Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A nice collection of eight short stories. It is definitely the perfect read for Halloween. And to be honest who of us hasn't dreamed of some Zombie(-apocalypse) stories featuring LGBT Characters? There are some really great stories in there, but some were sadly just disappointing.


Dove in the Window
Diversity: lesbian MCs, f/f

The story is set in Kentucky in the 1930s. Cissy regularly wakes up to her now deceased lover Pearl night walking from the grave straight into her bed. She isn't that worried about the night walking part at first, apparently that's something that happens, but she's worried somebody might find out and question why Pearl's undead nightly adventures lead her into her best friends bed and not her fiancée's. Still Pearl keeps complaining that she can't sleep and so Cissy attempts to speak with Death in a midnight séance. He tells her that somebody or something is keeping the Dead from resting and she has to figure out who it is. And she will not have to do it alone. The attractive Northerner Marie has been chosen by Death to help her.
I have to say that while I liked the idea of this story it was quite slow and I didn't really feel interested in it for quite some time, but when Marie entered the story the pace picked up a bit and the end was really nice. 3.5/5 Stars


Only Human
Diversity: bisexual MC, m/m

Saul has been feeling ill for a while now and when he finally goes to the hospital, he is quickly referred to a magic illness specialist and in the end ends up at a Necromancers. This freaks him out, but only so far as magic illnesses are harder to deal with than normal ones. Living in a world where souls can easily be bound to a body again, magic is nothing unusual. To break the curse he has to put "dead flesh into his body in a sexual context" or wait for the necromancer to break it which could take weeks and they wouldn't be able to find the person who cast the curse. Thankfully there's a good-looking (but still dead) Zombie Receptionist. Without thinking Saul invites him on a date.
There are two bisexual characters (Saul & Jill, a former hook up of his), there's nice humor and it was really nice to watch their slowly budding relationship. The long sex scene however wasn't exactly my favorite thing in the story and grossed me out quite bad. The writing is quite good however. 3.5/5. Stars


Lavish are the Undead
Diversity: lesbian MCs, disabled character, f/f

While Mick is at the Gym working out her girlfriend Billie is working as a DJ at the radio station. However Mick's workout is brought to an abrupt stop when the power flickers and sudden panic erupts in the Gym. When Mick gets out she see's... ceramic dolls attacking people and smashing all reflecting surfaces, as they seem to enrage them. Saving an elderly woman from those creatures she makes her escape. Now all that's left to do is saving her girlfriend. who by the way is stuck in a giant glass tower 100 floors above the ground and unable to escape as the power keeps failing, the elevator is not a safe option to take and she's in a wheelchair.
I love Mick, she is really badass and the story is quite fast paced and exiting. Also if you listen to the songs Billie plays on the radio, while reading the story it's even nicer. All in all this was a really nice short story. 4.5/5. Stars


The Eight Tree
Diversity: gay MCs, m/m

Two soldiers, Edward and Daniel met on the battlefield on the way to the Western Front and soon get quite close. When their sergeant catches them, one of them shoots the other one in the leg. They are dishonorably discharged and have to flee. Caught in No Man's Land between the two armies there is no way for them to go. They hide in the woods until a missile kills their entire first battalion. But instead of staying dead, the Soldiers raise again.
Personally I am not a huge fan of war stories so this story didn't really speak to me. it was also told very non-linear and I had to reread it to make sense of it, which was quite annoying. 2/5. Stars


Orion Shone Right Through
Diversity: gay MCs, nonbinary character, m/m

Marcus has been living in the Zombie Apocalypse for a while now. He survives by looting grocery stores. When he meets Daisy, he is just about to figure out what he wants to eat. Together they decide to find the military helicopter and fly to safety. But when they are on the needed housetop they hear people screaming for help. Turns out one of the people they save is Marcus' ex Cal. The second character is Beckett, a nonbinary person who just wants to get out of New York and find their twin.
There are some incredible confusing time jumps and the ending is not really satisfying, it feels quite open and like a terrible cliffhanger. I did like that a nonbinary character with they/their pronouns was featured, but somehow everybody immediately knew that they were nonbinary, which probably wouldn't even happen in a zombie apocalypse. I think there could have been some better explanation of that, like this it just felt like another weird time jump. 2/5. Stars


A Witch in Arkham
Diversity: bisexual MC, f/f

Set in an alternative world where witches, zombies and templars exist. Lexa is a witch and she has been hired to raise a dead to settle a century-long inheritance debate. But instead of the ghost she wanted to raise, her deceased boyfriend appears to her and warns her. Not long after she is hired to find Michael, a former templar who presumable ran away and is now hiding in Arkham. But to find him, she has to work with Phoebe, the templar her ex boyfriend told her to trust. There are reanimators raising the dead and putting souls back into dead bodies, magic practitioners of all kinds, meat markets who are like black markets except well they sell human meat and it's super illegal, the Deep Ones.
The magical world is sadly not incredible well explained and I would have loved this story to be longer as I adored the setting and would have probably enjoyed it even more if there was some more time to really explain everything. But Lexa uses the B-Word as well and there is some great humor playing on her bisexuality in the end which is really nice to read. 5/5. Stars


Zoey Loves Zombies
Diversity: f/f

Before Indigo was attacked by a Zombie Owl and subsequently turned, she and Zoey had a terrible fight. Indigo wanted to leave for New York and Zoey wanted to stay. She tries to keep Indigo from turning to quickly by using salt baths to conserve her body and all kinds of nice smelling ointment to hide the stink of her rotting flesh. But Indigo will not stay sentient for much longer.
This story is honestly quite gross so if you're into the gory part of the Zombie Apocalypse this is probably a nice story for you. Gore with Feelings. It was interesting to read, but I was pretty grossed out at points. I really love the ending though. 3.5/5. Stars


Noble Pursuit
Diversity: trans man, m/m
TW: misgendering

Lord Delaney is quite good at hunting Zombies, who dare put a foot on his land. Set in rural England the 19th century this is definitely a very interesting setting. He is quite alone in his castle until he finds Ephram, a boy who keeps a big secret. But Lord Delaney does not care, as he too has a big secret. While some noble Englishman have balls and feasts, filled with chatter and dancing, the zombies attack and it is left to Ephram and Lord Delaney to save as many people as they can, Lord Delaney's brother included.

The story is quite nice and Ephram's and Lord Delaney's love story is quite cute, but there are some abrupt jumps in perspective, which kind off threw me out of the story a bit. The writing was nice however. 4/5. Stars

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of poems and short stories combines literature from the start of the Russian Revolution around 1917 to the Russian Civil War. It features of broad spectrum of authors and opinions, some of them stood wholeheartedly behind the revolution, others only did at first and realized later it was not what they wanted and others again hated what was happening.

The first third of the book consists out of poetry. Before each poems we get a good introduction to the poets’ life and the current political situation in Russia. This definitely added a lot of depth and helped me understand this time period quite a bit better.
The second part of the book consists out of prose and each short story had an explanatory introduction prefacing it. Some of the stories were fictional, others were not. I quite enjoyed reading them, it gave me a very vivid picture of the historical situation in Russia. It sometimes like reading a live report of the civil war and it was an interesting insight in people’s lives.

As I sadly don’t really know anything about the Russian Revolution this collection definitely made me interested in reading more about that time period. It however made it sometimes hard for me to really understand what was going on exactly and I kind of want to read up historical facts about that time period and re-read this anthology. Perhaps I will enjoy it more.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a lovely collection of Chinese SFF short stories.It's a great introduction to Chinese Sci-Fi, featuring the current top Sci-Fi Authors in China. It also offers a great insight in Chinese culture and thought, but as all good Sci-Fi should it also reflects on humanity in general.

In the beginning Ken Liu asks western readers to set aside their expectations regarding Sci-Fi. It features 13 short stories written by 7 different authors. The collection ends with 3 essays that examine the role of Sci-Fi in modern China. All authors get a short introduction in which their life and former publications are named.

The Year of the Rat - Chen Qiufan: A bunch of teenagers are lured into military service to trap and fight genetically modified rats in exchange for a job later on. Due to their poor grades they see no other future for themselves. Their drill master also constantly reminds them that they have thus far only wasted their lives and spent their parents money. A bloodthirsty killer and a reluctant innocent flank the morally neutral protagonist. The story is definitely quite nice and full of unsettling subtext.

The Fish of Lijiang - Chen Quifan: An overworked businessman is sent to Lijiang, a rehab clinic, after weeks of insomnia and stress-related illness. The story explores the extreme working conditions in China set in a creepy surreal world.

The Flower of Shazui - Chen Quifan: A very poetic short story. A man who ran away from something in his past for which he feels guilty has moved into a new place where he sells and fixes body films, a kind of neon tattoo. When a high-class prostitute comes to him to get her body film fixed, he finds out something troubling from her home life and tries to help her.

A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight - Xia Jia: Ning was left as an orphan on Ghost Street, a street that is solely inhabited by ghosts, which were fused in robots. There have been no tourists for a long while. A truly magical read and incredibly nice.

Tongtong's Summer - Xia Jia: This story is narrated by Tongtong, a young old girl whose 80-year-old grandpa is moving in with her family after an accident to be cared for. He hates sitting in a wheelchair and would much rather continue to work. After his wife's death he has also grown very distant. But when he is offered the change to use robot carer, which was controlled by a technician offsite, his life starts to look better again. This is definitely one of the most interesting looks at robots and the story is really heartwarming and lovely. It is definitely one of my favorites.

Night Journey of the Dragon Horse - Xia Jia: This wondrous and mystical story follows an ancient metal dragon horse which after awaking from a long slumber, finds out that humans have disappeared and that it doesn't understand the world any longer. On its travels it meets a friend to share its stories with.

The City of Silence - Ma Boyong: Set in a dystopian city where the internet is restricted to a few special websites, address bars don't exist and a list of 'healthy words' keeps getting shorter. All this is done to reduce stress for the people. The government not only supervises the internet use, but also every day language in public or at home is supervised. Our protagonists daily trott is interrupted when a man starts cursing in a way that hasn't happened for years. During his search for answers he soon finds a small group of people who regularly meet to talk about everything they want. The story is highly influenced by 1984 and the novel also plays a huge part in the story, which was nice.

Invisible Planet - Hao Jingfang: An older person tells a young person about incredible planets they have visited. As a traveler of the worlds they have apparently seen many thousand diverse planets. All off them have their own social structures, cultures, sense of time and inhabitants. Despite only playing a little part in the story all of them are well fleshed out and incredibly interesting to read. Definitely another one of my favorites.

Folding Beijing - Hao Jingfang: Set in a world where the population was split into three parts. Due to the incredibly high population only one part is awake for a while, while the other two parts are folded away and stashed underground with the help of chemicals. One man who wants to earn enough money to make it possible for his daughter to go to a reputable kindergarten so she can have singing and dancing lessons, attempts to deliver a rich man's illegal message to his loved one. To do this he has to travel between the three spaces and hope he won't get caught.

Call Girl - Tang Pei: A call girl of a different sort. She offers out of this world experiences trough special stories. The story is definitely one that you have to read more than once, but I still enjoyed it.

Grave of the Fireflies - Cheng Jingbo: This story is very fantastical in nature and feels like a fairy tale. A girl was born between worlds as their family flew from a dying star. While the universe is slowly cooling, her mother hides away in a magical castle and is not seen again. When the girl is twelve she meets the Magician of Weightless City. Growing up she discovers the secret to his eternal youth and why her mother disappeared, as well as her ancient and secret past.

The Circle - Liu Cixin: An assassin is sent to kill the king but instead he offers him the secret to eternal life. As the secret lies in the never-ending and never repeating digits of Pi, the mathematician invents a system of calculating that is based on ones and zeros. This can be easily done with men holding flags. To easily get this done he trains the three millions soldiers of the king and forms a gigantic formation. The mathematics parts are remarkably logical and the story definitely fascinated me.

Taking Care of God - Liu Cixin: The story starts with God and his family. He is not really liked, the wife constantly nags, the husband doesn't care, the son is too preoccupied with school to care and the grandfather just wants to play chess and lets us his temper on God. He is not really well liked by anyone except the families daughter. One day thousands of spaceships appear in the sky and a lot of old people suddenly wander trough the cities, all saying the same thing: "We are God. Please, considering that we created this world, would you give us a bit of food?" In exchange for their pension they give humans all of their scientific research. But as it turns out that humans are not yet developed enough to apply it, the situation quickly becomes more and more uncomfortable for the gods and the abuse sky rockets. The story is very awe-inspiring, but it also made me quite sad. I definitely adored it.
The three essays in the end are written by Liu Cixin, Chen Qiufan and Xia Jia and I definitely enjoyed them as well.

All in all this anthology offered me an incredibly unique entry point and view into Chinese Science-Fiction. I also liked Ken Liu's translations.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Chibok is a poor town in Nigeria. Most of it's population depends on agriculture and until the 14th April 2014 life was fairly uneventful. But on that day a kidnapping done by Boko Haram changed this town for good. 276 schoolgirls were abducted, less than 50 managed to escape from the vehicles while they were being transported, only one was saved later on. The town is still in lock down and heavily guarded. The families still grieve for their lost children.

Helon Habila traveled to Chibok to talk about what happens there. He explains the current situation in Chibok, the roadblocks, the life in a locked down town, the abhorrent way women who managed to flee from Boko Haram are treated, the parent's suffering, the politicians's inactivity (Goodluck Jonathan, the president, actually believe the kidnapping to be a rumor to sabotage the World Economic Forum that was supposed to be hosted in the following month and so no action was taken to rescue the girls).

All of this is told in a non-emotive journalistic style which makes it all the more impressive and shocking. There is also a lot of information on Boko Haram and how this Terrorist Group came into existence, the corruption in the government that helps them to thrive, the history of Nigeria and it's bloody rebellions. Unfortunately there has been no new information on the Chibok girls and there is still no hope for them or their families.

The most impressive part of the book were surely the accounts of their families, the interviews with parents and the huge focus on how the fared. Most of them felt abandoned by their government and as if everybody has given up on their daughters. Even for the few girls that managed to make their way to America, their problems are not over. Many of them can't keep up in school, whereas others are sold to the government by their parents and subsequently send back to Nigeria.

This was definitely well written and the journalistic factual style managed to show how tragic that event was (and still is) without becoming overly depressing. However the book doesn't really focus on the girls that much and so the title was kind of misleading, but as there is no real new information about them and the identities of the few girls that did manage to escape has to be protected, it was okay. This book gave me a deeper understanding of what happened and is still happening in Chibok.