Today we’re featuring a couple of stories that you can find free online.
“Taklamakan” by Bruce Sterling
Many years ago, Bruce Sterling wrote a short story called “Taklamakan” that won a Hugo award. I’ve been trying to read some past award winners, and since this one was handily available, I decided to start there. So, here’s my problem. “Taklamakan” won the Hugo Award for best short story in 1999 when it was published in the Oct/Nov 1998 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.
December 24th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | Bruce Sterling, K.J. Parker | Hugo Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Every House is Haunted by Ian Rogers
Ian Rogers must love Shirley Jackson, for his stories are often like hers, gentle on the surface, but with a knife thrust from below. In Every House is Haunted, his debut collection, Rogers writes about haunted houses, yes, but more often about haunted people, or shadows of people. Rogers sometimes has trouble finding appropriate endings, but his stories are always engaging.
The collection is divided into sections named for rooms in a house: the vestibule,
December 24th, 2012. Terry Weyna´s rating: 3 | Ian Rogers | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru
[In our Edge of the Universe column, 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.]
Gods Without Men, by Hari Kunzru, has at its center a mystery: what happened to the autistic child of Jaz and Lisa Matharu who went missing in the Mojave Desert. To get to that point though,
December 21st, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Hari Kunzru | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Ramal Extraction by Steve Perry
Steve Perry’s new series CUTTER’S WARS is about a high tech mercenary team in a relatively near future, the 24th Century. In The Ramal Extraction, Perry begins the series by sending the team on a special operation to save a princess from abduction and save a world from war. They’ll have to use all of their combined wits and varied skills to succeed.
The mercenary team Captained by Colonel “Rags” Cutter, a retired Officer of the Galactic Union Army,
December 21st, 2012. John Hulet´s rating: 2.5 | Steve Perry | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Ghost Kings by H. Rider Haggard
The Ghost Kings was H. Rider Haggard’s 32nd novel, out of an eventual 58. Written during the years 1906 and 1907, it first saw book publication in September 1908. This novel was penned immediately before Haggard set to work on another African adventure tale, The Yellow God, but of the two, The Ghost Kings is the superior creation. It is more exciting and more detailed,
December 21st, 2012. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | H. Rider Haggard | Free!, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Today we welcome Hugh Howey, author of the WOOL books, recent favorites of mine. If you haven’t read them, you really must! Unless, that is, the world ends tomorrow… And if it doesn’t, we’ll send one commenter the Kindle version of the WOOL omnibus or a book from our stacks.
It starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane — Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
So begins R.E.M.’s classic hit about the end of the world.
December 20th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | Hugh Howey | Thoughtful Thursday | 10 comments |
It’s getting to the end of the year, and assuming that the world does not end on Friday, fans of speculative fiction have a lot to be looking forward to next year. One of the great things about the internet is it has the ability to build a buzz around projects long before they actually hit the bookshelves or movie theaters. Today, I want to highlight trailers for some of the movies you might want to keep an eye out on next year.
Superheroes:
Man of Steel. Yummy
Thor –
December 19th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 7 comments |
The Folly of the World by Jesse Bullington
In a flooded 15th century Holland there are very few opportunities available. Jan may have an amazing opportunity at a life full of riches, but it’s hidden somewhere at the bottom of a flooded town. To reach his greedy goal in the dark moldy depths, Jan enlists the help of a wild young girl with a knack for swimming. Add Jan’s slightly psychotic but ever-faithful partner Sander to the mix and you have yourself a watery adventure with a cast to remember.
December 19th, 2012. Justin Blazier´s rating: 5 | Jesse Bullington | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Wild Ways by Tanya Huff is the second book in THE GALE WOMEN series. While I enjoyed the first book, The Enchantment Emporium, even though it had serious flaws, The Wild Ways was not good. I got to about halfway through and didn’t care about the characters. In fact, on a semi-regular basis, I couldn’t keep the characters apart.
I also had serious difficulties with the “too much power/too little consequences” system of magic in this book.
December 19th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 0.1 | Tanya Huff | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Cherie Priest has written ghost stories, monster stories, tales of the Elder Gods, urban fantasy and steampunk, but she is probably best known for the EDEN MOORE series, and for Boneshaker and the subsequent books in her CLOCKWORK CENTURY series. The Inexplicables, the fifth book in that series, was released earlier this fall. In addition to moving from Seattle to Chattanooga, Tennessee, Priest just finished up a book promotion tour, but she found time in her schedule to answer a few of my questions for Fanlit.
December 18th, 2012. Marion Deeds | Cherie Priest | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 6 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…