Holly Messinger: The Curse of Jacob Tracy
Reminds me almost equally of TV’s Deadwood and Angel – impressively researched post-Civil War setting with a complex supernatural ecosystem in a series of nearly self-contained novellas that gradually...
View ArticleSara Benincasa: DC Trip
liked this better after I stopped worrying about the geographical inaccuracies and just went with the full-on zany. the framing device didn’t work for me, and some of the backstory digressions seemed a...
View ArticleJonathan Howard: Carter & Lovecraft
Entertaining collision of hardboiled PI and Lovecraft ’s Mythos, with a dash of a metaphysics/ metatextualism. Already impatient for sequel.
View ArticleJennifer Weiner: The Guy Not Taken
I liked this short story collection much better than “Good in Bed.”
View ArticleSteven Erikson: Willful Child
I thought this started out very strong, but even though its episodic, aimless nature is explicitly part of the point, I was ready for it to be over well before it was.
View ArticleLeigh Jenkins: Catherine the Inquisitor
Interesting, if not always compelling, alternate Tudor history tale. sometimes felt like Jenkins was more ingested in showing off research than telling a story, but I still had some problems...
View ArticleAlyssa Cole: A Princess in Theory
When Naledi gets exaggeratedly polite emails about being a long-lost royal bride of an African nation she very reasonably assumes they’re a phishing/identity theft attempt, but it’s all true, and “A...
View ArticleCourtney Milan: After the Wedding
I very much appreciate how Courtney Milan inverts and subverts familiar romance tropes, and “After the Wedding” is no exception: it literally starts with a wedding, in which the principals are forced...
View ArticleCatherynne M Valente: Space Opera
I loved this book so much it’s hard for me to write coherently about it. The language: dense, rich, vivid musical. The premise: yes, Eurovision in space, played for laughs, but not JUST for laughs,...
View ArticleEliza Madison: Eight Naughty Nights
I really enjoyed the many “Star Wars: references and a guest appearance from my favorite feature of Milwaukee airport. Also thought the family drama and not-always-graceful coping with grief provided a...
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