Dystopian
Dystopian novels are a genre of science fiction. They’re set in societies viewed as worse than the one in which we live. Dystopian fiction exists in contrast to utopian fiction, which is set in societies viewed as better than the one in which we live.
- Action and Adventure, Book Reviews, Coming of Age, Dystopian, Historical Fiction, Realist Fiction, Suspense and Thriller
Book Review: Strawberry Fields
Strawberry Fields by Patrick D. Joyce My rating: 5 of 5 stars In 1968, I was a bookwormish fourteen-year-old whose biggest worry was finishing my math homework. In those insular, pre-internet times in…
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Book Review: Playing With a Full Deck
Playing With a Full Deck: Stories of Hope in Hard Times: An Aces High, Jokers Wild Collection by O. E. Tearmann My rating: 5 of 5 stars Now and then, loyal readers of…
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Book Review: Odds Against (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 7)
I wouldn’t be conforming to acceptable standards if I wrote a review that recommended a different book. But in the spirit of the Wildcards, I am going to risk insubordination and do what…
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Book Review: Frontier
Told in a series of vignettes and interludes, the story begins in the future on a ruined, mostly-abandoned Earth. The sparse population that remains struggles to survive in spite of a corrupt justice…
- Anthology, Book Reviews, Dystopian, Fantasy, Poetry, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction
Book Review: Bioluminescent: A Lunarpunk Anthology
I've highlighted my own standout tales. Your favorites will be your own to choose. Each story or poem has its own personality - the theme is often interpreted very loosely, which I like.
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Book Review: Save the World
Having previously enjoyed Fix the World, I picked up its sister-book. The stories are very diverse, with some ideas I'd never entertained before.
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Book Review: Follow The Lady
Future shades of Nine to Five! I think Dolly Parton would approve. This short revenge story packs a lot of punch and payback.
- Action and Adventure, Book Reviews, Coming of Age, Detective and Mystery, Dystopian, Historical Fiction, Realist Fiction, Suspense and Thriller, Young Adult
Book Review: Back in the USSR
The back-cover synopsis had me lunging for this book, which I easily read in just a couple of evenings. It's quite the page-turner! Now, I'm not going to write a book report describing…
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Book Review: Anika’s Gift
After reading and enjoying Over, I knew I'd be on board for the sequel. Over is a novel set on a dystopian Earth, a genre I've often enjoyed as a way to explore…
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Book Review: Fix the World
There's lots of ways to break the world, and plenty of diverse, interesting ways to fix it. There's twelve good examples in this engaging, enjoyable, extremely inclusive, joyously LBGTQ+ anthology
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Book Review: Crudrat
This charmer of a story highlights relationships between lifeforms, first and foremost. It's a YA story filled with intimate bonds that aren't romantic, family dynamics that are both adversarial and caring, and even…
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Book Review: Real Sugar is Hard to Find
Real Sugar is Hard to Find by Sim Kern My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s always a good day when I add a new author to my ‘favorite writer’s’ list. Sim Kern’s…
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Book Review: Deuces are Wild (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 6)
If you've been following along since book one, The Hands We’re Given, by now you've probably come to think of Base 1407's Wild Cards team as friends, or perhaps they've become your fictional…
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Book Review: Hard Times
Finishing this book is a great example of "Hard Times". I started it just before Halloween, 2021, and just finished it last night.
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Book Review: It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over
It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over My review title might sound flippant, but honestly? I was still deep in that blissful bookworm state of 'what happens next?' right up to the last pages…
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Book Review: Ready Player Two
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline My rating: 3 of 5 stars I loved Ready Player One. It hit all the marks for me, so of course—like most fans—I had high expectations for…
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Book Review: Girl Gone Viral
Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi My rating: 3 of 5 stars Well, let’s get the comparison out of the way first – I’m calling this one a mashup of Ready, Player One…
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Book Review: Empty Cradle: Shiloh in the Circle
Empty Cradle: Shiloh in the Circle by Emmy Jackson My rating: 5 of 5 stars Most of the books I’ve read that deal with shapeshifters present their shifters as uniformly confident, enigmatic, powerful,…
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Book Review: Draw Out (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 5.5)
Fans of the "Aces High, Jokers Wild" series have asked to hear Janice’s story many times. In this novella, her early life is finally revealed.
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Book Review: Draw Dead (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 5)
What unfolds is a story that—as sensationalist media might say—is ripped from today’s headlines.
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Book Review: Come Take Me
Come Take Me: A Celestial Satire by E. M. Skyler My rating: 4 of 5 stars Marshall M. Shmishkiss isn’t enjoying his life, but he’s taking steps to change it. He’s eating healthier,…
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Book Review: Bad Hand (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 3.5)
This queer cyberpunk short for Halloween is a thank you from the author to loyal readers.
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Book Review: Riverland
Riverland by Fran Wilde My rating: 5 of 5 stars I went into the story knowing in advance that aspects of our protagonist’s home life might be difficult to read. Fran Wilde has…
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Book Review: Aces and Eights (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 4)
The Wildcards catch wind of the possibility that one of the seed banks established before America collapsed might have survived.
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Book Review: Call the Bluff (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 2)
Though this is book #2 in the series, I read it last, having read #3 first and #1 second (I know, I know, it's a long story why).
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Book Review: The Hands We’re Given (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 1)
Exceptionally well-told adventure story that manages to highlight all members of a large, complicated cast, each in their own way.
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Book Review: Raise the Stakes (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 3)
It's 2156. Corporations now control the people of what used to be the United States. And they've gone way too far.
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Book Review: Field Guide to the End of the World
This seems to be my month for reading new-old books. “S” by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams looks precisely like a 1949 well-worn library book and is filled with… well we don’t have time…
