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Have you read "No Flight Without the Shatter" by Brooke Bolander?
Yes, I've read this before
Yes, I followed the link & read it now
No, I've never read this
I've never heard of this
"No Flight Without the Shatter" is available to read here (NOTE: Submitter has added TWs for climate change and extinction. Read at your own risk.)
Reading of 2021, part II
I had higher hopes for publishing this list in January or whenever it was, but I’ve been sticking to my reading this year. Lately I’ve been trying to move away from my endless reading list on amazon. Something that sounded appealing 2 years ago, might not now. And I feel like my reading is better off for it.
5. To Be Taught, if Fortunate by Becky Chambers Over the course of 2020, Becky Chambers quickly became one of my favourite authors. I love her sci-fi about normal people, how she writes about their day-to-day tasks (for example about astronauts on an expedition to explore 4 exoplanets) who simply go about their damn business. There exists such a joy amongst these characters, such a passion for what they’re doing. I love her way of describing alien life, how it’s important not to assume that life on other planets is the same as on Earth (WEAR A DAMN SPACE SUIT, KIRK JEEZ), and that life can exists within such different parameters. Loved this book so much. LOVED.
6. The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander In a world where elephants are “sentient” and a whole world is impacted by the horrific death of one elephant, an event that occurred over a hundred years ago. Bolander has an interesting way of writing, intense and frenetic, and we’re constantly jumping back and forth in time. This is a novella and I think it could have benefited from being a longer piece. To let the world breathe a little more.
7. The Queen’s Bargain by Anne Bishop When I was 17 I read Bishop’s Black Jewels trilogy and it had me hooked. It’s dark fantasy with a lot of romance and sex, and it talks about a lot important issues like consent and sexual abuse. Some of it is quite horrific and I have not read enough literature like this to be able to compare it to something else. This is the 10th Black Jewels book that has been published. It takes a while to get going and there is a lot of faffing about, and I appreciate that not everyone has the patience for that. I’m completely fine with it as I love this world that Bishop’s created and the characters and the magic system. Throughout the story, however, I’m constantly made aware of how long it’s been since the last time I read a Black Jewels book and I can’t remember some of the details. Bishop guides me through the story, taking this into consideration, sometimes a little too considerate. But what I’m left with is essentially wanting more. So much more. I want to read about the Scelties and more about their society in general. I want to read about Marian. Just more of everything please.
8. Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor The main character in this story is such a tour-de-force, such a complicated, angry, awesome and terrifying young woman. I love the comradery that develops between the different characters throughout the novel and how the they’re all trying to figure it out together. And finally a book about young people who actually! have! sex!
9. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells I’m not that familiar with androids and bots outside of Star Trek (Data is my favourite). So I’m finding this entrance into this subgenre very pleasant. This is Well’s second Murderbot novella. I love Murderbot’s interaction with the transport ship bot. There is such an interesting juxtaposition between the two and their relationship provides insight into what life is like for these mechanical life forms who serve humans, and suffer anxiety and depression as a side effect of their intelligence. The relationship between Murderbot and ART is lovely, and the scene of them watching TV shows together is precious. Because they care so deeply, as humans clearly don’t understand them. I hope these books take on creating a better dialogue between androids/bots and humans, because the humans in this universe clearly have no idea what they’ve invented. Murderbot has her governor module removed and she still ends up helping humans in the end, she’s ultimately obsessed with humans and what they create. This story fills me with such emotions and I heartily recommend.
Pretend you are the land. Pretend you are a place far away, the last vibrant V of green and gold and tessellated rock before the sea and sky slither south unchecked for three thousand lonesome turns of a tern’s wing. Once upon a time the waters rose to cut you off from your mother continent, better independence through drowning. Some day soon, when the ice across the ocean turns to hungry waves, all the rest will follow, sliding beneath an oil-slick surface as warm and empty as a mortician’s handshake.
No Flight without the Shatter by Brooke Bolander
Read on Tor.com
Congratulations to all the DMLA authors who made Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2018. The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander Witchmark by C.L. Polk Deep Roots by Ruthanna Em…
January was a great month at the bookstore! Here’s who we hosted:
Graywolf authors Maud Casey & Stacey D’Erasmo talked about their books The Art of Mystery and The Art of Intimacy
Boston alt-rock band Buffalo Tom played a benefit concert,
Queer podcast Food 4 Thot did a live show and celebrated the launch of Joe Osmundson’s memoir Inside/Out.
Nathaniel Rich launched his new novel King Zeno, a historical thriller set in New Orleans, with live jazz from The Jazz Foundation.
Austin-based showcase Greetings, From Queer Mountain launched their NYC residency, with Sam Sax, Tommy Pico, Whitney Chanel Clark, Jes Tom, Chewy May, Lynaé DePriest & host Michael Foulk!
Rising sci-fi and fantasy star Brooke Bolander talked about her debut novella, The Only Harmless Great Thing, with Maria Dahvana Headley and Amal El-Mohtar.
Drunk Ed continued its wildly successful series of roasts of “great” literary men, with Meredith Clark, Kate Knibbs, Muna Mire, and Chelsea G. Summers taking down Joseph Conrad, Michael Wolff, Jack Kerouac, and Christopher Hitchens..
Brooke Bolander is a force to be reckoned with. She’s a ferocious new voice in fantasy, and though she’s yet to publish a novel, her short fiction has made her a repeat finalist for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards. Her work is on the cutting edge of genre, blending science fiction, the new weird, fantasy, and literary tropes with concepts that are wholly original, and strictly her own. The Only Harmless Great Thing is her longest publication to date, at about 100 pages, and she earns every damn one of them.
Before I read Watership Down, I knew personally how utterly alien animals were, but I had no idea anyone else could quantify it. You know that moment when a friend voices an opinion you’ve been cer…
“Before I read Watership Down, I knew personally how utterly alien animals were, but I had no idea anyone else could quantify it. You know that moment when a friend voices an opinion you’ve been certain was uniquely and utterly your own and you leap out of your seat shrieking HOLY SHITSNACKS, ME TOO and startle the cat? It was that moment, in novel format.“
Impressive THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY is recommended
Reviews for Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman’s new anthology, THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY, have started appearing.
Peter S. Beagle (photo: Rina Weisman) and Jacob Weisman
INFINITE TEXT praises the anthology.
What Beagle does with this anthology is an elegant passing of the writing pen to a younger generation of fantasy writers, and he presents them to us, the readers, without rigidity as his teachers before him have. He accepts them as they are and is in awe of their risk-taking, creativity, and courage. I cannot imagine how many works Beagle must have read through to select these top 19 stories, but I had a hard time selecting my favourites, as each one of them brings something completely unique to the Fantasy cornucopia. His selection includes a great balance of men and women writers, as well as various backgrounds.
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I recommend this anthology to anyone who loves fantasy and wants to try some of the new emerging voices. I have no doubt that each one of these writers will continue to write and publish larger works in the future, and this anthology is a great introduction to them. I would especially recommend this to readers who are new to fantasy and want to sample shorter works without committing to an entire series and/or trilogy.
Brad K. Horner on his eponymous site enjoys the book.
I really liked, sometimes loved the stories in this volume. A lot of them are reprints, if not all, and I remember a number of them quite fondly from previous reads, such as, and especially, Alyssa Wong and Brooke Bolander.
However, there were a number of newcomers (the definition is flexible) that I really enjoyed or I've already had the pleasure of reading some of their actual novels, such as stories from Hannu Rajaniemi, Sofia Samatar, and Max Gladstone. Hannu is a personal favorite author of mine, and Max is rapidly getting there, too, for me.
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All in all, though, I am very impressed and pleased by this collection and if its primary intention is to say, "Hey, look at these authors and revel in their glory!", then I think it did a wonderful job. Most of them have quite a few awards under their wings, too.
I totally recommend this for all modern fantasy lovers. (And btw, there's a TON of great OLD fantasy retellings, usually quite unique and unusual tales in their own right. If you love hard to find legends retold for modern sensibilities wrapped and layered in fantastic characters, this is ALSO your book.)
THE READING LIFE really likes the book’s lead story “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong.
A few days ago I as kindly given a review copy of a forthcoming soon anthology, THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY, edited by Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman. I was completely shocked by how much I liked the beautiful lead story, "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong. Last month I first read the surrealistic short fiction of Leonora Carrington. If April 2017 was for me the month I "discovered" Leonora Carrington, then quite possibly May will be observed as the month I first read Alyssa Wong. I know this sounds hyperbolic but I can for sure visualize Leonora being stunned by "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” i certainly was. I was on first reading mesmerized by the sheer elegance of Wong's prose combined with the very ugly and evil story she tells.
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If just a few of the stories in THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY are close to this good, it is well worth acquiring.
