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A fascinating collection of stories by a writer concerned with the impact of AI technology, and how cultures and other races are often overlooked or looked down upon by those in the west. Some stories here are standalone, while some form part of a series or are related to each other thematically as a form of 'future history'.

• Ghost Days (2013): a story told in different times and different places: a genetically modified human living on an alien world, a possibly illegal refugee in the USA, and the refugee's grandparents in China. What ties them together is an object passed down from person to person in the story, and a shared feeling about not belonging to the place.

• Maxwell's Demon (2012): a Japanese-American in an internment camp during the war is sent to Japan on a mission to find information on possible Japanese war research. She discovers that her skill at seeing ghosts might be used as part of the war effort. She then helps some ghosts to escape, but she herself may not be able to escape the ongoing conflict and go home.

• The Reborn (2014): aliens have conquered Earth and now live with humans. Xenophobes cause an event that leads to an investigation. But a lead investigator finds clues that lead back to memories of his old life: memories that have been stripped away by the aliens in an attempt to make a better personality.

• Thoughts and Prayers (2019): when a family loses a daughter to a mass shooter, the mother decides to use her death as a rallying call for change. But internet trolls abuse the images of her daughter, until the family realize the only way to remember her daughter is not to remember her at all

• Byzantine Empathy (2018): in a future where the blockchain (the technology that ensures transactions like cryptocurrencies are recorded and distributed) is ubiquitous, one person attempts to sidestep non-profit charities by directly ensuring cryptocurrency payments go directly to refugees and other recipients. But that turns out only to be the first part of her plan to draw attention towards a conflict at the border of Myanmar that the rest of the world would rather forget about, as too much attention could cause a wider conflict.

• The Gods Will Not Be Chained (2014): The story starts out with a girl being bullied on-line. Then, she gets help from an unknown person who only uses emojis to communicate. As the story progresses, a link develops between the person, her father, and a project her father was involved in at his company that involved copying his skill at seeing patterns.

• Staying Behind (2011): the Singularity has arrived, with many people uploading their consciousness into machines. Among those who choose not to upload, life has become hard as civilization breaks down in the 'real world'. One father strives to keep his daughter rooted in the 'real world'. But in the end, he has to live with his daughter's choices.

• Real Artists (2011): a film-maker gets the chance to work at her favourite animated film studio. But then she discovers how the films are made (which do not meet her preconceptions) and her own role in the studio. Now she has to decide whether she really wants to work there as an artist.

• The Gods Will Not Be Slain (2014): continuing the story of "The Gods Will Not Be Chained", semi-sentient programs now roam the world's system. But not is all well, for some programs want to destroy humanity, while others, including the girl's father, work to come to an accommodation with humans. In the end, a global crisis develops that can only be partially resolved.

• Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer (2011): in a future after the Singularity, humanity has moved into virtual space. One day, the mother of a girl comes to say goodbye, for she will be making a physical one way journey. To make the girl understand just what it might be like, they go on one final journey together.

• The Gods Have Not Died in Vain (2015): continuing the story from "The Gods Will Not Be Slain", the girl discovers she has a 'sister' in the digital realm. But that is not all. A movement is starting that would bring about the Singularity, but one that may be able to accommodate humanity.

• Memories of My Mother (2012): a mother of a young girl has only two years to live. She stretches it out by going on relativity trips, returning every seven years to see her daughter. In their brief meetings together, they fight, make up and learn to live a life together, despite the separation in years.

• Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit - Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts (2016): the story follows an ultrarich person who has abandoned her riches on the other planets to live on an Earth that has undergone severe climate change and is now much hotter. She travels the world to see the changes, the drowned cities and the people struggling to live; for change is coming in the form of geoengineering to cool the planet. But is it wise or kind to do so to a world some people have now called home?

• Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard (2019): on a much changed world, a sister struggles to make a living off the remnants of the technological past. But when her brother goes missing, it would need all her skill, and her abilities in a changed form, to try to rescue him, along with two other people who have their own abilities.

• A Chase Beyond the Storms: An excerpt from "The Veiled Throne", Book 3 of the Dandelion Dynasty (2020): a group of ships, having survived the wall of storms that surrounds their lands, is confronted by a larger ship. Using deception to fend off one attack, they now prepare for the next battle with an unusual plan.

• The Hidden Girl (2017): a girl is stolen from her palace and becomes the student of a monk, who teaches her how to use hidden spaces: vital as her training as an assassin. But on her first assassination attempt, she gets a change of heart. And now she has to fend off her fellow assassin sisters sent to finish what her job.

• Seven Birthdays (2016): on seven birthdays of a person that spans immense time and space. But despite the huge changes that have occurred, getting together to celebrate a birthday may never change.

• The Message (2012): an explorer and his daughter explore an enigma: an alien city in the middle of nowhere with a message written on it. When the father eventually deciphers the message and realizes what it means, it might be too late for the daughter, who has decided to explore the city on her own.

• Cutting (2012): monks on a mountain search for meaning in a book by gradually cutting away the extra words.

An entertaining book about the adventures of a man who ends up in England in a pocket universe with no memory of why he is there, with only the remains of a Frugal Wizard's Handbook to guide him.

As he gradually regains his memory, he gets involved in a quest to save the region from gangsters and an invasion, and learns more about himself and the world. Along the way, he makes some friends, shows off his powers (enhanced by technology from his own time) and discovers the truth about himself as his memory fully returns. But it is what he does from then on that will determine the future of the world he has landed in. And the world itself it not without some interesting features not found in our world.

The book contains interesting 'dramatic' illustrations and excerpts from the Handbook to guide the reader. It also an alternate quest in the marginalia involving a small wizard who also enters a pocket universe, only to alter it in unexpected ways.

An interesting story about the relationship between an introvert boy and a cat that can talk, and their adventures in saving books. And while saving the books, he (and the reader) will get a better appreciation about the power of books to affect the world.

At the start, the boy's grandfather, who owns a small bookshop, has passed away, leaving the boy feeling isolated and alone. The boy may have to close the bookshop, his comfort space, to stay with his relatives. But then a talking cat shows up, asking for his help to save books. Together, they journey to three labyrinths, where books are being imprisoned, mutilated and sold as commodities. Using his knowledge and love about books, the boy works to free the books and to convince the people in the labyrinth to love books for what they are, not for what the person can do to the books.

During the adventures, the boy gradually begins to open up and develops a friendship with a school classmate, who is concerned about him not showing up in school. The classmate, unexpectedly, then joins in his adventures.

But there is one more labyrinth, which the boy has to enter on his own. For it contains a formidable opponent with a strong opinion about books. And it would need all the boy's love, and thoughts, about books to change the opponent's opinion about the power of books and what books can do.

In the end, the adventures will convince the boy to open up to the world and to keep the bookshop open; for there will always be a need for books. As for the cat, it will move on to other adventures.

An average issue with some interesting stories by Tia Tashiro, Fiona Moore, Gary Kloster and Bam Bruin

• "Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro: an interesting story about a man who divorces his wife and then decides to marry her younger clone. The rest of the story tells the story of why the woman allowed a clone of herself to be made and what happens when she decides to meet her clone and the effects it has on them and the man.

• "The Walled Garden" by Fiona Moore: after the collapse of civilisation, a community find that they are running out of plastic sheets used to keep their gardens warm. One person comes up with an idea on how to grow food despite the colder conditions, but it would need her former security robot, now turned helper, to show her an extra step that would help with the gardening.

• "Welcome to Kearney" by Gary Kloster: an artificial being in the form of an otter appears at a reservation that preserves the past. The solitary keeper of the reservation repairs it, and learns it considers itself sentient. While trying to learn more about its past, he finds it avoiding him, but it is only when a scavenging robot tries to reclaim it does he learn why the sentient being ran away, and why it can't stay with him.

• "Serpent Carriers" by K.A. Teryna, translated by Alex Shvartsman: starting off as tales told around a campfire, the stories would turn out to involve one person at the fire, who left a fungal farm where she was a captive, only now possibly made a captive of another form of farm involving Words that may be woven into DNA.

• "Bits and Pieces on This Floor" by Eric Del Carlo: on a world about to be abandoned, one person goes in search of a related person, to discover that one skill had been passed on by their relative.

• "A Land Called Folly" by Amal Singh: a boy journeys to other worlds that involves teleportation that the boy feels turns you into a different person. But when the time comes for him to return home, he learns that teleportation might not change the person.

• "Hunter Harvester" by Bam Bruin: on an alien world, some colonist harvest alien 'lettuce' for nourishment. The lettuce fields are occasionally protected by aliens. But it is only when they retrieve the latest harvest, which includes an especially large lettuce, do they realise what they are harvesting.

A fantastical tale that further expands the world inhabited by Miss Cassidy. Goddesses and female spirits (and the occasional male ones) from various western and Asian pantheons mix in this story about the relationship between a terrible spirit that wants to be loved by her 'daughters' and her daughters desire for their freedom from her. Into this conflict steps Miss Cassidy and her mortal 'companion', Mr. Kay, whose efforts may help to resolve it; or not.

Unlike the previous book, which is a linear tale mainly told from Miss Cassidy's viewpoint, this one is multilayered in both time (past and present) and with multiple viewpoints. It starts off with the first person viewpoint of Madam Ingram, who travels to Singapore to find Madam Kay (the daughter of Mr. Kay) for help with her ailment that has caused her to be labelled a madwoman in the west. The story then skips backwards in time as Madam Ingram starts recalling her past life with her mother and father, including events that she has strangely forgotten about.

The story then alternates with third person viewpoints from Miss Cassidy and Mr. Kay. As the story develops, it turns out that Miss Cassidy has encountered Madam Ingram and her mother in the past, while Mr. Kay is pulled into the half-world between the mortal and spiritual realms in an effort to resolve the mystery around a bizarre dancing spirit that may be related to Madam Ingram.

As the past (and present) slowly comes into focus for Madam Ingram, Miss Cassidy and Mr. Kay, it becomes apparent that they are facing a possessive and powerful spirit that wants her daughters to return to her and will not let Miss Cassidy (or others) get in her way. It would require all the help Madam Ingram can get from Miss Cassidy, Mr. Kay and others to face her mother and decide her own fate.

While the main tale is mysterious and grim in the telling, the atmosphere of the book itself is light-hearted and humorous, especially the bantering between Mr. Kay and Miss Cassidy. The goddesses featured in the book also inject some fun in the story via their interactions with Miss Cassidy. In this world, there are rules about how the various gods, goddesses and spirits can interact with each other and with the human world: breaking (or bending) the rules will eventually land Miss Cassidy in a lot of trouble.

By the end, the tale would involve journeys to the British Isles, France and India before returning to Singapore to focus on the final confrontation. It would also (somewhat unexpectedly) involve characters and situations encountered by Miss Cassidy in the first book, before being resolved in a manner that would leave both mother and Madam Ingram content with the resolution.

This is a story that starts with a mystery and ends with a mighty resolution that, of course, sets things up for the third part of the series.

A fascinating book that the traces the evolution of plants and the relationship plants have with animals, via a series of vignettes that look at the life of plants and animals at different periods of time. An appendix of information is also given to provide the scientific background to the vignettes, followed by a list of references.

While fossils of animals (especially dinosaurs) fascinate the public and are the usual 'stars' of palaeontology, plants are the ones that fuel those bodies directly or indirectly. Without plants, there would be no animals, and plants determine what kinds of animals can exist in areas of the world. So it is worthwhile to get an understanding of how plants evolved to understand more of the world that prehistoric animals inhabit.

Our first stop is at the beginning, when the first plants appeared. At some point in time, single-celled organisms in an ocean swallowed cyanobacteria, leading to the first multicellular organisms that could produce food from sunlight. These organisms become more than just a group of cells by differentiating and taking on different roles that benefit the organism as a hold; like cells that hold on fast on to rocks, and helping the organism to reach higher in the water for sunlight. Sex would also arise from differentiation, leading to more variations in subsequent organisms.

Plants now begin to line the shoreline and their growing numbers begin to affect the environment. One of the biggest of these would be the creation of free oxygen molecules, and freeing minerals like calcium from the rocks. They also begin to suck carbon dioxide from the air, resulting in a cooling climate.

Moving on to the Carboniferous, plants now dominate the landscape. The plants now found are not the plants we know, but consist mainly of giant liverworts and ferns that tower metres into the air. Plants achieve this ability to grow tall by repurposing lignin for support (lignin may have originally evolved to protect plants from ultraviolet rays). These plants support an increasingly complex ecosystem made up of giant insects and proto mammals and reptiles, supported by the excess oxygen created by plants. Insects, especially those with an aquatic life cycle, grew big as a response to the extra oxygen, which can be toxic at higher concentrations: a larger body is better able to handle the excess oxygen. Plants grew so rapidly that there wasn't time for dead plants to be decomposed before getting buried, leading to the large coal seams that we find today.

Next, we go to the Triassic, a period of extremes due to the volcanic activity, causing high levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. The climate now has hot seasons and wet ones, causing wildfires and deluges that bury the burnt wood; when fossilised, this wood would become petrified forests found in some areas.

We move to the Jurassic, the era of giant sauropod dinosaurs that need to feed on many plants to fuel their bodies, like ferns, conifers and ginkgos. Sauropods start out small, and they need to grow quickly to avoid being targeted by predators. Their huge bodies also help them digest plants, for sauropods cannot chew and just swallow the plants they eat, along with unlucky small animals.

Now in the Cretaceous period, a new type of plant develops: angiosperms, or flowering plants. They probably grew mainly in watery areas due to competition from ferns and other gymnosperms that are already established.

The Cretaceous period is also one where plants have spread widely, nearly reaching the poles. Large numbers of conifer trees produce resin, which turn into amber when fossilised. These preserve insects or parts of animals that have been trapped within them.

A large asteroid strike that ends the reign of the dinosaurs moves us past the Cretaceous. The destruction does not spare plants. But it gives the angiosperms a chance to spread, and they eventually dominate in the new landscape. The climate after the asteroid strike remains hot, giving rise to large storm that can sweep whole groups of trees out into the oceans. Some of these 'rafts' include stowaways, and this was probably how monkeys made the leap across the ocean from Africa to South America.

The climate now starts to cool, bringing with it seasons and a reduction in rainfall. Forests starts to retreat, opening the ground for grasses and a new environment for animals. Forests gives cover for predators to hide in ambush, but on grassy plains with no cover, predators have to adapt to chase after their prey. One way prey animals can respond is by becoming faster, like horses, which move to grassy plains to take advantage of the new environment.

The author now looks at the relationship between plants and animals by looking at plant pollinators like bats. Some plants also evolved from being general pollination to specialised one, developing plant parts that only some animals can reach as a reward for pollination. This ensures that plants have a higher change of receiving the correct pollen. But if the specialised pollinator goes extinct, the plant is also in danger of becoming extinct, unless it can find a new pollinator to fit the role.

The interesting effects of catnip on cats is also looked at, with a look at a possible behaviour of prehistoric sabre-tooth cats to catnip. Catnip plants developed a chemical to deter animals from eating it. But cats instead find the chemical attractive.

Moving back to grass plains, it also attracts another animal: primates. Some come down from the trees to move on the ground, develop an upright stance. And some would go on to become humans.

Finally, nearing modern times, the author looks at mastodons and mammoths. The changing seasons would also cause season, with fall causing a shedding of leaves. This blanket of fallen leaves would be an aid for small animals to survive the winter, by providing insulation on the ground. A look at parasitic plants that live off fungi and other plants is also given.

A Murderbot Diaries story that fills in some background on the characters we encounter in "Fugitive Telemetry" and "System Collapse", although it logically takes place after the events of "Artificial Condition". Perihelion and its crew are trying to infiltrate a Corporation Rim station to examine a pre-Corporation Rim habitat. Unfortunately, the station itself is in the midst of a hostile takeover, meaning lots of hostile security people.

Peri (aka ART to Murderbot) guides the party through the station. But as the danger mounts, Peri shows off some hacking skills that the crew were not aware of. And it would need one crew member to show empathy with Peri to discover just how it picked up those skills from a 'friend' it met on a previous trip.

A fascinating historical fantasy that mashes together the characters from Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes. It retells J. M. Barrie's story of Peter Pan from the perspective of the mother, Mary Darling, and gives a modern interpretation to the tale involving slavery, the denigration of native people, the restricted lives of women in the Victorian era, and the rougher side of actually living in Neverland with a Boy that Never Grows Up.

It starts on the night Peter Pan takes her three children to Neverland, and Mary Darling is determined to go there and get her children back. Mary Darling is the niece of John Watson, so he and his companion Sherlock Holmes gets involved in the investigation into the children's kidnapping (as told to the rest of London).

In the first part of the story, we follow Mary Darling as she prepares for the journey, and Holmes' investigation into how the children were kidnapped. We learn more about the background of Mary Darling and the people she knows, and see the first 'collisions' between the magical world of Peter Pan and the logical world of Sherlock Holmes.

The second part of the story covers the separate journeys of Mary Darling, and Holmes and Watson, to where Neverland can be found. As it turns out, Mary made her own journey to Neverland with Peter when she was young, so she is not unprepared to face Peter to get her children back. Watson, meanwhile, has brief encounters with fairies and mermaids and is unsure how to explain such phenomenon to Holmes.

The final third part of the story would involve, of course, Captain Hook, who has a bad relationship with Peter (due to his hand) but who also knows Mary. They would all collide over the rescue of Mary's three children. But what could have been a violent encounter is defused by the timely arrival of the dog, Nana, who is also the children's nanny. As for Holmes, he is left wandering in a case where fairies are real can make people fly, but that can never be part of his logical deductions.

A tale with light touches of magic and a re-imagining of well known fictional characters, now told with modern sensibilities.

A better than average issue of Interzone, with interesting stories by Kate Orman, Alexandra Grunberg and Yukimi Ogawa.

• "I Object" by Kate Orman: an android 'play-thing' of a princess wonders what would happen to it when the princess dies. By tradition, males of the household are buried with the princess. Only, it isn't a he, and may have other ideas about what to do at the end when the princess comes for it.

• "How Heroes are Made" by Alexandra Grunberg: heroes walk out of the gates of a city, hoping to make it pass the horrors that surround it. One especially well trained hero makes the journey, but what happens to her would start the making of a true hero.

• "Nyobo" by Yukimi Ogawa: a 'monster' is created to be a companion of a boy who would grow up to be a magician, able to trap curses which is 'fed' to the monster for disposal. But the magician's latest job is his biggest and he is not sure what to do with it, for a war comes with the curse.

• "Cordiális Through the Eyes of My Mind" by Carlos Norcia: a rather contemporary story about a reporter with embedded recording devices gathering reports and interviews from people tortured by a dictatorial government in a South American country. Then she gets the chance to listen to the history of one sexually abused person who rose up and is leading a revolution.

• "Breach" by E F McAdam: a sentient AI system infiltrates a security system. Its task is to erase the security program and take over the system, but the AI finds itself 'liking' the security program instead.

• "What I Owe" by Rachael Cupp: a story about what a person owns after a future apocalypse has happened.

• "No Shelter Beneath the Searchlights" by Steve Toase: a girl and her mother live next to a mined security barrier, aware that they are under constant scrutiny. Then a security breach gives the girl a chance for freedom, but what she will find is freedom of another kind.

• "Interlopers" by Tamsin Showbrook: a short short story of an attempt to build a house that is being interrupted by the former pottery site that use to be on the land.

• "Vanitas" by R.L. Summerling: a woman unable to leave the house watches in vain as her garden roses are cut by a man. Both may not be who they seem to be.

• "The Toy" by Seán Padraic Birnie: a girl finds herself on an unknown train station, and while wandering around in a town, realises she may not really exist.

• "Out of Orders" by Bogdan Domakha: humanity is dying, and a robot needs to know what to do.

A fascinating book by a naturalist on how to become a naturalist, why you should become one, and why there is a need for naturalists to explore the urban environment, and to bring attention to and to protect the wildlife that can be found in such urban environments. Far from being a sterile, lifeless place fit only for humans, urban places can host a mixture of life, some of it relics of the natural environment that existed before being replaced by urban development, but some are opportunists who have taken advantage of what can be found in urban environments. And naturalists are required to observe and document what can be found in such places, often ignored by governments and misunderstood by the people who live in urban areas.

The book can be divided into several sections. The first one looks at the history of naturalists and their role as observers of the natural environment. As the author shows, early naturalists are simply people who observe and document what can be found around them. Charles Darwin was one, and so were the many people who corresponded with him and each other, sharing what they have seen (and their speculations). Societies formed from groups of naturalist, who launched some of the first scientific journals to document their observations and to share them with the public. With time, such societies become more 'professional', forming scientific organisations that centralised scientific research and distancing themselves from now 'amateur' observers. But with the availability of computers, the internet and open access to journals, it is possible for 'citizen scientists' to contribute, making them, once again, part of the scientific process.

The availability of computers, smartphones and other cheap instruments have made documenting and making scientific observations easier for the public. Image and sound recognition AIs can help to identify wildlife that are seen or heard. Widely available DNA sequencing can be used to quickly discover the variety of wildlife in various environments. Community labs have been set up to offer more ways to scientifically make observations, gather data and present them to authorities.

Besides observations, naturalists are also the foundations of natural collections. While many people collect objects, naturalists are more obsessed and document data about the object (date and original location of the object, for example). These collections (some in the thousands) have been passed on or donated to natural history museums, helping to provide valuable data on wildlife. The author also provides tips on making records on your own collections.

Next, the author looks at what kind of urban environments can host wildlife. Urban man-made caves have many similar features to natural ones and unique organisms have been found in drains and tunnels, many migrating from their natural cave environment via connections, accidental or otherwise. The green mats and microbial films often seen on streets and buildings are unobvious and novel environments. Yet, despite being small, they are often found to have great biodiversity when closely examined. Undiscovered species have also been found in urban parks by naturalist who pay attention to such areas.

To the author, these parks and other isolated urban environments are like islands; each are isolated, and can potentially host a number of species unique to the environment and maybe found nowhere else. This brings up the debate known as "Single Large or Several Small": it is better for the environment and biodiversity if these isolated urban islands are joined together (by adding greenery between parks) so there is mixing (and potentially less overall biodiversity), or is it better to keep them isolated, each hosting different species and increasing biodiversity at the cost of isolation?

The author next looks at the impact road can have on the environment. Roadkill is an aspect that people are usually unaware of, but projects to commemorate roadkills can gather attention and make people realise the scale of the problem. Roads also divide up environments (by preventing animals from crossing them) and alter the landscape. Naturalist can help by observing animals reactions to reads and suggesting alterations to minimise the impact of roads.

Some things humans do can cause animals to be caught in an evolutionary trap. Bottles and cans trap and kill animals by enticing animals to enter, only to be unable to escape and die. This attracts other animals who also get caught in the trap. Shiny surfaces (like cars) attract water loving insects because the surfaces reflect polarised light just like water. Insects evolved to be attracted to polarised light to find water, only to become attracted (and trapped) by shiny surfaces.

Plastics and other materials are now so prevalent that some birds now depend on plastics to build nests that may be better than those built with natural materials. Urban naturalist have documented these and other changes in behaviour in birds and other animals.

The urban environment has also caused evolutionary changes in animals that urban naturist have also documented. Lizards, for example, have evolved toes that are better suited for the smooth surfaces of urban environments. The urban heat island effect has made some animals more tolerant of heat. Spiders are now attracted to urban lights to catch more prey, and the prey are evolving to avoid light.

Changes in behaviour have also been observed. Urban animals are more tolerant of human food and humans in general, becoming bolder and more curious. Mosquitoes now prefer human blood and humans, of course, have evolved to become more immune to diseases usually found in urban areas.

In the final section, the author looks at activism for urban environments. Parks in Istanbul, Turkey, have been defended by communities and activist who decry development that would replace the parks with yet more urban construction. A hill in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has become a hotspot for firefly observations, leading to calls to preserve the area from development. The author asserts that for such activism to conserve urban spaces to be successful requires commitment, the community, curiosity and courage.

In closing, the author calls for more urban development that is friendly to the environment. He cites the attempts to make artificial green walls that can fail. Yet, nature often succeeds in finding footholds in cities by accident. He suggests making walls, ledges and other places easier for plants, mosses, etc. easier to grow and allow nature to take it course, bringing to life green walls that grow naturally and sustainably.