Descriptions of the novels, repeated from the weekly posts. Footnotes have been removed, so some parts lack further explanation. [~1100 words]

●●●◐○ Hidden Things - P.Z. Walker (nov) {Emma Nelson 3} 2022
   A few years ago, Emma gained a superpower: she can see through walls, but only when she's nude. Now she's a cop, and works with her partner, boyfriend, and fellow naturist, Jeff. The cop case is a missing-person one that later shifts to a murder one, plus another crime. The powers case is a wall-safe heist with some other people. The nudist plot is working with an older nudist couple to find more venues for naturist recreation, which also leads to a crime.

●●●◐○ 1638: The Sovereign States - Eric Flint, Gorg Huff, Paula Goodlett {Ring of Fire} {USSR 4} (nov) 2023
   Another step in the growth of United Sovereign States of Russia. More states join the democratic USSR. Some battles with Muscovite Russia occur, but more are avoided. Airplanes establish a route to the Pacific, but it will take decades for rail to be laid to make that profitable. Much politics, some science, various personalities. Not a strong central plot, more a bunch of incidents, but enjoyable.

●●●◐○ Ashes, Ashes - Ralts Bloodthorne {Behold: Humanity! 11} (nov) 2023
   It's a threaded story with many plotlines, but notable ones include the return of the Apostles of the Digital Omnimessiah, the death of 99% of Terran Descent Humans from an Atrekna DNA-rewriting chrono-attack, the revival of Dogs and Cats after the Friend Plague wiped them out, and spaceships from dozens of different timelines appearing after another Atrekna time-attack.

●●●◐○ A Diogenes Club for the Czar - Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett {Ring of Fire} {Miroslava Holmes 4} (nov) 2023
   Czar Mikhail, faced with an unimaginative reactionary as head of the Embassy, his public spy bureau (blame politics), forms another spy agency, the Secret Service. It's based in an upscale restaurant/club. Petrov, the best real agent of the Embassy, was made M; Vasilii was made Q, while his wife Miroslava became a special agent. Despite Miroslava being the only Licensed Private Investigator in Russia, she does very little detecting in this book, and isn't even the main character. It's mostly politics and a bit of war, getting states to join the United Sovereign States of Russia, and maneuvering against Muscovite Russia.

●●●○○ The Council on Jerusalem - Pierre E Pettinger Jr {Sodality Universe 5} (nov) 2023
   The Benefactors, a new player on the galactic scene, has sown chaos among the known powers by attacking unaligned worlds with copies of their ships. The unaligned worlds are having a conference to see what they can do about the three major powers seemingly attacking them. Meanwhile, cooperating task forces of the Confederation, the Chemosk Empire, and the Lanyr Great Herd attack a Benefactor outpost. (I must say, while there is action, there's damn little progress on finding out where the Benefactors come from. It's becoming annoying.) #SpaceOpera

●●●●○ Usurpation {Semiosis 3} - Sue Burke (nov) 2024
   Centuries of climate change, war, disease, and famine have knocked the human population of Earth down to a quarter billion by 2900. Some cities are mostly intact, but many are abandoned, as is much of the countryside. We follow the lives of a half-dozen humans in various locales, and see both suffering and hope. We also follow a secretly-sapient rainbow bamboo grove, grown from seeds brought back from another world centuries ago, as she watches humans. As a new disease spreads, she ponders if she, and her sister groves all over the world, should try to intervene and save the dwindling human tribe.

●●◐○○ Murder in the Tool Library - A.E. Marling (nov) 2023
   In a premeditated murder, an artist is killed with a sledge hammer in the Library, and the Citizen Detective Society springs into action. Various individual members question people and examine evidence, all the while guided by posters in the CDS forums. Along the way we see the city the crime took place in, and the society there.
   Plus: some of the tech and societal mechanics are interesting. The tool library, the recycling center, drones, robots, medtech. Holograms floating over peoples heads in augmented reality showing public name and profile, pronouns, and awards for community contributions. Also, one of the detectives is nonbinary and several are gay; one is a married cis gay man who had lactation induced so he could breastfeed his artificial-womb-borne daughter. More.
   Minus: The society seems oppressive. Ten thousand hours of community service for leaking a crime scene video. Mandated therapy for using a slur. PSAs to warn parents to monitor their children for signs of psychopathy. I've read hopeful #solarpunk stories, but this one is Big Sister: Be Nice, Or Else.

●●●●○ Zero Sum Game - SL Huang {Cas Russell 1} (nov) 2014
   This fast-paced novel is closer to a #thriller than #ScienceFiction, with nothing much more unreal than a James Bond film has in it. Cas is hyper-aware of vectors: she knows where snipers are based on the laser dot on her chest, and can shoot them first. Or throw a cane across a room and knock out two men. Rio is a Dexter-like psychopath who focuses on killing bad people.
   Together with Arthur the ex-cop PI, and Checker the hacker, they find themselves going up against Pithica (a secret organization out to make the world a better place, that's down with killing people to do so) in the person of Dawna, who's preternaturally persuasive. She'd be called a pusher if telepathy were a thing, but she's just hyper-aware of facial expressions and body language, and can judge what to say to make you do what she wants.
   And of course there's the CIA-like outfit fighting Pithica, who'll also kill anyone who gets in their way.

●●●○○ Paradigms Lost - Ryk E. Spoor {Digital Knight} (nov) 2014
   Photo-expert Jason – and a person who doesn't show up in photos. Turns out he's being used by a young vampire trying lure an elder vampire out of his well-protected mansion. Fine, except that's only the first story in this episodic novel. Jason ends up friends with the elder vampire, Verne, and thus gets involved when the king of the werewolves goes after him. Then the novel starts pulling in even odder elements in an "and to top that" flurry. And, despite four or five plot lines that looked set up for a sequel (and weren't resolved), there was none.

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