Santa Womble Needs A Quick Bite!
Helloooo! Its the time of year for huge meals but also perhaps we need a little buffet sandwich, sausage roll or perhaps in literature terms that lovely small bite sized novella that needs reading.
Here are sometimes ideas to gift loved ones or you because yes you are indeed worthy of a read! You’ve been good this year (mainly)
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P Djeli Clark — Runalong The Shelves - Aww this was so much fun we have fighting assassins with magical powers, pirates, gods, and it has a fantastic idea too that you need to savour when all is revealed!
Triggernometry Finals by Stark Holborn — Runalong The Shelves - I will always be here for stories of rogue mathematicians in the wild west and this completes a very smart trilogy about a world where being an expert is now viewed with distaste. This says a lot about the modern world too. Hugely impressive again!
Orphan Planet by Madeehah Reza — Runalong The Shelves - This could very easily been YA but actually this tale of a young teenager stuck on a far off world actually has a much more colder and harsher set of themes I really appreciated
Cold Steel by Joyce Chng — Runalong The Shelves - A short YA tale that concludes a duology micing sword making, magic and intrigue. A hugely enjoyable read
Wiz Duos 1 - The God Road by David Gullen & To Sail The Interstice by Ben Wright — Runalong The Shelves - Why not 2 for the price of 1? Here a tale of insect like aliens and travelling by ships across the stars. A series to watch out for
Wiz Duos 2 - Song, Stone, Sail, Bone by Juliet Kemp and Bring Me Home by EM Faulds — Runalong The Shelves - and as I’m generous two more! Bring Me Home was a gorgeous weird tale I strongly recommend while Kemp’s tale is an unusual spin on a knight
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar — Runalong The Shelves - Now this is a delight of language and storytelling. It uses folk stories to tell a murder ballad and explore sisters in a really memorable way.
For The Road by Stark Holborn — Runalong The Shelves - Holborn here delivers a strange tale of a person trapped at a desert train station with no trains and a family of incredibly powerful people tending to them. A story of love, guilt and belief that comes together beautifully.
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz — Runalong The Shelves - A cosy story of food and robots that I really liked for its exploration of darker themes of survival, capitalism and even review bombing
The Hungry Gods by Adrian Tchaikovsky — Runalong The Shelves - Coming from space to save rthe ruins of humanity are some human billionaires. Yes this entry into the terrible worlds series has a very focused set of enemies of humanity in its sights. Great satire!
The Castaway and The Witch by Ioanna Papadopoulou — Runalong The Shelves - An interesting take on the myth of Calypso here exploring who is guility and who deserves a happy ending?
The Death of Mountains by Jordan Kurella — Runalong The Shelves - This wonderful atmospheric weird tale has Death as a main character but also a Mountain does battle with them and has something to say about being alive at the same time
DuMort by Michelle Tang — Runalong The Shelves - A woman needs to find out why she is being attacked by a ghost and only an enigmatic clairvoyant can help her. So much more awaits in this novella that is gothic gaslamp too
Alakazam by Mia Dalia — Runalong The Shelves - I’ve a soft spot for magicians in stories and this mixes history with in its own story a fascinating trick in plain sight.
The Cold House by AG Slatter — Runalong The Shelves - Here we get a modern folk horror of grief and a woman taking on her fears and those trying to destroy her. A delight
Lives of Bitter Rain by Adrian Tchaikovsky — Runalong The Shelves - an intriguing idea this companion novella to Days of Shattered Faith is a single character study but also explores the wider world and how people get shaped by the empire they are born in
Cities Are Forests Waiting To Happen by Cecile Cristofari — Runalong The Shelves - It uses an Ai to explore the fall of humanith but also becomes a hopeful story of compassion and mercy. I really liked this
The First Thousand Trees by Premee Mohamed — Runalong The Shelves - a very fine end to a series of three SF novellas exploring the power of choice to decide our own future. This is a fine bookend in dialogue with the other stories in the series.
Mirror Marked by Vida Cruz-Borja — Runalong The Shelves - What could easily have been a light hearted story of magical wedding planner sis actually a very powerful story of personal choices, magic and family secrets. Very impressed by this story
