14. An Unkindness of Ghosts

By Rivers Solomon (351 pp ebook)

I loved this book even though it's pretty dark. I love generation ship stories and I have my own failed generation ship story in the trunk. This ship is divided into the wealthy, privileged upper decks and the poor labor-force living in broken down poverty below with a cruel system of enforcement. The MC is Aster who is such a great complex character -- she never does what you want her to do, she always does something you don't expect, and she endures so much. The whole story is populated with complex characters but the world they live in is grim. Aster tries to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother while trying to protect the people she cares about and tear down at least a little piece of the system they live in.

13. Remember You Will Die

By Eden Robins (321 pp)

Eden is one of my Clarion West classmates and I read an early stage partial in writer's group when she was still figuring out whether this idea would work. This was my first chance to read the entire book and since I knew how much she struggled to pull the manuscript together, it was fun to see how it came together. It is fantastic. It's told through obituaries and jumps around in time. I suggest going into it blind because it's a hard book to classify -- it's like a well curated little musuem where every time you turn the page, you never know what you'll get. For readers who like quirky, smart, thought-provoking stories.