Summer Reading List 2018: Spacefaring Kitten

Summer is horrible, horrible time. It's too hot, your fingers get sweaty, the pages of the books you read get sticky, sunlight makes it hard to read from a screen (and don't get me started on how sticky the screens get), plus reading with shades feels weird and sun cream makes everything even more sticky. However, good books have the power to alleviate summer discomfort slightly, and very good books can almost make a summer bearable, so reading is what I plan to do.

Here's some stuff I look forward to reading.

1. Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay That Became The Classic Star Trek Episode

Growing up, I was always more of a Star Wars than a Star Trek kitten, and I have watched ST only here and there rather unorthodoxically -- like only random episodes of Deep Space Nine and now Discovery. Lately I've began to think that if I can be a fan of hippiefied Jesus myths, it can't be too hard to get into an über-humanist space utopia as well. I also have an unhealthy affection for fannish melodrama and outrage, and therefore Harlan Ellison's original teleplay for the award-winning Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever seems like a good entry point.

It's one of the most memorable episodes of the original 1960's series (or that's what I'm told), won a Hugo Award, and made Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and Ellison hate each other's guts for the rest of their lives. Ellison's script was rewritten several times by Roddenberry and others, and the angry writer reportedly even threw William Shatner out of his house when the lead actor was sent to appease him.

The edition I have in hand contains Ellison's bombastic introductory essay which is almost as long as the teleplay itself, plus shorter recollections of other people involved with the show. I hope it delivers some enjoyable roast as well as insights into what producing science fiction for TV was like 60 years ago.

2. The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction by Justine
Larbalestier

Even though science fiction is supposed to tell us about the future and be ahead of its time, historically it (and the surrounding community) have been only of their time -- if not outright  change-averse and outdated -- when it comes to hard social questions. This is what I expect to learn from Justine Larbalestier's book-lenght study on femininity, masculinity, sex and sexuality in science fiction between the first issue of Amazing Stories in 1926 and James-Tiptree-Jr.-gate in 1970s.

3. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

I've heard N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy -- concluded last year with The Stone Sky -- is good. That's probably putting it mildly, because it has won all the awards there are (including two Hugos in a row), and whenever I happen to read something about it, it sounds like my favorite fantasy series: sociologically complex world, racial tensions, dark mysteries, and sort of superpowers. There's a good chance my pleasure buttons will be pushed, or else I'm in for a massive disappointment.

4. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

Do you know the feeling: an essential author dies and you feel bad for not having read a great and respected book of theirs that you should have in order to understand the magnitude of them not being around anymore? The Left Hand of Darkness is on a far too long list that includes works like J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition, Iain M. Banks's Feersum Endjinn, Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, and dozens of others. Let's just hope Michael Moorcock and Gene Wolfe eat healthy and remember to exercise.

5. A Once Crowded Sky by Tom King

Tom King is one of the most interesting writers working in mainstream comics at the moment, and I still haven't managed to read his debut novel A Once Crowded Sky. The book is going to be six years old this July, and there's not much else superhero stuff on my TBR pile, so I guess it's a good time to finally take a look.

The Vision and The Sheriff of Babylon (not to mention The Batman/Elmer Fudd Special) are wonderful works but it will be interesting to see whether King can write a readable ungraphic novel. As far as I know, the book takes advantage of some self-referential superhero riffs (and which superhero novel doesn't?), so my expectations are somewhere between Watchmen and Astro City. Sounds good in theory, but the ground has been covered by so many others that pulling off something memorable is not easy.

6.  The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill

The Tempest, the last six-issue installment of writer Alan Moore and illustrator Kevin O'Neill's saga The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will start coming out in the summer. League is many things: the series started as a thoroughly enjoyable and thoughtful steampunk superhero romp with established literary characters (Volumes I-II) before diving into crazy experimentation ranging from faux Shakespeare plays and Orwellian porn comics (Black Dossier) to outré musical performances in comics form (Volume III: Century), and finally resurfacing as a mainstream-ish nazi-bashing adventure (Nemo trilogy) -- nazis being the followers of Adenoid Hynkel from Chaplin's The Great Dictator in this case.

There's a fuzzy line between becoming frustrated with Moore and O'Neill's obsessive meta-commentary and obscure references, and being blown away by the creators' weird ambitions and inventions. Often, it's hard to say which of these is one's primary state of mind when reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but at least it's always interesting in some way. The work of so convoluted that a reread of the earlier comics is perhaps in order before tackling the final series. I happened to watch the extremely unfortunate movie adaptation with Sean Connery a while ago and I now have to get that out of my system.

POSTED BY: Spacefaring Kitten, an extradimensional fan of speculative fiction, comics, and general weirdness. Contributor since 2018.

New Books Spotlight

Welcome to another edition of the New Books Spotlight, where each month or so we curate a selection of 6 forthcoming books we find notable, interesting, and intriguing. It gives us the opportunity to shine a brief spotlight on some stuff we're itching to get our hands on.

What are you looking forward to? Anything you want to argue with us about? Is there something we should consider spotlighting in the future? Let us know in the comments!

Cover Art by Richard Anderson

Beaulieu, Bradley P., & Rob Ziegler. The Burning Light [Tor.com Publishing, 2016]
Publisher's Description:

Disgraced government operative Colonel Chu is exiled to the flooded relic of New York City. Something called the Light has hit the streets like an epidemic, leavings its users strung out and disconnected from the mind-network humanity relies on. Chu has lost everything she cares about to the Light. She’ll end the threat or die trying.

A former corporate pilot who controlled a thousand ships with her mind, Zola looks like just another Light-junkie living hand to mouth on the edge of society. She’s special though. As much as she needs the Light, the Light needs her too. But, Chu is getting close and Zola can’t hide forever.

The Burning Light is a thrilling and all-too believable science fiction novella from Bradley P. Beaulieu and Rob Ziegler, the authors of Twelve Kings in Sharakhai and Seed.

Why We Want It: Our very own Brian had a chance to read The Burning Light back in August and he absolutely loved it. Who are we to argue with him?

Cover Art by Daniel Dociu

Corey, James S.A. Babylon's Ashes [Orbit, 2016]
Publisher's Description:

A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.

The Free Navy - a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships - has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.

James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.

But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny, and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante's problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity. 

Why We Want It: Babylon's Ashes is the sixth volume in The Expanse, and honestly, if you're not a fan of the first five there's nothing I can tell you that will convince you to pick this one up - but The Expanse is thrilling space opera with a sprawling cast of characters. We've been waiting for this one the moment we turned the final page of Nemesis Game.

Cover Art by Dominic Harman

Egan, Greg. The Four Thousand, The Eight Hundred [Subterranean Press, 2016]
Publisher's Description:

Camille is desperate to escape her home on colonized asteroid Vesta, journeying through space in a small cocoon pod covertly and precariously attached to a cargo ship. Anna is a newly appointed port director on asteroid Ceres, intrigued by the causes that have led so-called riders like Camille to show up at her post in search of asylum.

Conditions on Vesta are quickly deteriorating—for one group of people in particular. The original founders agreed to split profits equally, but the Sivadier syndicate contributed intellectual property rather than more valued tangible goods. Now the rest of the populace wants payback. As Camille travels closer to Ceres, it seems ever more likely that Vesta will demand the other asteroid stop harboring its fugitives.

With “The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred,” acclaimed author Greg Egan offers up a stellar, novella-length example of hard science fiction, as human and involving as it is insightful and philosophical. 

Why We Want It: We like our novellas here at Nerds of a Feather HQ and for years Subterranean Press has been the standard bearer for publishing some of the finest limited editions around. Greg Egan's The Four Thousand, The Eight Hundred was originally published in Asimov's in late 2015 and quickly garnered heaps of praise. This release gives us another chance to discover Egan's novella.

Cover Art by Vanessa Han

Larbalestier, Justine. My Sister Rosa [Soho Teen, 2016]
Publisher's Description

What if the most terrifying person you know is your ten-year-old sister?

Seventeen-year-old Aussie Che Taylor loves his younger sister, Rosa. But he’s also certain that she’s a psychopath — clinically, threateningly, dangerously. Recently Rosa has been making trouble, hurting things. Che is the only one who knows; he’s the only one his sister trusts. Rosa is smart, talented, pretty, and very good at hiding what she is and the manipulation she’s capable of.

Their parents, whose business takes the family from place to place, brush off the warning signs as Rosa’s “acting out.” Now that they have moved again — from Bangkok to New York City — their new hometown provides far too many opportunities for Rosa to play her increasingly complex and disturbing games. Che’s always been Rosa’s rock, protecting her from the world. Now, the world might need protection from her. 

Why We Want It: The premise of My Sister Rosa is terrifying and compelling and as written by Justine Larbalestier, it is also something we expect we won't be able to look away from.

Cover Art by Anxo Amarelle CGI

Newman, Emma. After Atlas [Roc, 2016]
Publisher's Description:

Acclaimed author Emma Newman returns to the captivating universe she created in Planetfall with a stunning science fiction mystery where one man’s murder is much more than it seems…

Gov-corp detective Carlos Moreno was only a baby when Atlas left Earth to seek truth among the stars. But in that moment, the course of Carlos’s entire life changed. Atlas is what took his mother away; what made his father lose hope; what led Alejandro Casales, leader of the religious cult known as the Circle, to his door. And now, on the eve of the fortieth anniversary of Atlas’s departure, it’s got something to do why Casales was found dead in his hotel room—and why Carlos is the man in charge of the investigation.

To figure out who killed one of the most powerful men on Earth, Carlos is supposed to put aside his personal history. But the deeper he delves into the case, the more he realizes that escaping the past is not so easy. There’s more to Casales’s death than meets the eye, and something much more sinister to the legacy of Atlas than anyone realizes… 

Why We Want It: We loved Planetfall and with After Atlas, Emma Newman brings us back to that setting, though with a completely different perspective. It appears to be less a sequel than a sideways novel, but a new novel from Emma Newman is to be celebrated.

Cover Design by Lauren Panepinto

Wagers, K.B. After the Crown [Orbit, 2016]
Publisher's Description:

The adrenaline-fueled, Star Wars-style sequel to Behind the Throne, a new space adventure series from author K.B. Wagers.

Former gunrunner-turned-Empress Hail Bristol was dragged back to her home planet to fill her rightful position in the palace. With her sisters and parents murdered, the Indranan empire is on the brink of war. Hail must quickly make alliances with nearby worlds if she has any hope of surviving her rule.

When peace talks turn violent and Hail realizes she's been betrayed, she must rely on her old gunrunning ways to get out of trouble. With help from an old boss and some surprising new allies, she must risk everything to save her world. 

Why We Want It: Brian reviewed Behind the Throne back in July and despite rating the novel 7/10, was not all that impressed by it. We seldom do multiple reviews of the same book here at Nerds of a Feather, but I would have given it the same score but with heaps more praise. Behind the Throne was a fast paced romp of a novel with the feel of condensing space operate into the political sphere. After the Crown takes the next step and I can't wait to see what sort of ride Wagers takes us on next.


POSTED BY: Joe Sherry - Writer / Editor at Adventures in Reading since 2004, Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2015, editor since 2016. Minnesotan.   

WisCon: My Home Con

So WisCon 40 is done and gone. And over a week late I'm finally getting around to find my thoughts on it. My thoughts on everything that's happened and everything I was lucky enough to hear and participate in. WisCon, since I started going three years ago, has been, well, the one con I go to each year. Money and work mean that I just can't get too far away from where I live and WisCon...WisCon makes me really happy to live in this state. And this was a big one. Three Guests of Honor, including Sofia Samatar, Nalo Hopkinson, and Justine Larbalestier. Plus just regular awesome people in attendance like K. Tempest Bradford, Mark Oshiro, & many more. For the 40th anniversary of the con people pulled out all the stops.

This was also my first year on programming. I got to be on two panels right away on Friday, at both of which I got to feel completely outclassed by the rest of the panelists. The first, on The Art of the Book Review, kicked off the con for me, and featured a great discussion about the nature of book reviews and their changing role in the fan and publishing landscape. And okay, yet, I apparently have some not-incredibly-popular opinions when it comes to spoilers and negative reviews and comparing works to other works, but it was still a very respectful panel and it was a great way to get started.

My second panel was a bit more...well, it was a lot more fun with a lot more swearing. The Baby Writer panel featured writers with five or fewer pro sales and was addressing that particular place in a writer's trajectory (which for many lasts a lot longer than for others). But it was a great, cathartic experience to talk about the struggles of starting out and facing...a bit of an uphill battle when it comes to getting work out and accepted at pro markets and dealing with managing expectations, pushing back against negativity demons, and trying to focus on both the business and the craft of writing. Really, this was the panel that revitalized me a bit, that got me excited to keep going and writing. Or maybe that was the con as a whole. I always leave WisCon feeling equal parts inspired and intimidated, but it's an amazing experience, like cramming some sort of college course into a single weekend.

Now, other people have written much more intelligently about WisCon and it's history and "the way it's been going." Go read this piece by K. Tempest Bradford. I have less experience with this because this WisCon has always been more my WisCon. Having only gone the last three years, I've seen some shift but haven't experienced how it was before. What I know is that I've loved WisCon and each years just keeps getting better. As much as I am a complete social idiot when it comes to saying hi to people, I've felt welcome at WisCon and really look forward to going back. But there is a discussion going on about who is welcome and if there was a theme this year that I could pick out it's probably one that revolves around the idea of Nice.

There were a few excellent panels about the pitfalls of Nice. The #KeepYANice and Other Tools of Oppression was a great discussion of that, where how people talk about nice and who is expected to be nice was dissected and examined. Many other panels came back to this as well, looking at things like code switching and the intersections of race and class and how Niceness is something that is often used to mean "the right kind of Nice" which is the Nice expected of people who are being punched from above. And there were calls both to resist the pressure to be Nice and there were also calls to shift the conversation away from Nice as an attack and more toward using Nice to celebrate real, human kindness. The proposed Lemonade Award was the culmination of that, put forward by GoH Nalo Hopkinson. It's an interesting idea and I'm excited to see where it might go.

In the end, WisCon remains a great place to go and to talk but, for me, mostly to listen. To bask in the voices of so many amazing people and writers and learn something. And also buy a lot of books. But year after year it continues to provide excellent panels and discussions and speakers and just all the good. If you're in the Wisconsin area around Memorial Day, definitely stop in. Say hi. See you next year, WisCon!

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POSTED BY: Charles, avid reader, reviewer, and sometimes writer of speculative fiction. Contributor to Nerds of a Feather since 2014.