Arctic Adagio by DJ Cockburn


Arctic Adagio by DJ Cockburn
Publisher: Annorlunda Books
Genre: Suspense/Mystery, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Short Story (40 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

How do you catch a murderer when your suspects own the law? Superintendent Rex Harme’s job is to protect the super-rich from pirates and anarchists. It’s not his job to investigate them. If they cared to be investigated, they wouldn’t be living on a luxury cruise ship that accepts no national jurisdiction. But when one of the super-rich is thrown into the Arctic Ocean, Harme will need to remember the detective he used to be because someone is going to pay for that murder – but whether or not the right person pays depends on whether Harme can beat the clock he isn’t supposed to know is ticking.

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This was such an engrossing mystery. Extremely wealthy people are often protected from the negative consequences of their actions, so it was fascinating to see what happened after one of these folks crossed so many lines that even his wealth and high status couldn’t save him. The more I learned about the victim, the stronger my curiosity grew about who killed him and how they were able to get around all of the safeguards that were supposed to be surrounding him. I couldn’t get enough of this part of the storyline.

While I was quite interested in the plot itself, I found it tricky at times to keep track of all of the characters in this short story. Not everyone was clearly identified in the beginning, and there were so many different people in general that I even struggled to remember who they were when the narrator had given a brief overview of their role in the story.

The science fiction themes were subtle. At first, I wondered if this tale had been misclassified, but I soon figured out that I’d been wrong about that. This definitely did have science fiction elements, and they brought a nice sense of depth to the setting once I figured out where to look for them. I enjoyed the author’s gentle touch here. It was a nice mixture of two genres that I don’t see woven together as often as I’d like to.

Arctic Adagio should be read by anyone who has wondered what sailing might be like a generation or two from now.

Water Into Wine by Joyce Chng


Water Into Wine by Joyce Chng
Publisher: Annorlunda Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Short Story (62 pages)
Heat Level: Spicy
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When war comes to your planet, everything changes.. perhaps even the meaning of family and identity.

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Most people wouldn’t worry about protecting a vineyard during a violent interstellar war, but Xin isn’t like most people.

Xin’s character development was fascinating. He was a transgender man who had recently begun questioning his gender identity yet again at the beginning of this tale. Given that he was also a single parent and the brand new owner of a vineyard despite the fact that he knew very little about growing grapes or making wine, there was plenty of room for him to evolve as a person. I deeply enjoyed seeing how Xin made decisions about everything from what his gender identity was to running a vineyard to adjusting to life on an alien planet.

There were pacing issues. Some scenes were fast-paced while others were much slower. Either writing style would have worked quite well for this tale, but I found it hard to switch between them because of how often the narrator moved from one style to the next. As soon as I adjusted to a slower form of storytelling, the pacing would pick up again with another bombing or nearby battle.

One of the things I liked the most about this story was how beautifully it described the characters and setting in such a compact number of sentences. Ms. Chng weighed out her words so precisely that she was able to show me exactly what everyone looked and sounded like in an incredibly short amount of time. The same thing can be said for her descriptions of the house, wine cellar, and vineyards. My impressions of them were strong and clear the first time she told me what they were like.

I’d recommend Water Into Wine to anyone who has ever wondered what a large battle between many spaceships would be like from the perspective of a civilian living on the ground.