Black Gate

It was Goth Chick who introduced me to the novels of Ania Ahlborn, with her advance review of The Neighbors (which she said “lies somewhere near the intersection of Blue Velvet and Basic Instinct due to its psychological suspense and ever-mounting terror”). Goth Chick interviewed Ania just a few months later, and teased a tale of childhood horror out of her involving a Ouija board and a couple of porcelain dolls (“These things, I swear… they’d change position in the night.”) When The Neighbors was released in November 2012, Ahlborn confided to us that “My fingers are crossed that I get at least a few dozen marriage proposals.” The bio on the back of her latest book says she’s married, so I hope that worked out for her.

It was Goth Chick who introduced me to Ania, but it was Andrew Liptak at The Verge who tipped me off to her new novella collection Apart in the Dark, in his report on the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy in January of this year. Here’s Andrew:

If you’re looking for a pair of shorter reads, Ania Ahlborn’s new book is a pair of supernatural novellas, “The Pretty Ones” and “I Call Upon Thee.” In the first, New York City is gripped with fear in the midst of the Son of Sam murders, and when her best friend is murdered, Nell Sullivan knows that there’s something else responsible. In the other, Maggie Olsen spent her childhood stalked by a shadow, and years later, she’s forced to return home to confront her past.

Both stories were previously published as digital novellas; this is their first appearance in print. Both are very nearly novel length — “The Pretty Ones” is 142 pages, and “I Call Upon Thee” is 210. I bought a copy a few weeks ago, and so far I’m enjoying it. Any book that opens with a Robert Bloch quote (“The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on”) is okay in my book.

Apart in the Dark was published by Gallery Books on January 16, 2018. It is 365 pages, priced at $16 in trade paperback. There is no digital edition. The cover was designed by Anna Dorfman.

I haven’t read any of the 2018 Hugo nominees, and that gleaming metal statue is being given out this weekend at Worldcon in San Jose. I better get a move on.

There’s plenty of great titles on the nominee list — including Martha Wells’ All Systems Red, Sarah Gailey’s River of Teeth, and Yoon Ha Lee’s Raven Stratagem — but the one I’m most interested in at the moment is Kim Stanley Robinson’s tale of urban post-apocalypse, New York 2140. The Washington Post calls it “Massively enjoyable,” and the Guardian says it’s “A towering novel about a genuinely grave threat to civilization,” but mostly I want to read it because, come on. A submerged New York in 120 years? That sounds awesome.

New York 2140 was published in hardcover last year, and finally appeared in trade paperback in March. Here’s the description.

As the sea levels rose, every street became a canal. Every skyscraper an island. For the residents of one apartment building in Madison Square, however, New York in the year 2140 is far from a drowned city.

There is the market trader, who finds opportunities where others find trouble. There is the detective, whose work will never disappear — along with the lawyers, of course.

There is the internet star, beloved by millions for her airship adventures, and the building’s manager, quietly respected for his attention to detail. Then there are two boys who don’t live there, but have no other home — and who are more important to its future than anyone might imagine.

Lastly there are the coders, temporary residents on the roof, whose disappearance triggers a sequence of events that threatens the existence of all — and even the long-hidden foundations on which the city rests.

New York 2140 was published in hardcover by Orbit on March 14, 2017, and reprinted in trade paperback on March 6, 2018. It is 624 pages, priced at $17.99 in paperback and $11.99 for the digital version. The cover is by Stephan Martiniere. Read a sample chapter at the Orbit website.

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