Joseph Street Digest – Volume 1: Seth Underwood, Seth Underwood
This is an unusual volume, collecting two medium-length short stories and a collection of shorts under the umbrella title of “Future Human Follies” from author Seth Underwood. The heart of the collection is a pair of android-centered stories, The Pallas Quarantine and The A-4 Known As Helen which explore aspects of the human-android relationship in ways I’d never stopped to consider. They also share a theme of sickness or weakness cropping up in unexpected places. The Follies are very short, and seem like seeds for longer stories.
This wasn’t the smoothest read: Helen and the four at the end felt like drafts I was reading from Underwood’s notebooks. There were some rough patches (run-on sentences, a non-sequitur introduction in Helen) which could have been sanded down by a good editor without losing the narrative texture. I don’t think that’s on Underwood, though, unless he’s his own (and only) editor. Worth the time to discover a new voice with an interesting perspective and some challenging ideas.
Smirk factor: Plus qu’ acceptable: 1.5 pts (No smirking; half point off for rough phrasing.)
Immersion factor: Damp: 0.5 pts (Interesting but not compelling.)
Writing quality: Average: 1 pt
Character/plot development: Average: 1 pt
Innovative/interesting: Average: 1 pt
Total: 5/10 (2.5 stars, rounded to 3)
“The word “JUICY” was spelled out in capital letters in rhinestones across her ass. At least, I think that’s what it said. You can only stretch Spandex so far before it fucks up the kerning.”
If you’ve been in a greasy spoon between midnight and sunup and wondered if your fellow diners are for real, you’ll get half of the premise for this. In this alternative reality, the answer’s definitely not. There’s magic, elves, orks, and media gaslighting the public while Waffle Haus is under siege. The story’s also an homage of sorts to Monster Hunters International from Larry Corriea. Lots of inside baseball which was lost on me. I thought this was a wash: there’s clever premise and good writing, but some of the overtones will be jarring if you’re not in the right (or maybe “right”?) frame of mind.
Smirk factor: All clear: 2pts (Zero smirks given.)
Immersion factor: Shallow water: 1 pt
Writing quality: Average: 1 pt
Character/plot development: Average: 1 pt
Innovative/interesting: Average: 1 pt (Great premise.)
Total: 6/10 (3 stars)
Wolves (I Bring The Fire 1), C. Gockel
“‘Loki’s subconscious?’ says Beatrice through the door. Rolling on its stomach, the wolf says, ‘Yes, that tiny, tiny, little part of him that doesn’t want to drown in his own vomit in your backyard.’”
C. Gockel crossed my radar as the force behind the free novel collection “Rogue Stars” which featured her “Archangel Down” which I liked enough to sign up for her newsletter and read some more. “More” in that case started with “Wolves” the first installment of the “I Bring The Fire” series starring Loki, the Norse god of poor behavior. (Yes, there’s probably a bit more to it than that, but I’m trying to be concise.)
“Shrugging, he says in a flat voice, “If I’m going to see Odin kneel before me while I hold his testicles in my hands as all of Asgard burns, I have to start somewhere.””
This novel features Amy, a veterinary school student with a messy life running into Loki, who has his own monumentally messy life. Loki is hilariously unsuited for exile in our world, and Amy is hilariously unsuited for, well, most of her life. They make a great team.
Gockel’s writing is fairly polished, and the story flows along smoothly. This was a fun read, but there’s not a hook that makes it stand out. I’m not sure I’m up for ten more volumes.
Smirk factor: Overdone but sure: 0.5 pts (21 “smirks” in 254 pages – even Loki doesn’t smirk that much.)
Immersion factor: Chest-high: 1.5 pts
Writing quality: Average: 1 pt
Character/plot development: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Innovative/interesting: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Total: 6/10 (3.0 stars)
Haliden’s Fire, Chris R. Sendowski May 25
Haliden’s world is burning, and the artist must escape flames, doomsday cultists, and normal human misbehavior if he is to save himself and the precious trove of cultural artifacts he’s shepherding to safety. This is fantasy, but with a strong and serious undertone about how people respond to impending disaster. Sendowski paints a picture of the full scope of human nature: good, bad and ugly are all on display. Haliden, though, remains a bit underdeveloped. This also felt like it took a long time to really get rolling, and it was more illuminating than necessarily entertaining. The end builds nicely to a tense climax, though.
Smirk factor: All clear: 2 pts (No smirking, although it must have been tempting.)
Immersion factor: Shallow water: 1 pt
Writing quality: Average: 1 pt
Character/plot development: Average: 1 pt
Innovative/interesting: Average: 1 pt
Total: 6/10 (3 stars)
Nevernight, Jay Kristoff, 2017
Recommended by A.J. Calvin at the Escapist Book Company. Mia Corvere is the last survivor of a disgraced family, and winds up apprenticed to a covert coven of assassins, the Red Church. Groomed by a talent spotter, she journeys to the Church and finds that her trials have only started. Firmly in the fantasy world, this was a solid read. It has an excellent, twisty plot and good character development.
“‘Messing about with the dark seems just another kind of huckster thaumaturgy to me.’ He glanced up to the cloudless sky. ‘And I can’t see much use for it in a place where the suns almost never set.’”
The weakness is the length: it felt at times like Kristoff added twists and developments in order to lengthen it. These weren’t all equally credible extensions to the plot, which have been just as good with maybe a hundred fewer but more strongly written pages. Overall, though, I’m not complaining. It held together well and stands out in my mind as a masterful piece of richly detailed and convincing world-building. I enjoyed this, but hesitate to follow up with the rest of the series.
Smirk factor: Overdone: 0 pts (19 smirks in 488 pages is still too many.)
Immersion factor: Chest-high: 1.5 pts (It wavers in places, but brought me with it.)
Writing quality: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Character/plot development: High: 2 pts (Complex and nuanced, but not overburdened.)
Innovative/interesting: Above average: 1.5 pts
Total: 6.5/10 (3.25 stars)
Some of the Best From Tor.com 2021, Ruoxi Chen and Ellen Datlow, eds.
This is a sprawling read, bringing together 22 short stories from the SFF publishing powerhouse’s website. The curated authors range from well-known names to new entrants. And if you’re reading the volume as a way of discovering something new there is a range of styles and points of view here which will probably serve up something for almost everyone.
Very quickly, some of the best of the best from 2021, in my eyes:
· #Spring Love, #Pichal Pairi, Usman T. Malik: Love’s hard enough as it is, harder still when one of you has supernatural powers.
· Small Monsters, E. Lily Yu: Nature, red in tooth and claw, but not devoid of friendship.
· The Far Side of the Universe, noc: Are you sure you did the math right on this project?
· An Easy Job, Carrie Vaughn: An investigator who’s more than he seems meets a target who is just like him.
Even the stories I didn’t particularly like were put together well and professionally presented. I could see why they were in the collection, even when they didn’t resonate. Kudos to Chen and Datlow. Sadly, the 2021 edition seems to have been the last of the series.
Smirk factor: Plus-qu’acceptable: 1.5 pts (12 smirks, over 22 stories and 22 authors. Fine…)
Immersion factor: Shallow water: 1 pt (The best were compelling, but my mileage varied widely.)
Writing quality: Above-average: 1.5 pts (Even the stuff I didn’t like was solid.)
Character/plot development: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Innovative/interesting: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Total: 7/10 (3.5 stars)