Book Review: This World Is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

 

 

 This World Is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

176 pages, Paperback

Published September, 2024 by Tor Trade

 

This is a short novella. I am way behind on book reviews, so I will keep this shorter than normal. This book gave me a mild crisis when I realized how young this author and scientist in training is compared to me. I discovered her through listening to the Coode Street podcast. When she was talking about movies, I considered them pretty new, as ones she watched as a child. I know that is on me. Nonetheless, this author’s youth is a feature, not a bug. On page forty, when the point of view character decides to be female and explains the dynamics of her family, it felt natural. I would hope older SF readers flow with it, but I am still shocked that a large number of fans hate The Last Jedi, so what do I know?

Bringing some planetary science training from Stanford into this distant colony world, Kemi Ashing-Giwa is a fresh voice in modern science fiction. Billed as space horror, I didn’t find this book to be horrific myself. I found it inventive, and the speculative dynamics of love and relationships on this alien world were enough that I read this mostly on one bus trip across town.

 Vinh is a character who comes from privilege and gives it all up to be part of a rough-and-tumble colony project. As intense as the planet, the personal dynamics are just as tough. The dynamic at the center is a Polycule, and as interesting as that was, I admit I was more interested in the planet.

The Cli-fi message and the story of Environmentalism meets colonial expansion was the part I found most interesting. The Grey, which is a disease like goo- OK yeah it is space horror.  Short, quick read, I got it at the library, and that might be the call. I will read more by this author. 

 

 

Book Review: Stories From The Motel Sick edited by Michael Allen Rose

 Stories From The Motel Sick edited by Michael Allen Rose  (Full review on the way)

388 pages, Paperback
Published November 26, 2025, by Roshambo Publishing

From the back cover... "Stories From The Motel Sick is a genre-bending anthology featuring new stories from authors of horror, bizarro fiction, sci-fi, erotica, noir, and so much more. Each story takes place at the Motel Sick, a strange, metaphysical motel on the edge of a highway leading to nowhere in particular. Inside, you'll find criminals and lovers, aliens, clones, loads of bones, tiny people, time travel, legacies of death, the virtuous and the vicious, grappling for money, power, fame, escape... everything and anything can be found somewhere inside the shifting interior of the Motel Sick." 

4 of the last 5 collections I have read were anthologies in which I had a story in. One of the things about this one is that I was so excited to read, despite having had an e-pub of it for months, I did wait to I could hold the paperback in my hands. 

Motel Sick was masterminded by editor Michael Allen Rose, having recently done a similar anthology, Fragile, a collection of stories that all started with the same story prompt.  As one of the author I can tell you how this started. MAR wrote a group of writers and invited us to submit stories based on this concept. 

A crazy bizarro motel, and we each got a chance to write about one of the rooms. We got a description of the outside, that it was next to an Arby’s, and in my case, I was told that my room, room 12, happened to be next to the room of unrelenting screams. I don’t know if other authors, were told by Michael which room or got a similar message about the rooms next to theirs. My story ended up being a time-travel story about a screenwriter.

This is a widely diverse set of stories, considering that everyone started with the same prompt, but that is what creative types do. The story that made me laugh the most should not be a surprise, as that was Jeff Strand’s piece. Cythina Pelayo had one that effectively icked me out.  Every story offered something; I was never bored or skipped. Ending with John Skipp. Come on…how perfect.  

Editor Michael Allen Rose paced the stories well, added flourishes like a room service menu, giving this book a great one-of-a-kind feel. This book is an argument for indie publishing. Amazing concept. You must have it!

 

*****

Featuring...

Matt Dinniman

Brian Pinkerton

John Baltisberger 

Christine Morgan

Jim Marcus 

Christopher Hawkins

John Chambers

Cynthia Pelayo

David Agranoff

John Wayne Comunale 

David Scott Hay

Garrett Cook

Jason Rizos

Jeff Strand

Bridget D. Brave

John Bruni

Elizabeth Broadbent

John Skipp

and

Shane McKenzie 

 

Book Review: Sqinks by Rudy Rucker

 

 

 

 

Sqinks by Rudy Rucker

256 pages, Paperback
Published November 15, 2025 by Transreal Books

Rudy Rucker is a cyberpunk legend, who won the first-ever Philip K. Dick award so I was very excited to find out he had written another novel. I bought and reviewed his last novel, Juicy Ghosts. Right after I heard this was coming, I found out that he was going to be on a panel at SF in SF with us talking about Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. So I was able to snag a signed #42 of the first 75. After reading it, Rudy came on the live Tuesday night PKD hangout to talk about it.

Just for a baseline, Rudy has pretty much walked away from traditional publishing and come up with a model that frees him up. He does this by funding through Kickstarter, ends up making more money than traditional publishing, and since his books are trans-real, as he would call it, or weird as hell, the rest of it would call it, this is a good thing. He has no publisher telling him to explain it better or make things clearer, which is not needed.

Sqinks is set in a slightly near-future San Francisco and is, in a way, autobiographical. Like Rudy, the main character Oliver is a science fiction writer who recently lost a wife. Had a tough go and eventually met a new love, in this case Carol. This future has self-driving cars (We got those), but we don’t have twirlware (internal mental internet thingy).

As with every Rucker book, it is weird, funny, and at times head-stratching, but that is what you sign up for. Weird adventures, with aliens that eat brains, wormholes, strange drugs, and math-inspired SF.

Sqinks are aliens from another like virtual tribbles that feed off creative energy, thus they become a metaphor or analogy for large language learning AI and how they are fucking artists, at least that was my read. Some of the best moments are when the fourth wall of the novel melts away and Rucker comments on writing or the genre.

Great stuff and big thumbs up. 

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SF in SF Panel, Left to Right, Rudy, Me, Jacob Weisman and David Gill

 Rudy on the Live PKD hangout! They happen every Tuesday night!

 

 

Book Review: Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

 

 

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

292 pages, Paperback

Published, 1992 by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

 

“Marlowe's about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard.”

I am not going to go long on this; my main motivation in reading a Philip Marlowe novel was trying to get a feeling for some noir vibes. I kinda regretted it. Chandler was very good at what he did, but the natural racism for an LA crime novel that was published in 1940.

Chandler writes great characters, the hard-boiled detective is the center, but in his orbit are plenty of wild characters the clients, the folks at the dive bars, the vintage LA underbelly. Many are ugly but it is the best part of reading a Chandler book. That and the sarcasm that is part of the detective trope.

Is it better than The Big Sleep? Not sure, both are quotable, I don’t detect much growth between the two. One thing I learned is that Chandler was living here in San Diego (La Jolla) when he died and is buried here.

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