The latest reviews and mentions of Tachyon titles and authors from around the web.

Jo Walton, Nalo Hopkinson (photo: David Findlay), and Lavie Tidhar (Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013)

At READ WELL, Suncerae Smith praises Jo Walton’s STARLINGS.

Multiple award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Jo Walton’s first short fiction collection is a captivating array of fairy tales, mythology, space fiction, machine sentience, alien encounters, heaven, and more. Easily a third of the stories in this collection are 5-star worthy.

Even the stories that aren’t my favorites are quite memorable, lingering because of their unique subjects. Interestingly, in the introduction Jo Walton mentions that the art of short fiction did not come naturally to her like novel writing. I understand what she means—she has a wide range of intriguing ideas, and she presents them in new and unusual formats, but often the final stroke, the proverbial period at the end of the sentence, does not pack the punch I expect from the set up. In fact, I often wonder if I missed something, that maybe I didn’t quite get it.

It’s a mix, but one I highly recommend. Specifically recommended for fans of literary scifi and fantasy!

The French site DEJEUNER SOUS LA PLUIE enjoys their discovery of Nalo Hopkinson and her collection FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS.

I did not know at all Nalo Hopkinson, who has already received several awards in the US (but it seems to me that few of his books are translated into French). And I was conquered from the preface, in which she says that she had to think about what bound the news, written about ten years and for different publishers, and that she realized that it illustrates the progression she has made, from the disillusioned teenager to the adult who decides to believe in man. It is perfectly legible in the collection, which depicts a host of characters, deeply human, in their good and bad, with a dimension of hope and benevolence despite the galleys.

In fact, my favorite is the very first, "The Easthound", the one that made me immediately adore his style and the construction of his scenarios. I will not risk to make summaries to you, considering the size of the texts, but throughout the collection we bathe in fantastic varied enough, with often Jamaican references (where Nalo originates), a mixture which m has been much appreciated. Of course, the quality is not the same in all news, but overall I am quite impressed with the intelligence of its intrigues and the speed with which it embarks us in his universe.

Another very nice point is the small introductions she put before each of her news, to introduce the context and the reasons that led him to write them. This is a real added value, and a very effective way to get into the story from the first lines. I really like her way of thinking and the ideas she conveys smoothly over the pages.

In the end, I took this collection slowly, without hurry, reading a new one at a time not to change too often atmosphere, and I recommend you to do the same if you have the same problem as me. What is certain is that I really want to discover it in longer texts, because to succeed to convince me just with news is a tour de force and it augurs very beautiful things for the rest of his bibliography! So if you have already read some of his titles or you've heard good, I'm taking!

(Translation from French courtesy of Google)

In STRANGE HORIZONS year in review, Maureen Kincaid Speller recommends Lavie Tidhar’s John W. Campbell Award winner CENTRAL STATION.

Aliya Whiteley’s The Arrival of Missives was a fascinating piece of fiction, and I should also recommend Lavie Tidhar’s CENTRAL STATION, a clever and thoughtful riff on more traditional sf, and Kij Johnson’s The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, which provided a much-needed antidote to too much Lovecraft.   

The buzz surrounding Tachyon’s reissue of Patricia A. McKillip’s World Fantasy Award-winner THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD, soon to be available in both print and for the first time in digital formats, proves that the 40 year old book still dazzles.

Photo: Stephen Gold/Wikimedia Commons

MY WAY BY STARLIGHT was thrilled to discover the classic book.

Most reviews, I’m able to write almost directly after the book. It keeps the book fresh in my mind and I enjoy getting them out to you as soon as I’m done. Well, I finished THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD this weekend. This novel was something I needed to digest before I could get it back to you.

McKillip’s work, to me seems an instant classic. There are those books I read, and love and immediately go to gush about to others. There there are those that I love, such as THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD, that I keep to myself for a little while because they seem to touch a part of me hidden deep down.

This is an older book, and it’s written more as an older epic, high fantasy novel. Beautiful details, and an emphasis on more of the interpersonal details than action. Not to say that there isn’t action, but this is much more a novel of understanding what it means to be human.

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I enjoyed the fluid writing. Not as intricate to internal thoughts as many of our modern novels, we get to hear of these amazing creatures and she the wisdom they bring, humanity’s desire for power, and how sometimes the greatest battle is for our own very soul and understanding our own demons.

To me this has become a tale I will gladly read again, and shall always have a treasured spot in my library. I’ve always thoughts that books come at a time when you need them most. THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD only proved that once more to me.

Suncerae Smith at READ WELL awards five stars to the lovely tale.

THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD is a lovely classic fairy tale fantasy that you probably missed. It’s a story of magic, but it’s prose is magic as well. You will be whisked away to a land and time so foreign, yet so familiar through this delicately refined fable. Bask in Sybel’s peaceful isolation with her animals before struggling with her as she learns to appreciate companionship. She spends so long extolling the virtues of isolation that when she rounds the corner of trust, the darker traits of the human condition prove her correct. So begins a cautionary tale of power and revenge that’s utterly satisfying.

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Recommended for fans of dreamy fairy tales!

James Nicoll on his eponymous site includes, without comment, THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD among his selection of Twenty Core Young Adult Works of Speculative Fiction Every True SF Fan Should Have on Their Shelves.