Book Review: The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed

 

 

The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed 272 pages, Paperback Published June 3, 2025 by Podium Publishing “Separated by ten thousand years, a team of scientists and their test subject must work together to save the human species―before it’s too late . . .” This one came totally out of the blue to my mailbox. I was offered an arc of this novel at some point, and I remember saying I would check it out. I am currently ass deep in my own novel so by the time I opened the package I forgot what interested me in the first place. Perfect for me as I love reading a novel with zero idea of what it is even about. Back cover descriptions can often lead you to expectations. I really didn’t know a thing. Tim Weed is also not an author whom I don’t know, so I had no reputation to go on either.  I came to this book not expecting much, but I was hopeful.  I have no idea if Tim Weed is a science fiction guy, if this is one of many SF projects, or a one-off environmental novel.I don’t know clearly what the mission statement was, but I got the distinct impression that this novel was not written by someone with a library of SF titles.  Strangely, TAP could be an intense response or a subversion of a sacred sci-fi subgenre, “The Generation Ship novel.”  One of the best Science fiction novels of this century so far was a novel with the same mission. While I think Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson is a better novel expressing the same point, I am not insulting TAP; it is a daring original novel at the same time.  I don’t want to spoil Aurora, so if you have not read it (and you should), then skip ahead.  In that novel, a generation ship goes out from a dying Earth to travel to the nearest star system, and discovers that there is no life available on this other world, so they head back to Earth, hoping that it has regenerated over the decades.  Both novels question the viability of the Generation ship, but in Weed’s story, it never gets off the ground. Despite failing to get off earth, the project retains the name Centuri project, the generation ship is buried underground, and the survivors of humanity (this is not big spoiler) are intended to sleep through a post-human recovery.  The Afterlife Project doesn’t feel like it was written by a Science fiction scenester, but it is a good science fiction novel, it just doesn’t feel like a retread or cookie cutter. It is a good thing.  It is hard to spoil because of the way the narrative shifts from the birth of the Centuri project during the fall of Earth, and eons after the fall, with the results. The back and forth makes for an interesting way to tell this story. We know the end of one of the narratives, but the essence of this novel is the why.   So what makes this story special? First off, the novel comments on all of civilization.  “The simple idea that everything he's ever known could have been so fully erased by the passage of time, computers, smartphones, the Internet. Social media, Hollywood movies, any movies. The Stock Exchange, McDonald's and Starbucks, Coca-Cola, kombucha, NASA, plug-in hybrids, rock'n'roll, jazz. The Roman calendar. Days of the week. Politics. Blueberry scones. Every invention, every creation of the human society he had once known, not to mention his family and friends, and Natalie and the rest of the Centauri team. Everyone he'd ever admired, everyone he had ever scorned, all the human beings he'd ever met, and the multitudes he never did. All of them, banished and expunged. Never to be revisited, except in memory. It was a lot to take in.” It is a lot to take in, and that is one of the things that makes this a thoughtful and enjoyable experience. The above passage shows that the novel carefully considers the weight of what this story represents. It's about the folly of civilization, and one possible way we might survive it. The book is directly speaking to future humans who have a chance to rebuild, but of course, it is directly speaking to us.  “If you are reading this, I hope you have a more generous capacity to forgive your fellow humans than I do and that you will teach your children and grandchildren that there is a better way to live.” One smart thing is that Weed doesn’t assume the beings in possession of this story will read the same language. “If you can't read these words, I presume your attention will be drawn to the graphic representations in the accompanying codex. If you can read these words, then it is my hope you now understand that we have tried our best, and perhaps we're not quite done trying yet. Approximately seven decades before I completed these pages a scientist by the name of James E Lovelock proposed the idea of the last book on earth, a user's guide to living sustainably on this planet after the fall of human civilization. Our version of Doctor Lovelock's idea the codexs that accompanies this one begins with illustrations detailing the factors that led to this fall and continues with some important discoveries made by the species during our first flourishing on this planet. Continuing in graphic form, we include detailed instructions intended to provide a future population you my futuristic friends, whom I address across the gap of however much time may have passed with knowledge that should help you to avoid making the same mistakes we did with humble affection and great hope for our mutual successes…” We don’t get to be these future friends, and the only way to survive is to listen to warnings like these and act. The Afterlife Project is a powerful environmental novel, and first and foremost I felt that way about it. It uses Science Fiction to make a powerful statement about civilization and our desperate need to come to terms with the one and only planet we have.

 

Book Review: Daedalus is Dead by Seamus Sullivan

 

Daedalus is Dead by Seamus Sullivan

176 pages, Hardcover

Tor, Expected publication September 30, 2025

  “A delirious and gripping story of fatherhood and masculinity, told through the reimagined Greek myth of Daedalus, Icarus, King Minos, Ariadne, and the Minotaur.”

 Twice in a row, I got arcs for books I didn’t expect to like. I am normally not a fan of fantasy or satire set in mythological worlds, in part because I don’t know their stories. Give me Hindu or Norse mythology, and expect me to get the satire, well, I am generally lost. Sullivan was lucky that a young David read up on Icarus thanks to Iron Maiden.

 This short novel tells the story of Icarus and Daedalus after their famous flight, and it takes place in Tartarus, the Greek vision of hell. In the grand tradition of stories that take place in hell or something like it, my favorite take is from the same publisher as Matheson’s What Dreams May Come.  I think one reason a reader can connect with this story, despite maybe not understanding the mythology involved, is because of the father-son relationship.

Many Fathers throughout history have had to watch as their children metaphorically fly to close to the sun. Daedalus is the ultimate example, and exploring this dynamic with him traveling to Hell to find him makes for both an epic and also relatable journey. Part of the hell is that the labyrinth is impossible to solve. 

“I’m in a yawning cave filled with fiery water and burning white mist. The statue of Minos stands at the cave’s center, upright and whole. The inscription on the base now reads, HE WILL FORGET YOUR FACE.

Icarus. How many times have I done this before?”

Daedalus keeps searching. He can’t make peace with his son, and in a way, that is his hell. This point is made, but it is not heavy-handed.  The descriptions are vivid, but so is the feeling of loss and pain for the man who tells us this story. 

The prose is beautifully written and makes even the most horrible place of all an enjoyable read. There is a chapter called “There is a Path out,” that has two parts I loved

First is a part that presents a melancholia about death that got my attention.  “The best part of being dead is I can always work and never need to sleep. I don’t dread closing my eyes and opening them again inside the labyrinth.”

That said, one of the most powerful elements was the descriptions of this hell.

“A team of dead cartographers and land surveyors is assigned to show me around Hell. They have an unkemptness about them, the distant eyes and delayed responses of men going mad by degrees. This, one of them explains, is because Hell is as big as it needs to be, which renders the performance of their jobs technically impossible.”

There are fewer novels set in hell than you might imagine. Goodreads only lists thirteen. The power of this story can be traced back to the poetic prose as much as the fantastical elements or the vibe of the setting. I was surprised to enjoy this book as much as I did. Daedalus is Dead is a short and powerful dark fantasy, well worth reading.

 

Book Review: Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi

 

Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi

416 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication September 30, 2025 by Tor Nightfire

 

One of the things I have grown to love about Philip Fracassi is that he performs literary magic tricks. This novel performs several of them effortlessly. I often talk about writers whom I will follow to any genre, but with this novel, Fracassi won me over on a concept that frankly I didn’t think sounded good at all.  This novel plays like a slasher movie, set at a retirement home instead of a summer camp. Although I would argue that this is as much of a whodunit as Slasher. 

Doesn´t matter, I was not into the idea at first. I admit, as much as I have loved every Fracassi I have read, and as I enjoy interviewing and hanging out with Philip, I just didn’t think this story sounded good at all.  I thought to myself, I would never read this if it were an author who had not seriously won me over. Good thing I am already a Fracassi believer.

Fracassi earned my attention fully, so despite my hesitation, I was willing to give it a shot. He first got my respect with a short story collection and the stand-out story Failsafe, which is currently in production for film with Brie Larson attached. The first novel of his I read was Boys in the Valley, which was one of my top reads of that year, and his most recent release, The Third Rule of Time Travel, is one that I deeply loved. I interviewed Philip for both, and those novels were amazingly good.

 

So what happened? Tor sent me an arc, and because Fracassi has earned it, I read ASRH. The facts are the facts; it is a great novel that has one of the best final sentences I have read in a while. The story is set in an upstate New York retirement home that has been the victim of a series of strange deaths. Because of the residents' age the deaths don't raise eyebrows at first, except with Rose Dubois, a resident who sees through it all. I don't think it is a spoiler to say Rose has no intention of becoming your typical slasher final girl. 

Let's talk about the magic tricks this novel pulled off.

Trick # 1: sold me on a concept/ subgenre I don’t like.  There are very popular slasher novels that did nothing for me, but the characters in this one, and the setting, which was well developed, kept me interested. When you add the elements of horror as the story goes on and I was really glad I read it pretty quickly.  There is a letter from a character named Miller towards the end that was a deeply emotional read for me. On page 250-51 there is a part when various characters experience the various reasons their families don’t want them to come home. It was heart breaking.

Trick #2: This novel made me forget about the length. Yes, it is a long novel, at least for the concept. Conventional publishing wisdom suggests that about 330 pages is the ideal length. Without looking at the number, I guess that the novel was about 100 pages longer and I never felt the length. It is a breezy, easy read.  

Trick #3: Got me invested in the retirement home. You wouldn’t think that such a place would be so interesting, but yes, it was. It will work better on readers who have had the experience of taking a family member to a place like this, as it is more relatable. The dynamic between the characters, the staff, and the setting was engaging. 

ASRHM is a very fun, readable horror, murder mystery novel, made special by a unique setting and characters that stand out. Last year, there was an underrated Netflix comedy series staring Ted Danson called Man on the Inside. It is a very Ted Lasso-like heartwarming comedy series set in a retirement home. This novel is the horror version in all the right ways.  Five Star book, despite my apprehension about the concept, the execution could not have been better.