Star Trek: Sons of Star Trek by Morgan Hampton

 

My first ever comics were Star Trek comics. I loved superheroes when I was a kid, of course, still do, but what I knew of them came from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the Superfriends and the Super Powers action figures (which did have mini-comics, (as did He-Man figures, but I digress in this double paranthetical)).  When I fell in love with Star Trek in 1988, I couldn’t get enough of it. So in addition to watching the show and reading the novels, I picked up Star Trek comics at a convention and eventually subscribed to get the TNG comic from DC in the mail. 

Although I fell off reading Trek comics for a while, I recently have started reading more of the IDW Star Trek comics (I enjoyed Godshock and I LOVED Ryan North’s Lower Decks miniseries and his new graphic novel Warp Your Own Way) so I was happy to get an eARC of Sons of Star Trek by Morgan Hampton from IDW and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Although I wasn’t up on everything that had happened in the Trek ongoing since the Godshock trade, there was a decent recap at the beginning to get me up to speed. I didn’t need to know much, since most of this story was an alternate universe tale with Jake Sisko, Nog, Alexander Rozhenko, and Q Junior. I really enjoyed seeing the alternate universe versions of Mariner and Dunst, and this was a fine story. I thought both Jake’s and Alexander’s stories got short shrift on DS9 so I appreciated some further development for them. Other than Nog’s forced conflict that seemed to regress his development in the show, I really enjoyed this book. 

Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire

I really enjoyed Middlegame when it came out and voted for it as best novel on the Hugo Awards at the time. The writing there was lyrical and a little dreamlike in a way that was a little different from most everything else of Seanan McGuire’s (but reminded me of her Parisitology books a little). 

I remember going to a comic book store in October 2019 when I got her to sign some Ghost Spider and Nightcrawler comics (she was amazing, BTW, and was so kind to my then 7-year-old daughter, who was wearing a ghost spider hooded sweatshirt) and asking her if there would be a follow up to Middlegame. I was extra excited when Seasonal Fears was finally announced, and I was even more thrilled when I found out that more books were coming in this series. 

So I was overjoyed when The publisher and NetGalley awarded me an audio eARC of Tidal Crestures (I had already preordered a kindle copy beforehand) in exchange for an honest review. This was, in many ways, the book that I wanted Seasonal Fears to be. I loved the moon deities, I loved the return of Rodger and Dodger, and I adored Kelpie so much. 

Since I follow Seanan McGuire on social media, I know that Kelpie is based on one of her D&D characters, a tiefling who thought she was a mutated alligator at first and didn’t realize who she was in the world and that her entire life and backstory was false. This clearly crept into the characterization of Kelpie in this novel and it really enriched my enjoyment of the text. 

This is one of the most wonderful books I read all year, and Amber Benson is growing on me as a narrator. I cannot recommend this highly enough. 

Tiger Chair by Max Brooks

I first remember finding out about Max Brooks when I found a copy of his Zombie Survival Guide at the Borders in Columbus Circle many years ago. I loved it and World War Z, and I also enjoyed Devolution. I was very happy to get an eARC of Tiger Chair in exchange for an honest review. 

My only complaint about this was that it was too short! This short story (or maybe a novelette?) take the form of a long letter home from a Chinese soldier in occupied Los Angeles after an invasion of the US by China. Written in Mr. Brooks’s trademark style of first person info dumping, this story was hard to put down. I’m looking forward to whatever he writes next. 

Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

I had heard the name Naomi Novik for years, and had picked up Spinning Silver and Uprooted when they were on sale on audible, but I had never read any of her books until the Scholomance trilogy was nominated for the best series Hugo. I gave it a try and immediately got sucked in and read them all in a rush one after another after another. I loved her writing style and her characterization, and I was thrilled when I got to meet her at New York Comic-Con last year and tell her how much I enjoyed the series. I also really enjoyed Uprooted and Spinning Silver, so I was delighted to get an eARC of her short story collection Buried Deep and Other Stories in exchange for an honest review. 

I usually love single author short story collections, and this was no exception! This book is a wonderful place to see the depth and breath of Ms. Novick’s talent. I especially enjoyed the story set in the Scholomance that took place after the end of the trilogy, the story about the pirates, and the stories set in her Napoleonic dragons universe - I will have to check out that series next!  This was an excellent book, well worth your time.