Previous SFF Author: Martin L. Shoemaker
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
The Tea Master and the Detective (2018), a novella nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo awards, is a delightful revisiting of the legendary Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson … if both were Asian women, and Watson was a genetically modified human that is the brains and heart of a transport warship. It’s set in Aliette de Bodard’s UNIVERSE OF XUYA ― also nominated for a Hugo for Best Series ― a “timeline where Asia became dominant,
April 19th, 2019. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | Aliette De_Bodard | Nebula Award, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
PERfunctory AfFECTION by Kim Harrison
Three years ago Meg, a talented artist who also works as a university art instructor, was in a bad car accident. She was driving and her boyfriend, the passenger, was badly injured. Since then she’s dealt with PTSD, high levels of anxiety, and overwhelming guilt. She has also had trouble recovering after her mother’s death and this has led to depression. Meg is pretty messed up and has trouble teaching her classes, making friends, and coping with life in general.
As the novella opens, Meg’s psychiatrist has put her in an experimental drug study.
April 18th, 2019. Kat Hooper and Terry Weyna´s rating: 2.5 | Kim Harrison | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Our weekly exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few excellent stories, including two of the recently announced Hugo nominees, that we wanted you to know about.
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho (2018, free to read online or download at Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog). 2019 Hugo award winner (novelette).
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again, by Zen Cho, is a Hugo-nominated novelette about an imugi,
April 15th, 2019. Jana Nyman, Marion Deeds and Tadiana Jones | Suzanne Palmer, T. Kingfisher, Zen Cho | Hugo Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In the Land of Time: And Other Fantasy Tales by Lord Dunsany
In In the Land of Time: And Other Fantasy Tales (1986), literary critic and editor S.T. Joshi has compiled a large collection of Lord Dunsany’s short fiction that spans fifty years and is representative of his entire oeuvre. As someone who is not well-acquainted with the writings of Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, the 18th Baron of Dunsany (1878-1957), I found this collection to be both an excellent resource and an enjoyable read.
April 15th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Lord Dunsany | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield
Alice Payne arrives on the scene in this 2018 Nebula-nominated novella, and it looks like she’s setting up for a longer but welcome stay. Alice Payne is a half-black, thirty-two-year-old woman living in 1788 England in a mansion called Fleance Hall, with her father and a handful of servants; she’s also a closeted queer woman in a secret relationship with her companion, an inventor named Jane Hodgson. Alice and her father have fallen into financial straits, and her father, who is suffering from severe PTSD as a result of fighting in the American Revolution,
April 11th, 2019. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Kate Heartfield | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach (2018), one of several exceptional novellas nominated for the 2018 Nebula award, combines some intelligent and subtle world-building in the aftermath of worldwide disasters, the future version of project financing and lobbying (with lamentable similarities to our current world), and time travel to ancient Mesopotamia as research for an environmental remediation project.
In the 23rd century, humanity is beginning to rebuild on the surface of the Earth after living underground for many years in “hives and hells.” Life on the surface is limited to specific habitats,
April 9th, 2019. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Kelly Robson | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark
In an alternative history, magical steampunk version of New Orleans, in 1884 the city is still influenced by the aftermath of the Civil War, which ended in a division of the Union and Confederate states. New Orleans is a pocket of neutrality, one of the few territories not aligned with either the North or South. The city is run by a council made up of ex-slaves, mulattoes and white businesspeople; British, French and Haitian airships patrol the skies to keep the peace.
Thirteen-year old-Jacqueline is a bright,
April 5th, 2019. Tadiana Jones, Jana Nyman and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | P. Djèlí Clark | Audio, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Our weekly exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here we review a couple of Nebula-nominated stories (one older; one newer), with a wide array of opinions from our group of reviewers on the newer story (actually, three identical ratings and one outlier). Read on!
With Unclean Hands by Adam-Troy Castro (2011, originally published in Analog magazine, $2.99 Kindle version). 2011 Nebula award nominee (novella).
Andrea Cort is a cold, damaged human being. One would think this would make her wholly unsuitable for a career in the diplomatic corps that represents humans in a universe filled with sentient species.
April 1st, 2019. Terry Weyna, Jana Nyman, Tadiana Jones and Bill Capossere | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Fans of Tarma and Kethry shouldn’t hesitate to pick up Oathblood (1998), a short story collection featuring all of Mercedes Lackey’s tales about the female sword and sorcery duo. A couple of these stories appeared in The Oathbound and Oathbreakers, the other two books in Lackey’s VOWS AND HONORS series (part of the larger VALDEMAR saga), but most did not (though published elsewhere previously).
April 1st, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Mercedes Lackey | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Our weekly exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Bill and Tadiana both weigh in on a few more of this year’s Nebula nominees (and one other excellent short story that Tadiana thinks should have been nominated), and Tadiana comments on the 20Booksto50K Nebula controversy.
“STET” by Sarah Gailey (2018, free at Fireside magazine)
“STET” is in the form of a draft of a scholarly article by a woman named Anna, in which she and her editor exchange increasingly agitated (at least on Anna’s side) written comments about the article’s references and footnotes.
March 25th, 2019. Tadiana Jones and Bill Capossere | Rhett C. Bruno, Sarah Gailey, Sarah Pinsker | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Previous SFF Author: Martin L. Shoemaker
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…