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Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

Feb 042015
 

cover for Karen Memory by Elizabeth BearSet in the late 19th century—when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen is a young woman on her own, is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable’s high-quality bordello. Through Karen’s eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, beggin sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyone’s mind and control their actions.  And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.

Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper yarn of the old west with a light touch in Karen’s own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science.

Review: Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

Feb 042015
 

bear-karenmemoryNPR: Bear is paying homage to the dime novels of the era, forerunners of pulp fiction packed with larger-than-life heroes, scheming villains, and gritty action. But she’s subtly subverting this tradition, just as much as she’s giving steampunk a gentle, loving twist. An African-American marshal and a transgender prostitute are just two members of the book’s diverse cast, and it’s clear that Bear is making a point about the way history, like literary subgenres, can steamroll over anyone who falls outside the norm. She makes that point engagingly and effortlessly. Karen Memory breezes by at a leisurely pace, a bracing yet charming adventure yarn that never feels forced, despite the brassy confidence of its delivery.

View NPR’s full review of Karen Memory here.

Keys of Heaven by Adina Senft

Feb 032015
 

Cover for Keys of Heaven by Adina Senft. A white Amish woman in the foreground holds a basket of vegetables, a picturesque farm behind her.Sarah Yoder is learning to help the people in her Amish community as a Dokterfraa, creating teas and tinctures using the herbs she grows. But her latest patient seems to have a problem that can’t be resolved with anything in Sarah’s garden-a woman who, in Sarah’s mind, would flourish anywhere but in the place she lives. Meanwhile, Sarah’s relatives have decided to do a little matchmaking between her and a visiting Amish man. He would make a wonderful husband, and she knows she should be willing for God to show her His choice of partner…and not allow her friendship with her neighbor, Henry Byler, to grow into anything more.

Henry has seen some success as a potter since a major store commissioned a line of his work for their catalog. The trouble is that they want to market him as Amish. Though he was raised in the faith and now lives in Amish country, he has never joined church-and doesn’t plan to, either. Which means that, despite the attraction between them, he must keep his distance from Sarah. But what happens when Sarah and Henry are called upon to help a runaway whose family is too worldly to see how lost their son has become? The plant Sarah calls Keys of Heaven may be able to grow in impossible places, but it’s not so easy for people to find their own place. Which means it’s quite a temptation for her to take matters into her own hands…

Jacaranda by Cherie Priest

Jan 312015
 

Cover for Jacaranda by Cherie Priest. A Catholic priest stands in the foreground on a surreal rug, two staircases arching behind him, along with the shadow of a tree and a wolf.The Ranger

On the island of Galveston, off the coast of southeast Texas, lies a hotel called the Jacaranda. In its single year of operation, two dozen people have died there. The locals say it’s cursed. The Rangers say that’s nonsense, but they know a man who might be willing to investigate. Horatio Korman crosses the water from the mainland, and hopes for the best.

The Nun

But the bodies pile up, and a hurricane is brewing up fast. One of the Jacaranda’s guests sees time running out, so she seeks an authority of a different sort: a priest from El Huizache who is good at solving problems and keeping secrets. Eileen Callahan has a problem to solve, and a secret to keep. She crosses her fingers, and sends a message that could save them all.

The Padre

Juan Miguel Quintero Rios broke a promise to the Virgin, and so he was punished…but his intentions were pure, so he was also blessed. Now he walks the southwest with second sight and a tattoo across his back: Deo, non Fortuna—By God, not chance. The former gunslinger crosses himself, and makes for the Jacaranda Hotel.

Starred Review: Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

Jan 232015
 

Cover for Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop. A white woman with black hair streaked with red looks at the reader, wearing a jean jacket and with bright yellow light shining behind her.RT Book Reviews: 4 1/2 stars, Top Pick! Get ready to do the happy dance! It’s time to revisit Namid, Bishop’s extraordinarily gripping world with its unforgettable, haunting characters. Award-winning Bishop is fashioning a richly textured series whose reimagined Earth is so unique, it is a character itself. However, it is the distinctive protagonists who make these novels so totally addicting and completely satisfying. The hard part is waiting for the next installment!

Continue reading »

Review: Gideon by Alex Gordon

Jan 222015
 

Cover for Gideon by Alex Gordon. The background is a grey, bleak landscape with a leafless tree in silhouette, smoke in the foreground forming a vaguely humanoid shape.The Washington Post has included Gideon among their “Best new science fiction and fantasy.”

Washington Post: Alex Gordon’s impressive debut, Gideon (Harper/Voyager; paperback, $14.99), delivers a fast-paced plot that makes you want to finish it in a day, even if you don’t have time. The Midwest town of Gideon is full of witches who guard the living world against demons. An execution gone wrong in 1836 haunts the present-day inhabitants, who are worried about the “thinning” space between the living and the dead. After the sudden death of her father, Lauren Reardon comes to town to find out more about her family history and is troubled to learn that her father wielded great power in Gideon. She must face down the threat of a dead soul ready to rise again and bring most of hell with him. Lauren has the power to stop him, but can she also withstand the grudges and alliances of the townspeople? Gordon’s descriptions of the petty jealousies and the insular nature of a small town make this paranormal novel feel scarily realistic.

Review: Jacaranda by Cherie Priest

Jan 192015
 

priest-jacarandaRomantic Times: Priest continues to be an effective crafter of dread and tension, and while Jacaranda is explicitly a novella, there are a few areas where the reader might wish for more. Despite being set in her Clockwork Century universe, aside from a few background touches, this could easily take place in any version of the Old West, and the book seems to be building to something bigger than it ultimately winds up being. The characters here are vivid and interesting enough that hopefully this particular adventure isn’t the last of we hear of them, or of the survivors at least. Continue reading »

Review: Keys of Heaven by Adina Senft

Jan 162015
 

Cover for Keys of Heaven by Adina Senft. A white Amish woman in the foreground holds a basket of vegetables, a picturesque farm behind her.RT Book Reviews: This is a busy series with many characters, but the tension between Sarah and Henry takes center stage. Readers will look forward to more attention focused on the potential romance between the two in the next title in the series, especially after the cliffhanger ending that leaves a misunderstanding unresolved. Continue reading »

2014 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees

Jan 122015
 

Cover for Maplecroft by Cherie Priest. A woman's whose blond hair is in a proper Victorian updo has her back to us as she stands between two forebodingly lit marble columns. She is wearing a fancy blue Victorian dress. In her left hand, held slightly behind her, she holds a bloody ax.Congratulations to Cherie Priest on Maplecroft being nominated for the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award!

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one….

The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.

But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.

This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.

io9’s Best SF/F Books of 2014

Jan 092015
 

Cover for Maplecroft by Cherie Priest. A woman's whose blond hair is in a proper Victorian updo has her back to us as she stands between two forebodingly lit marble columns. She is wearing a fancy blue Victorian dress. In her left hand, held slightly behind her, she holds a bloody ax.Congratulations to Cherie Priest on Maplecroft being included on io9’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2014 list!

Priest takes the legend of Lizzie Borden and her axe and combines it with H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, for a rip-roaring story about a woman who was secretly a monster-hunter. Priest does an amazing job of fusing the real-life historical details about Lizzie and combining them with monstrous imaginings. This is a page-turning thriller that will delight true-crime fans as well as lovers of weird fiction — and it will leave you craving more.

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