I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

Cleared another book from my TBR list this week: I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi. “When news stations start reporting that Earth has been contacted by a planet named Alma, the world is abuzz with rumors that the alien entity is giving civilization only a few days before they hit the kill switch.”

Books I’m looking forward to : Latest by Baldree and Wells

Andrew Limbong, host of NPR’s Book of the Day, invited readers of the newsletter to share what books they are looking forward to between now and the end of the year. Two books that I’m looking forward to are Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree (coming in November 2025) and Platform Decay by Martha Wells (coming in May 2026).
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What I’m reading : Mort(e)

While much of my reading is Tween and Young Adult fiction, I also enjoy Science Fiction and Fantasy for an adult readership. One of the books I am currently reading is Mort(e) by Robert Repino.

Giant ants have masterminded an uprising by surface animals, whose intelligence has been boosted and who now possess the ability to walk upright on their hind legs.

The warrior Mort(e), formerly a housecat named Sebastian, searches for his lost companion, a dog named Sheba, while a mysterious prophecy tells of animals and humans joining forces to overthrow the ants.

Video review : ‘The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel’

“Hello, everybody!” In my latest Book-Talk video, I review The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel, an adaptation by author Sheela Chari of what was originally a serial podcast for young people. Look for the book to be published in October by Walker Books US.

I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers.

Science fiction and fantasy can help young readers cope

Here’s an interesting article, via The Conversation, which suggests that reading science fiction and fantasy can help young readers cope and make sense of the world, “especially with the stress and anxiety of living through the COVID-19 pandemic.” As a long-time reader of science fiction and fantasy, I appreciate this perspective by writer, Esther Jones, that “Rather than limiting readers’ capacity to deal with reality, exposure to outside-the-box creative stories may expand their ability to engage reality based on science.”

‘The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away’

What an intense read: gripping, suspenseful; it kept me thoroughly engrossed, wanting to know what happened next. Things build inexorably to a climactic moment that caught this reader, at least, up in the urgency and drama.

The protagonist, Simon, is obsessed with aliens, and especially with tales of alien abduction.

One day, Simon goes camping with his parents, who send him into the woods to gather firewood. While alone in the woods, he sees a pulsing light and what he thinks is an owl; next thing he knows, he is lying on the ground and his parents are bending over him.

Simon believes — knows — that he was abducted by aliens, the “Grays,” as they are referred to. But no one will believe him; his parents send him to a psychiatrist who simply medicates him.

‘Dragon Pearl’ by Yoon Ha Lee

On an impoverished and remote planet, Min and her brother Jun dreamed of one day traveling together among their civilization’s “Thousand Worlds.” Jun joined the Space Forces and Min’s plan was to enlist alongside him as soon as she was old enough — but as Dragon Pearl opens, Jun has disappeared.

Seemingly, Jun deserted his post to pursue a mystical object, the “Dragon Pearl.”

To figure out what really happened to Jun, Min decides to run away from home, and follow him into space. Complicating matters, Min and her family are fox spirits, who are viewed with suspicion by their society.

‘Cat Zero’ by Jennifer L. Rohn

I found Cat Zero by Jennifer L. Rohn (Biting Duck Press, January 2018) to be very suspenseful in its treatment of a virus outbreak, and could emotionally relate to the urgency of keeping the virus contained.

The story was well-done, with characters who seemed like real people, complete with preconceptions and biases that affected the work at-hand. I foresee this book especially appealing to people who like medical thrillers.

The best parts of the story, for me, were when Artie and the other researchers attempted to piece together information and solve the mystery of the virus, and I kept waiting for the moment when someone would connect the lethal virus affecting cats, to the contagion spreading among humans. (That link was depicted in the story’s opening pages, so I don’t think this insight is a spoiler.)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinion expressed is my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

‘How to Capture an Invisible Cat’ by Paul Tobin

Every Friday the 13th, sixth-grader and genius Nate Bannister keeps his life interesting by doing three not-so-smart things.

This is why a super-sized, invisible cat is tearing at the Bannister home’s roof as our story opens in Paul Tobin’s How to Capture an Invisible Cat (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books, March 2016). It’s the first volume in The Genius Factor, a children’s adventure series.

The key to reducing the cat is scrambled in numerical codes that Nate placed on school classmates. He and his new (and only) friend Delphine scramble to recover the codes from their unwitting carriers.

‘On the Edge of Gone’ by Corinne Duyvis

Minutes before a meteor strikes the earth, Denise and her mother are granted temporary shelter aboard a “generation ship,” designed for a journey that will take several lifetimes to travel to distant planets.

Before the meteor, Denise cared for cats at an animal shelter. She attended neighborhood events that were organized by her sister Iris. But before it even struck the earth, the meteor’s arrival changed everyone’s life irrevocably.

Now ships like this are one of humankind’s few hopes for surviving the meteor’s impact.

‘Accessing the Future,’ disability-themed SF

As a library professional, it matters to me that resources in the collection validate the experiences and reflect the diversity that exists among its readership. Science fiction, like other genres of storytelling, needs to advance this aim.

For this reason, Accessing the Future (Futurefire.net, 2015), is a vitally important addition to the diverse library collection. Edited by Kathryn Allan and Djibril al-Ayad, Accessing the Future explores issues of disability, accommodation and accessibility through speculative fiction and art. Its contributors provide unique and valuable perspectives in which characters with disabilities navigate future societies.

‘Station Eleven’ by Emily St. John Mandel

In Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Vintage, 2015), a deadly virus has wiped out nearly all of the earth’s human population. Its survivors group in pre-industrial settlements in former strip malls, airports and schools.

A troupe of actors and a symphony orchestra travel among these settlements, performing Shakespeare’s plays. When they arrive at one settlement, they discover that it is under the control of a religious cult. A couple who settled there to have a baby have now disappeared and headstones mark their empty graves in the settlement cemetery. The couple’s last-known destination was the “Museum of Civilization.”

‘Rogues’ anthology of short fiction

During the recent “Winter Reads” program through Jackson County Library Services, participants were able to select a free “gently used” book for each reading log turned in.

My selection was Rogues, an anthology of short fiction edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.

I was already partial toward anthologies of short fiction for the benefits they offered the reader: short stories, easy to read in one sitting, but with a variety that transcended the collected works of only a single author.

‘The Word Exchange’ by Alena Graedon

Books that my husband and I read aloud together hold a special place on my “currently-reading” list.

The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon (Doubleday, 2014) occupies a category whose past luminaries include J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and numerous science-fiction and fantasy series.

As The Word Exchange opens, a woman named Ana explains that her father disappeared from the “Dictionary.” And her statement is doubly true.

‘The Lunar Chronicles’ by Marissa Meyer

Related to my class discussion of fairy tales (and their heroines) this week, I recommend reading The Lunar Chronicles, a series of Young Adult science fiction novels by author Marissa Meyer.

Each book in the series is modeled after a fairy tale, and centers upon a heroine and her “prince.”

With my longstanding interest in “fractured” fairy tales, reading this series was natural for me. And because my comments address the story mid-series, they may unavoidably contain “spoilers.”

Children’s literature: Early influences

In an online forum for my Early Childhood Education class, students are asked to think back concerning their earliest experiences with books. “Do you remember a parent, grandparent, or teacher reading to you? As you learned to read, were you encouraged to read, and what sorts of books did you like and/or dislike and why? Was reading modeled at home by other family members?”

Children’s literature: My reasons for taking course

For my classmates’ enjoyment: Starfire on her special ‘cat shelf’

In an online forum, my Early Childhood Education class asks for an introduction, including my reasons for taking the class and any experience working with children.

‘The Age of Miracles’ by Karen Thompson Walker

For 11-year-old Julia, the physical and emotional changes that come with growing up are compounded by the inexplicable slowing of the earth’s rotation on its axis.

The change affects gravity and the earth’s magnetic field. Birds die and whales beach themselves.

The planet’s ability to continue to support life is increasingly uncertain.

Social chasms erupt between “clock time” proponents and “natural time” adherents who arrange their waking and sleeping hours around ever-longer days and nights.

The narrator speaks with an adult’s perspective looking back at her younger self. I’d recommend it for adult readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories as well as science-fiction fans.

Cross-posted to Jackson County Library Services on Facebook

‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell

The best way to describe Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is with the words of one of its narrators describing a musical composition, a “sextet for overlapping soloists.”

“In the first set, each solo is interrupted by its successor: in the second, each interruption is recontinued, in order.”

The novel tells six stories set at various eras of history, ranging from pre-abolition of slavery to a distant future where society has collapsed. Each narrator leaves behind a relic — letters, a composition, a holographic recording — that touches or has an influence upon someone who comes afterward.

Steampunk proposes ‘fantastic alternative history’

Here’s an interesting take on the Steampunk genre by Matthew Crary writing for UU World: “The expansion of British rule and the rise of the Industrial Age brought with them glaring injustices, many of which [Charles] Dickens made the underpinning of his most famous and cherished narratives. ...