sf bluestocking Archives - Tachyon Publications

April 20, 2017

Magical stories unfurl with marvelous subtlety in Ellen Klages’ WICKED WONDERS

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized bibliophibian inc., bridget mckinney, ellen klages, passing strange, Publishers Weekly, review, sf bluestocking, wicked wonders

In a STARRED review, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY praises Ellen Klages’ WICKED WONDERS.

Magical stories unfurl with marvelous subtlety in this delightful collection from Klages.

<snip>

Queer characters appear often, warmly included without any fuss. The emotional impact of the stories is carefully managed in a way that’s meant to sweep readers up, not knock them down. The tie that binds these works together is humanity, lovingly and quietly explored no matter the genre.

BIBLIOPHIBIAN INC. enjoys the collection.

I was really interested to read more of Klages’ work after reading PASSING STRANGE. I think I’ve read one or two short stories before — one of the stories in here was definitely familiar — but I hadn’t consciously connected the author to them, if that makes any sense. Klages is a careful writer, as her afterword shows: she moves the words around until they’re just right, pays attention to pace and rhythm and all of that. It works: her stories are all readable and all seem to fit perfectly within the form.

It’s a good collection of stories, and I also enjoy the fact that there’s a section included on where each story came from and giving more details. There were one or two bits I hadn’t noticed about the stories, which is always fun to learn.

If you enjoy short stories, this is definitely a good collection; if you enjoy Ellen Klages’ work, doubtless you know what you’re in for. Either way, PASSING STRANGE is also worth a look…

Rating: 4/5

Photo: Scott R. Kline

Bridget McKinney at SF BLUESTOCKING is excited about the book.

After about a week-long reading slump (mostly due to getting stuck on a title I didn’t like but that had a concept too good for me to quit it right away), I just started an ARC of WICKED WONDERS by Ellen Klages (out May 2 from Tachyon Publications). I’ve only read the first story, but I’m already really excited about the rest.

For more info on WICKED WONDERS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

April 12, 2017

The stories in Ellen Klages’ WICKED WONDERS just sit right in their strangeness

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized bookstalker blog, collection, eleanor farrell, elizabeth story, ellen klages, emily netterfield, joe sherry, lolly k dandeneau, nerds of a feather flock together, passing strange, portable childhoods, review, sf bluestocking, wicked wonders

With less than a month until publication, excitement mounts for Ellen Klages WICKED WONDERS.

Photo: Scott R. Kline

On BOOKSTALKER BLOG, Lolly K Dandeneau enjoys the collection.

I enjoyed the originality of this collection. So many lyrical/magical stories try too hard, just throwing in weird happenings for the sake of being weird. Not so here. They aren’t outlandish in the telling-they sit just right in their strangeness.

Joe Sherry at NERDS OF A FEATHER, FLOCK TOGETHER is looking forward to the book.

Ten years ago Ellen Klages published her debut collection PORTABLE CHILDHOODS with Tachyon and it was wonderful and delightful and a treat to read. WICKED WONDERS marks the second collection from Klages and I can’t wait to read it!

SF BLUESTOCKING includes the volume on their Spring Reading List.

Klages’ Tor.com novella, PASSING STRANGE, was wonderful, so I’m looking forward to checking out more of her short fiction.

For more info on WICKED WONDERS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info on PORTABLE CHILDHOODS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Emily Netterfield

Cover design by Eleanor Farrell

January 6, 2017

CENTRAL STATION is quietly enthralling and subtly ingenious

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized asimov's science fiction, best of 2016, central station, lavie tidhar, paul di filippo, review, science fiction, sf bluestocking, val's random comments

More acclaim for Lavie Tidhar’s compelling CENTRAL STATION.

For ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION (January/February 2017), Paul Di Filippo praises the book.

In his quietly enthralling and subtly ingenious CENTRAL STATION (Tachyon Publications, trade paperback, $15.95, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1616962142), Lavie Tidhar has grabbed ahold of one of SF’s more potent tropes to power his narrative, and it’s a vibrant motif that has gone somewhat underused of late: the doings at a thriving, exotic spaceport or starport.

<snip>

A lot happens in the
tale, rendered in juicy neologistic language, plenty to keep us
interested, and personal arcs reach satisfying climaxes. But I still
would call the whole novel “plotless” in the sense that no master
narrative—especially nothing with cosmic consequences—dominates.
In this sense, the book recalls a few other similar genre
experiences, such as Disch’s 334 and maybe some slice-of-life
portions from Ian McDonald’s THE DERVISH HOUSE, as well as the
Brian Aldiss story “Working in the Spaceship Yards.”

Larded with Easter
eggs to Simak and Dick, William Burroughs and Frank Herbert, Futurama
and Miéville, this quietly extravagant tale charts small-scale but
impactful affairs of the hearts, minds and souls of its cast with
tender empathy.

SF BLUESTOCKING includes the title among The Best Of 2016:
Novels.

I hate to say that what attracted me to this title first was its gorgeous cover, but it’s true. It’s got such a wonderfully retro feel to it with its monochromatic color scheme and phallic rockets and towers, I just knew it would be a book I would want to have on my shelf. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that the innards of CENTRAL STATION were every bit as enchanting as its outside.

<snip>

While the book isn’t as entirely cohesive as it might have been if it was written on purpose rather than cobbled together from earlier short fiction, Tidhar has nonetheless successfully arranged numerous slices of life into an overall pleasing composition that paints a compelling picture of a possible future.

CENTRAL STATION is best book of the year according to VAL’S RANDOM COMMENTS.

Everything about this book is strange. It’s is something between a collection and a novel but not quite a fixup either. The setting is unusual and the meandering plot is perhaps even more so. It is firmly grounded in science fiction though, with lots and lots of references to the classics in the genre. I would not be surprised to see this one end up on the Nebula shortlist.

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

Cover by Sarah Anne Langton