November SFFKit - Graphic Novels, Novellas, and Short Story Collections

This month is an opportunity to explore shorter works than the doorstopper tomes that are so common in the SFF genre. The options available approach infinity, but here are some ideas to help you get started.

Graphic Novels

Graphic novels come in every SFF subgenre (and every non-SFF genre, though those are beyond the scope of this challenge). If you enjoy horror and dystopias, you might like the Spill Zone duology. Or if you'd like to get lost in a sweeping, ongoing space opera fantasy with family and found family at its heart, and if you're not bothered by a certain amount (ok, a large amount) of sexually explicit imagery, you really have to try the Saga series.



For more traditional choices, there's always superheroes. I personally tend to favor Marvel over DC, and I'm especially partial to Squirrel Girl and G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel run.



Novellas

For this category you might choose a standalone novella like Thornhedge or Even Though I Knew the End.



Or you might go for a nice long series whose individual entries are mostly novellas, like The Murderbot Diaries or the Penric & Desdemona series.



Short Story Collections

Here you could choose a collection of works by the same author, like How Long 'til Black Future Month or The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories



Or a multi-author anthology like Alternate Peace or The Best Science Fiction of the Year.



Whatever you choose, be sure to log it in the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_SFFKIT#November:_Graphic_Novels.2C_...

The new Murderbot novella, System Collapse (#7) by Martha Wells comes out on November 14. I’ve pre-ordered so it should be arriving on/around that date. Perfect timing!

>2 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Ooh that's great! I wasn't sure if it was to be a novella or a novel, and I prefer that it's a novella. :)

I love reading short works so I'll have no problems here! I'm currently reading Hugo and Nebula Award winners from Asimov's and it covers both October's and November's theme (which is perfect because I won't have finished it by the end of the month :)

I also have many short-stories that are available online stocked on my e-reader so I'll take the opportunity to read some of them.

>2 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Great news! Hope it will be available in Europe at the same time, then I’ll join you:)

I'm planning on the anthology Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic.

I'm pretty sure it will fit, but worse comes to worse, I have so many SFF anthologies piled up around my TBR, I'll easily be ablet o grab something else.

I am planning on reading Upright Women Wanted a novella by Sarah Gailey.

I'm planning to read The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains (Mufti- media Edition) by Neil Gaiman.

>3 chlorine: Eeek! The description says System Collapse is a "full-length novel"; but the page count is low (256) and the audio is less than 7 hours... Once I have it in hand, I can make a judgement call; but JIC, I'll look for a backup!

>6 DeltaQueen50: I really enjoyed that one!

I think I will continue with the Five Worlds graphic novel series - I am up to The Amber Anthem, book 4.

>1 susanna.fraser: I hadn't noticed Spill Zone was authored by Scott Westerfeld! I really loved his Uglies series and had no idea he had authored graphic novels!

Starting The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF, a collection of short stories edited by Mike Ashley

Finished Thornhedge, a retelling of the Sleeping beauty fairy tale by T Kingfisher. Very good. A bit like Robin McKinleys fairy tale retellings, but all it's own. I've been saving it for this challenge, and it was worth the wait.

I also finished The litany of earth, a novelette in the Innsmouth legacy, so a kind of retelling or adding-on to of the Lovecraftian universe.

Both of the stories have unlikely heroines with an affinity for water, and a monstrous aspect. But very different tonally.

Aha! I think I found one on my shelves to fit this challenge, Prince Valiant Vol. 10!

Also reading The Time Machine by H. G. Wells since one of the stories in the anthology is a sequel (by David J. Lake). It's short enough to be considered a novella in some quarters.

I read The Amber Anthem, a middle grade graphic novel. This is a wonderful series - the artwork is spectacular.

>14 fuzzi: Oh - the man with the bowl-cut. Brings back memories of childhood libraries and browsing their selection of graphic novels.
I think I will have to read a few graphic novels for this challenge as well. Maybe some Asterix - I think I got some on the shelf I haven't read. Or else the library might be helpful once again:-)

>17 amberwitch: I adore Asterix! I think I have 4 books in the series on the shelves, all read. Never hurts to reread!

COMPLETED The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

I have started a while ago two short-story collections: Hugo and Nebula Winners from Asimov's and The best of the best: 20 Years of the Year's best science-fiction. I'm hoping to make progress in these this month.
I also will probably read some short stories from magazine. I'll try to report on the notable ones.

Finished the first three graphic novels in the River of London series Body work, Night Witch and Black Mould.

The artwork is realistic (I prefer ligne claire and similar drawing styles), with a very subdued colour palette and a monotone panel flow, making it seem mean and sterile. The drawing is serviceable and competent, but lacking in creativity and dynamics. I enjoyed the little vignettes in the end of the albums, but would have wished the kind of whimsy had been included in the full length story.
They all read like a short story or novella that someone decided to make into a graphic novel without thinking about why. It would have been nice if the creators had taken advantage of the media and format to create something more, instead of just something else.
And I am a bit annoyed that I'll have to read these if I want to be fully informed of the River of London universe - for example, the back story of Maxim (a minor character with no origin story in the novels) is given in Night Witch.

Voting for the 2024 CATs is now happening at https://www.librarything.com/topic/354675#8274629! Voting will take place until Thursday, November 9, at 6:30 p.m. EST, at which time the votes will be counted and the 2024 CATs officially chosen. So stop by and vote for your favorites!

(Cross-posting to a bunch of threads to reach as many people as possible.)

COMPLETED The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF, edited by Mike Ashley

My review:
A collection of 25 stories, one of which (by Fritz Leiber) I had read before, two of which I gave up on, and only one of which (by Christopher Priest) inspired me to look for the author's other works. There were also a couple of authors whose work I was already familiar with. The rest were so-so merging on meh but not actually bad.

I’ve started Stories of Your Life and Others (by Ted Chiang). This is a collection of eight shorts that should tide me over until the next Murderbot book publishes. 🙂

I listened to a couple of Dennis E. Taylor's short stories on a recent trip, Feedback and A Change of Plans. I have a few graphic novels still stuck on the pile too, so I'll probably read at least one of those this month.

Finished The Sword & Sorcery Anthology. This was a mediocre collection of fantasy stories. The highlight was from George R.R. Martin, The Path of the Dragon, which I think was probably an excerpt from a Daenerys chapter from one of the books.

>24 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Enjoy! I loved this collection so much.
Curiously the person who lent me the book and another colleague _hated_ the last story, Liking what you see: a documentary, while I thought it was one of the best stories.

>24 Tanya-dogearedcopy:, I hope you like it! I've had that collection recommended to me a number of times, and it's on my TBR. I hope to get to it soon...

Meanwhile, I finished Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic. And, truly, I loved it. The reviews are pretty middle-of-the-road, but it seems like a lot of readers have gone into it expecting more traditional horror or SFF, whereas these stories are more haunting and quiet, closer to magical realism and weird fiction than readers seem to expect. I so enjoyed it, though, and it's introduced me to a number of new-to-me authors who I hope to find more (translated) work from. Full review written.

I've just started Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Looks interesting.

>29 majkia: I have yet to read some Tchaikovsky. He seems to be such an interesting author.

>30 chlorine: I have Tchaikovsky on my recommended list, not yet read anything of his.

ETA: I just looked, I have Dogs of War on my TBR list, recommended by my friend @pilgrim. I miss her.

Maybe I will move it up the queue, as a kind of memorial.

I finished another short story collection which I had started for the Asian theme month, but wasn't able to get finished then, Invisible Planets translated by Ken Liu. This is a collection of Chinese science fiction stories and essays. This was a pretty good collection, I espcially enjoyed the stories from Jia Xia and Cixin Liu.

I finished reading Ted Chiang's short story collection, Your Life and Other Stories earlier this week. In each story (except one which I will get to in a second), a fantastic but somehow plausible idea is introduced. And just at the moment of a character's epiphany, the reader also has an "Ahah!" moment! Overall excellent :-)

• "Tower of Babylon" - In Ancient Babylon a tower is erected to reach the vaults of heaven et ergo God. A miner and his friend ascend the steps in a multi-year journey that provides them with different perspectives of the landscape below...
• "Understand" - A man is treated for a head injury and the medicine accelerates his intellect to extraordinary levels of comprehension of... everything... the ultimate gestalt...
• "Division by Zero" - A math professor proves the invalidity of math. The knowledge proves to be devastating...
• "Story of Your Life" - The basis for the film, "Arrival", this is about a scientist who fully comprehends the alien symbols she is taught by the aliens themselves... This is the most poignant of the stories in the collection and deservedly the "star" attraction.
• "Seventy-Two Letters" - Kabbalistic ritual animate golems. It seemed like a good idea at the time...
• "The Evolution of Human Science" - My least favorite of the collection, this is a dissertation of the role of metahumans and the scientists relegated to interpreted their output...
• "Hell Is the Absence of God" - The world is visited by archangels and their terrible power can provide miracle cures and devastation. An atheist pursues a sighting in order to be reunited with the soul of his late wife (who had died as result of another visitation)... I find any sort of theological discussion tiresome, so not my favorite; but respect the effort nonetheless.
• "Liking What You See: A Documentary" - A consumer technology is introduced whereby the user sees a person's face; but does not attach any value to the person's relative beauty or ugliness... Told in a multi-narrator format, I fond this particularly relevant & fascinating as we stand on the precipice of an AI generated world whereby deep-fakes have already started inhabiting our media landscapes. Definitely a worthy book-club selection!

My copy of Martha Wells's next Murderbot story, System Collapse is late. I was going to start on Chiang's next short story collection; but I think I'll move on to the next month's prompt instead. If I have time, I'll circle back to Exhalation and then Murderbot :-)

I really enjoyed my read of the novella, Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey. It would be hard not to love a story about gun-toting Librarians who travel the West bringing people hope and "unapproved" materials!

>34 DeltaQueen50: I’ve just started upright women wanted as well!
It seems little juvenile to me, maybe a YA? But otherwise a really interesting premise and characters.

Just finished Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I do love his books. He ponders deep thoughts whilst telling a great and complex tale.

The bruising of Qilwa is an intriguing fantasy novella by Naseem Jamnia. It's a story first, but got me thinking about who belongs where. Also intriguing is the author's afterward and her question about what it means to be oppressed when you have been the oppressor. I think I would gain from a 2nd read, but have so much new stuff to get on to that I don't plan a reread.

>32 staci426:, >33 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I like Ted Chiang's collections a lot. I've heard good things about Invisible planets, but haven't gotten to it yet.

I've been thinking about how I used to read & love my cousins Asimov when I was in high school, and wondering why I don't subscribe to one of the magazines out there. But my reading list is overflowing already . . .

And I've just purchased an ecopy of Life Beyond Us put out by the European Astrobiology Institute. It's an anthology of stories, each paired with a short article on the science explored in the story.

>35 amberwitch: Upright Women Wanted doesn't seem to be labelled as YA, but you are right it has a YA feeling to it and this author has published a YA novel with When We Were Magic so perhaps she wanted this one to appeal to the YA audience as well.

>38 markon: Life Beyond Us wishlisted

Starting The Tea Master and the Detective, a novella by Aliette de Bodard

Have just finished The Avram Davidson Treasury, a superb and generous collection of his stories.

COMPLETED The Tea Master and the Detective a novella in Aliette de Bodard's Xuya universe

I completed Were-, a collection of short stories all featuring were-creatures other than werewolves.

Starting Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch. It describes itself on the cover as a novella but at 210 pages I think that might be stretching the definition.

Finally started my read of Prince Valiant. It's entertaining, as expected, and the artwork is fantastic!

COMPLETED Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch

And it's done!


Prince Valiant, Vol. 10: 1955-1956 by Hal Foster

And we're back with Prince Valiant and all his family. Aleta winds up abducted but handles herself very well, indeed. In the meanwhile Prince Arn, a precocious 7 year old (approximate age) gets ambitious, and is allowed his own adventures, though with an older, wiser companion. Fun read as always.

>44 susanna.fraser:, Did you enjoy it? This one's been on my TBR for a while since I really enjoyed another anthology the publisher put out.

>49 whitewavedarling: I liked it--you have the usual variation with a multi-author anthology, so I just skimmed a couple of the stories, but for the most part I really enjoyed it.

Started another anthology for this month, Accessing the Future: A Disability Themed Anthology of Speculative Fiction. Less than half way through, so probably won't get it finished by the end of the month since I am reading the Kindle version. So far, it's been ok, no real stand out stories. The collection also includes illustrations and one of the things I appreciate is that they provide a detailed description of the pictures for those of us who are visually impaired.