I spent two weekends traveling in September, and I spent two weeks sick. I did a lot of reading by the standards of a normal person, but it might’ve been my lightest reading month of the decade. So this will be a bit more link-heavy and less review-heavy than usual. Let’s take a look:
Short Fiction
I reviewed Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus, and the former delivered perhaps my favorite issue of any magazine all year. I also dipped into four different magazines for my Magazine Minis review. And I read pieces of two different anthologies that I hope to review in October. I planned on more miscellany, but. . . well, then I got sick. So the only short fiction I read all month that wasn’t previously reviewed and wasn’t part of an anthology was “Audit of the Collapse and Convalescence of Minds” by Renan Bernardo, which follows a character serving as a sort of AI therapist, trying to help heal the maladies of artificial minds. But those maladies may illuminate as much about the lead’s own grief-stricken mind as it does artificial ones. With just one story to talk about, I won’t bring out all the various tiers, but this is an engaging one that does a good job drilling into the mind of its lead.
Novels and Novellas
Reviews Posted
- The Lost Conspiracy (2008 novel) by Frances Hardinge. Despite being quite long for a middle-grade novel (nearly 600 pages), this reads easily and does a wonderful job of handling heady themes in a way that’s approachable to both mature readers and younger audiences. Exceptional.
- Engines of Reason (2026 novella) by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The sequel to Elder Race isn’t Elder Race, but it’s a delight to revisit beloved characters, and Engines of Reason is an enjoyable novella in its own right, with good characterization and compelling themes.
- The Strangers (2026 novel) by Naomi Alderman. Part magical realism, part memoir from the perspective of a lead struggling with lost pregnancies and ailing parents.
- The Fist of Memory (2026 novel) by Wole Talabi. A revenge thriller and a first contact story mashed up in futuristic Nigeria.
Other September Reads
- Dealing with Dragons (1990 novel) by Patricia C. Wrede. Aimed at the younger end of middle-grade, this short novel is entirely charming and only gets better as it progresses. Full review to come.
- Windhaven (1981 novel) by Georgia R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle. A fix-up novel consisting of three novellas, a prologue, and an epilogue, all starring the same aspiring flyer on a stormy ocean world. The second novella particularly stands out, but this is wonderful as a whole. Full review to come.