Fiction:
All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie was a lovely historical fantasy featuring an Icelandic trader who travels far from home and discovers he has magical gifts relating to ghosts, and brings home a mysterious white mare. I had thought it was a novel, but in fact it was only about a hundred pages, and I was a little disappointed when it ended. It was an excellent read for a rainy Sunday.
Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn is a poetic, tragic horror novella. At times I had to work hard to get through the story’s intensity, sadness, and anger. Iraxi, the protagonist, is trapped on a ship with other desperate survivors after an apocalyptic flood. She’s an angry outsider, from a murdered family that had magical powers linked to the sea, and she is pregnant with…an outcome she dreads. Monsters are poised both above and below the water surrounding them, food is scarce, and the other survivors seem to think having children is a good idea. Overall, I experienced the stressful emotions, but I didn’t get the catharsis I was hoping for; despite my attempts, horror still seems to be a very hit or miss genre for me, and I haven’t yet figured out what works for me and what doesn’t. Trigger warning: there is some intense imagery related to giving birth.
Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a post-apocalyptic, near-future novella set in a bureaucratic, hierarchical habitat off the coast of Nigeria, after Lagos has been inundated, and later references the historical tragedy of drowning deaths caused by Atlantic slave traders. The story follows three disparate personalities who’ve all been harmed by the hierarchy and selfishness of the haves versus the have-nots, in the midst of a disaster. I am not always fond of “archival” information in a story, but the author makes splendid use of this technique to deepen the reader’s understanding of the systemic causes of the disaster, and the many ways in which humans failed to address them successfully. I particularly enjoyed the way myth and stories and memories were part of the characterization and the character changes throughout, and how making a difference in the world hinged upon people (of whatever sort) rather than the limitations of technology. At the same time, technology was an important part of helping the characters accomplish their goals.
Fallen into the Pit by Ellis Peters is first in the Felse series of mysteries, set in an imaginary English village after World War II. To me, it read as a historical, but the original publication date was 1951, so it was a contemporary. The next book in the series came out in 1961, so I’m curious to see its time frame. I checked this out of the library because many years ago I had read Peters’ Brother Cadfael mysteries. I figured out the murder, and another past crime, very early in the story, but Fallen into the Pit is the sort of mystery where that doesn’t matter, and neither does a lucky bit of evidence recovery. Peters sets up the plot slowly, beginning with an outline of the recent changes in the village due to the war, including an influx of refugees and former prisoners of war, many of them working to extract shallow coal deposits. It’s immediately clear that Helmut Schauffler, who delights in cruelty, will be a murder victim, but as the narrative states outright, murders cause rifts in society as well. Local policeman George Felse is very aware of the stakes if he is unable to solve the mystery, and his son Dominic, the child who discovered the body, is compelled to investigate as well. I loved the character studies in this book. The series looks to have been re-released in ebook format about ten years ago.
