Showing posts with label Meghan McCarron. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meghan McCarron. Show all posts

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Swift, Brutal Retaliation, by Meghan McCarron

Swift, Brutal Retaliation is a nice little ghost story.  The author is new to me.  It is well written but does not really stand out in any particular way.  We have two sisters dealing with a somewhat dysfunctional household that is now coping with the oldest boy's death after a long illness.  He was a cruel prankster in life, and now they see him when they play pranks themselves, pretty nasty ones.

One thing I think the story captures pretty well is the confusion such an early death brings.  No one knows quite what to do with themselves, or how to feel about it.  Especially with ambivalent, normal relationships. One certainly feels for the girls in the story, which means it was effective.  Kudos for the nomination, and 3 stars from me.

Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor

I think I'm going to agree with others and say that this isn't a science fiction book. But it's getting a lot of SF award nomina...