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Swarm: Replugged Book Review by James Flynn

  Title: Swarm: Replugged Author: James Flynn Genre: Science Fiction Published Originally 2/1/2021 by the author, now with an new revised edition. Thank you to the author for providing a copy for review. In the second edition of Swarm, the city of Rachton is riddled with crime. A victim of crime, Eric Trammel, has turned to a life in the GLC to help fight against the criminals ruining his city. The answer the GLC comes up with is a new prison where prisoners can by connected to a hive mind to harvest their consciences to create answers to their hardest questions.  Swarm: Replugged is a great science fiction thought experiment of the possibilities of the human mind as well as the consequences of harvesting it. I read both editions of this book at the same time to compare. There are a lot of revisions that make the prose tighter though I really enjoyed both versions. Eric Trammel is a great sympathetic character to follow the story of best intentions gone wrong. I really enjoyed...
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The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi Book Review

  Title: The Third Rule of Time Travel Author: Philip Fracassi Genre: Science Fiction Published: March 18, 2025 by Orbit Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy for review. Beth Darlow has discovered how to move a human's consciousness through time. After her husband is killed in car accident she is raising her daughter as a single mother while encountering pressure for progress with her time travel project. When her timeline begins to warp she will do anything to fix it. This novel is fast paced and thrilling tale of time travel with a lot of heart. Philip Fracassi is a master of creating tension and unease that keep you reading. There are also themes of grief and familial love that tugs at the heartstrings. This was a surprising different take on time travel. I would recommend this novel to fans of time travel stories and/or science fiction thrillers. My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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The Walking Worm by Matthew W. Quinn Book Review

  Title: The Walking Worm Series: The Long War Book 3 Author: Matthew W. Quinn Genre: Military Science Fiction Horror Published: 2/5/2025  The Long War continues with a brand new parasitic big bad. This series is for you if you like books with action, gun fights, aliens, creepy crawlies, and secret agencies e.g. Men in Black. James and Amber are now juniors at UNC Chapel Hill and the MJ-12 needs their help to take on a new threat to the town. I really enjoy the creatures created in this world. I recommend checking out this series if you like action packed science fiction horror. My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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Flipside by Leumas Llewtnac Book Review

  Title: Flipside Author: Leumas Llewtnac Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror genre blend Published: June 10, 2022 I received a copy for review through BooksGoSocial on Netgalley. The world has been overrun by aliens called the squid. Everyone fought when they came and humans lost the war. Now there are very few survivors that are hunted down at night. Burke is an aging man whose body is failing him. Arvin is an aging mage whose mind is starting to slip. Charlie is a teenager who has lost everything, but is a survivor.  This book is a true genre blend. I suppose the main genre would be science fiction since it is a post-apocalyptic story. There are fantasy elements weaved in and it is set in another world that is similar to our own. The deadliness of the alien creatures borders on horror feeding my body-snatching nightmares. However, despite the dark nature of the story, there is quite a bit of light in this story exploring relationships and found family. The characters...
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The Long Fall Up by William Ledbetter Book Review

  Title: The Long Fall Up and Other Stories Author: William Ledbetter Genre: Science Fiction  Published: November 6, 2023 by Interstellar Flight Press I received a copy for review through NetGalley.   The Long Fall Up is a fantastic collection of mostly hard science fiction short stories that really deliver on ideas and character development. There are space travel stories, possible future tech stories, as well as possible dystopian futures. These stories vary from pulpy and funny to hard hitting and emotional. It is great when a story can explore a really interesting idea while also making you really care about the characters in so few pages. I would highly recommend this collection as a showcase of this authors work to check out if he is an author you want to read more from. I know I will be checking out more in the future. My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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The Butterfly Disjunct by Stewart C. Baker Book Review

 Title: The Butterfly Disjunct Author: Stewart C. Baker Genre: Science Fiction/ Speculative Fiction Published: 11/4/24 by Interstellar Flight Press Thank you to NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for the copy for review. The Butterfly Disjunct is a collection of short stories covering a range of science fiction ideas from AI, body modification, to time travel. Some stories hit hard emotionally hitting on the topics of grief and the hopelessness of post-apocalyptic worlds. Other stories are really funny serving a reprieve from the darker ones. These are great thought experiments that brings in just the right amount of human emotion to make them relatable.  Some of the stories left me confused or wanting more, but overall this was a great collection. I would recommend it to those who like short, punchy, varied science fiction stories. My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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My Unbeating Heart by Eli Wilde Book Review

  Title: My Unbeating Heart Author: Eli Wilde Genre: Historical Horror Published: 7/23/23  Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the copy for review.   Rufus Hobster is a vampire who hires a man to record his life story which takes us on a journey to 1800's London. This is the story of a new vampire on a path of discovery of himself and human kind.  This is an atmospheric vampire story. There is a modern day timeline following Rufus as he works to record his life story, and there is a past timeline that weaves in chilling true events from 1800s London. The 1800s timeline is especially atmospheric. A dark grand tale of all the confusion, love, and mistakes in an immortals life. It is a dark tale to capture the imagination. I recommend My Unbeating Heart to fans of vampire stories and like a historical timeline. My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
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