It’s been a while since we renamed a cover. The cover I chose today is not particularly awful — it’s quite the usual thing for a modern romantic fantasy. Queen’s Hunt by Beth Bernobich received a lukewarm reception by our reviewers but seems to be generally well liked over at Amazon. What got my attention about the cover of Queen’s Hunt is the look on the protagonist’s face — it just seems ripe for renaming. It doesn’t portray any of the fierceness that I think they intended.
August 9th, 2012. Justin Blazier | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 19 comments |
Hello, my beloved readers. This has been a bit of a slow week. It seems the entire world is watching the Olympics, which I’m okay with because I love the Olympics. The weirder the sport the better! So, what have I seen on the internet this last week?
1. The other big thing going on in the world, or I guess I should out of it, is that we landed a rover on Mars. You know how they say truth is stranger than fiction? If I had read the landing plan for the Odyssey rover in a science fiction book,
August 8th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton
T. Aaron Payton’s The Constantine Affliction (2012) is a witty gender-bending romp through Victorian London as it never was. Most of us will call this “steampunk.” Payton prefers “gonzo-history.” I say, “whatever works.”
Ellie Skyler, who is assumed to be male, makes her living as a journalist using the pen name “E. Skye.” She plans to go in male attire into one of the city’s clockwork brothels, where the prostitutes are nearly perfect simulacra of human women, to write an expose.
August 8th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | T. Aaron Payton | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Terry Brooks is a New York Times bestselling author, having published his first book The Sword of Shannara back in 1977. That was before my time, but since then he’s gone on to write over thirty books, many of which were passed on to me by my father (and one of which remains one of my favourite books: Running with the Demon). It feels that I’ve always had Terry Brooks’s novels on my bookshelf.
Most famous for his SHANNARA series, Brooks has been adding to his mythos for years now,
August 7th, 2012. Rebecca Fisher | Terry Brooks | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 10 comments |
The Star Shard by Frederic S. Durbin
The Star Shard, by Frederic S. Durbin, is a winning children’s fantasy with an intriguing setting, albeit a bit implausible. The main character, Cymbril, is a young orphan girl-slave who lives on the Thunder Rake, a mind-bogglingly massive wagon that claws its way on seven-story wheels through the countryside to trade with the world’s cities, towns, and villages. It is basically a market town on wheels that goes where the customers are. Cymbril’s job is to sing to attract and keep the crowds that will fill the market’s coffers,
August 7th, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Frederic S. Durbin | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror by H.P. Lovecraft
Fans of Stephen King take note: This work and other tales of H.P. Lovecraft were among King’s main inspirations. Lovecraft bases most of his stories out of his Providence, just as King uses small town Maine so often as a setting. Likewise, each utilizes quirks of rural life and old wives’ tales to spin tales of the macabre that never quite fully explain themselves. Ghosts, miasmas, fiery pentagrams, voodoo magic, mysterious deaths, and the other typical plot devices used by horror are never intended to fully connect with reality.
August 6th, 2012. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 2.5 | H.P. Lovecraft | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
Further: Beyond the Threshold by Chris Roberson
Some premises are so great that authors can’t resist trying them out again. In Further: Beyond the Threshold, Chris Roberson tries his hand at Charlton Heston waking up from cryogenic sleep in the distant future. Well, actually, our hero is Captain Ramachandra Jason Stone, who left earth in the 22nd century to journey to Alpha Centauri B. He wakes up over ten thousand years later, when Further begins.
Roberson is aware of the connections between his work and his predecessors,
August 6th, 2012. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2 | Chris Roberson | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Identity Theft by Robert J. Sawyer
Alex Lomax, a private detective on Mars, has been hired by Cassandra Wilkins to find her missing husband, Joshua Wilkins. At first the solution to the mystery seems obvious, but Lomax soon discovers that it’s a lot more unusual, complicated, and dangerous, than he originally thought. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins are Transfers — they’ve had their consciousnesses uploaded to artificial bodies. But that’s not the only reason the Wilkins case isn’t routine — it also involves a paleontologist who has discovered a large cache of valuable Martian fossils.
August 4th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Robert J. Sawyer | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Captain America, Vol 5.: “The Winter Soldier” (Issue 1-14) by Ed Brubaker
There has been a long-standing rule for writers of Captain America: his sidekick Bucky must stay dead because his death is central to understanding the character of Captain America in the present. The basic story is that Captain America takes a teenaged Bucky under his wing in his fight against Nazis in World War II. In an explosion that nearly kills Captain America, Bucky Barnes dies. When Captain America is found years later preserved in the ice and is brought back to life,
August 3rd, 2012. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Ed Brubaker | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Distant Thunders by Taylor Anderson
The 100 remaining American destroyermen have now been in their strange new world for 16 months. They’ve just had a major victory against the evil Grik, but they know their respite will be short, for the Grik seem to have an unending supply of soldiers.
There’s a lot to get done before they face their enemies again, so the destroyermen are spread out thin. They’re building ships, planes, weapons (but not gas weapons), and a dry dock. They’re refining fuel and recycling metal scrap. They’re training their Lemurian allies to do all these jobs and to be sailors,
August 2nd, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Taylor Anderson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…