Lena’s Comments (group member since Nov 17, 2014)

Lena’s comments from the Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror group.

The Parts That Are Only Glimpsed: Three Reflexes
“… You could omit anything if you knew that you omitted and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make people feel something more than they understood.”

This was an essay on writing based on something Hemingway said in A Moveable Feast. It was interesting.

The man was dead inside.

Murdock’s Memoirs as a SciFi western Hillbilly Elegy?

Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction by Jo Walton ★★★★☆
A dark alternate history where the US did not enter the WW2. The US subsequently enters a depression, a defensive war, and an era of hate and domestic holocaust. Scary stuff.

Plotters and Shooters by Kage Baker DNF
After two pages I had no interest. Skip.

The Island by Peter Watts ★★★★★
Brilliant. And soooo depressing. Time stretched to the billions and an endless mission eating away at your humanity.

Alien again. It looked generic but I’ll watch it: https://youtu.be/qCI6pp-hD_A?si=bwDZv...
More interesting is the prequel in the works with Timothy Olyphant, or it would be if it wasn’t by Disney.

His Master’s Voice by Hannu Rajaniemi ★★★★★
“Before the concert, we steal the master’s head.”

Best first line of any short story I have read. This was so good I nearly cried. A loyal dog and cat fight beyond themselves to save their person. And now I am crying, because I too have a dog and cat.

Balancing Accounts by James L. Cambias ★★★★☆
Hard SciFi! It read almost like a Murderbot story. Freewheeling cargo robots find themselves in the middle of a deadly human custody battle.

A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel by Yoon Ha Lee ★★★☆☆
Snippets of alien civilization.

Recital ★★★★☆
Even as an outline of a story it was great.

The Naked Matador ★★★☆☆
I’m not sure what this was. Maybe a gritty adult version of a mermaid story.

Unicorn Variations ★★★★☆
A man plays a long game of chess with a unicorn for the fate of humanity. Unbeknownst to the unicorn, a Sasquatch and some griffins, are helping him between rounds. That the chess game was a real tournament game played in 1901 added to the appeal.

The Last of the Wild Ones ★★★½☆
A.I. powered cars begin to think for themselves, kill their human slavers, then run wild in herd. Humans then do what humans do best - kill every last one of them.

Third Day Lights by Alaya Dawn Johnson ★★★☆☆
The new human horror is a future moral absolutism to bring back every human to immortality. All it costs is all the life in other universes.

Someone thought it was a good idea to make a nasty Euro Grimdark version of The Crow: https://youtu.be/eLmjJnPgbuQ?si=YF1Fd...

How to Become a Mars Overlord by Catherynne M. Valente ★★★½☆
“Of course we want her. Mars is the girl next door.”

Valente writes these Crayola SciFi shorts with joy. Lots of colorful aliens, and humor, with a couple of witty lessons thrown in.

Second Person, Present Tense by Daryl Gregory
★★★½☆
“I know you want to move out. I know you may never want to come back. But wherever you go, you’ll still be my daughter, whether you like it or not. You don’t get to decide who loves you.”

A strait-laced teen rebels one nights overdosing on a dissociative drug. She wakes up with something worse than amnesia. Aping her psychiatrist, and crush, she rebuilds herself into a confident Buddhist.

Ikiryoh by Liz Williams ★★★★½
“It would have been called black magic, once. Now it is black science.”
A strange child is sent into guardianship in the country, to the kappa. Their world has had some dark and disturbed rulers, but this latest goddess has found a way to better herself. Having witnessed the worst of goddesses, the kappa is willing to bear the strange child for the world’s benefit.

The Prophet of Flores by Ted Kosmatka Skip
Theocracy and animal experimentation. Both topics I would rather not read about.

I loved Laika's Ghost (2010).

The Shakespeare comparison was what Sanada said in an interview.

I’ve heard the original was more Stranger in a Strange Land, the lack of subtitles would be isolating to viewer. It’s a pretty cool idea if that’s what you are going for. As this is Sanada’s ball, and the goal is to introduce a new generation to Japanese culture, there are subtitles. It also introduces Japanese history to young Japanese people as the Japanese used is archaic, something like Shakespearean English.

I’m a fan of Hiroyuki Sanada, if I had Hulu I would have watched it. I’ve heard the costumes, historical template, and acting are exceptional. That some of the women are also trained fighter is apparently a fantasy but a fun addition reflective of the other kinds of bravery the female characters expressed in the book. Maybe next month I will crack the book.

It was people on a ship I think, then some AI or gamer talk and then I realized I had stopped reading and was just sitting there with my thoughts - again. It happens. It might be a good story at some point.

To Hie From Far Cilenia by Karl Schroeder DNF
Bored. I was just bored by this.

Savant Songs by Brenda Cooper ★★★½☆
An autistic savant physicist and post graduate assistant use artificial intelligence to crack open the multiverse. Unfortunately, it’s gated for energy and information not flesh.