BOOKLOVES

A thought-provoking look at the confrontations of the online world breaking into reality If conflict is the lifeblood of fiction, it could be said the exploitation of conflict is the lifeblood of social media. Shanghai Casino owner Shane Thomas takes this further by arranging and hosting the annual Shanghai Lottery: a boxing card to settle […]

The bandits are dead in under a minute, and then the man who killed them sits down at the side of the road to wait. His new master is unconscious in the frost, badly beaten, and the magic that binds him will not permit him to build a fire or hold water to the man’s […]

Ancient prophecies, awakening powers, and an academy for the gifted are reimagined in this sprawling YA novel about the allure of power beyond imagination. It’s one thing to be able to move objects with your mind, see the future, and read people’s thoughts. It’s another to study alongside other kids with abnormal abilities and face […]

A memorial consultant at a suburban crematorium takes a pair of bolt cutters to a body nobody has claimed, wraps one finger, and posts it to a high school principal. Asked later why, she explains without embarrassment that she wanted an actual finger pointing at somebody. She is calm, apple-cheeked, wearing a blouse with a […]

An eighteen-year-old walks into a government office and is told to take a number. He waits the better part of an hour. When his number comes up he is questioned by an intake officer who asks him to rate his level of annoyance on a scale of one to ten, and then sends him to […]

A sweeping Hollywood novel that blends a migration story with artistic ambition and a deep love of classic monster cinema Hollywood fiction demands a certain degree of nuanced attention to artistic ambition. But not all Hollywood novels are created equal. Many attempt to intertwine an artist’s coming-of-age story with some form of industry critique, often […]

Partway through the spring conclave, the assembled scythes of MidMerica sit through a run of sales pitches. Vendors get ten minutes each to demonstrate new products to the Weaponsmaster, who controls procurement. One offers a digital poison that turns a person’s healing machinery against them; he uses the word victim and is dismissed on the […]