Current reading: revisiting The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury. First read was back in my early teens, when I devoured Bradbury, Poe etc.
My SF Book Group choice for April. With the health crisis I've missed the last two, hoping to make this one & see everyone again.
#books #livres #AmReading #bookstodon #TheMartianChronicles #RayBradbury
Book Promotion: When a world is broken who or what can put it back together? Obviously not Miralees, she's just an acrobat with her family troupe.
Read "Dragons of the Wounded Land"
#secondaryworld #fedibookfair #wlw #legendary #goodbooks #fantasy #sorcery #magic #epic #boost #monsters #dragons #romancelandia #phantastik #lesfic #writing #romantasy #reading #amreading #sapphic #lesbian #audiobook #heroines #readers (69ee) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FCDHT9RF?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
📘 "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" by James Tiptree Jr (aka Alice Bradley Sheldon)
This is a bit of a chonker of a book, a big collection of James Tiptree Jr's classic sci-fi short stories, novelettes and novellas. I've been reading from it since the start of the year.
I'm in awe of how well these stories portray the violence that can come with being a woman. This collection has its finger on the pulse so accurately that you can hear the heartbeat as loudly as when you're hiding under the bed and you see the feet of the one who's been hunting you down appear in the doorframe. I can't believe this author could write under a male pseudonym and nobody caught her for decades. I'm convinced all of her female readers secretly must have known it in their hearts.
There are a lot of tales in here, so it's hard to give a general description or opinion. I think overall the book is good. I didn't like all stories, but there were some great ones that I wouldn't want to have missed in my reading life. Tiptree became a big name in the genre for a reason.
I'll list a few of the stories that I liked best:
- ‘The Screwfly Solution’ is about femicide spreading as an infection, leading to cults dedicated to eradicating women. It gave me nightmares.
- ‘Houston, Houston, Do You Read?’ follows three men accidentally travelling forward through time during a space mission, ending up in a time when the world is in women’s hands. In a world where men’s violence is no longer the norm, their regular behavior seems all the more terrifying. Fascinating read, very tense.
- ‘The Women Men Don’t See’ dumps you into the mind of a frightening man, stranded with two women after a plane crash. Stressed me out, but the twist was great.
- ‘With Delicate Mad Hands’ follows a woman, severely mistreated by other people, who feels a yearning for the stars. This is a story for those who enjoy Sayaka Murata's Earthlings but wish it could have a sliver of something that is good and sweet in there. I loved it. It’s a little awkward to admit, but it definitely made me cry -multiple times. I wonder why this is one of Tiptree’s lesser known works, it’s so dramatic, and epic in scale too.
- ‘On the Last Afternoon’ is gross (is biology horror a thing?), it stressed me out, I don’t think I would’ve put it on this list if I hadn’t thought constantly: “I wonder if Octavia E. Butler has read this story in her life, she would’ve loved it.” I think this would suit the Patternist series lovers.
Maybe some of the stories in this collection have aged a little and contain some awkward terms one might not see today anymore. But honestly, I think they've aged better than most and unfortunately the issues discussed feel as contemporary as ever.
If you're a sci-fi fan you'll probably like this (high chance you've actually already read it!). If you're not so sure, you can look up some stories online before you commit. Some of the more famous ones have been published on a variety of (literary) websites.
Just finished Iveliz Explains It All by Andrea Beatriz Arango. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down till I finished it, in less than a day. A really tender and entrancing novel-in-verse about a kid Puerto Rican kid struggling with some deep stuff. I loved the way that the journal focalization let deep feelings flow while also giving the reader a bit of a puzzle in the beginning to understand what exactly was going on. Deals with friendship, loss, and mental health (including depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and flashbacks).
What do you get when a supervillain falls in love, retires, and becomes a stay-at-home dad? Trouble. You get trouble.
LordWoolamaloo
Rebecca M. Senese (she/her)
adaddinsane (Steve Turnbull)
Reading Recluse
Tiota Sram
Liana Brooks
Sharrow 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇮🇪🦄💙📚🎃