Ellie G’s Reviews > The New Atlantis and Other Novellas of Science Fiction > Status Update

James Tiptree, Jr.'s "A Momentary Taste of Being" is a novella that drags quite terribly at the beginning and middle and, I think, attempts only a little to build up necessary suspense. In spite of this and the incest plotline (literally wtf, man?!), the story's completion is very good and terrifying. I'd love to see it adapted into a horror movie. Reminiscent of "Annihilation," a little.

"A too-clear vision of good, a too-sure hatred of evil."

"The New Atlantis," by Ursula le Guin (my love, my light) is a demonstration of compact, clever storytelling and it's also absolutely devastating. 👍👍👍

"Silhouette," by Gene Wolfe, is a disorienting, alternately vivid and muddled piratical mutiny in space. I found the general vibe of this novella funky enough to be intriguing, but I'm put off by the lack of structure and strange, male-gazey descriptions of the surprisingly many female characters (might be Wolfe's attempt to get in his mc's head and not his own style).