Westworld Wednesday: A Bubble of Agency

And God saw every thing that he had made: and behold, it was very good. - Genesis 1:31, KJV

God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. - Genesis 3:4-5, KJV

I didn't even get to talk about how awesome the cinematography is in this

 I originally had a different title, something about gods and ghosts in machines, which is pretty appropriate, but I really liked that line a lot. It fits just as well. The machines are the new gods, made of men who would be god themselves, while others made another machine still to be god.

Gods - our world Gods, with its myriad iterations - always offer hope. The Christian god (also of myriad iterations) offers life eternal in heaven, along with a fear of punishment in hell. Most other deities offer something similar. The presence of life after death is omnipresent, and usually tied to doing that beings bidding.

Interestingly, somewhere along the lines, Delores became a benevolent god. For someone who left her 'home' spitting venom towards the whole of humanity, her choice to allow humans - at least on an individual scale - know and decide their own fates is perhaps a curious one on the surface.

But she learned what Serac was doing, literally determining people's entire lives, and realized that was a crueler god than she was.

Or did Serac have a point? Did it, in fact, make for a better world? Sure, people didn't have free will, but they didn't know they didn't have free will, and if humanity was on the verge of nuking itself out of existence, isn't survival the better option?

Only, that option - that hope - of survival was every bit the illusion that the afterlife is. Follow this path and live forever. Westworld (the park) showed that humanity still has violent delights - as does the underworld that Caleb is sort-of-part-of. "Personals" are common. A major segment of humanity still lives in violence and squalor. War, famine, disease and death haven't been eradicated - they've just been repurposed.

Which shows us who the real gods are, or rather; the devils. They are the same as they are in Westworld (also the park), as in real life (in the show) and in real life (actual real life) - the Haves and the Have-Nots. If you are in the latter category, well, your life is controlled by those in the former. Money and power build up to the point where you don't actually need a giant orb to control the free market and the lives of people who are considered meaningless, unnoticeable, unworthy of regard to the rich and powerful. Even having lost everything and dying where Caleb was supposed to, Liam shoves him away and reminds him he is nothing.

But maybe the Devil was actually in the right - maybe we do know good and evil. And maybe we are like gods, but then - maybe God was right and that's not a good thing.

-DESR
Dean is the author of the 3024AD series of science fiction stories. When not holed up in his office tweeting obnoxiously writing, he can be found watching or playing sports, or in his natural habitat of a bookstore. 

Microreview [Book]: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

A gnome, the son of Satan, and the glimmers of sweet humanity collide in this heartwarming treat of a novel.

The House in the Cerulean Sea, a zippy, amorous novel, full of twists and witty one-liners, is a lot like the root system of the quaking aspen trees. Not exactly an obvious parallel, but out of all the metaphors that TJ Klune throws the reader’s way, none is more apt than the description of a root system of trees that are genetically the same, but have their own personality. Every which way you look at the novel can be traced back to the description of that root system.

Let me explain. It’s a novel about tolerance—how physical differences and personality quirks dictates each of our uniqueness, but nevertheless underscores how we all have emotions and innate goodness that is universal. It’s a novel about how even though everyone is born with innate goodness, the lessons we are taught by those in power have the potential to discolor our perception of those perceived as different, sullying our kindness in the process as we practice prejudice. It’s a novel about how being in the doldrums of mundane life can trap us in a bubble of minute satisfaction, where we’re so separated from any shred of excitement, that we don’t know there’s something better, to get us out of our shell and truly live. Like the root system of quaking aspens, the themes of The House in the Cerulean Sea speak to our universal desire to be accepted and find satisfaction, but the novel will elicit different emotional responses for each person, because like the trees, we all have our own distinct personalities.

The House in the Cerulean Sea follows Linus, a forty-year-old man, who inspects and oversees orphanages for magical children. In this world, people with magical abilities are seen as pariahs, so the extent of the orphanages’ upkeep is limited. Linus lives the epitome of a mundane life: no romantic aspirations, married to his work, no social life. Things change when the upper management of his workplace task him with inspecting an orphanage with children of particularly special skills, run by a warm-hearted, compassionate man named Arthur. Some of the children include a wyvern, a gnome, and the son of Satan. As Linus spends more time at the orphanage, his perception of his work and his own life expand in an increasingly heartwarming and instructive story. Romance blooms, friendships are made, and prejudices are questioned.

It’s a novel that’s filled with humor and a positive, romantic outlook of society. While not shying away from people’s prejudices, it instead showcases the injustices committed on people with magical abilities, but bears overflowing hope that everyone’s capable of overcoming those prejudicial shortcomings. And it delivers that message through highly readable prose, and a good sense of humor. However, while always in good taste, the humor doesn’t always land, due to instances of corny and/or wooden dialogue.

That corniness extends to the conveyance of the themes at the book’s conclusion, too. For most of the novel, Klune skillfully balances the optimistic and upbeat tone without being saccharine and didactic. But at the conclusion, it goes off the deep end. All the character development and themes - which, while never subtle, never beat me over the head - take a wrong turn, when all the information and sweetness that was already conveyed quite clearly, is then blasted with stilted, inauthentic speechifying that feels a little like an after-school special.

This wrong turn does not invalidate the rest of the novel, however, which has outstanding characterizations. And the budding romance slowly wrapped itself around me, until it made my cold heart melt. TJ Klune’s strength is definitely his understanding of people. Even though the novel is generally sweet throughout, he’s not afraid to probe into the characters’ flaws, which makes them engaging with an emotional complexity that’s oftentimes unmatched.

Cute and saccharine, funny and cringy, complex and blunt--The House in the Cerulean Sea is all those things. Most parts are terrific, some parts are noxious. The novel, like the root system of quaking aspens, branches out in all directions, and birth things made up of an intricate whole. The novel is a celebration of innate goodness, of people with generally good intentions with many distinct flaws. And when I finished the book, my mind glommed on to the heart put into the story, and less so its missteps. The quaking aspens aren’t just a metaphor for the novel’s themes. It’s a symbol of the book’s quality, showing that flaws can be generally overshadowed if it’s attached to intention and verve as good as this one.

The Math

Baseline Score: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 For having one of my favorite supporting cast of characters in some time
+1  While not packed with sweeping battles, the novel never loses momentum, and never lost my interest

Penalties: -1 Some parts were a little too cartoonish, not in a clever way, but in a way that simplified the story and robbed it of additional depth
-1 While there are some surprising reveals, the bones of the plot is quite predictable

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10

POSTED BY: Sean Dowie - Screenwriter, stand-up comedian, lover of all books that make him nod his head and say, "Neat!"

Reference: Klune, TJ. The House in the Cerulean Sea [Tor Books 2020]

Adri and Joe Talk About Books: The Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards Shortlist is officially out!

Joe: It’s one thing to find out that you are going to be a finalist for a Hugo Award, but it’s a whole ‘nother thing to have it be announced and hear your name and see it in print with some of the finest damn writers and artists and commentators this genre has seen. How does it feel, Hugo Award Finalist Adri Joy?

Adri: There have been a few feelings knocking around! And about an hour of my life in which it has been unclear whether I should cry, shout, laugh, breathe, throw up, and indeed if I could do any one of those things without the others happening too.

Also, while I’ve definitely experienced the post-announcement Twitter love before, CoNZealand’s decision to schedule a streamed announcement at a timezone that worked for as many Hugo-voter-heavy countries as possible, and the general enthusiasm for people to get online at the moment and hang out, meant that the announcement feed and stream just felt so full of frenzied excitement and love for everyone. Definitely a very heightened moment and, yeah, I’ll absolutely take that finalist status, even if I was already swanning around Dublin wearing the “Finalist” badge ribbon last year.

Joe: I absolutely enjoyed that youtube sidebar chat during the announcement, even if it ultimately did amount to a bunch of people just mashing their keyboards at the same time in excitement.

Not to bury the lede, but Nerds of a Feather is a Hugo Award finalist for the fourth time and we are all absolutely thrilled and excited and honored. As much as Adri and I would love to just talk about ourselves and how cool this all is, what we’re really here to do is talk about all of the other wonderful finalists we share a ballot with.

Adri: It’s another strong list and I’m really excited by some of the things on it. One thing that came up in the super fast moving Youtube chat: after our last conversation we shared our Best Novel predictions, and by some feat of cosmic synchronisation you managed to predict 100% of this year’s ballot! I officially owe you a beer at a future non-virtual Worldcon.

Joe: I wasn’t going to bring it up (I totally was going to bring it up), but thank you - Best Novel doesn’t quite match my actual ballot, but I was shocked that my overthinking the state of the genre and the tastes of the voters actually nailed the prediction. I will happily accept that future beer.

Adri: I didn’t do quite so brilliantly with my own predictions (I got 67% of the Best Novel and Lodestar ballots and only 50% on series) but I checked out the overlap between my nominations and the finalist list and in most categories I nominated two things that ended up on the ballot, which considering the wealth of amazing stuff out there is a pretty great overlap. It means that in almost every category there’s already a few things (or people) I’m ridiculously excited about and already worrying about trying to separate.

To start with the not-a-Hugos: the Astounding Award lineup looks fantastic this year, and after last year’s strong but mostly returned-for-a-second-year group, it’s awesome to see all the new names here. I’m particularly delighted for Tasha Suri, whose Books of Ambha series is really knocking it out of the park in telling a rather different sort of high-stakes fantasy to the action-packed norm, and Nibedita Sen, whose short fiction I’ve enjoyed in The Dark and Fireside and who also placed a story (that I haven’t read) on the short story ballot.

Joe: This is an exciting lineup. I’ve read both Poppy War novels from Kuang and both of Emily Tesh’s novellas (the second one, Drowned Country, will publish in June). Both Kuang and Tesh are excellent writers. The rest of the Astounding finalists are new to me, though I’ve been meaning to read Jenn Lyons and Tasha Suri for a while now. I’m excited to discover Sam Hawke and Nibedita Sen. I think we’ll be reading some of these writers for years and years.

Adri: Jenn Lyons is a new author to me as well, but based on Paul’s review of her work that’s a series I’m looking forward to checking out. I will note that it’s a very fantasy heavy group of works, but that’s no bad thing.

My reading in other categories has gone pretty well. I have one thing to read on the novel and novella ballots, three on novelette and two on short story: the short story reading from last year really paid off, but I should have made more of an effort to read Ted Chiang's Exhalation before someone else requested it from the library and I had to take it back in. Only one story from each was on my ballot (although I was really hoping "Do Not Look Back, My Lion" would make it anyway) but it's still a strong list with a lot of familiar names.

In best novel, I’m delighted and also utterly unsurprised to see Gideon the Ninth on the list: Tamsyn Muir's novel seemed tailor made for the kind of aesthetic that does well among a significant proportion of Hugo voters. It's the kind of book I want people in twenty years time to look back at and go "oh yeah, wow, the late teens had that whole aesthetic going on". I love it very dearly. I'm also very pleased to see Kameron Hurley in what I think is her first best novel shout.

The one novel on the Best Novel ballot I haven't read yet is Middlegame, just because I filled up my Seanan McGuire quotient with other Seanan McGuire books last year. I did in fact pick up a copy the other day, so that and Deeplight by Frances Hardinge are now staring at me particularly reproachfully from the physical TBR pile. I’m expecting to enjoy them both very much.

Joe: Gideon the Ninth was probably the closest thing to a lock to make the Hugo ballot as anything published in 2019 (this is different, of course, from being a locked tomb). It was such a splashy debut that I couldn’t see how it would miss. The Ten Thousand Doors of January would probably be my second choice for likely novels, but after that - everything was a toss up. I would not have been surprised to see Elizabeth Bear’s Ancestral Night slide in there, nor The Raven Tower - though Leckie’s novel was published fairly early in the year and didn’t seem to have the conversational legs to get on the ballot.

I’ve read four of the novels on the ballot, missing only The Ten Thousand Doors of January and A Memory Called Empire. I’m not here to make predictions yet for the eventual winner, but this is a can’t miss Best Novel ballot filled with excellence. Any one of them would be worthy winners.

Adri: I think you’re going to very much enjoy A Memory Called Empire when you get to it: it’s another one that was published quite early in the year (I think it was one of the first things I reviewed in 2019) and I’m really pleased that it’s stuck around in people’s minds. It feels like a natural continuation of the brand of space opera we’re getting with people like Ann Leckie and Yoon Ha Lee, where cross-cultural interactions take centre stage in a particular alien-but-very-recognisably human way. I know that’s not a new concept for space opera, but there’s a particular feel about some of the recent works, if that makes sense...

Joe: We’ve talked about The Light Brigade before and how we think it stands among the all time great military science fiction novels - both as one of them as well as in conversation and in continued evolution of the genre. The novel is a bit contentious, but I loved it.

Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite writers and I’ll read anything she writes, but Middlegame is in a class of its own among her work - it is so ambitious and McGuire leveled up her considerable skills to write it.

The City in the Middle of the Night, while not as flashy as All the Birds in the Sky, reminded me of nothing less than peak career Ursula K. Le Guin.

Adri: The City in the Middle of the Night was one of the books we differered on in our predictions, as I must have missed some of the buzz around it. I read it earlier this year and really enjoyed it - certainly more than I enjoyed All the Birds in the Sky - and it’s nice to see it here.

Joe: I don’t know if I saw the full hype for the novel, and I thought it should have received more, but it just had *something*.

You know, I’ve read all of the novellas on the ballot this year.  I’m a little surprised, but there it is.
My controversial opinion, which probably isn’t all that controversial, is that I didn’t love This is How You Lose the Time War. I admire it. I enjoyed it, but I don’t love it.

Adri: I would have if Chiang hadn’t eluded me! And it’s not available on the online library apps I have access to, so I’m going to have to quietly fume at myself over not getting to it when I had the chance.

You aren’t the only person I know who didn’t fall for Time War, but I’m definitely in team Time War this year. I do just think its something special as a relationship story, and as something that uses the novella format to pull together a certain type of worldbuilding and wider plot in service to a really interesting interpersonal relationship. Then again, nothing works for everyone, so that’s a thing.

Is there anything else you’re particularly excited to see in novella? I gave a little fist pump (or, I guess, a keyboard smash) about The Haunting of Tram Car 015. I don’t think I’ve spoken about that story much but I did really love the style and atmosphere of the whole thing.

Joe: I’m a noted fan of Seanan McGuire in general and her Wayward Children series in particular, so I’m very happy to see In an Absent Dream on the ballot, but the novella I am most excited to see on the ballot is The Deep. Written by Rivers Solomon and expanding the song by clipping, The Deep is an incredible piece of fiction. I both called it early on as something I fully expect to see on the ballot and was equally nervous that it would end up being overlooked due to how grim it was. The buzz that you missed for The City in the Middle of the Night - I missed seeing for The Deep.

Adri: I was optimistic about The Deep seeing as how the Clipping nomination already tied the story to the Hugos - but it’s one thing to hope for something, and another to see it on the screen. A very well deserved nomination and I’m excited to see what Solomon does next.

I also want to comment on the fact that, after a few years of this category being almost totally dominated by Tor.com Publishing, we’re now seeing a greater range of publishers get in on the act (although I think both of the Saga Press entries here were edited by Navah Wolfe, who has since been let go). That is, of course, not taking into account the fact that Tor.com has two novel entries this year, and three in the shorter fiction categories - so they do still have their finger on the pulse of the Hugo aesthetic overall.

Joe: Hopefully Saga stays in the novella game. They haven’t published much (in terms of novellas), but what they have published has been top notch. Having more notable novella publishers is important, though I’m curious if this broadening of the category will help push Hugo readers to the other publishers who have been doing novellas for a long time. I’m thinking of Subterranean Press, Tachyon, and PS Publishing. Navah Wolfe, I believe, is now at Subterranean.

I can’t speak much about the shorter fiction categories. There are some familiar names and others I’m excited to read more from.

I would like to talk a little bit about Best Series, though. It’s weird to be disappointed in the nomination of one of my favorite series, but I kind of wish voters held off on nominating The Expanse this year and just waited until the last book was published later this year or next year (I assume).

Adri: I had the same reaction to this - although I’m not surprised that it happened and I think The Expanse has a pretty good chance of taking the award this year (and I don’t think James S. A. Corey are the kind of people to recuse themselves on a gamble on having a “better” nomination the next time around.)

Joe: Nor should they. And let’s be clear - I love The Expanse. I just think it would have been nice to honor the series at its very near conclusion. It’ll be a little weird to think of The Expanse as a series that never won the Hugo (and I think you’re right), but I’m pulling for Incryptid.

Adri: My biggest excitement in Best Series - and I need to talk about these books a lot more than I do - is the Planetfall novels. I’ve been nominating it consistently and I’m so glad it’s made it through! I think there’s going to be a break in the novels now, too, so it’s hopefully a good point for people to jump on and learn how great these books are.

I’m also happy to see the Wormwood trilogy on here, although I feel a bit odd saying that as I didn’t get on super well with the novels myself. It’s such an undeniably interesting and important work though.

Joe: I’ve read the first and fourth Planetfall novels and have been meaning to read the middle two for a while, so what better time than this. Likewise, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale when Arden was a Campbell (now Astounding) finalist. Might as well read the rest.

I’ve seen a lot of love for Tade Thomson’s Wormwood novels, though I think I remember you not quite loving them. Brian reviewed two of them for us and was higher on them, which is fair. This is an interesting comparison, but Wormwood is similar to urban fantasy in that Best Series may be the best category to honor the work.

I also bounced off of Ian McDonald’s Luna the first time I tried reading it, so I’m not sure how high my excitement level is to give that another go. I had assumed I dodged that series, but no.

Adri: It’s also on the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards ballot, so at least I have two reasons to try it out now.

Any disappointments from the fiction categories or elsewhere on the ballot? My biggest one is the lack of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance in Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form. Were people sleeping on that series or something? Because it was hands down the best thing I watched in 2019. (To be fair, I looked at my nominees and I am complicit in the Rise of Skywalker finalist spot, which does not seem like a thing past me would have done based on my opinions of that movie and yet here we are, so… sorry, friends.)

Joe: I don’t have a significant disappointment this year, if we’re not counting Nerds of a Feather missing out on getting our Hugo Initiative up on Related Work, but that is a rock solid category this year with other major works likes Nnedi Okorafor’s memoir and Ebony Elizabeth Thomas’ The Dark Fantastic also missing out.

I would have loved to see Sword and Laser back on the ballot for fancast. That’s one of my favorites even if I did awkwardly and accidently snub Tom Merritt when I met him and Veronica Belmont at the Hugo Losers Party in San Diego - and by snub, I mean that I recognized Veronica, introduced myself, said hi and how much I enjoyed her podcast and HAD NO IDEA that was Tom standing next to her. I’m still mildly embarrassed. My wife is the one with social graces. She’d have had both of their life stories out in ten minutes if she had the chance.

Adri: I'm sure he appreciated your love for the podcast more than he was offended by you talking to his co-host!

Joe: Anyway. I had Isaac Fellman on my nominating ballot for the Astounding Award. I thought The Breath of the Sun was an absolutely lovely novel and this was their second year of eligibility. Alas. Also, Anne Ursu’s The Lost Girl was on my Lodestar ballot - we could have had more Minnesotans on the final ballot.

Adri: I’m vaguely in favour of that, I suppose.

Leaving aside categories like Fanwriter, where there are about fifty people I’d like to see get a spot (though, while I’m here, HUGE congratulations to our Paul for his first nomination in the category!) I think my other disappointments, out of things I thought had a chance, are the Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks and Carlos Hernandez’s Sal and Gabi Break the Universe. I’m hoping Elemental Logic might be a Mythopoeic sort of series? Time will tell. I’m also still hoping C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series lands on the ballot at some point, so I have a reason to binge all 16 books I have left to read.

On a different topic: in Lodestar, once again there’s a pretty big overlap between what’s nominated and prior nominees in some of the adult categories, including T. Kingfisher, Fran Wilde, Yoon Ha Lee and Naomi Kritzer. I’ve read and enjoyed all of those books - and nominated two of them -  so I’m not opposed to the direction of this category at all, but it's notable that the ballot is pretty distant from what actually seems to be buzzy in YA circles at the moment, with the exception of Holly Black. Comparing the Hugos to the Goodreads Choice awards is always a blunt instrument given the huge differences between their methods, but I will note that only 2 out of 6 Lodestar nominees appear in their respective categories on the GC shortlist (Dragon Pearl is a Middle Grade), compared to all six of the Hugo nominees. It’s inevitable that the Lodestar is going to develop its own character somewhere in the “YA that a significant proportion of adult SFF fans read and enjoy”, but I guess if I were able to bend the universe to my will I’d want it a little more skewed towards bringing YA SFF recs into the limelight that might not otherwise have been on adult fans’ radars.

Also, this is the first year I don’t have an overwhelmingly strong 10/10 favourite in the category, so that makes life more difficult...

Joe: I am absolutely with you on getting C.J. Cherryh on that Hugo ballot. She’s a relatively recent SFWA Grandmaster (and well deserved), but she hasn’t been recognized by Hugo since 1989 when she won Best Novel for Cyteen. She has since published all twenty (so far) Foreigner novels. I really need to read some Foreigner.

I do think what we’re seeing with the Lodestar is functionally what the category is going to be. Finalists are going to be those writers who more directly connect with this side of science fiction and fantasy fandom and not necessarily those who are engaging with the wider YA community. You are absolutely right that the category’s character is going to be “YA that a significant proportion of adult SFF fans ready and enjoy”. I don’t see a way around it.

Adri: Any thoughts on the other categories before we wrap this up?

Three closing thoughts: I’m beyond thrilled that Paul Weimer is being recognized for his contributions to fandom and his excellent fan writing. Besides Paul, though, I think it’s really cool that Adam Whitehead also is up for Fan Writer. I’ve been reading The Wertzone from the beginning. He launched his blog back in 2006, two years after I started up Adventures in Reading, and was a major part what was (at the time) called the blogosphere. There’s not as many of us still doing the work all these years later and fewer still doing it on their own blogs. Adam has held the line and this recognition is long overdue.

I think that Claire Rousseau’s Youtube Channel is the first proper booktuber to make the Hugo ballot in fancast and that’s pretty cool. There has been a previous youtube based finalist during the puppy years, but that also wasn’t booktube. That guy was kind of his own thing.

Not that I’m holding this up to the same level as predicting the full Best Novel ballot, but I did pretty much call the Le Guin documentary making Related Work at the end of our Locus chat and look, there’s Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin up for Best Related Work. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good documentary, but I do wonder what Le Guin themed work will be published this year in order to make the ballot next year. Is there an Earthsea calendar in the works at all?

Adri: I will note that there's still a lot of book blogging out there! But Adam's work is something I've been meaning to check out properly for a while and I'm very happy for him making the ballot after all this time! I also think Cora Buhlert does fantastic work, especially around more retro works, and her nomination is very well deserved also.

I've been a big fan of booktube for a while and I could not be happier for Claire! She is a national treasure of genre and I hope her nomination opens people to a whole new world of great news and analysis going on in the video world.

Oh, and speaking of Best Related Work: I am so happy to see Jeannette Ng's acceptance speech here, both because it was an incredible moment for the awards and had a huge impact on the award itself, and because the tears of the kind of people who got huffy about it are delicious to me. I'm sorry your hero was a bigot, boys, but *shrug emoji*.

I don't have any other final thoughts to add, except that I'm still smiling to myself every time I think about our nomination. Looking forward to being insufferable about it for months and years to come!

POSTED BY: Adri, Nerds of a Feather co-editor, is a semi-aquatic migratory mammal most often found in the UK. She has many opinions about SFF books, and is also partial to gaming, baking, interacting with dogs, and Asian-style karaoke. Find her on Twitter at @adrijjy.

Joe Sherry - Co-editor of Nerds of a Feather, 4x Hugo Award Finalist for Best Fanzine. Minnesotan. He / Him.

Microreview [audiobook]: Brother's Ruin, by Emma Newman

Emma Newman's gaslamp fantasy novella Brother's Ruin returns in a new audio edition narrated by the author herself.

In an alternate 1850’s, the British Empire is flourishing as vitally as it did in our timeline, but from different base causes. Instead of the power of the Industrial Revolution providing the motive power for Monarch and country, the Royal Society of Esoteric Arts provides the competitive advantage for Great Britain to stand astride the world. But this society of magicians is a merciless one, taking every person with magical talent, whether they like it or not. Charlotte Gunn seeks to aid her family from the financial disaster that her father is in by making sure that her brother’s talents are seen and compensated for. Oh, and in so doing hide her own deep, dark secret from the Royal Society: Charlotte, you see, is a mage too.

Charlotte, and her world, come to life in the Tor.com novella Brother’s Ruin by Emma Newman, now in a new audio edition.

Charlotte is the heart of this book, and is an archetype of a character that is a hallmark of much of her fantasy work. A woman caught between duty, responsibility, and a burning desire and need to forge her own destiny and path. A strongly grounded sense of responsibility to her family and friends, and add in conflict from all directions as a crucible for change and growth. Personalities are different across her heroines, but the basis ur-struggle that they face is one that has been less prominent in SFF until recently, and Newman brings these character concerns to light. As a secret mage who desires a husband on the one hand, and to save her family from ruin on the other, Charlotte is caught in an ultimately untenable position that forces her into some dangerous choices and decisions.  The author’s sympathy and concerns for the social implications of her world are made plain and made manifest in how it affects and oppresses her heroine, and that come across the page evocatively.  In addition, it should be noted Charlotte is more powerful, and more important than even she realizes, and I suspect that like her other worlds, Charlotte may be a fulcrum for change of not just herself, but the world around her as well.

The actual plot and length of story, then, in Brother’s Ruin feels and runs a bit short. This novella really is a lot of setup of Charlotte, her family, her world, her allies and antagonists. There could have been a bit of more meat on the bone for plotting and development on those lines, the focus on grounding Charlotte as a character and getting to know her overshadows plot events somewhat. The plot, as it does appear, though, even as it is less than what I would have wanted, does setup obvious lines of development and questions to be asked about how Charlotte’s world actually functions.

And in that vein, too, I would have liked to have seen more and learned more about how this world came to be, and when things developed as they did. Much like her Split Worlds universe, or her Planetfall universe, I am always curious as to the rest of the world. Even with the strong focus on character to keep the attentions and focus of a reader like me on the characters whose story she wants and needs to tell, I like to know more. What’s America like in this world? Canada? Australia? The rest of the world? Inquiring minds want to know! Gaslamp fantasy, with a not-so-quite-interconnected world does make things from foreign shores a less pressing concern than, say, if this were a Steampunk Colonial Conquest era set book, but I am curious all the same.

The audio narration, done by Newman herself, is top notch, as befits someone with long and deep experience in narrating audiobooks. Her rendition of the story brings an extra level of interest and captivation for me as a reader. I must note, however, that the app that the audiobookI listened to it on, Author’s Direct, had some technical issues, mainly stopping at random moments in the narrative. Fortunately this was not while I was doing something unsafe to check and restart the audio, such as driving, I think that I would counsel readers to grab the Audible edition instead, and should the second Gaslamp fantasy novella, Weaver's Lament, come to audio, I think I will go for the Audible edition.

The strength and power of this book is in its heroine, and her perilous position balancing family, duty, and her own desires and needs. It is that strength and power I look forward to Newman exploring in subsequent novellas and stories set in this world, and I look forward to reading them. Once again, Newman has created a world and a central character that is captivating and enthralling.

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 7/10.

Bonuses: +1 For rich use of theme in the central character’s personality, issues and dilemmas.
+1 for a rich narrative experience.

Penalties: -1 Story somewhat slight and incomplete -- really just an entree into a longer story and exploration of the character and story
-1 The platform the audiobook is available on has technical issues that impacted my enjoyment of the book significantly

Nerd Coefficient: 7/10, an enjoyable experience, but not without its flaws


Reference: Newman, Emma. Brother’s Ruin [Tor.com Publishing, 2017]

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

6 Books with Chris Kluwe

Chris Kluwe is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction collection Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies, a contributor to Press Start To Play, and the lead designer of the tabletop card game Twilight of the Gods.

A former NFL player, Kluwe has received wide attention for his TED talk about the future of technology, virtual reality, and empathy, and has been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today.

Today Chris Shares his Six Books with Us....

1. What book are you currently reading?

I just finished reading A Pale Light In The Black by K.B. Wagers,
which I enjoyed quite a lot. It's a sci-fi space military type story,
but with lots of excellent character building and representation. I do
book reviews for Lightspeed Magazine so I get lots of ARCs sent my way
:)






2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

Alecto the Ninth, the third book in Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb trilogy
that started with Gideon the Ninth. The second book, Harrow the Ninth,
comes out in June, and both it and Gideon are spectacularly weird. I
haven't read an author that original in a long time. I'm also looking
forward to Rhythm of War, the fourth book in Brandon Sanderson's
Stormlight Archive.





 3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to re-read?

Nothing springs to mind, but I'll usually go back and reread one of
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels at least once a month. It's like
returning to an old friend.








 4. How about a book you’ve changed your mind about – either positively or negatively?

I don't know that I've ever read a book that I liked/disliked and then
went back later and had the opposite opinion. Usually within the first ten pages I know if I'm going to like it or not (I've read a LOT of books, and the only one I forced myself to finish was Atlas Shrugged just to say I'd read it (it's terrible)), and I can't think of any that have shifted. I will say there are definitely books I read as a
kid that I have a different perspective on as an adult (lots of Orson
Scott Card's stuff, David Eddings' work), but I still like them as
stories.


5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

Probably Neuromancer by William Gibson. Up until then I hadn't really
read anything I'd consider seminal, but that one blew my mind. If I
can get even close to writing something that good I'll be fortunate,
as the way Gibson constructs characters and environments out of the
world we inhabit is amazing.






6. And speaking of that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome? 

My latest book is called Otaku, and it's a love/hate letter to gaming
culture, along with some other ideas I wanted to explore about our
current society. I've been playing games all my life and if I'd been
born ten years later I probably would have become a professional video
game player instead of an NFL player. Otaku is a reflection on both
the positives and negatives of that world, as well as how that world
is usually portrayed in media, and I'm hopeful people will enjoy a new
perspective on what's traditionally considered a white male space
(there are definitely going to be some people who don't enjoy it,
because I'm, uh, not exactly shy with my feelings about the regressive
elements inhabiting it). Plus I got a nice blurb from William Gibson
so that's one of the highlights of my life so far.

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Interview: Emily Skrutskie, Author Bonds of Brass

What do you get when you mix a passion for game design, film, computer science? Now throw in a love of space opera, humor, and compelling relationships.  Stir it up, add a few surprises, and you're getting close to Emily Skrutskie's new novel Bonds of Brass, available April 7th.    Everything I see about this book, everything I read about it,  Bonds of Brass just sounds like a joy to read, a book that's filled with everything I enjoy - crushes, banter, scams, quick getaways, politics, explosions, and oh the tension!  

Not sold yet?  Scroll down until you get to the "poster", don't worry, you'll know it when you see it. How can you look at that poster and not smile?    And I don't know about you, but right now I only want to read books that make me smile. And the best news ever? Bonds of Brass is the first in the Bloodright trilogy!

Emily Skrutskie is also the author of The Abyss Surrounds Us, The Edge of the Abyss, and Hullmetal Girls. She was born on one coast of the United States, and now resides on the other, and is currently working on the next two Bloodright novels.  You can learn more about Emily's work on her website, Skrutskie.com or by following her on twitter, where she is @skrutskie. She was nice enough to let me pick her brain about where she got the idea for Bonds of Brass, if she's a plotter or a pantser, music playlists and listening to movie soundtracks for inspiration, the now famous poster, and more.

Let's get to the interview!


NOAF: Tell about Bonds of Brass. What's the elevator pitch? Where did the idea for this book come from?

E.S.: Bonds of Brass is basically Star Wars meets The Road to El Dorado. It’s the story of a pilot on the run with his best friend, roommate, and possibly the love of his life—who happens to be heir to the brutal galactic empire that ruined the pilot’s life. I got the idea for this book in the period of time after The Force Awakens had just come out, when I had also just finished reading Pierce Brown’s Morning Star. I wanted to write a big dramatic space opera with tricks up its sleeves—and I was also deeply inspired by stories about charming con men running elaborate scams. Mush those two things together, and you’ve got the basic ingredients for Bonds of Brass.

NOAF: You had me at "meets Road to El Dorado".  Talk us through how you developed Ettian and Gal's characters. As you were drafting the novel and deciding where the story would go, did their characteristics or goals change?

E.S.: I had a pretty clear vision for who Ettian and Gal would be from the start. Ettian is the pilot, the underdog who came up from nothing, the reserved kid who survived hell and keeps his emotions close to the chest. Gal is the prince, the negotiator, the person the universe is meant to revolve around. As I drafted, I got a better sense of what those qualities meant and how they functioned in action, and figured out all the ways they'd tie the two of them together. The most interesting evolution came when I realized Ettian needed a stronger motivation to put Gal on the throne than "he's my best friend" and as a result had to give Gal a significant anti-establishment streak that promised radical change to the cruel galaxy Ettian grew up in.

NOAF: What was your writing process like for Bonds of Brass? Are you a strict outliner, or do you let the story "write itself"?

E.S.: Outliner all the way! For me, a story is only as good as its ending - first impressions are important, but last impressions last. So I plan a story all the way to the end before I start it, and that way I know what I'm working toward. This really helps me write economically, because everything I put on the page is a building block toward reaching that ending and driving it home in a way that’s satisfying to the reader.

NOAF: What was the most fun part of this book to write?

E.S.: About halfway through, there’s a chase/fight sequence that takes place on a public transit wiretram. To put myself in the mood for the scene and lock into the wham-bam improvisational mindset of the characters, I watched Jackie Chan clips on YouTube for about an hour straight. I really wanted it to feel like a Hong Kong action movie, and it was delightful to slip into that mode for a while.

NOAF: The only thing that looks more fun than the book itself is the adorable promotional poster! This poster is so cute, it looks like doodles you'd find in a high schooler's notebook, notes that would be inside a student's locker, it is just covered in fun everything! Where did the idea for the post come from? Is this how you imaged the promotion for the book would look?

E.S.: The words on the poster were from a graphic I whipped up ages ago to pitch the book - which had its own little viral moment when FinnPoe twitter found it and EXPLODED. That was incredible to watch, and proof that those words did a fantastic job of pitching the book, so my marketing manager, Ashleigh Heaton, designed that wonderful little promo graphic with the handwriting and doodles for us to share. I think we’re seeing a really interesting moment where book promotion is truly adapting to social media, figuring out the most fun way of showing off what a book has to offer an audience in a highly-shareable format. If you want fans, you have to be able to prove both that you have what fans want and that you know how to talk about it in a way that engages them, and for me personally, that’s super fun to do.

NOAF: You recently posted a Bonds of Brass track list on your blog, of the music that fueled your writing. How do you use music as a writing tool? Do you listen to faster paced tracks to write action scenes, for example?

E.S.: I feel like I use music in three main ways when working. Most of the music you find in that playlist is music I use for inspiration - songs that speak to different aspects of the book and guide me as I think about them/develop stuff. Then there’s music I use for motivation - such as the Skydiving track from the Kingsman soundtrack or Storming New Caprica, from the Battlestar Galactica season 3 soundtrack. Those are songs I'll put on to ground me in the mood for a scene and help me focus on how I want to express myself. Then there's music I'll actually write to, which I'm very particular about. I can’t hear English words when I draft, so I usually stick to instrumentals, and I have collections of film soundtracks I rotate between depending on who I’m writing - for example, most of the big Wen action scenes in book two were written to a mix of the Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman soundtracks.

NOAF: I saw this on your blog as well: "WIPs: John Carter Book: Basically if John Carter and The Fifth Season found themselves in the same pot of soup" and OMG YES. Yes please! Why'd you choose John Carter, and why throw him onto an Earthquake planet (other than that it's fun)?

E.S.: Haha, I hope I get to go back to that WIP someday. I'm itching to write something that has John Carter or She-Ra vibes—something that's got the magic and scope of epic fantasy grounded in sci-fi worldbuilding. I feel like that’s really going to push me as an author, since so far I've been strictly science fiction. Developing a magic system has been breaking my brain as someone who understands a little bit too much about physics. But first things first, I have two more Bloodright books to get out the door.

NOAF: Thanks Emily!

POSTED BY: Andrea Johnson lives in Michigan with her husband and too many books. She can be found on twitter, @redhead5318 , where she posts about books, food, and assorted nerdery.

Nanoreviews: Mississippi Roll, The Last Emperox, The Ghosts of Sherwood

Martin, George R.R. (editor). Mississippi Roll [Tor]

The twenty fourth volume of the long running Wild Cards series doesn't have as high a barrier to entry as that might seem. While not as perfect an entry point as the eighteenth, Inside Straight, Mississippi Roll doesn't require as much knowledge of the full series. Sure, being familiar with the triad starting with Fort Freak would help - but that gives shading.

Mississippi Roll is a ghost story set on an old mississippi riverboat and it's very effective at the beginning of the story (where we learn the reason for the haunt) and it's effective in the last third - but the storytelling does fall flat a bit in that middle third. I'd have to check again to see which stories are the ones that didn't work as well as the others since this is a mosaic novel, but the overall story is coherent and fits together. There are moments and sections the novel hums along (there should be a riverboat metaphor here), but while the middle section doesn't quite sink the book (there it is), Mississippi Roll doesn't quite achieve the promise of the either the wonderful beginning or the ultimate payoff.
Score: 6/10

Scalzi, John. The Last Emperox [Tor]

Our own Paul Weimer introduced me to a concept he called "wrong book in the moment", which encapsulates my experience of reading The Last Emperox, which is that perhaps reading a novel dealing with the impending end of civilization as that universe knows it may not play as well during the time of a global pandemic when I am concerned about the future of employment, childcare, of the general state of life right now.

It's not that all literature is to be escapist or that John Scalzi is under any obligation to write the story that he meant to write - but I could never tell while reading The Last Emperox whether the novel didn't quite work for me or if the novel did not work for me now. There's a distinct difference.

Scalzi's writing is typically easy, breezy, and while perhaps not a cover girl it is often a refreshing and delightful reading experience. That is still the case in The Last Emperox, but somehow it doesn't all come together for me in ways that it did in The Collapsing Empire and The Consuming Fire. For a concluding novel The Last Emperox more seems like setting up yet one more book. The storylines here are wrapped up, but it all comes across as a bit of a rush. Also, and this is very much small potatoes, but the profanity in The Last Emperox seems far more excessive and forced here than in the previous two novels. The Last Emperox is better than my criticism suggests, but so many years of reading Scalzi has my expectations set higher. Or maybe I just need to read this again when there is not a perpetual level of stress and gloom overriding everything that I read.
Score: 7/10

Vaughn, Carrie. The Ghosts of Sherwood [Tor.com Publishing]

Relative to the above idea about reading a book that brings relief from the world and for which the experience of reading it is not overwhelmed by the aforementioned perpetual level of stress and gloom, I present to you The Ghosts of Sherwood, Carrie Vaughn's take on the Robin Hood mythos. Or rather, she continues on years after the standard Robin Hood mythos and answers the questions I never thought to ask - what would Robin and Marion's children be like? What adventures would they get up to?

Readers, The Ghosts of Sherwood was everything I ever wanted in a story and so much more. It's a friggin delight. I've loved Robin Hood stories for decades, whether it is Errol Flynn, Disney, or Kevin Costner (fight me) and what Carrie Vaughn does so well with The Ghosts of Sherwood is get at a raw sense of joy that is present in the best and most iconic Robin Hood stories. Even in the terrible moments of the story, there is still a pervasive sense of joy, wonder, and delight. There are so many more stories to be told with these kids and in and around Sherwood that I can't wait for the next novella (and hopefully the next and the next after that).
Score: 8/10


POSTED BY:  Joe Sherry - Co-editor of Nerds of a Feather, 4x Hugo Award Finalist for Best Fanzine. Minnesotan. He / Him.