Robots vs. Fairies, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe

One of the stories in this collection was nominated for a Locus Award. I got the collection to read that story and ended up reading all of them. The collection itself was also nominated for a Locus Award.

Published: 2018

Genre: science fiction and fantasy short story collection

Length: 362 pages of stories, 373 pages total

Setting: various locations, mostly on Earth

Summary: Short version: Stories by various authors featuring either robots or fairies, and sometimes both

Advertisements

Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

I’ve been hearing about the book as a great example of science fiction by a black author and decided to pick it up. Luckily, my library had the novellas collected into a single book.

Published: 2019 as a collection, 2015-2017 as novellas

Genre: 358 pages

Setting: mostly the desert African city of Himba, and the planet Oozma Uni

Summary: Short version: Binti’s event-filled life after she’s accepted to an off-world school

Mother of Invention by Nnedi Okorafor

This is the last Locus Award nominee for the 2019 short story category.

Published: February, 2018 at Slate (you can read it for free at the link provided)

Genre: science fiction

Setting: New Delta, a city in near future Nigeria

Summary: Short version: Anwuli doesn’t want to leave her house, even though a pollen storm is coming

How Long ’til Black History Month by N. K. Jemisin

I had picked up this collection to read two Locus Award nominee for short stories. I enjoyed them so much I got sucked into reading the rest of the collection.

Published: 2018 for the collection, 2004-2017 for the individual stories

Genre: science fiction and fantasy

Length: 397 pages

Summary: Short version: A collection of Jemisin’s short stories. I’ll summarize each one briefly

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

Tor gave out a copy of this book one month as their free ebook. I was in the mood for some science fiction to break up the Chinese epic historical fiction I’m reading.

Published: 2017

Genre: science fiction

Length: 336 pages

Setting: mostly End and Hub within the Interdependency, far future

Summary: Short version: The Flow is collapsing and so with the Interdependency

What I Will Be Reading #41: Scifi and Fantasy

I’ve managed to acquire a number of new books that looked interesting, so I thought I’d share my new additions to my TBR list.

First up is an option for a read aloud (once we start school back up full time): The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty. I read a GeekMom post that reviewed books they had read recently, and this one stood out to me. It’s a middle grade book that promises lots of magical adventures and travels. Bronte’s parents have been killed by pirates, and now she must deliver a series of packages to her aunts, or her hometown will be destroyed. Might be the perfect way to start the school year off.

Keeping with the pirate theme, Tor had a post of their favorite fantasy pirate books. I’ve read a couple of them (like Stardust and Kushiel Legacy series), but many of the others sound like they’d be worth reading. Wired had a list of new fiction out this summer that had some excellent books on it. I’m most excited about Neal Stephenson’s new book, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell.

Finally, I’ve got The Emissary by Yoko Tawada. I heard about this one from a What Should I Read Next podcast (where I hear about lots of great books), episode 187. It’s a post-apocalyptic Japanese book. I’m not sure I’ve had the chance to read Japanese post-apocalyptic fiction. I’m trying to read more books set outside the U.S., so this is an easy add to my TBR.

And those are the books for this time. Anything else I should add?

If you’re interested in purchasing a book, you can click on the cover image or title to follow an Amazon affiliate link to the book and thanks for supporting my blog!

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

My husband picked this up as an audiobook for the family because Peter Jackson turned it into a movie.

Published: 2001

Genre: science fiction

Length: 373 pages

Setting: a post-apocalyptic, barely recognizable future Asia

Summary: Short version: London’s attempts to gain power causes many deaths