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46th out of 59 books
—
7 voters
Bad Power
by
Deborah Biancotti (Goodreads Author),
Alisa Krasnostein (Goodreads Author)
Hate superheroes?
Yeah. They probably hate you, too.
‘There are two kinds of people with lawyers on tap, Mr Grey. The powerful and the corrupt.’
‘Thank you.’
‘For implying you’re powerful?’
‘For imagining those are two different groups.’
From Crawford Award nominee Deborah Biancotti comes this sinister short story suite, a pocketbook police procedural, set in a world where the v...more
Yeah. They probably hate you, too.
‘There are two kinds of people with lawyers on tap, Mr Grey. The powerful and the corrupt.’
‘Thank you.’
‘For implying you’re powerful?’
‘For imagining those are two different groups.’
From Crawford Award nominee Deborah Biancotti comes this sinister short story suite, a pocketbook police procedural, set in a world where the v...more
Paperback, 130 pages
Published
December 1st 2011
by Twelfth Planet Press
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A masterful short story suite which explores what it might really be like to have super powers, or to simply live in a world where others possess them. And it doesn't give too much away to say, it ain't that great, kids! Biancotti imagines a society where the haves and have-nots are even more starkly delineated than our own, allowing for a smart, nuanced -- and not completely cynical -- examination of inequality, privilege and power of all kinds.
Another superb addition to the Twelve Planets ser...more
Another superb addition to the Twelve Planets ser...more
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
Constantly well written, enthralling and very well presented. I loved how they were all woven together and would love to have seen more.
Constantly well written, enthralling and very well presented. I loved how they were all woven together and would love to have seen more.
Bad Power contains five short stories set in a world where there are people with powers, though no superheroes. Instead, people slowly come to realise that they have abilities – some of them very subtle – and have to confront what it means for their everyday lives.
Anyone who has read Biancotti’s Book of Endings will already be familiar with her ability to infuse the everyday - the mundanely human - with a sense of creeping horror. Her work is full of the textures of human frailty as well as stre...more
Anyone who has read Biancotti’s Book of Endings will already be familiar with her ability to infuse the everyday - the mundanely human - with a sense of creeping horror. Her work is full of the textures of human frailty as well as stre...more
This fourth in the Twelve Planets series, from Alisa at Twelfth Planet Press, comes back to the idea presented by the first collection - that of an interconnected suite of stories, which build on and enhance one another but also stand by themselves. I think this comes second only to Love and Romanpunk for me, so far, and as I've already discussed, I'm in no way unbiased about that delightful little book.
The overarching idea here in Deborah Biancotti's set is, as the title suggests, the use and...more
These stories are a real departure for Deborah Biancotti - her previous work, such as the brillant short story collection A Book Of Endings, is considerably more fantastical, and also quite obtuse and obscure (in the best possible ways, of course!). But with Bad Power, we get to see a new side of her writing, one which I believe she's exploring more these days. It's more crime fiction than science fiction, with the bare-boned no nonsense prose that the genre excels at. It's uniquely interstitial...more
Review originally posted here: http://tsanasreads.tumblr.com/post/17...
Bad Power is set (mostly) in modern Sydney in a world where some people have an inexplicable power: talking to dead people, seeing the future, immortality, and a few less common powers. And, although most of the protagonists have super powers, none of them are heroes (well, with one possible exception).
A few words about each of the stories:
Shades of Grey
The first thing that struck me about Biancotti’s writing when I started r...more
Bad Power is set (mostly) in modern Sydney in a world where some people have an inexplicable power: talking to dead people, seeing the future, immortality, and a few less common powers. And, although most of the protagonists have super powers, none of them are heroes (well, with one possible exception).
A few words about each of the stories:
Shades of Grey
The first thing that struck me about Biancotti’s writing when I started r...more
This review forms part of my contribution to theAustralian Women Writers 2012 Reading Challenge.
Bad Powerby Deborah Biancotti is one of theTwelve Planets seriespublished byTwelfth Planet Press(12 boutique collections of stories by Australian women writers). It is made up of five shorter stories, including:
- Shades of Grey
- Palming the Lady
- Web of Lies
- Bad Power
- Cross That Bridge
This is the first work by Ms Biancotti that I've read and I really enjoyed it. The five stories are set it the...more
Bad Powerby Deborah Biancotti is one of theTwelve Planets seriespublished byTwelfth Planet Press(12 boutique collections of stories by Australian women writers). It is made up of five shorter stories, including:
- Shades of Grey
- Palming the Lady
- Web of Lies
- Bad Power
- Cross That Bridge
This is the first work by Ms Biancotti that I've read and I really enjoyed it. The five stories are set it the...more
An Australian sf/fantasy publisher Twelfth Planet Press is releasing a series of collections by Australian writers. I picked up Tansy Rayner Roberts' "Love and Romanpunk" on a recommendation, loved it to itty pieces, and subscribed to the full set on a whim. Deborah Biancotti's "Bad Power" deals with super powers, so it was logical as the comics/superhero fan that I am, I'd be drawn to read that one next. But this is not the shiny four colored extravaganza you're used to with comics, this is mor...more
Bad Power is the Twelfth Planet collection featuring the work of Crawford award nominee Deborah Biancotti.
The jacket copy says “If you like Haven or heroes, you’ll love Bad power.” While I think Heroes suffers from the American propensity to drag successful ideas out to the point where they lose dramatic tension, I really like Haven.
Bad power is more akin to the later, more subdued, and understated. It also makes me think of Misfits, in the sense that having powers is never quite the as good as...more
The jacket copy says “If you like Haven or heroes, you’ll love Bad power.” While I think Heroes suffers from the American propensity to drag successful ideas out to the point where they lose dramatic tension, I really like Haven.
Bad power is more akin to the later, more subdued, and understated. It also makes me think of Misfits, in the sense that having powers is never quite the as good as...more
Question: Who wouldn’t love to have a superpower?
Answer: The characters in the short stories of Bad Power, who discover that power isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
The power to never die, to see the futures of those around you, to tell others what to do (and they do it!) – all of these seem like good things, until they rule your life and you can’t escape them. Unable to escape their “bad” powers, they become resigned or submit to their fates.
Characters from one story will appear in others and...more
Answer: The characters in the short stories of Bad Power, who discover that power isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
The power to never die, to see the futures of those around you, to tell others what to do (and they do it!) – all of these seem like good things, until they rule your life and you can’t escape them. Unable to escape their “bad” powers, they become resigned or submit to their fates.
Characters from one story will appear in others and...more
In the hands of a more pedestrian writer these stories might have seemed too...X-men. But Biancotti is different. In a good way. And I loved the Sydney settings. "Palming the Lady" and "Bad Power" both affected me very strongly and I would count them amongst the best short stories I've read this year.
Loved these stories about Supernatural powers misused or just going wrong. Biancotti is a master storyteller and I'd love to see a whole book about Detective Palmer. Thank you Twelth Planet Press for producing this little book.
"Hate superheros? Yeah they probably hate you, too."
"Hate superheros? Yeah they probably hate you, too."
A solid collection exploring superpowers in everyday folk, neatly combined into police procedural stories and one historical yarn. This is a suite of five stories, all connected in some ways, with cool recurring characters.
Thoroughly THOROUGHLY enjoyed every one of these! Fabulous collection, beautifully written. This is what smart superpower stories look like, right here.
Really liked this one - crime infused with weird. Proper review to come.
Well, OF COURSE I read it! I wrote the darn thing.
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Yup, it was awesome. I'm depressed it's finished!
4.5/5
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Deborah Biancotti is a writer based in inner-city Sydney, Australia. Her first published short story won an Aurealis Award and her first collection, A BOOK OF ENDINGS, was shortlisted for the 2010 William L. Crawford Award for Best First Fantasy Book.
Her second short story collection, BAD POWER, has just been published by Twelfth Planet Press, and her first novella has just been released by GILGAM...more
More about Deborah Biancotti...
Her second short story collection, BAD POWER, has just been published by Twelfth Planet Press, and her first novella has just been released by GILGAM...more
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