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Soh Kam Yung Locked account

sohkamyung@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 1 month ago

Exploring one universe at a time. Interested in #Nature, #Photography, #NaturePhotography, #Science, #ScienceFiction, #Physics, #Engineering.

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Soh Kam Yung's books

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The Privilege of the Happy Ending (2023, Small Beer Press) 4 stars

A surprising and exciting new collection of speculative and experimental stories that explore animal intelligences, …

A collection of fantastic stories that shows how broad the author's writings can be.

4 stars

A collection of fantastic stories (of short, medium and long length) that shows how broad the author's writings can be. Stories that invite the reader to become part of the story, flash fiction and 'traditional' forms of writing can all be found here. Stories that I really enjoyed include a trickster Coyote's journey into the land of the dead, one involving Toad and other characters by Kenneth Grahame, a magnificent journey through a dreamland created by H.P. Lovecraft, and a story that asks the reader whether the characters should have the privilage of a happy ending.

  • "Tool-Using Mimics": an unusual picture of a little girl wearing a squid or octopus-like costume triggers a speculative story about what the girl really is: just a girl in a costume, or perhaps an octopus mimicking a girl as a disguise, or something else.

  • "Mantis Wives": the various ways female mantis deal with the …

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System Collapse (Hardcover, 2023, Tordotcom) 4 stars

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Following the events in …

A wonderful addition to the series that makes me love Murderbot even more, which I didn’t think was possible.

I don’t think one needs to re-read Network Effect to be able to enjoy this, as the redacted parts in the first parts of the book only lightly refer to the previous, but mostly consist of things happening within the timeframe of System Collapse. Now if it’s been years and you don’t remember why Murderbot had a bad time planetside, then sure, re-read it. The redacted parts, while maybe a little disorientating, are showing the effects of trauma in a way that’s true to my own experiences, which added a richness to the story that just telling me Murderbot’s traumatized couldn’t.

I saw some comments about this feeling like the missing half of Network Effect. I wholly disagree. It’s in the same system and planet, but the situation is entirely different …

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2023 (2023, Spilogale, Inc..) 3 stars

An average issue of F&SF.

3 stars

An average issue, with interesting stories by Geoff Ryman and David Jeffrey, Amal Singh, Samantha E. Chung and Meighan Hogate.

  • "The Many Different Kinds of Love" by Geoff Ryman and David Jeffrey: a long, interesting story about a sentient exploration rig on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. It is buried in the water under the ice on the moon. The rig houses the memories and experiences of a group of selected people, who are tasked with giving permission to the rig to execute decisions. When communications with Earth are lost, the rig, with permission, decides to organize an expedition to explore the rest of the moon. When the expedition discovers would change the world that they know. But it may be threatened, for when the expedition returns to the rig, they discover that its priorities have been changed under its new masters.

  • "Karantha Fish" by Amal Singh: a girl's uncle …

The Stars We Raised (2023, Tor.com) 3 stars

We’re delighted to share “The Stars We Raised” by Xiu Xinyu, translated from Chinese by …

On harvesting stars while growing up.

3 stars

A story about growing up while feeling isolated. In a small village, the children catch floating stars as pets, which are eventually harvested. But one child, picked upon by the others, keeps his star despite being bullied about it by the others, until it is lost.

The children all grow up, and one day, the former child and his best friend go on a trip to harvest stars in the mountains. What they see and find there among the stars would be a wonder; and also a sadness over lost childhood desires.