Forward: Stories of Tomorrow (edited by Blake Crouch)

I loooooove speculative fiction, and this collection of six stories was free on Amazon Prime.  On the whole this was a great collection but here are mini-reviews of each of the stories:

"Ark" by Veronica Roth 

About a scientist cataloging Earth’s flora in the last days of the apocalypse. Very moving and a great start to the collection. 

"Summer Frost" by Blake Crouch

About a video game developer whose character breaks free from her programming. Maybe my favorite of all of thses! Makes me want to seek out more of his work.

"Emergency Skin" by N. K. Jemisin

An explorer from a civilizaton of elites who has come back to Earth to get genetic materal (and amazing twist as to what the material ends up being). a little heavy handed but really good. 

"You Have Arrived at Your Destination" by Amor Towles 

About a man who considers using a futuristic futility cliinic to plan his child’s future. Great concept, somewhat flawed execution. 

"The Last Conversation" by Paul G. Tremblay 

A man wakes up with no memories and has to slowly realize who he is, with the help of a mysterious doctor. Wonderfully creepy! Really loved it. 

"Randomize" by Andy Weir 

This is about a high tech casino heist and my expectations were high! I loved the premise but the ending was not good and ultimate I think this was my least favorite.

My Brother's Husband (by Gengoroh Tagame)

And the category is, "Read a graphic novel/comic/manga if you haven’t before; or read one that is a different genre than you normally read." I have read plenty of graphic novels, but never a manga, so that is what I decided to tackle this time - the two volumes of My Brother's Husband.  And as with most graphic novels, I opted to read this one on paper.  It was enough of an adjustment figuring out how you're supposed to read it (from back to front and left to right - I looked at guides online) to try and do that digitally.

This is the story of a Japanese father whose twin brother moved to Canada and married a man. His brother dies before the story begins, and his widower visits Japan to connect with his husband's brother and niece.  The brother has to confront the subtle nature of homophobia in Japan as well as his own behavior towards his brother when he was alive. 

The characters are wonderful, the art is beautiful, the story is realistic and moving. Kana, the little girl of the family, is so delightful and charming. I'm so glad I read this and highly recommend.

Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh (by Rachael Lippincott)

Started and abandoned a couple of similar books before delving into the latest Rachael Lippincott. I've enjoyed her work before! Warning about this one - it is not a retelling of Pride & Prejudice, unfortunately. The name is just a reference to the fact that our character goes back in time to the regency period, there is no Mr. (or Ms.) Darcy, just a Sapphic romance across time.

You have to suspend a lot of disbelief here, not just for obvious reasons but because the Regency section is full of anachronisms and people behaving the way no normal person would behave. But what saved this was the slow build of tension and the sweetness of the central romance.  Like we practically got a scene of the heroine whisking her lover away on a white horse at the end, but whatever! It was cute!

So keep your expectations not too high and it may work for you, as it did for me.