Tag Archives: Tobias S. Buckell

Dead Man’s Hand edited by John Joseph Adams

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Overview
Image result for dead man's hand book cover

Title: Dead Man’s Hand
Author: John Joseph Adams, Joe R. Lansdale, Ben H. Winters, David Farland, Mike Resnick, Seanan McGuire, Charles Yu, Alan Dean Foster, Beth Revis, Alastair Reynolds, Hugh Howey, Rajan Khanna, Orson Scott Card, Elizabeth Bear, Tad Williams, Jonathan Maberry, Kelley Armstrong, Tobias S. Buckell, Jeffrey Ford, Ken Liu, Laura Anne Gilman, Walter Jon Williams, Fred Van Lente & Christie Yant
In: Dead Man’s Hand (John Joseph Adams)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Science fiction, Short story collections, Weird western
Dates read: 4th June – 26th November 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Anthology
Publisher: Titan Books
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: “Am I interrupting?” she asked.

Synopsis

HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD!

From a kill-or-be-killed gunfight with a vampire to an encounter in a steampunk bordello, the weird western is a dark, gritty tale where the protagonist might be playing poker with a sorcerous deck of cards, or facing an alien on the streets of a dusty frontier town.

Here are twenty-three original tales – stories of the Old West infused with elements of the fantastic – produced specifically for this volume by many of today’s finest writers. Included are Orson Scott Card’s first “Alvin Maker” story in a decade, and an original adventure by Fred Van Lente, writer of Cowboys & Aliens.

Thoughts

What a fantastic collection. And a great new genre to add to my ever-expanding knowledge of / collection of books. Before reading Dead Man’s Hand and Westward Weird, I had never heard of Weird westerns. And now it’s a genre that I’m seriously keen to find more of. There is just something amazingly fun and awesome about this collection. Very, very enjoyable.

The gunslingers and card players throughout this anthology took me on an absolutely joyous ride. One that I was kind of disappointed finished so quickly. The idea of the wild west has always intrigued me, making this the first time that I was completely able to thrown myself into this fascination.

This anthology didn’t quite get five stars because I didn’t fall head over heels for each and every story. Having said that, I would most definitely read this again. Even those stories which weren’t quite as holy crap amazing as the others.

<- Dead Man’s HandThe Red-Headed Dead ->

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Sundown by Tobias S. Buckell

Book Review, ,
Overview
Image result for dead man's hand book cover

Title: Sundown
Author: Tobias S. Buckell
In: Dead Man’s Hand (John Joseph Adams)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Weird western
Dates read: 31st October 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Titan Books
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: The territories we purchased from the Russians after the war?

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Synopsis

Willie is a deputy Marshall on the hunt for something that can’t quite be explained. And will probably give you nightmares…

Thoughts

Entering a town that you don’t expect to survive is terrifying. Add to that airships, insects and all sorts of horrible things that go bump in the night… I was kind of surprised that anyone survived at the end of this story. And, of course, super grateful that they did.

I love that the Deputy Marshall is only described as negro only abut halfway through the story. Sit highlights the inherent racism and horribleness of people. And it also drove home how horrible it must be for people who experience this. Even though this was a bit of a fantasy story, this was the part of the tale that I focused on most… that racism and the horror of the crowd.

I really enjoyed this short story. Although I’m not 100% of what happened throughout. It was a little bit convoluted and insane. Which is probably why I enjoyed it so much…

<- BamboozledLa Madre Del Oro ->

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The Mammoth Book of Steampunk edited by Sean Wallace

Book Review, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Overview
The Mammoth Book of Steampunk

Title: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk
Author: Sean Wallace, Ekaterina Sedia, Jeff VanderMeer, Caitlin R. Kiernan, E. Catherine Tobler, Jay Lake, Genevieve Valentine, Cat Rambo, Shweta Narayan, Aliette de Bodard, N.K. Jemisin, Peter M. Ball, Sharon Mock, Catherynne M. Valente, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Eileen Gunn, Michael Swanwick, Tobias S. Buckell, Matthew Kressel, Margo Lanagan, Amal El-Mohtar, Barth Anderson, Jeffrey Ford, James Morrow, Cherie Priest, Margaret Ronald, Megan Arkenberg, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Mary Robinette Kowal, Samantha Henderson, Nick Mamatas, Nicole Kornher-Stace & Lavie Tidhar
Series: Mammoth Books
In: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Short story collections, Steampunk
Dates read: 3rd October 2018 – 6th March 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Anthology
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: He was in his library, or so he called it, a small room that smelled of pipe tobacco and old leather, so close that one could barely breathe.

Synopsis

30 anarchic mash-ups of past and future that push the boundaries of steampunk.

Great steampunk stories confront an uneasy history of oppression – of women, other ‘races’ and classes – and the abuse of science, by reimagining the past. The writers represented in this outsatnding collection look to the future through the lens of the past, imagining worlds in which technology is used to uplift rather than to oppress.

Thoughts

I’ve only recently gotten involved in steampunk. It’s a genre that I only started reading late last year and one that I kind of love. Although, as I discovered with this collection of short stories, it is also a genre that I have to concentrate a little more to read (unlike genre such as romance).

This anthology runs the gambit of steampunk stories and brings a number of themes, styles and settings to life. It is a perfect way to completely disappear from the world after a long day. Although, with many of the themes, once you have finished the story you are thrown back into reality ten times more heavily than you were before. After all, most of these stories have a great commentary about the world that we live in today.

From capitalism to feminist movements, every major issue and discussion that seems to be occurring in modern society is touched upon in this collection. Yet, these aren’t all serious commentaries on the world. Some of the stories are kind of hilarious, and some are downright weird. The one thing that they all have in common is that they are thoroughly enjoyable and have helped to give me a new addiction.

<- The TraitorSteampunk: Looking to the Future Through the Lens of the Past ->

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The People’s Machine by Tobias S. Buckwell

Book Review, ,
Overview
The Mammoth Book of Steampunk

Title: The People’s Machine
Author: Tobias S. Buckell
In: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Steampunk
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: Three more dockworkers stepped forward, surrounding them.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide
Synopsis

Ixtil is travelling to Europe to find out if the ritual killers are one of his own people. What he uncovers is a conspiracy far more powerful than he expected…

Thoughts

This is the second steampunk story I’ve read in a while that features aspects of Mayan mythology throughout the storyline. And it works weirdly, and beautifully well. Actually, incredibly surprisingly. I’m used to Victorian London, Europe and even Northern America featured in steampunk stories. It’s very different and beautiful to have such vividly descriptive worlds combining and crashing together.

There’s a sense of constant questioning throughout this short story. Initially, a murder causes the lead to question whether or not there are zealots running amok in Europe. But, as the story progresses, new questions arise. Primarily in the form of who governs who, and why should we obey? Whether it is a government or a computer, there are multiple forms of control throughout the tale, but the constant question as to whether or not truth should really govern all.

 <- Zeppelin City ReviewThe Hands That Feed Review ->
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