Fiction:
The Maid by Nita Prose is a murder mystery set in a prestigious city hotel. Molly Gray, the titular maid, is alone in the world after the death of her beloved grandmother, who raised her and helped her navigate the world. Molly’s narration makes it clear she’s neurodivergent. She’s extremely observant, but has difficulties interpreting irony and sarcasm from others, though she can often tell when she’s being mocked or looked down upon. For this reason, she is very sympathetic to the young wife of a wealthy guest when Gisele treats her as a human being. The author makes it clear to readers when Molly is misinterpreting the behavior of others or failing to correctly identify their motivations; this meant I was very angry on her behalf when “bad eggs” took advantage of her, and inclined to like those who treated her well. It’s not the most comfortable of books but Molly is a very engaging narrator who makes interesting choices.
The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan by Zig Zag Claybourne is a multi-dimensional, fast-paced mythic Afro-futurist adventure novel that starts in media res and never lets up with the worldbuilding details…but that’s part of the fun. Just go with it. Milo and Ramses are the titular brothers, but they’re not alone in their adventures as they try to retrieve a lost companion, and a lot of other things. I’m not even going to try and summarize, all right? That way lies madness. There are approximately one million characters. I loved the narrative voice, and the unexpected turns, and the sense of humor, and the whales. Let’s not forget the whales.
Nonfiction:
Vidding: A History by Francesca Coppa is an academic work about the fan practice of editing television footage to songs, thus creating a new work that is more than the sum of its parts. I have loved vids since I first saw them in the late 1980s, so much enjoyed the familiarity of this history as well as the in-depth, on-point analysis. The link I provided to the free Fulcrum edition of the book also includes copies of the vids discussed in the book, so readers can watch; it’s especially valuable if you’ve never seen this type of vid before.
Liberation: The Unoffical and Unauthorised Guide to Blake’s 7 by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore is more fannish nonfiction, this time a collection of production information and short interpretive essays about each episode from the four series of my favorite British television show, which aired from 1978 to 1981. For a fan of the show, it’s interesting to see where my opinions differ from those of the writers, but I suspect it would be practically unintelligible to someone who has never seen the episodes.
