Published in 2020, this anthology serves as the first dedicated short story collection in the popular Rivers of London (Peter Grant) urban fantasy series by Ben Aaronovitch.
In some ways, the short stories are better than the novels because they stick to one story line.
Ben Aaronovitch includes a new, personal introduction for each tale, providing unique behind-the-scenes anecdotes that fans thoroughly enjoy.
Of course, you need to know the Rivers of London universe before diving into short stories.
… a story about several people who, while traveling along the desolated Highway 50 in Nevada, get abducted by Collie Entragian, the deputy of the fictional mining town of Desperation.
Entragian uses various pretexts for the abductions, from an arrest for drug possession to “rescuing” a family from a nonexistent gunman.
It becomes clear to the captives that Entragian has been possessed by an evil being named Tak, who has control over the surrounding desert wildlife and must change hosts to keep itself alive.
They begin to fight for their freedom, sanity and lives before realizing that if they are ever to escape Desperation, they must trap Tak in the place from which he came.
The Lesser Devil is a science fantasy spin-off novel by Christopher Ruocchio, officially designated as Book 1.5 in his acclaimed Sun Eater space opera series.
First published on April 14, 2020, the book shifts focus away from the main series protagonist, Hadrian Marlowe, to tell a self-contained story from the perspective of his younger brother.
I actually liked this novella better than the original book.
Shorter. Simpler. Fast paced.
The Protagonist: Crispin Marlowe, House Marlowe’s least famous son, who has lived long in his brother’s shadow.
The Plot: Crispin answers a deathbed summons from his grandmother, the Duchess of Delos, only to fly directly into a political trap orchestrated by rivals and family factions.
The Conflict: Stranded with only his sister, Sabine, and a few injured guards, Crispin must defend a remote town and battle a mysterious pagan cult dwelling in the mountains.
The Themes: The narrative heavily explores legacy, leadership, class systems, and the friction between the state’s Chantry religion and a surviving enclave of Old Earth Catholicism.
… We have two eyes, mounted horizontally on our faces. Our view of the world is a wide horizontal slice. Movie cameras, movie screens, TV screens, and computer screens are horizontal for the same reason.
But then the iPhone happened. It became the #1 most used camera on earth, and everything changed.
The smartphone wasn’t designed to accommodate our eyes; it was designed to accommodate our hands …
Which way should you shoot your photos / videos?
One option is to shoot BOTH horizontal and vertical at the same time. (Alternatively you can crop a large image into either horizontal or vertical.)
Alternatively, some software allows “outpainting.”
A.I. fills in the missing data. OF COURSE this doesn’t look good all the time. 😀
In September, iOS 27 will arrive on 1.5 billion iPhones. The Photos app will include an Extend button. (A similar feature, called Uncrop, is already available on some Android phones.)
The story follows Sydney and Curtis Lowe, a New York couple whose lives unravel after Curtis confesses to an affair.
Desperate to repair their fractured marriage, they move to a remote, crumbling 1963 hilltop villa in Costa Brava, Spain.
Their isolated fresh start takes a tense turn when an attractive pair of Australian travelers arrives at their doorstep after a van breakdown. Craving companionship and free renovation help, Sydney and Curtis invite them to stay.
However, as shifting loyalties and deep secrets emerge, it becomes clear the strangers’ arrival may not be accidental, and survival at the villa is no longer guaranteed
Facing eviction, the broke protagonist takes a waitressing job at an isolated mansion on Peyton’s Peak. The reader controls the narrative by choosing the character’s actions at various turning points.
The book features a distinct “choose-your-own-adventure” style, departing from her standard linear psychological thrillers. You can explore the various formats
Well known for dry, hot, sunny summers and cool, cloudy winters. The second mildest winter of any non-coastal city in Canada, after neighbouring Penticton.
We did a couple of days at beaches and the waterfront.
Spent even more time socializing over great food and drink.
Interesting premise. But not really a good fit for me.
Empire of Silence (2018) is first in the Sun Eater series.
The story is written as a first-person memoir told by Hadrian Marlowe, a man who is remembered by history both as a legendary hero who eradicated an alien threat and as a monster who destroyed a sun, killing billions of lives.
The Frame Narrative: An older, captive Hadrian looks back on his long life, attempting to explain the complex choices that led to his infamy.
The Flight: To avoid a grim future engineered by his tyrannical father, Hadrian flees his aristocratic noble house.
The Fall: Stranded penniless on a backwater world, he is forced to live in the slums and eventually fight for survival as a gladiator.
The Conflict: He becomes entangled in the political web of the Sollan Empire and the devastating, galaxy-wide war against the mysterious, predatory alien race known as the Cielcin
Rick McCharles 