Some Books I Loved

**A novel about a space butler.  Yes.  It's great** Scott Meyer is quietly very, very dependable.  Some might know him as the author of the webcomic "Basic Instructions", which is how I discovered him (although he will probably inform people that he once opened for Weird Al as a standup comic).  But as an author, he has a knack for delivering light, fun scifi/fantasy novels.  His books are generally silly and fun, but with surprising and pleasant insight into human character underneath that.  But underneath that is basically more silliness and fun While his most popular works are the Magic 2.0 series, starting with "Off to be the Wizard", I have a special place in my heart for his standalone novel, "Master of Formalities".  Again, to be clear, it's a novel about a space butler.  You don't have  to imagine Anthony Hopkins, but objectively speaking you really should We have a galaxy full of powerful planetary and multi-planetary governments, kn...

 **Is it a near-future tech scifi novel?  Is it a dark academia magic school novel?  Yes** The premise is simple.  Elegant, really.  We have two childhood best friends, Patricia and Laurence.  Patricia realizes that she has magical powers, she can speak to birds and has other abilities.  Laurence is a supergenius in the classic scifi sense, building advanced gadgets as a young kid.  They get split up, and at this point the novel diverges into basically two completely different books told in alternating chapters:  Patricia ends up in a dark academia story, sent to a magical school where she learns magic and the secrets of the world; meanwhile, Laurence ends up in a day-after-tomorrow scifi story, where he invents increasing fantastic technological marvels Patricia ends up part of a cabal dedicated to protecting the Earth:  “When the whole world turns chaotic, we must be the better part of chaos,” (man I love that line).  Laurence end...

 **A series of essays about the wonder and majesty of marine life, paired with stories of the author's experiences as a female, queer, mixed-race person in the largely white and male field of scientific journalism.  An absolute winner** Yup.  This one is a winner This will be I believe only the second nonfiction book I've written about for this thing (the first being the truly fantastic "The Cooking Gene" by Michael W. Twitty).  I read very little nonfiction for fun, simply because I have to read so many articles and reports and white papers for work.  When I relax, I generally prefer fiction, and generally prefer speculative fiction at that (that said, I do love graphic novel memoirs, will probably get around to writing about one or two of them as well).  But man, this book is special So, in short, this is a collection of essays about marine life.  I think anyone who's studied even a little bit of ocean life learns pretty quickly that there is some a...

 **A hand reached out to everyone who's ever known, not merely thought but known , that they don't belong in this world, and who's ever not thought but known that there has to be a better one someone out there** "Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children" is a very special place.  It's a boarding school for children who followed the white rabbit, stepped into the wardrobe, took the red pill . . . and have now come back.  And have to learn how to live in this world again This is a series of loosely collected novellas, some branching off from each other, some completely standalone (although we may meet those characters again later).  And it is, I want to say this clearly, some of the most perfect storytelling I've ever come across Many of the stories take place at Eleanor West's, described in one book as "an island of misfit toys, a place to put the unfinished stories and broken wanderers who could butcher a deer and string a bow but no longer re...

 **Not just one of the most heart-rendingly good queer coming-of-age books I've ever read, but one of the best coming-of-age books I've ever read, period** This post will be short, because I don't want to spoil anything.  Let me just say that this book has my very highest of recommendations This book is fascinating, because it's firmly in the Young Adult category.  It's a story about a 16-year-old, growing up and grappling with the pressures of school and family and just trying to grow up.  Solidly Young Adult It's also one of the most soul-crushing, depressing, dark novels I've read recently.  I would absolutely recommend this book to a 13-year-old . . . but I'd also make sure to add, "and hey, I'll be around if there's anything you want to talk about".  And while I don't, for this blog, give specific content warnings, just rest assured that it has just about everything that can possibly be included while still being rated "Gr...

Pride Month!  Speculative Fiction, scifi in particular, has been queer as hell for the entirety of its history (like, that's not an exaggeration, there are absolutely elements in Shelley and Verne).  After all, the genre is about imagining the world not as it is, but as it could be.  And a marginalized and oppressed people will always have a lot  to say, when that's the topic Most years, I try to mix in at least one or two classics of the genre.  But unfortunately, there's just too many  great contemporary authors that I want to support.  Ahh well.  We do what we gotta do As always, I can't personally speak for any of these books.  I've put together this list based on friends' recs, reviews, and for some of them just really interesting-sounding blurbs.  But I am excited, should be a great month! * * * "Metal from Heaven" by August Clarke, 2024 Epic fantasy with author reviews like "pulpy, bloody, sexy, gleefully seditious and seditiously...

 **Gorgeous, baffling at times but undeniably gorgeous, galaxy-spanning space opera inspired by Korean mythology** Yoon Ha Lee is a ton of fun, as an author.  He actually has a fantastic collection of Young Adult novels, I'd highly recommend them (released under the "Rick Riordan Presents" line).  He actually first came to my attention for his "flash fiction", short stories usually no longer than a page or two.  Some of them even shorter: Raven Tracks The thing to know about ravens is that they don’t leave tracks the way other birds do.  It is not just a matter of raven feet, of tearing raven talons. Rather, ravens leave their thoughts scattered sideways in out-of-print books, in footnotes that should not be there and that are written in extinguished languages.  Sometimes they discuss the number of coins it would take to imbalance a businessman’s greed.  Sometimes they dissect (pitilessly, that goes without saying) the libretti of operas where too many...