This month, I read more longform fiction, because my daughter got her act together at school and I started smuggling library books into my office. I also read more comics, because I got stuck in many, many hours of Zoom meetings where my presence was not really necessary and did not contribute much benefit. Don’t tell my boss.
Short stories
“Halcyon Afternoon” and “Dragons of Paris” by Michael Swanwick
Two stories, from Tor, set in the Mongolian Wizard universe, with which I was not previously familiar. IT seems like an alternate-history magic world where parts of Europe are at war with the eponymous Mongolian Wizard’s forces, which include witches, giants, and dragons. Both star Ritter, a Prussian officer with a wolf familiar. My American ass had to go look up what Prussia was.
Both stories were a joy to read and easy to follow, despite my unfamiliarity with the universe. I’d forgotten how much I love this kind of 3rd person narrative style. Visceral, 1st person narration can be fun too, but I hadn’t realized I was tired of it.
“Bright Hearts” by Kaaron Warren
A gothicky kind of horror story. A florist profits from exotic, grim flowers discovered by an old woman, growing over what she says is a grave.
“The V*mpire” by P. H. Lee
I guess I’m not online enough to follow this one. I think it’s reproducing tumblr callout culture and the weaponization of socially-conscious language against vulnerable people. At any rate, it was kind of confusing to read. A vampire bullies an isolated teen girl into letting him move into her house and prey on her, kills her mom, etc. Fortunately, her online BFFsy is a werewolf who saves her butt. And they lived happily ever after?
Anyway, the big takeaway is to not talk to aggressive strangers online. The block button is your friend.
“Three Views of a Parking Lot” by Ken Liu
A cozy apocalypse story about the creations that survive humanity to reintegrate into nature.
“Eternal Recurrence” by Spencer Nitkey
A moving story about grief and enduring love. Two of my favorite things. I made my husband read this too, so we could cry about it together.
“Skinless” by Eugenia Triantafyllou
I, admittedly, didn’t get this one. Seems to be about women who have something going on in between being selkies and skinwalkers?
“Vigilant” by Cory Doctorow
A story about exam surveillance. Makes a good point about bad technology— Informing policy is more effective than altering your behavior. Instead of trying to wriggle out of the trap, stop the guy setting traps.
“A Menu of First Favorite Meals” by Jo Miles
This is my favorite read of the month. Made me have to hide sniffles in a union meeting. It’s about memory, healing, love, and nostalgia, and especially about how food unlocks all of the above. Mira’s sister is recovering in a new body, after her mind returns from being sent lightyears away.
Part of me believed that you’d get uploaded into your new body like in a sci-fi movie, despite all Dr. Zhou’s reminders that memories don’t sit in the brain like files on a computer. Sensory info, facts, and emotion are all tangled up in memory, but in your new-formed brain, they’re unraveled. They need to be woven back together.
The reintegration process is a delicate thing, full of potential missteps. And on day two, I’m already screwing it up.
“Parthenogenesis” by Stephen Graham Jones
A couple of kids accidentally speak their nightmares into being.
“Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” by Martha Wells
I was on a Murderbot kick this month. This short story is told from Dr. Mensah’s perspective, taking place after Murderbot rescues her during the events of Exit Strategy.
Books
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
I wanted to like this one. It’s about a boy who’s the only black 11th grader at his prep school. And he’s gay. And he’s being haunted by the ghost of a school shooter.
Unfortunately, this book just did not land for me. It’s mostly told from Jake’s POV, and one of the big problems is that he’s perpetually reacting to supernatural things. By that I mean, most of the wordcount is taken up by psychedelic, visceral descriptions of Weird Ghost Shit. Jake usually doesn’t expect this Weird Ghost Shit, though sometimes he mentions having learned things from a mentor (who never appears in the story). More often, though, he takes a wild leap of intuition that explains whatever the heck just happened. Okay, the evil school shooter ghost is feeding off the trauma of the living to expand his poltergeist powers? Sure.
Overall, it just felt like the book is a confetti storm of stuff. There’s the school shooter ghost (who is a 2nd POV, mostly through diary entries), a victim ghost, a love interest, a best friend, a racist school bully, a rebellious older brother, trauma from child abuse for both POVs, a rapist uncle, and unsupportive school administration. All in the span of 246 pages. The book moves at a fast clip; very seldom does something get introduced before it’s immediately relevant. This is especially true for Magic Shit, of which there is a confusing variety, perpetually besieging poor Jake.
In the Jake POV chapters, the overall effect that he’s ping-ponging from one crisis to the next. His decisions all feel like snap decisions—several key ones are definitely snap decisions—and this undermines the sense that he has goals. As I read, what I kept thinking was, “I guess we’re doing this now?”
I finished the book with a lot of unresolved questions (Jake’s body is possessed and used to commit a murder and arson…fortunately, that never comes up again!) and the impression that about half of Jake’s lovingly detailed supernatural experiences should’ve been swapped out for mundane foreshadowing and narrative groundwork.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
This was exactly what I expected: A perfectly serviceable Murderbot story. Serving as a prequel to the Network Effect novel, it features Murderbot stepping into the role of a detective consultant when an unknown person is murdered on Preservation Station, the home of the constellation of supporting characters that Murderbot rescued and befriended in book 1.
Since it’s a prequel, I knew going in that there wouldn’t be any significant character or plot developments. That’s fine. The mystery was engaging, the characters were fun, the ending was satisfying, and the novella as a whole scratched the same itch that serialized fiction does for me.
System Collapse by Martha Wells
The latest Murderbot novel. Picks up right where the last one left off, same location and cast and everything. So I kind of had trouble following along, since it’s been a good four years since I read Network Effect.
I enjoyed myself, despite that the “Murderbot is dragged into saving humans it just met” formula is getting a bit old for me. One thing that held my interest is that Murderbot is struggling with PTSD symptoms worse than ever this book. That felt like character development. But ultimately, when the ending comes, Murderbot’s only just acknowledged to itself that it’s having this issue. So I guess we have to wait till the next installment to see how this gets addressed.
Comics
Cry, Or Better Yet, Beg by VANJ and Solche
Big fan of this one. A delightful, gorgeous historical drama about an orphaned girl being raised by a distant relative, who serves as the groundskeeper for a noble family’s picturesque estate. When the nobles’ heir and precious only son, who has a cruel, possessive streak, grows into adulthood and starts noticing the lowborn girl flitting about his ancestral hunting grounds, nothing but trouble will follow.
Layla Llewellyn is a bright, cheerful, intelligent, and enterprising heroine. You can’t help but root for her.
The Crown Princess Scandal by Jeonghyeon and KITROW
Wow, a hetero romance I actually enjoy?! Spirited, athletic Hwa-yeong has no interest in becoming a candidate for crown princess, but when her sister RSVPs to an imperial summons on her behalf, she’ll have to participate in a six-month competition to demonstrate her wifely qualities. She doesn’t really have any of those, tbh, but she’s more than happy to blow off each challenge and just run wild doing what she feels like!
But Hwa-yeong can’t stand injustice or dishonesty, so she won’t turn a blind eye to cruel court politics, or snub victims of bullying. It’s precisely these qualities that put her in the path of Shin-yeong, the crown prince, and capture his heart. Now…what should she do with it? Pull the prince into schemes to root out corruption and bullying, obviously.
Stagtown by Punko/M. Alice LeGrow
A completed horror story about an amnesiac town plagued by strange happenings. Frankie has a shifting understanding of why she returned to her hometown in the first place, but what’s certain is that she can no longer escape. A vengeful force holds the residents in its grip, monitoring them constantly and twisting their perception of reality for an unknown purpose. This comic is by the author of Bizenghast, a horror series published by Tokyopop that I remember fondly from when I was in high school.
Cinderella Boy by Punko
And now for something completely different from Punko. This is seriously one of the funniest stories I have ever read. Chase Hollow is basically a magical girl. Kind of. He’s found and befriended a sentient key that lets him enter into the world of any book… As the heroine. Why would he do this? Because, every time he acts out his assigned role and sees a story to its happily ever after, he gets a little bit of magic wish juice… And his mom needs exactly such a miracle for her cancer recovery.
Unfortunately, two things are holding Chase back: 1) he’s only distantly acquainted with reading, so he has no clue how any of these stories are supposed to go, and 2) his rival, “Buddy.” Buddy and his flair for the dramatic are perfectly complemented by possession of the villainess key, an ability to read a freaking book before he jumps in, and the apparent backing of a mysterious group that once controlled all of the role keys: hero, heroine, mentor, helper, villain, villainess, and more. Chase will need each key to cast his wish, and meanwhile, the heroine key misses her family.
The hilarious romantic chemistry between “Buddy” and Chase is the cherry on top of a triple scoop of grade-A shenanigans. I love a good enemies-to-lovers story, as in, a story where neither love interest is a terrible person, so it doesn’t feel skeezy for them to get together. Two goofy young men fumbling their way through classic fairytales in a cat-and-mouse game is kind of the best way ever to establish friendly enmity. You gotta root for both of them, even though Buddy makes an excellent cackling villainess.