All the Names They Used for God

All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva, 256 pages


This a collection of short stories. All of them have some element of either fantasy, science fiction or the supernatural. A lot of the stories involve how women deal with adversity. The woman or women may not be the main character(s) but the woman is central to the story.

I can't say that I didn't like any of the stories. I didn't like some of the endings but that was mostly because I wanted the story to keep going.

My favorite stories were "Robert Greenman and the Mermaid" and "Logging Lake". "Robert Greenman and the Mermaid" is about a mermaid who summons fish to feed a shark and a fisherman who is enchanted by her. "Logging Lake" involves a man who has just broken up with his long term girlfriend. He starts dating a woman who takes him out of his comfort zone. One of their early dates is to go on a hiking trip to Glacier National Park. The events of the trip are life changing.

The prose in these stories is excellent. I enjoyed this collection of short stories and would recommend it to anyone who likes short stories or speculative fiction.

Solitaire

Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge   356 pages

In this speculative fiction story, KO Corporation is one of several across the world that is determined to work towards a better future.  Each country/corporation made the decision that the first baby born on the first second of a single, determined new year would known as Hopes, coming together to work towards a united future.

Jackal Segura is the Hope of KO. There's a lot of pressure on her to succeed, but she enjoys her job and has a connected group of friends who all support each other.  However, she's also in direct competition with her mother, who reveals a secret to Jackal one day that changes everything.  When Jackal is involved in an accident that kills a number of people, she agrees to a sentence of solitary imprisonment. However, this isn't ordinary prison --- there's new technology that allows a person to be hooked into a medical monitoring system while their brain is put into a state that makes them feel they are in solitary confinement. They can serve an abbreviated sentence, all in their mind.  Once she accepts this, Jackal is truly alone, serving out a sentence that will feel like years.  When a decision is made to release all participants in this program, she's back into the real world. The problem is, in order to survive solitary confinement, Jackal had to leave everything and everyone she loved behind. How does she begin again, especially when her brain gives her occasional psychological flashbacks?

I have read this book several times and enjoy it each time. I like how the author crafts her sentences -- it's truly a pleasure to read.  For example, Jackal's mother "has the temperament of a moray eel." Jackal's observations about herself and the people around her are insightful, and there's character growth through this story, which made it interesting.  I also liked that this world is set up in a way that seems pretty believable, which makes the setting and people easier to relate to.

Variable Star

Variable Star by Robert Heinlein & Spider Robinson, 318 pages

Joel thought he was planning to get married and go to school to study music.  Instead he ends up on a ship headed out to colonize a new planet.  Joe’s story is captivating and keeps getting more interesting when a disaster hits that could change everyone and everything.  I absolutely loved this book.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction or fantasy.  I have no idea how realistic the science is but the story is so good, I wouldn’t have cared had I known.

Water Knife

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
371 Pages

"In the American Southwest, Nevada, Arizona, and California skirmish for dwindling shares of the Colorado River. Into the fray steps Angel Velasquez, detective, leg-breaker, assassin and spy. A Las Vegas water knife, Angel "cuts" water for his boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert, so the rich can stay wet, while the poor get nothing but dust. When rumors of a game-changing water source surface in drought-ravaged Phoenix, Angel is sent to investigate. There, he encounters Lucy Monroe, a hardened journalist with no love for Vegas and every reason to hate Angel, and Maria Villarosa, a young Texas refugee who survives by her wits and street smarts in a city that despises everything that she represents. With bodies piling up, bullets flying, and Phoenix teetering on collapse, it seems like California is making a power play to monopolize the life-giving flow of a river. For Angel, Lucy, and Maria time is running out and their only hope for survival rests in each other's hands. But when water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only thing for certain is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink."

A good book of speculative fiction set in the near future where water has become all important in a world turned on end by global warming.  It takes a few chapters before you start to get sucked into the story and invested into the characters.  I would recommend.