Tachyon tidbits featuring Nancy Kress, Kameron Hurley, Cory Doctorow, Brandon Sanderson, Andrew Fox, and Kate Elliott

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

At FANTASY LITERATURE, Jana Nyman praises Nancy Kress’ SEA CHANGE.

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Ever read a book and immediately wish that you’d been able to read it in school, rather than [insert inaccessible book of choice]? For me, Nancy Kress’s 2020 novella SEA CHANGE, with its gutsy-yet-conflicted heroine and all-too-real near-future global catastrophes, is exactly the kind of book I wish I’d been handed way back when.

[…]

I enjoyed SEA CHANGE tremendously, not only for the strength of Kress’s character work but for the ways in which she tackles difficult subjects like environmental collapse, the fraught legal status of people living on reservations in America, grief and the different ways people cope with loss, and the often-surprising ways people express their hope for a better future. SEA CHANGE is a short novel with a powerful impact, and I highly recommend it.

THE CURIOUS SFF READER enjoys Kameron Hurley’s MEET ME IN THE FUTURE.

Before reading this anthology, I had only read one of Hurley’s novels The Stars are Legion and one of her short stories, The Red Secretary (included in this short collection but first published in Uncanny Magazine). I didn’t have the best experience with the former, however, I really enjoyed the latter, which is why I decided to give MEET ME IN THE FUTURE a try. And I’m glad I did because it’s an amazing collection!

Hurley’s stories are bloody, complex and deal with hard issues so, if dark fiction isn’t your thing, I don’t think you will enjoy this one. However, if you want to read from the perspectives of morally grey characters who don’t take shit from anybody, I would definitely recommend this anthology.

Cover by Carl Sutton
Design by Elizabeth Story

If you enjoy dark and unsettling reads exploring fascinating themes, MEET ME IN THE FUTURE is a must. The collection doesn’t contain a single bad story and they were varied enough that I didn’t feel burn-out by the end.

Four stars.

The “reading list” included in the appendix of the Apolitical Cocktail Party: 2020 Handbook contains Cory Doctorow’s CONTEXT: FURTHER SELECTED ESSAYS ON PRODUCTIVITY, CREATIVITY, PARENTING, AND POLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY and With A Little Help.

Cover art by Alexander Nanitchkov
Design by Elizabeth Story

Brandon Sanderson answers Where Should I Start With Your Books?

SMASHWORDS offers a free read of Andrew Fox’s “The Man Who Would Be Kong.”

An elderly man, Max Strauss, retired in Miami Beach, visits an entrepreneur who is about to open a King Kong-themed restaurant. Max claims to have portrayed the giant gorilla in the 1933 classic film. But everyone knows that King Kong was actually an 18″ tall animated model, don’t they? So is Max an attention-seeking fraud? Or is he something far greater?

TOR.COM announces Kate Elliot’s a new two fantasy novella series comprised of Lamplighter in early 2022 and Hex in 2023.

Fellion is a Lamplighter, able to provide illumination through magic. A group of rebel Monarchists free her from indentured servitude and take her on a journey to rescue trapped compatriots from an underground complex of mines.

Along the way they get caught up in a conspiracy to kill the latest royal child and wipe out the Monarchist movement for good.

But Fellian has more than just her lamplighting skills up her sleeve…