Think Galactic- Everfair

For the November meeting of Think Galactic, we discussed Everfair by Nisi Shawl.

An alt-history of the Belgian Congo with steampunk & utopian elements, the novel follows a fairly large cast of characters over several decades. Brief notes and possible spoilers below:

Doctorow @ Printer's Row

A couple weeks ago at the Printer's Row Lit Fest, I got to catch Cory Doctorow in conversation with Mary Robinette Kowal. Mostly focused on his new novel Walkaway, the discussion jumped to some interesting places. Very brief notes below:

Otherworld's "The Rogue Aviator"

This weekend I saw the opening night of The Rogue Aviator, the newest production from Otherworld Theatre. Written by Nick Izzo and directed by Tiffany Keane-Schaefer, the play brings a tale of dieselpunk aerial adventures to the stage.

Set in an alt-history version of the 1920s, the story revolves around the flying city of Olympus, a supposed techno-utopia threatened by sky pirates and its own descent into an oppressive military tyranny. The eponymous Rogue Aviator is Ellie McCloud (Moira Begale), a nobly-motivated bounty hunter with ties on both side of the conflict.

I'm continually impressed by Otherworld's project of bringing complex science fiction and fantasy stories to the medium of theater, and this was a fun show. Brief thoughts below:

Weird & Wonderful- Vermilion

For the last meeting of City Lit Books' Weird & Wonderful club, we discussed "Vermilion" (2015) by Molly Tanzer. "Vermilion" is the story of Lou Merriweather, a kind of professional exorcist in a fantastic 19th century American West who becomes embroiled in a sinister scheme. The world is somewhat steampunk, with a very healthy dose of the supernatural, along with some fanciful alt-history turns, such as the talking bears who alter the course of post-Civil War politics in the west.

We had a few criticisms, but by and large we found this very enjoyable, and reviewed it as solid beach read. Possible spoilers below!

Chi SF- Grace of Kings

For the January meeting of the Chicago Speculative Fiction Community, we discussed “The Grace of Kings” (2015) by Ken Liu. The novel had been popping up on my radar a lot lately—first novel from a writer who's already done some stellar short work and translations, including the Hugo-winning “Three Body Problem” by Cixin Liu (no relation), which Phandemonium (and a few Chi-SF members) discussed back in November at Windycon.

“The Grace of Kings” is an epic fantasy drawing heavily on the late Warring States period in Chinese history (200ish BCE). Despite some supernatural/theological, steampunky, and otherwise fantastic elements, one the whole it reminded us much more of the geopolitical/historical vein of fantasy, as opposed to the magical or mythical. Notes on that distinction, as well as possible spoilers, below:

Phandemonium- Karen Memory

I finally made it to a non-Windycon meeting of Phandemonium--they're the folks that run Capricon every spring, and also hold book club discussions in Northern Chicagoland. For January's meeting, a fair number turned out to discuss Elizabeth Bear's 2015 novel "Karen Memory".

It's an alt-history steampunk tale set in the Pacific Northwest, with a diverse cast of characters (primarily sex workers) and a plot that slowly builds to a fairly mad-cap, dime-novel action story. A theme that is repeated throughout is "the powerless taking power", although I'm not sure how much has really changed by the end.

We generally liked it! Discussion & spoilers below:

Chicago Nerds: A Natural History of Dragons

This past Monday night, the Chicago Nerd Social Club discussed Marie Brennan's "A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent" (2013) at our usual spot at Filter Cafe. It was a pretty fun, light read, with correspondingly light discussion; nonetheless there may be SPOILERS BELOW:

TG: Rupetta

This last Thursday Think Galactic discussed Nike Sulway's 2013 novel "Rupetta", which is the most recent winner of the Tiptree award. A good read, and a good discussion!