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

Patricia A. McKillip (photo: Stephen Gold/Wikimedia Commons), Nalo Hopkinson (David Findlay) and Kage Baker

THE WARBLER praises Patricia A. McKillip’s DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES.

Tachyon Publications has a knack for putting out excellent collections of short stories—in fact, it seems to be their specialty. This week’s “flavor” is Patricia Mckillip’s DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES, an excellent anthology that spans modern fiction, slipstream, and urban fantasy.

But the story that shines brightest in the anthology is, without a doubt, Something Rich and Strange. Here, McKillip enters a Haruki Murakami-esque state, building a world and a “normal” life for her characters, then blurring the edges of reality slowly, until you’re plunged alongside the characters into the surreal and mythological. It’s a magnificent story, truly wonderful, and even if the rest of the stories were mediocre—they aren’t, the whole anthology is great—this story would be well worth picking up the whole book for.

Something Rich and Strange takes its name and much of its symbolism from Shakespeare’sThe Tempest, dealing with sea-gods, temptation, betrayal, love, trust, and bravery. It’s a whirlwind story that buffeted me like a hurricane. The transition into surreality was so smoothly done that I looked at the world around me, confused and unsure of whether I, too, was falling into some kind of fey. Something Rich and Strange is brilliant. That’s the long and the short of it.

Inda Lauryn of CORNER STONE PRESS was blown away by Nalo Hopkinson’s FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS.

I’ve been following Nalo Hopkinson for a while and got around to reading BROWN GIRL IN THE RING earlier this year. So I trusted when I got FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS that I would not be disappointed. And how I was not disappointed! I love short story collections and this one shows the extent of Hopkinson’s talent and imagination, both of which are unmatched by anyone in her genre. I was especially taken with the stories “Left Foot, Right” and “A Young Candy Daughter.” The former story took an unexpected turn that blew me away and the latter was a charming and unique Christmas story. One of the best things about this collection is that no matter what type of SFF you like, there’s something for you.

At TOR.COM, Kathleen Bartholomew continues her reread of the works of Kage Baker with MENDOZA IN HOLLYWOOD.

It’s Tuesday, and this is Tor.com, so it must be time for another installment of the Kage Baker Company Series reread! Whoop-whoop and other assorted expressions of enthusiasm! In today’s post, we’ll be covering “chapters” 8 through 11 of Mendoza in Hollywood, meaning from the end of the previous post right up to the end of Part One, “Establishing Shot”, meaning next week we’ll get started on Part Two, “Babylon is Fallen”. 

You can (and should) recommend works for the 2016 James Tiptree, Jr. Award!

For more info on DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Thomas Canty

For more information on FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Chuma Hill

Design by Elizabeth Story