myfriendamy

I'm fascinated by language and linguistics in fiction, even though I'm not trained in them. I sometimes reread the four issues of What's a Word Worth? because I loved it so much. I'm a big fan of Lingthusiasm. And like tons of other people, I'm still chasing that Story of Your Life/Arrival high, even if it does do silly things with language science and aggravate trained linguists. The vibes are just so good. When I saw that S.L. Huang was going to be tackling themes of language and culture, The Language of Liars was immediately on my Most Coveted Books List for 2026. ( Read more... )

It's hard to write about an advanced reader copy of one of the most coveted science fiction releases of the quarter. I tried, multiple times, to collect some thoughts about Platform Decay, the latest release in The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. I failed, every time, because my love for this series is immense, but also hard to quantify. Finding the words to describe sincere emotions? Ugh. Therefore, Platform Decay is already out, and you can read it now via your library or favorite indie bookstore!

Platform Decay is the eighth entry in The Murderbot Diaries, following our hero as it stages a high stakes rescue on Corporate Ringworld. It's working apart from its usual allies, it must infiltrate and escape the station with several squishy humans, and oh right, a former enemy asks for its help, complicating the extraction. Nothing can go wrong!

(Things immediately go wrong.)

To make matters worse, it's also dealing with an emotional health module. What's more stressful than a hostage situation in corporate territory? Mobile therapy. Murderbot must protect its humans (no pressure), avoid corporate forces that would love to slurp its kidnapped humans into corporate slavery (assholes), and navigate across a hostile station where one mistake could cost it everything (business as usual!). ( Read more... )