Fiction
April Daniels, Dreadnought: Nemesis-Book One: Danny is just an ordinary transgender kid when she comforts the hero Dreadnought in his dying moments, and he passes his powers on to her-and she gets a physical transition in the bargain. That doesn’t stop her from having to deal with her father’s mental and verbal abuse, or other normal problems like sexism and transphobia, but it does provide her with a new mission. Of course the arc of these stories is such that you know she’ll eventually take up the gauntlet, but it’s still a good YA variation on the theme.
Jo Walton, Starlings: Story, story fragment and poetry collection. I think Walton is correct that most of these aren’t really stories; they have elements of the fantastic but nothing really stood out for me. If you’re a Walton completist or you like sff poetry, then this might be for you.
Brennan Lee Mulligan & Molly Ostertag, Strong Female Protagonist, Book Two: Allison Green’s further adventures in college, trying to fight for anyone in trouble and discovering that, when this doesn’t involve fighting supervillains, not everyone is a fan. Allison tangles with a difficult philosophy professor and a moral choice about doing individual wrong for the greater good. It’s an incredibly rich treatment of the implications of not-absolute-but-greater-than-others’ power.
Ann Leckie, Provenance: Exploring a different set of palace intrigues in her existing universe, Leckie introduces another set of gender conventions-on Hwae, it’s chosen from a set of four, when one decides one is old enough. But that’s kind of beside the point; Ingray is her politician mother’s less favorite child. In an attempt to impress her mother enough to best her brother, she recklessly gets involved with a criminal who might know the location of some stolen relics that have enormous symbolic importance on Hwae. Then the aliens show up. Not quite as funny as Bujold can be, but definitely there’s a Rube Goldberg feel to how all the threads somehow come together as Ingray figures out that her self-concept of the less competent child isn’t accurate. Though I’m still not sure whose shoes those were.
David Wong, What the Hell Did I Just Read: David, Amy, and John (from John Dies at the End) are back, with more Lovecraftian adventures in Cracked-style prose. Hounded by police, parents who think David might have kidnapped their kids, and a mysterious Men in Black style organization, the trio attempt to solve the mystery of the missing kids, which turns into an apocalypse, of course. More of the same-if you liked the first two books, as I did, you’ll probably like this.
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.
Jo Walton, Starlings: Story, story fragment and poetry collection. I think Walton is correct that most of these aren’t really stories; they have elements of the fantastic but nothing really stood out for me. If you’re a Walton completist or you like sff poetry, then this might be for you.
Brennan Lee Mulligan & Molly Ostertag, Strong Female Protagonist, Book Two: Allison Green’s further adventures in college, trying to fight for anyone in trouble and discovering that, when this doesn’t involve fighting supervillains, not everyone is a fan. Allison tangles with a difficult philosophy professor and a moral choice about doing individual wrong for the greater good. It’s an incredibly rich treatment of the implications of not-absolute-but-greater-than-others’ power.
Ann Leckie, Provenance: Exploring a different set of palace intrigues in her existing universe, Leckie introduces another set of gender conventions-on Hwae, it’s chosen from a set of four, when one decides one is old enough. But that’s kind of beside the point; Ingray is her politician mother’s less favorite child. In an attempt to impress her mother enough to best her brother, she recklessly gets involved with a criminal who might know the location of some stolen relics that have enormous symbolic importance on Hwae. Then the aliens show up. Not quite as funny as Bujold can be, but definitely there’s a Rube Goldberg feel to how all the threads somehow come together as Ingray figures out that her self-concept of the less competent child isn’t accurate. Though I’m still not sure whose shoes those were.
David Wong, What the Hell Did I Just Read: David, Amy, and John (from John Dies at the End) are back, with more Lovecraftian adventures in Cracked-style prose. Hounded by police, parents who think David might have kidnapped their kids, and a mysterious Men in Black style organization, the trio attempt to solve the mystery of the missing kids, which turns into an apocalypse, of course. More of the same-if you liked the first two books, as I did, you’ll probably like this.
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.