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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: September 2012

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Forge of Darkness: Absolutely works

Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson

My personal experience with prequels has been quite mixed. They too often have a rote, going-through-the-motions feel to them. You get the sense the author is simply, mechanically connecting the dots, reverse-engineering the prequel story from characters and events laid out in the original story: “Explained why they call that thingamabob a “graggle”? Check. Explained why everyone wears red now? Check. Why Character A is a jerk? Check.” While this may result in some readerly satisfaction — “Oh, so that’s why it’s a graggle. Cool!”— I’ve found this approach seldom ends up creating an organically compelling storyline or rich characterization.


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September 18th, 2012. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Aloha From Hell: Lucifer might be the best CEO ever

Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey

“I have to laugh. There isn’t much else to do. Go down into the deepest darkest parts of Hell, and you’ll see what I mean. They laugh all the time down there.”

Aloha From Hell is Richard Kadrey’s third SANDMAN SLIM novel. Jim Stark was betrayed by a fellow magician and dragged alive into Hell. Eleven years as an arena fighter for audiences of Hellions and fallen angels did not improve Stark’s attitude, and when he clawed his way out of Hell,


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September 18th, 2012. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

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Magazine Monday: Cemetery Dance, Issue 66

No, it’s not a horrible magazine; it’s a horror magazine, and a fine one at that.  It’s only the Monday that’s horrible.

Cemetery Dance is published irregularly, usually three to four issues per year, and covers the entire field of horror, from film to comics to novels. It is heavy on the nonfiction, with excellent reviews and multiple interviews. There are six stories in this issue, all of them excellent. Issue 66 impressed me so much that I’ve already ordered the next, and am likely to subscribe.

The first story,


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September 17th, 2012. | , , , | , | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

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The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories: A good quick culturally-relevant dose of Lovecraft

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

Ask any writer of horror, fantasy, or weird fiction who their influences were and H.P. Lovecraft’s name is almost sure to come up, especially if they’re over the age of 50. For this reason alone, all true fans of these genres must experience H.P. Lovecraft’s work for themselves. Think of it as “required reading.” Even if you don’t read horror or weird tales, Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos pops up regularly in fantasy literature,


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September 17th, 2012. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

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The Kingmakers: Danger, intrigue and romance

The Kingmakers by Clay and Susan Griffith

The VAMPIRE EMPIRE series is an interesting combination of almost-steampunk, alternative history and fantasy all wrapped together. Clay and Susan Griffith have used a solid mixture of adventure, intrigue and world building to create a vibrant tapestry as the background for the story. In The Kingmakers all of this grows more and more intense as war rages and the battle for the survival of two different races grows more desperate.

Adele, now Empress of Equitoria, has unleashed her armies on the European continent despite the setbacks in the seasons and the loss of some of her more important weapons of war.


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September 17th, 2012. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Seventh Son: Original and emotional

Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card

When you’re surrounded by light, how do you know whether it’s the glory of God, or the flames of Hell?

Set in an alternate American frontier, Seventh Son is the first in Orson Scott Card’s THE TALES OF ALVIN MAKER. Alvin Miller is the seventh son of a seventh son which makes him special and potentially a very powerful healer, or “maker” — at least that’s what many who practice folk magic, believe. They know that many folk have “knacks” and they’ve seen the effects of curses and charms.


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September 15th, 2012. ´s rating: | | , | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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Riddley Walker: On the Edge

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

[At The Edge of the Universe, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.]

Language is dependent on the society that uses it. We weave into our idiom words and phrases that explain our history and our present. Similes and metaphors embed themselves so deeply into our sentences that we don’t even notice them. Some are slang: we didn’t get the memo,


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September 14th, 2012. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |

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The Guns of Avalon: Never trust a relative

The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny

Warning, from me: If you haven’t read Nine Princes in Amber yet, don’t read this review.

Another warning, from Corwin:  “Never trust a relative. It is far worse than trusting strangers.”

Corwin has escaped from his brother’s prison and he’s ready for revenge. He doesn’t have the manpower that Eric has, so he needs a technological advantage. Traditional firearms don’t work in Amber, but Corwin once noticed that a jewelers’ rouge from the shadow world of Avalon,


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September 14th, 2012. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

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A Guile of Dragons: A good beginning

A Guile of Dragons by James Enge

I just finished James Enge’s epic fantasy A Guile of Dragons, the first book in the TOURNAMENT OF SHADOWS series. This was an enjoyable read. Enge plays with traditional tropes, dragons, dwarves, wizards and heroes, but he puts a refreshing spin on the classic images. There may be dragons and unicorns (yes, there is a unicorn) but they’re not exactly what you’re used to.

In the land of Laent, Morlock syr Theorn was raised by the dwarves,


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September 13th, 2012. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

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WWW: September 12, 2012

Cool Science Fiction and Fantasy bookish things from around the web:

1. Grasping for the Wind hosts a video of Terry Brooks reading from his Garet Jax short story.

2. In additional Terry Brooks news, the SHANNARA books are in development to be turned into a TV show. This news has caused some kerfuffle amongst fantasy fans as everyone has their own favorite series they think should be on TV. Note: Terry Brooks and Terry Pratchett are different people.

3.


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September 12th, 2012. | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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