The latest reviews and mentions of Tachyon titles and authors from around the web.

THE CURIOUS SFF READER praises Marie Brennan’s forthcoming DRIFTWOOD (not due out until August, but available for pre-order from your favorite bookseller or direct from Tachyon and for reviewers via EDELWEISS and NETGALLEY).

Another surprising new favorite book was Marie Brennan’s DRIFTWOOD. I wasn’t aware of this book until I received an impromptu eARC on my Kindle, courtesy of the wonderful folks at Tachyon. This book is not coming out until August so I’ll have a review published closer to its release but I loved it! It’s about fragmented worlds drifting out toward their inevitable end in a mysterious place called Driftwood. I read this book in less than 24h while I was travelling and I couldn’t put it down!

They also enjoyed Lavie Tidhar’s THE VIOLENT CENTURY.

As you can expect with Lavie Tidhar’s works, it’s a challenging and unconventional read that deals with important and heavy topics. I talked about this book with my friends and family while I was reading it and it sparked some really interesting discussions. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

Robert Tilendis for GREEN MAN REVIEW is having an immense amount of fun discovering the work of Pat Murphy.

The question of the appropriate relationship between order and chaos is given a lighter treatment in “A Flock of Lawn Flamingos,” a story originally anthologized ten years before it was reissued as a chapbook. Joan Egypt, an anthropologist between field trips, moves into Live Oak Estates, “a pleasant little townhouse development in a pleasant little California town.” It doesn’t take long at all for Joan to encounter Mr. Hoffer, head of the Live Oak Estates Homeowners Association, the kind of officious apparatchik who seems all too prone to accept such responsibility. It becomes a game of one-upmanship — within the Association rules, mind you — on the kind, size and number of lawn ornaments allowable. Mr. Hoffer’s problem is that Joan is both smarter and more imaginative than he is.

I did go back to THE SHADOW HUNTER, which, as you might guess, turned out not to be a typical last Neanderthal story at all. Sam isn’t really the last Neanderthal, he just happens to be the only one around now. “Now” itself is somewhat fluid: Amanda can see what has happened, Cynthia can see what will happen, and Roy Morgan has found a way to get there. Sam, however, can see an emptiness in life as it is lived now, and sticks stubbornly to the ways of his people — not altogether strictly, but enough that others begin to see that reverence of spirit is at least as important as anything else in dealing with life.

I could mention the standard things about characters and momentum, pacing and climaxes, but they don’t really matter. They’re all exactly where they need to be when they need to be there. Murphy’s what I call a “strong writer,” in such command of her medium that those questions become pretty much irrelevant. These books all just sort of flow over you, even if you’re not in the mood for another last Neanderthal story.

So — great fun, amazing substance. Who could ask for anything more? Find Pat Murphy’s books and read them. You’re in for a treat.

CURIOUS FICTIONS published Tachyon editor Jaymee Goh’s new story “Top 5 Hunting Grounds This Summer Season!”

The waters are warming, and the trenches are releasing us from work and school. Not sure where your family pod should go to hunt food this year? Come one, come all, sea people, and check out this list of the year’s best destinations for hunting prey!

5. Air Terjun Syaitan
It’s far inland and getting there can be steep, but that’s what makes this spot the perfect place to hunt for humans! Every holiday season there will always be daredevil students who risk their lives knowing that they could dash their bones on the rocks below. Getting there is a fun challenge, as you have to take the underwater river system of Guning Palau.