Review: UPGRADE by Blake Crouch

Release July 12 2022 Blake Crouch has a particular flair for presenting very-near-future we're-almost-at-this-stage couldn't-it-be-possible Science Fiction. Whenever I read his work, I ask myself, "What if this actually is fact?" Then I think of the world we live in and realize, "Whyever not?" UPGRADE is a novel of Evolution-gone-wild, not over eons of gradual adaptations, but over months, weeks, days. It will blow your mind as you too ponder, "How soon will this be "real life"?

Review: LOVECRAFT IN THE TIME OF MADNESS (Anthology)

An entertaining and illuminating collection, 21 of which are composed by modern authors toiling in the fields of the scintillating Lovecraft Cosmos, plus three stories from the Master of Cosmic Horror himself, H. P. Lovecraft. Delving into the always fertile soil of Cosmicism and the Great Unknowable, these authors shine their individual lights on the mysteries of Beyond and what might exist there, in the microcosm; and in the interior landscapes of their protagonists and secondary characters, wherein may exist horrors of Cosmic quantity as well.

2022 SCIFI READATHON

http://seasonsreading.blogspot.com/2022/05/sci-fi-summer-readathon-2022-boldly-go.html

1. CABIN TERROR. COSMIC HORROR SF 2. *SILVERWOOD COSMIC HORROR SF 3. *THE COMPLEX COSMIC HORROR SF 4. *THE EXO PROJECT 5. IN THE HOUSE OF FLETCHER 6. *AURORA 7. TELL US NO SECRETS 8. MEAT 9. *PLANET B 10. YOU BETTER RUN 11. *THE FALL OF METROPOLIS 7 12. *ECHOGENESIS 13. STATE OF EMERGENCY 14. FIREPLAY 15. *HELL DIVERS 16. *HELL DIVERS II GHOSTS 17. *THE ENVIOUS NOTHING 18. *HELL DIVERS III DELIVERANCE 19. *HELL DIVERS IV WOLVES 20. NEVER COMING HOME 21. *GAME CHANGERS OF THE APOCALYPSE 22. THE DAY WE DIED 23. THE BEAST OF BROMWICH [Fantasy] 24. RENOVATED TO DEATH 25. *SMOKE AND OTHER STORMS 26. *ARK STORM 27. CLOWN IN THE DARK 28. *SANDS OF DUNE 29. EVASIVE SPECIES 30. *MOBIUS: THE TIMELESS ARTIFACT 31. *EXTINCTION ISLAND

Winter Respite 2021

 Sign Up:

winters-respite-readathon-sign-up-now

Follow my progress at:

2021 Winter Respite Goodreads Shelf

Review: THE HOLLOW PLACES

5 Speculative Stars 

I got to about 25% expecting the narrative to open up into a comfortable Lovecraftian multiverse of Cosmic Horror.  Then, suddenly,  I reached a particular scene, and as the protagonist (feckless, female) and sidekick (Southern, Gay) were simultaneously screaming internally, SO WAS I!! From that point on we were off on a wildly inventive, tremendously dangerous, roller coaster of Cosmic Horror and I don't think any of us have stopped screaming yet. WOW.

 

Review: ALIEN PEOPLE by John Coon

4 Speculative Stars 

The discovery of alien life! What could be more exciting? Only that such life is both Sentient and communicating! For Astronomer Calandra, this discovery of hers reaches beyond her wildest dreams. Even more astonishing is that Calandra and her colleagues reside on the planet Lathos, in a different solar system...and that the alien probe sets forth from a very aggressive,  cruel,  global government...on Planet Earth....

I was reminded pleasurably of early Twilight Zone episodes and of Golden Age Science Fiction as author John Coon capably flips the Alien trope on its head, reversing the kaleidoscope so that Earth is the destructive alien civilization. Delightful!

 

Review: PRIVILEGE by Bharat Krishnan (The WP Trilogy Book 1)

 

5+ Speculative Stars 

I got a lot of fun out of this novel, by which I mean I found it entertaining,  engrossing, AND enlightening.  In the first couple of pages I thought, "What's interesting about some Wall Street tycoon with a drug habit?" Well that was selling short the story. It's not "any" drug, it's not "just" a thriller. 

In 2020 a lot is addressed about the lives of Blacks and Latinx. I don't think we read as much about those whose genetic heritage is of the subcontinent of India. So first of all, the enlightenment: I'he learned at length about Indian-Americans,  and how they still suffer as Celtic immigrants and Chinese immigrants did in the 19th century.  I learned about friendships and the importance of family to those who don't have it. I learned about a controlled substance which is solely the property, the entitlement,  of Caucasians, forbidden to all other ethnicities. 

Author Bharat Krishnan enabled me to see and feel what it is like to be excluded,  and how the excluded experience inclusion (through the acquisition of the controlled substance "WP"). I came away thinking how little progress Society has made toward inclusion (ethnicity,  race, religion,  orientation,  gender). I also am totally eager to read the sequel.