fiction

Take a heist. Put it in space and you’ve got a pulp sci-fi tale just waiting to be told and that is Off Rock.

Maureen Johnson’s The Name of the Star is a YA thriller sure to please any fan of horror and the paranormal, adults included. Readers with an appreciation for Jack the Ripper (the lore, not his handiwork) will be even more pleased, as Johnson draws on London’s most notorious serial killer for inspiration.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is modern-day quest by Robin Sloan, full of nerdery, humor, and heart. It’s feels a bit like reading a live-action video game, which is fun, but with the unfortunate side effect that not all characters are fully developed beings, rather cyphers for whoever the protagonist needs them to be.

Turbulence is a superhero story without any explanation of how these people became superheroes, which is kind of a fun twist on the story. It opens on a scene where a young Indian Air Force Flight Lieutenant is flying around Indian airspace on a mission; and no, he isn’t in an airplane. He’s supposed to find a military base and destroy it–but something happens. His communication systems are intercepted by an unnamed man who tells him what he’s doing is stupid, and that he knows that someone is killing or kidnapping superheroes, and that he should join their fight to save the superhumans.

H.G. Well’s alien invasion novel, The War of the Worlds, is well known. It has been adapted for film, theater, and most infamously radio, but with Eric S. Brown, we get a new life breathed into the old story. The War of the Worlds always was a commentary on the fragility of life, the arrogance of human superiority and the triumph of the common man, but Brown takes it one step further: it is now a reflection on the old mores of science fiction and how even something done to death can be reanimated to terrifying appeal.

“Life,” said Marvin dolefully, “loathe it or ignore it, you can’t like it.” – from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Sci-Fidelity is a little weird and a lot entertaining. The novella is populated with multi-faceted characters and vivid descriptions of a life at a crossroads.

Originally published in 1991, Kim Newman’s novel Jago has been reissued by Titan Books and bundled with a handful of extra content. Jago is the story of a supernatural cult leader and his pet apocalypse, and of all the people caught up in events beyond their understanding or control.

They exist to die. The nameless drone, the faceless soldier, the girl who doesn’t have a name, the guy who isn’t in the credits – we’ve all seen them, and forgotten about them just as quickly. They must exist, albeit briefly, for us the audience to care about the leading women and men of what we are watching, or reading. Expendable characters prove why the story exists.

When Lena moves to the small town of Gatlin, South Carolina, strange things begin happening. Ethan Wate, a 16-year-old on the basketball team, quickly realizes that the dreams he’s been having for months involve Lena. Soon they are desperately seeking any way to change her future. Will they find an answer in time?