Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Aztec Empire in Space. Tell me more.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

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A little while ago, I interviewed G.D. Giant for Quick Questions with a Cannonballer. Of course we talked about books as part of that process. (How could it be otherwise when that’s what we’re here for?) She mentioned that A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine is one of her favorite books. The description she shared is “Aztec Empire in Space,” which, honestly, YES. I’m immediately interested. Then she mentions world building and mysteries and questions about citizenship, colonization, and belonging, and I’m immediately like, […]

Quick Questions with a Cannonballer: going analog with G.D. Giant

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Hi, G.D. Giant! Thank you for agreeing to participate in our Quick Questions series. Would you please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you found your way back to Cannonball Read? A little bit about me; I am an avid reader and an avid gardener. I live with the love of my life in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. He and I don’t have any kids, but we have several nephews and a couple of nieces nearby. I participated in Cannonball 9 […]

Three sci-fi books making me think about robots and AI

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Rose/House by Arkady Martine

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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The end of January to the very beginning of March has had the good fortune to have three excellent books looking at robots, AI, sentience, autonomy, finding meaning, and limitations on the flawed way humanity has programmed robots/AI.  While setting up this post, I just realized all the author’s first name start with A.  Huh, kind of interesting. First up was a novella by Annalee Newitz, Automatic Noodle.  This is the most fun and lighthearted of the bunch.  It is the year 2064, a few years […]

Conversations with Houses

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Rose/House by Arkady Martine

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CBR16 Bingo: Dun Dun – Both books play on your nerves, and just when you think the protagonists may be reaching safe harbor things only get worse for them. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – 4 stars Four people go to an allegedly haunted house to investigate – a scientist, a cheerful artist, a low down scoundrel, and a fragile, friendless young woman. All of them don’t return. This is a short book and slips by almost without you noticing it. At first […]

A trippy, atmospheric sci-fi haunted house.

Rose/House by Arkady Martine

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“I am Rose House, entire, and have never been anything else. I am not lonely. I do not wish to be a companion of elsewheres.” This was so atmospheric and a pleasure to read, even though I’m pretty sure I didn’t understand half of what was going on. The main conceit here is that this is a sci-fi take on a haunted house, where the haunt is an A.I. that IS the house, not that inhabits the house or was installed there, but is in […]

But the Habits of Memory Created All Kinds of False Harbours.

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

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Good Lord, I got all excited over the bingo thing, and wouldn’t you know it, I get hammered by work commitments! So it looks like this year I’ll be posting bingo-reviews late, and my reviews for the Hugo Best Novel noms after I voted   Oh well, oh well.   A Desolation Called Peace was one of those books up for the Hugo Award for Best Novel this year. And just like A Memory Called Empire before it, I think it’ll take home the top gong. […]



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