The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories by Jeffrey Ford – Despite being Jeff Ford's debut collection, the stories collected here show no sign of 'an up and coming writer'. Ford appears to be one of the few who emerged from the cocoon with butterfly wings. As with most Ford collections, there are a few highly memorable stories worth a read, with the surrounding material hanging close. “Creation”, the title story, “The Delicate”, and “At Reparata” are all proper good, with “Creation” being one of the nest I've ever read. If you haven't read Ford, this is as good a place as any to discover he is one of the absolute best short story writers of our time.
Getting to Know You by David Marusek – Containing a couple of the early 21st century's tip-top greatest short stories, don't let the lack of name recognition throw you off. Marusek can write. “The Wedding Album” the title story, “We Were All Beside Ourselves with Joy”—these are fine, fine stories that hold up well today, and will for years to come. It should be noted that it's only because Marusek does not write mainstream science fiction that his name is not better known. For readers looking for something a bit (just a bit) outside that mainstream, his name is potentially worth checking out.
Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann – A jester living through the follies of humanity across Medieval Germany and Czech Republic. Sound interesting? Kehlmann presents with one hand a juggling, acrobatic jester, while he uses the other to deliver staid commentary on this thing we call the humanity experiment via real-world history. It's not a book for everybody, but if such a premise winks at you, Kehlmann delivers.
The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud – A girl's coming of age in the Martian sands, Ballingrud captures the loneliness of being separated from Earth through the lives of an increasingly desperate community. Wild west meets 50s sf with a human heart, the book features humanity throughout, speckled with juicy little bits of imagination that give the sands life and color. For people familiar with Ballingrud's short fiction, it's worth noting the novel is a strong departure. While the details of character remain, his diction is significantly more staid, and the specuative mood is more retro sf than Weird, horror, or dark fantasy.
Desert Creatures by Kay Chronister - Desert Creatures shares a few things in common with Ballingrud's The Strange: young woman lead, dusty sands of hopelessness, and odd encounters with remnants of human civilization. But beyond these, Chronister creates a world of her own—a post-apocalyptic Arizona/Nevada featuring a woman trying to find meaning in life. Like Ballingrud's, Chronister's set pieces are not over the top but are uniquely imaginative. The neon cowboy still lopes in my mind. Below the surface, the novel examines the idea of beliefs and values, and comes to something relatable regardless of the reader's creed or orientation.
Aztec Century by Christopher Evans – Aztec Century is the smoothest, most imminently readable book I've had the pleasure of devouring in a long time. I couldn't put it down—which is something that rarely happens to me. Alternate history in which Europe never conquered the Aztecs, their empire has gone on to take over South and North America through the centuries, and at the outset of the novel has its sights set on Britain in the present day (at least Evans' 90s). In the opening pages they invade the island monarchy and take the royal family hostage. The royal daughter Catherine has no choice but to accept the takeover but does her best to keep British society and culture alive in the face of the hostile but silver-tongued Aztecs. Queue drama. Well-paced story, imaginative scenes, clean prose—Evans puts on a workshop how to write plot-centric, genuinely engrossing fiction. It's worth mentioning that the story's ending takes the third road, i.e. readers cannot predict it, but what happens has been well set up.
Lovedeath by Dan Simmons – Lovedeath contains only five stories, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up in quality. Two stories are good, one is better than good, and two knock your socks off. Simmons' tales of demons in Bangkok will make every man squirm yet want more—ironic considering the primary device. Another is a young Native American's journey/adventure that will have you smirking and wanting more. It's possible that when Simmons' oeuvre is done and dusted that this period in his career may be reflected on as his most creative. Each story has a verve, an edge, and complete confidence to lead the reader by their chin. Just great storytelling.
Terry Pratchett: Life with Footnotes by Rob Wilkins – This is Terry Pratchett's biography, written with every ounce of grace, humor, and warmth that the author deserved. What's more to say? Any fan of Pratchett, regardless passing or tattooed, should read this. Rob, you did Terry right.
North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud - This collection floored me. It's in my top ten all time. I can't tell you today what the other nine are, but when the tides of the apocalypse wash ashore, this one will be there. The manner in which the fantastic is utilized in realist fashion, the jagged, cutting prose, the perpetual resistance to the classic intro-body-climax-resolution style storytelling, and the sheer weight of the human dimension to these stories make it one for the ages—at least in my book (sorry). It's just phenomenal.
Bridge by Lauren Beukes – A voodoo novel in structure and form, The Bridge is definitively a 2023 novel, but one which has taken a few steps back to look at the direction families and society are going, as well as the impact modern media have on health. A troubled teen named Bridget is front and center, and just when she thought life was difficult, her semi-estranged mother passes away. The death opening a voodoo box, Beukes pens an imaginative take on Bridge's coming of age. I do not the latter half of the novel, particularly its genre leanings, do the first half justice, but you can read for yourself to make up your own mind.
Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene – Monsignor Quixote is an examination of Christianity using the symbolic elements of Cervantes' classic, but told in Blues Brothers' style. Instead of blues music and Chicago car chases, Greene puts a Catholic priest, his atheist friend, and a crate of wine inside a tiny car and sends them off “on a mission from God”—a road trip across Spain in which all manner of humorous hijinxes unfold. As is usual with Greene, he holds no punches portraying the dirty side of organized religion, but at the same time looks for the human meaning beneath, regardless how ugly or beautiful it is. Greene isn't a name you hear much of these days, but novels like these really stand the test of time. I'm also a sucker for John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat, so no surprise this novel also hit a sweet spot.
“The Butcher's Table” by Nathan Ballingrud - 2023 was a year of discovering Nathan Ballingrud. And what a discovery. Two of his books exist on this list, and I can't help but put one more selection on it—not a book, but the novella “The Butcher's Table”. It is what every fantasy pirate story dreams of being. Pace, imagination, visceral happenings, unpredictable transpirations, imagery, grab-you-by-the-__insert your gender's unmentionables here__ storytelling,—just about everything you could want in sails, swashbuckling, and the demonic beyond. It literally unfurled in my head like a movie on a giant screen. Images still flash in my head today.
Drood by Dan Simmons – Drood was a book that I perpetually did not want to like. Real-world novelists in fiction have a good chance of being pretentious, in this case Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. But slowly and steadily, Simmons drew me in by method. For one, he does not put the authors on pedestals. Their failings are on display as much as their successes. Secondly, the narrative exists at two levels: the fictional and intra-fictional; there are two additional stories within the story. The horror is existential rather than overt or body. And lastly, there is no attempt at imitation or homage to said real-wrold writers. Simmons writes his own engaging plot based on Victorian England and the two men's lives, with lightly fantastical speculation filling the interstices history does not. It's a touch long (800+ pages), but rarely felt so. Worth a read.
Everywhere and Nowhere by Ian Macleod – These two collections are Volume I and II of Ian Macleod' “greatest short fiction hits”. Everywhere has more than a dozen shorts and Nowhere a handful of novellas. I ordinarily shy away from such purchases, but it's difficult these days to pick up Macleod's back catalog without offering up your firstborn. If there is any justice in the world, Macleod's name will be remembered as the tip of the iceberg of speculative fiction from the 90s onward. These being 'greatest hits' volumes, I can't name one or two stories as stand out given that the overwhelming majority are superb four and five star selections. If you haven't read Macleod, just go buy this. He's one in a million.
The Horus Heresy by various authors – I did it. I put a toe in. And now it's just my nose poking above water. The Horus Heresy series, against the odds, has sucked me in. Not every book or story in this Warhammer universe is a zinger, but the author base has architected an overarching plotline that is by turns grimdark space opera, mythopoeic, and human. Someday I will write a longer article why the series is worthwhile despite its consumerist leanings, but for now the story has entertained me at at least two levels. Horus Rising by Dan Abnett was the hook, and I recommend giving it a taste to see if the series is for you.
Wish I Was Here by M. John Harrison – If you put a gun to my head I would tell you this is non-fiction; it's right there in the subtitle: An Anti-Memoir. But there is enough speculation and imagination in this book to put a few toes over the line into fiction. But regardless real or made up, this is M. John Harrison, and in this book he bares bits of biography, muse, inspiration, and more. Harrison being Harrison, however, it's in the most obtuse and acute manner possible. Goddamn is he a good writer, the flow of words pure pleasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment