Night Bus by Zuo Ma
I started Night Bus in November of 2022 and finished in January 2023. This was partly because I took my time reading as it was complex and needed time, I was unable to concentrate on it as I never found a good reading time where it was quiet without a lot of distractions, and I took a long break in between to read other things as my brain needed a cleaning out of the oddness of Zuo Ma’s story. The whole graphic novel can be […]
“The Secret Life of Bots” by Suzanne Palmer
Narfna recommended “The Secret Life of Bots” last week and provided a link. I opened the link immediately, and then the tab sat there, open and unread, for days. As one does. The Bot is activated and given a task by Ship. It notes that a long period of time has passed since it was last activated, and that the task it has been given, task 944, was a higher number than usual. The Bot starts out on it’s task – exterminate a pest. Along […]
The Short While by Jeremy Sorese
I do not remember when I first heard of The Short While by Jeremy Sorese, but I know I did not think it was going to be this odd, realistic, fantastical journey. I thought it was going to be a nice love story with ups and downs. It was going to be two gay men going through life and the trials gay men face. I misread the cover and thought they were camping in an odd cave. And it is that. And it is not […]
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
I moved this to the top of my TBR list after reading 1000Oyster’s review, with an assist from Emmalita (thank you!). I agree totally with 1000Oyster’s “I want to recommend it to everyone I know.” In fact, I sent it home with my dad to read on the plane after his Christmas visit, and he also loved it. Plans for world domination and mass destruction take a lot of work, but who does that work? What if there were temp agencies for supervillain henchpeople and […]
The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer
Bots of the Lost Ark by Suzanne Palmer
In catching up on reading end of CBR14 reviews I clocked narfna’s review of Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 132 since she titled it “Attention: Murderbot stans: I have a short story for you.” Consider my attention grabbed. I love Murderbot very much and anything that gives similar feels is something I want to at least peruse, and narfna so helpfully provided links to both The Secret Lives of Bots and Bots of the Lost Ark (and if you click those titles – so have I!). Suzanne […]
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
I think I’m a well-intentioned person. But we all do, I suppose. I try to read more books written by women. But I often don’t. Since I started reviewing books for CBR, I’ve reviewed 91 stories written by women, which is a hair over 20% of everything I’ve read. CBR07: 2 (7%) CBR08: 32 (29%) CBR09: 20 (26%) CBR10: 6 (11%) CBR11: 5 (18%) CBR12: 16 (26%) CBR13: 9 (18%) CBR14: 1 (8%) That’s abysmal. There’s no two ways about it. And that’s after some […]
