Zachary Kai
It’s been a while since I’ve read science fiction, and even longer since reading a short story collection, and I’m glad this one was the reason to break that pattern!
The first delight: the author is Australian. I’d somehow never encountered him, despite a short fiction publication record spanning Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, and Nature. The genres dabble in space opera, adventure, military, scifi-fantasy, and a little horror? I loved the mix!
What holds them together is the writer’s voice: gritty, kinetic, almost haunting, and so raw.
The story inspired by Thai culture and the Istanbul djinn programmer story were my favorites. At last, worldbuilding that draws from non-Western sources without exoticizing them!
His stories have been brilliant for years. This is his short works’ moment in the light.
I received an early copy courtesy of the publishers via LibraryThing Early Reviewers. All opinions are mine alone.
It’s been a while since I’ve read science fiction, and even longer since reading a short story collection, and I’m glad this one was the reason to break that pattern!
The first delight: the author is Australian. I’d somehow never encountered him, despite a short fiction publication record spanning Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, and Nature. The genres dabble in space opera, adventure, military, scifi-fantasy, and a little horror? I loved the mix!
What holds them together is the writer’s voice: gritty, kinetic, almost haunting, and so raw.
The story inspired by Thai culture and the Istanbul djinn programmer story were my favorites. At last, worldbuilding that draws from non-Western sources without exoticizing them!
His stories have been brilliant for years. This is his short works’ moment in the light.
I received an early copy courtesy of the publishers via LibraryThing Early Reviewers. All opinions are mine alone.