Ryan

One of my goals while we wait out COVID has been to read through all of Howard's original Conan stories.

They've been a fun read. I think if I was trying to read them all at once, the outdated opinions of gender would have been overwhelming, but in smaller doses it was manageable. And Howard's central theme of how we define civilization and barbarism still feels deeply relevant in 2021.

An interesting look at a version of the Klingon empire that might have been, but which later stories have unfortunately written out of continuity.

Spooky, gloomy, erotic, and emotionally overwrought - just as any classic vampire tale should be. Zarate's novella ties explicitly to the the history of the genre - set between the pages of Dracula - but stakes out its own territory at the same time.

This was a smart little satire of religious syncretism, recasting characters from Journey to the West as the wise men who visited Bethlehem a little over 2000 years ago. Fun for what it was.

This was a really interesting look at some parts of early internet history that I had been unaware of.

A retelling of Greek myth that deals head-on with a lot of the misogyny inherent to the source material. As a fan of Greek mythology that struggles with that misogyny, this is a very welcome retelling.

I absolutely adored Clark's djinn-infused Cairo.

Qui-Gon was my favourite part of my least-favourite Star Wars movie, so I appreciated getting to read more about him. Beyond that,this was a well-told story but not something that especially impressed me.

This was a lot of fun - I found the characters really likeable, and the central plot/mystery of Elantris was really engaging.

Another fantastic tale of the hippopotamus-riding cowhands of the Mississippi. It picks up right where River of Teeth left off, and Gailey uses the added length of this volume to expand on the characters and their world a lot more. An excellent addition to a wonderful series.

I've never played a tabletop RPG before, so I don't know how it compares to other systems. But it seems pretty great on its own - I'm looking forward to start GMing some sessions with my kids.

Rebellious frontier librarians in a post-apocalyptic future. The only problem with this, like with Gailey's other cowpoke fantasy work, is that there isn't more of it. I need at least a half a dozen more stories with these characters as soon as possible.

This was a good summary of how to avoid ROT, self-serving bias, and the fundamental attribution error, not only when playing poker but in other situations as well. I'd like to think I already do that fairly well, but I recognize that the self-serving bias is probably causing me to think I'm better at it than I actually am.

This is a retelling of Aphra's story from the Darth Vader series, but told from her perspective, which adds a nice twist to it.

Aphra's still a great character - she's an amoral ‘rogue archeologist' trying to carve out a place for herself in a world dominated by the Empire. She's fun, interesting, and adds a level of depth to the antagonists of the Star Wars universe.

This was a neat idea for a flash fiction collection - a set of short stories and poetry centred around a politically infamous phrase said of Elizabeth Warren - “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” All the stories feature that phrasing and interpret it in different directions.

The most amazing thing about this collection, though? The authors! What an incredible, all-star collection of writers of both the present and future of the sci-fi and fantasy community. Reading through the table of contents felt like looking at my recent reads and TBR pile.

This was a phenomenal read. Moreno-Garcia has always shown a lot of skill in her ability to convey mood and emotion through her prose, and here she's on full display. This was a wonderfully creepy haunted house story.

Vinegar Girl is billed as an updated version of The Taming Of The Shrew, which I thought would be interesting, as Shrew's plot is misogynistic in ways that would be completely unacceptable in a modern environment. It would be an interesting and difficult problem to solve.

What Vinegar Girl does instead is take the basic premise of a father wanting to arrange a marriage for his independently-minded daughter and go off on its own direction from there. The result is a fairly pleasant romantic comedy with a somewhat unsatisfying-yet-inoffensive romantic resolution.

This was an absolutely brilliant novel about New York, about the joys and struggles of city living, and about how our environment can shape our identities. It was a little difficult reading this in a year when so much of what makes cities amazing has been robbed of us due to COVID, but it's a good reminder of the energy that they can give us.

For years I'd heard people talk about this book, but I hadn't really understood the type of book that it was. It's long, and it's dense, but it's also quite enjoyable as a satire about conspiracy theories that mostly hits the mark about understanding the conspiratorial mindset.

Reading this in 2020, when mainstream political figures will gladly share information about Qanon or “The Great Reset” added an interesting wrinkle to my appreciation of it.

This is an absolutely essential read for understanding the injustices and racism that Black Canadians face in the 21st century.

I don't know what I can add here that the title doesn't explain.

This was a great continuation of the Alphabet Squadron story that expands their story a lot now that the whole team is together. In terms of plot, this series seems to be following the structure of the original films - this is definitely the Empire Strikes Back of Alphabet Squadron. If you're a Star Wars fan this trilogy should be high on your list.

I can see why some people love this, but it really wasn't for me.

It's a cowboy caper (sorry, “operation”) where the cowboys ride hippos. I was sold from the start, but Gailey's wonderful characterization of both human and hop is really what sells the book. I'm excited for more.

Very reminiscent of the Rogue Squadron novels from the old EU. Compelling characters with tragic backstories brought together as a ragtag fighter squadron so that they can go pew pew at the bad guys. Perfectly Star Wars.