Archive | Fiction RSS feed for this section

Out of This World LGBTQ Sci-Fi: Nobody’s Baby and Hell’s Heart

10 Mar

Nobody’s Baby
by Olivia Waite
Nobody’s Baby is Olivia Waite’s second clever retro-futuristic Science Fiction Mystery set on an ship journeying through space to bring former inhabitants of Earth to their new home. People’s memories are backed up and they are given newly grown adult bodies so that they can keep a consistent population while on board; no pregnancies are allowed, so when a baby is discovered it leads to a series of discoveries that expose a diabolical murder. Waite packs a lot into a short work with great characters, an intriguing who dunnit, interesting world building focused on a society which prioritizes memories, and even a bit of romance. If you enjoy Nobody’s Baby, you may also want to check out Waite’s steamy historic and paranormal romance novellas.

Hell’s Heart
by Alexis Hall
Hell’s Heart is Alexis Hall’s clever re-imagining of Moby Dick as a space opera hunt for a legendary leviathan. As an Easter egg, he even includes the same dedication to Nathaniel Hawthorn that Melville included in his original. Filled with clever humor and inventive spins on the Moby Dick with an added sapphic romance (many of the characters are gender swapped), this novel will delight fans of quirky science fiction as well as amuse readers familiar with the classic novel who are looking for a fresh fun spin. I’m a long time fan of Hall and previously blogged about some of his terrific speculative fiction and romances. If you enjoy this work you can also check out The Affair of the Mysterious Letter, Hall’s reinvention of Sherlock Holmes.

For another Moby Dick reinvention, you can also borrow Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo, which is told from the perspective of a girl who disguises her self as a cabin boy to join a whaling ship. For a truly unique audio experience you can listen to Burt Reynolds read an abridged version of the original.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

Tags: , , , ,

Day or Dusk, Dawn or Dead of Eve: The Night House Sticks With You All Day

26 Feb

The Night House scared me in my bones and through my veins.

Film poster showing a woman standing alone at the end of a wooden dock at a lake in the dead of night. There is a shoreline in the background with a distant house beneath a red moon through heavy clouds. The text reads “The Night House.”

The director plays with angles and shapes to distort your vision while the writers weave the slightest and most intriguing details into the character’s background and behavior to keep you guessing. The scares are well-timed and effective. Each serve a purpose. Every twinge of dread or outright jump in your seat is vindicated. From the bumps to the spooks to the visual distortion and to the realism of the suspension of belief, the fear and unease of this movie lives in human flaws, moral debate, and in the spinning wheel of grief.

The Night House (2020; R) blends psychological horror, suspense, and mystery. You can reserve the DVD here in the BCCLS system or find a copy at the Hoboken Public Library.

Beth is reeling from the death of her husband and, in that grief, has decided to stay in the lakehouse they built together. She puts up a strong front and continues with her day-to-day life, but she can’t hide from the night and the tricks on her mind in her dreams. Soon, she cannot tell what a dream is and what is real. Or are they the same? Either way, a ghostly presence is luring her in. So, she begins digging for answers and going into her husband’s affairs. There lies a trail of dark and disturbing urges. ​

The film is about the seductive battle between not wanting to let go without all the answers, vs. the monsters in our mind that feed on us as we walk through that rotted, dark tunnel. On its simplest level, too, it’s the classic sparring between what lies in this world and what exists beyond it, and at what stages in our lives is it possible for them to blend. ​

Watch under the caution of your lamps and with blankets by your side. Don’t think about the souls that once walked through your room now, perhaps hiding under the couch as you reach for your drink. You might find yourself noticing, too, how angles in your home, at just the right tilt, silhouette the human form. Ghosts and spirits prey on our lazy, presumptuous vision and blind expectation that everything will be as it is when we turn around.

My heart is still pumping tight to the chest, and my throat clenches when I consider the story’s morality. It could happen to any of us, and I, for one, will take extra notice the next time I’m at a secluded cabin of every boat rock, every vacant house, every angle shift, every depth beyond dark windows, and every light across the lake.

Reserve your copy in the BCCLS system here to pick up at the Hoboken Public Library.

Comment below your thoughts once you’ve had a watch.

Hit subscribe to get Hoboken Public Library Staff Picks to your email!

Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries