Spec Fic Quickie: The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe

Available now

I am very late getting to this one so I’m sure you have already heard how amazing and original this collection is. It’s all true. This collection of interconnected short stories is wildly imaginative and thought provoking. The world building is complex and detailed and absolutely terrifying. It’s a dark look at what our future could be, but, as depressing as it sounds, it also feels very possible. Now, I am not going to pretend to understand all the complexities that these authors put to paper so I apologize in advance for what I get wrong.

In this world, memories are everything. Memories are collected and analyzed and those whose memories are deemed deviant, are sent for Counseling, and molded into the type of citizen that Little Delta deems suitable for living there. It’s a world of great oppression and a rebellion that is gaining traction in their quest for freedom. It’s a world that is full of surveillance technology and power hungry government.

It was very interesting and I really enjoyed it, even the places I had to reread several times because I struggled with it making sense.

You can click on the cover image for ordering information and as always, this post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Associate links and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Scanoes

Available Now

Burning Girls and Other Stories is a fascinating and magical collection of short stories from Veronica Schanoes. Showcasing the resilience of women, this collection draws on historical events and folktales and paints them in a new light. In Phosphorus, my favorite of the collection, we learn of the horrors of an unsafe workplace and the devastating and deadly consequences that can be found when workers, often women, are left with no power. In Among the Thorns, the opening story, a young woman seeks revenge on the people who murdered her father. Powerfully told, you can feel the anger and grief grown inside Ittele as she learns of her father’s death and the way the village that murdered him gloated about his death. After her mother dies, she sets out to seek revenge and learns there is more to the world than she knows. 

How to Bring Someone Back from the Dead explores the tortuous journey of grieving someone you love and the understandable reaction to want them back. 

While many of the stories focus on the grief and loss, at the heart of it, this collection highlights the strength and resilience of women. In the end, the women move on under their own terms and in their own way. 

Beautiful, dark, and expertly put together, this collection is one that should be on everyone’s shelf. If you would like to get your own copy, you can find ordering information here:

Vampires Never Get Old Edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker

Available Now

Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker have put together a stellar list of authors for this young adult anthology centered around vampires. In fact, this collection is so well done, even the verso page has a curse for anyone who dares steal this book. A curse. On the verso page. Chef's kiss.

Included in this anthology are some of the most influential YA authors: Tessa Gratton, Rebecca Roanhorse, Julie Murphy, Heidi Heilig, Samira Ahmed, Kayla Whaley, Zoraida Córdova, Natalie C. Parker, Laura Ruby, Mark Oshiro, Dhonielle Clayton, and Victoria Schwab. A few of these authors were new to me-I'm still working on upping my YA reading-but many were authors on my favorites list. If you love to learn more about authors and what influences their writing, I highly recommend the podcast Vampires Never Get Old: The Podcast. Each episode is an interview with one of the authors about the vampires books and movies that they love and influenced their writing. It's really, really good.

I have grown to love anthologies for their exposure to new-to-me authors and the way short story collections allow you to dip in and out form a book without guilt. Only have a few minutes? You can fit in one story and come back for more later. It's really hard to pick a favorite story from this collection, they are all so well done. This collection is as far from your typical collection as you can get-you will not find any white, straight, cis-gendered, buff men here. There's vampires of all skin colors, body sizes, sexual identities, and physical abilities. At the end of each story, Córdova and Parker include historical context and notes on the tropes found in the story.

This collection is a wonderful reimagining of the vampire myth and the variety of stories guarantees there's something for everyone.

Some fun t.v. news-"First Kill" by Victoria Schwab is going to be adapted!

Want to add a copy to your collection? You can find ordering information here:

The Inheritors by Asako Serizawa

Available July 14, 2020

The Inheritors is a beautifully written collection of connected short stories centered around a family through multiple generations and countries. Told from multiple perspectives, each with a distinct voice and style, The Inheritors is a fascinating look at how our actions can have an impact on future generations. Much of the book centers around the second World War and its effect on not only the citizens of Japan, but on the Koreans who were forced to work there by the Japanese. Family, love, grief and patriotism are all examined throughout the collection and some stories are more difficult emotionally than others. 

The story titled Flight was particularly impactful. Ayumi is sharing her memories, those she still has, of growing up and her first visit to America in 1911. The power of discovering a tomato for the first time. How her second tomato was discovered during her second pregnancy and the fear of Americans animosity towards people from Asia. Interspersed with her memories of raising her children and her marriage, are the ways her mind is betraying her. Names leave her first. She differentiates her daughters by their features, not their names. She doesn’t have those anymore. Ayumi recalls the difficulty of living in a country where you aren’t wanted. How she wasn’t able to communicate with her family back home because it could cause suspicion with the American government. The struggle to raise a family during the Depression. All the while, we are reminded that in the present, she doesn’t remember her children or their names. 

Many tears friends, many tears. 

Allegiance gives us Masaharu, a man who follows his wife to work and doesn’t understand why she’s working around so many soldiers. Their son is missing and the distance between them grows every day. In the next story, we hear her side of the story. As an old woman, she allows herself to be interviewed about her life during the war and how she was forced into acting as a “comfort woman.” The horrors that those women endured. The writing styles are drastically different between the two stories, creating a more powerful narrative. 

This was a fascinating collection of short stories and I highly recommend it. 

Want a copy for yourself? You can get one here:

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.  All opinions and mistakes are my own. This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, Edited by Nisi Shawl

New Suns:  Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color

Edited by Nisi Shawl

I’m late getting to this one, not because I didn’t want to read it, but because I really wanted to take the time and absorb each and every story and every story in this collection is incredible.  

Friends, Rebecca Roanhorse has a story in this collection.  I mean, that’s all I need to say.

Covering a range of topics, settings, and time periods, there is a short story for everyone in this collection.  What do you do when Earth becomes an intergalactic tourist destination? Have you ever considered a Djinn complaint department?  

I especially loved the short story The Robots of Eden by Anil Menon.  The story opens with a husband reflecting on his wife and her lover, Sollozzo, arriving from Boston so that together, they can inform their young daughter of their divorce.  It’s handled so matter of factly and without any anger or resentment that it’s a bit confusing. Why isn’t he upset? He claims that he and Sollozzo both love the same woman.  Shouldn’t he be sad? It’s only later that we learn that many in the world are now Enhanced. They are connected to AI through implants that levels off-maybe even takes away-all of their aggressive and negative emotions.  After the divorce, the husband and Sollozzo become friends, speaking frequently and enjoying philosophical and literary debates. The divide between the Enhanced and Unenhanced takes a chilling turn when tragedy hits the family and the only upset is Velli, an Unenhanced woman who works for the family.  This story was a powerful look at how even the most devastating of emotions are important to the human journey and no matter how badly we want to turn them off, we shouldn’t.

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories and I would highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in trying out short stories-they’re a new love of mine.  

Reader Friends!  Right now, this book is only $5.38 on Kindle.  Jump on that.

You can get your copy, and help support the site, here:

Florida by Lauren Groff

Florida is a compelling collection of eleven short stories that weave together the hot, humid, buggy, and often dangerous aspects of the snake filled state.  From the casual surveillance of the neighborhood to alligator filled waters, each short story is filled with engrossing characters, many of which were very difficult to like.  In each story, you can almost feel the hot, humid heat raising tempers that are already dangerously high.

In one story, two little girls are left on an island during a dangerous storm.  How they land on the island is just as terrifying as the creatures hiding in the leaves.

My favorite story is first in the collection.  A tired, overworked mother walks her neighborhood to escape the stress of bedtime rituals with her sons.  Leaving her husband to deal with the boys, she prowls the neighborhood keeping watch on her neighbors and the nighttime creatures she encounters on her walks.  With each new season, the people change as much as the neighborhood. Slimmer bodies, missing trees, new babies at the pond and a nunnery closing down only to be brought back to life by a new owner, all change as much as the mother.

The stories in this collection were incredible.  I had heard many positive reviews on the many book podcasts I follow and talked the Director into ordering a copy for the Library.  I gave it three days on the shelf before I checked it out for myself and read ¾ of it on my lunch hour the same day. One thing I’ve grown to love about short story collections is that if one of the stories doesn’t suit your tastes-you skip it and move on.

Florida by Lauren Groff, is available now from Riverhead Books.  

You can get your copy, and help support the site, here: