Tag: fiction
The Apollo Murders
With a title like The Apollo Murders I expected something a lot closer to a classic whodunnit. This wasn't that, and I'm glad it wasn't - it was better!
The Historian
I received Elizabeth Kostova's vampire novel The Historian for my birthday earlier this spring, and finished it last night. It has been great fun to read. I read Dracula back in 2023, but it seems like this year, for some reason, I have had more exposure to vampire stories, maybe because my Russian Literature professor...
Fourth Place (1)
Much isn't known about dreams. Only that they feel real when you're in them. When a group of five teenagers slumber their way in an abandoned mall that only exists in dreams. A place where endless fun can exist without the boring constraints of reality, but some places shouldn’t be explored, dream or not. And in the empty food court, something is waiting for its alarm to wake up.
Happy new year and my fave readings of the year
My favourite books, podcasts and recommendations from 2025, covering moral ambition, maps, wolves, AI dystopias, geopolitics, Chennai history, and the best tech podcasts.
Judas Unchained
Judas Unchained and Pandora's Star are one book with an acceptable split between the two. The former picks up directly where the latter stops, following the same set of well established characters and adding many more along the way. That both tomes are as long as they are while being nearly inseparable reinforces exactly how verbose Hamilton is. But, while I've seen complaints about Hamilton's verbosity, I happen to love it. At its best space opera is expansive in its world building and engaging in its storytelling. I thoroughly enjoy watching world building (civilization building? Galaxy building?) unfold and the best writers in this space link the two inextricably. Hamilton is one of those writers. Here again we find the Commonwealth grappling with an existential crisis as it's attacked relentlessly by MorningLightMountain. The Commonwealth continues to be an odd unreality. It's an optimistic future with technology that sometimes feels within reach and one in which vast, dynastic families live lavish lives while also taking responsibility for the society in which they live. Yes, they entertain and plan to leave should their society succumb to the threat of MorningLightMountain but they also go to extreme ends to stave off that possibility. Ozzie wanders off into the woods in search of wisdom, Nigel doubles down on technology and they manage to defeat their common enemy by arriving at a solution that saves society's collective soul. Ozzie's idealism meets Nigel's pragmatism. Ozzie's idealism is matched by that of the Guardians of Selfhood. Skewered throughout these two novels as as both a cult and a domestic threat. That they end up being exactly right about the Starflyer vindicates both them and their founder Bradley Johansson. Hamilton manages to create a detailed universe with endless rich, dynamic characters, weaving together myriad disparate subplots into a surprising and satisfying conclusion. This series is essential and Peter F. Hamilton is one of modern science fiction's greatest authors.
The Eidolon in Prague
I remember how we were. She remembers everything else.
The Eidolon in Prague
I remember how we were. She remembers everything else.
The Eidolon in Prague
I remember how we were. She remembers everything else.
The Eidolon in Prague
I remember how we were. She remembers everything else.
Pandora's Star
I'd say Peter F. Hamilton has done it again given how much I liked Exodus but that doesn't make sense inasmuch this preceded said book. So I suppose he did do it again with Exodus but I started at the wrong point in his writing. Anyways . Hamilton is verbose. But his stories are served by his verbosity. Pandora's Star is riddled throughout with well-rounded, developed, fully realized characters. I'm adjusting to his up front description of characters and the utility of providing a name and a brief description. It grounds the reader and sets up what's sure to be a lengthy tale. It's the year 2380 and humanity has done an end-run around starflight by developing wormholes. Right as captain Kime makes it to Mars the hard way, he's greeted by the founders of CST that did it the smart way. Many of the planets that comprise the commonwealth are now occupied by variants of human society with the room to grow into their own — whether that's based on lifestyle, ethnicity, cultural experiments and all is well. Mortality's been solved — there's rejuvenation and relife. The trauma of a temporary death and the new dynamics that come with living in perpetuity. Hamilton not only has a talent for creating worlds, he has one for enriching endless characters, giving them their own storyline and — improbably — weaving it altogether. Folks you never thought would meet, do and that interaction proves to be pivotal. Is the Starflyer real? Are the guardians right? Who's an agent of the Starflyer? How do the Silfen play into it? Where the hell are Ozzie and Orion? Does society become ever more militarized to try and counter the threat of the Prime(s)? Hamilton offers some answers and leaves more for the next.
Exodus
This is my first time reading anything Peter F. Hamilton's written and it will not be my last. I spent years barely reading (books at least) or not reading at all and I can't shake the feeling that I'll never catch up. The Expanse series is what finally got me back in the habit of reading and I've had this lingering interest in finding comparable works since. Exodus isn't necessarily comparable to a universe built over an entire series of novels, but it feels like there's a kinship there. Exodus is epic, the world building is detailed, thoughtful and something to marvel at. There's a fair bit of setup and groundwork to be laid out, but Hamilton ties all the various threads of the story together brilliantly. It's all about humanity, but humanity 40,000 years in the future. That span of time has provided humanity with the opportunity to find a new home and leave their humanity behind. There are aliens, but those aliens were once human, they've simply been given enough time to become something else entirely. There's a lot of time spent in Exodus playing with the concept of time, long spans, time dilation — there's no faster than light travel, there's travel via Elohim gates that's close, but that's nearly entirely out of the grasp of baseline humans. We have a late-arriving generational ship in the Dilligent and their population is injected into a carefully curated and controlled human population. That commingling of vastly different human populations, naturally, results in upheaval. Power structures and norms are challenged — the dominion in which the humans find themselves values continuity above all else. The humans challenge this, fight against it, refuse to return to what has always been and that conflict is at the core of this entire story. That battle for autonomy, control of one's own destiny is the protagonist — Finn's — core motivation. His actions have a long tail that wrap in the rest of the human population, threaten and damage celestial stability. There are natural human tendencies, underdog battles, aliens that aren't aliens, detailed plots, political intrigue and jockeying and it is all bafflingly detailed and interconnected. I don't know how Hamilton crafted this, kept it together and made it all work so beautifully. But he did. I'm glad he did.
Children of Memory
Children of Memory takes a sharp narrative turn from the two novels that preceded it and it's not better for it. It's different. There are still spiders, Nodan interlocutors, post-scarcity voyages, but those voyages get trapped on Imir much like the imagined colony in the alien device. I tend to be laser-focused on sci-fi that — for better or worse — is similar to The Expanse series. I love it. I want more of it. This series diverged greatly from that, but succeeded in satisfying that craving (at least for the first two entries). Tchaikovsky is — without a doubt — a gifted writer (I'm starting Alien Clay next) and the fact that he lost me for a good amount of this — intentionally or otherwise (that discontinuity played into the ultimate explanation of Miranda's experience on Imir quite well) — and get me invested in what proved to be a very satisfying conclusion speaks to that skill. I liked this, I loved the first two.
Children of Ruin
🐙🌊🚀🕷️🧑🚀 The octopus book! I enjoyed the hell out of this — more than Children of Time even. It benefits from the historical context so thoroughly laid out in its predecessor and expands beautifully upon it. Explorers from Kern’s world — an alliance of humans and spiders – find yet another human-seeded world and an altogether different uplifted evolutionary branch in the form of an advanced civilization of octopuses. Oh! And alien life on nod and a prologue of peaceful exploration and expansion. Everything I want out of sci-fi, meticulously researched and eloquently presented. Now to dive into Children of Memory (as different as I’m told it is from the first two entries in the series).
Children of Time
A beautiful, absorbing sci-fi tale: mankind at its worst, aimlessly seeking a new home and declaring their manifest right to the first habitable planet that they encounter. Never mind that said planet grew out of terraforming efforts undertaken in a previous human, imperial era that self-destructed (as humans so often do). The last remnants of humanity versus the last human of a previous era, defending an experiment that failed on her terms and succeeded on its own. I never thought I'd find spiders, a civilization of spiders so engrossing, sympathetic and — often — admirable. Instead of conquering as humans are inclined to they collaborate. Instead of consuming their environment, they respect it and grow with it. First contact with an alien species that you unwittingly created and they show you the mercy you would refuse them . Humanity unintentionally births something unlike them and it is all the better for those differences. This is one of the more imaginative sci-fi books I've read since The Expanse and I can't wait to dig into the rest.
The Mercy of Gods
What is, is. I haven't read a scifi book this quickly since I wrapped up The Expanse . Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (as James S.A. Corey) have a real knack for developing expansive universes and drawing you into so deftly and quickly that you even realize you're hooked. The aliens are deeply alien (all of the aliens — there are many), but the story is fundamentally human. It's told from the perspective of the myriad captives, their relationships and that ever so human desire to tell whoever (or whatever) is stepping on you to fuck right off. Dafyd exhibits the pragmatism and presence of mind to make the best of an unspeakably terrible set of choices, while others lean into the impulse to go down into a hail of bullets. I'm diving into the Livesuit novella next and I'm already eagerly anticipating every entry into this new series and then — years later — I'll be weighing which James S. A. Corey series I love the most while hoping they start on yet another. If you are strong, you will serve in your life. If not, you will serve in your death. All serve.
Consider Phlebas
This is the first book I’ve read by Iain Banks and it took me a bit longer to get through than I would’ve liked. This is my fault, not the author’s (finding time to read is hard and my inability to focus has me reading several books in parallel, albeit all different genres). Nonetheless I found this to be a relentlessly entertaining read. I am a total sucker for space operas, post apocalyptic tales and grandiose world building. This being the first entry in the Culture series made the natural entry point (though I know it’s not uncommon to read it out of order). Horza is a ruthless, occasionally sympathetic and altogether capable protagonist. He’s as detached and mercurial as one might expect of a person that can freely assume the appearance of others and a cunning manipulator of those around him. The warring factions are deftly and fully described (despite their scale and that of the war they’re engaged in). This is everything I like about sci-fi and Banks is ruthless in his willingness to discard characters and drive the story to its conclusion. I’m excited to dig into the rest of the series.
Mini-fiction: A Suggestion
You know hypnosis only works if you engage with it. You know you can actively resist suggestions.It’s why when that ’tist suggested you start posting pictures of your hole online, you say no. It’s not in your limits. But for the last few days you’ve had that small itch at the back of your brain. When bored or have a moment of quiet, the memory of him suggesting it is there. You deliberately affirm to yourself you’re not going to do it.But that pull isn’t going away. It’s been a few days now and that little itch to carry out […]
The Black Dahlia
A dull and — altogether — uninspired fiction. The narrator is difficult to sympathize with, the characters are dull and the conclusion is predictable. Not unbearable, but totally unnecessary.
Permafrost
A brief novella from an author who is often anything but. It's a gripping read from beginning to end and manages to make complex plot devices work remarkably well in such a short span. If you enjoy Reynolds' other work, this one is essential — if you don't, it's still worth picking up and taking a chance on.
Mini-fiction: The Sex Therapist
this is a short erotic story with themes of MC, NC, manipulation, and anal “Thank-you so much, Doctor” he said. I adjusted my glasses “so I take it things went well?” He shifted on the couch “Yes doctor, in this last month I’ve been able finally be able to bottom” “This is wonderful news. So you feel our sessions have helped get rid of the mental block for relaxing for anal sex” “Oh very much so. I feel like I no longer tense up automatically. In fact it feels like a light version of when I’ve been in trance” “very […]
Mini-fiction: Hypnotist At the Gym
this was inspired by a post from My master on mastodon. It contains themes of hypno, m/m and erotic nudism. The new guy at the gym was very charming. Everyone thought so. Conversational and easy going, he was very easy to like. He was also the only one who used the showers.It was a big old school shower room with shower pipes spaced out. All exposed and open. The lack of private cubicles put most patrons off. The newbie, however, showered there all the time. His hairy body fully out and exposed.Even when towling off, he didn’t bother to wrap […]
The Things That Go Bump On The Web
Explaining the power of collaborative fiction on the web—particularly the extremely compelling work of the SCP Foundation.
Bored
The air was slightly breezy, a noisy fan moving it about rather unsuccessfully in the other room. A constant buzz of the crickets in the night was interrtupted by dog howls. She lay in bed, eyes closed, observing all the sounds. Noticing. Remembering. “Just as you first saw it.” She opened her ey...