Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When I probe the gallimaufry of blurred memories from that night I can still feel the potency of the ungovernable impulse that demanded I place my palms on her bony shoulders

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older

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Every time I pick up a Malka Older book, I am struck anew by how beautifully she writes. As much as I enjoy the melding of mystery, romance, and science fiction in her Mossa and Pleiti series, the way she uses words is such a joy to read. The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses is the third in the series, and you must read the first two books in order to understand this one. The Rector’s actions in The Mimicking of Known Successes continues to reverberate. Mossa and […]

A cozy sff mystery novella that is set in the future but feels like it’s set in the past.

The Mimicking of Known Successes (Mossa and Pleiti, #1) by Malka Older

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 27/30 This was really good! I loved the vibes and the writing and the setting. Definitely reading book two. I’m honestly surprised how much I liked this. It’s really hard to find great, vibesy sci-fi these days. A lot of sff authors go for the colder, more depressing, gritty machine-like futures, I think forgetting that humans like to be COMFY. Even though this book is set after humans have colonized Jupiter (of all places); the humans here […]

“Come along, Pleiti, you can practice ethnography later. We have a murder to solve.”

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older

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I loved Malka Older’s The Mimicking of Known Successes. The second Mossa and Pleiti novella, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles was also a delightful read. There was a moment in the story when I thought back to a conversation I had years ago with a much younger cousin who was still in his 20s. He began expounding on his desire to live somewhere that tested his grit, a place with “real” problems, like on the gritty prestige cop shows he watched. I didn’t point out all […]

Mossa responded simply with a Classical quotation: “‘Why are men?’”

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

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This seems like a book that would bring delight to many Cannonballers. Malka Older’s The Mimicking of Known Successes was a perfect listen to transition from 2023 to 2024. Just over 4 hours long, I listened to Lindsey Dorcus’ narration instead of the booms of neighborhood fireworks, and then finished up this morning with my first coffee of the year. I knew going in that Known Successes was a sapphic scifi Holmsian mystery set on a human colony on Jupiter. What I love is that […]



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