Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Franz Kafka got together with Charles Dickens and wrote an episode of the X-Files based on Little Shop of Horrors

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

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CBR BINGO 14: Funky: Where Steampunk meets your nightmares “The city reeked. But today was market day down in Aspic Hole, and the pungent slick of dung-smell and rot that rolled over New Crobuzon was, in these streets, for these hours, improved with paprika and fresh tomato, hot oil and fish and cinnamon, cured meat, banana and onion.” Those two sentences, from the second paragraph of Chapter 1 of Period Street Station, captivated me: the delicious smells of a bustling market intermingling with the filth […]

Smart, scary, and intimate science fiction thriller

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

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Blake Crouch’s previous novel Recursion is one of the scariest time travel novels ever written. Crouch created a near-future ripped apart by the invention of time travel and the utter chaos it unleashes. Upgrade does not reach the same heights of invention as Recursion, but Crouch has more on his mind this time around. In a non-specific near future, the world is in serious trouble. Climate change is destroying urban areas and genetic experimentation has unleashed the worst catastrophe yet on humanity. In response, the […]

“There was a button,” Holden said. “I pushed it.” “Jesus Christ. That really is how you go through life, isn’t it?”

Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5) by James S.A. Corey

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Once again, I find myself rushing to complete this review before I can allow myself to start my re-read of book six. This book was just as good as I remembered, and in fact, I actually think it was better. I noticed so many things this time around that I didn’t before, when I was just focused on, basically, OMG WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. (Something you can only notice on a series re-read: SPOILERS They really hit it hard that Amos would be the “Last […]

‘Fear is the mind-killer.’

Dune by Frank Herbert

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When the Atreides family is betrayed, the heir Paul and his mother Jessica are sent on the run – and into the path that leads to his ultimate destiny. About three quarters through this book, I texted my friend M, who loves this book, the following: Arrakis is the Middle East. Melange is oil. Is Paul a white savior? That’s a very flippant way of looking at a book that carries a lot more within itself than that. Dune is about environmentalism, about religion, about […]

Feelings…. in spaaaaaaace

The Reinvented Heart by Cat Rambo

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CBR14Bingo: Heart – because the theme of the anthology is relationships in SF, so they all involve feelings from the heart I’ll be honest, that cover completely caught my eye, and when I saw this anthology had stories from Naomi Kritzer, Seanan McGuire and JANE YOLEN!!!! I couldn’t resist. The overarching theme is that of relationships in science fiction – romantic, familial, or platonic – with all the stories written by female or nonbinary authors. It’s divided into three unequal sections. The first section “Hearts” has […]

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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Although I saw all of the rave reviews (‘saw’, not ‘read’), it took me a while to get this lovely novella. Part of the blame is on my library system, as it took several months before All Systems Red, by Martha Wells, was available, but mostly the blame lies with me. Although I have read some fantastic science fiction over the years, I am very cautious when it comes to this genre – perhaps because my older brother was a huge sci-fi nerd? (Certainly he […]



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