the seattle review of books

February 7, 2020

Tachyon tidbits featuring Peter Watts, Jacob Weisman, David Sandner, Marie Brennan, and Carrie Vaughn

Rick Klaw blog Carrie Vaughn, cold-forged flame, David Sandner, jacob weisman, james davis nicoll, Locus, marie rennan, mingus fingers, nisi shawl, paul di filippo, Peter Watts, peter watts is an angry sentient tumor, review, steel, the seattle review of books, tor.com 0

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

Nisi Shawl for THE SEATTLE REVIEW OF BOOKS praises PETER WATTS IS AN ANGRY SENTIENT TUMOR.

Profanity is completely appropriate when examining the economic equations that keep cops shooting unarmed black folks. Or when acknowledging the deliberate ignorance with which religious fundamentalists respond to logical arguments against their beliefs. Or when adding up the costs of blithely ignoring the doomful extrapolations SFFH offers concerning global pandemics and climate change. Illustrations in the style of caution-sign icons, at times grim, at times hilarious, mostly both, accompany fifty essays in which Watts does all of the above and more. Like cheering on the Zika virus and experimenting with LSD. (Not at the same time.)

Interior illustrations from PETER WATTS IS AN ANGRY SENTIENT TUMOR by John Coulthart

Plus in the opening bit of the next review, Shawl says this:

Peter Watts has written and published a dozen brilliant books; Riot Baby (Tor.com) is Tochi Onyebuchi’s incandescent adult debut.

For LOCUS, Paul Di Filippo reviews David Sandner and Jacob Weisman’s Mingus Fingers.

The characterization here is superb, with all the players leaping off the page with subtle grace. The evocation of the period is spot-on, subtle and not overdone. The parallel worlds of boxing and jazz extend fine tendrils of correlation into each other. The doings of the actors are multivalent and authentic. And the unreductionist climax rings true. All in all, a wonderful accomplishment, not alone for sentences such as “I looked at Mingus. He had changed, his impossibly spotted neck bent almost to breaking as he loomed over us over us… [as he] moved his hooves along the strings….”The team behind this charming, low-key but powerful tale—David Sandner & Jacob Weisman—blend their voices beautifully into an organic whole that reminds me of the tonality of John Kessel or Karen Joy Fowler.

James Davis Nicoll in his TOR.COM piece Five Sword-Wielding Women in SFF included works from Marie Brennan and Carrie Vaughn.

Recently I noticed an angry person on the internet expressing outrage at the very idea of women, any women, being able to use a sword. Frankly, it’s an objection that’s too stupid for words. While one could certainly respond by mentioning, for example, the Trưng sisters, Madame de Saint-Baslemont, and of course the flamboyantly bisexual and dangerous Julie d’Aubigny, let’s do what we do best, here, and talk about some of the excellent books featuring swordswomen.

March 6, 2019

The “very best of” is definitely not hyperbole for THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized adam westcott, ahlissa eichhorn, elaine aldred, elizabeth story, hannes hummel, haunted by deadlines, high fever books, infinite text, logan noble, nisi shawl, politics and prose, preview, strange alliances, the seattle review of books, the very best of caitlin r kiernan

The recently released THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN offers a thrilleresque experience.

INFINITE TEXT was excited by the collection.

What is truly intriguing and captivating in Kiernan’s work is her atmosphere and writing style. I will warn readers, however, that aside from the grotesque, there are many instances of swearing in this work (it did not interfere with my personal reading experience). It’s a thrilleresque experience, rough around the edges.

This collection is not for everyone, and that’s okay. Kiernan writes in a dark niche corner of literature, and I think she directs her writings at a very specific kind of audience. I would recommend this collection to you if you enjoy the works of: Shirley Jackson, Victor Lavalle, Nick Mamatas, Angela Carter, David Lynch, H.P. Lovecraft, or Cosmic Horror. If you have not read any of the listed authors, but you want to get out of your comfort zone and try something different, Kiernan might be a great place to start.

Nisi Shawl at THE SEATTLE REVIEW OF BOOKS is thrilled of book’s existence.

A collection rather than an anthology, THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN (Tachyon) hews to one style, uttering its fabulations in one piercingly delicious voice. My personal favorite, “The Maltese Unicorn,” dishes up a Dashiell Hammett-esque crime narrative in a setting filled with bisexual demons and enchanted dildos. Often decay appears as a near-sentient character in the fictional worlds Kiernan constructs; often wickedness and ineffability and fate acquire a palpable, practically tactile presence in prose both teasing and pleasing.

<snip>

Let us be grateful that Tachyon’s Jacob Weisman and Jill Roberts have made appreciation much easier by curating this magnificent selection of Kiernan’s eerily beautiful oeuvre.

Photo: Kyle Cassidy

For HIGH FEVER BOOKS, Logan Noble praises the volume.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A best of collection is a wonderful concept. Especially if you’re writer Caitlín R. Kiernan, who has published over two hundred and fifty short stories. This is her third ‘Best of’ collection, which speaks to the absolute wealth of her bibliography. For THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN, Tachyon and the author decided to draw stories from her limited-edition publications. This is great, because it gives us an opportunity to experience works that we may have missed in the past. The stories within this collection are powerful and diverse, each one polished to perfection. You can see the hours of work poured into every page. I expected an incredible collection (Caitlín R. Kiernan never disappoints), and she truly delivered.

<snip>

While I loved nearly every story in the collection, a few stood out for me. The Ape’s Wife is a sorrowful version of a story we know very well. La Peau Verte is a piece about the truth of fairy tales that ends with a gut punch. The Prayer of Ninety Cats is a horror tale told with a vivid cinematic flair.

‘The Very Best of’ is not hyperbole. This is a collection released by a multiple award winner at the top of her game. Each story is a testament to the power of fiction and the versatility of genre fiction as a whole.

Elaine Aldred of STRANGE ALLIANCES enjoys his first Kiernan experience.

Caitlín Kiernan slips comfortably between the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres, as well as modern nods to epic Gothic horror, at times melding them all together. If you like something dark and unsettling this is the collection for you. Put The Very Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan down for a moment and you will feel the need to keep looking over your shoulder, or find yourself waking up with a sudden start in the middle of the night.

Creating a nagging sense of disquiet is something the author is very skilled at. Stories which slowly detach themselves from reality abound. There are also those which have no connection at all, but because the narrative is divorced from physical reality, there is always the psychology to work on, which Kiernan does ruthlessly, leaving the reader with the sense that they are reading something which might just swallow them whole and not bother to spit them out.

<snip>

I’d never read any of Kiernan’s work until now, but this collection has certainly made me very interested in her writing, so I will hunt out her backlist and be on the lookout for any new work.

Adam Westcott at POLITICS AND PROSE recommends THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN.

For the past several years, Caitlin Kiernan has been writing some of the best weird stories to be published. Now you can score a nice bundle of them in this conveniently priced collection, THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN.

As does HAUNTED BY DEADLINES’ Ahlissa Eichhorn in Horror Novels by Female Authors You Can Buy Now.

I said it once, I’ll say it again; if you’re a horror fan and you’re not reading Kiernan, you’re messing up. Bound in gorgeous cover art, the title says it all. It’s a comprehensive selection and great for both new readers and weathered admirers.

For more info about THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Hannes Hummel
Design by Elizabeth Story

July 25, 2018

The grimdark version of a comfort read, Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX is a welcome return to the adventures of the author’s iconic hard-fisted anti-heroine

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized 10 bad habits, apocalypse nyx, bel dame apocrypha, brit mandelo, elizabeth story, kameron hurley, lilianny araujo, nerds of a feather flock together, nisi shawl, review, spanish, spoiler fans, the seattle review of books, tor.com, wadim kashin

More excitement surrounds Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX.

NERDS OF A FEATHER, FLOCK TOGETHER praises the book.

I was worried that some of the politics and technology of Nyx’s world might have escaped me in the years since I read Rapture, but I needn’t have been. Hurley is brilliant at developing worlds that makes little sense on the surface (how are all those bugs powering their cars?) but where the internal logic and the matter-of-fact acceptance from the characters makes it easy to just take everything as it comes. The plots are sufficiently twisty, though not immensely complex or original – but, again, that’s not really the point. Whether you’re coming to Nyx for the first time, or after reading one or more of the novels, what APOCALYPSE NYX offers is the grimdark version of a comfort read: action, well-placed aggression and bizarrely satisfying emotional frustration that will have you reading through your fingers.

Nisi Shawl for THE SEATTLE REVIEW OF BOOKS enjoys the return of Nyx.

Pulled together from novellas published primarily on her Patreon fundraising site, Kameron Hurley’s APOCALYPSE NYX (Tachyon)is a welcome return to the adventures of the author’s iconic hard-fisted anti-heroine.

<snip>

These five glimpses into her passage from an explosives expert fresh off a centuries-old battlefront to a bounty hunter in war-ravaged cities and villages show her being both tender and tough, both reckless and cynical. My favorite story’s the final one, in which Nyx notes how ridiculous it is for a killer like herself to have a panging conscience — but declines a ride home out of the desert from colleagues who set fire to a house full of children anyway.

At the Spanish-language site SPOILER FANS, Lilianny Araujo recommends APOCALYPSE NYX.

Each story is like a wild ride through a minefield in an old truck. They are narrowly drawn, implacably violent, and without apology are light in the exhibition. The reader is pushed into chaos from the beginning, which is both challenging and brutally convincing. I admit that I did not know what was happening at the beginning. Is this real? but in the middle of the second story, Nyx had me holding on to the balls. I got into this so much that I immediately went back to reading the first two stories and was as happy as I think most fans of Grimdark’s fiction will be to read this.

<snip>

I usually talk about issues in the reviews because I think they contribute to what the reader gets from a book. Forget that. Let APOCALYPSE NYX surprise you with its deep representation of a person in constant intellectual and moral crisis, and do not worry about what it means. You will be immersed in love, lust, hatred, revenge, desire, and you will question the value of human life. You will empathize with Nyx for his faults but you will be horrified by his lack of human consciousness. It is a heady mix and very entertaining.

Is it dark night? You can bet your ass yes. Try not to support Nyx while getting rid of innocents who get in the way of the next reward. That’s impossible. And the question of gray morale itself makes a couple of discrete appearances in the stories and in the delicious jokes among your monster crew. If you are reading this review, then obviously you appreciate grimdark. Grab this good introduction to life and the world of Nyx. You will not regret. Highly recommended

(Translation from Spanish, courtesy of Google.)

On TOR.COM, Brit Mandelo appreciates the collection.

It’s a pleasure-read, a set of stories that push the same buttons, but those happen to be buttons I can appreciate. APOCALYPSE NYX isn’t the place to start for a reader unfamiliar with Hurley’s work. For that I’d recommend a more recent novel such as The Stars are Legion (reviewed here as well). However, for a reader who’s interested in seeing a bit of Nyx before the series—Nyx the total fucking disaster of a person, Nyx the monster, Nyx who can’t connect and can’t communicate and lives on the fine line between a death-wish and a death-drive—this collection will scratch the itch.

10 BAD HABITS includes the title among Favorite Reads June 2018.

I am a huge fan of Hurley’s Bel Dame series and this book is a collection of short stories that serve as something of a tangential prequel to that series. Former Bel Dame, turned mercenary Nyx is still a battered and rebuilt veteran of the ongoing brutal war on her world, and here she’s putting together the team she’ll have around her in God’s War. If there’s something of a through line to the book’s stories, it’s Nyx’s struggle to be slightly less awful than the default awfulness of her surroundings. She might not have a completely functioning moral compass, but it works from time to time. Violent bug-fueled science-fantasy is my jam.

For more info on APOCALYPSE NYX, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Wadim Kashin

Design by Elizabeth Story

June 26, 2018

Peter Watts’ irresistible THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION is compelling science fiction with heart

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized ama, bluchickenninja, chicago tribune, elizabeth story, everdeen mason, foreword reviews, gary k wolfe, l'épaule d'orion, nisi shawl, peter dabbene, Peter Watts, reddit, review, the freeze frame revolution, the seattle review of books, the washington post

Reviews for Peter Watts’ entertaining and provocative THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION keep flooding in.

At FOREWORD REVIEWS, Peter Dabbene praises the work.

Hard science fiction that reads like a first-person parable, Peter Watts’s THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION is thoughtful, suspenseful, and unforgettable.

<snip>

Watts, a former marine biologist, deftly weaves hard science, both actual and theoretical, into the book. Those familiar with cutting-edge ideas like Boltzmann Bodies or the Stefan-Boltzmann law and the Alcubierre warp drive will come away satisfied, but the science is so fully ingrained into the narrative that it doesn’t draw attention to itself—a high compliment indeed.

Sophisticated enough for hard science-fiction purists, the book is nevertheless intimately written in a conversational style, as Sunday relates the happenings aboard ship and her interactions with Chimp and the others. There are many examples of Watts’s inventive writing, perhaps most noticeably the use of the gender-neutral pronouns “se” and “hir” throughout the book.

The story’s massive time span invites intriguing questions, as when Sunday asks a crewmate, “How do you tell the difference between going extinct and just, you know, changing into something else?”

The result of all this is an epic of epochs; entertaining and provocative, brilliant and ambitious, FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION is compelling science fiction with heart.

Nisi Shawl in THE SEATTLE REVIEW OF BOOKS enjoys the novella.

THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION (Tachyon), the shortest and latest novel from Canadian Peter Watts, is as brilliant and enticingly acute as any of his earlier and longer work.

<snip>

The mission, after millions and millions and millions of years, goes on under the implacable and inescapable eye of an artificial intelligence tasked with keeping the crew’s nose to an eternal grindstone. How can its favorite human Sunday Ahzmundin and a few thousand others possibly manage to rebel against their superhuman supervisor? With skin-creeping tension, sharply realistic detail, and action moving fast as thought, Watts shows us.

Everdeen Mason of THE WASHINGTON POST declares the tale as one of the month’s top reads.

THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION (Tachyon), by Peter Watts, is a delicious morsel of hard science fiction. The short novel follows the crew of a construction ship who have spent 66 million years traveling across the galaxy building interstellar wormhole gates for humanity. The group is held in suspended animation, awakened for brief periods by Chimp, the AI that runs the ship.

<snip>

The setup of the book is irresistible, and the science is high-concept, but the story is driven by Sunday’s relationships and her conviction in herself and her companions.

Watts participated in a REDDIT AMA.

Vermilion-Sands

1 point·

10 days ago

Hello. Huge fan….Blindsight is the only book (besides Stan Robinson’s Red Mars ) that I’ve re-read in the last 10 years. Anyway, my question…… What is your recommended reading order of the SUNFLOWER CYCLE ? Can it truly be the publication order?! Thank you in advance.

The-Squidnapper

AMA Author

1 point·

10 days ago

Chronologically, the order is “Hotshot”; “The Freeze-Frame Revolution”; “Giants”; and “The Island”. But each was designed to be understandable whether or not you’ve read any of the others, and Sunday doesn’t even appear in all of them, so go wild.

Duke_Paul

1026 points·

12 days ago

Please, elaborate on your relationship with raccoons and your opinion on the raccoon that climbed a skyscraper yesterday. Also maybe I guess why use tumblrspeak or whatever when referring to yourself as a terrorist…

The-Squidnapper

AMA Author

9 points·

12 days ago

·edited 11 days ago

There is an Ancient Compact Between Squid And Raccoon: I feed them unlimited kibble on the porch every night, and in return they don’t tear the shit out of our organics bin on Recycling Night. Unfortunately there is a loophole;nothing in the compact forbids them from tearing the shit out of our roof. Although I think they may have done so as a retaliatory tariff against the new “raccoon-proof” bins the city has been rolling out. It’s always the innocents that get caught in the middle.

MPRRaccoon is a North American Hero, just as much as little Timmy who fell down the well in that old episode of The Simpsons. Oh, and this just in from The BUG:

‘Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn even went so far as to offer a $1,000 charity donation to “anyone who saves this raccoon. I can’t handle this. Poor dude.”’

https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/06/toronto-sends-thoughts-and-prayers-raccoon-minnesota/

Excuse me for a moment while I wipe myself, and go put on my Rocket t-shirt.

Gary K. Wolfe for CHICAGO TRIBUNE reviews the book.

Sometimes sheer magnitude of scale can lend an epic scope to stories which, at the human level, remain fairly intimate. Peter Watts’s episodic tale mostly concerns efforts by a few crew members to rebel against the artificial intelligence that controls their spaceship, and whose motives they have come to distrust.

<snip>

The real question she faces, however, and what gives Watts’s tale surprising depth, is what it means to be human on an endless mission in an uncaring universe.

BLUCHICKENNINJA highly recommends THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION.

THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION is a story about humans living in an unbearable situation. And I think the human character aspect is what Peter Watts has excelled at. The other short stories start involving aliens and they lack something because of this.

This is a hard science-fiction story, if you like books such as Seveneves by Neal Stephenson I would recommend this. It also has elements of artificial intelligence, and the problems which comes from having an all-knowing AI in control of a ship. In some ways it is also similar to The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.

I would highly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys locked room puzzles, political intrigue, and human stories in science fiction settings.

The French L’ÉPAULE D’ORION lauds the narrative and its hidden text.

THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION is a short narrative that offers a relatively simple and classic scenario, without the philosophical depth that Peter Watts has been able to accustom us in the past. Although it is very far from reaching the heights of Blind Vision, the text offers a certain sense of wonder in view of the extent of what it gives to imagine, but which comes more from its frame than from the scenario itself. even. It is also very accessible for a hard-SF novel and this is undoubtedly its highest quality. The scientific side, always very elaborate at Watts, never disturbs the story.

That being said, you will need to be attentive during your reading as the main text contains a hidden text, and if you find it, you will be rewarded with a revelation that is even more interesting than the main text itself. I would almost be tempted to give him 3 stars just for that. He’s teasing Peter Watts.

(Translation from French courtesy of Google)

For more info on THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover and design by Elizabeth Story

September 21, 2017

Patricia A. McKillip’s THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD is unquestionably a classic of the genre

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized b&n sci-fi & fantasy blog, book wraiths, joel cunnigham, nisi shawl, patricia a mckillip, the forgotten beasts of eld, the seattle review of books, Thomas Canty

The Internet continues to explode about the publication of the new edition of Patricia A. McKillip’s World Fantasy Award-winner THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD, now available in paperback and for the first time as an ebook.

On B&N SCI-FI & FANTASY BLOG, Joel Cunningham includes the book among This Week’s New Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books: A Cyborg Romance, the Future of Global Politics, and the Return of Forgotten Beasts.

More than 40 years after it was first published, McKillip’s World Fantasy Award-winner is unquestionably a classic of the genre, and it reads as timelessly as ever in this new print and ebook edition. It’s the story of a woman named Sybel, who lives alone in a remote castle where she cares for a stable of magical creatures and hunts for a mythical bird, and how her world is shattered by the sudden appearance of Coren, a nobleman who delivers her a child and pulls her into a petty conflict between men. It’s a slender, beguiling story that does more with less, packing a complex, bewitching world and achingly real, frustratingly human characters into a page count that disguises the expansiveness of the ideas within.

Nisi Shawl for THE SEATTLE REVIEW OF BOOKS praises the classic.

As noted above, recent covers for Patricia McKillip’s fantasies are almost always painted by Kinuko Y Craft. Except when they’re not; a new reprint of her groundbreaking World Fantasy Award-winner THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD (Tachyon) is graced instead by Thomas Canty’s art. And why not? McKillip’s soaring prose, lyrics to songs our hearts have forgotten they knew how to sing, deserves Canty’s accompaniment. The feminist underpinnings of the book’s plot — a self-sufficient woman who refuses to be stripped of her autonomy starts a war she swore never to fight — deserve our attention now as much as they did in 1974, when Beasts was first published. If you’ve never read it, you deserve to. Or if, like me, you read it long ago and have made do since with a tiny but affordable mass market paperback, you deserve Tachyon’s elegant trade paperback edition, at least half as beautiful as McKillip’s story. Which sounds stingy as compliments go, but is actually extremely high praise.

BOOKWRAITHS enjoys the fantasy.

THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD is a wonderfully written, richly textured, high fantasy from Patricia A. McKillip. Even though it is quite limited in length, it is still filled with insightful moments and fascinating insights; all of it set in beautifully rendered fairy tale world.

<snip>

What always catches me unprepared whenever I read (or reread) a Patricia A. McKillip novel is her unbelievable prose. It isn’t elaborate or flowery, merely lyrical and purposeful. Every word has its place and its use in her narratives, yet she never feels a need to expound unnecessarily. Important events taking place in pages rather than chapters. Concise, meaningful, and lovely. That is how this author writes, and I only wish more fantasy offerings these days mimicked her style.

As for the story itself, it was poignant, quick, and emotional. Sybel’s life, her choices, and the ones she love caught up in the quagmire she has unknowingly been drawn into. Her words and response to both the child and that which comes later filled with a layer of meaning and depth which will truly touches a reader’s heart strings.

As for any criticisms or complaints, I have none. McKillip has always been a writer I was in awe of, especially her amazing ability to craft an exciting fantasy tale that still finds a place for both dignity and seriousness in its pages, and THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD was no exception, making me wonder only why it took me so long to actually read it.

Lyrical, complex, concise, and emotional, this novel is one I will be readily espousing to lovers of high fantasy, fairy tales, and beautifully writing. Patricia A. McKillip isn’t an author spoken of very often these days, but she should be, because her works are treasures of the genre.

For more info about THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Thomas Canty

February 16, 2017

Peter S. Beagle’s IN CALABRIA is a masterpiece of magical realism

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized b&n sci-fi & fantasy blog, elizabeth story, fantasy, in calabria, jl jamieson, joel cunningham, nissi shawl, peter s beagle, pop culture beast, review, risingshadow, seregil of rhiminee, the last unicorn, the seattle review of books

The reviews keep rolling in for Peter S Beagle’s well crafted IN CALABRIA.

Photo: Rina Weisman

For RISINGSHADOW, Seregil of Rhiminee praises the book.

Peter S. Beagle’s IN CALABRIA is a lyrical, touching and exquisitely beautiful story set in Calabria. It’s perfect fiction for those who enjoy reading well-told literary stories, because it’s a magical tale for adults. It’s like a slice of real life that has been spiced with fantasy elements.

Before I delve into writing about this story and its contents, I’ll mention that it can be classified either as a short novel or as a novella. I personally classify it as a novella, because it is of novella length.

For a while now, I’ve admired Peter S. Beagle’s literary voice, because he writes beautiful fiction in his own unique way. I like his way of combining fantastical and realistic elements, because he does it extremely well and engages the reader’s attention from the very first page. In my opinion, this novella is an excellent example of his writing skills, because it’s a beautiful fable for modern readers.

IN CALABRIA is one of those novellas that are not meant to be read in haste (it is not intended to readers who skim through stories without taking the time to ponder their meaning). This novella is a relatively fast read, but please don’t let its length fool you into believing that it’s a simple story without depth. It’s anything but simple, because it features such themes as isolation and loneliness, which are explored in a delicate yet surprisingly strong way.

<snip>

One of the most important things why I love this novella is that the author writes lyrical prose. His beautiful prose is a pleasure to read, because his descriptions about the happenings are elegant.

Peter S. Beagle’s IN CALABRIA is a delicious and noteworthy masterpiece of magical realism for everyone who loves literary speculative fiction and enjoys reading beautifully written stories. It’s a captivating and rewarding story that should not be missed by fantasy readers, because it pulses with elegance and subtle beauty.

Highly recommended!

JL Jamieson of POP CULTURE BEAST finds the story to be the perfect Valentine.

Beagle writes a modern fairy tale with so much heart and grace, and rather than the world he writes being transformed by it, it’s the characters who are changed deeply and utterly by unfathomable events.

It’s always a pleasure to see a new Beagle novel, as he writes these wonderful tales that involve the supernatural–but are actually about the characters and the way they’re changed by fantastic events. He’s been at this a long time, and it shows in how well crafted the novel is. He’s created the perfect Valentine.

Pick this book up, you won’t regret it.

At THE SEATTLE REVIEW OF BOOKS, Nisi Shawl reviews the fantasy.

Peter S. Beagle’s story of an Italian farmer encountering a gravid unicorn, is reminiscent of his 1968 masterpiece THE LAST UNICORN. But the new book emphasizes the interior transformations caused by this mythical animal. A simultaneous affair between 50-ish widower Claudio Bianchi and a fierce motorcyclist young enough to be his daughter reads alternately as metaphor for the irrationality and vulnerability of love and as simple wish fulfillment. The unicorn colt’s sire, black and furious, appears near the book’s end as counterbalance to the dam’s white beauty, a compelling vision of the positive masculine principle lacking in Beagle’s early work.

Joel Cunningham of B&N SCI-FI & FANTASY BLOG announces the book’s release.

A master of fantasy returns with a new unicorn and a new story, set in the rural farmland of Calabria. Frozen by a past tragedy, Claudio lives a simple life with a few animals, writing poetry and barely surviving. He is astonished when into his life appears a unicorn, forcing him to remember the true freedom that all living things have lost in modern times. The unicorn attracts hordes of reporters and tourists, as well as animal rights activists and those who intend the creature harm. Claudio stoutly protects her, and when he helps her bear her foal, Claudio sees his own life returning to him, the birth of new possibilities. Anyone who loved THE LAST UNICORN knows the power of a Peter S. Beagle story.

For more info about IN CALABRIA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

Tachyon Publications

the seattle review of books

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