I finally figured it out. Earlier in life, when I devoured science fiction by the carload, I paid little attention to details such as references to contemporary culture, products, or figures of speech. I’d suspended disbelief, of course. Now these things jump out at me. They grate. And I...
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It was the era of the Cold War, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, John Le Carre, Don Draper’s Mad Men, and, of course, nonstop consumption of alcohol. The Berlin Wall was new, and the capitals of divided Germany — Bonn and Berlin –teemed with spies. “It was like postwar...
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Racism, America’s original sin, is grounded in the lie that some of us are “white” and others “black.” Even the most casual glance around a crowded sidewalk in any major city will show how much diversity there is within the human race—the only race to which...
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Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie was the first novel ever to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. I’m trying to figure out why. Let’s see if we can suss out what’s going on in the story. For starters, every character is referred to as “she” or...
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You can read a dozen nonfiction books about Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe’s kleptocracy and fail to get a more vivid sense of what life is really like there than from this recent novel about a single mother by Tendai Huchu. In one short work of fiction, Huchu conjures up the sad reality of...
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Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.