Lena’s
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(group member since Nov 17, 2014)
Lena’s
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from the Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror group.
Showing 161-180 of 7,888
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 DNFBored. 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.
Mar 05, 2024 06:40PM
Cumulative Ethical Guidelines for Midrange Interstellar Storytellers by Malka Older ★★☆☆☆ Storytelling is a job on interstellar voyages to inspire passengers. Not much to this.
Mar 04, 2024 07:02PM
The Difference Between Love and Time by Catherynne M. Valente DNFI made it halfway. I either love her work or toss it across the room. (previous review, I chose not to give this another chance)
Folk Hero Motif in Tales Told By the Dead by KT Bryski ★★★☆☆
Stories told by the dead start at the end. I like the idea that there would still be adventures, the unknown, after death.
The Albian Message by Oliver Morton ★★★★½ Short punchy SciFi, I love you! A pyramid is found on an asteroid behind Jupiter. It was built by a people who explored earth millions of years ago and now the Odyssey is head there. And they might have left us dinosaur eggs!
Finisterra by David Moles DNFThis was a story about poachers and I didn’t want to read it.
Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robinette Kowal ★★★½☆
Shorty with punch. An intelligent chimpanzee uses pottery to calm the rage of being both too much of a beast and too much of a person. There is a lot of world building delicately implied in a two page story. Impressive.
The Education of Junior Number 12 by Madeline Ashby ★★★★☆
Beautiful androids walk the world and let us love them, flawed as we are.
Toy Planes by Tobias S. Buckell ★★★½☆
An island nation scrimps together a space program. Maybe they all die, maybe it’s a waste of money, but it’s also hopeful.
The Algorithms For Love by Ken Liu ★★★★★
Haunting. After an A.I. programmer suffers a devastating loss she begins to lose her world view. She succumbs to the madness of feeling her world is a preprogrammed algorithm.
Feb 27, 2024 09:09AM
Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867 by Kim Fu ★☆☆☆☆ DNFWarning: May trigger rage if you have ever had a customer service job.
Just read the handbook.
Why did you even come if you have not read the handbook?
All the answers are in the handbook.
Get the fuck out of here and don’t come back unless you have read the entire handbook!!!
In The Beginning of Me, I Was a Bird by Maria Dong ★★☆☆☆
An alien seeding of the planet causes humans to connect to all living things… by killing them. This wasn’t a drag to read but it didn’t make sense and you never find out the why.
Perhaps. It has that slice of life with agenda feel. Rare.
