Reviews and Comments

In an alternate Egypt, a princess with the ability to 'throw' her consciousness into birds to control them and see what they see, gets involved in a conspiracy by European powers to sabotage a company she has shares in. Working (perhaps romantically) with an American actress (who is more than just an actress), they spy on proceedings to uncover the plot. The princess' ability would involve her into doing quick acts with the birds to help save the day.

A Canadian goes to the US (Mississippi) to help with recovery efforts. But she has to be very careful who she helps and how she helps, for the US state is in the grip of an election between progressives and extreme conservatives who will take any advantage of 'outsiders' coming to help as a pretext for baying that 'socialists' are coming to 'invade' and 'take away' their freedoms.

A moment of inattention is all that is needed for the bad news to spread, but perhaps the repercussions may not have the intended effect.

A book with lovely tales that supplement the author's Celestial Kingdom duology of books. Best read after reading the duology, as the tales contain spoilers for events and the relationships between characters in the book. The book also contains wonderful illustrations of scenes and characters from the book.

The first part of the book contains preview stories showing how Chang-e became the moon goddess. The second part has side-tales that occur in the duology, but told from the viewpoint of other characters from the book, giving us a look at their inner-thoughts. The last part tells what happened during the end of the duology and afterwards, and gives a lovely closure for the main characters from the duology.

Two people, each with secrets, meet while on an assignment and get romantically attached. But the assignment would require them to trust each other do to their work, despite their secrets, when they enter a lab on an asteroid due to be demolished to retrieve some organic material. It is only at the lab do they realize the nature of the organic material and have to work on the spot to secure it. But the job would seal together their relationship.

Becoming a superhero has become regulated, and all applicants have to fill in Form 8774-D; or else. This story is about one bureaucrat whose job in the department is to deal with those applicants and make sure they fill it in as expected. Of course, there will be some superhero-wannabes that don't play by the rules, resulting in mayhem at the department. But with some help, perhaps she can make it through the day without too much trouble.

An interesting tale of a time in the future when a plague has caused much of civilization to collapse. One old man who lived through the time now works on transcribing only true things about the world. When he rests, he spends his time bringing a young girl (who does not speak) around town, where we get to see the after effects the plague has had on the world.

But the old man is getting weaker and suffering from more pain, and wonders how it would affect his relationship with the girl, for the plague has had an effect on him too, one that he has to hide from a world that fears, and kills people who are not normal.

The story starts like any other cyberpunkish tale: a notorious hacker/protector is hired to protect the body and assets of a major cryptocurrency persona, who goes by the unusual name of Mealybug, who is being doxxed and hunted by persons unknown. That would become important later on when the person is revealed to be not quite who we think he is, making it even more important that the person's life is saved to generate yet more cryptocurrency in safety.

In a future where the climate crises are common, one person works as part of teams to clear and rebuild after storms, hurricanes, wildfires, etc. have passed. But he has now grown weary and thinks of his retirement. But the constant crises should have shown him that nobody, not even a person used to rebuilding after a disaster, is safe from disasters.

A dragon who travels the rail system is constantly harassed by the major and his security, who in turn fights back. Their conflict irritates travellers, who rather just use the dragon to get from A to B. Eventually, the dragon and fellow travellers decide the only way is to compete to become mayor, which leads to all kinds of social and public media subterfuge. Eventually, both the mayor and the dragon meet to debate, which ends rather abruptly, leading to a change: perhaps for the better.

A private detective, who suffers from hallucinations, is assigned to recover the mummified head of a monk stolen from a cathedral. But things take a surreal turn when he tracks down the thief, who is now also suffering from similar hallucinations, only in a more severe form. The clues point to the stolen head. But time is short, for the thief escapes and returns for more of the heads, which may lead to humanity suffering from a shared, horrifying global hallucination.

An AI car which serves its uploaded owner picks up a visiting passenger. That visit would gradually turn tense as the passenger has a grudge against the owner, and then violent. Events would then put the car into a dilemma, as it tries to serve both its owner and the passenger, which is at odds with its own priorities. Eventually something has to give, and the car must decide which one.

An urban-fantasy story about a person who knows the city of New York well. Perhaps too well, for he feels he can sense the pulse of life in the city. This turns out to close to the truth, when an acquaintance tells him that the city is about to become alive, like several other major cities in the world, and he was to become the 'mid-wife' that will bring the city to life. But that has its dangers, for there are older beings out there who hate to see new life being born and will do all they can to end it before it begins. Thus begins his task to protect the city as it is being born, and to use his skill at 'feeling the city' to fend off attacks until the process it over.

Can be read online [ gizmodo.com/lightspeed-presents-sci-fi-story-money-in-the-bank-1850807744 ]