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All posts for the month May, 2019

MAD HATTERS AND MARCH HARES – Ellen Datlow, editor

Posted by Daniel on May 8, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, SHORT FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

If you’re reading this review on Goodreads you can note that I’ve listed my favorite book as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and readers of my blog may recall that I often mention how much I like short fiction so it should come as no surprise that I was eager to read this collection of short stories.

But one of the other things I’ve noted is that anthologies, even those from a stalwart editor such as Ellen Datlow, have such a mixed bag of stories that, while they might have something for everyone, they also have something that everyone will dislike.

This book started out on a really great note.  The first couple of stories really felt like they belonged to the ‘Alice’ universe. They captured the heart of the Lewis Carroll stories. But as we get further into the book we get more pieces that are quite disconnected to the Alice stories. Stories about Dodgson or about a different version of Alice having PTSD-type flashbacks to Wonderland could still maintain a sense of the Wonderland stories, but they don’t.

This is a hard book to review because of the real variety of stories (variety in content and in quality). It’s not a book that I would recommend – it’s just not strong enough, even though I really enjoyed, “My Own Invention”; “Lily-White & The Thief of Lesser Night” and “Worrity, Worrity”.  Most of the others aren’t bad, but just don’t generate any strong reactions one way or the other.  The last two stories however, “Moon, Memory, Muchness” and “Run, Rabbit, Run” drag the collection down.

This anthology is a disappointment.

This volume contains the following:

Acknowledgments
Introduction
“My Own Invention” by Delia Sherman
“Lily-White & The Thief of Lesser Night” by C.S.E. Cooney
“Conjoined” by Jane Yolen
“Mercury” by Priya Sharma
“Some Kind of Wonderland” by Richard Bowes
“Alis” by Stephen Graham Jones
“All the King’s Men” by Jeffrey Ford
“Run, Rabbit” by Angela Slatter
“In Memory of a Summer’s Day” by Matthew Kressel
“Sentence Like a Saturday” by Seanan McGuire
“Worrity, Worrity” by Andy Duncan
“Eating the Alice Cake” by Kaaron Warren
“The Queen of Hats” by Ysabeau Wilce
“A Comfort, One Way” by Genevieve Valentine
“The Flame After the Candle” by Catherynne M. Valente
“Moon, Memory, Muchness” by Katherine Vaz
“Run, Rabbit, Run” by Jane Yolen

Looking for a good book? Mad Hatters and March Hares, edited by Ellen Datlow is a disappointing and forgettable collection of stories using Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a springboard.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, though Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Mad Hatters and March Hares

editor: Ellen Datlow

publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 0765391074

paperback, 336 pages

THE LOST GIRL OF ASTOR STREET – Stephanie Morrill

Posted by Daniel on May 6, 2019
Posted in: HISTORICAL FICTION, MYSTERY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I was trying to think of how to compare this book when I read the first sentence on Goodreads: Perfect for fans of Veronica Mars and Downton Abbey, and yeah, that’s kind of it…this is a cross between Downton Abbey and Veronica Mars – two shows that don’t seem to have too much in common. But our heroine, Piper, has the spunk and zest that those of us who watched Veronica Mars remember her having.

The story:  Piper Sail is a late teen in 1924 Chicago. Piper’s best friend, Lydia, is missing and Piper knows that Lydia would never leave without saying goodbye, and Lydia has never once been in trouble so she’s sure that Lydia is in trouble. The Roaring Twenties in Chicago is not the safest for a young girl to be exploring, but Piper is sure that the police are looking in all the wrong places so she begins her own investigation. Piper does get one young, handsome, detective to help her, though he isn’t convinced she really knows what she’s doing.

I love jazz-age fiction (and there’s a nice moment in the book where Piper is reading some F. Scott Fitzgerald) and author Stephanie Morrill has done a very nice job of researching the period and bringing us in to the world of speakeasies and crime bosses and where women are beginning to discover a sense of freedom and individuality.

There is a scene late in the book that is breathtakingly terrifying. I was quite impressed with Morrill’s ability to capture a sense of hopeless, helpless struggle with near death consequences. I was uncomfortable and really wanted the moment to end. In that sense it actually took me out of the story even though it was so wonderful written.

There were more than a few moments when I felt that Piper’s behavior was more akin to the twenty-first century rather than 1920’s, but I still really enjoyed this period mystery.

Looking for a good book?  The Lost Girl of Astor Street by Stephanie Morrill is a historical fiction mystery that entertains and is worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for a honest review.

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The Lost Girl of Astor Street

author: Stephanie Morrill

publisher: Blink

ISBN: 0310758408

paperback, 352 pages

THE PHANTOM OF OZ – Cindy Brown

Posted by Daniel on May 3, 2019
Posted in: MYSTERY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Part-time actress and part-time private investigator Ivy Meadows (her stage name) gets to work both her jobs when she is hired to determine who or what is causing a number of accidents in the roadshow of Wizard: A Space OZpera, including the dropping of a large chandelier on the Wicked Witch of the East. Ivy goes undercover as the understudy for the company. One of the show’s leads is Ivy’s best friend Candace (Candy) Moon. But Candy has changed since moving to Los Angeles to make it in showbiz … she appears to be on an unhealthy diet program and Ivy can’t seem to connect with Candy at all to talk about it.

When Candy goes missing Ivy isn’t sure if Candy is involved, or if she’s a victim.

This is such a fun series.  Cindy Brown’s theatre mash-up productions are always a delightful riot and in this volume we have Ivy, as understudy, wearing a costume too large or too small (ah…the trials of being an understudy) revealing a little too much of herself while doing some aerial acrobatics.  We also have Ivy working in yet a third profession, as an aerial artist at an Exotic Art Phantasmagorical Spectacular … which everyone around her refers to as the Erotic Art Show. That’s not exactly how Ivy wants to build a serious career.

The mystery itself is strong (though slightly contrived) and I really appreciate a book that can be a part of a series but where you don’t have to have read all the books in sequence to understand or appreciate what is going on.  This works as a stand-alone mystery.

The characters are a delightful combination of laugh-out-loud funny and yet real people (especially if you’ve spent any time working in or around theatre (especially smaller theatres). The Munchkins are delightful and an oddball group(“The munchkins/flying monkeys looked like space-age Oompa Loompas, and creepy monkeys with jet packs…”) but the rallying camaraderie of theatre folks is still here.  But I did miss Bob Duda of Duda Detectives in this book.  He’s become a steady fixture for Ivy (and for me), though I recognize that this book was a step in her making it on her own s a detective.

All in all, a lot of fun and a mystery worth reading.

Looking for a good book? The Phantom of Oz by Cindy Brown is a truly delightful cozy mystery full of theatre backstage antics and friendships.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

The Phantom of Oz

author: Cindy Brown

series: An Ivy Meadows Mystery #5

publisher: Henery Press

ISBN13: 9781635112924

paperback, 262 pages

RED MOON – Kim Stanley Robinson

Posted by Daniel on May 1, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Fred Fredericks is making his first trip to the moon in order to install a communications system for the Chinese. But he is a witness to a murder shortly after arriving and he goes in to hiding. Also on the moon is Chan Qi, the daughter of the First Minister of Finance, and her presence is of great interest to those in political power. Their paths will cross in what is a sci-fi political thriller.

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Kim Stanley Robinson’s work. His characters are flesh and blood.  When we read a Kim Stanley Robinson story it feels as though we are reading a (future) history book, with characters who really exist(ed) and have been documented.

When we read a Robinson story we also get a complex story that takes a lot of reading concentration to follow – and this is great! Red Moon fits right in to the Robinson style of story-telling.  This is more a political thriller that happens to take place on the moon rather than a sci-fi story with a political thriller theme.  The difference may be subtle, but it’s there.

I think it’s probably not a surprise to anyone who reads much KSR that he has an affinity for Asian culture and it makes a lot of sense that Robinson would make the Chinese a major power in the colonization of the moon (coincidentally enough, as I was reading this book China landed a rover on the dark side of the moon).

A small problem with this is that as a Western-raised reader, the Chinese names were difficult for me to pronounce (even silently) and sometimes to follow. I recognize that this is something that only time can really solve for me.

It took me a little while to get settled in to the political intrigue here, even though it wasn’t really a surprise for me.  The number of major characters is pretty small for a Robinson story but I still wasn’t sure whose story we were really following (or if was multiple stories that would eventually converge).  Once it started to make more sense to me (about half way through) I became more involved in the story and I was getting more and more eager to see where this was going.

And then Robinson did something that I absolutely hate….  He didn’t finish the book. This book is left open-ended in order to get us to buy the next book.  While this is probably more on the publisher than on Robinson, it doesn’t really matter, the end result is that we get an incomplete story which brings my rating down.

I will always read a Robinson book and it goes without saying that I am interested to see what happens next, but I definitely don’t care to be left hanging.

Looking for a good book? Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson is worth reading, but since it’s not a complete story in itself it might be worth waiting for the series to be complete before giving it a read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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Red Moon

author: Kim Stanley Robinson

publisher: Orbit

ISBN: 0316262374

hardcover, 446 pages