Pray for Dawn by Jocelynn Drake
I loved the first DARK DAYS novel, Nightwalker, but was a little disappointed in the next two installments. I am happy to report that with Pray for Dawn, Jocelynn Drake gives the series the shot of adrenaline it needed.
Drake makes the unusual choice of switching narrators for this book; it’s told from Danaus’ point of view. A few months have passed since the battle at Machu Picchu,
July 6th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Jocelynn Drake | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance
I adore Subterranean Press because they’re regularly publishing the kind of classic and new speculative fiction that you might have a hard time finding otherwise. They ignore teen trends and market demands and focus on producing high quality volumes of excellent fiction complete with beautiful covers and interior art.
Hard-Luck Diggings is a collection of 14 of Jack Vance’s unconnected short stories that were written early in his career, when he was perfecting his style and writing the kind of tales that were currently popular and likely to be purchased by publishers.
July 6th, 2010. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Jack Vance | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Template opens with an exciting scene as the protagonist, Conn, a skilled swordsman, successfully defends himself from three opponents. You’d think this would turn into another action/adventure SF novel but Template instead drifts into mystery and philosophy as our protagonist suddenly finds himself with various choices when he previously had none.
Conn is likable enough at the start although later on we discover that his paradigms are alien. This becomes a recurring theme as Matthew Hughes presents planets and races with varying ethics,
July 6th, 2010. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3.5 | Matthew Hughes | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Twelfth in our Heroes series, by our own Robert Rhodes. Art is courtesy of Chenthooran Nambiarooran.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re here from desperation. Because, most likely, a loved one’s been kidnapped or cursed. Or because you — dabbing your brow with a cloth, clutching it like the end of a rope — are the one cursed. And you’ve come to this tower, beside the Plaza of Red Shadows, where the blazing daylight might reveal the blade drawn against you, but never deter its master.
July 5th, 2010. Rob Rhodes | 20 Heroes | 3 comments |
Bullet begins with Anita slipping backstage at a dance recital. Her former friend Monica forgot the hat for her son’s costume, so Anita brings it to her, and the two women have a bit of a spat. Then, in chapter two, Anita sits down to watch the performance with her various boyfriends and —
Wait.
When I was a preteen, I used to read the BABY-SITTERS CLUB series. There’s one cardinal rule for reading BSC books: Skip chapter two.
July 5th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Laurell K. Hamilton | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Fast Ships, Black Sails edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer
I was never a big fan of pirates (ninjas, on the other hand…) but nonetheless, the very word evokes adventure and the high seas. Fast Ships, Black Sails doesn’t really stray far from that expectation and delivers eighteen stories marked with action, treachery, and a sense of wonder.
A good chunk of the stories revolve around traditional concepts of a pirate, with only a few exceptions, such as “Boojum” by Elizabeth Bear &
July 5th, 2010. Charles Tan (GUEST)´s rating: 3 | Carrie Vaughn, Elizabeth Bear, Garth Nix, Jeff VanderMeer, Kage Baker, Michael Moorcock, Naomi Novik, Sarah Monette | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Old Country by Mordecai Gerstein
Gisella lives in the Old Country, where “every winter lasts one hundred years, and every spring is a miracle.” In one tumultuous day, her brother Tavido is drafted into the army on the eve of war, even though they are Crags, a despised ethnic group. When she goes into the forest to hunt the fox that has been stealing her family’s chickens, she makes the mistake of looking into the eyes of the fox, and finds herself in the body of the fox, and the fox in control of her own body.
July 3rd, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4 | Mordicai Gerstein | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
To be something abnormal meant that you were to serve the normal. And if you refused, they hated you… and often the normal hated you even when you did serve them.
In Nnedi Okorafor’s post-apocalyptic Sudan, there are two predominant ethnic factions: the light-skinned Nuru and the dark-skinned Okeke. Who Fears Death takes place amid a genocide that the Nuru commit against the Okeke, a campaign that (like genocides in our own time) includes both murder and rape.
July 2nd, 2010. Kelly Lasiter and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Nnedi Okorafor | Audio, Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Mansfield Park and Mummies by Vera Nazarian
I had always heard great things about Vera Nazarian’s books, both from friends and publications, but I never quite got around to reading any of her work until recently when I picked up her short story collection Salt of the Air, published by Prime Books. The introduction was by Gene Wolfe, a man I have an enormous amount of respect for as a writer. After reading the wonderful things that Gene had to say about her,
July 2nd, 2010. Guest´s rating: 4 | Vera Nazarian | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.