Greetings from Lake Wu by Jay Lake
Greetings from Lake Wu is a collaboration between Jay Lake and Frank Wu, with the former writing the short stories and the latter illustrating them. Wu’s art can be found preceding each story (there are 13 in this collection) and his style has an old-school feel to it. Lake, on the other hand, struts his early work here and I find it amusing that the book begins and ends with stories that have a similar title (“The Courtesy of Guests”
August 28th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3 | Jay Lake | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Situation by Jeff Vandermeer
I’m a big fan of both Jeff VanderMeer and PS Publishing, so imagine my surprise when I found a copy of The Situation in my hard drive, a giveaway from Wired that I had downloaded but forgotten, mainly because it wasn’t in my immediate must-be-read-for-review-or-else-we’ll-send-ninjas queue. The first scene immediately hooked me, evoking a New Weird atmosphere as corporate drones created insects that crawled into your ears and conjured nightmares, all the while being quite readable instead of the overwhelming details that characterize China Mieville‘s NEW CROBUZON novels.
August 26th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3.5 | Jeff VanderMeer | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett
Note: Terry Pratchett’s The Last Hero works without the illustrations, but you don’t want to miss out on Paul Kidby‘s fabulous Discworld art.
The Last Hero follows the trail of several popular Discworld characters and this is the closest you’ll get to a world-spanning crossover. There’s no real villain in the story — simply lots of good guys working on opposite ends.
As typical of a Discworld novel,
August 24th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams
John Joseph Adams assembles a wide variety of apocalypse-related fiction in Wastelands. some of which are older than I am, while others are more recent. What you end up with is a diverse anthology covering topics such as religion, war, and exploration while containing horror, comedy, and a sense of wonder.
The majority of the stories are easy to get into. Some stories are more subtle than others. Overall, Wastelands is an enjoyable read and the selection seems balanced.
August 22nd, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3.5 | Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Bear, Gene Wolfe, George R.R. Martin, Jonathan Lethem, Orson Scott Card, Paolo Bacigalupi, Richard Kadrey, Stephen King, Tobias Buckell | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Drowned Life by Jeffrey Ford
Jeffrey Ford‘s The Drowned Life is as engrossing as his previous short story collections, immediately ensnaring the reader with his detailed prose and characterization. One noticeable trend is that while Ford dabbles in clear-cut fantasy with stories such as “The Manticore Spell” or “The Dismantled Invention of Fate,” much of his work deals more with the mundane sprinkled with just the right amounts of magic and the surreal. The titular piece for example, “The Drowned Life,” seems like the narrative of the common Joe,
August 18th, 2008. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 5 | Jeffrey Ford | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones
What happens when an writer who works for an opera company turns to writing fantasy? Does the story take on qualities of the epic? Do people take forever to die? Or does everyone just walk around singing loudly and wearing funny costumes? If these are questions you have asked yourself (or even if they aren’t) you ought to turn your attention to Crypt of the Moaning Diamond by Rosemary Jones. An opera writer and first time novelist, Jones has created a dungeon delving story both humorous and out of the ordinary set in the Forgotten Realms mythos.
August 15th, 2008. John Ottinger (guest)´s rating: 4.5 | Bruce R. Cordell, Jaleigh Johnson, Rosemary Jones | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Kelly interviews Chris Howard about his novel Seaborn. Read Kelly’s review of Seaborn on our Chris Howard page. The art in this interview comes from Chris Howard’s portfolio.
Kelly: Seaborn features two complex and fascinating heroines: Corina and Kassandra. Each woman is involved in a struggle to gain control of her own psyche; Corina has Aleximor, the necromancer who has possessed her, and Kassandra has the voices of her ancestors prodding her toward the goals they think she ought to pursue. Corina is very open to the reader emotionally—we know most of what makes her tick and what her inner landscape is like—but is unable to take action in the physical world throughout most of the book.
August 13th, 2008. Kelly Lasiter | Chris Howard | Author Interviews | 1 comment |
THE DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a classic work of high fantasy, marks the beginning of a remarkable 6-book tale (the Chronicles Trilogy, followed by the even more magnificent Legends Trilogy), which greatly increased the interest in the Dungeons & Dragons game throughout the 1980’s. It certainly does contain more than a few stock fantasy elements (e.g. dragons, elves, dwarves, an unlikely group of friends somehow being chosen to stop the conquest of Evil…). However, the straightforward, simple way in which the tale is told and,
August 12th, 2008. Rob Rhodes´s rating: 4 | Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman | SFF Reviews | no comments |
It’s ironic that feminist writer Tamora Pierce’s only male character, the self-named Briar Moss, is one of her best characters. Amongst the rest of the mainly female cast, his charisma, street smarts and ongoing inner conflict between his younger, wilder instincts, and his older, more civilized self, makes him one of the most lovable and well-rounded characters in the Circle of Magic series.
The first four books gathered together four magical protégées: aristocratic Sandry, moody bookworm Tris, stoic Daja, and street-rat Briar,
August 12th, 2008. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Tamora Pierce | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Society of S by Susan Hubbard
A current Professor of English at the University of Central Florida who has received teaching awards from Syracuse University, Cornell University, UCF, and the South Atlantic Administrators of Departments of English, not to mention many other educational accolades and achievements, Susan Hubbard is also an author of two critically acclaimed short story collections (Walking On Ice, Blue Money) and two chick-lit novels (Lisa Marie’s Guide for the Perplexed,
August 11th, 2008. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Susan Hubbard | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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