"Two Will Walk With You" by Grá Linnaea :: Aaron's Story Recommendation of the Week

Our Story Recommendation of the Week feature has fallen by the wayside in favor of the Battle of the Books, but I'm determined to start posting story recommendations again. In light of the hot mess that is this year's Hugo Award ballot in the short fiction categories (more on that to come), I think it's important to call attention to how much wonderful short fiction is being published in our genre.

My first Story Recommendation of the Week of 2015 goes to "Two Will Walk With You" by Grá Linnaea, from the anthology XIII: Stories of Transformation edited by Mark Teppo.

"Two Will Walk With You" begins with 17-year-old Japanese girl Ayu desperately running from the keep where she has lived for seven years, learning Christian magic. She has killed a priest in self-defense, and she knows the punishment for her crime: a Socius, or Tomo, a demon companion that will never leave her alone.

Fleeing in a passing wagon, Ayu meets an old man named Hageatama who accepts her company, claiming to be "bored," even after he learns of her curse:

They trudged silently through the wet of the Azusakawachi swamplands toward the Maibara valley. The sun shone harshly, reflecting rainbows off the misty water. Canary grass grew close and sodden to the path they forged. Neither had spoken since the night before.

Midday Hageatama broke the silence. "You have a Tomo on you, girl."

Ayu said nothing. They walked further.

"The Socius." Hageatama butchered the Latin. "The Tomo. No one escapes." He poked his walking stick at her back.

Ayu spun and slapped the stick away. "I know!" Her voice cracked. "No one knows more than I do! The Socius is woven to my soul, it won't stop—"

Hageatama cut her off, his voice loud and gentle. "It can't stop. It is made from your soul. It doesn't have one of its own." He pointed a dirty nail at Ayu. "And you can't escape."

* * *

Ayu's fear was replaced with a surprising feeling. "I almost feel sorry for it."

Hageatama's head shot up. "The Tomo?"

She rubbed her chest. "It must be awful not to have a soul."

Between the curse of the Toro and Ayu's sexual preferences, it seems impossible that things could turn out well for her, and yet she and Hageatama refuse to abandon hope.

"Two Will Walk With You" exemplifies everything short fiction can offer: well crafted language, a memorable setting, a main character we quickly come to care about, an engaging story. And—dare I say it?—a message. A message that has nothing to do with politics, a message that is conveyed with subtlety, and yet it's what the story at its core is all about. "Two Will Walk With You" grapples with how we can live our lives in a way that is satisfying and meaningful, even when fate has stacked the deck against us. It's the kind of subject, relevant to all of us, that I expect a top-notch author to examine, even if there are no easy answers. Linnaea does that beautifully.

Grá Linnaea is a fellow Writers of the Future winner whose work has also appeared in Shimmer, Apex, IGMS, Daily Science Fiction, and other places.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Championship Round :: The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

We (finally!) present the championship of the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books, which pits The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis against The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Bassey and Cooper Moo. For this final match-up, I've read through page 200 of both books, and our winner will be the book I, Amy, want to keep on reading most.

The Coldest War: Tor Books, July 2012, 251 pages, volume two of The Milkwood Triptych, cover art by Chris McGrath. The Coldest War is a fantasy alternate history book set in 1963 after a different WWII. The Coldest War got to the finals by edging out Fair Coin by E.C. Myers in the first round, prevailing over Faith by John Love in the second round, and winning the semi-final match-up with Taft 2012 by Jason Heller.

Gretel and Klaus, who have Nazi-developed special abilities powered by batteries, escaped a high security Russian research facility. Gretel is a seer and Klaus can "ghost" through walls. In London, Gretel offered their former associate, Reinhardt, pieces of a battery blueprint for his help in her future schemes.

William Beauclerk, younger brother of the Duke of Aelred, was broken by the terrible things he did for Britain during WWII. Gwedolyn, who became his wife, helped him heal. Now William heads a foundation to improve relations between the UK and the USSR. Gwendolyn disapproves of Will speaking with the Russian cultural attaché because she suspects he is KGB. When it’s later revealed what Will has done, Gwendolyn is devastated and Will gets unwanted attention from both British and Soviet intelligence.

Gretel and Klaus turn themselves in to the Secret Intelligence Service. Gretel won’t talk until they bring in Raybould Marsh, who hasn’t worked for MI6 on Milkweed for years. Marsh, who lately has gone through difficult times, is rehired. Gretel informs SIS that the Soviets are killing Britain’s warlocks. She provides evidence that secret information has been leaked. British Intelligence tries unsuccessfully to detect and disrupt Russian spy communications.

The Soviets have reverse engineered the Reichsbehörde technology, and have at least one battery powered, super assassin. Klaus, who is tired of his sister’s machinations, volunteers to help Marsh and SIS trap and combat the Russian agent. They unfortunately learn that the assassin has improved special powers. Several fashionable London houses, plus their street, will need major repairs.

The Mongoliad: Book One: 47 North trade paperback, 448 pages. The Mongoliad was originally released in a serialized format online. Of the gang of seven authors, Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are well known science fiction writers, and Mark Teppo is the author of an urban fantasy series. The Mongoliad: Book One made it to the finals by overpowering Casting Shadows by J. Kelley Anderson in the first round, edging out The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen in the second round, and getting by Silver by Rhiannon Held in the semifinals.

The year is 1241, after the Mongol invaders have defeated combined European forces at the Battle of Legnica in Poland. Onghwe Khan issues a challenge for competitions between champions. Men of the Order of Shield-Brethren gather from many different lands near a ruined monastery. Cnán, a woman spy, brings a message from Illarion, an injured friend of theirs. Cnán guides the physician Raphael, Hunter Finn and young fighter Haakon on a rescue mission.

Illarion says that Onghwe Khan will not honor his word to spare Christendom if their champions can defeat the Mongols in the arena. Cnán mentions that all the Khans would depart for Mongolia upon the death of the Great Khan or Khagan. Feronantus decides to split the group. Some will remain to fight in the arena contests while Feronantus leads a group of twelve, including Cnán, east to Mongolia to assassinate the Khagan.

Later, Cnán discovers that one of their small group, Istvan, is taking vengeance on his private forays. Feronantus sends Percival, Eleázar and Raphael with Cnán to bring back Istvan. But Mongols are tracking Istvan as well. Near a river, and in the marshes, there are skirmishes. They find Istvan, but are outnumbered. The Mongols chase them.

Meanwhile in Mongolia, the Khagan, Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan, is tired of dealing with bureaucrats. His brother sends a young warrior, Gansuhk, as an emissary to moderate Ögedei’s excessive drinking. The Chinese woman Lian is tasked with tutoring Gansuhk on how to behave at court. Gansuhk impresses Ögedei Khan with his bow hunting skills. Lian, who wants to learn how to fight, gets a archery lesson from Gansuhk. When an intruder is spotted at the palace, Gansuhk takes it upon himself to catch him.

Back in Poland, in the arena, the young fighter Haakon faces the Mongol champion Zug, whose gaudy armor makes him look like a demon. Haakon uses a greatsword, and Zug wields a polearm.

The Battle: We have two books containing historical aspects. The Mongoliad: Book One adds fiction to the known facts of the Mongol Invasion of Europe, while The Coldest War is a fantasy alternative history with Britain (not the USA) and the USSR fighting the Cold War.

The Coldest War started with three different story parts, those centered on Gretel and Klaus, William Beauclerk, and Marsh. Before I reached page 200, with the tension ratcheting up, they ended up together. Not that they like each other. In this quote, Pethick, as well as Marsh, are British intelligence.

     Pethick waited for the paneled door to latch shut with an audible click before addressing Marsh. "Just got an interesting message over the blower.  Our lamplighters down in Lyminster report that Ivan’s gone bughouse.  Started a few minutes ago.  The rats are abandoning ship."  He glanced at Klaus and Gretel, who still stood at the window.  "I think it worked."
     Will realized he hadn’t a clue what Pethick was talking about.  Nothing the man said made the least bit of sense.  And that only deepened the sense of terror, because Will was at the center of it all.  How had everything gone so utterly beyond his control?  He’d thought he finally put everything in his life right.  Yet now he didn’t know if he’d survive the week.  The carousel of life was spinning out of control, faster and faster, while Will’s sweaty fingers lost their grip an inch at a time.  Soon he’d be flung into the bushes, where lurked bears and demons.

The main characters in The Coldest War display intense yet believable emotions. They have depth, partly because this is book two of the series, and have scars from past events.

This book contains unsettling aspects. After page 100, I learned of the warlocks’ awful blood prices. And then there’s the creepy children in the basement.

The Mongoliad: Book One, upon reading 200 pages, left me with three separate unresolved situations. The party heading to Mongolia has a battle on their hands, Gansuhk is chasing a possible assassin, and Haakon is fighting a fearsome opponent in the arena. For fantasy epics, multiple points of view are the norm, but it made me realize which characters I cared about most.

This book has a horde of characters. Some seem to go in and out of the spotlight. Perhaps because the story is told frequently from Cnán’s point of view, about the group of adventurers, those parts worked best for me.

     Percival sidled away from the brambles, then halted, only dimly visible.  Cnán saw resolution in his posture.  "We shall rejoin Feronantus," he announced, as if this had always been obvious.
     "If we can find him, which I doubt," Eleázar said.  "We shall be leading the Mongols directly to the others."
     "Yes," Percival said,"and by the same token, we shall then have sufficient numbers to destroy them utterly."
     "It would be…polite, at the very least, to give Feronantus a bit of warning before leading a company of furious Mongols into his camp," Raphael pointed out.
     "I will ride ahead," Istvan began, spinning about on his roan, crashing through the brush – but faltered, as even he saw the fallacy.
     "Not in these woods," Eleázar said dryly.
     "Cnán shall go before us, swift and quiet, as always," Percival said, "and we shall trail behind, slowly and noisily.  Go now!"
     This was the moment at which she would have gladly abandoned them all to the fates they deserved had it not been for the startling detail of Percival staring straight and steady into her eyes as he gave her the order.  And so, grumbling, she led her pony between the trees.

In the parts featuring Lian and Gansuhk, I liked most of their banter. But I think Lian fell for Gansuhk unexplainably fast. The Khagan’s flashbacks were well done. And although I’m rooting for Haakon in the arena, and I know more about medieval weaponry than most women, martial combat and weapon technique admittedly isn’t a big wow for me.

The Mongoliad: Book One has good action, bloody confrontations, and nice touches of camaraderie and humor.

Both of these books are entertaining, but I want to finish The Coldest War more. I found it faster paced. For me, technology to walk through walls trumps medieval weaponry. Besides, The Coldest War left me hanging on the ending of the scene with the Russian assassin, arrgh!

THE WINNER: THE COLDEST WAR by Ian Tregillis

Congratulations to Ian Tregillis, who becomes our third Battle of the Books winner, after James Renner and Elizabeth Bear. We will feature The Coldest War in a full review at Fantastic Reviews, and we will also try to arrange an interview with Tregillis.

Stay tuned for the now somewhat misnamed Fall Bracket of the Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books, which Aaron will be judging.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Semifinal :: Silver by Rhiannon Held vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

The second semifinal of the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books matches Silver by Rhiannon Held against The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Bassey and Cooper Moo. The book I most want to continue reading after 100 pages will advance to the championship round.

Silver: Tor trade paperback, June 2012, 317 pages, cover photograph by Trevillion Images. Rhiannon Held is a US writer. Silver, her first novel, is an urban fantasy. Silver made it to the semifinals by prevailing over Destroyer of Worlds by Mark Chadbourn in the first round, and by overcoming Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove in the second round.

Werewolf Andrew Dare tracked down an unknown lone werewolf who smelled of pain and silver. He found a deranged woman who can no longer change into a wolf. She told him that Death called her Silver. Someone harmed Silver by injecting her arm with silver.

Andrew coaxed Silver to go with him to the Roanoke pack house. Silver, who feared leading "the monster" to the other were, wanted to run away. Andrew wasn’t entirely welcome in the house due to werewolf politics and his bloody past.

Rory, the Roanoke Alpha, didn’t recognize Silver and didn’t want to deal with her. Rory ordered Andrew to get one of the Western packs to take Silver. Andrew phoned a number of Western alphas. Those who answered were unhelpful or unfriendly, and unaware of any missing were. Eventually, the Portland alpha, Michele, offered to take Silver. Andrew and Silver took a chartered flight west.

Determined to hunt down whoever hurt Silver, Andrew left Silver and headed to Seattle. Michelle thought the Seattle pack was acting atypically. Before Andrew encountered anyone, Michelle phoned because Silver wouldn't stop screaming. Andrew rushed back to Portland. The full moon was affecting Silver badly. Andrew risked bleeding Silver’s hurt arm, and it helped. But Andrew knew that neither he nor Silver should stay.

The Mongoliad: Book One: 47 North trade paperback, 448 pages. The Mongoliad was originally released in a serialized format online. Of the gang of seven authors, Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are well known science fiction writers, and Mark Teppo is the author of an urban fantasy series. The Mongoliad: Book One made it to the semifinals by overpowering Casting Shadows by J. Kelley Anderson in the first round, and by edging out The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen in the second round.

The year is 1241, during the Mongol invasion of Europe. Cnán, a woman messenger, spies the gathering of the Order of Shield-Brethren near a ruined monastery. She informs the men, a group from different lands, that she was sent by Illarion, an injured friend of theirs.

Cnán guides several of the men on a trip to rescue Illarion. On their return, they cross the bloody ruins of Legnica, and manage to spook their way past a Mongol scouting party.

Illarion says that Onghwe Khan will not honor his word to spare Christendom if their champions can defeat the Mongols in the arena. His city’s champions won a similar challenge, but the Mongols destroyed their city anyway. Cnán mentions that all the Khans would depart for Mongolia upon the death of the Great Khan. This inspires Feronantus to split their group. Some will stay to fight in the arena competitions, but a party of twelve -- including Feronantus, Illarion and Cnán -- will travel east to kill Ögedei Khan.

Meanwhile in Mongolia, Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan, is tired of dealing with bureaucrats. He complains to his wives. His brother sends an emissary, Gansuhk, to moderate Ögedei’s excessive drinking. Ögedei’s advisor arranges for a tutor, the Chinese woman Lian, to teach Gansuhk how to behave and gain influence at court.

The Battle: We have a contemporary urban fantasy going against an epic war fantasy set in the 13th century.

Silver is a more personal story. All the characters are werewolves. I like the tidbit that Andrew Dare is a descendant of the lost colonists of Roanoke. Andrew acts fairly reasonably, but between pack politics and his questionable past, he apparently has gotten on the wrong side of almost everyone. Silver’s mind is loopy, but sometimes she seems relatively coherent.

Here’s an excerpt of Silver talking with Death, when she and Andrew are flying to Portland.

     "At least the monster can’t track our scent," she told Death, trying to sound optimistic.
     "Why would he need to, when you’re going toward him?" Death said. Death didn’t mind flying, and not a hair ruffed out of place as he ran along the air beside them. "It would be better to give in now."
     Silver avoided Death’s gaze by looking at the ground below. That was almost worse. The rivers and paths looked like snakes. "I can’t run forever. I have to trust someone. Maybe I can only find my wild self if I go back to where she first ran, and follow her trail properly. I’ve been looking inside all this time. Maybe I need to look outside."
     Silver heard how little it sounded like she believed that. Death’s contempt for her self-delusion was clear. "He’s not helping you search. He’s hunting the monster."

There was more action in the second 50 pages, but this book is about the characters. Andrew and Silver seem to becoming more attached. But so far, there’s only one lead for the plot to chase.

The Mongoliad: Book One has a large cast of characters with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. It’s taking place in two, probably soon to be three, different locations. There are too many characters to really get to know at this point. I wonder if each of the seven authors brought their own fictional characters into the mix.

I like that women characters are featured. But Cnán’s role seems rather atypical. Perhaps a better explanation of the Binders, the fictional messenger group Cnán belongs to, would have helped. Yet I liked Cnán’s point of view, although I could have done without her crush on Percival.

Gansukh, the young warrior sent to get Ögedei Khan to drink less, plays a much larger role in the second 50 pages than I expected. Maybe more words should have been put into his introduction.

I like the audacious idea of a quest to kill the Great Khan.

     "Is there nothing else in the minds of these Khans," Feronantus asked, "other than to go on conquering until, as Raphael put it, the ocean washes their ponies' hooves?"
     "In large part, they have a free hand, as must be obvious to you," Cnán said, "but they obey commands from the center, and they compete against each other"
     "What sort of completion worthy of the name can exist between one Khan and another who is on the other side of the world? Their domains seem to be clearly marked out; one never sees two Khans trying to conquer the same place."
     "You misunderstand," Cnán said. "When I speak of competition, I do not mean to say that they compete for the same spoils. For a man of such wealth and power, there is only one prize remaining that is worth attending to, and that is to become the next Khagan – the Khan of Khans."

For me, this battle was close. I’d like to find out where the story in each of these books goes. Perhaps it was the touches of humor, or maybe the greater sense of danger. I'll go with the medieval Mongol conflict.

THE WINNER: THE MONGOLIAD: BOOK ONE by by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear and five others

The Mongoliad: Book One advances to meet The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis in the finals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012 :: Final Four

We are (finally!) down to the Final Four in the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books:

The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis vs. Taft 2012 by Jason Heller

Silver by Rhiannon Held vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

This sixteen-book bracket contained a number of interesting books. All the books but one were by authors I (Amy) hadn't read before. Stopping reading good books after only 25 or 50 pages for Battle of the Books was sometimes difficult, but it allowed me to sample a wider selection of books and spread the word about more new books.

Only two of the four "seeded" books made it to the Final Four: The Coldest War and The Mongoliad: Book One. That's fewer than in the previous two brackets. Perhaps this was partially because the "seeded" books were selected by Aaron, and they were the books that he was most looking forward to reading.

Thanks again to all the authors and publicists sending us great books to consider. If you're an author or publicist, click here for the rules and an address to send your book if you'd like to be included in a future bracket.

We have had a tremendous response to the Battle of the Books format; we already have enough new books to fill out three more brackets!

I've enjoyed judging this bracket, but I wish I was a faster reviewer. I haven't yet finished the summer bracket and we're already well into fall. I'll be handing Battle of Books back to Aaron for the next couple brackets. Aaron has already judged a handful of contests for the upcoming fall bracket, so stay tuned!

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Round :: The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

For our final second round match, The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen squares off against The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Bassey and Cooper Moo. The book I most want to continue reading after 50 pages will be the last entrant in the Final Four of this bracket.

The Land of Decoration: Henry Holt and Company hardcover, 306 pages, April 2012. Grace McCleen is a UK author and singer-songwriter. The Land of Decoration is her first novel.

In the first 25 pages, we were introduced to Judith McPherson a 10-year old British Jehovah’s Witness being raised by her father. In her room, Judith was constructing a model world out of collected scraps which she called The Land of Decoration. At school, a boy threatened to push Judith's head down the toilet. Judith worried herself sick over the threat. At the Meeting Hall, an impressive visiting speaker preached how faith can move mountains.

Judith remembers that school closed once because of snow. She thinks hard about snow. Judith creates model snow over her Land of Decoration using things such as white cotton, flour and shaving foam. A voice urges her on. The next morning it snows. School is cancelled and she doesn’t have to face the bully. Judith thinks the snow was a miracle produced because she had faith. Her father thinks she’s imagining things. Judith decides to test whether the snow was a coincidence. She models snow over her Land of Decoration for a second time. After a long day’s wait, it snows again.

The Mongoliad: Book One: 47 North, trade paperback, 448 pages. The Mongoliad was originally released in a serialized format online. Two more books are forthcoming in the series. Of the gang of seven authors, Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are well known science fiction writers, and Mark Teppo is the author of an urban fantasy series.

The year is 1241, after the Mongols defeated the Europeans at the Battle of Legnica. Cnán, a woman messenger, spies the knights of the Shield-Brethren near a ruined monastery and she is spotted by their sentries. She informs the men, a group of about a dozen men from different lands, that she was sent by Illarion, an injured friend of theirs.

The physician Rafael, hunter Finn, and young fighter Haakon accompany Cnán on a several days long trip to rescue Illarion. A Mongol has cut off Illarion’s right ear, thinking Illarion was dead. On the group’s return, they end up passing through the bloody ruins and refugees of Legnica. Illarion spooks a Mongol scouting party into thinking they are ghosts.

Meanwhile, in the capital of the Mongol Empire, Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan, is tired of dealing with bureaucrats. He complains to his wives that all he does is eat and talk. His brother is rightfully worried about Ögedei’s drinking. Ögedei has a flashback to the decades earlier battle of Khalakhaljid Sands, where he was seriously wounded.

The Battle: Again, we have two very different books. The Land of Decoration features a religious girl who believes she can make miracles happen. The Mongoliad: Book One is set during the 13th Century invasion of Europe by the Mongols.

The Land of Decoration is certainly readable. Judith is an introverted girl with an interestingly skewed point of view.

     I know about faith. The world in my room is made out of it. Out of faith I stitched the clouds. Out of faith I cut the moon and the stars. With faith I glued everything together and set it humming. This is because faith is like imagination. It sees something where there is nothing, it takes a leap, and suddenly you’re flying.

If this was a genre fantasy book, I’d think Judith’s "miracle" snow was some kind of sympathetic magic. But since The Land of Decoration is mainstream fiction, and an Oprah.com Book of the Week, I expect a more mundane explanation is forthcoming.

The Mongoliad: Book One is a gritty, medieval epic.

     With a sweep of his arm, Illarion drew back the cloak that had swathed him for much of the last two days and hurled it aside, where it spun and flew for an uncanny number of yards, like a bat, then fell-–to precisely drape the picked skeleton and conical helm of a Polish knight.
     A knight who had almost made it to the forest before taking three arrows in the back.
     All heads turned, mesmerized by this.
     Bones rattled. The round hump of the skull shifted under the cloak, as if finding new life.
     Illarion reined his horse just to the left of the Mongol chief and canted his head with a careless jerk, exposing the swollen earless right side of his face....

The Mongoliad: Book One deals with violent times and contains unsettling scenes, such the group seeing the remains of the children of Legnica, who were killed to prevent them being captured by the Mongols.

I can't recall reading a book with this historical setting. I was intrigued enough to reference Wikipedia. So far, The Mongoliad: Book One appears to follow history.

This decision wasn’t easy for me. The Land of Decoration is good, the story is developing, and it certainly isn’t violent. On the other hand, The Mongoliad: Book One is brutal, it features a large cast of characters, and I want to find out more. Ultimately, it came down to this: The Land of Decoration is too close to the real world for my personal tastes. I (Amy) prefer books that take me further from reality.

THE WINNER: THE MONGOLIAD: BOOK ONE by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear and five others

The Mongoliad: Book One advances to meet Silver by Rhiannon Held in the semifinals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.