Speculative Fiction – Page 89 – Cannonball Read 17

Murderbot does the tv detective partner thing

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

November 26, 2021 by CoffeeShopReader 1 Comment

Fugitive Telemetry is basically ‘Murderbot does a murder mystery in a cop-outside expert tv episode’, with Murderbot being the outside expert, Station Security represented mostly by Indah who doesn’t want/trust the outsider, and a bit of a locked-door mystery as to who the dead person is, how and why they were killed all unknown. Besides the usual entertaining Murderbot snarkiness, there is a little bit of world building on Preservation Station, more in the setting sense and a little bit of cultural background. There also […]

A Plague of Monsters and maybe Magic

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giebrecht

November 23, 2021 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

I have to honest and admit that I did not read this thoroughly, more like slow skimmed. The Monster of Elendhaven was described as “dark”, “humorous”, “rotten with magic”; these descriptors match some things I’ve read and enjoyed. This novella is most definitely more the ‘dark’, as in horror. The setting is Elendhaven, somewhere around the North Pole, where some sort of seriously nasty plague caused by a magic eruption of some sort that either kills people or essentially mutates the survivors. Being a sorcerer […]

A somehow really boring corporate espionage technology thriller

Agency by William Gibson

November 14, 2021 by CoffeeShopReader 1 Comment

I have attempted William Gibson before; I did not enjoy Neuromancer at all. But Agency is considerably more recent and the premise made more sense to me. Basically, Verity is an app developer/tester who is brought on to field test “Eunice” an AI assistant of sorts, but Verity realizes there’s a good bit more to Eunice than anyone seems to have guessed, and soon mysterious corporate shenanigans are afoot, and there is some involvement from parallel universes, one of which has the technology to keep […]

I roam around around around around around….

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

November 13, 2021 by Caesar's Wife Leave a Comment

For the first third of Wanderers, it seems like this is a fairly straight forward mystery: what is making seemingly healthy, random people rise from their beds and sleepwalk in a group across America? They have no uniting characteristics and no history of sleepwalking. They cannot be stopped or else they heat up and literally explode (it’s as gross as you imagine). They do not eat, defecate, speak, or even blink. Syringes cannot pierce their skin. They move in tandem silently, like a school of […]

Do you mind giving me notice when the Apocalypse is about to hit? I need to arrange for a babysitter. Thanks!

Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks

November 10, 2021 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Yes, there are a lot of plot point holes and flowing issues and missing information in Dan Hanks novel, Swashbucklers. But (pause) I do not care. This was a funny, easy to read, but need to give a bit of attention to, warped ride. Part fantasy, part adventure, part horror, and a lot of humor cover the pages of this novel. Our hero (question mark) Cisco comes back to his hometown 30-odd years after that Halloween and the “gas leak” which he knows was not […]

An interesting contrast to the misogynistic nonsense that was Vox

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

November 8, 2021 by Bothari43 1 Comment

Usually I prefer a heaping helping of escapism in my media (as Murderbot would say), but this Bloggess-recommended book was CHEWY, and I think I will be pondering it for quite some time. I’m not sure how far to go into the synopsis, because it’s going to get spoilery real fast, but here goes: Evelyn is a brilliant scientist who specializes in clones, mapping the brain to make a clone more or less like their progenitor. Her husband is a less-brilliant scientist, jealous of the […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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