Tag: fantasy

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

Back in 2017 the movie The Shape of Water was released to box office success and critical acclaim. In November of that same year, this novella, originally published in 1982 and long out of print, was republished. It then found its way onto my list of books. This past week I had some longer than usual drives to scholastic soccer matches that I officiated, so I listened to it on audiobook.

An amphibious creature escapes from a lab where it was being tested on, tortured, and abused. The titular Mrs. Caliban hears about it on her radio as she does her housework. She and her husband are somewhat estranged though still living together. They lost a son to an operation gone wrong and another to a miscarriage. While Mrs. Caliban is preparing and serving dinner for her husband and a co-worker, the monster shows up in her kitchen. She befriends him, hiding him in her son’s old room as her husband never goes to that room or even that part of the house. Mrs. Caliban and the monster have an affair and work on a plan to get him back to his own home in the sea.

Numerous themes and ideas are explored in this short novella. Naturally relationships and fidelity, but also what it means to be a monster and the treatment of non-human animals, including the ethics of eating meat. None of this is heavy handed but occurs in the natural course of the storytelling. Despite being written over forty years ago, it feels surprisingly contemporary. What I appreciate most is that it doesn’t really give answers, though these are implied. Instead, it is a book that questions many things that we often take for granted without even thinking.

My rating: 4/5

Signs of Life by Sarah Pinsker

I’m a big fan of this author. Both of her novels (A Song for a New Day and We Are Satellites) are fantastic. Highly recommended. This story was rated the fourth best story of 2024 by Uncanny magazine readers. For me, it was the best of the top five stories selected by readers.

Signs of Life by Sarah Pinsker (2024) — 11,996 words (about 48 minutes for the average reader)

Wolf Moon, Antler Moon by A.C. Wise

As part of my starting to read more short fiction again in the new year, I decided to read the original fiction published online by Tor in the their *Reactor* magazine. It is free and stories are published intermittently throughout the year at https://reactormag.com/fictions/original-fiction/. This story came out on Monday, and I read it while eating breakfast Wednesday morning.

When a tragedy befalls an unnamed resort town in the woods, a teenage girl is forced to come to terms with who she is and what she needs to do to preserve her town. Saying much more than that would spoil the experience of such a short work of fiction (14,080 words). It is dark fantasy with a foreboding feel. It takes place in the spring and the sense of potential jumps from the page. It is ultimately a coming of age story with the heaviness of decision and responsibility.

The writing is very evocative, dripping with emotion throughout. A very atmospheric tale where spring almost feels like a character.

My rating: 4/5

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

After finishing my previous audiobook, I looked for another Hugo award-winning novel that was available to borrow without a wait. I ended up borrowing this one. It was published on the tenth anniversary of the original. The text of this audiobook is that favored by the author. It is somewhat longer than the original with some minor changes, as the author explains in his “Note on the Text” in the front of the book.

Shadow, a man just getting out of prison, is approached and offered a job working for a man named Wednesday. He is to be his driver and errand boy. At first he declines. After a tragedy in his life, with nothing else going on, he agrees. The book is largely the story of their relationship. As you can probably guess from the book’s title, Wednesday is a god. I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide which one. The story follows the two as a war brews between the old gods and the new gods.

I really enjoyed the storytelling in this book. The audiobook is a full cast production and really brings the story to life. Shadow struggles with meaning in his life and his relationships. I really appreciate stories that explore aspects of the human condition. Interestingly, even the gods seem to struggle with that. The writing isn’t in any sense what I would call literary. That said, it does get out of the way and let the story sing.

My rating: 4/5

Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness

I learned about this book from my partner. She had suggested I read the first three books in the series. Not long after, she told me that the author had written a fourth. We recently watched the entire TV series on Netflix, so I decided to finally read this book as it picks up where the series left off.

This is the story of Marcus and Phoebe. Phoebe becomes a vampire in order to mate with Marcus. We follow her experience as a fledgling and learn about the tribulations of the change. At the same time, we learn of Marcus’s past, including how he met Matthew and became a vampire himself. While I highly recommend reading the other books in the series first, the author does an excellent job of bringing to the reader’s mind the things that came before.

There wasn’t anything spectacular about this book. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed learning about the continuing lives of characters that I have come to care about in earlier books. But there isn’t any great conflict that drives this story. It just kind of sits there. I’m glad I read it and spent more time in this world. But it would not have been any great loss if I had skipped it either.

My rating: 3.5/5