Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Last weekend, my partner and I went to a wedding out of state. Naturally, I went looking for an audiobook to listen to in the car. My partner prefers thrillers; she likes propulsive plots. I filtered my library’s audiobooks to those immediately available and the proper length for our trip. I borrowed two of them and my partner selected this one to listen to. It would turn out to be a poor choice for both of us.

The plot sounded like your typical thriller. A woman comes home to find her husband murdered and is immediately made a suspect. She is forced to go on the run and figure out who has set her up and why. But I would not characterize this novel as a thriller. If you are looking for a fast moving story with twists and turns, look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for a story that explores how this kind of trauma might affect someone and shows their determination to overcome it, then it might be for you.

In any case, I found the writing indulgent and repetitive. Rather than finding the main character resilient and strong, I found her whiny and weak. This book simply does not follow the thriller model. Now, I know that that model is completely unrealistic. But when I pick up a book labeled as a thriller, that’s what I expect. I don’t expect a psychological navel gazing novel of a person trying to overcome the trauma of her husband’s grisly murder. And that’s my main complaint about this book. It was a bait and switch. I didn’t get what I was looking for in the book. On top of that, the book was way longer than it needed to be. The reveal happens many times and takes too long to be resolved. It is just a terrible thriller. We didn’t even finish it. By the time we go home we had over two hours left to listen to. We bailed. I looked up on the internet how it ended. Trite and predictable. We made the right decision.

My rating: 1/5

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Each member of the book club at my local library reads a different book on the same topic. The topic for our meeting in July was biography or memoir. I originally thought of reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. However, one our members is retired from IT and avoids it like crazy. So I looked elsewhere. I remember that a member of my other book club recommended a biography of Catherine the Great of Russia. I checked in with her to find out which book that was. It turned out to be Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie.

Last year I started watching a Russian television production on Amazon Prime entitled Ekaterina that was about Catherine the Great, so I was already familiar with the early part of her story. She was German minor nobility and was born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst. She met her future husband, her second cousin Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and grandson of Peter the Great, on a trip to Berlin when she was ten. The marriage was later arranged by Peter the Great’s daughter and then Empress of Russia, Elizabeth. She renamed her nephew Peter and designated him as her successor. He hated Russia and worshiped Frederick the Great and all things Prussian. After Catherine married him, he refused to consummate the marriage preferring to play soldier. Catherine was forced to conceive an heir by another man. After Elizabeth died, Peter became Emperor Peter III. This was short lived. He was viewed by the nobility as not reliable. Catherine had gotten the nobility and the Russian people on her side. With their help, she overthrew her husband and became Empress Catherine.

She was an unusual woman in history and for her time. While believing enlightened monarchy was the only right government for Russia, she loved Russia and her people. She was also a woman who desired love and companionship though she never quite found a satisfying partner. Grigory Potemkin came closest to a true love and may have been her second husband. However, he could never quite get over his jealousy of her former lovers. Still very much in love, they lived the last years of their marriage separated. Catherine was also an astute politician, patron of the arts, and supporter of Enlightenment ideas.

The major thread of this biography is Catherine’s humanity. She is a whole person that we get to know. Her life was challenging, but she was strong. The other people in the book also show up as real people. That’s what stands out. This is not dry, boring history. This is the fascinating story of Russian leaders living their lives. You can’t get a more vivid portrait of this woman or her times.

My rating: 5/5

Clarkesworld Magazine Issue #226, July 2025

Clarkesworld is my favorite short fiction magazine. Here are my mini review from the July issue.

“Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro (5,830 words | 24 minutes) — A woman learns that her ex-husband is engaged to her clone. A fantastic use of point of view as a reveal. Explores complications in relationships. (My rating: 5/5)

“The Walled Garden” by Fiona Moore (6,530 words | 26 minutes) — After the last of a tool breaks that was used for gardening, Morag struggles to figure out how to grow food. A continuation of the story of Morag started in “The Spoil Heap” and continued it “King of the Castle“. This story alternates passages in the present with those of her past after leaving her village. (My rating: 4/5)

“Welcome to Kearney” by Gary Kloster (9,110 words | 37 minutes) — A newly sentient android shows up at a historic town/museum where the caretaker human fixes it. Explores the complexity of human relationships and our desire to fix things and people. Wonderful! (My rating: 5/5)

“Serpent Carriers” by K.A. Teryna (14,500 words | 58 minutes) — Three stories told by an old man around a fire. This story is nearly unintelligible. But I feel like there is something there that I just missed. Not for me. (My rating:2/5)

“Bits and Pieces on This Floor” by Eric Del Carlo (4,050 words | 16 minutes) — An officer of the Galactic Collective supervises the clearing of a mining planet that is being abandoned. Great story development, with little pieces revealing more little by little. (My rating: 4/5)

“A Land Called Folly” by Amal Singh (3,660 words | 15 minutes) — A young man estranged from his space faring family returns home to his dying grandfather. A bit confusing. (My rating: 3/5)

“Hunter Harvester” by Bam Bruin (3,670 words | 15 minutes) — Women on a colonized planet who are harvesting native cabbages find out a bit more about what they are eating. All the colonizers are women. A fascinating look at reproduction and colonization. (My rating: 4/5)

Average rating per story: 3.86/5

Clarkesworld Magazine Issue #225, June 2025

Time for my monthly summary of the latest issue of Clarkesworld that I have read.

“Emily of Emerald Starship” by Ng Yi-Sheng (3,860 words | 16 minutes) — A mother who has become a spaceship controls her family and tries to corral her son when he falls in love with a horse stable owner. A beautiful, heartbreaking story with a clever use of vague language. (My rating: 5/5)

“If an Algorithm Can Cast a Shadow” by Claire Jia-Wen ((5,040 words | 21 minutes) — A mother whose son died in an auto accident orders a Digital Double of him. This one was just okay for me. (My rating: 3/5)

“In the Shells of Broken Things” by A.T. Greenblatt (7,050 words | 28 minutes) — A man seeks to understand his family member who left the Evergreen Domes decades ago. A sweet story of reconciliation and openness. (My rating: 5/5)

“The Eighth Pyramid” by Louis Inglis Hall (8,060 words | 33 minutes) — A lone family attempts to preserve knowledge of previous species as the leaders of their world claim it to be the pinnacle. Shows what defending truth can sometimes bring. (My rating: 4/5)

“Faces of the Antipode” by Matthew Marcus (8,680 | 35 minutes) — On a planet cooling due to the actions of its colonizers, one of them seeks answers among the indigenous people of the jungle on the opposite side of the planet. Despite prejudice, we can always learn from the “other”. (My rating: 5/5)

“The Last Lunar New Year” by Derek Künsken (5,310 words | 22 minutes) — In the far future in our dying solar system, a high court of descendants of humans considers a request from distant relatives. I love the far future feel of this story. Reminds me of a Dr. Who episode. (My rating: 4/5)

“The Last to Survive” by Rita Chang-Eppig (5,720 words | 23 minutes) — The first cyberized person returns to a place from her past desperate to hang onto her memories. A story of unwanted celebrity. (My rating: 4/4)

“Outlier” by R.L. Meza (2,930 words | 12 minutes) — A homeless person is experimented on turning her into a scorpion for use in further experiments. Explores agency. A little too confusing for my taste. (My rating: 3/5)

Average rating per story: 4.125/5

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

This book has been on my list to read for a long time. I finally got to reading it because it was selected by my book club to read in June when we read LGBTQ+ fiction or history.

The setting is Egypt in 1912. But this is not exactly the Egypt of our history. In this Egypt, a rift was opened between the world of the djinn and our world. Now djinn live and work side by side with humans. The main character Fatma is a detective in the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. And she is assigned to investigate a quite unusual murder. An Englishmen and the members of his cult were all killed by a fire that burned only their flesh and not their clothes. On top of this murder, Fatma is assigned a new partner despite the fact that she likes to work alone. And a recent girlfriend shows up unexpectedly, adding to the mix.

The storytelling is immersive. The world comes to life. Unfortunately, the author uses a lot of new (to me) words without defining any of them. These are mostly terms for clothing and foods that were unfamiliar to me. I could tell the type of thing from the context, but the details weren’t there. I found this inhibited my ability to bring the world to mind as vividly as I like. Despite this shortcoming, the story drew me in as did the characters and their relationships. They felt plausible and deeply human. The plot itself was a bit on the simplistic side. Easy to follow but just the right amount of mystery to keep me wanting to find out what happens next. An enjoyable read that would have been made better by a glossary or better descriptions in context.

My rating: 3.5/5

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

I first learned about this book from the 2018 movie of the same name starring Natalie Portman. I was fascinated by the concept. The author recently dropped a new title in the series (Southern Reach), and I thought it might be a good opportunity to experience the first in the series. The book is a rather short novel so I decided to listen to it on audiobook during a recent weekend soccer tournament out of town.

It is the story of a team of four women who are tasked to be the twelfth expedition into Area X, an area cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. The story is told by the biologist. The other members of the team are a psychologist (the leader), an anthropologist, and a surveyor. None of them use their names in an effort to keep their observations untainted by the others. Early on we learn that our narrator’s husband was a member of the eleventh expedition, a fact that was a big factor in the biologist joining this latest journey into Area X. Once the team arrives, weird things start to happen, though the book is very different from the movie.

The writing is very evocative of feelings, the main feeling being creepy. Something just feels off in Area X. And while there are plenty of revelations in the book, there really is no resolution. But that fits for the book and, oddly, I didn’t have an issue with it. It felt right. This was more an exploration of an experience of self-examination and interaction with the unknown at the same time. Truths about the members of the team are revealed even to themselves. It is a unique book that I can’t say I “enjoyed”. It isn’t that kind of story. But I did thoroughly appreciate the unique experience it provided.

My rating: 4/5

Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics by Jonathan Wilson

Earlier this year, I went looking for soccer books to read in hotels while I was out of town reffing soccer matches. This was one of the books I chose. I was interested to learn more about tactics as I never learned any while playing in high school and hear a lot about them during the games I ref. It also didn hurt that I saw this one on Ted Lasso. I finally finished it at a tournament last weekend.

This book was overwhelming. It packs the history of tactics in with a lot of names and history, much of which I was completely unfamiliar with. It felt a bit like War and Peace for soccer. It might have meant more to someone from Europe who is more steeped in the game. In any case, I just let the names flow over me as I did my best to absorb how the game has changed.

And that was what fascinated me most, how the way the game is played has changed so much over the years. I even learned about how the rules have changed. I was unaware of the evolution of the offside rule. That one was particularly interesting to me. So despite there being so much information, I enjoyed all that I learned.

My rating: 4/5

Analog Science Fiction & Fact, May/June 2025

Here are my brief summaries and ratings for the latest issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact magazine.

“Isolate” by Tom R. Pike — A monk with training in linguistics comes to a newly colonized planet to evaluate their language. I really loved how this story treats language and language learning. (My rating: 5/5)

“The Robot and the Winding Wood” by Brenda Cooper — An elderly couple maintaining a campground by themselves with no visitors for years is visited by a robot. A sweet story about the end of the world. (My rating: 5/5)

“Outside the Robles Line” by Raymund Eich — A young man makes a proposal to an older board of the Wise on an asteroid. This one felt like a non-fiction piece forced into a fiction wrapper. (My rating: 3/3)

“Retail Is Dying” by David Lee Zweifler and Ronan Zweifler — An old man wandering an old empty mall encounters a man with a dog he needs to adopt out. Perfect for dog lovers. (My rating: 4/5)

“Groundling” by Shane Tourtellotte — A mechanical engineer born on a generation ship enjoys a tour of duty planetside so much that he angles to be assigned to a new longer tour. This was one of those stories that I wanted to keep going so I could see what happens next. (My rating: 5/5)

“Amtech Deep Sea Institute Thanks You for Your Donation” by Kelsey Hutton — Scientists record the consciousness of a deep sea squid in its natural environment. An interesting piece of flash fiction. (My rating: 4/5)

“North American Union v. Exergy-Petroline Corporation” by TIffany Fritz — A legal finding from a future Supreme Court. The author uses a clever storytelling method, but it got in the way. Legal decisions are not entertaining stories. (My rating: 2/5)

“Momentum Exchange” by Nikolai Lofving Hersfeldt — Two immortals struggle against one another, one trying to keep the other on the planet. This one was good but didn’t really grab me. (My rating: 3/5)

“And So Greenpeace Invented the Death Ray…” by C. Stuart Hardwick — Satellites designed to beam energy to earth are compromised. This one had a thriller vibe. (My rating: 4/5)

“Mnemonomie” by Mark N. Tiedemann — A man wakes up feeling different after almost being beaten to death. A fascinating story of memory and coming-of-age. (My rating:4/5)

“Methods of Remediation in Nearshore Ecologies” by Joanne Rixon — A scientist kayaks the bay testing chemical levels in the soil. Interesting, but not much happens. (My rating: 3/5)

“First Contact, Already Seen” by Howard V. Hendrix — A series of vignettes outlining willful “othering” and personally enthrowning one’s own people. (My rating: 3/5)

“The New Shape of Care” by Lynne Sargent — A woman in hospice care run by robots is held by her daughter in her dying moments. An unexpected and slightly disturbing ending. (My rating: 5/5)

“The Scientist’s Book of the Dead” by Gregor Hartmann — After a revolution by scientists and a war that lowered the human population, those scientists debate lowering population even further. An interesting look at a society run by scientists. (My rating: 5/5)

“Siegried Howls Against the Void” by Erik Johnson — Siegfried, a slow, lumbering spacecraft communicates with Eurydice across the void of space. A metaphor for human relationships and aging. (My rating: 3/5)

“The Iceberg” by Michael Capobianco — A found-footage story of a man surviving on an iceberg near Antarctica after some sort of cataclysm. Meh. (My rating: 3/5)

“Bluebeard’s Womb” by M.G. Wills — A scientist experiments with men having babies as a way to address misogyny. Unexpected things happen in this well-told novella. (My rating: 4/5)

Average rating for a story in this issue: 3.82/5

Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler

I’ve become a big Ray Nayler fan. I’ve read his other two books (The Mountain in the Sea and Tusks of Extinction) and thoroughly enjoyed them. So when this latest novel came out recently, I quickly put in on my list. And late last week, I finished reading it.

The story takes place in a near future where two main forms of government exist. The Federation is a totalitarian surveillance state. Everyone is watched all the time. They use a social credit system to keep everyone in line. Violence and fear are pervasive and everpresent. The president changes regularly but it is always the same person whose consciousness is transferred to a new body each time. The West is governed by a system run by AI Prime Ministers who are meant to be objectively more efficient and peaceful. Naturally there is resistance in the Federation. And in the West, a new Republic that just received its first AI PM, struggles with the adjustment.

This is exactly my kind of human/AI story! Most stories about AI are about how it becomes smarter than humans and subjugates them in some way. This is much more complicated than that. And that complication is what makes me appreciate this novel. In general, there are no straightforward answers. Like real life, things are messy. Human emotion interferes with logic. The author does with this book what all good science fiction authors do: he explores today’s issues by exploring them in made-up future. This is not prediction. It is exploration. And what a thought provoking exploration it is!

My rating: 5/5

Beartown by Frederik Backman

My book club reads books in translation in May. This was our pick this year. It was originally published in Swedish. It is also the basis for the HBO series of the same name.

The book tells the story of a small rural town in Sweden called Beartown. It is known for only one thing: hockey. The town is small and in the forest. No one goes there by mistake and lots of folks look to get out. One man who made it big in hockey moves back with his family after a brief career in the NHL, becoming the general manager of the local club. The town revolves around this club. Everyone is involved in some way: player, spectator, sponsor. The junior team is on the verge of making the finals for the first time in decades. But something happens after the semi-final that sets the town at odds with itself.

This book is exactly the kind of fiction I love to read. It deals with fundamental aspects of what if means to be human and be in relationship with others. What do we owe one another? What do we owe to ourselves? How do manage both at the same time? There are deep and meaningful relationships of all sorts: player-coach, couples, father-son, mother-daughter, neighbors. All of them are real and complicated with no easy answers. And the writing is so compelling and compassionate. I highly recommend this book.

My rating: 5/5