Blog | Eric Hendel

(Cover Artist: Dan Funderburgh ) Occasionally I'll read a book whose ending completely alters the nature of the story that preceded it, and which as a result requires that I fundamentally rethink my opinion of how that story functions. While this is almost always a good thing (since it means that I have a ton to think about when it comes to discussing that novel), it also makes writing a review of that book difficult. Because my opinion of the novel revolves, in the end, around events that only become apparent at the book's conclusion, I can't really discuss what I feel is the most important dimension of that story without destroying the effect for future readers. I can't talk about the book without talking about its ending, but I can't talk about the ending without spoiling what I feel is the entire point of the book. Obviously, Nnedi Okorafor's 2025 novel Death of the Author is this sort of work. Much of Death of the Author is divided between two parall...

Arrival by Ted Chiang

The most striking quality of the stories appearing in Ted Chiang's anthology Arrival (which was originally published in 2002 under the title Stories of Your Life and Others ) is the author's ability to use fiction as a rhetorical device. By saying this I don't mean that Chiang's work is comprised only of messages which he seeks to impart upon his audience, or even that his stories explicitly take the form of moral/ethical parables aimed at demonstrating some kind of lesson to his readers. Rather, it's more that throughout this collection, Chiang produces fiction which often strives to explore the tension that exists between two or more subtly contradictory ideas, examining various perspectives on his subjects through the medium of narrative. Via stories as diverse as a very contemporary-minded retelling of a biblical parable, an alien first-contact story that touches on themes of predestination and free will, and a fictional documentary about the ethics of limiti...

Strange Horizons Review of Nikhil Singh’s Dakini Atoll

(Cover Artist: Elena Romenkova ) A review I wrote of Nikhil Singh's novel Dakini Atoll is currently up in the most recent edition of Strange Horizons . This book was a very complex and fascinating story that skips between several different interconnected narratives, all of which are ultimately woven together into a work exploring themes of mass media and the nature of human awareness. The main storyline follows an actress named Delilah Lex, who as the novel opens realizes she has become trapped within the simulated reality of the television program she currently stars in (a virtual TV show called " Good Morning Delilah! "). However, this surreal narrative is also interspersed with the experiences of Anita--a corporate agent working for a quasi-religious organization called "Angelinc." There is also a storyline following a friend of Delilah's--a movie director named Fortunato who unexpectedly becomes drawn into an investigation of a mysterious global plague,...

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