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

Lavie Tidhar (Photo: Kevin Nixon), Kage Baker, Tad Williams, and Nalo Hopkinson (David Findlay)

EL ÚLTIMO DESEO
FANTÁSTICO recommends Lavie Tidhar’s CENTRAL STATION.

Thus in, CENTRAL STATION, we find a science fiction book of thinking and reflect on our lives and relationships we have with the people around us, with current topics lined with technological advances, robots, AIs, aliens, that Have molded this world but perhaps we do not go as far as we think. Science fiction of high flights, to which I recommend to everybody without any doubt. And  Lavie Tidhar , a writer who had pending and I have to start reading more about him.

NOTE: 5/5

(Translation from Spanish courtesy of Google.)

Maria Chapel of ROMÂNIA LIBERĂ makes a special mention of Tidhar’s book.

The dangers of space travel are present in a space-opera by Alastair Reynolds’ REVELATION SPACE, and the young Israeli writer Lavie Tidhar comes with an exciting science fiction novel about interstellar travel, CENTRAL STATION.

(Translation from Romanian courtesy of Google.)

At THE ANTICK MUSINGS
OF G.B.H. HORNSWOGGLER, GENT., Andrew Wheeler uses IN THE COMPANY OF THIEVES to remind readers about Kage Baker.

As I implied up above, I’m a fan of both Baker in general and the Company books in particular; I read her first novel IN THE GARDEN OF IDEN in manuscript, longer ago than I want to remember, and put together the eight Company novels into four omnibuses when I worked at the SF Book Club. (See my reviews of the last few Baker books NOT LESS THAN GODS, THE BIRD OF THE
RIVER, THE EMPRESS OF MARS, and THE HOTEL UNDER THE
SAND for more of my burbling about how great a writer she was.) I wouldn’t necessarily suggest starting here, though – these are sidebar stories in an existing universe, so knowing the ground rules going in is a good thing. Instead, if you haven’t read Baker, I’d suggest the first Company novel, IN THE GARDEN OF IDEN, first, or perhaps the Company collection GODS AND PAWNS, or one of her standalone fantasy novels if you like fantasy better than SF.

But do read Kage Baker: her career wasn’t as long as it should have been, but she was very prolific for about a decade and wrote a whole bunch of really good novellas in particular – the hallmark, I think, of a quintessentially great genre writer. And if you are a Baker fan who didn’t know this book existed, or had forgotten about it – well, you’ve just been reminded.

THE ONCE &
FUTURE PODCAST interviews Tad Williams.

On today’s episode Anton talks thirty years of publishing with author Tad Williams on his return to his epic fantasy world of Osten Ard, his Bobby Dollar urban fantasy books, his Shadowmarch and Otherland series, writing, and most importantly who we’ll eat in pecking order to survive whatever apocalypse hits us first!

After falling in love with FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS last year, Inda Lauryn of CORNER STONE PRESS sought out more Nalo Hopkinson.

I expected this one to be a short story collection as well. However, of the four pieces in this collection, two are fiction. (“Message in a Bottle” is also included in FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS.) However, the title piece is a speech given at the International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts from 2009. I can say with no exaggeration that this speech is life changing. Hopkinson addresses a pivotal moment in the speculative community that occurred before I became embedded in it: RaceFail. I don’t want to give away the point here, but for those of us who were not around when it occurred, this speech is a great primer for finding out the gist of the issue and the fallout that occurred afterward and continues to affect speculative communities. The interview at the end is also enlightening and can make Hopkinson a favorite writer before you ever read a word she wrote.

I fell in love with FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS last year, so I was thrilled to find that SKIN FOLK was also a short story collection. One of the things I love most about Hopkinson’s writing is that she has a great ability to extend the unique voices of her characters in a way that makes me truly hear them in that voice, not my own. I honestly cannot say this about many writers. Hopkinson includes short blurbs at the beginning of stories, sometimes explaining inspiration or how these stories fit into speculative fiction. In any case, she centers her Caribbean upbringing with no explanation or apology. I’d highly recommend this one and point to “The Glass Bottle Trick” and “Greedy Choke Puppy” as two of my favorites in this collection

For more info about CENTRAL STATION, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Sarah Anne Langton

For more info about IN THE COMPANY OF THIEVES, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Thomas Canty

For more info about THE HOTEL UNDER THE SAND, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn

For more information on THE VERY BEST OF TAD WILLIAMS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Kerem Beyit.

Design by Elizabeth Story