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This book is part travelogue, part thoughtful exploration of the issues around the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. It works well on both levels. The author drives the route of the pipeline, talking to locals and also bringing in his own research about the issues, but also clearly enjoying the excuse to explore a region that most people don't consider a tourist destination.
This is an inventive story with an unusual premise: its characters are all insects, who have organized to survive in a post-human world. The story follows Fig, as a series of bad luck and bad decisions cause him to question his most basic beliefs. The world the characters inhabit is fully-formed and quite believable. This book is the first in a series of novellas, and the ending is a cliffhanger more than an end, but the writing was good enough and the story was enjoyable enough that I am willing to overlook that, and just move on to the next book in the series.
The action in this story flashes between Earth, where the lead character was a middle school student, and a planet called Kurra, where she is about to go through the traditional coming-of-age ceremony. It is set in the same universe as a couple of longer books by the same author, but this well-written story stands on its own, exploring themes about growing up. I liked the characters, enjoyed the writing, and am intrigued by the universe in which the story is set, so the longer books are now on my to-read list, too.
This is an interesting and thought-provoking look at the economics of information, which, the author argues, doesn't want to be free so much as it wants to be shared. Producing and distributing information is most decidedly not free, and this book looks at the conflict between the fact that information is more valuable when it is shared, but will not be produced if the people who create it are not adequately compensated.
A story about a young girl who rises to the challenge posed by the presence of a magical visitor in her family's home. The author describes this as an introductory story about the lead character, who will go on to have greater adventures in future books, and the ending does feel like a pause more than an end to the story. However, the beautifully drawn characters and intriguing world-building more than make up for that weakness, making this a delightful short read.
This book provides a fascinating view into the world of instrument making, intertwined with an exploration of friendship and what really matters in life.
This fun and funny story about a graduate student in magic is interspersed with excerpts from a research paper describing a study on improving slay times in the common dragon. The jokes will be especially resonant for people who have worked in research, but the story is likely to be enjoyed by even those who have never set foot in a lab.
This story is hard to describe- it is magical in feel, but grounded in scientific ideas. It is sweeping in scope, but about a single man. It is also hard to categorize. I have put it in the Sci-Fi category, but I am not sure that is a good fit. Honestly, I could spend more time trying to describe it than it would take you to just read it and see for yourself.
A fun and fast-paced mash-up of fantasy and crime story, set in a fictional city in which the police force have goblins and other magical creatures to contend with as well the usual problems of crime. Note that this story is also available as part of the collection The Partners.
This is a fascinating first person account of the onset of a debilitating mental illness, life in the shadow of that illness, and the now-controversial treatment that seems to have cured it (ECT). The title focuses on the ECT, but to me, the strength of the book is really its ability to give the reader a glimpse at what it is like to develop such a severe mental illness.
Working on one thing at a time, for as long as you need to or feel like it, is a luxury.
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