Voices on the Midnight Air

The Wicked + the Divine vol. 2 by Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen
We Stand on Guard #1 by Steve Skroce and Brian K. Vaughan
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Foulsham by Edward Carey
Last First Snow by Max Gladstone
Zeroes by Chuck Wendig


Notable Short Fiction
"The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild" by Catherynne Valente
"The Midnight Hour" by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy
The Book of the Dead by Muriel Rukeyser
Requiem by Anna Akhmatova
Wonder Woman #1
Wonder Woman #5
Wonder Woman #6
Collected Fiction by Hannu Rajaniemi
Uprooted by Naomi Novik (plus squee on Rocket Talk)
Velvet vol. 2 by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
The Angel of History by Carolyn Forché
Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone (for upcoming review of Craft Sequence)
Atlantis by Mark Doty
The Buriel of the Dead by Seamus Heaney
The Avengers #57
The Avengers #58
The Avengers #113
The Avengers #114
The Fantastic Four #51
The Forever People #1
The Forever People #2
Howard the Duck #8
Howard the Duck #9
Howard the Duck #10
Watchmen (like 3 re-reads)

Hardly any short fiction this month, as the reading schedule for courses and NPR reviews was a bit intense. Also not counting the reading of three short stories of 2500-7500 word length a week written by my students, and marking two courses' worth of assignments.

Books:

My Traitor's Heart by Rian Malan
Two Months in the Camp of Big Bear by Theresa Gowanlock and Theresa Delaney.
Winona by Isabella Valancy Crawford
Persona by Genevieve Valentine
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
Sex Criminals vol. 2by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
To My Children's Children by Sindiwe Magona
The Obituary by Gail Scott
Theses on the Philosophy of History by Walter Benjamin

Notable Short Fiction:

"The New Mother" by EJ Fischer (novella) (review)

This week I look at a story from the ever-excellent Clarkesworld.

“No Vera There” is one of those stories that simultaneously engages parts of my brain that appreciate very different things: in this case narrative and structure. There’s something supremely satisfying about a story where form follows function before using form to reflect on that function. In this case, Vera is a piece of a human consciousness that’s been uploaded to a cloud and then imperfectly downloaded into a body again, trying to piece her memories and sense of self together through the medium of internet-era quizzes.

Enjoy!


In other news, Tor.com also has a fantastic round-up of its reviewers' favourite books of the year. I put mine up too! It is, of course, a rolling list of favourites, and will no doubt change as I manage to read some of the other intriguing books being recommended.

Finally, just to cap off the day's doings -- I'm very happy to announce that I've sold a short story called "Pockets" to Uncanny magazine. It will appear in their second issue, and will be released online to read and listen to in February of next year. It's also my second-ever science fiction story, with lab coats and thermodynamics and stuff! And a nod and wink to Edward Carey's Heap House, which partly inspired it.