Tag: SciFi (nonspecific)

Book Review: How Long ’til Black Future Month?

Erin Penn

Amazon Cover

How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Three-time Hugo Award winner and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption that sharply examine modern society in her first collection of short fiction, which includes never-before-seen stories.

Spirits haunt the flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mother in the Jim Crow South must save her daughter from a fey offering impossible promises. And in the Hugo award-nominated short story “The City Born Great,” a young street kid fights to give birth to an old metropolis’s soul.

 

MY REVIEW

How Long ’till Black Future Month is a collection of short stories from the amazing N.K. Jemisin. Overall the collection provides insight into Ms. Jemisin’s growth as a writer and provides a wide variety of fantasy and science fiction short stories exploring a variety of topics. Solid writing, but the author is a solid creator. (Bonus points for all the food representation – great inspiration for snacks at my book club meeting.)

Sometimes collections are given in date order, sometimes collections are groups by genre. This collection is grouped by theme – horror, standing against the dark, etc. Sometimes the ending of the previous short story flows into the next; for example – “would it bother with anything so mundane…” flows into “the name of the first entree made me groan” (followed by something very much not mundane). The flow of the stories make it an easy read, but the part of me that likes to study an author growth would prefer things in date order. Still, overall, I think the presentation choice for the collection is perfect.

*** Individual Reviews of stories

The Ones Who Stay and Fight (no date given) – Science Fiction. This is a world-building thought experiment, not a story with character driving the plot. While it doesn’t work as a short story, it does work as a bridge between the non-fiction Introduction and the rest of the collection. (Again, not a short story and therefore the “worse” of the fiction part of the collection.)

The City Born Great (2016) – Urban Fantasy Sci-Fi. I have read “The City We Became” duology. This short story is the novel series original test of concept.

Red Dirt Witch (2016) – Historical Fantasy mixing equal parting submission and rebellion. Acknowledging gravity and encouraging the risk of flying with the same breath.

L’Alchimista (2005) – Fantasy. A man drops off a bag of ingredients for master chef locked in the equivalent of a greasy spoon. Can she still make her magic? (I adore stories with food.)

The Effluent Engine (2011) – Steampunk Spy Romance. The best romance of the collection. As well as a great spy thriller within a steampunk world.

Cloud Dragon Skies (2005) – Science Fiction. This is the first short story Jemisin sold. Those-that-learn pay the price of those that don’t.

The Trojan Girl (2011) – Cyber Punk. What will push AIs from being mere self-aware programs to actual sentience? Is it group survival? Is it the ability to cross into the real world? Or is it something else entirely?

Valedictorian (2014) – Post-Apocalypse YA. Are you willing to be true to yourself if it means isolation from others?

The Storyteller’s Replacement (no date given) – Fantasy (Horror Elements). Some days you eat the dragon … some days the dragon smiles at you.

The Brides of Heaven (2007) – Science Fiction (Horror Elements). How far is too far, how far is crazy, when there is no hope for the future?

The Evaluators (2016) – Science Fiction (Horror Elements). Reaching space means space reaches back.

Walking Awake (2014) – Science Fiction. – Some monsters respect bodies, and some are conspicuous users. How much can a human tolerate?

The Elevator Dancer (no date given) – Dystopian. I can see why this one wasn’t previously published, but it has a place in this collection.

Cuisine des Memories (no date given) – Literary Science Fiction. Adored this story for the food. The book club members each discussed what meals we would order.

Stone Hunger (2014) – Fantasy. One of the longer stories in the book. Good characters and amazing worldbuilding in this exploration of a possible novel idea.

On the Banks of the River Lex (2010) – Apocalypse Fantasy. Dreams and concepts survive the fall of man, the question is who will adopt them after we are all gone?

The Narcomancer (2008) – Fantasy. This short story explores the ideas which develops into “The Killing Moon” and “The Shadowed Sun” duology.

Henosis (2017) – Science Fiction Horror. Meh, an interesting experiment in writing out of time-sequence. As Jemisin says in the beginning, short stories gives you opportunities to explore different writing tools.

Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows (2004) – Science Fiction. A quantum disaster has separated humanity into individual pocket universes. Can a species based on community survive the isolation?

The You Train (2007) – Urban Fantasy. Another experiment of writing tools – this time we see just one side of a conversation – text, phone call, messaging – over a period of time. I think the experiments work – definitely a train to ride.

Non-Zero Probabilities (2009) – Urban Fantasy. This one wins best title in the collection. I looked forward to it the entire time I was reading the collection and the story didn’t disappoint. But considering the author, a complete dud is a zero probability. I love statistical stories, so I adored this.

Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters (2015) – Urban Fantasy. New Orleans and Hurricanes deserve a trigger warning. What happens when a storm isn’t the only monster which blows in?

Flash: Lab Safety Rules

Erin Penn

Raconteur Press

The above illustration is from a Raconteur Press Substack post on 14 June 2025. As part of their advertising the “Mad Science!” anthology, they challenged their Substack readers to write a 50-word story based on the picture as a prompt.

Raconteur Press regularly publishes anthologies, like every two weeks. A wonderful boon for short stories reader. The theme vary from weird west to detective noir to mad scientists and more. The anthology they are pushing can be found here: Mad Science! (Raconteur Press Anthologies Book 54) 

My 50-word  story (EXACT! as required by the prompt) is below and was first published on 6/14/2025 on the Substack post.

***

“What are you doing up there Undergrad Student Shephard?” the professor asked Luke.

“Um,” came the over-educated reply from the man hovering mid-air.

“Did you store your drink in the lab sample refrigerator again?”

“Um.”

“It’s basic lab safety, Shephard. Food in the food fridge, lab in the lab fridge.”

M is for Martine – Book Review (SERIES): Teixcalaan

Erin Penn

A duology where language and poetry meet with space opera science fiction – all the rich world of Dune and the language of Lord of the Rings.

Teixcalaan by Arkady Martine

  1. A Memory Called Empire
  2. A Desolation Called Peace

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

Arkady Martine’s debut novel A Memory Called Empire is a fascinating space opera and an interstellar mystery adventure.

MY REVIEW for A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE

Worldbuilding, Characters, Plot, and … something not quite right? maybe? (spoiler area)
Or … wow, is my book club going to have a LOT to talk about when we meet.

Worldbuilding
Ms. Martine explores how language and cultural heritage drives a government’s, a people’s future. The City/World/Empire (same word/symbol) is the center of their own world, anyone not them is a barbarian. Poetry and story and art drives choices from encrypting letters to declaring war. Names, web-eye interfaces, and careful release of information combine to create the world of the City-Empire. Into this world comes an Ambassador from a mining conglomerate-colony-government, not of Empire descent – either herself or the people she represents. They have an alphabet, spin-stations, and inserts of mental scans. She is seduced by their poetry, but the ambassador is not them and can never be them.

The poetry dependence reminds me of Japan, and India, and Viking heritages. Rune or kanji for the language where one picture means one thing and a thousand things at the same time. A Memory Called Empire is rich in worldbuilding and I loved every moment of it.

Characters
These are people of Empire and Indigenous/the Colonized. The Ambassador both totally in love with the big, beautiful, brutal empire and its hundreds of years of culture and history – and totally tied to her upbringing where generations count at 14 – so around 300 years. She will never be Empire. Back home, her government strives to be just helpful enough that the Empire doesn’t try to fix them and useless enough to not be worth taking over.

Meanwhile the Ambassador makes friends with the locals and Ms. Martine hits pitch perfect the patronage and patronizing of people who earnestly want to help the poor barbarian navigate in civilization. Except Mahit (the Ambassador) isn’t as barbaric as they expect and they are not as civilized as they thought. The first thing they have to help her with is investigating the last Ambassador’s possible assassination.

Plot
So many strands weaving together. The murder investigation, the Ambassador integration into the political world, the Ambassador integration with herself, the empire sliding into the end of a reign with big unknown of succession, and the secrets the small mining government is holding very tightly to its chest. There are hints of love, sabotage, war, plus poetry structure impacting everything.

Overall, no matter what type of thing you read for, this book has it in spades.

So why didn’t I completely love it? (on to editorial analysis – if not your cup of teach skip it, also lots of spoilers here. If you like hyper analysis and have read the book, continue on.)

SPOILER START
I never really liked the main character. I emphasized, I understood, I sympathized … but liked, not so much. And she doesn’t change. Who she is at the end of the story is the same as the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, part of the story is “coming of age” and she does come of age. But she just becomes more “her” in the process.

And that is true about all the characters. No one changes, except to become more of themselves. Plot doesn’t drive them or twist them. When they enter a scene in the book, they leave with nearly all the same goals and drives intact.

In fact, the only thing that really changes is the Empire. It was pouring in one direction, roaring like a river, an ocean, to drown a quadrant in an aggressive acquisition/assimilation. The Ambassador manages to put a pebble into the bed of the river and sends it spinning off into a slight change of direction. Will it return to the old bed? That will be revealed in the next book. But right now, the Empire’s war horn is singing a different tune.

It’s weird to have a book with so little character growth. Instead of growth, we have character polish. Each character is shaped like a statue, not pottery – instead of adding clay, the author chips away the stone until only the character remains. Within the story, each strikes the other, creating facets along the fractures to become the perfect true-self gems. Mahit, Three Seagrass, Nineteen Adze, and Twelve Azalea all shine so … brightly … tragically … perfectly … by the end.
SPOILER END

(checked out through the library system – support your local library)

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE

An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.

In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.

Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction—and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion.

Or it might create something far stranger . . .

MY REVIEW for A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE

The star-spanning Teixcalaan space saga continues with all the poetry, politics, and personalities of the first installment. If you love epic science fiction, the likes of Dune but more accessible, you need this series.

The first story covered the fall and rise of an Emperor. Book two focuses on a possible war on many fronts. The depth of worldbuilding of the internal Empire politics of the military crossing swords with the greater politics of the Empire politicians, with their ankles being nibbled on by rats from systems which haven’t been conquered yet, while a new threat that is actually an EXTERNAL threat to the Empire as it devours the Edges of the World.

The first story is about poetry and culture; the second is about language and society.

There is no promise of a third book that I can find, but the unrest of the Empire and the City’s AI continues its threads in the second book. I fully expect the third book to focus on this … maybe … if there is a third book. Book one was published in 2019, book two in 2021. With that schedule book three in 2023 … and it is mid-2025 now. I want the third book of this series. I can see the shape of the poem – like Xanadu, unfinished yet the ghost edges provide structure leaving you hungering for more.

Each story has worked as a complete stand-alone. People sometimes ask if you would be willing to live in the world you love to read. This is a universe I want to inhabit.

(Read through Kindle Unlimited AND also borrowed from a library, support your local library system!)

Book Review: A Fall in Autumn

Erin Penn


Amazon Cover

A Fall in Autumn by Michael G. Williams

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**WINNER OF THE 2020 MANLY WADE WELLMAN AWARD**

WELCOME TO THE LAST OF THE GREAT FLYING CITIES

It’s 9172, YE (Year of the Empire), and the future has forgotten its past.

Soaring miles over the Earth, Autumn, the sole surviving flying city, is filled to the brim with the manifold forms of humankind: from Human Plus “floor models” to the oppressed and disfranchised underclasses doing their dirty work and every imaginable variation between.

Valerius Bakhoum is a washed-up private eye and street hustler scraping by in Autumn. Late on his rent, fetishized and reviled for his imperfect genetics, stuck in the quicksand of his own heritage, Valerius is trying desperately to wrap up his too-short life when a mythical relic of humanity’s fog-shrouded past walks in and hires him to do one last job. What starts out as Valerius just taking a stranger’s money quickly turns into the biggest and most dangerous mystery he’s ever tried to crack – and Valerius is running out of time to solve it.

Now Autumn’s abandoned history – and the monsters and heroes that adorn it – are emerging from the shadows to threaten the few remaining things Valerius holds dear. Can the burned-out detective navigate the labyrinth of lies and maze of blind faith around him to save the City of Autumn from its greatest myth and deadliest threat?

 

MY REVIEW

Full disclosure: I edited this book.

In a future of flying cities, created beings, and limitless potential, Valerius only gets to enjoy one of the three. He is what 2019 would call “heritage stock”; seeds and animals saved from previous times without genetic modifications of any sort, as a bank against potential disaster. So fixing little things like a cut with the wave of a medical wand is unavailable to him as it could damage the historic conservation; people worship his genes for their unmodified purity, and cross to the other side of the road to avoid his person.

Without the boost to brain power enjoyed by so many, jobs are few and far between. Valerius worked his way through everything the street has to offer, finally reaching the pinnacle of his potential careers as a gumshoe. Private eye is a little too upstanding for what he does – Valerius puts foot to pavement investigating the worst for the worst, and hopes to get paid when he shows his employers the results.

This is the best life he could ever grasp for in the flying city of Autumn. Or anywhere on or off Earth.

Then a being walks through his door offering the chance of a lifetime. Unfortunately Valerius is at the end of his.

Initially he was just going to take the money and wait it out, but curiosity gets the better of him. Because there are two things that always made him feel alive, and they are solving a mystery and risking death.

REREAD 2020 August
I reread this book after 18 months. Still is awesome.

What this means is AFTER developmentally editing it, and reading it three times in the process, I read it again after publication. I don’t normally create, let alone publish, book reviews of books I edited, but, dang, I fan-girl over this one.