Lightspeed Magazine Review of Broken Fevers – “Breathtaking Work”
Hugo Award winning Lightspeed Magazine has weighed in on Broken Fevers (courtesy of Arley Sorg). Spoiler alert: it’s recommended. The review includes choice phrases like “All told, it’s really breathtaking work.” I did not pay him. It is glorious. See for yourself.
Broken Fevers’ Starred Publisher’s Weekly Review/Preorder Available
I really couldn’t ask anything more from a review than the one I just discovered from PW (yes, discovered, perhaps I’ll keep closer tabs on this in the future). Color me pleased.
Broken Fevers is out March 2nd, 2021, but available for preorder now from Tombolo Books and Amazon.
New Review of Blueprints for Better Worlds – Highly Recommended
It’s been a weekend of good news. Not to be lost in the celebration is this new review from the folks over at the TLR. Lots in this one to brighten my day: The writing is complex and lyrical. The world building is dramatic, as dystopian worlds tend to be, but also believable and described so well it is not difficult to imagine. And the best bit by far: It is truly inspirational.
Check out more from the view at the link above and Blueprints for Better Worlds at the usual suspects as well as via various indie bookstores including Tombolo Books (signed copies) and many more you can find here.
New Smoketown Review
The Lesbian Review had some kind words to say about Smoketown. I did not pay them; they’re safe to believe. Read them here.
Evolution Review
Evolution’s first review is in: Apart from a story arc that spans the best part of 200 hundred years, there’s one particular aspect that stands out most clearly about Evolution. Johnson writes hope into her work. She builds it in, gently, quietly, without fanfare. It isn’t obvious at first, just a soft nudge here and there—in the face of gassed populations, dengue fever and total injustice, you think you’re mistaken at first. Around every page turn, you’re expecting disaster, and there are enough of those to justify the lack of belief you have that hope could even be a thing in such a world. But keep reading.For that, Johnson is currently my total writing hero….
New Smoketown Review
Dear Author has just reviewed, Smoketown and here’s a bit of the reviewer had to say:
“The characters each had not exactly a secret, but maybe a small mystery behind them, which are first hinted at and then revealed in each individual’s “song” which is played in the main symphony. I say “song” not because every character in the book was singing, but because at times the writing felt very musical and very passionate to me . . . I truly did feel that the city of Leodaire was a living breathing thing in this book; the city which was still hurting from the traumatic event of its past and which finally started healing at the end of the book. I really loved how the hope and darkness are both present in this story and that hope eventually prevails.”
The full review is available here.
Smoketown Reviews Are In
Lambda Literary’s take:
Smoketown, on the surface, is a creative attempt at shaping a story around one of today’s most pressing concerns, climate change, and man’s timeless battle to control nature. There is a post-apocalyptic feel to the novel that stems from its underlying theme of loss and isolation. The tandem fuels what essentially is a story of intrigue and mystery. The novel unfolds to reveal a fate of devastation incurred by man’s relentless quest for technology and disregard for the environment. Ms. Johnson tackles the complex relationship between nature, humans, and technology, from a wonderfully imaginative and engaging perspective.
Fellow writer and reviewer Craig Gidney had this to say:
Smoketown, the debut novel of Tenea D. Johnson, belongs in a rare subset of speculative fiction novels that examine the relationship between art and society. These books include Pat Murphy’s The City, Not Long After and a number of Samuel R. Delany’s work, most notably Dhalgren. Smoketown, like the aforementioned works, blurs the boundaries between perception, magic and science, and the futuristic/transformed landscape is both a living metaphor and geography . . . Johnson weaves all these strands together with lyrical prose and a thematic eye towards redemption and transformation.
Fluidity of Time gave Smoketown 5 of 5, An ‘Amazing’ Rating:
” . . . A fascinating setting that is both intriguing and disturbing, and a story that completely captures me . . .This book is also beautifully written . . . Reading it made me feel quiet and thoughtful, and it made me want to read more from this author.
This one’s just in from Mrs. Giggles reviews:
“ . . . Smoketown is more of an exploration of the human psyche. Loss, loneliness, idealism, cynicism, and hope may be by themselves banal words but in this story, these concepts take wings like the birds in this story. I find myself fascinated by the characters, thanks to the author’s graceful prose.
Smoketown isn’t a romance novel or a typical action-oriented urban fantasy romp. It has elements of both, but it’s more about the believable human emotions that endure through harsh climates and heartbreaks. I did not know what to expect when I picked this book up, but I’m completely satisfied with what I got out of it.”
From Publisher’s Weekly:
In the neurosis-filled city of Smoketown, where birds are outlawed after being blamed for a devastating plague, three purposes collide to alter the city’s future. Genetic artist Anna, seeking a lost friend, creates something beautiful that the city fears. Eugenio, recording survivors’ remembrances of the plague, unearths Smoketown’s deepest secret. Rory, an elderly survivor who has barricaded himself from the city in a luxury apartment, fights his own greatest fear after discovering a connection to Eugenio’s discovery. All of Johnson’s characters come nicely slantways at their unintended roles in Smoketown’s destiny, often hardly caring about the parts they play as they gauge the personal successes of their quests, and the understated, lyrical prose makes even small moments, such as the appearance of a flock of birds within the city’s force field, feel triumphant.
Smoketown in Publisher’s Weekly
Publisher’s Weekly Review of Smoketown is in:
In the neurosis-filled city of Smoketown, where birds are outlawed after being blamed for a devastating plague, three purposes collide to alter the city’s future. Genetic artist Anna, seeking a lost friend, creates something beautiful that the city fears. Eugenio, recording survivors’ remembrances of the plague, unearths Smoketown’s deepest secret. Rory, an elderly survivor who has barricaded himself from the city in a luxury apartment, fights his own greatest fear after discovering a connection to Eugenio’s discovery…
