Short Stories I Read in August...

Today is the 29th of September, so it’s time to talk about the short stories, podcast episodes, and other miscellaneous posts I read or listened to in August.

Last Orders In The Green Lane by Stephen O’Donnell (Strange Horizons; Issue: 6, July 2020)

The first short story I tackled in August was Last Orders In The Green Lane. From the first line to the last, I was drawn into the story. It was short and straight to the point. I would say that it was a little melancholic, with a note of reminiscing and hopeful determination at some points. It was a little like starting a story in the middle of the climatic point of the plot. It was the calm before the storm, the preparation before the battle, and that’s where it ended. Still, I liked this one.

The Ruby Of The Summer King by Mari Ness (Uncanny Magazine; Issue Thirty-Five, July/August 2020)

The second short story I read was The Ruby of the Summer King. I loved this story. It reminded me of a lot of the fairy/fey lore heavy books I’ve read in the past, particularly Holly Black’s work. Though it was never explicitly stated that the characters were any kind of fey, the tone and elements in the story had a strong resemblance to it. Mari Ness’s writing was absolutely lovely, and I enjoyed how the story used the seasons and months as characters in their own right. I also enjoyed how the themes as well as a love story—that was unfortunately doomed—was explored.

The Inaccessibility of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine; Issue Thirty-Five, July/August)

You can’t go wrong with an Aliette de Bodard story, and The Inaccessibility of Heaven was fantastic. It was a hardboiled detective noir story, set in a world with witches and fallen angels. It reminded me of The House of Shattered Wings, which is still one of my favorite stories by this author. Bodard’s take on fallen angels has always been one of my favorites, so I enjoyed finding many similarities to that series in this story. The Inaccessibility of Heaven was full of surprising twists, and it was made even better by the complicated relationships and history between the characters. The “Fallen” were quite complex as characters, and there was a question of holding one’s self accountable for past actions (it was a theme that came up throughout in much of the story). It was, however, kind of dark, but with the type of story it was—murder mystery—that’s to be expected. So if you’ve enjoyed any of Aliette de Bodard’s work in the past, then this is a story that should be on your radar.

From Around The Web…

• Read an Excerpt From Wayward Witch, Conclusion to the Brooklyn Brujas Trilogy (Zorida Cordova; Tor.com, August 10, 2020)
• Shinning Bright: Cosmology and History in Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar (Gabriella Tutino; Tor.com, August 17, 2020)
• The Wild Magic of Emily Tesh’s Drowned Country (Alex Brown; Tor.com, August 18, 2020)
• Sleeps With Monsters: Into the Woods With Emily Tesh and Carrie Vaughn (Liz Bourke; Tor.com, August 25, 2020)

Release Day Spotlight: In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard

Today, I'm spotlighting In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard. Check out the gorgeous cover and find out more about the book below....

About the book...

Title: In the Vanishers' Palace

Author: Aliette de Bodard

Series: n/a

More Details: Fantasy

Publisher/ Release Date: JABberwocky Literary Agency; October 16, 2018

Cover art by/cover design by: Kelsey Liggett; Rhiannon Rasmussen-Silverstein and Melanie Ujimori

Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the award-winning author of the Dominion of the Fallen series comes a dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast...

In a ruined, devastated world, where the earth is poisoned and beings of nightmares roam the land... A woman, betrayed, terrified, sold into indenture to pay her village's debts and struggling to survive in a spirit world. A dragon, among the last of her kind, cold and aloof but desperately trying to make a difference. When failed scholar Yên is sold to Vu Côn, one of the last dragons walking the earth, she expects to be tortured or killed for Vu Côn's amusement. But Vu Côn, it turns out, has a use for Yên: she needs a scholar to tutor her two unruly children. She takes Yên back to her home, a vast, vertiginous palace-prison where every door can lead to death. Vu Côn seems stern and unbending, but as the days pass Yên comes to see her kinder and caring side. She finds herself dangerously attracted to the dragon who is her master and jailer. In the end, Yên will have to decide where her own happiness lies—and whether it will survive the revelation of Vu Côn’s dark, unspeakable secrets....

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Early Praise....

“Another stellar offering by Bodard. Her signature intensity is on display in this tale of people (and dragons) struggling to survive in the ruins of an alien conquest. Emotionally complex relationships interweave with richly drawn and deftly nuanced world-building.” —Kate Elliott, author of the Court of Fives series

“A transformative experience. With dragons.” —Fran Wilde, Hugo and Nebula nominated author of The Bone Universe and The Gemworld series

"Gorgeously atmospheric queer fantasy (…) Like Jane Eyre if Rochester was a woman plus a dragon."—Zen Cho, author of The Terracotta Bride and Sorcerer to the Crown

About the author...

Aliette de Bodard writes speculative fiction: her short stories have garnered her two Nebula Awards, a Locus Award and two British Science Fiction Association Awards. She is the author of the Xuya continuity, set in a galactic empire inspired by Vietnamese culture (The Tea Master and the Detective, The Citadel of Weeping Pearls, gOn a Red Station, Drifting), and of the Dominion of the Fallen series, set in a turn-of-the-century Paris devastated by a magical war, which comprises The House of Shattered Wings (2015 British Science Fiction Association Award, Locus Award finalist), and its standalone sequel The House of Binding Thorns (2017 European Science Fiction Society Achievement Award, Locus Award finalist). She lives in Paris....

Photo credit:  Lou Abercrombie.

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ARC Review: The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard

Title: The Tea Master and the Detective
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Series: The Universe of Xuya
Source/Format: Subterranean Press via Netgalley; eARC
More Details: Science Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Subterranean Press; March 31, 2018

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Welcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families, and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars. In this fluid society, human and mindship avatars mingle in corridors and in function rooms, and physical and virtual realities overlap, the appearance of environments easily modified and adapted to interlocutors or current mood.

A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow's Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow's Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow's Child with her.

As they dig deep into the victim's past, The Shadow's Child realizes that the investigation points to Long Chau's own murky past--and, ultimately, to the dark and unbearable void that lies between the stars...

I’m always on the lookout for a good gender-swapped version of Sherlock Holmes, and Aliette de Bodard has achieved that and more with The Tea Master and the Detective. Despite its short length—it’s a novella—De Bodard crafted a compelling book with a fantastic story set in the Xuya Universe with characters that were as mysterious as they were smart. It also had a unique take on space travel that felt fresh and innovative.

I adored this book. It was the perfect combination of science fiction and mystery, with a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-esque relationship between the two main characters, The Shadow’s Child (a mindship) and Long Chau. That’s one thing I love about De Bodard’s writing—she always manages to create such vivid characters. The Shadow’s Child was by far one of my favorite aspects about the book. It was a mindship discharged from the military after a traumatic injury. The character could have gone either way, good or bad. However, the backstory, personality, and how De Bodard portrayed the lingering fears linked to the aforementioned trauma, made for a well-rounded character. The same could be said about Long Chau; although, I much preferred when the two were interacting/investigating.

The Scattered Pearls Belt was an interesting place with excellent world building. There were a number of little details about the society that made it an interesting setting for a mystery to take place. I particularly enjoyed the author’s take on space travel. Specifically, I liked the idea of using something as ordinary and everyday as tea to nullify the effects of traveling into “deep spaces.” And the process behind making these teas—the trial and errors while brewing—were quite fascinating to read about.

So, The Tea Master and the Detective was pretty awesome. I loved everything about it, and I recommend it for readers who have read works by De Bodard before or are looking for a good place to start.

Disclaimer: This copy of the book was provided by Subterranean Press via Netgalley for this review.

Aliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris, where she has a day job as a System Engineer. She studied Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, but moonlights as a writer of speculative fiction. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Obsidian and Blood trilogy of Aztec noir fantasies, as well as numerous short stories, which garnered her two Nebula Awards, a Locus Award and two British Science Fiction Association Awards. Her space opera books include The Tea Master and the Detective, a murder mystery set on a space station in a Vietnamese Galactic empire, inspired by the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Recent works include the Dominion of the Fallen series, set in a turn-of-the-century Paris devastated by a magical war, which comprises The House of Shattered Wings (Roc/Gollancz, 2015 British Science Fiction Association Award, Locus Award finalist), and its standalone sequel The House of Binding Thorns (Ace/Gollancz). She lives in Paris with her family, in a flat with more computers than warm bodies, and a set of Lovecraftian tentacled plants intent on taking over the place...

(Photo credit: Lou Abercrombie)

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The Friday 56 (120) & Book Beginnings: The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette De Bodard

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Multi-award winning author Aliette de Bodard, brings her story of the War in Heaven to Paris, igniting the City of Light in a fantasy of divine power and deep conspiracy…

In the late Twentieth Century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins. The Great Magicians’ War left a trail of devastation in its wake. The Grand Magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those that survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital. Once the most powerful and formidable, House Silverspires now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls. Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen angel; an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction; and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires’ salvation—or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself...

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Beginnings: "It is almost pleasant, at first, to be Falling."

56: "There were no dragon kingdoms here--no spirits of the rain and rivers, not under the polluted clouds that rained acid; not in the blackened waters of the Seine; not in the wells that had long since run dry."

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Comments: I don't believe I've ever talked about this book on Our Thoughts Precisely before, and since I still haven't read much in the month of December, I decided to mention it for The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings. The House of Shattered Wings is one of my favorite books and has one of the most unique uses of fallen angels. 

What are you reading this week?