Rosewater Press

           No book has ever made me feel so strongly like I was in a gas station at two in the morning. I actually did read parts of this book at a gas station the first time around, and the novel opens in a gas station, so there’s precedent. But the feeling persisted long past leaving the station; also, somebody on Tumblr made the same observation years back. It’s some memetic property inherent to the book itself, I think. If you handed this book to a caveman he would spontaneously comprehend the entire history of oil. So am I rereading this book in 2026 because I just wrote an essay about the parts of my life I spent hanging out in gas stations? No, ah… unfortunately this book is back in my head for more severe reasons. It was published in 2003, written as the horrors of 9/11 and the War on Terror unfolded. Lawrence Miles’ vision of a future War between a staid superpower and a faceless Enemy was, all of a sudden, not science fiction. Appropriately, he...

  A few years back, I said I’d like to go back and review all the old Faction Paradox material on this blog eventually. It made more sense back then, when the series appeared to be another victim of the pandemic. A return to somewhat consistent annual releases starting with the first Boulevard book has given me less time to think about the past. Then again, I read more than one book a year. And, y’know, it’s not like these reviews are particularly broad or deep. They're easy to write. So I had plans this summer to delve back into the Mad Norwegian Golden Age alongside a review of this book.           Then Obverse Books decided that Summer 2025 was gonna be the most productive point in the company’s entire history. Like, holy crap. The Paradise Towers novel, a reprint of Of the City of the Saved , and an EDA-themed charity anthology? It’s been a big summer for Wilderness-adjacent spinoffs outside of the Obverse corner, too - Jimbo’s Mars book finally ca...

Oh lord it’s been nearly two years since my last Faction Paradox review. I certainly haven’t lost interest in the series. It’s just been a busy time for me, between reading and writing other things and moving into my new house. I still plan to continue talking about Faction Paradox whenever I find time, and what better place to start than the newest book? Especially because it’s one I’d been hotly anticipating. The first Boulevard book ranks among the most disappointing entries in the series for me but I still love the idea of the Boulevard. So how was book two?           In short: this was almost exactly what I wanted the first book to be like. If the Boulevard as a concept interests you, this is the one to get. Almost every story here is at least good, the variety is impressive and the editing is stronger than last time. Not flawless, mind you. The line spacing is still egregious and there are still a handful of typos, albeit not as many as last time. B...