It is week six in the episodic release schedule for The Human Division by John Scalzi. Each week thus far the stories have alternated between an A storyline and a B storyline, with the B stories revealing details that have already begun to become very important for the main characters. It has been interesting to watch this dance.

This week is a B storyline that puts the reader into heart of the Conclave, a political entity made up of 400 races, none of which are “human”. We are made witness to a town-hall meeting conversation that gives us some idea of the various positions the Conclave holds in regards to humanity and their continued existence.

This episode represents roughly the half-way point of the novel and through most of the chapter it feels as if Scalzi is giving us a bit of a breather, yet he manages to put a moment of tension within the episode that encapsulates the knife’s edge upon which humanity is now walking.

I will get into a more detailed discussion after the jump for those of you who are reading along. For those of you waiting for the release of the full novel before you return to the universe of Old Man’s War this is where we part company, at least for now.

Continue reading The Back Channel ~John Scalzi →

Another Tuesday, another episode from John Scalzi’s novel, The Human Division. The day is going to come along when I won’t be able to type that and frankly I’m very saddened by that realization. Had John Scalzi’s novel already been released in its entirely in print form I would have finished it by now, having torn through it with the zeal of a passionate fan. While there is nothing wrong with that I am finding this weekly trip to the Old Man’s War universe satisfying in a manner that I had not suspected.

Episode Five, “Tales from the Clarke”, returns us to the main story line and the crew of the Clarke. It ties in most directly with the first episode while pulling in threads from other episodes. It acts as a recap chapter while at the same time progressing the story further. As I’ve come to expect from Scalzi, things are not exactly what they seem on the surface at the beginning of this episode. This is a very solid and entertaining chapter in what is turning out to be a suspense-filled science fiction thriller.

In an effort to maintain a Non-Spoiler stance I will say no more in this section of the post. If you have not read either this episode or any of the previous episodes I would ask that you do not proceed onward after the jump.

For a more in-depth spoiler-filled discussion of “Tales from the Clarke”, please proceed.

Continue reading Tales from the Clarke ~John Scalzi →

It gives me great pleasure to announce a new weekly feature over at SF Signal: Short Fiction Friday, hosted by me. I entered the year determined to keep current with the short fiction posted in the magazines I subscribe to: Lightspeed, Clarkesworld and Asimov’s. When the offer came to join the SF Signal team I decided that hosting a weekly feature reviewing these magazines as well as other SFF short stories would be a perfect marriage.

Today is the inaugural post and features my review of the latest issue of Clarkesworld magazine. This was especially exciting for me as it is my first ever Clarkesworld read. The magazine features both fiction and nonfiction related to SFF and every work reviewed in this magazine is available for free online. I hope you will take a moment to check out the non-spoiler review. If you find anything of interest then you can follow the link and experience it for yourself.

From this issue I especially recommend Erzebet Yellowboy’s story “Gravity” which called to mind the film Sunshine and Daniel Abraham’s nonfiction essay “Another Word: Reading and Writing and Moral Judgment”.

The review is up now, so please click here to enjoy the review. As always, thank you for your support.

(Image by Richard Anderson)

“When the traders had first crawled out of the sea, a dozen years ago, every memory had been vivid and strong, every page crammed edge to edge with smudged bold urgency.”

In a devastated world where the focus of life has been narrowed to the act of survival, there are those who would trade their memories for the serum, a drug that will help them forget. Morningtown is typical of the havens in which existence is dominated by scavenging and bartering for the necessities to live day by day. Amidst this ruin and destruction there are still rays of hope, people choosing to make a life out of the hand they have been dealt. Lucy is a young lady who does her best to care for the family that took her in long ago. It is her responsibility to make the dangerous trek across the city to procure the serum for the people of Morningtown. Amidst rumors that the traders have been missing serum runs, Lucy sets off for her scheduled rendezvous, a bundle of memories and a sharp knife her companions for the journey.

In “Last Train to Jubilee Bay” author Kali Wallace deftly builds a dystopic world that feels at once familiar and fantastical. It is a story of hope and remembrance and an opportunity for change in a time when the easy route is to forget. It is also a tale that examines the worth of the written word, of memory and story. This short story is a Tor.com original that can be purchased for $.99 for the platform of your choice or read in its entirety for free right here.

Discovering really good short stories can be an agony-inducing pleasure in that the satisfaction of the reading experience may be followed by the ache of wanting to share and discuss it with others. “Last Train to Jubilee Bay” is one such story. Wallace paints a visually arresting landscape and skillfully crafts a character that readers become attached to in a relatively brief amount of time. I am reminded of the way I felt about the original short story “Wool” by Hugh Howey. Wallace’s story is complete in and of itself and yet its world fascinates me and I want to explore more of it, especially to see how the actions of these characters reverberate through their insular world.

Following the jump I am going to dig deeper and discuss spoilers. If you want to comment on what I have written above I suggest bypassing this and going straight to the comments section. It is my hope, however, that some of you will take the opportunity to jump over to the Tor website and read it for yourself, then return to share your own thoughts. It will not take long but it is time well spent.

Continue reading Last Train to Jubilee Bay ~Kali Wallace →