reading notes

by Craig Thompson
ISBN: 1891830430
I waited a long time for this book. I bought it when I went to MoCCA, and was lucky enough to meet Craig Thompson and get him to sign (and sketch!) my copy. He said he hoped that I enjoyed it — and, trying not to have a heart attack just talking [...]

by Ted Chiang
ISBN: 0765304198
Chiang has won numerous sci fi awards (Nebula, Sturgeon, etc.) and all but one of these stories have been previously published, but that didn’t stop me from not having heard of him before I picked up this book. Thank God for paperback collections of stories, so those of us who missed out [...]

by Matthew Derby
ISBN: 0316738573
This thematically linked collection of stories is twisted, disturbing, and compulsively readable.
The stories are supposed to be recovered from victims of future atrocities; recovered by those who lived through the times and were allowed to remember them.
The future pieced together in this book is a dark one: vegetables disappear and even popsicles [...]

by Jim Munroe
No Media Kings
Jim Munroe writes fun science fiction novels: people turn into insects and become unlikely superheroes (Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask), teach English on a planet with a liquid atmosphere (Angry Young Spaceman), and in this, his latest book, upload their minds.
Munroe’s pacing, character development, and biting satire just get better [...]

by Lauren R. Weinstein
ISBN: 189186744X
When I picked up this smallish, square book with its color cover, I was surprised it only cost $5.95. (Yes, next to the price it says “insanely cheap!” — guess Weinstein really made good use of her Xeric grant.) I also noticed right away that Weinstein has a weird sense of [...]

by Sara Varon
ISBN: 1891867490
This is another well-produced, handsome-looking book: color covers and some inside pages too, good paper, the book has a solid feel. It is also cute as hell.
Varon draws with fluid, strong lines. Her animals, the little person, and the snow man are all whimsical, yet avoid being nauseatingly cute. The cat walking [...]

by Douglas Coupland
ISBN: 0375707239
This is definitely a Coupland novel — over the top pop culture references, quirky characters doing not-quite-believable yet works-in-this-context things — the bizarre as familiar.
I wish it were better a better Coupland novel. Microserfs, or All Families Are Psychotic, even Girlfriend in a Coma was better. I found the hammering of pop [...]

published by Adhouse books, designed by Chris Pitzer
ISBN: 0972179429
This is one gorgeous book. It feels nice and heavy in your hand, has full-color front and back covers, rounded corners, and is printed not just in black ink, but metallic blue as well. Telstar is an anthology with a theme: space, and robots. This is one [...]

by Charles Baxter
ISBN: 0140156283
I like Baxter’s writing: he always seems to know what he is doing, even when his characters don’t, and that makes me trust him. This particular collection of about a dozen stories is one of his older books (it came out thirteen years ago) and most of the stories were previously published [...]