Books & Stuff (NS, No 26) - Reading in Mar 2022

 Books Finished

HP Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Stories

A collection of seven (not six, as it says on the back cover!) stories by Lovecraft, including the title story and 'The Colour Out of Space'.

Introductions to modern Lovecraft anthologies have to go out of their way to admit that he was a horrid racist, but that one can separate his works from the man.  In this 1971 collection, the introduction gives an almost avuncular description of him!

Ruthanna Emrys, Winter Tide

I decided to re-read Winter Tide, the first of 'The Innsmouth Legacy' books, in which Emrys subverts Lovecraft by taking the side of 'the other'.  Her heroes are the two Hybrid survivors of the concentration camps (being released alongside the Japanese internees at the end of the war).

They are recruited by an outcast FBI agent to research into secrets hidden in Miskatonic University Library, with the promise that they might also be able to recover some of their stolen heritage.  It's not only the Soviets who are watching Miskatonic though...

I originally read this in Oct 2019 and found it a little contrived (it did make my Best of 2019 list though).  This time, I came away with a better impression, and therefore read the next in the series.

Ruthanna Emrys, Deep Roots

Aphra Marsh's quest to resettle Innsmouth leads her to New York in search of lost relatives.  Instead, she finds a settlement of Mi-go who are divided among themselves as to how interventionist to be in human affairs, given the threat of atomic war.

Natasha Pulley, The Bedlam Stacks

A bit of magical realism set in C19th Peru as a British expedition is sent out to steal cuttings of the cinchona plant (the source of quinine).

Robert Harris, The Second Sleep

Something a little unusual for Harris, best known for his historical thrillers.  This one is set in a post-apocalyptic future, hovvering on the end of a new medieval age.  But as competent a tale as you'd expect from Harris.

Andy Weir, The Martian

Every so often I re-read Weir's tale of an marooned astronaut's refusal to give up in the face of everwhealming odds.  It's a bit of a comfort read for me (especially when I'm giving up).