Once again inspired by my friend Jen , here is the media I’ve been consuming. I’m still on the Audible train and at their maximum subscriber level and buying books when they go on sale to boot. I love listening to books while I commute / travel. In the past I would get annoyed when Waze would butt in with commentary, but now I’ve started to find it amusing. So many random insertions Arkady said in one mile, use the right lane to turn right at the light. I laugh every time.

2023

The Lunar Chronicles

Marissa Meyer

This is a YA series based on fairy tales in a world with magic (or magic-like abilities). It was quite a wonderful listen and quite entertaining.

Scarlet

Continuing the Lunar Chronicles this story loosely follows the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Scarlet is a young girl who is searching for her Grandmother who has disappeared from their farm in rural France. Scarlet meets up with Wolf, a mysterious stranger who makes his living fighting in illegal underground fights. Scarlet teams up with Wolf to find her Grandmother and quickly realizes that there is more going on than she expected, and that both Wolf and her grand-mère have dangerous secrets. Eventually everybody (including most of the characters from Cinder) all meet up and make a plan to save the world.

Cress

Crescent (Cress) is a Lunar shell (born both without mind control abilities, but also unable to be influenced by Lunar mind control) who was abducted by one of the Lunar Queen’s head Thaumaturge (government official) and imprisoned in a satellite orbiting Earth where she acts as a spy for the Lunar crown. Cress does not like what she’s doing but she is good at it and has no control over her situation, until she meets up with our heros from the previous books. Together they make a plan to stop the wedding between Kai (now Emperor Kaito after the death of his father) and the Lunar Queen. Can they succeed? OF COURSE THEY WILL IT’S YA but it’s still a fun ride.

Fairest

Why is the Queen so messed up? How did she get her scars? We get to find out! This is a prequel told from the perspective of the evil Queen Levana. Meyer manages to tell a story that isn’t exactly sympathetic to her, but masterfully shows her descent into the darker corners of the human mind. It also reveals the back story to Princess Winter and why everyone loves her so much.

Winter

The fourth and final installment of the base series takes place on the moon (Luna) as our protagonists try to prevent the evil queen from marrying (now) Emperor Kaito. We learn that Winter is experiencing Lunar Sickness because she refuses to use her lunar gifts. Winter escapes with Scarlet and they all get together and save the world(s), right? Again, this is YA so you can probably guess how it goes, but you’ll have to read it for more details.

Stars Above

Marissa Meyer

A collection of beautify short stories. We get to find out if Linh and Kaito get together, how Princess Selene came into the care of Scarlet’s mother, how (the now) Lihn Cinder met her family and many other fantastic stories.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Becky Chambers

My first introduction to Becky Chambers. I love these books so much. They were my first introduction to Solarpunk . Set in the world of Panga, the stories revolve around a monk (Sibling Dex) who meets a robot (Splendid Speckled Mosscap). This is unusual because many generations ago the robots had collectively decided that they did not want to be slaves, and had wandered off to live in the wild. When they left Panga was on the verge of environmental collapse, but the robots leaving had completely upended the culture and forced humans to find a way to live more in harmony with the world. When Mosscap meets Dex for the first time it tells them that it is on a quest to find out what humans need. No pressure or anything. The two books follow the pair as they explore a world where humanity has found a balance with nature to learn what humans need. What’s really charming to me about these books is that which the world Chambers has build is largely idealistic, it is not without conflict and there’s no sense of We ALl gET AloNG GREAAAT kumbaya bullshit. There is conflict and there is pain and there is longing. Dex is always longing and restlessness looking for something more. I love the beautifully crafted world Chambers has built, even if it is somewhat unrealistic to my very jaded eyes.

Redshirts

John Scalzi

This is a one-off novel that is a satirical take on Star Trek. You may be aware of redshirts in Star Trek as the stock characters that come in for one episode and dies almost immediately, this book takes off from that premise and runs with it.

Wham!, George Michael and Me

Andrew Ridgeley

Absolutely lovely memoir from Andrew Ridgeley about his childhood relationship with George Michael and their journey together while creating Wham!. It’s a fascinating story of the behind the scenes moments that made Wham! and George Michael what they were.

Wayfarer Series

Becky Chambers

This is a series of loosely connected books set in a far off future where humans have destroyed the Earth and now live largely in the Exodus Fleet (a fleet of space stations that were built after it became apparent the Earth couldn’t support the human race anymore) or on one of the various plentiful alien worlds.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

The first book in the Wayfarer series, it follows a rag tag crew of the Wayfarer as they work their way around the galaxy. Chambers’ books always have a refreshing view on gender, culture and sexuality as well as an overall optimistic view of the future.

A Closed and Common Orbit

A fantastic follow up from Long Way, this book follows Pepper in a much more intimate look at her life as she tries to help the AI Lovelace integrate into society. We bounce back and forth between Pepper’s present day and her past to discover what made her, her history and what drives her. Like the first book the characters are likeable and endearing, but it’s definitely not back to back action.

Record of a Spaceborn Few

Finally we get to figure out what’s going on with all those humans! This book focuses on the humans who live on massive space stations that were built after then Earth was destroyed by environmental damage. Once again Chambers has built a beautiful world that pulls you in.

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within

Did you find yourself wanting to know more about Pei or the Akarak? You’re in luck! Pei gets stuck on a layover trying to visit her secret lover Ashby (from the first novel) and along the way everybody learns something about prejudice and belonging. When people start doing Ph.D. theses on COVID-19 lockdown literature this would be a good candidate!

Chilling Effect Series

Valarie Valdes

I liked Valarie Valdes’ books but it took me a little longer to get into them. Her characters are a little more rough around the edges and flawed. Very space Opera-y with interesting characters who (unline Becky Chambers’ work) half the time you want to strangle.

Chilling Effect

Eva Innocente and her crew bounce around the universe trying to keep their ship running, which isn’t always easy because she has a tendency to react first and think about it later. We get to know Eva and her very, very messed up family. A fun romp where you’ll learn some fun Cuban slang . I was a little disappointed that the psychic cats didn’t come more into it, but they come more into the story in the later books =)

Fault Tolerance

Captain Innocente and crew decide to take a vacation and by the end of the book are working with a secret organization to prevent an apocalypse that will destroy the know galaxy. So, you know, no pressure or anything.

Prime Deceptions

Shit starts getting real. Eva and crew must gater together robots who will create a larger robot which is totally not a reference to anything else to fight mysterious intelligent robots who can transform with the help of other mysterious intelligent robots who are fight them which also it totally not a reference to anything . I feel like Valdes hit her stride on this one and I frequently found myself laughing my ass off.

Magic 2.0 Series

Scott Meyer

I discovered Scott Meyer through Basic Instructions years ago. He has a great sense of humor that matches my own so I was very excited when I saw that he had written several novels and dived in immediately. I was not disappointed!

Off to Be the Wizard

Martin, a smart but unmotivated computer geek finds a large mysterious text file on the internet that seems to have a lot of his personal information in it. He soon discovers that modifying the file changes his physical reality. Which is great, right up to the point where he changes his bank balance and ends up being visited by Treasury agents. Because changing the file allows him to move backward in time but not forward (relative to his frame of reference) he decides to flee to medieval England. He arrives in the town of Leadchurch England where he promptly discovers that he’s far from the the first dork who has run afoul of the authorities. As it turns out that urge to mess with things and make life easier has just a little bit too much allure for the nerds to ignore. An entire society of dorks have fled to the ancient world passing themselves off as wizards and have developed an entire system to allow them to edit the file through voice macros. Martin joins forces with a colorful group of nerd wizards to fight a coming evil.

So basically The Matrix mashed together with LOTR and a bunch of really nerdy references.

Spell or High Water

Martin and Philip travel to Atlantis for a conference of wizards to determine how to police themselves. Meyer really leans into the dangers/weirdness associated with time travel in this one, with two of the characters being the same person at different points in their lives (Brit the Younger and Brit the Elder). Weaved into the story is Jimmy/Merlin’s quest to get back to Leadchurch. But to what end?

An Unwelcome Quest

A banished wizard returns to punish those who had banished him. In the first two novels Meyer had slowly built up all the ways that the wizards can use magic, so in this one he obviously takes it away! Our heros much follow the epic¹

Kaiju Preservation Society

John Scalzi

Scalzi describes this book as a “pop song” - it’s not some earth changing opus that will change the world or how you think about it, but rather a delightful romp that explores a world where Kaiju (think Godzilla and his pals if you’re not familiar) are real and the world governments have teamed up to both hide and study them. Of course things go sideways when the big bad (aka corporate America) gets involved and tries to mess with the status quo.

Some Desperate Glory

Emily Tesh

This is one of the best books I’ve read in quite a while. It’s got everything: a xenophobic death cult, eugenics, reality bending machines, do-overs, a gay himbo brother², the obnoxious gay xenocidal nerd, it’s got it all!. Some folks might find it hard to read. The main character Kyr is obnoxious, homophobic, transphobic and every other kind of phobic you can think of, and I’ve read plenty of reviews that complain about how obnoxious her character is, but I feel like those reviews are missing the fact that’s literally the point of the. She was born into a cult that obsessed with eugenics and building a perfect human to fight the other races, she literally doesn’t know anything else³.

At it’s heard it’s a super queer space opera about anger, hatred, control and finding one’s own place in the world. I would really love for this book to get turned into a movie or a mini-series, but I’m also a little afraid whoever adapts it will fuck it up.

Devolution

Max Brooks

Max Brooks wrote “World War Z” which is a fantastic book⁴ about the world after a (near) zombie apocalypse. I loved that book so much and was really happy when I saw that he had a new one out. This one is about a Bigfoot attack in the aftermath of an eruption at Mount Rainier . Brooks’ books do a good job of weaving real-life survivalist theory into an absolutely bonkers storyline, which much like WWZ will suck you in almost immediately.

The story is set in a small Techbro wet dream fantasy community in the woods where everything is perfect - until the internet goes out. Doh! The eruption of Mt Rainier cuts off communication with the rest of the world, as well as pushing some (until now) unknown predators into this idyllic community.

I really loved this book and the audio book adaptation is utterly fantastic with a full cast including Judy Greer, Jeff Daniels, Nathan Fillion, Mira Furlan and Kate Mulgrew.

Translation State

Ann Leckie

Ann Leckie returns to the Radch universe to explore the world of the Presger Translators, which I very much enjoyed since Translator Dlique was one of my favorite characters from the original trilogy. It starts with Enae, who grew up at the mercy of hir grandmaman . When Grandmaman passes we learn that she had no money and had sold her title to another who had plenty of wealth but wished to have a title. Because Enae was faithful to hir Grandmaman sie had been provided for in the form of a diplomatic assignment (tracking down a missing Presger Translator) that nobody expected hir to find.

Ultimately the book is about that same feeling of restlessness and longing for a place of belonging that Becky Chambers discusses in the Monk and Robot duology, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.

Starter Villain

John Scalzi⁵

What happens when your Uncle dies and leaves his Super Villain empire to you? You limp along and figure out how to to become a super villain! This one doesn’t have psychic cats, but it does have intelligent ones!

Red Mars

Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson writes a very detailed book about the technology and politics of colonizing and terraforming Mars. This is the first book about the initial settlers and the struggles they face. I like the book but Robinson’s writing style is very descriptive and there’s not a lot of action, so if your looking for action maybe stay away. I liked this book and will definitely read the other two (Blue Mars and Green Mars), but I’ll probably hit a few other books first (MURDERBOT!!!!)

System Collapse (Murderbot Diaries)

Martha Wells

What can I say other than fuck.yes.MURDERBOT!!! The only bad thing about a new Murderbot book is that you’re gonna blow through it super fast and then you have no more Murderbot. Still worth it though!

Murderbot returns and is trying to help some colonists get away from some ancient tech that is turning all their technology into indiscriminate killing machines. That is to say - right were we left off in the last book! Murderbot is trying it’s best but is having problems because of [REDACTED] ⁶. On top of that, there’s still the evil Barish-Estranza corporate goons to avoid and a secret group of colonists that need to be located and assisted. Wells delves even deeper into the themes of trauma in this one and the only complaint I can make is that it wasn’t nearly as long as I wanted it to be.

The Order of Time

Carl Rovelli

This one was quite delightful and as an extra cherry on top it’s read by Benedict Cumberbatch. Reading this book came out of a discussion with a friend who had asked me if I knew of any books on determinism a subject which he was becoming interested. Having studied physics I was familiar with the subject but didn’t have anything to recommend, however this book seemed like it might have potential. Rovelli doesn’t go so far as to declare that time isn’t real and the only reason we perceive the “flow” of time is due to the nature of how our brains work and entropy, he does come dangerously close. Very approachable, but might make your head hurt if you’re not already familiar with the territory, this book will probably bring up more questions than it answers. Then again, isn’t that the nature of science? And at any rate if you get the audiobook you get to listen to Benedict read you the whole thing and that’s just delightful.

Third Eye

Felicia Day

This is a delightful Audible exclusive that turns all the tropes on their head. It ask questions like: What if the “chosen one” failed and ruined the entire world? What if fairies were dicks? What if you couldn’t tell the difference between Sean Astin and Patton Oswalt and spent several days gushing over Oswalt’s performance before realizing you’re a complete tool? If you’re already a fan of Felicia Day you’ll almost certainly love this story. Funny, quirky and more than a little irreverent, it’s everything I would expect from her. Apparently Day had originally hoped to produce this as a TV show and I’m more than a little hopeful that some day she will get the chance. If you’d like to check it out you can find Third Eye here .

Straight

Chuck Tingle

My first foray into the phenomenon that is Chuck Tingle . If you’re not aware, Mr. Tingle (do I have to tell you that’s not his real name?) started out in a very very niche genre of gay erotica that doesn’t just border on the absurd, it dives right in. Some of his more entertaining titles include: The Physical Manifestation Of Wurdle Pounds My Butt As A Slightly Frustrating But Ultimately Rewarding And Meditative Daily Routine , Buttception: A Butt Within A Butt Within A Butt and the Space Raptor Butt Trilogy . Obviously his earlier work is a little… esoteric, but some of his more serious outings seemed to be, well, more serious.

Given the title you can probably get that while the ridiculousness might be lacking the queerness is not. In universe the earth starts passing through a mysterious void once a year which causes all the straight folks to turn into vengeful zombies and start attacking members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Our narrator, a bisexual man living in LA, is heading out on the 3rd “Saturation Day” to the Joshua Tree National Park to hide out with his other queer buddies. Most everyone is in a good mood, looking at this more as a vacation than anything else because in the 2 years since the first occurrence of Saturation Day a vaccine has been developed and most everyone has had it. Of course it doesn’t work out that way and it all turns into a disaster when they run into folks who either haven’t gotten the vaccine or for whom the vaccine didn’t work. Now our heros must make their way back to Palm Springs where the gay militia has built a fortress and ride out the rest of Saturation Day.

Mr. Tingle does a great job of interweaving queer politics into a horror story. From the frustration of not being “queer enough” as a bisexual man to the frustration with allies who only show up when it’s easy to the straight up assholes who would rather see queer folks dead than put even a minimal amount of effort. Chuck don’t give a fuck and he’s not pulling his punches. I really liked this book and it’s made me quite excited to read Camp Damascus . You can find Straight here

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