Helloooooo!

Well that was a week that is over. Professionally was like wading through treacle and I’m ging to leave it that. Even thinking about some work on Sunday has made me decide I need a proper break and is that such a bad thing? Blog wise scheduling stuff ahead has worked very well two events (one work and one lockdown) slightly got me behind, but I have some contingency built these days and foe me its less a spreadsheet than a calendar that helps now remind me what to read. Even a few on my personal TBR came off

Had a gorgeous reading week though (more on that below) it reminds me when stressed this is how I relax. Some great books on the imminent horizon but I shall leave that to Advanced Booktempting tomorrow!

Things I listened to

The Coode Street Podcast – had a great end of year review and love the praise for the ConZealand Fringe event

What I’ve Been Watching

Wandavision – Yes an actual geek show! First two episodes are parodies of old american sitcoms and funny but slowly you get the feeling something is very wrong with this version of Vision and Scarlet Witch. Promising start and I do like a bit of weird in my SF. UK viewers must not try to sing this to the Chuckle Vision theme tune.

What Have I been Reading and Reviewing?

This week I have had a spell of anthologies and novellas – which I think I should do monthly

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo -  a fantastic tale within a tale novella of rebellions and loss. Soooo good

Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky – an unexpected tale set in the Dogs of War universe. Review soon but reading it this week was disconcerting and yet very suitable for this week.

A Tiding of Magpies by Pete W Sutton – a delightful collection of short stories and flash fiction – a dash of horror, weirdness and fantasy made this an engrossing read.

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora – An unusual tale of a former slave plantation pre and after the Civil War. It is trying to do a lot but not sure it managed to do all of the themes justice.

Where We Live By Tim Cooke – a small collection of tales mixing horror and weird fantasy together in a compelling mix.

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho – a wonderful; tale of bandits, a strange nun and magic (and so much more!) excellent tale. (Review next week)

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace – a disappointment when such much good YA out there to read one that felt so superficial.

Riot Baby by Tchi Onyebuchi – This one was stunning, angry, smart and on point for 2020 (Review next week)

Last Stand in Lychford by Paul Cornell – A fine send up to this quintet of stories set in a British village that really help explore the British in the 21st century (Review next week)

Fermi's Progress - Dyson Fear by Chris Farnell – if you like Douglas Adams and Red Dwarf you’ll like this

Last but by no least a fine send off to the Monsters series from Fox Spirit Books Eurasian Monsters edited by Margret Helgadottir

 

 

What am in Going to Read?

Made To Order – Robots and Revolutions edited by Jonathan Strahan – with stories from Brooke Bolander, Ken Liu, Sarah Pinsker and more looking at our artificial intelligent friends. One of my long standing TBR to clear

The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson – In some ways the lyrical and inventive storytelling reminds me of RJ Barker’s The Bone Ships but this tale of ships that sail on a five mile sea of grass is a very different beast but a glorious one

The Seep by Chana Porter – an unusual novella of an alien invasion where they have infected humanity by the water that they drink

Hall of Smoke by H M Long – Bones in fantasy has been a theme this month – a Viking style fantasy tale I’m looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into

The Salvage Crew by Yudhanjaya Wijerante – a space salvage mission goes terribly wrong! Yay

Relics, Wrecks and Ruins edited by Aiki Flinthart – a hugely impressive anthology end of the month that includes Neil Gaiman, Ken Liu, Garth Nix, Angela Slatter, Jasper Fforde, James SA Corey and many more

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse – Very much looking getting sucked into his tale of gods, agic and intrigue

Inscape by Louise Carey – intrigued by this SF tale that I hear is strange and uncomfortable aka very much for me

The Route of Ice and Salt by Jose Luyis Zarate – a queer vampire tale finally available in English with homages to Dracula – I am intrigued

And so much more!! Good luck for the future – we will get there. See you in a week!