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I've mellowed on the subject of typos since this came out, but it was still an interesting read. The best road trip stories are not just a list of events and locations, they're about how the travelers change over the course of the journey. Deck starts out so hyperbolic and grandiose that he comes off as pretentious, but quickly discovers the issue is more nuanced -- and more socially fraught -- than he'd expected.

Retail workers vs. corporate policy, trying to avoid stepping in racial stereotypes, indie shopowners who might be more interested in fixing a misspelling but not have the resources to get it fixed.

It's also a bit more complex than the "two friends on a road trip." He has three different companions, one on each leg of the trip, each of whom brings a new perspective, and they get into the prescriptive vs. descriptive approaches to grammar.

And in the end, the legal consequences of doing the occasional "stealth" correction without asking first, as the National Park Service pressed charges for "vandalism" of a sign at the Grand Canyon.

(Cross-posted from my website.)

An odd but appealing mix of whimsy and horror, turning portal fantasy tropes on their heads. Baba Yaga, the ultimate witch of Russian folklore, is the quest-giver. Summer's home life is shaped by her mother's severe anxiety. A wolf isn't a threat, but a staunch ally (and a were-creature who turns into a migratory house at night -- you thought Baba Yaga's house was the only one that walked around?). A lich refuses to move on until he finishes his to-read list. Geese are fierce warriors (OK, that part's realistic, except these geese carry spears too), which is fortunate, because 11-year-old Summer herself isn't going to be able to take down the mysterious Queen-In-Chains causing the rot that's slowly destroying Orcus all by herself...or is she?

It's a bit less cohesive than some of Vernon/Kingfisher's more recent YA/older kids' novels, partly because it was originally a serial and partly because it's a very kitchen-sink kind of fantasy world where anything goes, from an officious but kind-hearted goofy birds to creepy spider-horses

(Cross-posted from my website)

The novella makes an odd counterpoint to Little Fuzzy: In this case the humans recognized the natives' sapience right away -- barely -- but decide to enslave them and clear-cut their world anyway.

It bounces between several viewpoints: one of the natives who has escaped from slavery, a sympathetic human scientist...and the villain, a gung-ho military type who thinks he's the best of humanity, but shows himself to be among the worst.

It's a tragedy, a train wreck, a slow-moving avalanche, and yet every time there's a chance to pause and maybe resolve the situation, Davidson chooses to escalate things instead.

While it's directly a response to America's actions in the Vietnam War, the themes of colonial exploitation, dehumanization, psyops, asymmetrical warfare and environmental degradation are still very topical.

It's not nuanced. It won't make you think about new ideas like The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, or The Lathe of Heaven. (The Athsheans' dream state is interesting, but not explored deeply and not the point of the story.) But it will make you angrier at the people who are still doing the exploiting.

Cross-posted from my website, where I go into a bit more detail on the Terrans' dehumanization of the Athsheans, and current events.