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Red Mars
October 27, 2021
I reread Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, book 1 of his Mars Trilogy. This book is extremely dense. Robinson does an amazing job imagining what Mars is like, what it would be like to live there, and what the first steps of colonization would be. If you've ever wanted to go to Mars, you must read this book!
In the context of human civilization, however, I don't believe humans would go to the expense to go to Mars, much less colonize it. It's just too expensive. But, that's the beauty of fiction--imagination come to life....

Delightfully Deadly
October 13, 2021
I accidentally discovered Gail Carriger's new 1860s Finishing School Spin Off Stories featuringDelightfully Deadly novellas of the graduates of Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing School. I'm a big fan of Carriger, so it was great to find out what happened to these characters after we last saw them. The novellas are basically stand-alone; you don't need to have read any of Carriger's other stuff to make sense of them. As a speculative fiction fan, however, this is not necessarily a plus. There's very little of the supernatural elements we've come to enjoy. These read more like fairly standard romances. But I enjoyed Poison or Protect and Defy or Defend. (I see there's a brand new one, I need to acquire.) Yay, reading!

Rowland's Zombies
September 29, 2021
Wow! I reread Diana Rowland's White Trash Zombie Series, starting with My Life As a White Trash Zombie (2011) and ending with White Trash Zombie Unchained (2017). They were all excellent! The characterizations and plotting are masterful. Kudos, Ms. Rowland! I highly recommend this series.

In fact, they were so good, I was prompted to try out the first book in her Kara Gillian series. Sadly, this series did not appeal to me. (The protag is a demon summoner, has sex with a demon, etc... Ick.)

Calamity Physics
September 15, 2021
I recently reread Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. As you may have guessed, I was originally intrigued by the title and expected some physics, or at least something physics-related. While Pessl does mention a few physics topics, it's pretty clear she doesn't know much, if anything, about physics. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this story originally. It's a coming of age tale narrated by a unique teenager, Blue; she has some adventures during her senior year of high school. There's murder, romance, and a mystery with some nice twists and turns. Pessl utilizes some unusual narrative structures including an epilogue in the form of an exam. Blue's metaphors and similes are all unique which makes for interesting (exhausting?) reading.

However, this reader identified some errors in Blue's 'facts'--which makes me distrust everything she says. In addition, the chapter titles all refer to great works of literature, but the material within isn't related, so the literary references feel gratuitous. It's probably intentional on Pessl's part, but overall Blue's efforts read like a teenager who thinks she's an erudite genius but is really just too immature to know better... I won't be reading this one again.

The Hunger Games
Sept 1, 2021
As you know, Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games YA novel trilogy was huge. The first installment, The Hunger Games (2008) was amazing. I read it for the first time soon after it came out, and while very dramatic and well-written, I told my friends it wouldn't be successful because kids brutalizing and murdering each other was too negative--especially for a YA audience. Well, the joke was on me, obviously. :)
I do think the first novel starts pretty slow, with a lot of telling (why so much about the cat?). If Suzanne was in my critique group, I would have told her to tighten it up. The end of chapter one, however, is great. And it just takes off from there. Kudos, Suzanne!

Because of the pandemic, I've also been rewatching a lot of these movie series. I have to say, the Hunger Games series was by far the most emotionally compelling. Again, Kudos, Suzanne.

Peeler's Jane True
August 18, 2021
I recently started rereading Nicole Peeler's Jane True series. The first novel is Tempest Rising. I forgot how fun and sexy this series is. Peeler's supernatural world felt pretty fresh in 2009 when it came out and it still holds up. I think it's because Peeler tries to stay in the Celtic/Irish mythology which isn't quite as prevalent as some others. The protagonist, Jane, is a half-human half-selkie! As you can imagine, adventures ensue. :)

Initially, when I read this, I thought Jane might be too pathetic; she has a lot of reasons to feel sorry for herself. Of course, by later in the series she is appropriately kick-ass. It's an interesting issue for authors; we need characters to have an arc so they do need to have some initial problems. I've pondered this quite a bit in my own writing.

Niffenegger's Time Traveler
August 4, 2021
Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife made a huge splash when it came out. There was even a major motion picture. The movie was good, but the novel is just lovely. It is essentially the love story between Henry and Clare. Henry has, shall we say, a temporal challenge. For me, the book raises great questions about love and soul-mates, the nature of time, and fate versus self-determination.

I think the reason I haven't read this novel more times, though, is the *spoiler alert* sad/horrible ending. But, I guess, not all stories have happy endings. We have to glean what pleasure we can from positive things/moments that do exist.

Clare's Clockwork Angel
July 21, 2021
I enjoyed Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series and the Dark Artifacts trilogy. So, I bought her Infernal Devices Trilogy! Book one is Clockwork Angel and begins in 1878, many years before the events of the Dark Artifacts. The protagonists are a teenaged warlock(?) and several teenaged shadowhunters (part angel, part human warriors) based in the shadowhunter London institute. Clare does a great job evoking a British steampunk vibe, and as such, this seems a lot different from the previous series. We have met, or heard of, many of the characters before, so that's an added treat. It has all the Clare signatures, a lot of hair and eye descriptions, romance, humor, forbidden love, heroism. I'm actually almost done with the whole trilogy and can't wait to see how it ends.
Fans of Clare will love this series!

Clare's Lady Midnight
July 7, 2021
I enjoyed Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series so much that a few weeks ago that I actually bought the Dark Artifacts trilogy! Book one is Lady Midnight and picks up a few years after the events of the Mortal Instruments. The protagonists are very young shadowhunters (part angel, part human warriors) based in the shadowhunter Los Angeles institute. Clare does a great job evoking the L.A. vibe and environs, and as such, this seems a lot different from the previous series. Another fun aspect is it mostly focuses on fairy downworlders (part demon, party human people), rather than the werewolves and vampires of NY, NY. This first book of the series is 669 pages and the other books just get longer from there! But I'm a fast reader, so this is plus. Of course, we do eventually check in with all the fun protagonists of the earlier series.
Fans of Clare will love this series!

Codex
June 23, 2021
Some folks think Lev Grossman's (2004) Codex has parallels to Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, discussed below. While they both involve bibliophiles and computers, I'd say they aren't that similar.
In the interest of full disclosure, I love Grossman's Magicians Trilogy. I picked up this novel some years back in my quest for all things Grossman and just reread it.

There's no doubt Grossman has mastered the suit-wearing, lawyering, investment-banking, NY, NY zeitgeist. Here, the vacationing protag gets hired to search a mysterious private library for a mysterious ancient book. He ends up hiring an attractive female scholar to help him with quest. (Of course!) Adventures ensue. Since he is on vacation, however, he does spend a certain amount of time partying, drinking, and playing a particular video game. Said video game gives him a crucial clue...
Bottom line: this is a solid novel, although not all readers will embrace the ending.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
June 9, 2021
I reread Robin Sloan's 2012 novel Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. I loved it the first time I read it, and I loved it again this time. The protag lives in the San Francisco area and works in a mysterious bookstore-library combo that is open 24-hours a day. People come in at all hours to check out large old tomes that are in some kind of code. The protag investigates, revealing an international hundreds-year-old book-loving secret society. I love the idea of a secret society of book-lovers!

Living in SF, the protag has many high-tech high-skill friends, so when his friends collide with the ancient book-lovers, adventures and discoveries ensue!
Sloan does a great job creating the modern high-tech anything-can-happen zeitgeist. In the novel, it feels like humanity is right on the verge of amazing things. Sloan made me feel like that, as well.
This might be my new favorite novel.

Twenties Girl
May 26, 2021
A short while ago I reread Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella. Kinsella is a master at what used to be called 'chick-lit.' Sadly, this humorous genre has fallen out of favor; I always enjoyed it. I guess it's because the word 'chick' is somewhat derogatory. Possibly, it's also because protagonists of chick-lit had been almost exclusively white, cisgender female, middle-class/wealthy, heterosexuals. At any rate, now we're supposed to just call it 'fiction.'

Anyway, Twenties Girl is a fun foray into paranormal fiction. The protagonist is Lisa, a flaky self-absorbed twenty-something who gets haunted by Sadie, her 1920s-era flaky self-absorbed twenty-something great aunt. Ha! Light-hearted adventures ensue.
Suffice it to say, these two women end up helping each other and learn a lot about life, love and family along the way.
(And, yes, I needed something light-hearted after Einstein.)

The Other Einstein
May 12, 2021
I recently read The Other Einstein (2017) by Marie Benedict. This is the fictionalized story of Albert Einstein's first wife, Mileva Maric. Mileva and Albert met in college in Zurich where she was also a physics student. Benedict does a great job imagining what Mileva felt and thought while she was in school and during her romance with Albert. Of course, we cannot know what she really felt and thought.

However, I found this story to be extremely disturbing. According to Benedict, Albert was an exceptionally poor husband and father, treating his wife, (illegitimate) daughter, and two sons horribly. Furthermore, Benedict basically says Mileva is the brilliant physicist who came up with Albert's most famous works; he stole them from her without giving her any credit. Ugh. :( To be fair to Benedict, there have been similar rumors for many years...
Bottom line: this novel is very dramatic and raises very provocative questions about the man many consider to be the greatest physicist of all time.

Clare's Melodramatic Fun
April 28,2021
I'm currently rereading Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments Series. The novels include City of Bones (2007), City of Ashes (2008), City of Glass (2009), City of Fallen Angels (2011), City of Lost Souls (2012), City of Heavenly Fire (2014).

The heroes of the series are half-angel half-human Nephilims who fight demons to protect mundane humans. There are also plenty of so-called Downworld characters such as werewolves, vampires, fairies and warlocks. The reader enters Clare's world with newcomer teenaged Clary Fray who's a Nephilim but doesn't know it--a very effective storytelling tool. I'm really enjoying all the melodramatic, angst-y fun. Clare does a great job in this YA series capturing what it's like to be a teenager, including those intense first love(s).

All the books are fairly long, as well, which is just what you want in a pandemic. Check them out, if you haven't yet!

Sawyer's Optimism
April 14, 2021
I finished reading Robert J. Sawyer's WWW trilogy. Recall, book 2 is WWW: Watch (2010) and book 3 is WWW: Wonder (2011). I thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy because of Sawyer's optimism. He envisions a spontaneously emerging intelligence in the web, which he calls webmind, that is benevolent and works to make humanity happy. Wow! Webmind is a God-figure, almost all-knowing and all-powerful -- but in an atheistic society.

There's a lot of discussion in the books about non-zero sum situations. For example, happiness isn't finite; if my happiness increases, it doesn't take anything away from your happiness. There's also a lot of discussion of the moral arrow of time, namely, human culture is getting more moral with time. In other words, humans learn to do more right and less wrong, individually and collectively, as time passes.

All of these are delightful ideas. It harkens back to the stretch of time in which SF was required to be optimistic.
Sawyer is inspiring me to work on my optimism... Good luck to all of us!

Sawyer's Wake
March 31, 2021
Robert J. Sawyer published WWW: Wake in 2009. It's the first book of the WWW trilogy. Book 2 is WWW: Watch and book 3 is WWW: Wonder. I think I've read all of Sawyer's books and in my opinion, this is the best. He does an amazing job with the characterization of the blind teenaged protagonist Caitlin as she learns to see. Another major element of the book is the emergence of a web-based intelligence--which is quintessential Sawyer.
The truly impressive thing about this novel is how it investigates the nature of mind and consciousness. Have humans always been conscious, or could it be a relatively recent (a few thousand years) development? Could animals be conscious? Sawyer ponders the whole issue and the reader follows willingly along...

The Martian Chronicles
March 17, 2021
I recently reread Ray Bradbury's most famous book The Martian Chronicles. I remember finding it haunting and lyrical when I read it as a kid. I'm sorry to say this book does not hold up; it seems quite dated. It's intentionally racist and unintentionally sexist. Moreover, it's extremely depressing in that it involves the genocide of the Martians and the Earthlings.
The only interesting parts are the brief glimpses of Martians and their culture. Such as the Martians have fair, brownish skin, yellow coin eyes and soft musical voices. They eat golden fruits that grow from crystal walls. They paint pictures with chemical fire and swim in the canals when the wine trees fill them with green liquors...
Clearly the stories are meant as a cautionary tale. Bradbury was worried about Earth's destruction via a 'technology mania' in the post-WWII world.
On the bright side, technology hasn't destroyed us (yet?).

Bradbury's Zen
March 3, 2021
I'm also rereading my writing books. I recently read Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You. Wow! Bradbury is very enthusiastic about writing. He feels writing is his calling, vocation, and avocation. I've never read a book in which writing is portrayed as being so rapturous and so necessary.
It has motivated me to read his Martian Chronicles next.

Heinlein's Cat...
February 17, 2021
I recently reread Robert Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985). There's a lot to enjoy here. The first 3/4 of the book is all plot: murders, sex, chases, assassins, etc., and good fun. There are some awesome science ideas including the multiverse and three time dimensions (I need to steal this).
The philosophical stuff such as 'World As Myth' is interesting. Unfortunately, there are also several mentions of sex with children/teenagers and/or incest, which are creepy--they took me out of the story every time.
This is all pretty quintessential Heinlein, so love him or leave him...

Taylor's Time Police
February 3, 2021
Jodi Taylor has a relatively new series, The Time Police. Yes, it is a spinoff from her Chronicles of St. Mary's series. Book 1, Doing Time, (2019) and is almost 400 luscious pages of time travel adventures, featuring new recruits Luke, Jane, and Matthew. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it when it came out and rereading it recently. Book 2, Hard Time, (October 2020) is 455 pages of wonderful time travel adventures featuring Team Weird's continuing exploits. Again, it was fabulous. Taylor's amazing characterizations and humorous plotting are all over it. She even introduces some new time phenomena including time slips and time whorls(?). The investigation is resolved in the end but there are some dangling threads...To be continued in the next book(s)--of course!

If you enjoy time travel, definitely check out this series!

So much reading! Pratchett/Baxter
January 27, 2021
One of my favorite series of recent years is the five novel The Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Yes! I've been rereading it! :)
It's based on the quantum mechanical concept of the multiverse or 'Many Worlds.' When the series opens in The Long Earth (2012) humans discover how to access an infinite number of alternative planet Earths by "stepping." The series has a lot to recommend it. The prose is lovely. The characterizations are lovely. The world-building is lovely.

There are a couple things, however, that don't quite work for me. Initially, people must build their own Steppers, based on plans from the internet. As a former physics teacher, I'm skeptical that the average human could put together a simple circuit. I'm also skeptical the average human would leave 'Datum Earth' with its smart-phones, video-games, streaming music and videos, cars, homes, shops, etc. to live in nature.
The series is primarily set in the U.S. with American characters, but every once in a while British slang is used by the authors. I'm guessing their editor was British? Of course, reading fiction always involves suspending disbelief, so it's not a big deal.

This series is fun and well worth a read!

So much reading in 2020! Butcher
January 20, 2021
In anticipation of the two (!) new novels in 2020 in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, I reread the whole thing. It was lovely.

On July 14, 2021 Butcher published book 16 Peace Talks and on September 29, 2021 book 17 Battle Ground came out. I thoroughly enjoyed all 352 + 432 pages, but make no mistake, this is one 784 (!) page novel, not two novels. It's full of all the magic, mayhem, battles, friendships and family you want and expect from a Butcher novel.

I must admit, however, he killed off one of my favorite literary characters of all time--which I'm still upset about months later. :(
I guess that's the mark of a masterful author. :(

So much reading in 2020! Card
January 13, 2021
I've been rereading all the novels in Orson Scott Card's Ender's World. The first one, Ender's Game, published in 1985, is one of the best novels ever published. Yes! I'm serious. In it, juvenile Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is the hero in an interstellar war against a bug-like species of extraterrestrials. Card does an amazing job showing the internal life of the child Ender. It was a groundbreaking novel in that it showed children are not all sweetness and light.

The other novels in The Ender Quartet and The Shadow Series are also excellent, albeit not groundbreaking. They (primarily) deal with the characters as adults. I highly recommend all of them.
As a devout Mormon/social conservative, Card himself is somewhat controversial. I suggest you let the work speak for itself.

So much reading in 2020! Lewis
January 6, 2021
One plus of 2020 was I had a lot of opportunity to read. I've been rereading all the books in my library. One series I read at the end of the year was C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. The first book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was published in 1950. There are a lot of fun elements in these books. In particular, passing through a magical closet to go to a land of sentient talking animals is awesome and has stuck in my imagination since I read it as a girl.

I was also struck by how many elements of the Chronicles were repurposed/stolen for the excellent Syfy TV show "The Magicians" including magical wooden portals to another world, a pool-filled in-between-world, sentient talking animals, different rates of time flow, and more.

However...I'm sorry to say the books have some significant issues in the context of modern culture; they're sexist, racist, and anti-Islam. I'm not in the business of bashing other authors, so I'll leave it there. Caveat lector.

Happy Holidays
December 23, 2020
Best wishes to you and your loved ones this holiday season. :)
I'll see you back here in 2021! (Thank goodness 2020 is almost over!)

New Issue of Electric Spec
December 16, 2020
As readers here probably know, I'm a longtime editor of the online speculative fiction magazine Electric Spec. We just published the awesome November 30, 2020 issue! Check it out if you want free fun speculative fiction! Next year we begin our sixteenth year! :)

Favorite Meta Novels
December 2, 2020
Meta is the murkiest of murky terms. I'm considering this science fiction about science fiction. I chose John Scalzi's Red Shirts and Charles Yu's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel. Both of these novels are mind-bending. Scalzi does a great job utilizing all the typical Star Trek tropes while still creating a fun novel. The three epilogues take it to a whole other level... Yu's novel is very unique. One awesome idea he uses is science fictional science--namely, the 'science' in science fiction is real. Whoa! Check them out if you want some mind-boggling reading. :)

Favorite Cultural Use Novels
November 18, 2020
Cultural Use is a murky term, but I'm going to call it science fiction in which culture is the most important fictional element. I chose two dystopian novels: Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses, and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Both of these are very powerful and very depressing. In the world of Noughts and Crosses African people colonized and enslaved European people in the past. In the novel itself it's all racism, all the time--very timely.
Many folks have probably read The Handmaid's Tale for school and know in totalitarian ultra-conservative Gilead, the United States government has been overthrown. The similarities to some elements of current U.S. society are extremely disturbing...

Favorite Steampunk Novels
November 4, 2020

What are my fave two novels in the Steampunk subgenre? I've been rereading all my Gail Carriger novels and they are lovely. I really enjoy all her series including The Finishing School, The Parasol Protectorate, The Custard Protocol. If I have to pick just one novel, I guess I'll go with Soulless because it was the first one I read. And, yes, I did get to interview Carriger for Electric Spec. You can find the interview here.

For my second fave steampunk novel, I'm going to make the unusual choice of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Bacigalupi does an amazing job with world-building and unique technology here. It's impressive.

Favorite Alternative History Novels
October 21, 2020

What are my two favorite novels in the Alternative History subgenre? Again, it's hard to pick just one. I chose John Barnes' Patton's Spaceship, Book 1 of The Timeline Wars series. Honestly, all three books in this series (including Washington's Dirigible, Caesar's Bicycle) are awesome. And great titles, too, right? My only criticism of this series is why aren't there more books?
My second choice was Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. Dick was amazing at fiction plots and ideas; so many of his stories have been made into films and TV shows. If I'm being totally honest the TV series on Amazon is even better than the novel; it makes me like the novel more.

Favorite Time Travel Novels
October 7, 2020

Someone asked me what my two favorite novels were in five SF subgenres recently. The first subgenre is time travel. The only tricky part of this question is limiting my answer to just two novels! Time travel is one of my very favorite subgenres, as you may have guessed since one of my series Temporal Dreams is in this subgenre.
I chose Jodi Taylor's Just One Damned Thing After Another, Book 1 of The Chronicles of St. Mary's series. I love this whole series (and frankly, the Time Police spin-off series) because Taylor's authorial voice is awesome! The protag is a kickass quirky heroine, which I also love.
For my second favorite I chose Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog. This was my favorite novel of all time for many years; I've reread it multiple times. Although not strictly a series, Willis has revisited this time travel world multiple times, all to good effect. Again, here, I love Willis' authorial voice.

Addictive
September 23, 2020

As I mentioned before, I've been rereading all the novels in my possession in 2020. Right now, I'm reading Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series. I'm finding the novels very compelling; it's like I'm addicted to them--even more so than the previous times I read them. I've been bingeing on the books, reading them one after another. Why are they so compelling? Hmmm...

The series protag has the quality you would expect, namely, she's a hero fighting evil. She does the best she can, often endangering her possessions, her home, her friends, her family, her health, her child(!), her very life. Readers like people that fight evil, especially if those people are themselves flawed.
There are almost too many bad guys in the series, which makes it exciting. There are ordinary human villains, supernatural villains, sort-of-god villains, you name it. Perhaps in 2020 a straight fight of good versus evil in which good wins, is just what I need.

In addition, in recent years, I've gotten involved in meteorological/climatological scientific research, and I have to say Caine seems to have a good grasp of weather. Kudos, Ms. Caine!
My surprising takeaway is: rereading a book is rarely the same experience--because the reader changes.

Colorado Writers Collaborative
September 9, 2020

Usually at this time of year I go to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers annual convention. This year Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers has joined forces with Northern Colorado Writers and Pikes Peak Writers to create a month long virtual conference free for everyone to attend!

This joint venture hits YouTube September 1-30, 2020. Check out free video presentations from agents, editors, and authors on the craft, business, and life of writing as well as current hot topics all writers should pay attention to. You’ll learn from NYT bestselling authors and awesome editors. Over twenty-five contributors have volunteered their time and effort to provide the writing world with some education, inspiration, and motivation during this time of safer-at-home.

If you're a writer or want to know more about writing, check it out here!

Rereading Old Favorites
August 26, 2020

This month I've been hard at work on the August 2020 issue of Electric Spec and my new novel A Jack For All Seasons--which also means I need some significant relaxing. I've been rereading all my favorite novels during this difficult year. Long series are particularly enjoyable. Right now I'm making my way through Kage Baker's The Company Series and Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files Series. Yes, at the same time. :) And, no, these two series don't have much in common, other than they're both speculative fiction.

Years ago, I loved Baker's series for the time travel (!) and her fascinating characters. Now, I'm impressed with her writerly abilities to create such a complex and impressive world including multiple pov characters. Amazing.

I've reread Butcher's Dresden Files several times over the years. His plotting abilities are marvelous; things just keep escalating with each book. Moreover, I love Harry and all his friends; at this point they feel like my friends, as well. Kudos, Butcher!
I did buy the new one: Peace Talks. I'm excited to read it. I'll let you know what I think!

New Jack Novel Coming!
August 12, 2020

I'm excited to announce the third novel in The Space Operetta Series will be published before the end of August 2020! Woo hoo! It's called A Jack For All Seasons. Interstellar singer spy Jack Jones is at war! When the nefarious octopi Quihiri sabotage the FTL-drives throughout the galaxy, Jack recruits a top-notch troupe of players, including a sentient dog, a baby cloud, and, of course, the crew of the Shakespeare. Can he win the war and fix the FTL-drives while singing a song, making love, and thwarting evil space pirates? This came out August 17, 2020! Woo hoo!

Electric Spec
July 29, 2020

Today is the last day of the big Smashwords July sale. See link below.

I don't think I blogged here yet about Electric Spec.
Electric Spec is an electronic magazine of speculative fiction that I helped found in 2005, with our first issues in 2006. The tag-line is 'Shockingly good short works of science fiction, fantasy, and the macabre.' We feature five original stories and one original artwork per issue, all free to readers.

All the editors are volunteers, committed to helping authors. We get hundreds of submissions per issue, so those editors are working hard! One of the neatest things about Electric Spec is the stories stay up online so authors can link to them forever.
It's nice to have a publishing credit that doesn't disappear. (Of course, if authors want to take their the stories to publish elsewhere, we do so right away.)
Check out all this fun free fiction!

Anyway, we're all hard at work on the upcoming awesome August 2020 issue. If you're an author, I blog weekly about writing and editing here: electricspec.blogspot.com.

New Multi-Author Anthology!
July 15, 2020

I'm excited to be included in a fun new anthology Sci-fi Stories: More Future Earth. My story is called Imposible and is a tale of what could happen in a company town in a future climate-ravaged world.

Smashwords Sale
July 1, 2020

Most of my fiction is reduced at the July Summer Smashwords Sale.

New Story Out
June 17, 2020

"Quantum Father" out June 2020! Check out the latest story in the Quantum Cop universe.

Winners of 55th Annual Nebula Awards
June 3, 2020

Novel: A Song for a New Day, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley) Novella: This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga; Jo Fletcher) Novelette: Carpe Glitter, Cat Rambo (Meerkat) Short Story: "Give the Family My Love", A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld Magazine 2/19)

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

New Story Out
May 20, 2020

"Temporal Memorial" out May 2020! Check out the latest story in the Temporal Dreams universe.

Story Featured!
May 6, 2020
The folks over at Blackbird Publishing have my story "Ke's Symphony" from their Golden Door Anthology on their website spotlight. Neat! You can also see it on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
All proceeds from this anthology go to Doctors Without Borders and the ACLU. This is a great project. I'm honored to be included.

Happy Earth Day!
April 22, 2020

Authors Give Back
March 25, 2020 +
There's lots of free fiction accessible from Electric Spec Issues. Please check it out, if you're looking for shockingly good speculative fiction. :)

Smashwords is holding the very neat Authors Give Back promotion March 20, 2020 through April 20, 2020 with many, many books marked down, so folks stuck at home can have good stuff to read. Now extended through May 31, 2020!

From my family to yours: take care!

Reading Nassise's Urban Enemies
March 11, 2020
I'm reading Editor Joseph Nassise's 2017 collection of urban fantasy shorts. It's a fun anthology from authors with famous urban fantasy series. For example, Jim Butcher's "Even Hand" is set in the Dresden Files universe but has pov character Gentleman John Marcone rather than Harry.

Part of the official blurb includes: Villains have all the fun—everyone knows that—and this anthology takes you on a wild ride through the dark side! The top villains from seventeen urban fantasy series get their own stories... Fans of urban fantasy will really enjoy this. :)

Reading Egan's Permutation City
March 4, 2020
I recently read Greg Egan's 1994 novel Permutation City. Wow. If you want to read thought-provoking SF, this is it. I found the idea of what exactly human consciousness is to be particularly interesting. Is there a difference between human consciousness and a computer model of human consciousness? I don't know.

If I'm being honest, this was one of the few novels I've read in my life that I'm not sure I totally understood. Egan explores what he calls the 'Dust Theory' which is supposedly similar to Max Tegmark's Ultimate Ensemble Mathematical Universe hyopthesis. If you want to read a mind-bender, check this novel out!

Quantum Shorts Contest
February 26, 2020
I like to say I write Quantum Fiction--to which people usually reply "What?"
The folks at Quantum Shorts ( https://shorts.quantumlah.org/ ) say "Yay!"
They claim: Quantum physics, which describes the behaviour of matter at atomic and subatomic scales, has long provided inspiration for artists, writers, film-makers and philosophers... Run by the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore with a constellation of prestigious partners, Quantum Shorts has alternated between annual calls for science fiction and science films since 2012.

Did I enter the 2020 contest? Of course! My entry is Were We Alone?. The protagonist, Landscaper Carlos Garcia, meets ...himself on a golf course outside Waxahachie, Texas.
Check it, and the other stories, out!

Reading McDevitt's Hercules Text
February 19, 2020
I recently read Jack McDevitt's updated SF novel The Hercules Text which is an excellent first contact story. It tells the tale of a group of Americans who intercept a signal from intelligent extraterrestrial beings. In full disclosure I read it while looking for "hard" SF novels for my article here. While the novel does do a great job with the specifics of an interstellar signal, I did not end up including it in the article.

I believe the story is truly about human beings and how we deal with ethical and moral dilemmas. McDevitt seems to believe special information leads to power, which consequently leads to corruption. He may be correct... I hope he's not.

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science!
February 11, 2020

Reading Willis' Doomsday
February 5, 2020

Connie Willis' Doomsday Book (1992) is her first novel set in her mid 21st-century Oxford University time-traveling world. In the midst of a flu epidemic, medieval historian Kivrin Engle travels back to 1348 and gets caught in the Black Death pandemic. Since her 21st-century colleagues are sick, she's trapped in the past amongst the dying people she's come to care for--literally and figuratively. Doomsday Book is Kivrin's record of her experiences and refers to the historical 1086 Domesday Book, a survey of England. The beautifully-written novel illustrates the indomitable human spirit.

However, this work does not have Willis' usual humor.

Reading Willis' Bellwether
January 29, 2020

I have a project that requires me to reread all my Connie Willis books. (Yes, this is a fun project!) Bellwether (1996) shows off Willis' unique writerly voice. In a nutshell, protagonist Sandra Foster studies fads at a company in Colorado, by experimenting on sheep with her romantic interest Bennet O'Reilly. There's lots of fun screwball workplace comedy and romance--quintessential Willis. Her voice really shines through here.

It has some really neat ideas involving chaos theory, statistical prediction, and, yes, bellwethers.

However...I'm not sure that it qualifies as actual science fiction. It takes place in 'the near future,' but nothing occurs in the novel that couldn't occur in real life. It may qualify as 'lab-lit,' however, since it features working scientists doing science. Hopefully, no real-life labs are this chaotic!

The Space Operetta World
January 22, 2020

I see I'm overdue to give my hero Jack Jones some love. Jack is a singer-, lover- and spy-extraordinaire, part of the crew of the Terran spaceship Shakespeare. His journey began when he had to solve his own murder. :)
Yes, you need to read A Jack By Any Other Name to find out what that means. :)

My reason for writing this was pure fun. Hopefully readers find it as fun to read as I do to write. There's lots of music, Shakespeare, romance, mystery and fun in a SF setting. Kirkus Reviews said: "Skulduggery, sex, and Shakespeare abound in a sci-fi tale full of sound and fury, signifying fun."

The reasons for the series name, Space Operetta, should be obvious to readers. The first two novels are out, with three additional stories. Next month I'll publish the fourth story "Jack Elopes." Spoiler alert: there will be jackalopes involved! :) Later in 2020 the third novel A Jack For All Seasons comes out.

Reading Gunn's Road
January 15, 2020

Science Fiction expert and KU Professor Emeritus James Gunn has a signficant series called The Road to Science Fiction in which he presents important SF stories with some analysis and context. As a SF geek, I find it all very interesting. Within the last few months I acquired Volume 4: From Here to Forever (1982) in which Gunn focuses on the quality of the writing, rather than the quality of the vision. This is the most readable story collection of Vols 1-4. Although by necessity the stories only go through ~1980, Gunn claims SF writing is better than ever. I agree!

As a student of SF I enjoyed this volume in particular.

Reading Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog
January 8, 2020

I read a few novels over the holidays. How about you? One of the best was Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog, 2006. (This is not speculative fiction.) Wow. The French author's prose is just beautiful, very poetic. She also does a wonderful job getting in the heads of her two protagonists Renée Michel and Paloma Josse, who live in a posh Paris apartment building. Renée and Paloma ponder culture, philosophy, and the meaning of life and their places in it.

Barbery does not give the reader the ending American audiences would expect. But the novel itself does have, well, the elegance of the hedgehog. :)

Happy Holidays!
December 25, 2019

Reading Willis' A Lot Like Christmas
December 18, 2019

I used to reread Connie Willis' collection of short holiday stories Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (1999) every holiday season. But, now, I reread her A Lot Like Christmas (2017) which is an expanded version with even more holiday stories! It's a wonderful collection. If you enjoy speculative fiction holiday stories ==> definitely read it! You won't be sorry.

Reading Winters' Policeman
December 11, 2019

I accidently reread Ben H. Winters novel The Last Policeman (2012) last week. How does one accidentally read a book? I started reading it and realized I'd already read it; but I was enjoying it so much I kept going.

Here's part of the official blurb: What's the point in solving murders if we're all going to die? Detective Hank Palace has asked this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. Several kilometers wide, it's on a collision course with planet Earth, with just six precious months until impact.

Winters does a solid job with the mystery. The novel's special something is the impending catastrophe. It begs the question: What would you do if you knew the world was ending in six months? Would you stay at your job? Finish you bucket list? Party all the time? Or, do something more sinister?

This is the first novel of a trilogy, including Countdown City (2013) and World of Trouble (2014). And I do recall I did, in fact, read all of them.
I recommend them!

Reading Gaiman's Ocean
December 4, 2019

I recently reread Neil Gaiman's 2013 The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a fantasy 'for adults.' I find this book very disturbing. In brief, the protagonist goes back to his hometown for a funeral but instead of going to the reception he goes back to his old neighborhood. During the visit, he recalls a horrific 'adventure' he had as a child in which his supernatural neighbors saved him from some kind of other-worldly monster. As he leaves, he starts to forget, and we learn he's been back more than once--and remembered and forgotten the adventure before.

Gaiman does a great job with what I can only call magical realism. He presents magical supernatural events as totally normal and rational. Fans of magical realism will be impressed.

This novel is disturbing because the seven-year-old child undergoes horrific experiences, including his beloved kitten flattened by a car and his father trying to drown him. And because Gaiman says this is his most 'autobiographical' novel! I'm still disturbed. Read it at your own peril...

Happy Thanksgiving
Nov 27, 2019

Reading Green's An Abundance of Katherines
Nov 20, 2019

I first heard of John Green's YA An Abundance of Katherines (2006) when I was researching mathematical fiction. Part of the official blurb says When it comes to relationships, everyone has a type. Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine. He has dated--and been dumped by--19 Katherines. In the wake of The K-19 Debacle, Colin--an anagram-obsessed washed-up child prodigy--heads out on a road trip with his overweight, Judge Judy- loving friend Hassan. With 10,000 dollars in his pocket and a feral hog on his trail, Colin is on a mission to prove a mathematical theorem he hopes will predict the future of any relationship (and conceivably win the girl).

This novel is utterly charming. Green has an amazing ability to create empathetic characters and their interactions and relationships. You can tell from the blurb the tone is just fun.
As for the math--it's fun, as well.
Green may well be one of my new favorite authors.

Reading Butcher/Hughes' Shadowed Souls
Nov 6, 2019

In my continuing quest for spooky reads I landed on Shadowed Souls (2016) Edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes.
This is an anthology of dark, gritty Urban Fantasy short stories. I've been reading a lot of novels lately, so needed a bit of a palate-cleanser.

Part of the official blurb says: In #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher's Cold Case, Molly Carpenter--Harry Dresden's apprentice-turned-Winter Lady--must collect a tribute from a remote Fae colony and discovers that even if you're a good girl, sometimes you have to be bad... New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire's Sleepover finds half-succubus Elsie Harrington kidnapped by a group of desperate teenage boys. Not for anything "weird." They just need her to rescue a little girl from the boogeyman. No biggie. In New York Times bestselling Kevin J. Anderson's Eye of Newt, Zombie P.I. Dan Shamble's latest client is a panicky lizard missing an eye who thinks someone wants him dead. But the truth is that someone only wants him for a very special dinner... And New York Times bestselling author Rob Thurman's infernally heroic Caliban Leandros takes a trip down memory lane as he deals wih some overdue--and nightmaris--vengeance involving some quite nasty Impossible Monsters.

They're all great and just what the doctor ordered! :)

Reading Evanovich's Plum Spooky
Oct 30, 2019

I was looking for something Halloween-y to read this past weekend and landed on Plum Spooky (2009) by Janet Evanovich.
It's one of Evanovich's Between the Numbers Series. Part of the official blurb is: "Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has [Martin] Munch on her most-wanted list for failure to appear in court. Usually she gets her man. This time she gets a monkey. She also gets a big guy named Diesel." Diesel is some kind of supernatural creature...probably. And they're chasing another (probably) supernatural creature, who seems like a vampire, Wulf Grimoire.

While it was fun, it was not too spooky in my opinion. In fact, with all the monkeys this might be Evanovich's most kooky novel to date. She should have called it Plum Kooky. Oh well, I enjoyed it.

Reading Greenberg's Green Valley
Oct 23, 2019

I was caught in an airport with nothing to read (long story), and I found Green Valley (2019) by Louis Greenberg. This is a near-future SF thriller which has some very disturbing elements. The world was becoming less and less private; in the name of security, everyone and everything was under constant surveillance. In addition, everyone had instant access to the internet and almost infinite information. Sound familiar? In Greenberg's world, humanity (at least in the U.S.) rejects this paradigm and consciously goes back to a pre-smart-phone, pre-surveillance era in 'The Turn.' There remains a small virtual reality enclave 'Green Valley,' however, where, you guessed it: things go awry. The story thus is detective Lucie Sterling trying to solve a string of child murders (!) of kids from the enclave.

This reader found the child torture/murder elements to be very (too?) brutal. Greenberg does an amazing job conveying the surreal horror of the virtual Green Valley world. Like the protag, this reader found the frightening VR digital dystopia to be psychologically hard to shake off.

This is a masterful, if very dark, work. I can't help thinking Greenberg has made a significant point with this anti-tech soapbox.

Revenge of the Profesor
Oct 16, 2019

My October 2019 story is out: Revenge of the Profesor! This is part of the Kat Cubed Universe. Specifically, after saving the multiverse, Kaitlin Garcia has her freedom, but then, politics starts interfering with science. Could this be the bellwether of all new problems?

Hhm...politics interfering with science, specifically weather. I wonder where I got that idea?

Yes, the Kat Cubed stories do all have some Spanish in the titles. Yes, the Kat cubed stories do loosely follow a very famous movie franchise (which Amazon does not let you refer to).

Check it out!

Reading Gaines' Carbon Dreams
Oct 9, 2019

I recently had an opportunity to hear author Susan M. Gaines speak. She's quite famous for writing Carbon Dreams (2000), a seminal novel in the subgenres of cli-fi and lab-lit or 'science in fiction.' Gaines said she was inspired to write Carbon Dreams as an exploration of scientific creativity. Thus, as a scientist, fiction-lover, and creative person, I had to read it, right?

Wow! I have never read such a scientifically-intensive work of fiction. Gaines shows what it's like to be a driven scientist at the highest level of scholarship. In detail. She also discusses several climate change issues long before they were popular. It should be noted this novel is not speculative fiction. Science fans will love it!

Gaines doesn't shy away from the negatives of doing science, either. (Hopefully, this doesn't scare off any nascent scientists.) This reader was a bit concerned about the scientist protagonist, Tina Arenas, and her one-track life. Thus, it also raises important questions about work/life balance.

Lab-lit aficionados should read it!

Reading Atwood's Handmaid's Tale
Oct 2, 2019

I recently reread Margaret Atwood's amazing novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985). It's fascinating how a book can seem very different depending on where the author is in his/her life and on societial changes. This time, I found it more chilling and disturbing than ever.

Of course, The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel set in near-future New England in a totalitarian theonomy after the overthrow of the U.S. government. The protagonist, Offred, tells her story via a close first-person point-of-view. The reader learns of her daily life wherein she's a kind of slave, contrasted with flashbacks of her previous life in our current society.

The unresolved ending is not totally satisfying, but that's in keeping with the disquieting tone of the novel as a whole. Atwood has said we need to be vigilant to make sure such a bleak society doesn't come to pass. I hope it never does.

Reading Harris' Dead Until Dark
Sept 25, 2019

Full disclosure: Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Series (sometimes called the Southern Vampire Series) is one of my favorites. There was a famous premium cable series loosely based on it--but the books are much better. In Dead Until Dark (2001) a seemingly average waitress is living her life in rural Louisiana when everything changes. "I'd been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar." is the opening line. Awesome! As you can imagine, things just get better from there as Sookie is introduced to a whole supernatural world and finds out more about herself. Harris does an utterly amazing job characterizing Sookie; she's charming and empathetic. Since she's the protagonist, this works very well.

The series as a whole is excellent. As it goes on, the reader finds out about more and more different kinds of beings all set against the backdrop of Louisiana. This is Urban Fantasy at its best. At the time of publication, the humor and the supernatural creatures were fresh and fun.
I strongly recommend the entire series.

Incidentally, Harris is a gifted author with several book series that all have unique voices. Other series include the Midnight Texas Series, the Aurora Teagarden Series, the Lily Bard Shakespeare Series and others. They're all quite different.

The Reality Alternatives World
Sept 18, 2019

I publish at least one story every month from one of my series. In September 2019 that story is "Reality School" from the Reality Alternatives Series. This is Chloe Carsen's third story and she gets a big suprise at the beginning of the school year.

In some quarters, my Reality Alternatives series is their favorite. I think this is because it features a happily married mom (Chloe Phillipson) as one of the main characters. Of course, in fiction you must have conflict... Kirkus Reviews said, "Dark energy disrupts domestic tranquility in a pleasant sci-fi diversion with a family-hour vibe."

The premise I started with in the novel is: what if your life wasn't going perfectly, but you found a place or a way to make it perfect instantly? What would you do to keep it? What would you give up? I also wanted to play with the idea of parallel worlds--based on The Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Not surprisingly, all the main characters are (female) physicists. So, there's plenty of physics. And romance. And fun.

Reading Smith's Orleans
Sept 11, 2019

Sherri L. Smith's YA novel Orleans (2013) is a good example of cli-fi. In Smith's 2056 world, the Gulf Coast has been decimated by hurricanes and severe storms. Then, to make matters worse, disease breaks out and the entire area must be quarantined. Smith does an excellent job with world-building. I also really enjoyed her main protagonist, 15-year-old Fen de la Guerre, a kick-ass young woman trying to do the right thing. To put it briefly, things do not go well in the walled-off, flooded remnants of 'Orleans.

Subjectively, I think Smith does a masterful job with this harrowing, depressing tale. This is not an uplifting tale...

Reading Watkins' Gold Fame Citrus
Sept 4, 2019

Claire Vaye Watkins' 2015 novel Gold Fame Citrus is part of the burgeoning sub-genre of cli-fi. Watkins takes a much different path than most cli-fi authors in that she focuses on extreme drought rather than the more typical extreme flooding. It's set in a near-future dystopian California so dry it has been evacuated. The entire Southwest U.S. has been taken over by the Amargosa Dune Sea. Suffice it to say, the world-building here is great. The main character, Luz Dunn, is a 25-year-old former model initially squatting in Los Angeles. Along with her boyfriend, Ray, and her 'daughter' Ig, Luz wanders around deserted Cali, encountering various dramatic characters. Obviously, I don't want to give any spoilers, but let's just say things don't work out great for our protagonist.

In the face of real-world increasing drought in the Southwest, this story is terrifying.

Reading Hunter's The End We Start From
Aug 28, 2019

Megan Hunter's 2017 novel The End We Start From is a unique book. Technically, it may be categorized as a cli-fi novel, but it's unlike any novel I've ever read. It's a sparse, lyrical story of a family being displaced from their London home when the city is flooded. The protagonist gives birth in the middle of the emergency and the subsequent tale tells of the mother's efforts to keep herself and her child alive.

Hunter's detached, distant narrative and stylistic choices make this seem more like an extended poem than a novel. It's very creative.

Poetry lovers should really enjoy this book!

Reading Lee's Ninefox Gambit
Aug 21, 2019

Yoon Ha Lee's 2016 novel Ninefox Gambit is a great example of mathematical fiction. For example, "...Cheris said. "Look --" She mapped the calendrical gradients. "The fractal boundaries are a mess..." She pointed out the key equations. "There, there and there. If you solve for the roots and iterate --" She demonstrated." As someone who has quite a bit of mathematical expertise, I never did quite figure out what was going on here. The author implies that the characters' changing math has corresponding changes in spacetime reality. Whatever's going on, however, it's fun!

The characterization and plotting are first rate here, as well. In a nutshell, a mathematically gifted captain named Cheris is promoted and mentally linked with history's most famous military mass murderer--to win an important space battle.

If you're looking for some fun mathematical fiction, this is it!

Reading Reynolds' Revelation Space
Aug 14, 2019

Alastair Reynolds' 2000 novel Revelation Space has been called one of the best space operas. It has three pov characters embroiled in a mystery who eventually come together: Dan Sylveste an archaeologist and politician, Ilia Volyova an astronaut and mercenary, and Ana Khouri an assassin and spy. Unfortunately, all three characters are difficult to emphathize with--in keeping with the overall dark tone of the book.

Reynolds is professional astronomer so this is also a good example of 'hard science fiction.' The author does a good job explaining various ideas. The author's treatment of AI is fairly sophisticated here. But, in particular, I enjoyed the lack of faster-than-light travel and the consequences. My favorite part of the novel was the realistic archeology sequences in which some characters investigate a much earlier alien(!) culture.

If you're looking for a dark, complex, 'hard' space opera, this is it!

Reading Banks' Consider Phlebas
Aug 7, 2019

Iain Banks' 1987 novel Consider Phlebas has been called one of the best space operas. It's set amidst the war between the Indiran Empire and the Culture. The protagonist is a Changer, a human-like sentient who can essentially change his appearance at will. The plot is primarily a search for an A.I. Mind, formerly a spaceship. Suffice it to say, imagination abounds, the world-building is amazing and the story scope is epic. Ultimately, it seems to say was is a waste. This reader did find it all a bit confusing.

Banks supposedly was inspired by "The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot, specifically, the line: Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you. This may be a reference to the Changer protagonist?

In-the-know readers may have heard Amazon has a series based on the novel in the works. We'll see...

Reading Stephenson's Seveneves
July 31, 2019

Neal Stephenson's 2015 novel Seveneves has been called one of the best hard science fiction novels and raises the question: what would happen if the moon were destroyed? This novel tries to answer the question. People try to preserve the human race by expanding/utilizing the International Space Station (ISS) and outer space. A couple efforts may also be underway on Earth...

Stephenson says, "Having been raised on the idea of "Space, the Final Frontier," I was both appalled and fascinated by the possibility that it" [debris in low Earth orbit] "...might instead become an impenetrable ceiling only a hundred or so miles above our heads."
It is fascinating!

In Part 1 of the novel, the details of the ISS and efforts of astronauts are impressive and inspiring. In Part 2, the destruction of Earth is brutal, and the disagreements and challenges the astronauts face are disheartening. Talk about torturing your characters! In Part 3, five thousand years have passed and the astronauts are basically re-terraforming Earth. There are some good surprises here; this part is significantly different from the earlier sections.

Anyone who considers themselves a hard SF fan should read this novel.

Reading Vinge's Rainbows End
July 24, 2019

Vernor Vinge's 2006 novel Rainbows End has won multiple awards--with good reason. Vinge does an amazing job creating a world in which hi-tech is ubiquitous and very confusing for the uninitiated. Augmented reality dominates human culture with humans interacting through virtual overlays of reality. The world-building here is, well, award-winning. The protagonist, Robert Gu, has come back from Alzheimer's so the world is new to him. Following the story through Gu's eyes works extremely well.

The plot is excellent, namely, the protag and his allies fight a spy bent on world-domination via mind control. Set in this hi-tech culture, filled with such things as belief circles and addressing the security/safety versus freedom/privacy dichotomy the story is complex.

I've never read a book that does such a good job addressing the issues associated with the technological singularity. In fact, this might be one of the best books I've ever read.

Reading Hill's Zero Bomb
July 17, 2019

M.T. Hill's 2019 novel Zero Bomb is a complex epistolary work that explores the effects of technology on human beings. Set in a future U.K., it has great dark gritty world-building, including a mechanical fox (!) and pervasive surveillance. As you can imagine, there's a wealth of important topics here and Hill does a good job with them.

Part of the official blurb says, The near future. Following the death of his daughter Martha, Remi flees the north of England for London. Here he tries to rebuild his life as a cycle courier, delivering subversive documents under the nose of an all-seeing state.But when a driverless car attempts to run him over, Remi soon discovers that his old life will not let him move on so easily...

The epistolary format is innovative and a bit challenging. Hill begins with prose from the point-of-view of a mentally-ill father. The novel includes chapters from another fictional novel as well as a series of reports. It concludes with the point-of-view of another character. (I won't say more about this second character because I don't want to reveal any spoilers.)

By all means check it out if you'd like to read something cutting-edge!

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