Fiona CraigDoing a books/stories read thread this year, kicking off with number 1, "Abracadabra" a short story by Nnedi Okorafor published in New Scientist.
I got hold of it via an Apple subscription. A little gem of a tale.
Number 2: Valuable Humans In Transit and Other Stories (short story collection) by qntm
I'd been wanting a copy of Lena for a while and this collection was mentioned by another author, so I grabbed it. No disappointments within.
Number 3: Contingency Plans For The Apocalypse and Other Possible Situations (collection) by S. B. Divya
Unusually for me I've hit three short stories/collections in a row.
Ideas of hacking oneself or using tech to leap through time, space or both. Humans changing or evolving in novel ways, grief, illness, love and hope.
Number 4: A Conventional Boy by Charles Stross
The backstory for Derek the DM. That's it, I'm not spoiling any of it, except to suggest the Easter Eggery of pretty much the entire Laundry Files/New Management canon and a guest appearance from the Scarfolk dimension are *chef's kiss*.
Edit: also contains Overtime and Down on the Farm.
Number 5: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler
A few months ago, a friend recommended this.
I started in the week before the US presidential inauguration, whilst Southern California was ablaze. It took me almost two weeks because there was only so much mirroring I could cope with on top of what was happening simultaneously in the real world.
Sadly my e-copy had neither of the current forewords, either that by N. K. Jemisin or by LeVar Burton.
Number 6: A short story in the speculative fiction genre, touching on current/near future geopolitics.
There's Someone On The Ice by Sam Kriss
Published in mid-January 2025, a short story based around what might happen if the USA really did take over Greenland, turning it into a 'frontier'... but there was already someone on the ice, in fact, they'd been there a very long time.
A brief status update on what I've been reading this month, because it wasn't nothing, but I haven't finished any of it.
First a collection of short stories, then a novel, both of which were making reading a chore.
I shall not name and shame any work I stop reading because I'm not in the mood.
It's not that I'm not in reading mode; I've picked up a random book I'd seen being touted on Mastodon and am tearing through it! Hoping to finish soon.
Another update - things have continued in the same vein. I think I'm struggling a bit with mental load from an ME crash. Reading has always been a good barometer for how severe I am.
Today though, I managed to read a short story on a tab I've had open for a few days so back to the numbered posts we go!
Number 7: The Minnesota Diet by Charlie Jane Anders.
Both the Minnesota Starvation study and the works of Douglas Adams get a hat tip.
A real delight!
There's an element of the crucible of necessity as well - putting your best minds in the nutritional equivalent of a WW2 nuclear arms race lab.
Loved it.
https://issues.org/futuretensefiction/fiction-archives-the-minnesota-diet-charlie-jane-anders/
Number 8: These Hearts, Who Once Held Up the Sky by Rob Haines
A nice little lunchtime quickie, whilst I'm reading a novel at night.
About picking oneself up and the friends met along the way.
https://factorfourmag.com/these-hearts-who-once-held-up-the-sky-by-rob-haines/
Number 9: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
An absolute gem. Set in the near/far future, about family - both lost and found, both human and machine, love of self and others against the odds, about protagonists, authors and creation and destruction and <draws breath>
I made myself read it slower to pace myself.
This is Booker prize shit right here.
Thank you @nnedi !
10-12 The Wheel of Time Books 1-3: The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt
and The Dragon Reborn, by Robert Jordan
Husband and I had decided to get stuck into these just as the news that Amazon cancelled the TV adaptation broke.
I read them all, up to number 11, 20ish years ago, so it will be nice to finish it after all this time, but I'm going to have to take a break every 3 or 4 volumes, as there's a lot of other books on my to be read pile!
13-15 The Wheel of Time Books 4-6: The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven and The Lord of Chaos, by Robert Jordan
It is proving much harder to walk away and read something else than I'd realised, so I'm in for the long haul on TWOT!
The editorial decisions of the TV series become much more obvious as you reach these books. Including TV killing off supporting characters that provide both plot and main character growth.
16: One hundred and thirty-seven seconds, Stanisław Lem (1979), Translated from Polish by Marcin Wichary (2015) Short Story
Found this via Marcin's post being boosted here on Mastodon:
https://mastodon.scot/@mwichary@mastodon.online/114866403218810549
A very interesting story. What happens when a new synthesising computer is unplugged from its news feed but keeps synthesising news?
Numbers 17-19: The Wheel of Time Books 7-9 A Crown of Swords, The Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart, by Robert Jordan
Onwards, past the half-way mark now!
My main observation is that less than two years of in-world time elapses between the start of book 1 and the end of book 9.
So much happening, to so many people and you care about it all.
Number 20: The Egg by Andy Weir, a short story freely available at https://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg.html
Nice little conceit. Takes about two minutes to read.
Feel it is a bit like where Dr Who is headed, if I'm honest.
Numbers 21 & 22: The Wheel of Time Book 10 Crossroads of Twilight and New Spring, both by Robert Jordan.
Crossroads was almost workman like, shifting armies and characters about the map. I also think I'm reaching the limits of what I remember from my first read through (prior to the publication of 12-14).
Suggestions on the internet were that New Spring, contained spoilers, and suggested not reading it first. So I read it here, in publication order. This was a good move!
Numbers 23-26: The Wheel of Time Books 11-14 Knife of Dreams, The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light, by Robert Jordan and Brendan Sanderson.
I feel a little bit like Samwise Gamgee at the end of The Lord of The Rings when he walks into the house to Rosie and says, "Well, I'm home."
We all know where it's going, we just aren't sure precisely which characters will survive.
Editing/style change gripe in next post...
Numbers 23-26 continued:
I was annoyed by a change in editing/style of spoken conversations. In books 1-11, I'd swear that a reply from another person was a new paragraph. But in 12-14 it was just a new sentence in the same paragraph, possibly to reduce page count.
The number of times I had to go back and work out which character was speaking which line was ridiculous!
"Hello Bob," said Alice.
"Nice to see you."
Became:
"Hello Bob," said Alice. "Nice to see you."
Numbers 27-29: The Wool Trilogy by Hugh Howey - adapted into the TV series Silo
A truly engaging, character driven storyline. Mostly follows the story of Jules, an engineer who finds herself asked to be sheriff in a self-contained underground world where mention of wanting to go out is a death sentence.
Other characters' stories fill out the how, when and why.
Everything from psychology to the water & nutrient cycle by way of the value of oral history and artisanal trades features.#ReadIn2025
Number 30: Awakened by Laura Elliott
I know Laura from the online ME community, her writing on disability and her lovely cats. The book features good representation of ME & disability.
It was a challenge for me to get into, the protagonist's 'voice' took a while to click, but once it did, I raced through, eager for more clues to what was really going on in the Tower of London after the neuro-chip apocalypse. Can the surviving scientists fix what they did?
Number 31: The Fortunate Fall by Cameron Reed
A cyberpunk novel at a human scale I wish I'd read 30 years ago.
From a seemingly dull question about why nobody really remembers a genocide to a world-altering denouement, the protagonist, Maya, narrates her story as a camera; equipped to broadcast all she sees, hears and feels, whilst receiving feedback from her audience.
Summed up by a quote from Jeanette Winterson, "Why is the measure of love loss?"
https://torpublishinggroup.com/the-fortunate-fall/?isbn=9781250326690&format=trade
Number 32: The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For by Cameron Reed (Short Story)
Set in a future corporate dystopia where body changes like those in Altered Carbon are common for the rich but the pyramid of needs is rubble for the poor.
The favoured adoptee of a CEO narrates as she is lifted out of poverty and dangles on the precipice of loosing it all.
https://reactormag.com/the-girl-that-my-mother-is-leaving-me-for-cameron-reed/
DJ Toebeans@FionaCraig There's a forward by LeVar Burton!?
I listened to the audiobook (right after the election) because that's what I could get first from my library. I'll have to see if I can find and read the forwards now.
Oh, and do read Parable of the Talents too. It will be rough, but...yeah.
@djtoebeans I now have Octavia Butler's entire canon on my to read list, but there's no chance I"m getting to it any time soon. Too many books, not enough life 😂