Tag Archives: Science Fiction

Husbands by Lisa Tuttle

Book Review, ,
Overview
Image result for alien sex book cover

Title: Husbands
Author: Lisa Tuttle
In: Alien Sex (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Science fiction
Dates read: 29th October 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: ROC
Year: 1990
5th sentence, 74th page: I’m sure I’ve got it right.

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Synopsis

What are our husbands to us truly? Would we survive without males in our lives? This story finds a unique perspective on such perplexing questions.

Thoughts

One of the most alien thing to some people is the opposite sex. Actually, we all have moments some time that make us wonder if we’re cut from the same cloth. This story explores some of that, but also just what it is about our perceptions that can so heavily impacted upon gender ideals. What is it about gender which makes everything that little bit different and unique? Why do we find it all so confusing?

This short story is almost three independent stories which tie together. All deal with how we see gender, and all ask the question – how much of it is real and how much of it is just a part of our perceptions? It’s the first non-gross story in this collection. There are mentions and descriptions of the opposite gender and the ways in which we decide to divide our communities.

Personally, I loved two things the most about this story – firstly, the way in which the three husbands are described at the beginning of the story. It made me laugh, and wonder just what kind of animal my own husband would be. Then, towards the conclusion of the story there is a description of a second splitting of people. In a world that is only filled with women, they still manage to find their own divide and lines which can’t be crossed.

 <- The Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod ReviewWhen the Fathers Go Review ->
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The Vital Importance of the Superficial by Ellen Kushner & Caroline Stevermer

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for queen victoria's book of spells ellen datlow book cover

Title: The Vital Importance of the Superficial
Author: Ellen Kushner & Caroline Stevermer
In: Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Gaslamp, Science fiction
Dates read: 24th October 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: I play the pianoforte, but only very indifferently.

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Synopsis

A series of letters tell the story of an experiment gone awry, and the power of magic that ties everyone together. Will there be a happy ending to the letters that they share with one another?

Thoughts

This was such an interesting way to write a story – it was all written in letters between the characters. Rather than a proper prose, each moment of the future, past and present was outlined in people’s words and communications to one another. It made a completely unique and enjoyable experience. One that I really wasn’t expecting. And definitely a newer format to me… it’s always fun to find a unique way in which a story is told!

The Vital Importance of the Superficial is kind of nuts, but it was still a great tale. One that I look forward to reading again in the future. Every letter, every moment reveals more about the characters and the past. More about the story that is unfolding in a way that I was quite enthralled to experience. After all, it was a very different way to tell a story that was unique and not quite what was to be expected. All based in a great Victorian era.

The writing and style of this story was very reminiscent of Jane Austen and other similar writers. Not just in the way it was written, but the proper language shared between the characters. That, and the fact that everyone seemed to find love and completion in the end. A partner that was in front of their eyes the whole time…

 <- We Without Us Were Shadows ReviewThe Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown Review ->
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The First Time by K.W. Jeter

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for alien sex book cover

Title: The First Time
Author: K.W. Jeter
In: Alien Sex (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this)
My Bookshelves: Aliens, Lust, Science fiction
Dates read: 21st October 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: ROC
Year: 1990
5th sentence, 74th page: All the other stuff was just what he’d been dreaming.

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Synopsis

Everyone remembers their first time. Although I don’t think that this young boy really wants to remember his first time. Especially when it was so… gruesome.

Thoughts

Everyone’s first time is memorable. I just hope that it’s not memorable like this… because this is just downright, horrifyingly disturbing. Makes me incredibly glad for my awkward, uncomfortable “first time”… at least it wasn’t like this!!!

I am completely fascinated by the human body, our inner workings and what makes us tick. It’s probably why I love medical shows so much… they’re pretty good at exploring that aspect of my fascination. Yet, this short tale has kind of put me off for the time being… there’s fascination. And there’s just this. This horrifying level of ick… but I want share too much more because it’s well worth a read and you need the surprise like I had it!

Like so many stories in the Alien Sex collection, this is super weird and super uncomfortable. Which of course means, I kind of loved it. it was brilliant and entertaining. Dark and twisted. And really made me think a little more about my own “first time”.

 <- Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex ReviewThe Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod Review ->
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Pilot’s Forge by Patrice Sarath

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for the mammoth book of time travel romance book cover

Title: Pilot’s Forge
Author: Patrice Sarath
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this)
My Bookshelves: Romance, Science fiction, Time travel
Dates read: 16th October 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Edith parked her battered old work truck, with ‘Crane Farrier and Blacksmithing’ stencilled on the side, at the end of the parking lot, got out and stretched.

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Synopsis

Merritt Crane is being nosy and investigating an abandoned ship. But, suddenly he’s thrown into his past, our time. Where he not only saves a beautiful woman, but also starts to fall for her. When he saves her by going back to the future, is there any hope for them?

Thoughts

This is a lot less romantic than many of the other stories in The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance collection. In fact, there’s a hint of incest. Just a hint. And not enough to be icky (and believe me, I have read some icky tales lately…). But, mostly, the romance within it isn’t really gushy… they hook up and there is a little lust, but it’s only just glossed over. Which makes it different and refreshing compared to many of the other tales throughout the collection.

The dystopian, space future represented in this short story was intriguing. The loss of Earth; the existence of the rich and poor clans; and the existence of a man on the wrong side of the law – these all were kind of reminiscent of our life now. But highlights that we can’t keep treating our world like garbage. After all, our ancestors too might find a life and a reality in which they no longer have Earth.

The name of this story is kind of cool – originally I thought that it was about the spaceship and process of being involved with this. Yet, it’s actually about a small, tiny town on Earth in our modern day. The match up of the names and the hints about what this means are amazing. I feel like in the name alone, I would pick up more nuances as I reread this story.

 <- The Eleventh Hour ReviewSaint James’ Way Review ->
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To Marry Medusa by Theodore Sturgeon

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for book cover to marry medusa

Title: To Marry Medusa
Author: Theodore Sturgeon
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Aliens, Science fiction, Speculative fiction
Dates read: 23rd September – 3rd October 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Vintage Books
Year: 1958
5th sentence, 74th page: Like its predecessor, it began, on the instant of its completion, to build another, more advanced version of itself.

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Synopsis

Up until one minute ago, Gurlick was merely a specimen of homo sapiens, and a substandard specimen at that. But now this craven, seething, barely literate drunk has ingested a spore that travelled light years before touching down on our planet. A spore that has in turn ingested Gurlick – turned him into a host for the Medusa, a hive mind so vast that it encompasses the life forms of a billion planets. A hive mind that is determined to ingest Earth as well.

In this mind-wrenching classic of science fiction, the visionary novelist Theodore Sturgeon places humanity on a collision course with an organism of unimaginable power and malevolence and reminds us how much we depend on each other, or even on a wretch like Gurlick. Crackling with suspense, overflowing with invention, and startling in its compassion: To Marry Medusa is a tour de force from one of the great imaginers of the golden age of speculative fiction.

Thoughts

This is my first ever hive mind story. And one of the most intense and kind of insane stories I’ve read in a long time. Thoroughly enjoyable. Impossible to forget. And a great introduction to the genre of speculative fiction. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into more!!!

To Marry Medusa jumps around a lot. There are multiple storylines. Multiple tales, and a wide array of characters which dance across the pages. At first I found that overwhelmingly confusing – I thought that it was a story following Gurlick. And then random others would show up, and not appear again… yet, about halfway through, this tactic is explained. And suddenly it makes total sense. To the point that you wonder why you ever questioned the multiple storylines in the first place…

At the beginning of this tale, humanity wasn’t really highlighted in a nice light. It kind of shone a bit of a spotlight on the depravities of humans, rather than the shining glories. Yet, when all is said and done. When the final battles have been fought, there is this glimmer of hope. There is a sense that the world isn’t as screwed as I was beginning to think, and that maybe… just maybe, we actually have a chance to redeem and save ourselves.

This novel will take you on an amazing journey. It makes you question the trajectory that we’ve all found ourselves on… even after all these years. There is something disturbing and haunting about the reality which Sturgeon presents us with. One that is also not completely hopeless, and just makes you think that maybe we have a potential future after all…

 <- More speculative fictions reviewsMore alien reviews ->

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The Jamesburg Incubus by Scott Baker

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for alien sex book cover

Title: The Jamesburg Incubus
Author: Scott Baker
In: Alien Sex (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Lust, Science fiction
Dates read: 30th September 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: ROC
Year: 1990
5th sentence, 74th page: They start, slowly, romantically, this time, as though the three of them are fitting together, following something innate and inborn rather than dictating their private needs and wants to one another.

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Synopsis

St. Jacques is a pretentious, boring teacher. Until he eats some mouldy bread… and he begins to transform into an incubus.

Thoughts

Tales of alien adventures don’t normally include tones of Christianity. Or at least, none of the science fiction tales I normally read do… which made this tale incredibly weird and uncomfortable in some ways. But also very unique and interesting…

The most uncomfortable about this short story was the sexual preferences of St. Jacques. At first the idea of an incubus was seriously fascinating… until the young women he was preying on in his dreams were somewhat younger than I was imagining. Things just got steadily weirder and more uncomfortable from that point on. Although, I suppose that that was kind of the point…

Most tales I read about incubi have an intense paranormal spin. It’s about demons and angels. Right and wrong. Good and bad. Not so much with this tale… there is a weird moment of epiphany at the end. But, mostly it’s about a weird bread mould which can alter perceptions and feelings in dreams… a part of my life I would probably rather remained untouched.

 <- How’s the Night Life on Cissalda? ReviewMan of Steel, Woman of Kleenex Review ->
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Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Image result for illuminae book cover

Title: Illuminae
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Series: The Illuminae Files #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Science fiction, Young adult
Dates read: 15th July – 22nd September 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Year: 2015
5th sentence, 74th page: What’s it like to be a hero?

Synopsis

The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations – are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to escape on the evacuating fleet.

But their troubles are just beginning. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Thoughts

This is one of the most unique, intense and fun books I’ve read in a long time. Actually, it’s the only book like this that I’ve ever read. Rather than being a traditional prose, it is full of snippets and dossiers, information that you have to put together yourself as the story unfolds in front of you. When I first opened the pages of this, I wasn’t really sure that I’d like this style of writing. After all, it is completely different to what I normally read. But I found that I actually loved it. The difference in flavour and taste of the story was a great departure from what I usually read.

Most stories I read with a little romance start with a couple meeting each other. Illuminae on the other hand starts with the main couple breaking up with each other. Arguing and yelling at one another as they air their differences. It was kind of fun to have a different start to what is considered a bit of a romance. The fact that Ezra and Kady are obviously going to realise that they still care about each other. That they are actually meant to be together. The arguing and questioning each other is exactly what a healthy relationship means to me… so it was nice to see a couple that constantly pushed at each other and challenged their preconceptions.

I’m not a huge conspiracy buff. Not someone who tends to get drawn into some of these discussions like many of my friends do. But this story, the way it was written and the structure of the tale made me completely believe that some of them may even be plausible. After all, this is a tale about a rival company literally destroying an entire world and killing everyone they possibly can just to wipe out the competition. It was written in a completely plausible manner, one that made me feel a little uncomfortable and concerned about what their modern day counterparts would do.

Illuminae is an amazing adventure. It makes you feel emotional, drives home the fact that life is fleeting and is also full of fun and sass. Kady is driven, intelligent and completely loyal. She’s the kind of heroine I love, and she has enough gumption and independence to leave me laughing out loud. Multiple times. Ah. The innocence of youth.

 <- MementoGemina ->

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How’s the Night Life on Cissalda? by Harlan Ellison

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for alien sex book cover

Title: How’s the Night Life on Cissalda?
Author: Harlan Ellison
In: Alien Sex (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Aliens, Lust, Science fiction
Dates read: 22nd September 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: ROC
Year: 1990
5th sentence, 74th page: Capote’s voice instantly dropped three octaves.

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Synopsis

The creatures of Cissalda just want someone to love. Again and again and again. In the most intensive of ways. There’s a fairly high chance that they’ll just love their partners to death…

Thoughts

This is so completely disturbed. And I LOVED it. There was this wonderfully sassy, sarcastic and fun voice to the narration of this story. One that helped make this feel a little less disturbed, and a little more plausible. It was still incredibly disturbed, and I still felt slightly dirty for even reading it. But I also loved that it had me laughing out loud because it was truly out there.

Sex seems to be an incredibly potent topic, one that “makes the world go round”. Alright, it kind of does, because without it, we wouldn’t have the next generation… but it’s still a kind of difficult topic to approach. I read a lot of sex stories in my romances, but they’re about romance and the ideal which is completely unrealistic. This tale on the other hand was about pure, unadulterated lust. An alien race arriving on earth, and literally sexing its inhabitants to death. Lust and sex do have their downfalls…

This short story felt like a bit of a warning about how we let sex and lust take over our lives. The one person who isn’t going to succumb to the carnal death slated to the others doesn’t because he told the truth. In doing so, he betrayed his lover from Cissalda, which is probably bad, but I kind of like that he survives because he told the truth. Even if it means he’s about to die alone and abandoned…

 <- War Bride ReviewThe Jamesburg Incubus Review ->
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War Bride by Rick Wilber

Book Review, ,
Overview
Image result for alien sex book cover

Title: War Bride
Author: Rick Wilber
In: Alien Sex (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Science fiction
Dates read: 16th September 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: ROC
Year: 1990
5th sentence, 74th page: James stands, his head nearly touching the light fixture in the apartment’s living area.

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Synopsis

James is about to leave the planet with a mysterious Pashi. But what are the costs? Is it something that he truly wants to do?

Thoughts

This story was a little familiar. Although it took the author’s little spiel about why he wrote this story to really drive home just why it was so. It was reminiscent of the Allied Forces leaving Vietnam after the war. Both leaving lovers behind, and, in some cases, trying to bring them home with them. Something that I can’t quite fathom. But by placing an American at the centre of the story, it made it much easier to understand.

Not only was this a great reversal of roles in that an American was part of the weaker group, but it was also a great gender reversal. James is the “war bride”, not some poor, unwilling female. I liked that it twisted and turned everything on its head, but still kept enough familiarity that you kind of spent most of this story scratching your head in confusion.

The vague descriptions of the alien race helped to enhance the feeling of “otherness” which was inherent in this story. It made you imagine something that wasn’t quite human, but you couldn’t quite picture her fully. Just as a vague shadowy figure who is ripping James away from everything that he knows and loves. Possibly to save him, but it also stops him from being able to ever return to a world that was important to him…what I imagine many of the “war brides” of the Vietnam War went through themselves.

 <- Her Furry Face ReviewHow’s the Night Life on Cissalda? Review ->
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Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for journey to the centre of the earth book cover

Title: Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Author: Jules Verne
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Book to Film, Classics, Easy reading, Science fiction
Dates read: 30th – 31st July 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Kingsford Editions
Year: 1864
5th sentence, 74th page: I got up from my granite bed and went out to enjoy the magnificent spectacle that lay unfolding before my eyes.

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Synopsis

Professor Otto Lidenbrock’s great adventure begins by chance when a scrap of paper drops out of an ancient book he has just bought. The coded inscription reveals the existence of a passageway leading to the centre of the earth and that the entrance lies within the crater of an extinct volcano in Iceland.

The professor travels to Iceland accompanied by his nephew, Axel, a keen young geologist. Together with a Swiss guide, they descend into the bowels of the earth where an amazing prehistoric world awaits them.

Writting in 1864, Journey to the Centre of the Earth established Verne as a pioneer of science fiction. This edition has been revised and improved for a modern readership.

Thoughts

This is my second Jules Verne story and, if anything, I think it was better than the first. I kind of loved it. It was incredibly fun, engaging and the voice of the narrator was incredibly relatable, even today. The mad scientist for an uncle, the lovestruck nephew (and narrator). Everything about this story and voice drew me in from the very beginning. Which is why I read it so quickly – the voice that told such an incredible story was impossible to get out of my head, even now.

I must admit, I generally skim read classics a little more than the more contemporary and modern tales. Simply because the amount of information that reading every single word provides tends to overwhelm me and I find skim reading stops me from getting bogged down in the details, without losing out on the storyline. The last quarter of this novel, I did skim read a little. But, mostly, I actually read every word like I would with most other novels I pick up. There is just something about the storyline and writing that was far more approachable (maybe because it was translated), and I actually didn’t want to miss a single moment of the storyline.

My biggest problem with this storyline was the fact that I kept on picturing Brendan Fraser in my head when I was reading the story. I’ll give you a hint, the book and the film, not really like one another at all. Normally that would bother me a little and I would find that I prefer one over the other. But I think that the adaptation and the original are both brilliant, equally so. After all, the movie is a modern adaptation and the book was written in 1864. There are many different aspects which make both versions amazing and impossible to put down.

I can’t wait to reread this story in another year or so. I know that there will be so many more themes and aspects in the storyline that I’ll pick up on and that will make me fall in love again and again. After all, that’s one of the things that I love most about classics – they have so many layers and hidden meanings that take me much longer to find and enjoy.

<- More classics reviewsMore science fiction reviews ->
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