…suddenly, a bright pink mist was drifting all about her, and her god was there, laying the gift of tongues upon her tongue. It tasted like grapefruit. “Tits and pickles,” she whispered. Then, remembering herself, the necromancer Miscellaneous Stones bellowed in a voice to rival the raging hurricane… Last April, C.S.E Cooney released Saint Death’s
I’m not sure if it’s the effect of (gestures vaguely) everything that’s going on in the world lately, but the short story finalists for this year’s Hugo Awards are all kinda dark. The six entries feature death, monsters, murder, bloody revolution, not one but two examples of state-sanctioned torture, and a reading lesson from an
“Well, sir,” he said. “Of all the death cases to be your first, I wouldn’t much like it being this one.” Dinios Kol has only been working as an Iudex Investigator’s assistant (apprentice-level) for four months, but even years of experience wouldn’t have prepared him for his first murder case. A high-ranking Imperial officer has
And really, Master did so little when alive that being dead should barely make a ripple in his schedule… Adrian Tchaikovsky has two books nominated in the Hugo’s Best Novel category this year, and his second book is about as different from the first as you can get. Service Model is an epic quest for
“In answer to your question, I’m the Vice Secretary of Expatriation.” “And they are expats from…?” “History.” “Sorry?” Adela shrugged. “We have time-travel,” she said, like someone describing the coffee machine. “Welcome to the Ministry.” Kaliane Bradley’s Hugo-nominated novel jumps right into it with our narrator – an industrious government employee with a British father
Naomi Novik’s latest collection came out last September without me noticing, which is a shame because I loved her Scholomance series and I’ve been meaning to read a lot more of her work. I really enjoyed the collection, even the stories I didn’t 100% understand. Below are some (much too short) summaries: you can’t really
I swear I’m not doing this on purpose, but the next three Hugo-nominated novelettes also have a theme, and this one is loneliness. It can be a lifelong estrangement between siblings, or a solitary magic-user having to deal with a disability without anyone finding out about it (or else), or something that’s actually called the
And that’s it. We’re down. I look up into an alien sky. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s stories have made multiple appearances at Pixelated Geek, and this year he has two books nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel (Jeez, Adrian, save some for the rest of the class.) For this book we return to a favorite
I’ve reviewed and enjoyed a couple of John Wiswell’s Hugo-nominated stories, but this is his debut novel. And wow, what a debut. In this fairy-tale-but-not-really, a monster who’s been terrorizing a small town meets a kindhearted traveler who’s entire family is monstrous, and somehow each of them are exactly what the other one needs. …her