Ruined Cities edited by James Tallett (2013) – I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this anthology before. I like beginning writers and original stories, so independent publications’ short story collections are right up my alley. I’m not wild about dystopian or post-apocalyptic stories, but this one is large and meaty (420 pages) and has some exceptional writing. I’ll talk about a few of my favorites. “The City Over Hell” by Jennifer Povey – A young illiterate girl discovers her city is actually a dying space […]
What I feel is relief. It wasn’t me.
Welp, I just picked up The Handmaid’s Tale this afternoon, and finished it in one sitting. Not because I couldn’t put it down, but because I absolutely refused to stop, let it percolate, and dare to wonder at what could be coming. Honestly, it’s too believable. I knew that it would be; you can’t avoid talk of the story these days. But it’s strikingly real, and for that reason, downright horrifying. I never caught myself picking apart the believability, or the potential. This is dystopian fiction […]
Monsters and Humans doing Romeo and Juliet right
The ideas of humanizing monsters and monstrous humans seems to be a big theme with Victoria (V.E.) Schwab. This would normally annoy me, except that she does it so well, and with variety each time. This is my third series of hers that I’ve started, and each one is different in terms of world and characters. I’m saving the conclusion of one series, A Conjuring of Light, until the end of the current semester in 3 weeks; if I don’t I’ll be buried by grading […]
OK, my second Margaret Atwood book was awesome!
My first exposure to Margaret Atwood was book one in the MaddAddam Trilogy – Oryx and Crake. It was not a rousing success in my eyes. I didn’t quite get it. Aaaanyway, my library’s app had this in ebook form, so it was my second Margaret Atwood book. I loved it. It was my “reading before bed” book, which is hard when it’s a book that I really enjoy. I find myself dozing when I really want to keep reading. So this is another dystopian […]