Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: April 2010

Thoughtful Thursday: Rename This Horrible Cover!

Welcome to the second installment of Rename This Horrible Cover!

This week, I invite you to feast your eyes on this beauty. Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on in this picture. Is that a carriage? Being driven by Santa’s helpers? Are they avalanche surfing? Why are the people so skinny? Were they hunting for bones on the mountainside? Are those special cadaver sniffing horses? I really am so confused.

So dear readers, I turn to you. What’s a better name for this cover?

Every month we feature a new cover and your job is twofold:

April 15th, 2010. Ruth Arnell | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 21 comments |

Echo: Teenage angst in a fairytale setting

Echo by Francesca Lia Block

For anyone who’s ever read Francesca Lia Block before, you’ll know what to expect here. Riddled with teenage angst, fairytale settings and dense, poetic language, Echo provides another glimpse into the mind of tortured, restless adolescence. As always, Block’s novel stands outside any particular genre; is it fantasy or drama? Poetry or prose? Magic realism or something else entirely? As always, her trademark style is the use of her intoxicating language, which again defies description, but is best compared to fantasist Patricia McKillip.

The Choir Boats: Did Not Finish

The Choir Boats by Daniel A. Rabuzzi

The Choir Boats is set in an alternate 1812 London in which famous fictional characters exist alongside historical personages. As the novel begins, we meet a small cadre of Londoners who are all dissatisfied with their lives in one way or another, and their interest is piqued when they learn of the fantasy world of Yount, where they may be able to find their hearts’ desires.

A common device in fantasy literature is the misdirection spell. A sorcerer casts this on a person or object,

April 15th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Daniel A. Rabuzzi | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Portable Door: Quick, humourous fantasy

The Portable Door by Tom Holt

I’ve come late to the Tom Holt party, but I’m glad I finally made it. The Portable Door is the first book of his that I have read and I definitely intend to try more.

The Portable Door is the story of Paul Carpenter, who takes a mysterious job in a mysterious firm where mysterious goings-on occur. I found it always interesting, a nice quick read, and lightly humourous. I wouldn’t say there were many laugh-out-loud moments,

April 15th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest)´s rating: 3.5 | Tom Holt | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Shadow Mirror: YA ghost story with realistic relationships

Shadow Mirror by Richie Tankersley Cusick

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love a good ghost story. I don’t love it when a book isn’t clearly marked as a sequel. However, that is the fault of neither Shadow Mirror nor Richie Tankersley Cusick, so I’ll let it slide. Just know you’ll want to read Walk of the Spirits first, if you’re interested in Shadow Mirror.

Miranda Barnes has the ability to hear and see the dead.

Dead Witch Walking: Comparing Rachel Morgan and Anita Blake

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Robert read the omnibus version called This Witch for Hire. It contains Dead Witch Walking and The Good, The Bad, and the Undead.

A guilty pleasure of mine, pardon the pun, was reading the ANITA BLAKE series by author Laurell K. Hamilton. Unfortunately, like many readers, I was turned off by the direction that the series was heading with later novels, and eventually stopped reading the books altogether with 2003’s Cerulean Sins.

April 14th, 2010. Robert Thompson´s rating: 3.5 | Kim Harrison | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Sam Sykes frightens FanLit

Gather round, people – I’m slightly nervous to present interviewee Sam Sykes – self-styled ‘Angriest Man Alive’ and debut author of Tome of the Undergates (to be released by Gollancz on 15 April 2010 in the UK). Sam has already conducted an interview with Aidan Moher, over at A Dribble of Ink where they discussed… well, video games and cover art and other such boy things. After reading (and reviewing) his book I wanted to try and draw out a little more about the man behind the book and how he went about writing the death and mayhem that fills the pages of Tome.

April 13th, 2010. Amanda Rutter (guest) | Sam Sykes | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 11 comments |

Changes: The Dresden Files gets darker

Changes by Jim Butcher

I love Harry Dresden like he’s the crazy scary magical uncle I never had. My wife (The Asian OverLord™) gets annoyed at my exclamations of “Hell’s Bells!” and my constant need to tell people that a scar on my hand came from “Hell Fire” rather than a childhood bicycle wreck. The Dresden Files have become a part of my life in a way that few stories do.

When I first learned about Changes, it frightened me. I thought to myself: if Jim Butcher “Changes” too much,

Waking the Moon: One of my Desert Island books

Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand

I’m on either my third or fourth copy of Waking the Moon, I can’t remember which. I first read it eleven years ago, loaned it to everyone I thought might be remotely interested, sometimes didn’t get it back, and never felt quite right when I didn’t have it on my shelf. This is one of my Desert Island Books.

The plot revolves around Sweeney Cassidy, an insecure college freshman who goes wild in her first semester away from home.

Under Heaven: Beautiful, epic, vintage GGK

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

Under Heaven is the long-awaited new novel by master fantasist Guy Gavriel Kay — and let’s get the most important news out of the way: it was 100% worth the wait.

Fans of Guy Gavriel Kay know that his novels often take place in what appear to be fantasy versions of real countries: A Song for Arbonne is set in 13th century France, The Lions of Al-Rassan in Spain during the Moorish occupation,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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