Books

cover of someone you can build a nest in by wiswell
Books Reviews 

Liz Bourke Reviews Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

locusmag 0 Comments

Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (DAW 978-0-75641-885-4, $28.00, 320pp, hc.) April 2024.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is award-winning short fiction writer John Wiswell’s debut novel. I went in expecting good things, and I wasn’t disappointed. The most straightforward shorthand I have to describe it is: ‘‘It’s as if T. Kingfisher wrote one of her fantasy romance novels from the point of view ...Read More

Read more
cover of mars house by pulley
Books Reviews 

Niall Harrison Reviews The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

locusmag 0 Comments

The Mars House, Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury US 978-1639732333, 480pp, $29.99, hc). March 2024.

If, a century from now, there are enough readers and enough academic presses to warrant reprint­ing early 21st-century Anglophone science fiction, editors in search of candidates might do worse than considering Natasha Pulley’s The Mars House for their list. In its style, its intellectual interests, and the strengths and weaknesses of its execution, Pulley’s sixth novel ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Colleen Mondor Reviews The Fair Folk by Su Bristow and The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

locusmag 0 Comments

The Fair Folk, Su Bristow (Europa Editions 979-8-889-66012-5, $18.00, tpb, 464pp) January 2024.

In her gorgeous new historical fantasy, The Fair Folk, author Su Bristow crafts the story of a particularly complex interaction between mortals and faeries. Opening in 1959, the novel follows the shifting relationship between then-eight-year-old Felicity and Elfrida, the apparent queen of a long-established fairy group ensconced in the woods near her home. At first, the ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Alexandra Pierce Reviews Triangulum: An Epic of the Nine Worlds of Surya by Subodhana Wijeyeratne

locusmag 0 Comments

Triangulum: An Epic of the Nine Worlds of Surya, Subodhana Wijeyeratne (Rosarium Pub­lishing 979-8-98661-460-1, $19.95, 300pp, tp) January 2024.

In his first novel, Subodhana Wijeyeratne takes elements of religious stories from the Indian subcontinent and reimagines them in space, with godlike aliens and humanity spread across the solar system. None of these aspects are apparent from the outset, but are gradually revealed as the story unfolds in epic, and ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

locusmag 0 Comments

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom 978-1-2508-8180-9, $18.99, 128pp, tp) April 2024.

Generation starship stories tend to come in a few distinct flavors, with distinct character types. There are the refugees, trying to keep humanity alive while escaping a dying or overpopulated Earth (the sort of wishful fantasy that Kim Stanley Robinson set out to demolish in Aurora a few years ago). There are the ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Russell Letson Reviews Doorway to the Stars by Jack McDevitt

locusmag 0 Comments

Doorway to the Stars, Jack McDevitt (Subter­ranean 978-1-64524-188-1, $40.00, 107 pp, hc) February 2024. Cover by Edward Miller.

In two novels nearly 20 years apart, Jack McDe­vitt offered a platter full of puzzles and oddities. Ancient Shores (1996) and Thunderbird (2015) begin with the discovery of certain artifacts and buildings on what, 12,000 years earlier, had been the shore of the inland sea of Lake Agassiz in North Dakota: ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Ian Mond Reviews The Invisible Hotel by Yeji Y. Ham

locusmag 0 Comments

The Invisible Hotel, Yeji Y. Ham (Zando 978-1-63893-137-9, $28.00, 320pp, hc) March 2024.

Early on in Yeji Y. Ham’s intense debut novel, The Invisible Hotel, our narrator, Yewon, describes her mother’s daily ritual of cleaning of their ances­tor’s bones in the family’s bathtub.

My stomach began to thrash. I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to smell it. Heat, breath, sweat, the odor that rose into the ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Liz Bourke Reviews The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson

locusmag 0 Comments

The Principle of Moments, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson (Gollancz 978-1-47323-419-2, £18.99, 520pp, hc.) January 2024.

Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson’s The Principle of Moments, the debut original novel from the first winner of the UK’s Future Worlds Prize for Fantasy & Science Fiction Writers of Colour (in 2020), feels like an answer to the question of: What happens if you cross Star Wars with Doctor Who? And then make it queer (queerer ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Niall Harrison Reviews The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction edited by Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay

locusmag 0 Comments

The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction, Bodhisattva Chatto­padhyay, ed. (The MIT Press 978-0-26254-761-1, 162pp, $19.95, tp). March 2024. Cover by Seth.

For about 15 years now, Joshua Glenn has been banging the drum for the historical and literary value of “proto-SF” published between roughly 1900 and 1935. He dubs this period, with a touch of dark whimsy, the “Radium Age,” on the grounds that ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Jake Casella Brookins Reviews The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed

locusmag 0 Comments

The Siege of Burning Grass, Premee Mohamed (Solaris 978-1-8378-6046-3, $27.99, 432pp, hc) March 2023.

“Weird” is a word that’s been worn thin with use, even in regular conversation. I hesitate to apply it in a genre sense – whether old or New – for fear of misusing it, wading too deep into niche catego­rization, or merely adding more wear to the term. But there’s a sense in which its ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Ian Mond Reviews Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi

locusmag 0 Comments

Parasol Against the Axe, Helen Oyeyemi (Faber & Faber 978-0571366620, £16.99, 272pp, hc) February 2024. (Riverhead 978-0-59319-236-8, $28.00, 272pp, hc) March 2024.

Helen Oyeyemi’s new novel, Parasol Against the Axe, takes place in Prague, Oyeyemi’s home since 2013. Interviewed by The Guardian in 2019, Oyeyemi described Prague as a “very layered city; it could be a film set; it could be a fairytale; it could be a gritty, ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Russell Letson Reviews The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

locusmag 0 Comments

The Tusks of Extinction, Ray Nayler (Tordotcom 978-1-25085-552-7, $26.99, 101pp, hc) January 2024. Cover by Faceout Studios.

It is a proposition universally asserted that the novelette and novella are the optimal lengths for science fiction. Or frequently suggested, anyway, despite the number of five-volume trilo­gies and long-running series out there. And the relatively recent renaissance of small-press opera­tions has certainly given freestanding midlength work renewed visibility outside the pages ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Alexandra Pierce Reviews The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G. Slatter

locusmag 1 Comment

The Briar Book of the Dead, A.G. Slatter (Titan 978-1-80336-454-4, $16.99, 368pp, tp) Cover by Julia Lloyd. February 2024.

With The Briar Book of the Dead following up The Path of Thorns, A.G. Slatter shows that her genius for the magical gothic tale is not waning, with witches and ghosts and terrible deeds coming together to create a riveting story.

The Briar witches live in, and govern, the ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie

locusmag 0 Comments

Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction, Ann Leckie (Orbit 978-0-3165-5357-5, $29.00, 416pp, hc) April 2024.

In a Locus interview last year, Ann Leckie noted that, prior to Ancillary Justice, “Nobody paid much attention to my stories,” and she was nei­ther complaining nor being falsely modest. While a few of the stories in Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction made the Locus recommended read­ing list or best-of-the-year ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Ian Mond Reviews Snowglobe by Soyoung Park

locusmag 0 Comments

Snowglobe, Soyoung Park (Delacorte 978-0-59348-497-5, $20.99, 384pp, hc) February 2024.

There’s significant whiplash going from the op­pressive darkness of Yeji Y. Ham’s The Invisible Hotel to the propulsive plotting and excitement of Soyoung Park’s debut young-adult novel Snow­globe (translated from Korean by Joungmin Lee Comfort). Set two centuries into the future, we are presented with a world (or at least the tiny portion we see) blanketed in snow and ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow

locusmag 0 Comments

The Bezzle, Cory Doctorow (Tor 978-1250865878, $27.99, hc, 240pp) February 2024.

Cory Doctorow is certainly experiencing a “hot hand” run. That sports phenomenon, where one success impels and invites a subsequent triumph, sometimes in a long streak, can be seen in Doctorow’s two most recent books, which have appeared practically back to back. In November of 2023 came The Lost Cause (reviewed by me for this very publication), which showed ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Colleen Mondor Reviews Calamity by Constance Fay

locusmag 0 Comments

Calamity, Constance Fay (Bramble 978-1-250-33041-3, $18.99, tpb, 320pp) November 2023.

Constance Fay’s debut, Calamity, is an SF ad­venture set on a distant planet amidst several groups and individuals all operating with their own conflicting purposes and totally willing to kill each other to achieve their goals. The heroes are the small crew of the somewhat dilapidated space vessel Quest, who scout out various planets for whatever their clients, ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Gabino Iglesias Reviews The Wrong Girl & Other Warnings by Angela Slatter

locusmag 0 Comments

The Wrong Girl & Other Warnings, An­gela Slatter (Brain Jar Press 978-1-92247-961-7, $14.99, 186pp, tp) October 2023

Sometimes awards don’t mean much, but Angela Slatter’s accomplishments – a Shirley Jackson Award, a World Fantasy Award, a Brit­ish Fantasy Award, three Australian Shadows Awards, and eight Aurealis Awards – point to one thing very clearly: She’s a superb writer. She’s also a writer who is constantly pushing the envelope of ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo Reviews Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson

LocEditor 0 Comments

Those Beyond the Wall, Micaiah Johnson (Del Rey ‎ 978-0593497500, hardcover, 384pp, $28.99) March 2024

It seems safe to say that the evergreen SF trope of a high-tech city or culture besieged by low-tech outsiders or “barbarians” goes back at least to H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine (1895) with its depiction of the Eloi and the Morlocks. Of course, Wells had myriad historical examples to inspire his conception, ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Niall Harrison Reviews The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2022 edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Eugen Bacon & Milton Davis

locusmag 0 Comments

The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2022, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Eugen Bacon & Milton Davis, eds. (Caezik/OD Ekpeki Presents, 978-1-64710-077-3, $11.49, 450pp, eb) December 2023.

The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2022 opens with WC Dunlap’s “March Magic”, a brief story about a critical day in twentieth-century American history. It is 28 August 1963, the day of the March on Washington, and Mama Willow, a swamp witch – ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Alexandra Pierce Reviews Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde

locusmag 0 Comments

Red Side Story, Jasper Fforde (Hodder & Stough­ton 978-1444763669, £17.99, 384pp, hc) February 2024. (Soho Press 978-1-64129-628-1, $29.95, 456pp, hc) May 2024.

When Jasper Fforde did clever things in The Eyre Affair (2001), I was one of many people who fell in love with this funny, bizarre, slightly-askew-to-reality world. Fforde was writing humorous fantasy that com­mented on and skewered the real one. It sounded superficially like the Discworld novels ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Ian Mond Reviews The Briar Book of the Dead by A. G. Slatter

locusmag 0 Comments

The Briar Book of the Dead, A.G. Slatter (Titan Books, 978-1-80336-454-4, $16.99, 368pp, tp) February 2024.

When I reviewed A.G. (Angela) Slatter’s 2022 novel The Path of Thorns, I said she was one of the best contemporary fantasists in the field. But I was wrong; my vision was too narrow. Angela is simply one of the best contemporary writers of fiction, regardless of genre. Deep down, I already ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Morningside by Téa Obreht

LocEditor 0 Comments

The Morningside, Téa Obreht (Random House 978-1984855503, hardcover, 304pp, $20.00) March 2024

Is the New Weird still a going concern? Dating roughly from the turn of the century (China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station is the Monolith that enlightened the hominid readers), with the term itself harking to the year 2002 (courtesy of M. John Harrison), the subgenre with famously leaky borders and hazy definitions is approaching its 25th birthday. ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein

locusmag 0 Comments

These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart, Izzy Wasserstein (Tachyon 978-1-61696-412-2, $15.95, 174pp, tp; -413-9, $11.95, ebook) March 2024.

The term “dystopia” has been so widely and slop­pily overused of late that, in the eyes of some, I suppose, it might just as well refer to anyplace without a Starbucks. Without parsing defini­tions, I’ve always thought of it as a bad society resulting from actual policies and decisions, not just ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Stars Turned Inside Out by Nova Jacobs

LocEditor 1 Comment

The Stars Turned Inside Out, Nova Jacobs (Atria 978-1668018545, hardcover, 320pp, $27.99) March 2024

With the loss (hopefully not permanent) of Gregory Benford’s talents to a medical incident a bit over a year ago, the SF field was deprived of perhaps the most accomplished voice in depicting the reality of “doing science.” His masterpiece, Timescape, is of course the most salient example of that mode, but the steeped-in-the-academy-and-the-laboratory ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Ian Mond Reviews Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea by C.D. Rose

locusmag 0 Comments

Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea, C. D. Rose (Melville House 978-1-68589-084-1, $19.99, 224pp, tp) January 2024.

I love a lot of books. But I also love a lot of authors. This means that I rarely read more than one book by a writer in any given year. What I certainly don’t do is buy a new (to me) author’s back cata­logue, even if I adored their work. I ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews Logical Fantasy: The Many Worlds of John Wyndham by John Wyndham

locusmag 0 Comments

Logical Fantasy: The Many Worlds of John Wyndham, John Wyndham (Subterranean 978-1-64524-143-0, $50.00, 424pp, hc) April 2024.

So many impressive writers of short fiction have shown up over the past few decades that it’s worth wondering how the writers of earlier generations seem to be holding up. A couple of new collections from two very different figures, Harlan Ellison and John Wyndham, might offer some clues. There was a ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Colleen Mondor Reviews The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

locusmag 0 Comments

The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden (Del Rey 978-0-593-12825-1, $28.99, 318pp, hc) February 2024.

As The Warm Hands of Ghosts opens, former field nurse Laura Iven is still reeling from the deaths of her parents following the catastrophic explosion of a cargo ship laden with explosives in the harbor of her hometown, Halifax, Nova Sco­tia. (This is based on a real event in 1917.) Laura was home after ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

locusmag 0 Comments

The Butcher of the Forest, Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom 978-1250881786, $18.99, 160pp, tp) February 2024.

I’m pretty sure that tales of forests that are haunted (or enchanted or forbidden or cursed or simply hallucinogenic) predate haunted-house tales by several centuries – in fact, they prob­ably predate houses – and they’ve long provided powerful templates for fantasy (William Morris, George MacDonald, Tolkien, Robert Holdstock), horror (Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood) and even ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Jake Casella Brookins Reviews Other Minds and Other Stories by Bennett Sims

locusmag 0 Comments

Other Minds and Other Stories, Bennett Sims (Two Dollar Radio 978-1-9533-8735-6, $18.95. 202pp, tp) November 2023. Cover by Eric Obe­nauf.

Other Minds and Other Stories, the new col­lection from Bennett Sims, is a must-read: a startling, insightful blend of horror and humor, thoughtful and unpredictable. Many of the sto­ries here are about the psychologies of writing, and of reading, the very strangeness of trying to record thoughts or ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Alexandra Pierce Reviews Wicked Problems by Max Gladstone

locusmag 0 Comments

Wicked Problems, Max Gladstone (Tordotcom 978-0-76539-593-1 $19.99, 464pp, tp) April 2024. Cover by Goñi Montes.

Max Gladstone’s new Craft Wars novel Wicked Problems feels like the sort of book that should have a relatively clear-cut binary of heroes and villains. Maybe the heroes would be tarnished, maybe the villains have some redeeming features; but the overall story – terrible things from beyond the void are coming and maybe the ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Russell Letson Reviews House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky

locusmag 0 Comments

House of Open Wounds, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Head of Zeus, 978-1035901388, $27.99, 585 pp, hc) December 2023. Cover by Joe Wilson.

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s House of Open Wounds is a follow-on to The City of Last Chances that repeats many of the structural features of its predecessor: a large cast of viewpoint characters; ‘‘mosaic’’ chapters that provide authorial overviews and comments; a rambling story line that nevertheless draws the reader through ...Read More

Read more