Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I never thought I’d be back-blogging my #SciFiMonth reviews & posts this first week of December but sometimes when life throws me lemons, I refuse to admit I can’t make lemonade! I had a larger stack of stories (both Fiction & Non-Fiction) I wanted to read this year but I shortened the list to 5x reviews and 2x posts (Intro/Wrap-Up) which could become an ‘abridged’ adventure this year for my favourite Autumn book blogosphere event I generally affectionately call “Sci Fi November”.
As you will soon see I had a rather interesting book list this year and as you read through my #SciFiMonth Launch Post, you’ll find a wicked lovely book tag full of Space Science & Spacer prompts with a keenly clever BOOK SPINE POEM* celebrating Sci Fi Month through selections off my Science Fiction TBR! I also took time to answer and respond to the “Get to Know the SF Reader” tag Imyril had shared on her own blog this year as well. I love tags but it is so rare my idea and response for them actually get onto Jorie Loves A Story!
(*) This is the second year I’ve created ‘book spine poetry’ (see also Post)
Rather than feel like I experienced an #epicfail this year – I am going to celebrate what I’ve accomplished and look forward to Spring’s @SciFiMonth mini-event called: All Systems Read (see announcement!) I’m shifting the books I have leftover into that readathon event and will consider myself #blessed. I didn’t give up and I didn’t throw in the towel – I fought through a 48 hour flu (and a relapse of it), loads of life as it evolves moments of insanity and the quirky chaotic ways in which being a caregiver can try your patience but at the end of the day you’re just thankful you keep trying to do everything you can for the person who needs your support. Whilst at the same time I had a fortnight of seriously horrid tech issues and wonkified connectivity to where I nearly considered myself cursed to be a participant this year all the way round! And, to think – it wasn’t my *migraines!* which derailed me this year! Oyy.
I might have had less hours to read and blog and tweet this year
but let’s celebrate what I did accomplish and let the rest of it ‘go’.
Jorie’s Abridged #SciFiMonth Reads:
Far Orbit: Apogee (anthology) edited by Bascomb James
I personally LOVE! when Space Opera takes you so readily off-world (ie. from Earth, from any planet elsewhere from our solar system) you do not have a lot of footing to guide you forward except your wits and you’re keen adventurous spirit to guide you forward! This is where you alight inside To Defend and Keep from Harm – as Kit is a no-nonsense kind of gal – telling it like it is and isn’t afraid to speak her mind if it means defending someone’s honour. She’s also dealing with a health affliction which puts her in a vulnerable state but not without the confidence to field off advances by blokes who ought to respect the word ‘no’.
What made this story so approachable for me is how I miss spending time on Plexis (ie. from The Clan Chronicles) where the whole of the universe would come to barter, trade and shop the various levels of commerce on the floating space station! It was a one-stop destination of species where instead of people watching like humans do at regular malls, on Plexis you can creature watch and species watch taking how each of the various entities breathe, talk and interact with each other. So, too, you have the privy of observing Kit as she is seated a bar which has a motley crew of persons inside it during various stages of getting drunk and/or attempting to have a good time unwinding into a perpetual party state.
It was her sense of honour and duty which made her stand-out the most – she couldn’t let a girl fall victim to someone who had no filter (for his mouth) or understanding of boundary (when it came to respecting a woman’s wishes); she had to step-in and make a difference even if the instant she did act on those instincts she could place herself in danger just for the aide she would provide. It was a crazy suggestion that the rescuer could become jailed but such is life on this world. Uniquely shortly afterwards she meets up with Reese and it is his proposition of a job on the sideways ledger of the law which granted Kit the potential of changing her stars towards a living she could bank on.
The setting [Elysium City] is the kind of busy metroplex you’d expect in Space – where everyone is moving at lightspeed whilst going about their individual business and giving a bit of an edge to those who need to keep to the shadows, remaining hidden and blessedly allowing for some clandestine activities. I loved how she shaped this futuristic world – how she described it geometrically and how she intuned that this is a world that has its frightful attributes but where a gal with a fierce sense of self, iron-steel confidence and a courageous heart can make her way through it on her own terms.
→ I was super EXCITED to finally bring this review to my readers and to the audience of #SciFiMonth as I’ve been struggling to read this lovely anthology for quite a long while now – several Sci-Fi Novembers’ of the past you’ll notice I’ve mentioned it. As you read through my review you’ll notice how my excitement turnt into exploratory joy as I truly was given a heap of lovely Space Opera and Spacer stories to digest, ruminate over and appreciate discovering!!
Suzy Spitfire Kills Everybody (Suzy Spitfire series, Book One) by Joe Canzano
Each of these characters are quintessential to the experience of reading about Suzy Spitfire’s life and world – as they each offer different portals of influence and insight into what makes or breaks her sense of self, normality and the curious ways in which sometimes the world is banked against your own odds to survive. The interesting bit is how each of them are not just well drawn out in their own rights but how each of them get the chance to give keen insight into their personal lives and the choices they feel are their own to make – right or wrong or somewhere betwixt and between. In alternating sequences and/or chapters, Canzano allows you to dig a bit deeper into these characters’ and see whom they are – the good, the bad and the indifferent all co-merged together in an honest portrait of how we’re merely intersecting within a short timeline of their life.
I personally love character driven stories and this one is a beaut because of how Canzano layered his plot and gave us such a hearty goldmine of character development to savour as we read!
Suzy Spitfire: Her name speaks volumes about her personality – she inks out confidence and her temperament is fuelled by action. She’d rather act than converse about semantics of theory or thought; as with Suzy, everything is black and white; no grey areas. She acts on impulse as much as emotion and if you cross her, I’d consider yourself already gone because she doesn’t forgive easily (if at all).
Aiko: A true scientist on the level that he doesn’t see the harm or danger in what he is working on and he only looks towards the greater purpose of creating new tech the world has yet to see functioning. In his world, Science comes above all us and it is Science which he gives his life.
Ricardo: Similar to Suzy herself, I felt Ricardo was masking his truer intentions and reasons behind helping Suzy. He just didn’t come off as a hero who was seeking someone to rescue; especially considering his day job contacts. Even his sister made him suspect because of her own talents. Something told me Ricardo was going to have some surprises for Suzy along the route they would take together to solve the mystery itching at Suzy’s mind to resolve.
Maria: The sister of Ricardo – who has the chops to be in medicine but isn’t officially trained. Part of you question the role she played in the safe house when Suzy wasn’t in residence. For someone that well trained and yet without the proof of their knowledge, you had to question, what do they do exactly then?
Suzy’s Mum (Jane) and Grandmother (Jenny): Despite the arduous situation they’re living through and the fact they haven’t a clue about what Suzy intends to do or don’t do, they have a singular solidarity about them that is wicked brilliant to read about because they elude to having much more courage than they feel. You really want what their going through not to be the reason they lose their hope or what will break their will. It is guttingly realistic and sombering realising that they’re left behind whilst Suzy tries to save the day especially as they have to contend with Blurr!
Blurr: I honestly didn’t like this bloke from the first moment I heard of him – the more I learn about Blurr the more I want to jump on the starship with Suzy and put as much distance again from him as I can handle happening. Yet part of me was curious wondering what he was personally hiding as he just didn’t behave as a muscle man or as a corporate bloke who followed the SF rules and regs. Until of course it suited his interests; there was something weird going on between him and Suzy’s Mum and grandmother; something just felt off about how he was treating them when he visited making enquiries about Suzy and the AI tech her father created. He’s a complete rat, mind you, but something was fuelling his rattiness if you follow my gist?
Banks: Unlike Blurr, Bank had a conscience about his work and the ethics which drove me to do his job as best he can without compromising his own soul to get it done. He had a loving wife who was also doing good in her community; the key issue is they were both working against a system that effectively was not held to the same standard of ideals they shared as a couple. Where Blurr blurred the lines between moral and ethical routes of doing his job, Banks took the opposite view about it all and tried to see the people and the causes of their duress to break the rules of law rather than to see them all as a criminal class. Blurr also was a power hungry climber whereas Banks wanted to do the job well and make an honest living to fund his wife’s work. The differences between them is staggering and it wasn’t just their personalities either – as Banks had a compassionate soul whereas I felt Blurr’s heart was too black to feel anything anymore.
(– quoted from my book review for SUZY SPITFIRE KILLS EVERYBODY)
→ I wasn’t sure what to quote from my review for SUZY SPITFIRE because it became a DNF read for me this #SciFiMonth. However that doesn’t take away from the positives I’ve shared about Canzano’s writing style nor of the frustrations I experienced as a reader who dearly wanted to finish the story but realised it just wasn’t her cuppa and she needed to make a hard exit. I felt the best way to ‘introduce’ the story to new readers who might feel its a better fit is to start with the characters themselves. These character sketches and notes are something new I’m experimenting with and so far, I’m loving how it gives a bit of an edge and a quickfire way of knowing if a story suits you as a reader.
↓ These are forthcoming and will post by or before Wednesday, 9th December & this section will be properly updated accordingly. Thank you for your continued patience.
Heaven’s Edge (novella series, Stories 1-3) by Jennifer Silverwood
Little Computer People by Galen Surlak-Ramsey
Trans-Continental: Girl in the Gears by E. Chris Garrison
Whilst I might not have been able to read a heap this November, I did continue to feature specially modified memes riffing off #TopTenTuesday & my first forays into the #Friday56 featuring Speculative novelists and their series. I know those stories are more Fantasy than Science Fiction but like most Speculative Fiction authors – the ones I was showcasing this November could be considered cross-over authors as they are mashing together different concepts and world-building techniques. One in particular quite literally ‘shifts’ genres per each new installment of his series! I was wicked fascinated by it and asked my regional library to purchase the first book in his series which I am waiting to hear about still if its become a new addition to the library.
Be sure to visit the following riffed & tweaked memes:
Top Ten Secrets of Surviving the Verin Empire
← this one includes a HEAP of concept art for the series!
The #Friday56 as it involves “River Magic”
I was able to listen to my FIRST Science Fiction serial podcast via Audible (“The Sea in the Sky”) which I need to go back through again because although I could follow the context of the storyline, I didn’t get to take any notes on its behalf and I feel like I was left with a jumbled sea of memories rather than a cohesive imprint of the story!
I read the first short which kicks off The Lady Astronaut series (“We Interrupt this Broadcast” (0.5) – short story via Ms Kowal’s blog) and I was wholly intrigued with where this series begins on such an auspicious beginning – especially if you consider the greater repercussions of what is being revealled! Here let me share with you what I jotted down which will be revealled again once I finish reading “The Calculating Stars” lateron this December.
notations about reading ‘we interrupt this broadcast’:
I couldn’t place the series directly wherein I had seen the use of the cards being filtered into the computer wherein they were used to generate computer driven research but the technology and the process of how those cards were used was familiar to me nonetheless. Given my track record of having a penchant for Mysteries, I would conclude it was one of the many detecting series I’ve been attracted to watch over the four decades of my life. Not to mention, several films have also generated this visual clue of memory by the use of either the same or similar machines in their own narratives as well.
I felt for this Fidel fellow – he was suffering through an attack of his TB and still attempting to do his job well. He had singular focus on his task at hand whilst his co-worker Mira was more concerned about something left unsaid. You can sense the urgency within this story-line of how you can feel that Fidel is in a race against time he might not win and yet the fuller scope of what he’s fighting against isn’t ready known; at least, not in the beginning. It is hinted that there’s an asteroid – after seeing Deep Impact (the film) my curiosities about those dwindled to oblivion as it just hit too close to home. Or perhaps it was just an emotional film for me.
There is a level of secrecy and non-transparency of what Fidel is involved with as well – you can intuit that what he’s doing is not entirely greenlit officially and yet there is a murmuring of pride in his work from how he describes his invested interest in what he’s accomplished. There is a whisper about the Manhattan Project (which took me more years to understand than I think it was deemed necessary but it was one of those subjects I had avoided until my mid-to-late thirties) and about how humanity was given an unfair shake. That left me curious – about the implications therein and the direction of what Fidel was trying to share without sharing it at all – until of course, the revelation of what he was hinting towards became plain as day.
I nearly withheld a breath realising what President Dewey in this world had conceived as a just means towards securing the country by what he could cast into space without considering the wider implications of the act itself. It definitely gave new meaning to racing to space and of what we as humans would do whilst we’re there.
Ooh my dear ghouls – he did not just disclose that! I had noted in the timeline of the chronology of the series notes about how ‘this precedes the asteroid’ or this ‘follows directly after the asteroid’ but of course I had no clue which asteroid and why that asteroid was of grave importance to the series herein – until of course, Fidel in his gallant efforts to ‘right the change’ he felt the world needed disclosed his plan for all to see and shudder at the intricate complications it would cause as a catalyst of immediate change due to his actions.
It takes a woman to notice something as uniquely poignant as an error in date rather than the bloke who conceived of the plan initially and relied on Mira’s help to initiate it into action. I smiled at that revelation! Mira was one of those kinds of women who understood coding, dates and mathematical equations at lightnings speed rates of deciphering and I was thankful that Fidel recognised the genius in what she discovered in his cards – as the whole goal of his would have been aborted without his knowledge if her keen eyes and mind hadn’t seen what was writ on the cards which prompted the errors to be known.
The guts Mira had within her to accept the fate he was inflicting and to know of the event ahead of its discovery by the world was incredibly gutting because of how strong her will was to stand by him without alerting anyone what she had understood through the cards of his coding. The weight that would carry on anyone would be intense – filtering that kind of emotional response is unprecedented and part of me questioned if he was being rational at that point because of how irrational it sounded to fix a present problem by altering the course of the future of tomorrow.
Nothing of course prepared for me the ending which left me in swirl of emotions and tears. Now I understood the fuller meaning behind “no one alive knows the details of this short story” left behind for new readers of the series to find on the author’s blog. Evenso… the wrecking reality of that final scene between Fidel and Mira… so much to react to and yet, the sombering of it all is how sad it was for them. The finality of it and the hopelessness of the truth of their actions.
And, somehow I managed to keep a bit of a *thread on my social feeds announcing what I was discovering and/or what I was reading during #SciFiMonth this year. Not as expansive of years past but I felt accomplished all the same. As microblogging is another extension of my blog on Jorie Loves A Story. I consider it the abridged version because it is a shorter way of journalling my bookish & geeky life online.
All things considered, I can’t say I didn’t have ANY Science Fiction in my life this November – it might not have been as I planned it to be but it was an event I was still thankful to have a chance to participate by showcasing my continued admiration and passion for exploring *everything!* Science Fiction inspires me to discover! And, that is the best part about Sci Fi Month – uniting with fellow adventurers and Spaces and seeing where our journeys lead us next! Both as a community and as individuals.
My heart is full of gratitude to both @Imyril and Lisa @deargeekplace for giving us a way to unite together and to help us keep ourselves rooted inside a genre which continuously keeps us curious and wandering the speculative realms seeking our next wicked sweet Sci Fi Read! Rock on, Imyril and Lisa, rock on! Here’s to 2021! May it be a lovely new chapter in our lives and in our community of Sci Fi Nerds & Geeks to continue to champion everything we all love about this genre which gets into our bones & veins!
Quote Credit: QUOTE from Seven Devils by Elizabeth May & Laura Lam
{SOURCES: Book covers provided by the following: “Far Orbit: Apogee” was provided by World Weaver Press and is used with permission. “Suzy Spitfire Kills Everybody” was provided by Caffeinated PR and is used with permission. “Heaven’s Edge” was provided by Jennifer Silverwood and is used with permission. “Trans-Continental: Girl in the Gears” was provided by E. Chris Garrison and is used with permission. Post dividers were provided by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com. Post dividers are from Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission. #SciFiMonth banner created by Imyril (Image Credit: Photo by Tithi Luadthong from 123RF.com. Quote Credit: QUOTE from Seven Devils by Elizabeth May & Laura Lam) is being used with permission. Blog badges created by Jorie in Canva: #SciFiMonth 2020 banner and the comment box banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
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