Author: Tim Scheidler

Jana: This week was chockablock with non-FanLit responsibilities, so I had much less time for getting reviews wrapped up than I wanted (harrumph). I was able to squeeze in a few reading hours for Tamsyn Muir’s Harrow the Ninth, though, and it was incredibly difficult to pull myself away each time.

Kelly: So, Tamsyn Muir’s Harrow the Ninth came out this week, and it sort of ate me alive, distracting me from everything else I intended to read.

Jana: This week I read Nancy Kress’ recent novella, Sea Change, which packs a lot of story, social commentary, and very-near-future environmental concerns in an economical package. I also began reading Tamsyn Muir’s Harrow the Ninth, realized that I wanted to read the last few chapters of Gideon the Ninth in order to be sure that I remembered who was locked in (im)mortal battle with whom, ended up re-reading Gideon the Ninth because I was enjoying myself so much,

Jana: This week I finished Katherine Addison’s The Angel of the Crows (which got better as it went along, thankfully). I also read Kathleen Jennings’ Flyaway, a very strange and hauntingly written novella set in Australia; I’m still not quite sure what I think of it. I’m mid-way through Colin Dickey’s The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained, and I’m enjoying the ways in which Dickey examines humanity’s desire to experience wonder in the world.

Jana: This week I read Zen Cho’s novella The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, and it was lovely, of course. I’m currently reading Katherine Addison’s The Angel of the Crows, and as much as I’m enjoying Addison’s world-building and descriptive talents, I have to agree with Bill and Tadiana that there are times when her Holmes pastiche is jarringly faithful to Arthur Conan Doyle’s source material. Those few unfortunate moments aside,

Jana: This week I read Raquel Vasquez-Gilliland’s debut novel, Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything, which was beautifully written and contained some extremely searing commentary on America’s treatment of immigrants. I also read Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Relentless Moon, which was so engrossing that I actually forgot to move for a few hours while I read (an oversight I do not recommend).

Bill: This week I read Alma Alexander’s The Second Star,

Jana: This week I read The Menace from Farside, a novella published in 2019 as the latest instalment in Ian McDonald’s LUNA universe, which was enjoyable, but it’s been long enough since I read the actual trilogy of novels that I kept distracting myself by wondering how the events in the novella affected or were affected by the preceding books. My fault, not McDonald’s. Also, I started reading Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Fated Sky (after re-reading “We Interrupt This Broadcast” and “Articulated Restraint”),

Jana: This week I read Lina Rather’s Sisters of the Vast Black, a novella with lots of interesting characters and concepts, and a little more hand-waving than I’d prefer when it comes to hard details like timeline and spatial relations. I’m also reading Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars, which I’m really enjoying despite my constant story-induced anxiety. Kowal’s writing is evocative and compelling, to say the least.

Bill: This week I read Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth,

Jana: This week I read Nghi Vo’s novella The Empress of Salt and Fortune, which I loved, and Shea Ernshaw’s Winterwood, which I was much cooler on. (Though the winter setting helped ward off the spring-transitioning-to-summer heat I hate so much.) Next up, Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars.

Bill: This week I read The Empire of Gold by S. A.

Jana: This week I read Finna, a very slight novella (I’d call it a novelette) by Nino Cipri about love, queerness, anxiety, wormholes, and big-box capitalism. I wish it had been a longer read, but I can’t figure out where I wish Cipri had expanded it. I also read Bethany C. Morrow’s A Song Below Water, and discovered that Kelly and I had the same reactions to it, which was fun (and unsurprising).

Bill: This week I read When Jackals Storm the Walls (good) by Bradley P.

Jana: This week I read Sarah Beth Durst’s latest MG novel, Catalyst, which was so much fun and a perfect antidote for everything I’ve been feeling over the last few weeks. I also read Martha Wells’ latest entry in the MURDERBOT DIARIES series, Network Effect, which I absolutely enjoyed (and forced my hand on picking up a copy of the first book in the series, All Systems Red,