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

Jeff & Ann VanderMeer (photo: David Backman), Alastair Reynolds (Photo: Barbera Bella), Hannu Rajaniemi, Daryl Gregory, and Livia Llewellyn

On his Twitter feed, Jeff VanderMeer shared this:

Turns the question “What is STEAMPUNK” was worth $1000 in the “Sci-Fi Books” category.

And no, we didn’t mind at all!

For ADVENTURES IN READING, Joe Sherry praises Alastair Reynolds’ SLOW BULLETS.

After the groan inducing realization of “of course Scur’s torturer is on the ship!”, Reynolds settles down and ratchets up the tension bit by bit as the survivors choose which memories and personal and cultural knowledge they might need to give up to serve the greater good, to allow for the greatest chance of survival. It’s fantastic.

The novella’s title comes from the idea of “slow bullets” that are capsules containing a wealth of knowledge and information and memory that can be inserted into an individual’s leg and it will then ever so slowly travel painlessly through the body until it comes to rest in that person’s chest, which is a fascinating concept.

Recommended.

In his THE CONQUEROR WEIRD review of Livia Llewellyn’s new collection FURNACE (”impressive oeuvre of stories to toy with the reader’s psyche”), Brian O’Connell makes special mention of her contribution to Ellen Datlow’s THE MONSTROUS.

My favorite of the collection is undoubtedly “The Last, Clean, Bright Summer” (a story I originally encountered in THE MONSTROUS, ed. Ellen Datlow). It is a jaw-dropping epic of horror storytelling, terrifying on many more levels than its initial shock. It takes the form of a diary – the diary of a fourteen year old girl, Hailee, who’s involved in some rather unusual coming-of-age activities with her family. Influence from Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” and Machen’s “The White People” are clear, but Llewellyn runs with these stories in her own unique way – an exceedingly bloodier, nastier way. Oh yes, it is quite horrifying, with some complex backstory that Llewellyn cleverly dodges around and hints at. This is made even more jarring by the firm YA voice. She goes to places Lovecraft wouldn’t even think about, but moreover there are more deeply rooted concerns than a witch cult. Disturbing psychosexual concepts are explored, fears that we need to have a discussion about but are too afraid to touch. Fears about the oppression of women while men just stand around with their cocks in their hands, teenage fears about rape and unwanted pregnancy, fears that women – and, indeed, some men – hold in their hearts. It is an important story, however, because it starts a discussion. I loaned a copy of this story to a friend of mine – a girl – and the next day we had a deep discussion about this topic. That is imperative. That a horror story, a stomach-churning, gut-wrenching horror story, started a discussion. An important discussion, one that we only hope can continue.

Apparently even Latvians write about the extraordinary Daryl Gregory.

Derila Gregory word fiction genre has appeared not so long ago, but the author has already managed to publish SAVIS stories of “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction”, “Asimov’s Science Fiction,” “MIT Technology Review”, “Eclipse Two”, “Amazing” and not only. His long stories “The other face, the current time” ( “Second Person, Present Time”), “Damascus” ( “Damascus”) are included in the annual best fiction collections. The writer lives in State College, Pennsylvania.

Gregory garstāsts “We are all very nice” ( “We Are All Completely Fine”), which came out in 2014. “Tachyon Publications”, recently won the World Fantasy Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. It was also the runner-up, Nebula, Locus and Sturgeon award ceremonies.

(Translated from Latvian by Google.)

Elan Samuel at THE WARBLER reviews the sold out HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION.

Rajaniemi has a way of describing even the most spectacular visions with eloquent simplicity, such that his fantasies begin to seem concrete and plausible. A daughter of a death-god trapping a man in his vacation home after a rousing bit of fun in a sauna? Why not! A conscious city, filled with sapphire-eyed pigeons that communicate with the buildings, all of which have been assimilated by a single, powerful consciousness? Sure!

Rajaniemi makes it all digestible and necessary, because what owns the core of the reading experience is emotion and character. That daughter of death is a vehicle for the character to feel, and the sapient city turns out to be the son of the protagonist, who had given up technology to live in the wilds and write poetry.

They are stories of love, of learning, of challenge. Ultimately, they are stories of the human condition, set against a backdrop of extremes.

The stories are all magnificently written, and you should absolutely seek out a copy for yourself. You won’t regret it.

For more information about STEAMPUNK, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn

For more information about SLOW BULLETS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more information on THE MONSTROUS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Reiko Murakami

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more information on WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info on HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Lius Lasahido

Design by Elizabeth Story