing and absorbing manner. I find it genuinely hard to classify this story, and have to say that, in this case, this is A Good Thing.
Occupy Me contains an Angel called Pearl, with wings hidden in another dimension, working as a stewardess – Angels have empathic abilities, and can thus affect humans and animals; and Pearl is a pathological sucker for fixing things and smoothing over issues. It features a doctor, Kisi Sorle, saved from death as boy by the oil company killing his homeland and its inhabitants, who now looks after the dying former CEO of said oil company. Who he skimmed from whilst Austen Stevens skimmed from his company. And Kisi has an evil twin, a Hyde to his Dr Jekyll, so to say – who can inhabit him (ok, ok, occupy him) and do things mild-mannered Kisi would never do. Pearl is missing part of herself (her 'launcher' she calls it) and is thus stranded in this odd corner of space-time, and is generally unclear of what she is or what she should be doing: “There's so much I haven't figured out yet, and most of it is myself”
Alternate Gerrolds is a collection of short stories by David Gerrold, subtitled “An Assortment of Fictitious Lives”, with an Introduction by Mike Resnick (a good number of the stories here were written for his Alternate Presidents/ Kennedys/ Warriors/ Outlaws/ etc series) and a back cover endorsement by Orson Scott Card, of all people – I couldn't see this happen these days.
All stories in this collection have been previously published, ie there is no 'new' material here besides the Introduction by Resnick ('10 Reasons why I Hate David Gerrold'), and a piece in response by Gerrold titled 'Skip this Part'. Every story comes with a very brief intro/explanation/quip by the author – despite their brevity they actually manage to provide a further layer, a further dimension to most stories.
Below is a run-through of the stories in the volume – if you feel that this would affect your enjoyment of these, and might contain spoilers (it might indeed) then stop here – this is a book well worth reading and enjoying; it's not David Gerrold's best work (there can only be one of those!), but it's full of interesting thought experiments, weird but wonderful ideas, and stimulating alternative thoughts.
Here's another marvellous short story by Karin Tidbeck, published on Tor.com. Sing talks about being, about becoming, and about belonging; and about the price we pay for those. I'd strongly recommend you give it a go (and her other short stories. And her books, inasmuch as available in English. Unless you read Swedish, of course!)
Tor gives us the following blurb for Sing:
In a village on the distant colony of Kiruna, the outcast Aino has worked hard to created a life for herself. The fragile status quo is upset when the offworlder Petr arrives and insists on becoming a part of her life. But he has no idea what it will cost him, and has cost Aino, to belong to the people who sing with inhuman voices.
How do you follow on from something as successful as Ancillary Justice, which has won about everything worth winning in the SF field? (a slight overstatement, I know, but it feels like it). Ann Leckie's answer, as delivered with her 2nd book, Ancillary Sword, is: by continuing straight onwards, without stopping and having to build up again, and with very little scene setting for the 2nd part in the series. It's as if we've never been away...
And yes, people not having read the first book need not apply (and this review will also not make much sense. Sorry!)
Either way, we pick off where the previous book left off, and set off with Breq in command of the Mercy of Kalr, on route to Athoek Station, which is the only place where Anaander Mianaai, the Lord of the Radch, can order her to go and know she will do so. Why? Because there lives the little sister of Lieutenant Awn, Breq's favourite officer when she was still the ship Justice of Toren. And whom she killed, on direct of order of Anaander Mianaai. It's a long story – actually the size of the first book... With her as part of her new crew (humans, not Ancillaries, even if they pretend to be) she has a brand-new, green, 'baby' Lieutenant Tisarwat, who is unmasked quite early on as no-one but Anaander herself, under cover. The machinations Breq goes through to unearth this hugely reminded me of a book I read ages ago, and which, to my annoyance, I still cannot pin down or name (contact me if you're really well-read in older military SF!).
There are books you pick up because of their author. There are books you pick up because of their title (rare, these days), or because of their cover. And then there are books you pick up because they promise something new, and you look at them, go ‘nah, it cannot be’, put them down - and go back, just to check. The Sea is Ours, edited by Jaymee Goh and Joyce Chng, is one of those. I’ve read some steampunk - frequently formulaic, but also frequently fun. And I’ve read some Southeast Asian SF and Horror - frequently different, and frequencly pointing out that there are some gaps in need of filling in concerning my general education/knowledge (even if I frequently only go to Wikipedia for this). I’ve not been exposed to Southeast Asian Steampunk before, though… but that’s my loss, telling from this collection assembled by Joyce Chng and Jaymee Goh!
The subtitle is programme - all stories here are steampunk (even if the definition is used fairly loosely, and some steampunk elements feel patched on), and all come from Southeast Asia, with, as the editors note, some gaps in coverage in terms of countries of origin. But this is also a book of politics, and born of frustration - however real or perceived (and definitely not only imagined, I hasten to add!) at women, feminists, ethnic minorities, and especially Southeast Asia’s writers being overlooked by the big, bad UK/US white male dominance (I paraphrase). So far so Puppygate, of course, albeit rather towards the opposite end of the spectrum. And entirely valid as both a programme and a theme to assemble a collection of stories and writers. And yes, the contents and especially the contributors appear to definitely have been picked and filtered, so I appreciate that a) they were very open about their thrust, and b) that the result turned out as magnificent as this!
Daniel Lieske has made the latest instalment of his on-going Wormworld Saga graphic novel availabe on his website, and a number of translations are already on the website, too.
The Wormworld Saga follows the fortunes (and occasional misfortunes) of a boy stranded in a parallel world. The story is a classic adventure yarn, set in a fascinating world with lots of history and background, and best of all presented in absolutely gorgeous graphics.
Also - there is now a book version of Chapters 1-3 available in English - perfectly in time for Christmas! (link below)
If you're new to the story then I'd strongly suggest you start at the beginning, of course, the chapters are definitely not independent.
