Ekaterina Sedia | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

The Secret History of Moscow: Russian mythology makes an enchanting story

The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia

Much praise has been attached to The Secret History of Moscow and I can understand why. Ekaterina Sedia weaves an enchanting story drawing from both Russian mythology and history. I’m not really familiar with Russian myth (or history for that matter) but that didn’t hindered me from appreciating this novel. I expect that readers more educated in those areas will appreciate all the allusions Sedia includes in The Secret History of Moscow.

However,

The Alchemy of Stone: Discover the magic of Ekaterina Sedia

The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

CLASSIFICATION: With its intriguing blend of steampunk, gothic romance, political intrigue, and fairy tale spirit — not to mention metaphors on such real world issues as terrorism and racial discrimination — The Alchemy of Stone is like a bizarre, but captivating cross between Frankenstein, Pan’s Labyrinth, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Steamboy, Tool’s animated stop-motion music videos, and the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle).

Magazine Monday: Asimov’s, October/November 2012

Sheila Williams, the editor of Asimov’s, says that the annual October/November issue is “slightly spooky.” There are a few frights in the magazine, as well as some solid science fiction, but overall, I was generally disappointed in this double issue.

Alan Smale’s novella, “The Mongolian Book of the Dead,” was not one of the disappointments; to the contrary, it is a nicely imagined tale of what might happen if the Chinese decide to mount a military invasion of Mongolia — an independent landlocked country sandwiched between Russia and China.

Paper Cities: Diverse anthology

Paper Cities by Ekaterina Sedia

Bring up urban fantasy nowadays and most readers will probably assume that you’re talking about such authors as Laurell K. Hamilton, Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon and so on, but in this new anthology from Senses Five Press, which is edited by Ekaterina Sedia, Paper Cities reveals that Urban Fantasy has actually been around for almost two hundred years and can be traced as far back as the Arabian Nights.

Spicy Slipstream Stories: If you love pulps…

Spicy Slipstream Stories edited by Nick Namatas & Jay Lake

Slipstream, for me, is a type of fiction that is bizarre and confusing and defies expectations. That’s not a bad thing, mind you, but to quote a passage from the introduction of the book, “You don’t write slipstream, you read it.” And so it was a big surprise when I started reading the stories in this anthology. They’re actually — gasp — readable, or at least accessible to lay people without needing literary degrees or geeky credentials. In fact, the selections impressed me because they all stood out,

Schemers: Stories of complex plans and gut wrenching betrayals

Schemers by Robin D. Laws (editor)

Schemers is a collection of short stories by an excellent list of authors: Jesse Bullington, Tobias Buckell, Ekaterina Sedia, Jonathan L. Howard, Nick Mamatas, Elizabeth A. Vaughan, Tania Hershman, Kyla Lee Ward, Robyn Seale, Laura Lush, Molly Tanzer, John Helfers, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, and Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer. These are stories of complex plans and gut wrenching betrayals. It is a great theme for a collection of short stories.

SFF Author: Ekaterina Sedia

The Secret History of Moscow: Russian mythology makes an enchanting story

The Alchemy of Stone: Discover the magic of Ekaterina Sedia

Magazine Monday: Asimov’s, October/November 2012

Paper Cities: Diverse anthology

Spicy Slipstream Stories: If you love pulps…

Schemers: Stories of complex plans and gut wrenching betrayals

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