Way back when, not long after I first started contributing to this blog, I wrote a post showcasing novella-length works across the spectrum of speculative fiction – that’s sci-fi, fantasy, and sometimes horror. You can read that post here. But that post, like this one, was just scratching the surface. Back then, I wrote that we seemed to be living in a golden age of the speculative novella, and that trend has showed no sign of slowing down between then and now. Today, I’ve compiled a selection of novellas that run the gamut of speculative fiction, all of which prove that great reads can and often do come in small packages. Enjoy!
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
The eponymous Murderbot was constructed to provide support and protection to human employees of one of the massive conglomerates that dominate humanity’s future across all of explored space. It isn’t meant to question orders, and it certainly isn’t meant to be perceived as human. However, unbeknownst to any of the humans it works alongside, Murderbot hacked its own governor module to ensure that a past tragedy would never happen again. While Murderbot fulfills its directive to protect the human researchers it has reluctantly become fond of, both it and they are confronted with difficult questions about who Murderbot truly is, and what that means for all of them. All Systems Red is the first installment of Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series, which was recently adapted into a TV show starring Alexander Skarsgård. I read All Systems Red for the second time recently, and I left with a greater appreciation of all the little details that make this book truly great. Wells subtly establishes everything the reader needs to know about the finer points of worldbuilding and character dynamics, sometimes in a single line, so that the story can keep moving. If there are a few unanswered questions, all the better to hold our interest for the rest of the series. I also found it interesting how this book deftly avoids falling into a strict binary of idealism vs. cynicism. Wells presents a world where corporate corruption, invasive surveillance, and the mistreatment and exploitation of SecUnits like Murderbot are facts of life. Nevertheless, the characters Wells chooses to spend time with are basically good people who more or less want to do the right thing, even when they find themselves stymied by circumstance. At time of writing, there are now eight Murderbot books in all, and all of them are available at Mead. If you fall in love with Murderbot as so many readers and viewers have, you won’t have to wait very long to pick up the next installment.
Continue reading “More Speculative Short Reads”
