WWMB Best of 2020

Tags

Amy June Bates, Anna Lee Huber, C.S. Harris, Christine Trent, Cindy Stark, Cynthia St. Aubin, Darynda Jones, Denali Day, Erica Ridley, Grace Draven, Jodi Taylor, Juliet Marillier, Kate Racculia, Kerrigan Byrne, Kit Rocha, Kyndra Hatch, Laurie A. Green, Maria Vale, Mary Robinette Kowal, Matthew A. Cherry, Milla Vane, Nita Round, Pauline Baird Jones, Rebecca Roanhorse, Susanna Kearsley, Tanya Anne Crosby, Tiffinie Helmer, Vashti Harrison, Vicki Stiefel, Zara Ramm

Assuming I was diligent about updates on my Goodreads account, I read (or listened to) 131 books in 2020.   I like to think that I am pretty discriminating when it comes to choosing which books to read.  That means that almost every book that I read is a winner.  That makes it very difficult to pick out the best of 2020.

However, there are several that have stood out.  These are the books that come to mind long after I have read the last word.  They elicit emotions ranging from despair to hope, evoking anger, laughter and love.  In short – they leave a mark. 

Today I am presenting my selections for the WWMB Best of 2020.  I hope you find something that appeals to you.  Most were published in 2020 and for the few that are older, I’ve noted the publishing year.  If you have a favorite you would like to share, please add it in the comments.

(Note: Click on book covers for the Amazon link.  Link to Goodreads under each title.)

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Science Fiction Romance

Catnip for SciFi Reading Librarians
Deal with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians, #1) by Kit Rocha
Goodreads

In 2020, Kit Rocha (pen name for the writing team of Donna Herren and Bree Bridges) released Deal with the Devil (Mercenary Librarian, #1) by Kit Rocha.  Mercenary librarians. How is someone like me, a librarian that loves Scifi romance, going to ignore this one?  Deal With the Devil is a non-stop action, post-apocalyptic scifi thriller. There are evil corporate overlords and supersoldier enforcers. Nina, Knox and their friends are the bright stars in the neighborhood (or wherever they venture to), helping out in their peaceful, quiet ways and also in their deadly, not-so-quiet ways. These are the honorable heroes of the futuristic Atlanta.  Previously known for paranormal tales, I am very happy Kit Rocha as entered the scifi realm.  Also, this is one of my favorite book covers of 2020.

Genre-Bending
Changed (The Made Ones Saga, #2) by Vicki Stiefel
Goodreads

Changed is a cross between Scifi and Fantasy that features transportation to a parallel world where the Earth-bound ravages of disease and age are miraculously wiped away. I have to say, I really like this idea. Of course, the miracle comes with a price.  One hopes the price will be worth it.  Bad guys with a dystopian-like control make things interesting.  Parallel worlds, flying horses, DNA manipulation, magic.  See – a little bit of everything.  Love this series!

Best SciFi Romance Collection
Pets in Space 5 by many authors
Goodreads

Pets in Space 5 – The 2020 release is the best Pets In Space collection of all.  Even though the anthology is supposed to be about pets, many of the cats, dogs and otherworldy creatures are so much more than pets. Many are sentient companions, have specific purposes and even seem to be as in charge of things as their partners. Pet lovers can relate to this.  I thought all the stories were great, but if I had to single out 1 or 3, they would be General’s Holiday by Pauline Baird Jones, Juggernaut by Laurie A. Green and Finding Mogha by Kyndra Hatch.

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Science Fiction

Best SciFi Series
Lady Astronaut by Mary Robinette Kowal
Goodreads

Book 3, The Relentless Moon, was released in 2020, but I read all three books in this series, plus a few short stories last year.  A lot of research was done to make the story of an early aggressive space program developed to save humanity seem real and vital. Told from the POV of the women destined to be the first Lady Astronauts, the story reflects attitudes toward women and minorities in the 50s. So, our heroines and their friends have a lot to overcome.  Notable among the short stories is The Lady Astronaut of Mars, (free to read on Tor.com)a novelette first published in 2012.  Read this after reading books 1 and 2.  Be prepared to shed some tears.  Nebula Award winning series.

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Intentional Time Travel

Time is Complicated
Just in Time (Out of Time, #2) by Pauline Baird Jones
Goodreads

This long-awaited sequel to Out of Time is the edge-of-your seat, messing-with-time adventure that appeals to the “Time is Complicated” crowd.

Best Spinoff from a Favorte Series
Doing Time (The Time Police, #1) by Jodi Taylor
Goodreads

Published in 2019, this first book in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s spinoff series features Matthew Farrell, the scion of a pair of awesome, yet calm-challenged parents.  Along with his two misfit friends, they form Team Weird, keeping the world safe from illegal time travel.  Shenanigans ensue!  I love the original series, and I am afraid I am going to love this one just as much!  The audiobook is superbly narrated by Zara Ramm.

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Steampunk Powered by Women
A Touch of Ice (The Towers of the Earth, #4) by Nita Round
Goodreads

If I think back to book 1 of this series, which I read as a mystery and not much more, I am amazed at how far the story has progressed. Every time I finish a book in this series, I think the story just keeps getting better.  While the overall story arc of The Towers of the Earth is intricate and fascinating, these books are ultimately about three strong women who will do anything for each other. Which is the true appeal for me.

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Paranormal Romance

We Should All Be More Wolflike
Season of the Wolf (The Legend of All Wolves, #4) by Maria Vale
Goodreads

The Legend of All Wolves is still my favorite wolf/werewolf/shifter series. From the beginning of the series, I have admired the unique take on the wolves that can wear skin. Season of the Wolf focuses on two characters. Evie, the pack Alpha, and Constantine, a shifter that got caught up the battle between the pack and the shifters.  The wolves of the Great Northern Pack have a life philosophy that includes family (pack) first, total honesty and taking care of their environment. 

 

Whiskey Drinkers
The Witches of Port Townsend by Kerrigan Byrne, Cynthia St. Aubin, Cindy Stark and Tiffinie Helmer
Goodreads

This 4-book, 4-author, 4-witch, 4-hoursmen-of-the-apocalypse series was so much fun to read.  I read all four books with a few months.  Each author wrote a section of each book, telling her witch’s story.  Long lost sisters found, the end of the world, sexy as heck heroes, and Lucifer are all thrown into the mix with familiars, zombies, religious extremists, and druids.  This series will put a spell on you – I have personal experience.  For some reason, while I was reading book 3, I found myself sipping a glass of whiskey at the end each day while I was reading the book (just like the sisters liked to do).  The 2020 versions are re-releases.

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Fantasy Romance

Characters to Fall in Love With
In the Darkest Midnight by Grace Draven
Goodreads

Grace Draven’s fantasy romance books always top my list.  This year I read Dragon Unleashed and The Ippos King.  Both were wonderful.  But the one I really loved was In the Darkest Midnight.  Published in 2018, this novella features two amazing protagonists.  The slow burn romance set in the world of the Wraith Kings is beautifully told, absolutely brimming with heart.  It joins Master of Crows and Enreat Me to become another one of my favorite Draven stories.

 

History/Myth/Imagination
Lord of Shadows by Tanya Anne Crosby
Goodreads

After having read book 1 of the series late in 2019, I was on a mission to read the entire series.  The finale, Lord of Shadows, expertly combines English history with Arthurian myth.  The author’s dose of imagination was the spice to add richness and piquancy.  Ms. Crosby also writes historical romance and contemporary suspense, but this series is my favorite by far.

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Fantasy Barbarian Romance

I don’t know if this is a genre, but there were a couple of standout fantasies that dealt with characters that live outside of typical civilizations. 

Great New Author
Hollen the Soulless (Dokiri Brides, #1) by Denali Day
Goodreads

“Dokiri Brides” is not typically a title that would stand out to me.  Judging a book by cover.  I know.  But something propelled me to try this one and I got so much more than I was expecting.  The Dokiri culture, the amazing characters and the intensive slow burn romance have made Hollen the Soulless one of my favorites of the year.  I’ve since read a prequel and 3 sequels.  Keep your eye on Denali Day.  I foresee many great stories coming from her. 

An Author by Another Name
A Heart of Blood and Ashes (A Gathering of Dragons, #1) by Milla Vane
Goodreads

Last February I predicted A Heart of Blood and Ashes would be one of my favorites of 2020.  Milla Vane is the alter-ego of Meljean Brook.  Like her Iron Seas series, this new series has a complex, yet lush story line. It has sharply defined characters – flawed primary characters that are somehow still perfect and secondary characters that add depth and perspective to the tale. And it has a world intricately built just for them. And for me, the reader. 

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Fantasy

The Author that Always Makes Me Cry
A Dance With Fate (Warrior Bards, #2) by Juliet Marillier
Goodreads

It is difficult to imagine ever reading a book by Juliet Marillier that will not end up on my favorites list.  Marillier’s stories are beautifully imagined, and full of emotion.  The characters’ journey is often heartbreaking, but always magical and hopeful. 

Most Original Fantasy Setting
Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse
Goodreads

Black Sun is a highly original story of prophecy, honor, revenge and power. Told from the viewpoint of several pivotal characters, the story weaves through a timeline, back and forth.  It is full of contradictory characters, long-reaching intrigue and fascinating mythology. The mythology surrounding an eclipse in pre-Columbian America native cultures plays heavily in the story, making this fantasy stand out from the typical Euro-based fantasies.  Black Sun will appeal to fantasy readers looking for a fresh treatment of the genre.

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Historical Mystery

Best Collaboration
The Deadly Hours by Susanna Kearsley, Anna Lee Huber, C.S. Harris, and Christine Trent
Goodreads

This anthology follows the story of a cursed gold watch as it passes through time and people.  Each author put their own spin on the curse. Because these authors solve mysteries, rely on facts and believe that the evidence will point to a human culprit, the validity of the curse is constantly questioned. But it never really goes away. I was fascinated and entertained by all four stories.

Something Different from a Favorite Author
The Business of Blood (The Fiona Mahoney Mysteries, #1) by Kerrigan Byrne
Goodreads

Published 2019.  In The Business of Blood, Fiona is a protagonist with a dark past and a current life that keeps her alive in an era where single women are not generally taken care of. That she takes on the job of cleaning up after corpses is not the only thing that makes her life a dark journey. Her obsession with Jack the Ripper as well as other activities that could get her hanged complete the picture for Fiona’s grim life.

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Children

While I don’t have time to read all the new books that come into my library, I often take the time to read the picture books.  Sometimes I am blown away by how wonderful they are!

Anyone Can Be and Artist
When I Draw a Panda by Amy June Bates
Goodreads

What a glorious book! Somewhere between childhood and just a little bit older, most of us forget how to draw. I love how this book shows that all you need to do is put pencil (or chalk or color or…) to paper, keep going, and eventually, you get art!

 

Dad Shows His Love
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, illustrated by Vashti Harrison
Goodreads

This utterly charming book is based on the Oscar-winning short animated film by Matthew A. Cherry. It is the story of a young black girl, her quest to make her hair look special and her daddy’s help.  Check out the video on YouTube.

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Just a Few More

Out of My Box
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia
Goodreads

Not something I would typically pick up, this book, with so many Poe references, called to me. In answering the call, I was treated to an adventure through Boston neighborhoods while surrounded by several unusual characters whose stories are both fun and heartwarming.  The very quirky story of the brainy Tuesday Mooney and her eclectic group of friends takes the reader on a hunt for treasure, adventure, self-discovery, and friendship.

This One Cracked Me Up
Kiss of a Duke (12 Dukes of Christmas, #12) by Erica Ridley
Goodreads

Published in 2018.  A lady chemist attempts to make a man fall in love with her because of the perfume she invents.  As you might imagine, the unexpected results are not at all what was intended. In the author’s notes she says:  “In case it’s not obvious, I spend a good chunk of my work day giggling at my keyboard.”

Brings Back Fond Memories
A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram, #1) by Darynda Jones
Goodreads

Readers of Ms. Jones’ Charley Davidson series will see many similarities between that series and Sunshine Vicram – in both characters and plot construction.  This new series has less woo-woo content but just as many questions to answer.  So, if you lamented the end of Charley Davidson, take heart. Sunshine Vicram is just as charming, just as funny, just as complex, just as smart, has just as much heart, and I think I might like her even more than I liked Charley.

Best Title and Timeliest Theme
St. Mary’s and the Great Toilet Roll Crisis (The Chronicles of St. Mary’s, #11.1) by Jodi Taylor
Goodreads

Free read on the authors website.  (Click on the cover.)

The Earl’s Treasure by Nancy Lee Badger – Guest Post

Tags

book feature, guest post, historical, Nancy Lee Badger, romance

I have officially released my long-awaited book The Earl’s Treasure. Must I remind y’all that a pandemic made many things grind to a halt?  Through moving mom to NC from FL, hubby’s surgeries, and temp work with my local Board of Elections, I pushed back the official release of my book several times. I decided that releasing the book December 1^st could give my readers laughter, suspense, and romance in time for the holidays. Even though I do not consider it a Christmas novel, it takes place in the weeks before Christmas Eve.

This is my 30^th romance and having it set partially in Scotland is due to my love of that country. I have volunteered at the New Hampshire Highlands Games for over 25 years with family (even this huge festival was canceled) but I only recently discovered I am partially of Scottish descent. The urge to write a Scottish historical novel grew. This book takes my characters from England, to Gretna Green, and beyond.

 Here’s the short blurb:

After Stone is wounded and thrust into an earldom, and Adele is widowed by an abusive husband, these star-crossed childhood friends meet at an English country ball, escape a kidnapper searching for a mysterious treasure, and depart for Scotland ahead of those intent on killing anyone in their way.

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Excerpt from The Earl’s Treasure

Holding tight to Satan’s reins, Adele returned to the churchyard. Murray lay on his back in the middle of the graveyard. The Highlander who had come to her aid now fought with Ike. The clang of Ike’s long knife against the kilted man’s thin black, pointed spear reverberated again, and again. The plaid warrior’s weapon wasn’t a sword, but he swung it fast enough to keep Ike’s weapon from hitting home.

It was difficult to take her eyes off the flying, clanging steel and iron, but she forced her gaze to the kilted warrior’s face. “Stone?”

She must have said it very loud, because he glanced her way. Ike moved in, aiming his dagger at Stone’s stomach.

“Watch out!” Adele kicked Satan’s flanks and they galloped toward the fighters. Stone parried Ike’s lethal strike, sending the dirk flying. Ike cursed, turned on his heel, and ran toward a pair of horses.

“Nay, love. We need to leave, while he’s alone.”

“Is Murray dead?” she asked, as she stared at the other stranger’s limp form.

Stone ran to her side, and swung up behind her. “No, but we should leave before he wakes up. Ike is our current problem.”

Loud curses rose from the tree where the men had tied their mounts.

“What is going on?” Stone said as he reached around her and grabbed the reins.

As they trotted toward the lane, she explained “When Ike let me go, then ran to fight ye, I untied the ribbon from my dress and hobbled the horses’ front hooves together.”

Stone’s heated breath warmed the skin beneath her left ear, as he leaned closer. “Smart lass.”

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What’s Next?

I hope to write several other books that feature secondary characters from this book. I have recently released a tie-in historical novella about a guy, a girl, and a Highland bull titled Love, Hamish and you can find out how to get a copy FREE HERE.

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Links

Add The Earl’s Treasure to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase The Earl’s Treasure:

Amazon US          Amazon UK          Amazon CA           Amazon AUS

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About the Author

Nancy Lee Badger grew up in Huntington on New York’s Long Island. After attending Plymouth State, in New Hampshire, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and met and married her college sweetheart. They raised two handsome sons in Rumney, New Hampshire while dreaming of being a writer. When the children had left the nest, and shoveling snow became a chore, she retired from her satisfying job as a 911 Emergency Medical Dispatcher and moved to North Carolina, where she writes full-time.

Nancy is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, and the Triangle Association of Freelancers. She finds story ideas in the most unusual places. Connect with her here:

Website          Twitter          Facebook         Amazon Author Page

Blog          BookBub          Goodreads

Elizabeth Bear, Author of Machine – Interview

Tags

Elizabeth Bear, interview, space opera

Interview with Elizabeth Bear

Today’s guest is Elizabeth Bear, author of Machine which is new this month.  Machine is the follow up Ancestral Night and takes place in the same White Space universe.  I’ll be adding my review to the blog tommorrow.  In the meantime, please welcome Elizabeth Bear!

Riley: Please tell us a little about yourself (something that can’t be found online).

Elizabeth: Well, having been online in one capacity or another since 1989, and having been a fairly prolific blogger for about ten or twelve years, I’m not sure there is much about me that isn’t online. But to give a high-altitude overview, I am a science fiction and fantasy writer who lives in a very old house in a small town in Western Massachusetts with my spouse, Scott Lynch, who is also a science fiction and fantasy writer. We have four cats and a medium-small horse and I am possibly the worst guitarist on the Eastern Seaboard of North America.

Riley: As a futurist, what are your concerns about the future?  What are your hopes?

Elizabeth: My hope is that we manage to continue, no matter how slowly, improving quality of life and personal freedom and fulfillment for human beings, while protecting the existence and wellbeing of other creatures on this planet. That we’re not currently at some kind of apex of human achievement and happiness, despite how fashionable it is to predict the end of the world.

My concerns are probably the same concerns of everybody who has been paying attention: rising tides of fascism; global climate destabilization; megavolcanos… okay, I probably worry more about megavolcanos than most people, but worrying about megavolcanos is kind of my job.

Riley: In reading Ancestral Night, I found themes that apply to our lives today.  The most obvious one to me is individual freedom vs. laws for the good of all.  These days, I feel it is harder and harder for people to reconcile these ideas.  Will we see more of this in Machine, or are there any current events or issues that we will see in the next book?

Elizabeth: Honestly, I think it’s probably not harder to reconcile. I think what’s going on is that people are more aware (speaking very broadly) that individual freedom is in tension with the good of everybody. Because of the massive enfranchisement of marginalized people provided by the internet, we can now hear voices from all over the world, and if we listen, we can learn from a diversity of perspectives rather than simply hearing the most mainstream ones.

When I was a kid, if the establishment said, “This law is good for everybody!” there wasn’t a lot of pressure to contradict that viewpoint unless you really went digging into alternative news sources and niche presses. Now, you can hear directly from people who do not find that a particular law is good for them.

Which does lend itself to the feeling that you can never make everybody happy, and you know what? That’s true. But you can also work out scales of unhappiness, and given how opinion in America has shifted, for example, on same-sex marriage over even my lifetime, it seems that a small majority of even privileged populations can be convinced by evidence and anecdote and personal experience to support social justice for minority populations when they can see the truth of things.

The closer we are to people who are not just like us, the more we care about their wellbeing. It kind of sucks that that’s what it takes to make people care, but we didn’t evolve for this and we have to learn to use our brains in nonintuitive ways to deal with the scope and breadth of modern society.

Ahem, sorry. Anyway…

Entirely accidentally, Machine deals with a life-threatening outbreak aboard a massive hospital in space, and the measures taken to contain it and find a solution. I guess that’s sort of a current event.

Oops.

As for future books… thematically, we’re always writing about the world we live in. Science fiction is about the future, but it isn’t for the future. It’s for right now. My audience is alive and breathing in 2020.

As of this writing, I’m still in negotiations with my publishers about the next book… but I can tell you something that nobody else on the internet knows! If it happens (and it probably will happen!) it will be called The Folded Sky and it will be out in 2022.

Assuming we still have enough of a publishing industry to support quirky gay literary science fiction novels that are unlikely to become #1 New York Times bestsellers, of course!

Riley: I always appreciate a ship with a personality.  If I see that the story has an AI ship, the book is going on my TBR.  In Ancestral Night, you take the AI concept a bit further and give them citizen status, with all the privileges and responsibilities associated with it.   What led to your vision of AIs?

Elizabeth: Citizen status, with a few drawbacks! The AIs in the White Space universe are indentured, after a fashion, because they are created owing society a debt. I’m not going to say that this has anything to do with the fact that it took me twenty-five years to pay off my student loans, but you know, influences happen whether we want them to or not!

I do expect that the implications of that to play out in a future book, if there are future books. (See above.)

I don’t think there’s a specific thing that led to AIs developing the way they did in the White Space books. I’ve written futures without strong artificial intelligence (Undertow) and with artificial intelligence run wild (Carnival and also the Jacob’s Ladder books). I’ve done a bunch of reading on A-life and how artificial intelligence problem solving works and differs from human problem solving. (AIs do the darndest things.)

Riley: What is the furthest you have travelled from Earth?

Elizabeth: I have not, alas, ever left Earth. I haven’t even made it out of either the Northern or Western hemispheres… yet.

Riley: Of the books you have published, do you have a favorite (and if so, why is that your favorite?)

Elizabeth: I wouldn’t say I have a favorite, exactly, but the ones I had the most fun writing are probably the Stratford Man duology and Karen Memory. The Stratford Man because my friend Sarah Monette, aka Katherine Addison, was working on a Ph.D. thesis in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre while I wrote it and we spent a huge amount of time giggling about Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe in email. (This is more entertaining than it sounds.)

Karen Memory because it’s always a delight to write a character who runs towards the sound of (metaphorical or real) gunfire rather than away from it. You never have to work to get them into trouble. And I tend to be a fairly cautious person in my own life, so writing somebody who is like “IN WITH BOTH FEET” is a nice escape!

The book I am currently writing is always my least favorite, because it’s not done yet.

Riley: Who are some of your favorite authors and/or books.

Elizabeth: Oh, we could be here all week.

Recently, I love C.L. Polk, Arkady Martine, Sarah Prineas, Amal El-Mohtar, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and the aforementioned Katherine Addison.

Going a little farther back, Max Gladstone, Nalo Hopkinson, and Charlie Jane Anders (and I guess I have to include that Scott Lynch guy!) have never disappointed me.

Historically, my all-time favorite books dating back to childhood are Watership Down (speaking of works whose thematic content seems very relevant again: it’s all about anti-fascism, but with bunnies) and The Last Unicorn. I’ve read the covers off several copies of each. I’m also a huge fan of Octavia Butler, Roger Zelazny, C.J. Cherryh, and Dick Francis.

This is all just off the top of my head, mind! Ask me tomorrow and get a different list.

Riley: Would you like to share a teaser from Machine?

Elizabeth:

“Does the shipmind still exist?” Tsosie asked. “How about the library?”

“There’s a library,” she said. “And there’s Central.”

“Central?” I asked, deciding not to remind Tsosie that I had been going to do the talking. I was a little distracted: without Sally to keep an eye on my pain levels and help coordinate my exo, I was still doing those tasks myself. Keeping abreast of it wasn’t a problem, but it used up a few cycles. “Who is Central?”

“Central,” Helen said, “isn’t a person.”

“You’ve been here alone?” I was beginning to understand why the whole ship was filled with bot toys. Helen must have been incredibly bored. I hoped she’d at least been programmed to be interested in astronomical data, because that was the only source of intellectual stimulation for parsecs.

“I’m not alone,” she said. “Here are the passengers.”

She pressed a metal palm to a pad beside an irising hatch. A big hatch: this must be one of the promised cargo bays. Sally’s map and my own sense of dead reckoning told me that we’d come up on the side of the spinning wheel. That made sense: cargo bays would serve as valuable radiation shielding, though this one seemed to be oriented away from the wheel’s direction of travel.

She stepped through and gestured us into the airlock with her. We went. Helen cycled the lock. The door in front of us came open. A pale light flooded past her, shimmering on the curve of her hip and thigh.

I peered over Helen’s shoulder. The hold was filled with rank after rank of caskets.

Riley:  What else would you like to share about yourself or about Machine?

Elizabeth: I think the most salient thing about me right now is that I’m currently at work on the final book in the Lotus Kingdoms trilogy, which is titled The Origin of Storms and is a bit late because, you know, global meltdown of everything is somewhat distracting. And the most important thing I can add about Machine is that I hope if you read it, you like it.

About Machine

Meet Doctor Jens.

She hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years. Her workday begins when she jumps out of perfectly good space ships and continues with developing treatments for sick alien species she’s never seen before. She loves her life. Even without the coffee.

But Dr. Jens is about to discover an astonishing mystery: two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away.

Unfortunately, Dr. Jens can’t resist a mystery and she begins doing some digging. She has no idea that she’s about to discover horrifying and life-changing truths.

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Links

Add Machine to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase Machine:

 

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About Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year.

She is the Hugo, Sturgeon, Locus, and Campbell Award winning author of dozens of novels; over a hundred short stories; and a number of essays, nonfiction, and opinion pieces for markets as diverse as Popular Mechanics and The Washington Post.

​Elizabeth is a frequent contributor to the Center for Science and the Imagination at ASU, and has spoken on futurism at Google, MIT, DARPA’s 100 Year Starship Project, and the White House, among others.

​She lives in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts with her spouse, writer  Scott Lynch.

Some recent essays are available on Medium.com.

Find Elizabeth at:

Website: https://www.elizabethbear.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/matociquala

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matociquala/