Preparing for a multiverse of imagination this Sci-Fi Summer

The first big holiday weekend of the summer is soon to be upon us and so is the next Seasons of Reading readathon, Sci-Fi Summer. For the month of June, both science fiction and fantasy books are encouraged to be on your literary docket.

Sticking to my rule of three, I have a trio of titles that should fit the bill nicely with two being prizes from a Discord giveaway that I gratefully won awhile back. Talk about books as the gift that keeps on giving there!

Sea of Tranquility: Emily St. John Mandel’s latest novel crosses many points in time as a self appointed detective seeks witnesses to a strange yet brief event involving music.

From a newly exiled man sent to Canada in 1912 to 1994 where a young woman records an odd moment in the woods and all the way to a book tour in the year 2203, where author Olive Llwellyn has left her family bat their moon colony home to promote her new novel on earth, all of them have shared this odd incident yet no one quite knows what it truly means.

Pulling these errant pieces together is the work of  Gaspery, who wants to connect these dots before the whole puzzle is complete as a last request of sorts to his late mother. Even if he succeeds,however, will the true solution be found?

While I’ve only read Station Eleven, Mandel’s work is well known for it’s seemingly simple designs that do slowly but surely reveal a wider story landscape. Have to say that I am intrigued indeed:

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow:  One thing that you can definitely count on with author Gabrielle Zevin is that she never writes the same book twice.

 From The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry to Young Jane Young, she zigs where most would zag and this tale of friendship and video games is both the most and the least expected story from her.

We met Sam and Sadie as kids in 1986, with the two of them bonding over video games while he’s in hospital and she is visiting her ailing sister.

Years later, Sam runs into Sadie at college where she’s developing a game that challenges the player to consider their moral stances in life. Impressed by her creativity, he offers to work with her on other such innovative games inspired by Shakespeare and the poems of Emily Dickinson.

While their gaming fortunes rise and fall(as well as draw unwelcome ire from self appointed crusaders), it’s the power of their friendship that becomes the ultimate quest of their lives.

This promises to be one of the best reads of the summer, I suspect, and hopefully others will be happy to take this page turning  journey with me:

Ariadne: The leading title  lady of this mythological retelling is a princess of Crete, whose mother was used by the gods to punish her royal father’s acts of hubris.

As a result, Ariadne has witnessed many gruesome sacrifices made to the dreaded Minotaur dwelling in the labyrinth created by her father, King Minos ,but this year’s champion Theseus, an Athenian prince, moves her to help him survive the deadly challenge and flee with him to safety.

Sadly, her devotion is not at all rewarded and while she does her best to deal with the options left before her, Ariadne refuses to remain a pawn in someone else’s game, divine or mortal.

I’ve always liked Greek mythology and this sounds like a great take on the role of women in these murky magical waters:

 Sci-Fi Summer  officially starts on June 1 and ends on the 30th, so  there is more than plenty of time to sign up 

and join in the fun. Much thanks to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for making this chance to catch up on this genre possible.

Summer seems to be prime real estate for science fiction/fantasy fare, with the new season of Stranger Things coming out as well as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness taking the box office by storm, plus word of a new Star Wars series on the horizon. 

Just goes to show that no matter how harsh the real world is at the moment, there’s always a great flight of creative fancy to make those times a touch more bearable out there. 

 Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend,folks and I’ll see you in June with hopefully a happy song in my heart: