Vancouver Noir

Vancouver Noir by Sam Wiebe


A great collection of short stories set in different Vancouver neighbourhoods.

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The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies

The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Picked this one from the library just because it's written by John Scalzi.

At first I thought it was going to be one of those "50 scifi movies you should watch..." anthologies, but it's so much more.

It is divided into several sections: Origins, History, Canon (this is the longest section, with 50 iconic movies), Icons (faces of scifi: characters, actors, directors, technicians), Crossovers, Science, Locations, Scifi films around the world and More Information.

A happy surprise indeed.

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The Living Dead

The Living Dead by George A. Romero
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Daniel Kraus who worked with Guillermo del Toro on The Shape of Water works off George A. Romero's drafts and brings us this contemporary apocalypse that begins in an LA coroner's office, and follows 5 main characters through the initial chaos and their journey in the years after.

I especially enjoyed the (view spoiler)[religious fanatics in an aircraft carrier (hide spoiler)] setting.

True to Romero form, the story ends (view spoiler)[in a depressing manner, right after building some hope (hide spoiler)].

A must read for zombie fans.

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Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir

Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir by Wil Wheaton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I visited Wil Wheaton's blog a couple of times in the early 2000's, and also recall seeing the Use.net vitriol towards his Star Trek character Wesley.
I also chuckled when I saw "Evil Wil" in The Big Bang Theory, but that was about all I knew about him.
Then I heard that he was really good at narrating audiobooks and confirmed it with John Scalzi's delightful The Kaiju Preservation Society

(view spoiler)[In Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir he acknowledges stuff that did not age well, explores his decision to quit Star Trek, being a nerd in the early days of the Internet, struggling with mental health and trauma, as well as rediscovering his love of writing and his ability to do it. (hide spoiler)]

Other reviews claim it is rather repetitive; this work is based on a collection of blog posts over the years, so yeah, he will revisit several themes.

My only complaint about the audiobook is that some of the Epilogue chapters are chopped in a way that interrupts a theme halfway through, to end it 5 minutes into the next chapter and begin another one.

Highly recommended.


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Memory's Legion

Memory's Legion by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great collection of short stories set in The Expanse universe.
Some are featured in the TV series and do some worldbuilding, like the explanation for (view spoiler)[the Epstein Drive (hide spoiler)] or the (view spoiler)[technology that Duarte tries to use to become immortal (hide spoiler)].
Others provide some backstory for characters like Fred Johnson and Amos.

A must read for The Expanse fans.

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Horizontal Vertigo: A city called Mexico

Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico by Juan Villoro
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A great mosaic of experiences in Mexico City - "Chilangopolis"
Places I'm very familiar with, others I've never visited -Mexico City is huge.
Great descriptions of idiosyncrasies that I'd never realized were exclusive to Mexicans in general, and Chilangos in particular.

The chapters devoted to the earthquakes of 1985 and 2017 are particularly harrowing.

Great read.

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Atacama: a novel

Atacama by Carmen Rodríguez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A sad and powerful telling of two lives in turbulent times, from anarchist and communist organizers brutally murdered by fascist militia, to the Spanish Civil war, and Chile's descent into fascist dictatorship.

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