(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 →

Talk show host Al Birnbaum, the “Voice of the Wilderness”, is suffering from an ever-increasing drop in ratings and doing his best to deny that this will have an effect on his career. When a mysterious man shows up to offer him a chance at renewed fame and influence Birnbaum must decide what steps he is willing to take to avoid a descent into obscurity.

The fourth episode of John Scalzi’s novel, The Human Division, goes live today in audio and ebook format. As a reminder for those who are not reading these, each of the thirteen episodes will be released on consecutive Tuesday mornings for the bargain price of just $.99. Thus far readers have gotten a satisfying bang for their buck each week, and this week is no different.

It is too early to declare this as a pattern that will remain throughout the novel*, but the episodes thus far have alternated between the main story line one week and a stand alone supporting story the next. Although each episode is meant to be “stand-alone” these alternate story lines appear to more closely fit that description. However, astute readers will realize that each of these episodes, while entertaining in their own right, are revealing nuggets of information that will come to play as the greater story unfolds. Each episode we are getting an interesting story and new clues. How fun is that?

If you have read this week’s episode and want to talk spoilers in the comments, I welcome you to do so and ask that you please include the SPOILERS tag at the top.

Happy reading everyone. Meet you here next Tuesday for more of The Human Division.

*I had to laugh. I wrote that sentence early this morning after reading the episode and less than an hour later got an email notification of John Scalzi’s latest blog post which points out this pattern.

The enigmatic title to John Scalzi’s latest episode in The Human Division loses all its enigma in spectacular fashion as he returns readers with a vengeance to the characters introduced in Episode 1. If you could have been inside my head, dear readers, as I absorbed “We Only Need the Heads” this morning you would have heard the word “Damn!” drawn out with genuine incredulity time and time again. Daaaamn, John Scalzi! Do I have to wait an entire week to get the next episode?!?!

Daaaamn.

(Possible spoilers from here on in)

Ambassador Abumwe is abruptly dispatched to conduct negotiations with the Bulu after the assigned diplomat was sidelined due to a burst appendix. Along with her new assignment she was informed that a wildcat colony illegally located on a remote Bula planet had sent out a coded distress call to the Colonial Defense Force. Harry Wilson has been temporarily reassigned to the warship Tubingen as they attempt to rescue the wildcat colony while leaving the Bulu unaware. From the beginning Ambassador Abumwe can sense that the negotiations are off somehow; things appear to be going much more smoothly than was expected. And when Harry Wilson discovers what is awaiting him on the planet’s surface, negotiations get very interesting indeed.

John Scalzi gave us an exciting opening chapter mystery, followed it up with an unconventional dialogue-only episode laden with hints at things to come, and followed that up with an offering so intense that I suspect he is sitting at his desk right now with a self-satisfied grin on his face, giggling maniacally and saying “You think that was something, just you wait, just you wait….”

If only I could get this kind of value out of every dollar I spend.
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My non-spoiler reviews of previous episodes:

Episode 1: The B-Team
Episode 2: Walk the Plank

At a Glance: Authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, under the pen name James S.A. Corey, offer two shorter works set in the Expanse universe unveiled in their much-lauded collaboration debut, Leviathan Wakes.

Pros: Focused storytelling; not a word wasted; accessible to all readers regardless of experience with science fiction.
Cons: Need there be any?

My Experience: I was very impressed with their Expanse prequel, “Drive”, in the Edge of Infinity anthology when I read it last week and bought the first of these two stories right after finishing it. “Drive” demonstrated that these authors could tell an emotionally engaging story in a fully realized universe without wasting exposition on obvious world-building. These two additional works prove that they have the short form down cold. “The Butcher of Anderson Station” was compelling right from the start, telling a two-stage tale that had me completely immersed right through to the end. I followed it up this afternoon with a purchase and read through of “Gods of Risk” and it did not disappoint. This is well-crafted fourth generation space opera with a maturity that makes it impossible for me to keep to myself.

My Combined Rating: 9/10 stars

Continue reading Tales from the Expanse ~James S.A. Corey →