Fabulous Fiction Firsts #643 Spotlight on Speculative Fiction

Mon, 06/26/2017 - 9:17pm by muffy

Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death on July 18, The Jane Austen Project * by Kathleen Flynn asks: "Given the chance, what would one give up so that Jane could live?"

Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, 2 time-travelers from the future arrive in 1815 London with specific goals - to find Austen's rumored unfinished novel The Watsons; and to determine the cause of her death in 1817, without altering the course of history.

Rachel Katzman, a disaster-relief physician and Liam Finucane, an actor-turned-scholar pose as Dr. William Ravenswood and his sister Mary, wealthy plantation owners just arrived from the West Indies and successfully insinuate themselves into the lives of the Austen clan by charming Henry, Jane's favorite brother.

As Rachel's friendship with Jane deepens over the course of the year and the unpublished manuscript is within reach, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history intact, exactly as they found it. With the portal to return to the future about to close, Rachel must make difficult choices - including whether she would allow Jane's fatal illness to remain undiagnosed.

(Debut novelist and New York Times editor) "Flynn skillfully delves into the later years of Austen's life in a way that is sure to please admirers of the 19th-century novelist, as well as providing a fascinating dollop of plot invention and a heartbreaking romance between the two protagonists." (Library Journal)

Fans of time-travel and romance would enjoy the series by Julie McElwain that opens with A Murder in Time; and All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai.

Fans of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (2014) and Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars (2012) would find much to like in The Space Between the Stars, Anne Corlett's debut.

Veterinarian researcher Jamie Allenby survives a virus that nearly wiped out humanity throughout the galaxy to find herself alone in a distant planet called Soltaire. Jamie soon meets up with other survivors, and together this ragtag group is rescued by a passing ship, heading back to Earth, and to Daniel, her estranged boyfriend whom Jamie believes, might have survived the virus as well.

However, once back on Earth, some of the fellow survivors reveal themselves to be not as they seem. Secret agendas and deadly intents if unconstrained, will have serious repercussions for the future of mankind. Jamie must take matters into her own hand.

"Corlett offers a thoughtful examination of how individuals find meaning and fulfillment in the face of an apocalyptic event then wraps up with a thrilleresque ending." (Boolist)

* = starred review