{"id":393,"date":"2020-07-03T02:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T10:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/?p=393"},"modified":"2020-07-02T21:15:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T05:15:00","slug":"three-very-different-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/2020\/07\/03\/three-very-different-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Very Different Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m as behind on my reading as I am on everything else, but I have managed to find space for some excellent new fiction. Herewith, my thoughts on three very different books \u2014 an anthology of stories based on ancient tales from the Mediterranean, a fantasy that incorporates menopause and life as a college professor, and fast-paced science fiction featuring a very angry and capable construct.<\/p>\n

\"Retellings<\/a>Retellings of the Inland Seas<\/em>, published by Candlemark and Gleam<\/a>, achieves something many anthologies aspire to, but few attain: There\u2019s not a bad story in it. That says a lot about the concept \u2014 using ancient stories from the Mediterranean as a jumping off point for something new. It says even more about the skill of the editor, Athena Andreadis, who not only came up with the idea, but found the stories.<\/p>\n

Fellow Treehouse Writer Judith Tarr\u2019s<\/a> [ story, \u201cBetween the Rivers,\u201d is rooted in the tale of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, but it\u2019s set on a far-off habitable planet and all is created by the genship Ninsun<\/em>. It\u2019s a wonderful story even without the tie to an ancient one, but knowing something about the original gives you some added depth.<\/p>\n

Two of the stories, \u201cHide and Seek\u201d by Shariann Lewitt and \u201cThe Sea of Stars\u201d by Genevieve Williams, come out of The Odyssey. Both are science fiction, Lewitt\u2019s story being told from the point of view of a navigator on a ship traversing the Asteroids, while Williams\u2019s is a first contact story set in the distant past.<\/p>\n

My favorite story in this wonderful anthology is \u201cOut of Tauris,\u201d by Alexander Jablokov, which is based on the story of Iphigenia. The Iphigenia of this story is the aged priestess of the Temple of Artemis and accepts sacrifices from men whose wives, who were once girls at that temple, have died. At the end, she observes, \u201cThis has always been the greatest torture men inflict on women, to take away choice and then make them pretend that the choice was always theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

But your favorite might be very different. Other authors in this book include Melissa Scott, A. M. Tuomala, James L. Cambias, Christine Lucas, F.J. Doucet, Kelly Jennings, Elena Gomel, Dimitra Nikolaidou, and Andreadis. Read them all and figure out which one you like best.<\/p>\n

\"Unbecoming\"<\/a>Unbecoming<\/em>, published by Aqueduct Press<\/a>, is the first novel by poet Lesley Wheeler. Cyn Rennard is chairing the English Department, but her best friend Alyssa is off on an exchange program to teach in Wales and being replaced by someone from the foreign university, Cyn\u2019s husband is teaching at another college and only home on weekends, her twins are teenagers, and she\u2019s in perimenopause. There are the usual conflicts within the department and with the rest of the university. And odd things are happening.<\/p>\n

Maybe the replacement professor is a witch. Maybe Alyssa\u2019s ex-girlfriend is one. Or maybe Cyn herself is something of a witch. This is a lovely tale of a woman dealing with the trials of campus politics, the complexities of motherhood, the realities of aging, and something that\u2019s far outside the rules of normal reality as she starts to recognize, and claim, her power.<\/p>\n

It is such a joy to read a book about a woman on the cusp of menopause letting go of her uncertainties and starting to go after what she wants, perhaps using a few spells to make all that happen. The blending of modern life with a complex take on fae reality gives us the greater truth of both those worlds.<\/p>\n

\"Network<\/a>Network Effect<\/em> is the first Murderbot novel, following on Martha Wells\u2019s success with the four-volume novella series, and it is an excellent continuation of the series. I got hooked by All Systems Red<\/em>, the first novella, which Tor<\/a> made available for a free download, and immediately bought the rest as they came out. I got the novel in hardback from my local bookstore, so you know I\u2019m a serious fan (there is really no room in my house for more books, but in these pandemic times it\u2019s important to support your local bookstores and mine were sending books via mail).<\/p>\n

On the podcast \u201cOur Opinions Are Correct<\/a>,\u201d Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders opined that Network Effect<\/em> was escapist fiction. They didn\u2019t mean it as an insult, and I do agree that it is the kind of action-packed adventure story that does take you out of your own time for awhile. But one of the things I really like about it is that it also provides some social commentary.<\/p>\n

The people of Preservation, where Murderbot (known officially as SecUnit now) is now living, have developed a fair and decent society in a universe dominated far too much by the Corporation Rim. And since Murderbot is a construct with some organic parts who once belonged to the company that made it, it is constantly aware of the differences between the cultures. That makes us aware as well.<\/p>\n

Murderbot has emotions — it\u2019s often angry — but it does think differently from humans and not just because it can run an enormous number of complicated programs while still watching \u201cSanctuary Moon\u201d (one of many shows in this reality\u2019s equivalent of TV series). Wells does a superb job of keeping us in Murderbot\u2019s point of view while giving us enough of the other characters (human and otherwise) to show the contrast.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to summarize the plot for you. If you like a fast-paced adventure with some culture clash thrown in, you\u2019ll have a great time. It\u2019s more fun if you\u2019ve read the novellas first, because you\u2019ll have a better sense of how Murderbot got to the point where it is in this novel, but this is a book that can also stand on it\u2019s own.<\/p>\n

I understand there\u2019s another Murderbot book coming out next year. I can hardly wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m as behind on my reading as I am on everything else, but I have managed to find space for some excellent new fiction. Herewith, my thoughts on three very different books \u2014 an anthology of stories based on ancient tales from the Mediterranean, a fantasy that incorporates menopause and life as a college professor, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,10,7],"tags":[67,65,66],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-fantasy","category-reviews","category-sciencefiction","tag-network-effect","tag-retellings-of-the-inland-seas","tag-unbecoming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}