Warren Rochelle's Blog, page 7

Speaking of Race: How to Have Antiracist Conversations That Bring Us Together, by Patricia Roberts-Miller

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">Speaking of Race by Patricia Roberts-Miller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a wise book about a difficult and emotional topic, and is "Full of practical advice ... [We] can all use some help speaking better about race" (Skinnell, quoted on back cover). To quote the Publishers Weekly Review, Roberts-Miller "Breaks down the reasons why disagreements about racism go off the rails so quickly, and explores how to get them back on track" (back cover).

I found the language very accessible and thoughtful. I wanted to the book to be longer. We need to talk more about this and this book can make such conversations a little easier.

Highly recommended.

For full disclosure, Roberts-Miller was one of my professors years ago, when I was a graduate student at UNC Greensboro.



View all my reviews

Rarely Pure and Never Simple, by Angel Martinez

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">Rarely Pure and Never Simple by Angel Martinez

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A fast-paced adventure story, set in a post-apocalyptic future, in which children with special abilities have been born and grown up. It seems a drug meant for other purposes has tinkered with the human genome and made us more than we are--and we don't do well with differences. Add in an America after civil war and famine and worse, and the reader finds Blaze and Damien, with their unique gifts, sent to find missing variant children.

The adventure begins. Damien is a human locator, he senses where people are, he can find the lost and the missing. Blaze is a spark; he can make fire. The children--kidnapped? Runaways? Just who are the bad guys involved and why? They join forces with Shudder, who can make the ground do just that.

Complication ensue. It turns out Shudder is Blaze's ex. Blaze and Damien find themselves drawn to each other, and even as they have to find the missing children, they find they need to understand their own hearts.

A real page turner. Looking forward to the sequel. Recommended.



View all my reviews

Save the World, edited by J. Scott Coatsworth

Save the World by J. Scott Coatsworth

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A couple of years ago, Scott Coatwsorth, like the rest of us, found the “almost unrelentingly bad news day after day” more than a little depressing. He “felt like we needed a little hope, some light at the end of the tunnel” ( Fix the World ix). To meet this need, Coatsworth, a co-owner of the publishing company, Other Worlds Ink, came up with a thought-experiment: pose a “what-if” question, answer it in fiction. Can the world be fixed?

Coatsworth posed a similar question in 2021, albeit with a tighter focus: climate change. He called for stories “about how humanity would deal with the coming changes, and even find ways to reverse them” (Save the World xi). The answers can be found in Other Worlds Ink’s latest hopepunk anthology, Save the World, just out in June 2022.

Like its predecessor, the twenty stories in this anthology are all engaging, interesting, and they kept me reading. They are set in, or too near, a grim future: the world is on a precipice. “Climate change is no longer a vague future threat. Forests are burning, currents are shifting, and massive storms dump staggering amounts of rain in less than 24 hours” (back cover). Can the world be fixed? Can it be saved from climate change? Is a hopeful future even possible?

These stories offer imaginative solutions to the climate crisis. I would argue that for there to be hope, for there to be solutions, we have to imagine them first. Such solutions, as presented here, involve science and technology, yes, but also in art, in rescuing baby sea turtles, in love, and family, and “acts of change, both large and small.”

Here, the reader will find stories, acts of imagination, offering ways to repair and/or reverse the damage, sometimes when things have gotten far worse than they presently are. Those solutions are as diverse, ranging from a device that can cut off the lights with a click, “solar mirrors, carbon capture, genetic manipulation,” producing oil from plastic bags, and knitting to cover and protect Greenland’s ice. The diversity of the solvers is just as expansive, including gays and lesbians, bisexuals, the polyamorous, the very old, the young, black, white, brown, red, and yellow.

For example, in “By the Light of the Stars,” by N.R.M Roshak, the act of change is relatively small: the light clicker. Such a device can help baby sea turtles find their way to the sea and not be drawn further inland, following artificial light, not the light of the moon. The protagonists are two women falling in love, with a few complications, such as one a doubter in the existence of more than a handful of star. Yes, stars. Natural light will help here, too.

In Jana Denardo’s story, “Just A Little Empathy,” Yoshi and Raine, and their husband, Michael are on the front lines of fighting climate change. Yoshi is working to develop “plastic-eating enzymes”, and lives on an eco-friendly farm with her wife and husband, and two children, where they will be hosting a concert to raise money for “the Save the Earth project, which would funnel money into tech and works that combated climate change and fund social justice projects.” But this is not a utopia. The Earth Rhythms group believes climate change is part of nature’s grand cycle, and are willing to blow up things for the cause.

“Operation Cover Up (Kamikaze),” by Rachel Hope Crossman, offers a particular small act of change that is enacted on a large scale. To protect and preserve the Greenland Ice sheet, it is “[b]lanketed in knitted cozies,” and those who are doing this blanketing are “wrinkled old ladies with gray hair and bad attitudes.” Some won’t return from the action. The Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets are melting. The seas are rising. Can anything be done? I loved the old ladies and their fierce determination to do something, even if their own lives are at risk, even if they make the ultimate sacrifice.

The other stories are just as intriguing and captivating and interesting, both in the solutions offered, and the solvers.

As this book, and its predecessor, attest, what we need most, perhaps, is hope, and a belief that problems can be solved, that there are good solutions to “what-if” thought experiments. And these solutions must be human ones, found by human beings who fall in love, who care for each other.

Pray it isn’t too late.




View all my reviews

All That's Left in the World, by Erik J. Brown

All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I love this book.
All That's Left in the World is a love story, a gay YA love story, to be specific, but as I write this, should the specificity matter? For the gay YA readers, yes, to help them find it. For others, maybe not.
I digress.
This novel is also a post-apocalyptic tale, set in the world after "A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world's population, including everyone [Andrew and Jamie] have ever loved. And f this new world has taught them anything, it's to be scared of what other desperate people will do. ..." (front cover).

Yet, they are drawn to each other, when Andrew, injured and starving, finds Jamie's house. Jamie takes him in, and so it begins. A slow-burn love story, a tale of two boys fighting to survive in a very dangerous world. Forced to leave the sanctuary of Jamie's house, "they flee south in search of [what's left of] civilization" (front cover).

Can they do it? Can they survive? Can they "find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together?" Will they act upon what is drawing them together?

Well done, a most satisfying good read, a true page turner.

Recommended.



View all my reviews

The Dove in the Belly, by Jim Grimsley

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">The Dove in the Belly by Jim Grimsley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ronny and Ben are unlikely lovers. They met their junior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the mid-1970s. By happenstance, they are living in the same dorm, Ehringhaus, the dorm that houses a good many Carolina athletes. Ben is at Carolina on a football scholarship, and he is big and solid and confident. He walks with an "easy jock swagger," and "has a steady stream of girlfriends" (front cover). He has been redshirted and needs to get his grades up, and finish incompletes. Ronny, also on a scholarship, is small and slight, an English major, and he works for the campus paper, The Daily Tar Heel. Ronny is keeping a secret: he's gay.

Nicknamed "Brainhead" and "Egghead" by the jock bros, Ronny becomes Ben's "pet tutor." So their relationship begins. They connect in their own bubble, which is "as surprising to Ronny as it is to Ben. Within in [the bubble] their connection ignites physically and emotionally" (front cover).

They are tested. Ronny's mother has found her latest husband and moved to Las Vegas, leaving him homeless. Ben's mother is struggling with cancer. Ben lives in a world that assumes he is straight. Is their bubble strong enough? Their connection? Are they strong enough, brave enough?

Beautifully written by one of my favorite authors, this love story moved me a great deal, with its truthful and honest portrayal of love tested by grief, tested by the world.

Recommended.



View all my reviews

Full of Briars, by Seanan McGuire

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Big Seanan McGuire fan here. Loved this novelette, especially as the first-person narrator is Quentin Sollys. I felt I know him and his parents better as a result, as they negotiated whether or not he would stay with Toby for the remainder of his fosterage. Really liked the beginning of his relationship with Dean, a relationship I hope to see more of .

Good story indeed.



View all my reviews

Prolepsis, by J.

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">Prolepsis by J. Scott Coatsworth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


2021, and Sean Miller is looking back to 1986, when his life changed. “The world was a radically different place back then. There was no internet, no Facebook, no email, and no cellphones” (5). The AIDS epidemic had killed, and was continuing to kill, thousands in the US. At least one million Americans have been affected. For many LGBTQ+ Americans, it was a risky time, and not just because of AIDS, and many remained in the closet.

Sean was living in Tucson, Arizona, and was the “brand-new editor for the Prolepsis ‘zine,” a zine “fresh, edgy, and new,” and it specialized in stories by authors who pushed the envelope” (5). A young man, he, too, is in the closet, and has to endure such small and yet corrosive indignities as snide comments at the video store (remember those?) when he selects gay movies. He’s not out to his roommate, to his sister, to just about anybody in his life.

Things began to change on one of his daily visits to the post office to collect Prolepsis mail—and to gaze longingly at the cute clerk, Jason, he of the nice rear end. Sean finds a pink envelope in the mail box. Sean has taken the meaning of the title, “the representation of a thing existing before it actually does” (5),” to heart, but to his shock, so has a new author, I.H. Tragitto. Tragitto has sent him the story, “Firetime,” and warns him in the cover letter that “some elements may seem shocking in this time, but sci-fi is the art of the possible, and I assure you, the things are all possible” (7).

The story in the pink envelope, “Firetime,” has an openly gay protagonist, and he has a husband. In the world of the story, “being gay was such a normal thing.” Sean was blown away. He accepts the story, paying the author the princely sum of $10, and he has “no idea what [his] decision would unleash” (8). His copy editor refuses to edit the story: “It’s … filth … It’s disgusting” (10, 11). Sean denies he’s gay, when he’s asked, an act which takes a “little of [his] soul away” (11). But another pink envelope arrives, and Sean accepts Tragitto’s next story, “The Seventh Gender,” about people who are gender-fluid and transgender. Some are even “gender-queer.” What a brave new world this writer is imagining in the future! The publisher in the UK, more than a little disturbed that such a story is in his journal, makes the same accusation. Sean feels he is “like Peter denouncing Christ” 20).

The changes have begun. Sean finds himself encouraging an anonymous closeted and lonely, gay high school student via Compuserve. He invites cute Jason over to watch a Star Trek marathon, and Jason happily accepts. Sean comes out to the lonely high school student, to Donny, his roommate, and to his surprise, finds out Donny doesn’t have a problem with it. Sean is out of the closet.

Things progress from there. Jason and Sean become boyfriends. He finds the courage to come out to his one surviving family member. Prolepsis publishes a queer issue. Not everything is positive, of course. Change often comes with a price. Sean lose his job. Still, the universe has spoken. It will, it is going to get better, as Tragitto’s stories attest. Does the writer just have a wild imagination? As he had had a utopian vision? Read the story to find out who this mystery writer is and how can he know such changes were in the future, as well as other intriguing plot twists.

This is a love story, a coming out story, and a story of identity and self. This is a tale of the power of story, of when one does imagine what is not yet in existence, then perhaps, this is calling the imagined into reality. The story is also a chronicle of the continuing evolution of the American gay community, from a time of fear and invisibility into, if not the light, at least out of the shadows. Coatsworth has written a tale of a difficult time, and tale that is sweet and funny. Things did get better—with a little help. Here’s to hope for continued progress.

Recommended.



View all my reviews

Prolepsis, by J. Scott Coatsworth

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">Prolepsis by J. Scott Coatsworth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


2021, and Sean Miller is looking back to 1986, when his life changed. “The world was a radically different place back then. There was no internet, no Facebook, no email, and no cellphones” (5). The AIDS epidemic had killed, and was continuing to kill, thousands in the US. At least one million Americans have been affected. For many LGBTQ+ Americans, it was a risky time, and not just because of AIDS, and many remained in the closet.

Sean was living in Tucson, Arizona, and was the “brand-new editor for the Prolepsis ‘zine,” a zine “fresh, edgy, and new,” and it specialized in stories by authors who pushed the envelope” (5). A young man, he, too, is in the closet, and has to endure such small and yet corrosive indignities as snide comments at the video store (remember those?) when he selects gay movies. He’s not out to his roommate, to his sister, to just about anybody in his life.

Things began to change on one of his daily visits to the post office to collect Prolepsis mail—and to gaze longingly at the cute clerk, Jason, he of the nice rear end. Sean finds a pink envelope in the mail box. Sean has taken the meaning of the title, “the representation of a thing existing before it actually does” (5),” to heart, but to his shock, so has a new author, I.H. Tragitto. Tragitto has sent him the story, “Firetime,” and warns him in the cover letter that “some elements may seem shocking in this time, but sci-fi is the art of the possible, and I assure you, the things are all possible” (7).

The story in the pink envelope, “Firetime,” has an openly gay protagonist, and he has a husband. In the world of the story, “being gay was such a normal thing.” Sean was blown away. He accepts the story, paying the author the princely sum of $10, and he has “no idea what [his] decision would unleash” (8). His copy editor refuses to edit the story: “It’s … filth … It’s disgusting” (10, 11). Sean denies he’s gay, when he’s asked, an act which takes a “little of [his] soul away” (11). But another pink envelope arrives, and Sean accepts Tragitto’s next story, “The Seventh Gender,” about people who are gender-fluid and transgender. Some are even “gender-queer.” What a brave new world this writer is imagining in the future! The publisher in the UK, more than a little disturbed that such a story is in his journal, makes the same accusation. Sean feels he is “like Peter denouncing Christ” 20).

The changes have begun. Sean finds himself encouraging an anonymous closeted and lonely, gay high school student via Compuserve. He invites cute Jason over to watch a Star Trek marathon, and Jason happily accepts. Sean comes out to the lonely high school student, to Donny, his roommate, and to his surprise, finds out Donny doesn’t have a problem with it. Sean is out of the closet.

Things progress from there. Jason and Sean become boyfriends. He finds the courage to come out to his one surviving family member. Prolepsis publishes a queer issue. Not everything is positive, of course. Change often comes with a price. Sean lose his job. Still, the universe has spoken. It will, it is going to get better, as Tragitto’s stories attest. Does the writer just have a wild imagination? As he had had a utopian vision? Read the story to find out who this mystery writer is and how can he know such changes were in the future, as well as other intriguing plot twists.

This is a love story, a coming out story, and a story of identity and self. This is a tale of the power of story, of when one does imagine what is not yet in existence, then perhaps, this is calling the imagined into reality. The story is also a chronicle of the continuing evolution of the American gay community, from a time of fear and invisibility into, if not the light, at least out of the shadows. Coatsworth has written a tale of a difficult time, and tale that is sweet and funny. Things did get better—with a little help. Here’s to hope for continued progress.

Recommended.



View all my reviews

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This novel is a worthy sequel to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. At the end of Universe, they have kissed, they are in love. Ari has fought his demons, and wonders how he could have ever thought loving Dante was shameful.

Now, how to stay in love, how to build a relationship in a "world that seems to challenge their very existence?" For Ari, this love is transformative. He finds he can longer truly be the loner, "silent and invisible," a role which has protected him for his high school years. He has new friends, he stands up for bullies, he is no longer silent. And always, Dante.

Their love will be tested. Can it survive an often hostile culture? Can it survive loss?

A beautiful novel, as lyrically beautiful as its prequel, a testament to love and hope.

Recommended.



View all my reviews

Dropnauts by J. Scott Coatsworth

Dropnauts by J. Scott Coatsworth

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The year 2282.

Over a century has passed since the Crash and the end of human civilization on Earth. There were no victors in the Last War. As far as they know, humanity's sole survivors, some 12,000+ souls, are living on the Moon. The colony of Redemption (formerly Moon Base Alpha) has created something of an egalitarian society, one which accepts the diversity of humanity, and strives to live up to the Redemption Creed: "I will not take another life's. I will not take what is not mine. I will not violate another. I will not lie. I will help build a better world" (385). More and more lunar quakes spell trouble. It's time to go home. The first two ships are dropping to Earth, with crews of dropnauts, primed for any number of possibilities. Or so they think. One ship is destroyed, with all aboard, the other shot out of the sky as it comes down for a landing. It seems the old world is not devoid of human life after all. Someone had to fire those missiles, right? Or a lot of booby-traps were left behind...

Complications ensue.

J. Scott Coatsworth has created a richly detailed and believable dystopian future, yet one with the promise of utopian solutions. The main characters, the four dropnauts on the Zhenyi, the craft shot out of the sky, are diverse indeed: a disabled individual, a gay man, a transgender woman, and a bisexual man. Back home on Luna, the Return project is shepherded by a sentient AI, Sam. These people are not, however labels or symbols. Rai Ramirez, for example, is a man who is gay, and a botanist, and a man who spent a good part of his childhood in a creche, a friend, a lover, among other things. Rather, here Coatsworth is exploring the possibilities of what it means to be a human, humans who are flawed and imperfect and engaging, annoying and lovable, as we all are,. The AIs are equally diverse, and are also people in their own right. I found myself cheering for them all, human and AI.

The diverse cultures that survived and evolved after the Crash are a testament to Coatsworth's skill as a world-builder. These cultures include the lunar attempt at an egalitarian society, to a matriarchal society living underground on Earth, and not willing to forgive men for past crimes. The details of each are varied, well-crafted, and believable, on the Moon and on the Earth, a post-Crash world of ecological catastrophe and global war.

Dropnauts is both a dystopian and a utopian novel, and a novel about what it means to be human, and how, when things are at their worst, sometimes we are our best. We can redeem ourselves, repair out mistakes. As author Lee Hunt says, the novel is "Fast, optimistic and entertaining. Coatsworth's Dropnauts shows that forgiveness may the best fuel for redemption" (back cover). This is a novel of hope.

According to the review in Publisher's Weekly, "Redemption, perseverance, and identity ... Readers will enjoy the diverse cast and high-tech adventure" (front cover). This reader sure did. A real page turner.

Recommended.




View all my reviews