The whole land shall be a desolation, yet will I not make a full end: Kay Chronister’s liminal Desert Creatures

The whole land shall be a desolation, yet will I not make a full end: Kay Chronister’s liminal Desert Creatures Zachary Gillan Under Review:Desert Creatues. Kay Chronister. Erewhon Books, November 2022. The word “liminal” is having a moment on the internet. As with so many things having a moment on the internet, though, it’s being … Continue reading The whole land shall be a desolation, yet will I not make a full end: Kay Chronister’s liminal Desert Creatures

Investigator Outsider: Exploring the Off-Kilter World of Robert Freeman Wexler’s The Silverberg Business

Investigator Outsider: Exploring the Off-Kilter World of Robert Freeman Wexler’s The Silverberg Business Melissa Benton Barker Under Review:The Silverberg Business. Robert Freeman Wexler. Small Beer Press, August 2022. Sometime in 1888, a private investigator, Shannon, returns home to coastal Texas for what he assumes will be a quick visit. He is soon called upon to … Continue reading Investigator Outsider: Exploring the Off-Kilter World of Robert Freeman Wexler’s The Silverberg Business

Panopticon Blues: Review of In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu

Panopticon Blues: Review of In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu Zachary Gillan Under Review: In the Watchful City. By S. Qiouyi Lu. Tordotcom, August 31, 2021. There is no setting I love more than a weird city, and there’s no kind of weird city I love more than one in the tradition of … Continue reading Panopticon Blues: Review of In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu

Cannibal Nuns and the Problem of Blood: Review of Star Eater by Kerstin Hall

Cannibal Nuns and the Problem of Blood: Review of Star Eater by Kerstin Hall Zachary Gillan Under Review: Star Eater. By Kerstin Hall. Tordotcom, June 22, 2021. Fantasy has a blood problem. I don’t mean gore, although the genre's relationship to violence also bears examining, but genealogy: a disturbingly common emphasis on lineages and bloodlines, … Continue reading Cannibal Nuns and the Problem of Blood: Review of Star Eater by Kerstin Hall