Our March meetup turned out to be another month with, unfortunately, rather too many late call-offs – including me this time as I fell foul of a nasty cold, so I can’t comment directly on how the conversation went, but judging from the scores it looks like Mexican Gothic went down very well (scoring 78) while The Moonstone certainly had some fans (including me!) with a score of 58.
For April, we have a supernatural historical fantasy set in the trenches of WW1 and a collection of science fiction short stories.
Let’s also hope for April we have less late call offs (again including me!!).
Oh – and by way of reminder, we appreciate attendees making a contribution of £1.50 at the meeting to help cover meetup charges.
Happy Reading.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (nominated by (Pat)
Amid the falling shells of Flanders Field, magic and mystery fills the air…
January 1918: Laura Iven, a Canadian nurse, returns home from the war, only to receive devastating news - her brother Freddie is dead. But something doesn’t quite make sense.
Determined to uncover the truth, Laura heads back to Belgium, volunteering at a private hospital. There, she encounters the eerie whispers of ghosts moving among those still living and a strange inn-keeper whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could this have happened to Freddie - but if so, where is he?
November 1917: Freddie Iven wakes after an explosion to find himself trapped with a wounded German soldier. Against all the odds, they form a bond and claw their way to an escape.
But in the chaos of No Man's Land, neither know where to turn to avoid persecution. Amidst the atrocity, they encounter a fiddler with the power to make their hellscape vanish - but at what price?
With the power to both warm and break your heart, The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a breathtaking and spellbinding tale of love, survival, and the supernatural.
Exhalation by Ted Chiang (nominated by Jenn)
From the acclaimed author of Stories of Your Life and Others – the basis for the Academy Award nominated film Arrival – comes a groundbreaking second collection of short fiction: nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories. These are tales that tackle some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries that only Ted Chiang could imagine.
In ‘The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate’, a portal through time forces a fabric-seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past errors and the temptation of second chances. In the epistolary ‘Exhalation’, an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications not just for his own people, but for all of reality. In ‘Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom’, the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.
In Exhalation, Ted Chiang addresses the most fundamental of issues – What is the nature of the universe? What does it mean to be human? – alongside others that no one else has even imagined. And, each in its own way, the stories prove that complex and thoughtful science fiction can rise to new heights of beauty, meaning, and compassion.
Other books nominated were:
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Hotel by Elizabeth Bowen
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
