Of Monsters and Mainframes, Barbara Truelove (Review by Jean Dandois)

At first, I was worried Of Monsters and Mainframes was going to be choppy and a bit repetitious, but it turned out to be an engaging read. Once you get through the slightly uneven beginning, the story comes together and you start rooting for this strange cast of characters. The plot leverages classic horror but adds an innovative futuristic sci-fi twist, with great results. The dialogue is witty and sarcastic, and the characters are compelling. Things kick off with a series of wild space trips which all go horribly awry, with some legendary monsters appearing in the far-distant future in a surprising way. It seems weirdly unconnected, except that this keeps happening with the same spaceship, Demeter. Poor Demeter is simply trying to do her job and works closely with the medical AI, Steward, in an effort to minimize the damage to the humans and her ship on each trip. Right when you’re worried this might not coalesce into a story, things come together. Agnus, who we meet early on as a child, is now an adult and heading out on her own. She is inadvertently sucked into battle which becomes a quest for revenge for hergrandmother’s death, and to save a cast of monsters (including vampires and a mummy) as well as Demeter and Steward. If you enjoy sci-fi and are nostalgic for the monsters of lore which have stood the test of time and are still relevant in film and literature today, you’ll enjoy this creative tale.