Reviews and Comments

I have absolutely loved Landay's three previous books. He does something interesting every time. Mind you, this is only his 4th book, and it's been a decade since his last. Landay puts care into his novels; there's no churning them out. Aware of the gap, the book starts out with this:

After I finished writing my last novel, I fell into a long silence. You might call it writer’s block, but most writers don’t use that term or even understand it. When a writer goes quiet, nothing is blocking and nothing is being blocked. He is just empty.

I had to look… is this a preface or an introduction? No. It's the story. Landay is already doing something to engage me.

DNFing this, as the I can't follow the story.

More "loosely organized thoughts on how to fact check" than a thorough guide or textbook.

Checked out from SFPL. I figure I'll need a second audiobook for my flight back on Wednesday.

Been a month or two since I popped an audiobook into Libby, but I wanted to get a good walk in today and i have two cross-country flights in the next three days. I'm not normally a fan of cozies, but when I listen to audiobooks I need something not too intense, so I'll see how this goes.

On hold with Santa Clara County Libraries.

The writing is waaaaay too obtuse. The story takes a cool concept (an ancient, immortal being seeks mortality) and puts a very new coat of paint on it. Unfortunately, it tries to be too thinky about it.

Interesting, but slow reading. there's some sections i just don't understand that slow me down.

This was originally published in 2012 (as an audio story) and 2013 (as a short story), six years before The Calculating Stars. I think that if I had read it before reading the novels, I would think it a rather banal story of an astronaut reminiscing.

However, because I read it after two novels about Elma York, it hits me in the feels as a coda to a long relationship between Elma and her husband Nathaniel. The series devotes significant words to their domestic relationship, not just to the details of going into space. It's one of the most well written science fictional relationships I've ever read. So reading about their lives nearing their ends means something, even though the story of a relationship at the end is banal in the details.

Set in an alternate history where fascism won during World War II and Lindbergh has taken a turn as President of the US. Times are tough for the handful of working class people who appear in the story, and they face temptations trying to get ahead. A few temptations that arise under fascism, where one can get ahead by denouncing others.

I have a whole buncha short stories that Tor.com published online and then put out in free EPUB format before they started selling them. They're great reading while having breakfast at a diner counter.

A goblin enters an inn, stumbling into the scene of a murder. A band of thieves surround two of their own lying dead on the floor. While they don't trust each other, which thief of the group is the one who committed the murders?

Free short story ebook from Subterranean Press.

I've been waiting for 2 years for this to come back in print, and I've just ordered the new edition from the artist's web site.