The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2023, part 21: Cat Rambo

 

Reading Pleasures of 2023

by Cat Rambo

I read more than I watch or listen, and so here are highlights from this year of the close to 200 books I read or reread in 2023. I get the majority of my reading from NetGalley, BookBub deals, ARCs, and the library. I include publication dates so I can remember what I will recommend for Nebula reading; bolded titles are eligible for award stuff this year.

Here are some of my favorites in speculative reading from this year:

 

F.M. Aden - The Bride of Death (Northern Light Press, March 1, 2024) - Lovely fairytale retelling.

 

Emma R. Alban - Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend (Avon, Jan 9, 2024) YA - queer Victorian romance with a whiff of The Parent Trap.

 

Cassie Alexander - AITA? (2021) - Fun paranormal sexy romance.

 

Julia Armfield - Our Wives Under the Sea (2022) Lovely, eerie horror.

 

Rachel Aukes - The Lazarus Key Waypoint, (Jan 8, 2024) - Thriller with fish & wildlife officers going up against dinosaurs

 

Bridget E. Baker -  The Birthright Series, 2020. Solid space opera, and I liked the PoV changes from book to book. I read the first three and will be picking up the other five when I get the chance.

 

S.A. Barnes - Ghost Station (April 9, 2024) Great psychological thriller on a space station.

 

Redfern John Barrett - Proud Pink Sky (Amble Press, 2023) Linked short stories of a gay homeland. Enjoyed this a lot.

 

Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett - The Long Earth Parallel earth series, 1st of four.

 

Melissa Blair - A Broken Blade  (2021) - Solid YA fantasy, first of three books.

 

Marie Brennan - The Market of 100 Fortunes (Aconyte, Feb, 2024) Loved this Legend of the Five Rings tie-in novel. 

 

Tobias Buckell - A Stranger in the Citadel (Tachyon Publications, 2023), Terrific world-building and a librarian questioning that world.

 

Octavia E. Butler - Mind of My Mind. Rerelease of work by one of my favorite writers. Everyone should read Octavia. Over and over again.

 

Sebastien Castell - The Malevolent Seven (2023). Absolutely solid and fun fantasy that lives up to the excellence of Castell’s other works.

 

Heidi Catherine - The Whisperers of Evernow (2019) Interesting premise, YA.

 

Beth Cato - A Thousand Recipes for Revenge (47North, 2023) I love Cato’s work and this was no exception. Plus -- food and fantasy! First of two, and I’ve already preordered the sequel.

 

P. Djèlí Clark - The Dead Cat Tail Assassins (Tor, April 23, 2024) Delightful secondary world fantasy.

 

David Clawson - My Fairy Mother is a Drag Queen (2017) - Fun Cinderella retelling. YA.

 

Lex Croucher - Gwen and Art are Not in Love (Tor Macmillan 2023). YA queer romance, fun and frothy.

 

Alex Evans - I Am a Barbarian (BooksGoSocial, Dec 17, 2023) Fun YA secondary world fantasy.

 

Philip Jose Farmer - Lord of the Trees (2012), The Mad Goblin (2013) Typical crazy-ass Farmer and a certain amount of (literal) cock-swinging.

 

Brandon Gillespie - Atom Bomb Baby (2023) Strong whiff of Fallout fanfic about this book, but in a good way.

 

Nicole Glover - The Conductors (2021) Loved this alternate history with magicians running the Underground Railway; first of two books

 

Kim Harrison - American Demon (2020) I always enjoy Harrison, and this was no exception.

 

Christina Henry - The House that Horror Built (Berkeley, June 14, 2024) Solid horror about the cinema, nicely creepy.

 

Kevin Hincker - The Ghost with a Knife at Her Throat (August 13, 2023) I adored this urban fantasy, which had some cool twists. First in a series and I’m picking up the rest.

 

S.J. Himes - The Necromancer’s Dance (2016) First in an urban fantasy series of the vampires/werewolves ilk, fun gay fantasy with lots of action.

 

Dara Horn - Eternal Life (2018) Is living forever a boon or a curse? Lotsa historical texture.

 

Kat Howard - An Unkindness of Magicians, A Sleight of Shadows (2023) Loved this duo of mannerly magician books.

 

Sarah Zachrich Jeng - When I’m Her (Berkley, March , 2024) Compelling story of female friendship.

 

Mary E. Jung - Blossom and Bone (2022) Cozy fantasy feel to this series that I really enjoyed, first of a three-book series.

 

T.J. Klune - In the Lives of Puppets (2023) Terrific SF retelling of Pinochio. One of my favorite reads of the year.

 

Tim Lebbon - Among the Living (Titan Books, Feb 6, 2024) Lebbon is always good, and this is solid and compelling.

 

Ann Leckie - Translation State (2023) More in Leckie’s complex and compelling SF universe, along with one of my favorite characters of all time, Qven.

 

Britney S. Lewis - The Undead Truth of Us (2021). YA zombie with a lot of emotion to it.

 

Megan Mackie - Death and the Crone (2023) Enjoyed this older woman romance in Mackie’s Lucky Devil setting.

 

Melissa Marr - Remedial Magic (Tor, Feb 20, 2024) Cozy fantasy with a lovely lesbian romance.

 

J.R. Martin - The Engineer’s Apprentice  (2023) Solid beginning to a steampunk series.

 

Zoe Hana Mikuta - Off With Their Heads (Disney, April 24, 2024) Great queer Alice in Wonderland riff with Gideon the Ninth vibes.

 

Jo Miles - Dissonant State  (2023) Fun space opera that has me looking for the beginning of the series.

 

Premee Mohamed - The Siege of Burning Grass (Rebellion Publishing, March 12, 2024) If you buy one book in 2024, this should be it.

 

Sunny Moraine - Your Shadow Half Remains (Tor, Feb, 2024) Creepy horror of the everyone is the enemy apocalypse variety.

 

Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Silver Nitrate (2023) Sharp-edged horror set in cinematic history. 

 

Tamsyn Muir - Harrow the Ninth (2020), Nona the Ninth (2022) I loved Gideon and Harrow but bounced hard off the third book for some reason.

 

Patrick Ness - The Rest of Us Just Live Here (2015) - YA and I LOVE this book about what it’s like to not be the Chosen One so much.

 

Naomi Novik - A Deadly Education (2020), The Golden Enclaves (2022) Fabulous entry into the genre of magic schools.

 

Allison Saft - A Dark and Drowning Tide (Random House, Sept 17, 2024) Loved this secondary world fantasy frenemies-to lovers-take on a murder mystery.

 

Lilith Saintcrow - A Flame in the North (Orbit, February 13, 2024) I always enjoy Saintcrow and this was a pleasurable read, but I like her more modern fantasy stuff considerably more.

 

Robert Shearman - We All Hear Stories in the Dark (2022). I’m still working my way through this massive three-volume set and enjoying it enormously. Highly recommended if you love short stories.

 

A.J. Steiger - Eye of a Little God. (January 2, 2024). Well-executed psychological horror.

 

Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland - The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (2017) Great time- travel corps stuff with a fun romance. There’s a sequel, which I need to pick up.

 

Andrew F. Sullivan - The Marigold (2023) Fabulously unhinged horror.

 

Lavie Tidhar - The Circumference of the World (2023) His usual brilliance, so much lovely stuff in this!

 

K.B. Wagers - A Pale Light in the Black (2020) Fun start to a series.

 

Khan Wong - The Circus Infinite (2022) Terrific SF with a runaway teen with special powers.

 

Z. J. Ryder - Twisted Neuros (Self published) I love this story of an AI trying to figure out its own existence.

 

In anthologies and collections, I recently began a project to go through all my anthologies and collections to see which I want to keep. So far that’s included  

 

Space Opera, edited by Brian Aldiss. Keeping for historical relevance more than any innate quality.

 

Light Years and Dark, edited by Michael Bishop. Keeping for the high degree of original fiction, the quality of writers and works, and the editorial vision.

 

 

In my short-fiction reading club, in which we read classic stories of F&SF, we read: 

Ray Bradbury’s “The Fog Horn”

 

Karen Joy Fowler’s “Standing Room Only” 

 

Robert Heinlein’s “All You Zombies,” and “The Green Hills of Earth” 

Anne McCaffrey’s “The Ship Who Sang” 

 

Vonda N. McIntyre’s “Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand” 

 

C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner’s “Vintage Season” 

 

Clifford Simak’s “Desertion”  

 

Connie Willis’ “A Letter from the Clearys” 

 

Roger Zelazny’s “Auto-da-Fe.” 

 

I’ve found these craft-focused sessions, which are part of my Patreon community, illuminating and useful in terms of learning more about F&SF history as well as craft tips and tricks.

 

In video/computer games, I started playing the early version of Baldur’s Gate 3 in early September, and I’ve been obsessed with it. Earlier in the year, I was playing Sun Haven and really enjoyed it. If you’re a Stardew Valley fan, you will like Sunhaven, because there’s a lot of similarities and fun writing. I continue to play Pokemon Go on my phone.

RPG-wise, I’m running a live game of D&D 5e and playing in two f2f homebrew D&D campaigns, one virtual D%D campaign plus Esper Genesis on Twitch. That sounds like more than it really is, which is a chance to game once or twice each week. Early in the year, I played in a game of Apocalypse Hearts run by Lowell Francis and want to recommend the Open Hearth gaming community for people interested in finding interesting story-focused games to play online.

In travel recommendations, I spent part of March and all of November in Spain, and want to shout out to Castell Llaés in Girona, and nearby Hostall La Serra, where I had several meals, including the good fortune of their last dinner of the season, after which we clustered around their fire and listened to our hosts tell ghost stories. In the Gothic Quarter, I got a new tattoo from artist Joan Taltavul of Meatshop Tattoo. I stayed at a funky Airbnb with four flights of stairs and no elevator but also an extraordinary rooftop terrace overlooking Placa Reial. I had a delightful dinner at Tapas 24 as well as a belated birthday celebration at Xiringuito Escribá, which was terrific paella in a beachside setting.

 

 

 Cat Rambo’s 300+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In 2020 they won the Nebula Award for fantasy novelette "Carpe Glitter." They are a former two-term President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Their most recent works are space opera Devil’s Gun (Tor Macmillan, 2023) and anthology The Reinvented Detective (Arc Manor, 2023),  co-edited with Jennifer Brozek For more about Cat, as well as links to fiction and popular online school, The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, see their website.

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2021, pt. 4: Cat Rambo

 

 2021 Pleasures

by Cat Rambo

I go through a lot of reading each year, and I’ve listed highlights that I would recommend, sorted somewhat by category. Reading tends to be my primary mode of consumption of entertainment, but I’ll include non-reading suggestions towards the end.

I love me some good fantasy & science fiction, and it makes up the bulk of my reading. Here’s some highlights.

 

• Piranesi by Susannah Clarke was slow and mysterious and satisfying, full of gorgeous moments.

   

• Seth Dickinson’s the Traitor Baru Cormorant trilogy is economic fantasy at its best. Loved this.

   

• Nicky Drayden’s Temper showcased Drayden’s skill with combining engaging action and rich worldbuilding.

   

• Sarah Gailey’s The Echo Wife was tense and thrilling, as was Little Eyes (Samanta Schweblin, The Keep (Jennifer Egan), Machinehood (S.B. Divya), and Composite Creatures (Caroline Hardaker).

   

• N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy was awesome, and I can’t believe I hadn’t read it before.

   

• A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel combined SF with thriller action and just a soupcon of Katherine Neville’s The Eight in a very satisfying way.

   

• Naomi Novik’s The Scholomance and The Last Graduate are fabulous! I cannot wait for the next book.

   

• Nicole Kornher-Stace’s Firebreak was solid anti-corporate game-based world SF that I liked a lot more than a book it keeps getting compared to, ReadyPlayer One.

   

• Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow is another take on mechas, and a highly enjoyable one.

   

• Tools of a Thief by D. Hale Rambo is fun hgh fantasy, and I’m about to pick up the second book.

   

• Chloe Gong’s These Violent Delights is a terrifically fun retelling of Romeo and Juliet, set in 1920s Shanghai. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.

  
  
   

• The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction, edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, is just outstanding, in my opinion, and a landmark book.

   

• Another outstanding anthology was Dispatches from Annares: Tales in Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin, edited by Susan DeFreitas, which showcased some wonderful stories honoring one of our best writers.

   

• Series that I enjoyed included Neal Asher’s Spatterjay books and Jacey Bedford’s Psi-tech 

  novels. I had the leisure of interviewing Bedford this year and will be looking for more from her!

   

• I binged several F&SF authors this year, working my way through just about everything by K.J. Parker, along with all of the Penric & Desdemona novelas by Lois McMaster Bujold

   

Thrillers that I enjoyed included Double Bind (Chris Bohjalian), Grandfather Anonymous (Anthony Eichenlaub); and Dark Places (Gillian Flynn). I also adore a good LGBT historical romance. The Will Darling novels by K.J. Charles, starting with Subtle Blood, were a favorite.

 

Literary fiction favorites included The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Muriel Barberry); Leading Men (Christopher Castellani), The Saturday Night Ghost Club (Craig Davidson); Mysterious Skin (Scott Heim), and The Good Lord Bird (James McBride)

 

I did a class on horror subgenres and in the process acquired an enormous reading list that should keep me occupied the next few years. Books that came me to that way, which I particularly enjoyed, were: Hex (Thomas Olde Heuvelt); Battle Royale (Koushon Takami); The Ancestor (Danielle Trussoni); Gone to See the River Man (Kristopher Triana); In My Dreams I Hold a Knife (Ashley Winstead) and We Cast a Shadow (Maurice Carlos Ruffin).

 

Graphic novels that I loved enough to stick on the keeper shelf over the course of this year included:  Fun Home (Alison Bechdel); Black Hole (Charles Burns); My Favorite Thing is Monsters (Emil Ferris); The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 (Erica Henderson); Far Sector (NK Jemisin); Gideon Falls: Volume 1 The Black Barn (Jeff Lemira); The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #2 (Ryan North); Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles (Mark Russell);  I Am Not Starfire (Mariko Tamaki); Saga volume 1 & 2 (Brian K. Vaughn)

 

Games that I particularly enjoyed this year included:

 

• Deranged, a “gothic semi-cooperative adventure survival game” from UltraPro Entertainment was a lot of fun, and I do love games that require a little teamwork.

   

• Isle of Cats, a cute board game that requires spatial thinking as well as strategy.

  
  
   

• Wingspan, a lovely bird-focused board game that is also available online. 

   

• We need to finish up the current jigsaw puzzle to clear up table space, but then we’ll try out Lizard Wizard, a Kickstarter that I supported and which has some really lovely production values plus looks cute as heck.

   

• I continue to play in a long-time campaign of Esper Genesis, (think D&D5E in space!) and actually will be doing some writing for them in 2022.

   

• I just picked up Monsterhearts in order to run a session of it for some friends and am looking forward to creating a one-off session in that system, which is based on Powered By the Apocalypse.

   

And finally, I bought a Concept 2 rowing machine, which came with more recommendations than the much more spendy Hydrow and have been super happy with it. It does take up a good chunk of space, but it’s durable and I suspect I’ll get years out of it. Highly recommended!

Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Their 250+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In 2020 they won the Nebula Award for fantasy novelette Carpe Glitter. They are a former two-term President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Their most recent works are space opera You Sexy Thing (Tor Macmillan, November, 2021), as well as an anthology, The Reinvented Heart (Arc Manor, February, 2022),  co-edited with Jennifer Brozek. For more about Cat, as well as links to fiction and popular online school, The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, see their website.