Had an actual guffaw at one panel of Newt and her friends running along a busy colony hallway and just looking like a gaggle of fantasy dwarves a-caperin'. Classic "90s artist who is not used to drawing kids" shit going on.

Hey, a little girl whose space colony is overrun by xenos and survives by herself for weeks (?) until the main story we all know kicks in. Could be interesting, right?

Uhh... we skip Newt's survival -- the one thing that could have added something to the story of Aliens (1986) we are all probably quite familiar with -- through a time jump...? What's the point of this book then?

The second half is literally just the third act of Aliens but it looks worse. It's not even particularly from Newt's POV!

Five stars for a passage in which H.R. Giger sees the bin men do their rounds and describes the truck loading up the bins as "a mechano-erotic act which constitutes a final solution for these overflowing cans" - I have not laughed harder at any piece of intentionally humoristic writing in years.

Guess I should have known from its low page count and the fact that its sequel was released in the very same year, but buyer beware: this is half a book. Despite the grim implications of its title, it’s also a rather jovial one!

Once we get past the inciting incident (apprentice torturer Severian shows unsanctioned mercy to a client, is exiled), the protagonist sets out into the wider world to take on a new job, meeting a colorful array of characters along the way.

There’s no real urgency to it, but there is a steady array of Weird Stuff that befalls Severian, which he relays to us as an old(er) man in a narrative voice tinged with the regret and perspective of age, keeping things compelling.

Wolfe also draws a pretty distinct parallel in Severian’s practicing of his craft to the art of writing itself (standing on the shoulders of giants, serving several masters, putting something of yourself in it while still upholding tradition, … ), adding an intimacy to the text even beyond Older Severian’s personal asides to the reader.

I’ve read some stuff about the book’s relationship to women, how the unreliable narrator is a nice fig leaf for a story that is essentially – beyond all the lofty ambitions and undeniable skill in the prose – about a Cool Sword Guy Who Gets Laid A Lot, but I’ve not yet seen it mentioned that every woman he’s intimate(ish) with is either in a position of weakness or actively trying to swindle him. A character is added near the end who doesn’t fall into either category and I’m told things get weird with her in book two. Can’t wait!

"In the Dissolving City" by Aubrey Stollings

A sickly thief is taken hostage by a deserter in her attempt to steal alchemical reagents from the ravaged site of a wizard's lab. Perhaps it's because I just came off a big Old Moon Quarterly tear, but this one felt like it could have felt right at home in that mag's dark fantasy repertoire. Stollings' prose grabs you by the hair and dunks you in the horse trough from page 1. While perhaps not quite as relentless (editorial decision? i get it!) as a Cormac McCarthy, that first paragraph of Dissolving City brought to mind nothing less than the dessicated chaparral haunting Blood Meridian.

"In Perfection's Shape I Writhe" by Samir Sirk Morato

An outcast journeys towards a deep mountain cult in search of... what exactly would be a spoiler, but the ending will have you going "good for her" like an A24 movie. The body horror actually managed to shock me in this.

"Staku-Ra's Hoard" by Luana Saitta

Saitta is someone you should just PayPal money to, or at the very least DM her and say how cool and hot she is, how much you like her writing etc etc

"The Lament of a Shieldman" by Timaeus Bloom

A wizard is stuck in the torment nexus. Bloom has kiiind of written an S&S Hellraiser here? This one rewards a re-read to piece together its dream (nightmare) logic.

"The Maiden of the Serpent Moon" by Premee Mohamed

Assassin gal makes a bet with a rival to take out a well-guarded nobleman first; this one is loads of fun.

"The Change" by Bryn Hammond

Goatskin is back in an Old Man Logan style tale of haunted regret. It's not just Goatskin that's changed with the years, but the very world and the spirits that lay within. Very touching and elegiac.

"Jirel Meets Death" by Molly Tanzer

The absolute MVP of the issue, New Edge's greatest claim to S&S fame, Molly Tanzer's Jirel returns for a classic jaunt to another dimension* where the Tank of Joiry gets into a romantic entanglement with some very unsavory characters indeed. Business as usual in the CL Moore vein? Not quite! Tanzer expands the cast compared to Moore's more sparsely populated realms, with a mirrored storyline happening in the real world. The pig-headed Jirel encounters enemies, lovers, allies, and all of the above in an ever-shifting chess match of (d)alliances and betrayals. My favorite part (that I can give away without spoiling) is Jirel's unfulfilled appetites haunting her, turning her into a chore to be around for everyone at Chateau Joiry. Tanzer is two for two, and I hope Brackenbury Books is planning to keep racking these up until there's a collection.

*new ga-la-xy

Always a challenge to write up your thoughts when you just sank your teeth into a classic - what am I gonna say here that hasn't (probably) already been said a million times before?

Was most surprised by the two-part structure, with the second half following the offspring of the first half's leads. I just assumed it was Cathy/Heathcliff's stormy/self-destructive affair. Goes to show what a Kate Bush song'll tell ya, huh?

The first half has a certain level of ironic detachment: Catherine and Heathcliff are terrible, but frankly so's everyone else around them, so hell yeah, fuck 'em up Heath.

Then the second half rolls around, and Bronte drops in that most elusive of literary tropes: likable characters. Suddenly, the gothic madman Heathcliff's tortures aren't so funny anymore!

Absolutely insane how much I was marking. That Bronte chick knows how to write or sumthin', I dunno!

Underrated cultural influence: I feel like the entire concept of fanfic where characters just agonize over their feelings (and fuck each other over in increasingly baroque ways) was right there 200 years ago - just with original characters instead of, I dunno, Captain America and Bucky.

Nobody has jobs! The world doesn't seem to matter to the Heights or the Grange - it's only the tenants and the masters that are able to destroy each other. Not even nature matters unless it's a reflection of a character's inner world: anyone gonna die of exposure? Yeah man that's cuz they let themselves go and wandered the moors until they caught the Drama Bug.

The whole character of Linton fucked me up so bad, man. "More lass than lad", a pretty doll for Cathy to brush his hair, ... Emily projecting through the Beastmaster 2 Portal of Time to hit me right where I live.

may i interest u in my Cathy/Linton/Hareton O3P HEA AU???????