Science Fiction
By Black Forest Basilisks
By Black Forest Basilisks
Everything from time travel to alt history to space opera here! We've also got some science fantasy crossover featured here.
Too Like the Lightning: Book One of Terra Ignota
Ada Palmer
$20.99 $19.52Ada Palmer, author of the Terra Ignota quartet, is masterful in combining older writing styles with more modern techniques, including fourth-wall breaks when she steps aside to allow the narrator to address the reader directly. She is a present day master, whose works will be discussed for decades to come. She calls up philosophers, both of our era and of the future, and expands on how their ideas influenced and related to the world. She explores gender, government, and society in a sometimes uncomfortable but always thought-provoking manner. Her prose contains hints and breadcrumbs, giving the reader just enough to follow along without truly delineating a full-fledged path; in many ways, her writing is shaped by the content of her books rather than vice versa. Her language is archaic in contrast to the far future utopia she depicts within her worlds, creating a slight sense of dysphoria in the reader.
The Luminous Dead
Caitlin Starling
$19.99 $18.59I was kept on the edge of my seat by the sheer sense of claustrophobia and terror the author evoked in this novel. I made the horrible mistake of reading this late at night (I simply couldn’t put it down), and was certain that if I looked up into the dark I’d see a face staring right back at me. I recommend reading this novel in a brightly lit, open space that is as dissimilar to a cave as possible. Gyre has to contend not only with the normal dangers of a cave – which are dangerous enough – but also with the growing certainty that there is someone else with her in the cave. Resupply boxes go missing. Bodies of previous cavers are moved. And her suit’s battery is getting low…
Velocity Weapon
Megan E. O'Keefe
$19.99 $18.59Where to begin? Velocity Weapon is both flawed and delightful. Seriously, I had so much fun with it! Is it perfectly written? No. Did I love the heck out of it? ABSOLUTELY. While some of the execution and pacing is a bit rocky at times, two characters in particular kept me coming back for more. Sanda is a sergeant in the military, who has been stranded in an escape pod for hundreds of years – the last human left in the system. She’s picked up and rescued by The Light of Berossus (affectionately called Bero), a sentient AI ship with a dark past and a quirky personality.
Wanderers
Chuck Wendig
$18.99 $17.66Wanderers is a slow burn that builds up to a solid, satisfying conclusion. Loose ends are tied, character arcs have appropriate ends. A few moments are a bit heartbreaking – but that, I would argue, is to be expected in a book dealing with a mass outbreak of mysterious plague. The destruction is twofold: first, an unknown illness causes individuals to begin walking, almost like sleepwalkers or zombies. If someone attempts to stop them from reaching their goal, they become human bombs – exploding in a mass of sharp bone and blood, killing those around them. Second, there’s a mysterious fungal infection spreading. Whether this is related to the walkers is unknown, but Benji, a member of the CDC, has his suspicions.
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Kate Wilhelm
$16.99 $15.80Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm is an odd mix of heartwarming and bittersweet themes that boasts having won the 1977 Hugo, Locus, and Jupiter awards. Her prose is lovely, evoking the deep connection between humanity and the natural world and subtly juxtaposing it with the destruction of civilization as we know it. Wilhelm crafts a narrative surrounding the end of the world which is timeless and alien, dealing with concepts such as personhood and individuality. While I felt that certain portions of the narrative missed an opportunity for additional nuance and exploration, Wilhelm nevertheless brings us a thoughtful novel that will retain relevance for years to come. Wilhelm’s prose was my favorite part of this novel, the characters being a close second. Her wordcraft brings her love of nature to the forefront. Reading this book, I could feel the love and emotion she poured into her descriptions of forests, rivers, and the world as a whole. David, Molly, and Mark all share that love – to Wilhelm, it seems that a love and connection to nature is an integral part of humanity. This is reflected in the push and pull between original humans and the clones which are now replacing them as the clones lose that connection and understanding of the natural world.
Escaping Exodus
Nicky Drayden
$17.99I love weird, squishy, biological scifi, and I was impressed by how perfectly Escaping Exodus delivered on this front. When I originally read the premise on Goodreads – “a city-size starship carved up from the insides of a space-faring beast” – I knew I had to get my hands on this book. I’ll admit that I came in feeling a hint of trepidation: what if the beast is relegated to being in the background? What if it’s a normal spaceship that’s only “alive” when it’s plot convenient? Etc., etc. Fortunately, we were wading through ichor and entrails from the very first page. My worries were utterly baseless. Nicky Drayden embraced every bit of icky organic goodness right from the start.
The Calculating Stars: A Lady Astronaut Novel
Mary Robinette Kowal
$18.99 $17.66The Calculating Stars was simply brilliant. I loved it. It’s taken me quite a while to write this review, in part because this was such a comfort read – one that I didn’t want to follow up with a review that would make it feel more like “work.” This books is filled with tragedy, heartbreak, unfairness, and discrimination; yet, for all that, it’s also filled with hope, optimism, and accomplishment.
Ancestral Night (Reprint)
Elizabeth Bear
$16.99 $15.80My first introduction to Elizabeth Bear was on the fantasy side with The Stone in the Skull, which I loved. I came in with high expectations for both prose and character development, and I’m pleased to say that Ancestral Night lived up to all my hopes on both counts! Where The Stone in the Skull had multiple points of view and broad-spanning political themes, Ancestral Night keeps things closer to home by following only one character: a traumatized young engineer named Haimey, who is part of the crew on a space salvage rig with a shipmind AI called Singer, a rather unfairly good-looking pilot, and two absolutely delightful cats named Mephistopheles and Bushyasta.