SCI FI MONTH! November 2023

SCI FI MONTH

Artwork copyright:
Yosua Bungaran Cahya Putra

Is it November yet?!!
In some Probability,
it surely must be.

So, collapse that Wave Function,
and

Bring November On!!!

Review: THE NIGHT HOUSE by Jo Nesbo

Release October 3. THE NIGHT HOUSE is an amazingly complex fantasy/Horror/Psychological Thriller. I read it in one sitting and still am not sure which aspect to think is "fact" (in the context of the story). Jo Nesbo is quite a prolific author and I've enjoyed several of his novels, yet I've never read one like this.

Part One is contemporary Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Horror, and terrifying it is! Part Two spins Part One on its head, riffs on the nature of Perception and Consciousness, then ramps up the Horror meter and delivers par excellence. Then Part Three strolls in to convince readers (and Unreliable Narrator) "all this was just a Dream!" [Was it?]

No matter what, THE NIGHT HOUSE is a novel I'm going to spend a lot of my nighttime wakeful hours pondering. Thanks for that, Mr. Nesbo!

Review: OUT THERE SCREAMING ed. By Jordan Peele

I can't praise highly enough this remarkable, exceptional, Anthology of Black Horror! Spine-chilling, terrifying, enlightening: the authors of these special stories may well all be geniuses of the Outre!! My special favorites (I possess the frozen spine and rapid-beating heart to prove so) are the two tales from Nnedi Okarafor (terrifying!), one from Tananarive Due (scared me senseless), one by Rebecca Roanhorse (which elicited my "OH, Yeah!" reaction), and a compelling and thought-provoking tale from Cadwell Turnbull. But all are exceptional, without question, a perfect complement to Spooky October reading.

Included is a frightening "wake-up" introduction from curator of this Anthology, Jordan Peele.

BLOOD OF THE MANTIS

Few authors can manage Anthropomorphizing and make it believable, efficient, and amenable as does Adrian Tchaikovsky. (If you differ, please go read his CHILDREN OF TIME Trilogy!) He demonstrates this as well in the SHADOWS OF THE APT Fantasy Series, of which BLOOD OF THE MANTIS is the magical third in the Series. I read it without having read the Series ' first two novels, and though there is a catch-up explanation in the beginning, for continuity's sake, I intend to read the Series in order. Expect exciting, adventurous, and twisted.

Review: REDEMPTION'S BLADE (AFTER THE WAR BOOK 1)

I confess to not being a lifelong aficionado of Fantasy, as I am of Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Horror, and Mystery. However, reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's Fantasy is changing that, and thankfully he is as prolific in Fantasy as in Science Fiction.

REDEMPTION'S BLADE is Book 1 in the AFTER THE WAR Series. "After the War" refers to the era of change and clean-up after the slaying by Heroes of one of the most evil villains ever, "Kinslayer," who even murdered demigods. One of the Heroes who triumphed over him is Celestaine, literally a fierce and noble warrior, a woman of righteousness, who embraces as friends former sworn enemies and who pledges all that is in her power to right Kinslayer's wrongs.

TBR PILE CHALLENGE #9

Review: TRIDENT'S FORGE

TRIDENT'S FORGE is Book 2 of the engrossing Far Future Science Fiction Trilogy CHILDREN OF A DEAD EARTH. In Book 1, THE ARK, the Generation Ship flying to Tau Ceti star system over the duration of 2.5 centuries, prepares for imminent orbit over their chosen planet, and landing to found a new Colony. (I guess Colonization is intrinsic in human evolution, and apparently Manifest Destiny too.) In TRIDENT'S FORGE, the Tau Ceti Colony has been in existence now for 3 years; the Unbound, the group of independents on the Ark who concealed themselves on the lower levels, eschewing the prenatal brain implants the Ark's test-tube generations all received, have formed their own Village, then 6 months earlier migrated to a Village of a native tribe (yes, Virginia, a sentient species on a planet in Tau Ceti's system, called by the human colonists "Atlantians").

Our Feckless Hero, Bryan Benson, formerly Chief Constable on The Ark, is now Director of Recreation; his wife Theresa is now Chief Constable. A diplomatic mission from the humans' Colony to an Atlantian village (where the Unbound have emigrated) and a meeting with emissaries from other villages suddenly erupts in violence from without, fatalities, and the beginning of unraveling a conspiracy which reaches back in Ark's history and intends to permanently affect this entire planet.

This Trilogy is exciting, adventurous, and highly suspenseful, filled with creatively designed world-building, intriguing aliens, fauna, and flora; and plenty of satisfyingly constructed conspiracies to keep enthralled readers alert and guessing.

Review: THE ARK (CHILDREN OF A DEAD EARTH BOOK 1)

Exploration of Space and Colonization are two of my most cherished aspects of Science Fiction. So a novel that mostly is set on a Generation Ship two and a half centuries old, headed for a star system twelve light years distant, where there awaits a tremendous surprise....how could I not adore it? Plus: there's a significant cult whose leader is way charismatic but justifiably more insane than either Jim Jones or David Koresh or the Heaven's Gate cult? The suspense is tremendous, a fair-sized cast of characters is handled quite skillfully, and in first place stands a genuine Feckless Hero [who could model for The Fool card in Tarot], but he's really admirable because he just-won't-stop. (He is, also, the habitat Chief Constable.) A really Champion novel!