Kristine Kathryn Rusch: The Gallery of His Dreams

A historical fiction novella with a fantasy twist.

Publishing year: 2008

Format: ebook

Publisher: WMG Publishing Inc.

Wordcount from GoodReads: 56

Young Mathew Brady is a bright boy and his teachers say that he could even become a president one day even though his parents are farmers. But Brady wants to be a great man, someone people will remember. He wants to be a painter.

He leaves the farm and goes to New York. To his disappointment, he doesn’t have the talent for painting. Then he meets Samuel Morse who introduces Brady to daguerreotypes, the earliest form of photography. Brady is immediately intrigued. The next night, he has a dream about the Daguerre portraits he has taken. A woman in the dream says that the photographs will make Brady great.

Some years later, he has a successful portrait photography studio in New York. He meets the girl of his dreams and marries her. But he feels that he could do more and greater things. When the American Civil War starts, he wants to photograph the war so that humans will always remember the horrors and not repeat them. He uses his money and influence to get into the front lines.

This was a story about obsession. By all accounts, Brady is wealthy and successful, yet he throws it all away to follow his dream. In his dreams, he sees a gallery of photographs some of which he hasn’t shot (yet) and he is commissioned to take photos of other historical tragedies. Brady is a real historical man who took famous photos of the Civil War. The story follows his real life closely.

The story has some very vivid and horrible images about various wars.

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Villainess

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

Last year we talked about our favorite villains, so let’s give the ladies some love and feature our favorite villainess’ in fiction! The topic was for last week, but better late than never.

1, Dark Phoenix from the X-Men comics

In the original Dark Phoenix saga, one of the X-Men, Jean Grey, is possesed by a cosmic entity which is almost all-powerful. In the end, the power is too much for Jean and it corrupts her. We readers know Jean and (presumably) like her a lot, so it’s heartbreaking to see the team try to take down one of their own. Jean’s personality comes to the surface a couple of time and she begs for the others to kill her before she can hurt anyone.

2, Mystique from the X-Men comics

In the movies, Mystique was made into a hero. But in the comics, she’s ruthless, determined, and selfish. When it suits her own ends, she’s can work with the police or the heroes. She’s determined and ruthless. She’s also Rogue’s loving mother and in a devoted relationship with a woman.

3, Catwoman from the Batman comics

Selina Kyle makes a point of never killing anyone. Yet, she enjoys both the money and the thrills she gets from heists. She’s attracted to Batman but not enough to give up crime. At least in the main timestream. There are a couple of alternate universes where Bruce and Selina are together.

4, Jadis the White Witch from the Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

The White Witch was responsible for keeping Narnia is forever winter but without Christmas.

5, Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Drusilla first appared in the second season of the show. She’s a vampire with the gift of foresight. She’s also insane and enjoys tormenting people before killing them.

 

Neve Masklakovic: The Far Time Incident

The first book in the time-travel Incident series. Can be read as a stand-alone.

Format: Audio

Length: 9 hours 45 minutes

Publication year: 2013

Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal

Julia Olsen is the assistant to the dean of science at St. Sunniva University. When one of the professors fails to come back from a routine time-travel trip, the science department is in trouble. Campus Security Chief Nate Kirkland investigates and Julia is assigned to help him. At first, everyone assumes that the professor had an accident. But nobody can find the time coordinates where he went. So, Nate starts to suspect that the professor could have been murdered.

Academics and time travel have so far been a winning combination for me and this book didn’t disappoint. Julia is a long-time assistant and knows the university, students, and professors inside out. She’s smart and hard-working but has never aspired to be a professor. She’s also recently separated from her husband and there’s a minor romance in the book.

The first part of the book is set in the academic world which I rather liked but I thoroughly enjoyed the second half which I won’t spoil here. I don’t know if the research is correct, though.

Even though this is the first book in the series, it doesn’t leave plotlines hanging. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will continue with the series.

 

Kristine Kathryn Rusch: G-Men

An alternate history mystery novella.

Publishing year: 2008

Format: ebook

Publisher: WMG Publishing Inc.

Wordcount from GoodReads: 56

The story is set a couple of months after President Kennedy was shot. New York homicide detective Seamus O’Reilly is called early in the morning to a crime scene next to a house where people know that gay people party. So, nobody has been in a hurry to investigate the two men who have been shot. To his shock, the bodies turn out to be J. Edgar Hoover and his closest associate. FBI Agent Frank Bryce is also called to investigate. The inter-office rivalry is forgotten in the face of this crime.

Meanwhile, Robert Kennedy is racing to get his hands on Hoover’s secret files about all the politicians in Washington. Including himself and his later brother.

This is a wonderful, tight story. It’s a great crime story and a great historical fiction story. Despite the short length, we get invested in three distinct POV characters and we understand the scope of the disaster. They’re all very good at their jobs. The story shows the prejudices common in that time without condoning them. The prejudices frustrate the POV characters because they get in the way of proper investigation.

 

Kickstarter project and a Fae book bundle

Kristine Kathryn Rusch has a new Kickstarter: Barkson’s Journey. It’s the newest book in her Fay series.

In Barkson’s Journey, Lucinda Barkson sets out on a trip to save an entire family. She travels across a continent and encounters unrest and magic, evildoers and people with surprising skills.

It’s almost a standalone novel. Rusch explains:

[Y]ou will enjoy it if you read it first, but better to read The Kirilli Matter (which you can get in this Kickstarter). You don’t have to read the entire first Fey saga at all…unless you want to.

12 days left. It’s already funded and reached the first stretch goal so backers will get an additional ebook Flower Fairies. The rewards include two workshops: How to Create and Use Fantasy Maps and How to Create Great Fantasy Main Characters.

Storybundle has a wonderful new bundle: The Fantastic Fae Bundle: Curated by Anthea Sharp: Top fantasy authors bring you a dozen books, each one filled with otherwordly magic. Which portal will you open first? They all lead to adventure, but beware the bargains of the fae…

The bestselling authors in this StoryBundle are known for their deft use of traditional faerie lore. Don’t expect twinkles and sweetness here! Instead, you’ll encounter the treacherous and lovely denizens of the Realm of Faerie, in all their guises. Whether it’s a mortal stolen into the Faerie courts, or a half-blood changeling struggling to live in the human world, fae magic imbues each of these books with perilous magic.

21 days left.

Humblebundle has Shogun the Asian saga bundle.

Lose yourself in the stirring fiction of James Clavell with this audiobook bundle, sure to whisk you away to lands of conflict, power, and transformation. Shogun, the masterpiece of historical fiction from which the hit FX TV drama was adapted, transports you to feudal Japan, where intrigue, strategy, and a clash of cultures unfold through the eyes of an English navigator. King Rat, set in a WWII POW camp, reveals the resilience of the human spirit amidst despair and deprivation. Pay what you want for this collection of rousing audiobooks—8 titles in all—and help support First Book with your purchase.

5 days left.

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Books with Robots or Futuristic Reads

It’s National Robotics Week! To celebrate, what are some books you would recommend that have robots or are futuristic/techy reads?

Science fiction is one of my favorite genres but I haven’t read much about robots. There are far more androids, cyborgs and artificial intelligences in the books I’ve read. Here are some of my favorites:

1, A Psalm for the Wild-built by Becky Chambers

In this novella, a robot is one of the two main characters. Splendid Speckled Mosscap hasn’t met a human before so he’s very excited when he finally meets one. The human wants solitude but the robot tags along with their travels.

2. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The main character calls itself Murderbot. It’s a Security Unit, SecUnit, who is an android with both mechanical parts and cloned biological parts. It’s designed for security on various sites. Despite the fact that it’s (it doesn’t have gender nor sexual parts) clearly a thinking and feeling being, legally it’s the property of the company and not a person.

3, Metamorphosis by Jean Lorrah

I can’t have a list like this without Data from Star Trek: TNG. He’s a fine side charater in many novels but I think he’s the best in the show, especially in episodes centered on him. Still, Metamorphosis focuses on Data and also makes him a human for a short while. It’s an interesting idea and really depends on the reader on how successful it is.

4, Lock In by John Scalzi

In this book, some people have a disease called “lock in”. They’re fully aware but can’t move. So, they have neural implants which allow them to take over a robot body or interact with each other in a virtual world. The main character Chris Shane is an FBI agent working in a robot body.

5, Avengers Epic collection vol. 4: Behold the Vision

Another of my long-time favorite androids is the Vision from the Avengers, especially in the 80s and 90s when he was married to the Scarlet Witch. I didn’t care for his emotionless version (one of John Byrne’s rare missteps) but Kurt Busiek brought his personality back almost to what he was. I also really enjoyed Paul Bettany’s version of him in the movies. (Disney, I know you can bring him back. We’ve waited long enough…)

 

Alex White: The Worst of All Possible Worlds

The third and final book in the Salvagers science fantasy series.

Format: Audio

Length: 18 hours 30 minutes

Publisher: Orbit

Publication year: 2023

Narrated by: Charlotte Blacklock

The crew of the Capricious has had a little of a breather after their previous adventure. They’re watching the execution of their hated enemy. Unfortunately, she swears that her mother, who is essentially a magic god, will avenge her death. She’s right.

However, first the crew is asked to be secret agents in a very dangerous mission. The mission will take them into the mystery of Origin (humanity’s original planet) and magic. The pacing has a good balance between thrilling action scenes and character moments. There’s also techno-babble and history lessons

I liked this book better than the previous one because Nilah and her girlfriend Orna work really well together. Boots acknowledges that she’s now part of a team after she’s been working alone for quite a while. We also get to know more about the two new crewmembers from the previous book.

The crew has really grown on me and they’re in a very good form here. I’m sad that this is the last book. I’m hoping that White writes some novellas or short stories about them.

If you enjoyed the previous two books, you will enjoy this one, too.

 

Nancy Holder: Queen of the Slayers

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer book set right after the end of the last episode.

Publication year: 2005

Page count: 337

Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment

Format: print

Buffy, her friends, and the surviving young Slayers are on a bus, heading away from Sunnydale which has collapsed because the Hellmouth exploded. Buffy is upset because she just saw Spike die as well as Anya and a dozen of the young Slayers. However, someone runs in front of the bus and when Kennedy tries to dodge her, the bus falls to its side and catches fire. Buffy helps evacuate others from the bus.

The girl who ran in front of the bus is scared and confused and Buffy thinks that she’s a new Slayer. The whole group needs a place to stay and rest. Fortunately, a local sheriff helps them. Unfortunately, during the night Buffy comes face-to-snout with the local hostile supernatural creatures. After a tough fight, she’s victorious.

The group needs to decide where they will go next. There’s still a Hellmouth in Cleveland. Faith, Robin Wood, and some young Slayers head there. Buffy and the rest of the gang will go to England to meet with the Watchers’ Council.

Meanwhile, Hell wants Buffy’s blood. The Hellgod Janus and three other hellish gods team up to bring down not just Buffy but the Earth.

Buffy argues with the head of Watchers’ Council, Sir Nigel. He wants to keep the new Slayers subservient to the Watchers and Buffy disagrees. However, Sir Nigel tells her that there is a big group of new Slayers in France, staying with a mysterious man called the Immortal. Buffy doesn’t like the sound of that so she, Xander, Willow, and a new Slayer called Belle head there while Giles stays with the Council. But one of the Immortal’s sorcerers is scheming against Buffy and the other Slayers.

Meanwhile, the Hellmouth is spewing demons out and Faith has her hands full in Cleveland.

This was a fun continuation of the TV show. However, it feels a little disjointed when the group splits up in different directions. In fact, it feels like a plot arch for a season with two main bad-guy groups. I enjoyed the Hellgods but I loved the two other main big bads (I won’t spoil them here) and the short snippets about their history. Unfortunately, most of the villain chapters are from the POV of their servant whom I didn’t like. Sometimes months go past between chapters. That adds to the fell of a seasonal arch. Also, a lot of young Slayers die so the story felt more bloodthristy than a usual Buffy story.

Kennedy and Willow break up at the beginning which was a disappointment for me. Otherwise, the characters felt a lot like themselves. We also get a lot of new characters.

The final chapters felt quite rushed and the ending left some big questions unanswered.

 

Women in SFF Month

Kristen at Fantasy Cafe is hosting Women in SF& Month 2024. The posts in previous years have been great and it’s wonderful to see that so many people, men and women, are again celebrating women writers. The first week offers posts from Samantha Mills, Premee Mohamed and Eliza Chan. I’m sure my TBR will explode, again.

 

T. Kingfisher: Thornhedge

A fairy tale retelling novella.

Format: Audio

Length: 3 hours 43 minutes

Publisher: TOR

Publication year: 2023

Narrated by:Jennifer Blom

Toadling is a small fairy who guards the castle which is inside a huge nest of throns. She’s just a little fairy with very limited magic so mostly she just watches humans come and go. She’s not sure if she has a soul; the priest said that she doesn’t. But she still prays that nobody will go inside the tower and wake the sleeper. She has been doing it for a long time.

One day, a Saracen knight Halim camps near the thorns. He speaks to the fairy and she answers, startled. She knows that she shouldn’t say anything but she hasn’t spoken to anyone in a very long time and the temptation is too much. The knight has heard a tale about the sleeping maiden in the castle and is determined to break her curse. Toadling is horrified and tries to stop him.

This was a gentle retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. I loved it. As Kingfisher tends to do, she’s put in a couple of twists I didn’t see coming. I won’t spoil them here.

I really enjoyed both Toadling and the Halim. Toadling has been alone for a long time and is desperate for company. At the same time, she’s paying for a mistake in her past and guarding the castle. She’s kind and endearing. Halim is also a kind person. Even though he’s a knight, he’s not brash or arrogant. He wants to learn and is eager to learn even from a small fairy. While lots of fairy tales make a point of describing the characters are beautiful or handsome, here Toadling is plain or even ugly.

However, there are some problems with how Sleeping Beauty is portrayed. Still, it didn’t bother me while I was listening to it.

A wonderful, lush fantasy tale.