September 2023 MBR The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

Beyond The Shore
Stephanie J. Cress
https://stephaniejcress.co
Mystic Publishers
https://www.mysticpublishersinc.com
9781948266093, $16.95, PB, 262pp

https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Shore-Stephanie-Cress/dp/1948266091

Synopsis: "Beyond The Shore" by science fiction and fantasy author Stpehanie J. Cress is the story of Sunfolk healer Gilwin who travels to the coastal country ofCarrow on a mysterious journey. He finds himself caught up in Carrow's fight for independence, and alongside a half-breed mercenary, Adarran, and a pair of diplomat daughters, Sialla and Rilyn, they search for, Teryx, the rebels' notorious leader.

When the rebellion strikes Gilwin and his companions must decide if war is the only answer. If it is, does it mean that all of Carrow will burn?

Critique: An inherently fascinating and fun read that will have a very special appeal to readers with an interest in carefully crafted science fiction novels that are as original as they are memorable, "Beyond The Shore" is a simply riveting read from first page to last. While certain to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Science Fiction & Fantasy collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicated SciFi buffs that "Beyond The Shore" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).

Editorial Note: Stephanie J. Cress is a gifted and imaginative high fantasy storyteller who has a personal/professional website at https://stephaniejcress.co

Extinguishing Shadows
Heather Beal
Black Rose Writing
www.blackrosewriting.com
9781685132828, $22.95, PB, 312pp

https://www.amazon.com/Extinguishing-Shadows-Adult-Paranormal-Fantasy/dp/1685132820

Synopsis: Vampires and Viajante have tolerated each other's existence for centuries, but not without exceptions. When Mara was six, her Viajante family was murdered by vampires without provocation. Not only did her future change, so did she, a secret hidden even from her own people.

No longer a child, and no longer confined to Sanctuary, Mara's headed into vampire territory in search of answers behind the attack, and to the mysterious prophesy she's been linked to. She expected danger, and quite possibly getting her butt kicked a time or two before avenging her family. The last thing she expected: an alliance with a powerful and sexy vampire bent on making her his own.

Can Mara and her new family unravel the mystery and bring the truth to light, or will those responsible for the death of her family, and the attempts to silence her, remain forever in shadow?

Critique: Original, eloquent, entertaining, laced through with dark romance and memorable characters, "Extinguishing Shadows" by novelist Heather Beal is a unique and reader compelling paranormal fantasy that provides a beautifully scripted story offering an engaging web of magic layered with intrigue and surprise. Of special interest to the legions of vampire novel fans, "Extinguishing Shadows" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Extinguishing Shadows" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).

Editorial Note: Heather Beal (www.heatherbeal.com) best prefers delving into the worlds of fantasy and the supernatural. The "what if" is what fascinates her most. Still searching for her own super powers, she delights in the imaginary friends that whisper their stories into her ear, hoping their words will one day be read by others.

Beautiful Shining People
Michael Grothaus
Orenda Books
https://orendabooks.co.uk
c/o Trafalgar Square Publishing
c/o Independent Publishers Group
https://www.ipgbook.com
9781914585647, $16.99, PB, 276pp

https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Shining-People-Michael-Grothaus/dp/191458564X

Synopsis: Decades into the future, it's our ordinary world, where cars drive themselves, drones glide across the sky, and robots work in burger shops. There are two superpowers and a digital Cold War, but all conflicts are safely oceans away. People get up, work, and have dinner. Everything is as it should be.

Except for seventeen-year-old John, a tech prodigy from a damaged family, who hides a deeply personal secret. But everything starts to change for him when he enters a tiny cafe on a cold Tokyo night. A cafe run by a disgraced sumo wrestler, where a peculiar dog with a spherical head lives, alongside its owner, enigmatic waitress Neotnia...

But Neotnia hides a secret of her own -- a secret that will turn John's unhappy life upside down. A secret that will take them from the neon streets of Tokyo to Hiroshima's tragic past to the snowy mountains of Nagano.

A secret that reveals that this world, decades ahead in the future, is anything ordinary -- and it's about to change forever!

Critique: Original, eloquent, carefully crafted, and an entertaining read from beginning to end, "Beautiful Shining People" will hold immense appeal to fans of historical thrillers, science fiction, and literary excellence. While available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.15) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Isis Audio Book, 9781399148795, $122.95, CD), this paperback edition of "Beautiful Shining People" from Orenda Books is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Literary Fiction and Science Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: Michael Grothaus (https://www.michaelgrothaus.com) is a novelist, journalist and author of non-fiction. His writing has appeared in Fast Company, VICE, The Guardian, Litro Magazine, The Irish Times, Screen, Quartz and others. His debut novel, Epiphany Jones, a story about sex trafficking among the Hollywood elite, was longlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and named one of the 25 Most Irresistible Hollywood Novels' by Entertainment Weekly.

Gilded Shadows
Stephanie J. Cress
https://stephaniejcress.co
Mystic Publishers, Inc.
https://www.mysticpublishersinc.com
9781934051900, $15.99, PB, 248pp

https://www.amazon.com/Gilded-Shadows-Stephanie-J-Cress/dp/193405190X

Synopsis: The races in the city of Old Dominion live together in harmony, except for those of mixed race. The Sunfolk Church has decided that the Mixed are second-class citizens because they cannot bear children. But through her research, Dela has discovers that they can. And the church will do anything to keep her quiet. They send an assassin who studies his targets until he finds his own reason to kill. But when it comes to Dela, the assassin cannot justify the execution and he questions his employers for the first time in his career. Caught up in Dela's revolution, he falls in love. The assassin discovers that the contract he made is unbreakable and not completing the job will still cost a life - Dela's or his.

Critique: Original, nicely crafted, and a fun read from beginning to end, "Gilded Shadows" showcases author Stephanie J. Cress as a master of narrative driven storytelling. Deftly combing romance, adventure, and high fantasy, "Gilded Shadows" is highly recommended for community library collections and is available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).

Editorial Note: Stephanie J. Cress (https://stephaniejcress.co) is a complete and talented master of the High Fantasy genre. That makes it a bit ironic when she describes herself as a high fantasy writer with aphantasia -- the inability to form mental images of objects that are not present. Her writing is concise but emotional and is often referred to as "like nothing I've ever read before".

The Future
Catherine Leroux
Biblioasis
www.biblioasis.com
9781771965606, $18.95, PB, 288pp

https://www.amazon.com/Future-Biblioasis-International-Translation-44/dp/1771965606

Synopsis: "The Future" by Canadian novelist Catherine Leroux is an alternate history of Detroit, in which the French never surrendered Motor City to the US. Its residents deal with pollution, poverty, and the legacy of racism -- and strange and magical things are happening: children rule over their own kingdom in the trees and burned houses regenerate themselves. When Gloria arrives looking for answers and her missing granddaughters, at first she finds only a hungry mouse in the derelict home where her daughter was murdered. But the neighbors take pity on her and she turns to their resilience and impressive gardens for sustenance.

When a strange intuition sends Gloria into the woods of Parc Rouge, where the city's orphaned and abandoned children are rumored to have created their own society, she can't imagine the strength she will find. A richly imagined story of community and a plea for persistence in the face of our uncertain future, The Future is a lyrical testament to the power we hold to protect the people and places we love -- together.

Critique: An inherently fascinating, original, and carefully crafted novel that raises 'alternate history' science fiction to a highly level of literary eloquence, "The Future" is a unique, entertaining, and highly recommended contribution to community and academic library Literary Fiction and Science Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Future" (ably translated into English by Susan Ouriou) is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note #1: Catherine Leroux (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Leroux) is the author of three highly praised novels and an innovative sequence of short stories. Her first novel, La marche en foret (2011), was a finalist for Quebec's Booksellers' Prize. Her second novel, The Party Wall, a translation of Le mur mitoyen, won the France-Quebec Prize in the original and, in translation, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Dublin IMPAC Award. In the United States, The Party Wall was a prestigious Indies Introduce selection. Leroux's story sequence, Madame Victoria, won Quebec's Adrienne Choquette Prize and was a finalist for the Booksellers' Prize. The French original of The Future (L'avenir) won the Jacques Brossard Prize and was a finalist for the Imaginary Horizons Prize. Catherine Leroux works as a translator and editor in Montreal. She was awarded the 2019 Governor General's Literary Award for Translation.

Editorial Note #2: Susan Ouriou (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Ouriou) is an award-winning fiction writer and literary translator with over sixty translations and co-translations of fiction, non-fiction, children's and young adult literature to her credit. She has won the Governor General's Literary Award for Translation for which she has also been shortlisted on five other occasions.

The Icarus Plot
Timothy Zahn
Baen Books
www.baen.com
9781982191955, $25.00

https://www.amazon.com/Icarus-Hunt-Timothy-Zahn/dp/055310702X

The Icarus Plot provides the ongoing story of Gregory Rourke and his Kadolian partner Selene, who make profitable discoveries they can sell mostly legally. Their predictable partnership is challenged by an assignment to track down a mysterious woman and a secret project called Icarus. There are many reasons for reaching for the bigger payoff this effort involves. As it turns out, there are equal reasons for running from it like the wind. Timothy Zahn's fast-paced story of profit, escapades, and surprising revelations is highly recommended reading for sci-fi fans who enjoy mystery and swift action. Its unpredictable twists and turns will thoroughly engross.

The Jigsaw Assassin
Catherine Asaro
Baen Books
www.baen.com
9781982191962, $16.00

https://www.amazon.com/Jigsaw-Assassin-Major-Bhaajan/dp/1982191961

The Jigsaw Assassin follows a futuristic serial killer whose work implicates those in political power, causing a ripple of response that threatens the political party and calls upon Major Bhaajan to solve the crime. As Bhaaj and her crew delve into political and criminal worlds beyond their usual ken, readers receive an action-packed story of interstellar politics, intrigue, and science fiction that proves satisfying fast-paced, creatively world-building, and hard to put down.

Keeping the Stars Awake
Matthew J. McKee
https://matthewjmckee.com
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9781639883462, $18.99

https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Stars-Awake-Matthew-McKee/dp/1639883460

Keeping the Stars Awake is a sci-fi novel that blends surreal atmosphere with ironic observation, introducing readers to a dystopian world where sleep and the futile pursuit of respite leads to dangerous avenues of despair and disquiet. It's a world at once familiar and alien.

The first thing to note about this story is that Matthew J. McKee takes the time to cultivate a special brand of metaphorical examination that results in especially vivid scenes: "The cicadas have all gone to sleep, their restless wings broken and shorn. The chestnuts have all freed themselves from their sheathes, fat rotting carapaces littering the ground like discarded candy-bar wrappers. The wind is serene, quiet, yet steady in its determination to find succor and haven in the hearts of brave evening saunterers - and no amount of huddling will turn it away. The rain is furtive, yet omni-present. The land is muted and the roads, slated. Above, on thinning branches, frost sleeps, withered birds of ice, shadows drowsing like fish in torpid ponds pooled at their roots."

Readers seeking fast-paced introductions will find the story builds slowly from these roots, which are essential introductions to the heart of this tale's strength: its ability to pull readers into a parallel world in which demons and the divine co-exist side by side.

One doesn't anticipate the sarcastic jokes "mocking the infectious nature of religion" and the chilling descriptions of place that permeate this thoroughly engrossing read, but McKee's language at times reads with the evocative description akin to poetry as the narrator describes a Sacrifice Tree: "I had been horribly mistaken: the autumn foliage was not made bloody by the moon; it was simply bloody to begin with. The tree we had been sitting under had blood-red bark, the leaves that hung from the vein like branches pitch black."

Dialogue, too, is well done and unexpectedly vivid. Witty, ironic, sarcastic, and filled with horror and realization, Keeping the Stars Awake is a work of literary excellence that deserves a place not just in sci-fi, but in literature collections.

Matthew J. McKee has created a refreshingly original and unpredictable story of the mirror world of Oh and Sen, with flawed characters that represent questionable morals, rude awakenings, and startling perspectives. Libraries and literary discussion groups will find Keeping the Stars Awake a compelling exploration that pushes the boundaries of the definition of sci-fi and ironic inspection alike. "'Twas truly a story worthy of keeping the stars awake - one hell of a ridiculous ride - however!"

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