SF I'm reading.
August 2005 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (Vol 109, No 2) 5 • Thwarting Jabbi Gloond • 20 pages by Matthew Hughes Very Good. An origin story for Henghis Hapthorn. Thorsten was his best friend in school. He commented that Hapthorn would make a great integrator, and when his own problem arose, a man obviously blackmailing his father, he asked him to investigate. Hapthorn ends up taking…
August 1995 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (Vol 89, No 2) 11 • The Canterbury Path • 16 pages by Pamela D. Hodgson OK. Father George is in charge of tours at Canterbury. An alien priest questions him about doctrine and his faith. Then shows him how they use that faith on its world, and it seems to be working as there is peace and the people there are pulling together to fight famine. He…
Fairest (2006) 326 pages by Gail Carson Levine Aza has a beautiful singing voice. In Ayortha singing is weaved into daily life, a great voice is highly prized. It doesn't overcome her appearance, she gets shunned by many patrons, only the gnome treats her as a normal human. When the Duchess's handmaiden gets sick, she chooses Aza to take her place and accompany her to the royal wedding. The…
Ever (2008) 244 pages by Gail Carson Levine YA fairy tale. Olus is the youngest god. There is no one his own age in Akka. When he tries to befriend a human, the boy and his parents are just fearful. He moves to Hyte where the mortals worship Admat. Olus has never heard of and can’t find this Admat, but the people believe. Posing as a sheep herder he leases some land from Senat. From then on he…
The Two Princesses of Bamarre (2001) 241 pages by Gail Carson Levine Fairy tale, YA. Princess Meryl is dying of the Gray Death. Princess Adelina is not only losing the sister she loves dearly, but the bedrock that keeps her fears at bay. Their father fails to find the cure. Addie decides that she'll go on the quest. Though she doesn't know where to begin, Rhys, the sorcerer, thinks the quest will…
The Wish (2000) 243 pages by Gail Carson Levine Wilma had two friends at school, but they moved away. She can't make any new friends and is pretty much invisible, until the teacher reads her stellar, but embarrassing essay out loud. Now it's worse. But somehow it all changes after she gives up her seat on the bus to an old lady. The lady returns the favor by granting a wish. Wilma thinking it's…
The Icarus Twin (2023) 310 pages by Timothy Zahn Icarus Saga Roarke and Selene are searching for more portals under the guise of trailblazing since the end of The Icarus Plot , so far no luck. Not only that someone has poached one of their bioprobes. They head back to report their [lack of] findings and are told a man named Easton Dent has been searching for them. It's a cleverly disguised mystery…
The Helpful Lives of Gris Morley (2026) 348 pages by Shawn Inmon and Kirsten McKenzie Cheviot Hills #2, Middle Falls Time Travel universe Gris helps people. An extra look over a report, filling in for the Santa who called in sick, staying late to help clean up, etc. He's so busy with other activities that he's missing his children's events. When he gets a MFTT do over, we see that even as a teen…
February 1983 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (Vol 64, No 2) Previously read 12/30/82. 4 • Gilpin's Space • 57 pages by Reginald Brentor Good+. Gilpin disappears, but he’s left behind the makings of another ship. The world is pretty much run by conglomerates and the Individualist Party which has the presidency and is gaining control in the congress is more totalitarian than civil rights.…
The Deadly Life of Diana Penn (2025) 355 pages by Shawn Inmon and Kirsten McKenzie Cheviot Hills #1, Middle Falls Time Travel universe. Diana dies and gets a MFTT do over. She wakes up in 1944 in her twenty year old body. She had moved to Cheviot Hills from London after her mother was killed in a raid. In her first life she kept to herself, doing her duty, but not making an emotional connections…
The Witches of Karres (1966) 284 pages by James H. Schmitz Captain Pausert just finished up a trading mission. Smartly stepping away from a potential conflict at the bar he heads back to his ship. Then he intervenes in an altercation between a girl and a store owner which gets the law involved. Turns into him purchasing the slave girl (his home forbids slavery), and then getting the girl’s two…
The Collected Lives of Chuck Burke (2025) 368 pages by Shawn Inmon Middle Falls Time Travel #23 In Chuck’s first life he was a collector. It became an obsession. It could be anything, not just Star Wars memorabilia or happy meal toys. After he retired he rarely left his house crammed so full that entire rooms were inaccessible, really there was maybe one path to the front door that wasn’t…
Wrong Side of Dead (2012) 358 pages by Kelly Meding Dreg City #4 Evy and a new team of mixed races are fighting a battle against Halfies that are much more organized than they have any right to be. They catch an ex-hunter turned half blood vampire and take him back for questioning. Flashback to a few weeks ago, just after book three ended. The triads have been decimated, the top brass committed…
Songs of the Dead (2026) 454 pages by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian Strata Wars #1 Can be read as a standalone. I didn’t know anything about this going in, just Sanderson. Jack Solomon got kicked out of the band he created and goes to the Iron Horse where he works/his friends hang out. Henry the bartender/owner has him talk to that night’s performer to help her overcome her stage fright.…
Finale (2011) 454 pages by Becca Fitzpatrick Hush Hush #4 Nora now has to lead the Nephilim rebellion against the fallen angels. Dating Patch is a conflict of interest. She can't appear to be consulting an enemy, even though her end goal is to bring peace. Unfortunately there's an overwhelming sentiment for war. Nora is trying to fulfill her oath to lead the Nephilim, if she fails it means she and…
Silence (2010) 438 pages by Becca Fitzpatrick Hush Hush #3 Nora wakes up in the cemetery with no memory of the past five months, i.e. anything we learned in the first two books (April to June) and then eleven weeks of being kidnapped (June to the beginning of September). Nobody else remembers Patch or Rixon, either. Nora is trying to regain the memories, or at least figure out what has happened in…
Crescendo (2010) 427 pages by Becca Fitzpatrick Hush Hush #2 Nora has fuzzy warm feelings for Patch, says she loves him and he doesn't respond. Paving the way for her to hate and distrust him. Mom tries to set her up with Scott, who she wouldn't glance at twice, but with Patch being all cozy with Marcie... Fast read. A bit soap opera-y with Nora being kept in the dark, getting selective…
Ella Enchanted (1997) 232 pages by Gail Carson Levine I loved the movie from 2004. I remembered the general plot, a Cinderella type fairy tale where Ella is given the “gift” of obedience, Hattie finds out and takes advantage of her. I just watched the trailer for the, the movie diverges from the book, so even if the it's fresh in your mind it won’t be a complete spoiler. Fast, fun read, YA/Middle…
Hush, Hush (2009) 391 pages by Becca Fitzpatrick Hush, Hush #1 Sophomore Nora Grey always sits with Vee in biology, until the teacher forces a seating chart switch. This pairs her with Patch. He’s secretive, but seemingly knows all about her. Like a stalker and he feels dangerous. Meanwhile Elliot has transferred in from a private school. First impression was he’s nice, but that didn’t hold for…
The Bitter Kingdom (2013) 433 pages by Rae Carson Girl of Fire and Thorns #3 End of book two has Elisa finding the zafira, yay, but the traitorous Eduardo has sent a team to follow her, including a deadly Invierno assassin, Franco, who has his own agenda, which includes getting Elisa to come to Invierne, preferably willingly. Ximena, her guardian, suggested taking Hector, that she’ll follow to try…
The Crown of Embers (2012) 410 pages by Rae Carson Girl of Fire and Thorns #2 Elisa has had a few months of relative peace to adjust to becoming queen. We pick up at her seventeenth birthday parade. It should be a peaceful celebration, but it ends up dangerous. Followed by lots of assassination attempts. Is the palace full of spies? The Quorum pushing for Elisa to get married to make a new…
The Girl of Fire and Thorns (2011) 423 pages by Rae Carson Girl of Fire and Thorns #1 Nice hook. We meet Elisa on her sixteenth birthday/wedding day. She’s wondering why she's being married off to this neighboring king, not her sister, while hoping the man will be ugly, because she finds herself unattractive/chubby, if there's rejection, she wants it to be mutual. Elisa has a nice education, but…
The Life Impossible (2024) 366 pages by Matt Haig Maurice is at sort of a low point in life and contacts his old math teacher. Grace wanting to maybe give some inspiration or just wanting to get it off her chest, tells the story of how she inherited a house in Ibiza and how it changed her. She's not depressed, but she can't really enjoy life. It's all tinged with guilt. How she let her son go bike…
Radiant Star (2026) 357 pages by Ann Leckie Aaa is a wandering planet in interstellar space, at some point thousands of years in the future it will be captured by a star in a favorable system. For now the inhabitants live under the ice, under rock, surviving from heat from the core. They’ve built a religion to the Radiant Star. There were three (now two, the Ylec have died off) sects of savants.…
“The Bishop’s Wife” (1928) 66 pages by Robert Nathan Good/VG. It was hard to read this fresh, to free myself from the preconceived notions of the characters, having once upon a time seen the movie and not forgotten everything. Henry, the bishop, wishes to fill the position of archdeacon, but it almost has to be an angel. Michael introduces himself to Henry as the new archdeacon, admitting that…