I loved Paul Cornell‘s new book, London Falling which is a terrific mash-up of urban fantasy and police procedural (here’s my review). I had a few questions for Paul and he was kind enough to spare some time for me. I’ll send one commenter a shiny new copy of London Falling (US and Canadian addresses, only, please).
Terry Weyna: Paul, London Falling is terrific fun to read! Please tell me we’re going to be reading more about Quill, Costain, Sefton and Ross — will there be a sequel?
April 30th, 2013. Terry Weyna | Paul Cornell | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 12 comments |
London Falling by Paul Cornell
Just when you thought there was nothing new to be done with urban fantasy, Paul Cornell comes along with London Falling and mashes up the police procedural (i.e., a mystery solved by the police, using the tools at their disposal and confined in their scope by the law) with demons and British history. Until you read it, it’s hard to imagine a police officer giving the “right to silence” speech (the British version of the American Miranda warnings) to a creature who is doing her best dispose of him through magical means.
April 30th, 2013. Terry Weyna´s rating: 4.5 | Paul Cornell | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Man and His God by Janet Morris
In A Man and His God, by Janet E. Morris, Tempus brings his Sacred Band of Stepsons to Sanctuary, a city in the midst of preparations for war. Tempus is a tough man to kill, one who has watched severed limbs return as his god, Vaschanka, heals him. Though their relationship is not always so smooth that he can afford to take Vashanka’s intervention for granted, Tempus is one soldier that Prince Kadakithis cannot afford to offend as they prepare to improve Sanctuary’s defenses.
April 30th, 2013. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 2 | Janet Morris | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Helena Bell’s “Robot” is one of three nominated stories that originally appeared in Clarkesworld. It is a bitter story of a woman abandoned to the ministrations of a robot when she becomes ill. It is told in the second person as a list of commands and instructions by the woman to the robot. As much as the robot seems to be a blessing to this woman, she speaks to it as if she hates and resents it, even as she is forced to rely upon it as her disease — and the robot — eat her alive.
April 29th, 2013. Terry Weyna | Aliette De_Bodard, Cat Rambo, Ken Liu, Maria Dahvana Headley | Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I Don’t Want to Kill You by Dan Wells
I Don’t Want to Kill You is the final book in Dan Wells’s JOHN CLEAVER trilogy. It’s a powerful conclusion, sad, brutal, humorous and loving all at the same time. Wells has done a fine job of writing three books that can stand each stand on their own, but which together make a powerful coming-of-age story.
John Cleaver is 16 or 17, and in some ways a typical teenager; he eats huge bowls of cereal,
April 29th, 2013. Terry Weyna´s rating: 4.5 | Dan Wells | Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
John “Black Jack” Geary’s escape pod has just been rescued from deep space. He’s been in cold-sleep for a century after he single-handedly held off enemy spaceships while letting the rest of the Alliance fleet escape. Everyone thought he was dead, but his brave sacrifice went down in the history books and many people still whisper that Black Jack Geary will come back to save the Alliance in a time of great need. And so he has… or at least that’s what many soldiers of the Alliance believe.
April 29th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Jack Campbell | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Book of Lost Souls, Volume 1: Introductions All Around by J. Michael Straczynski (writer) and Colleen Doran (artist)
I am so pleased I picked The Book of Lost Souls up off the shelf at Oxford Comics in Atlanta, Georgia. Though I am familiar with the writer, J. Michael Straczynski (often referred to simply as JMS), I’d never heard of this book or its artist — Colleen Doran. But I was immediately grabbed by the title and cover image of a forlorn young man clutching a large,
April 26th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | J. Michael Straczynski | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Colors of Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Bart Steele has been off at the Space Academy and hasn’t seen his father in years. When he goes to meet him at a Lhari space station, Mr. Steele never shows up. Instead, he sends an agent with a message for Bart. The Lhari, an intelligent alien race, suspect that Bart’s dad has stolen the secret of their warp drive. If so, this means humans will be able to manufacture their own warp drives and the Lhari will no longer have a monopoly on out-of-system space travel.
April 26th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Marion Zimmer Bradley | Audio, Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
As I was watching the trailers lately for Star Trek, Thor II, World War Z, and a few others, and thinking of what’s coming down the pipeline (The Hobbit II, Snow Crash, Ender’s Game, and others), as well as reading all the talk lately about the Star Wars franchise and what’s happening there, I was thinking it’s a pretty good time to be alive for those of us who enjoy good science fiction-fantasy films (or enjoy making fun of bad science fiction-fantasy films).
April 25th, 2013. Bill Capossere | Thoughtful Thursday | 14 comments |
Napier’s Bones by Derryl Murphy
Imagine being able to manipulate numbers to do magic, just as so many fictional wizards manipulate words, as spells, to accomplish their ends. Imagine seeing everything as a number, with formulae streaming into the air from every physical thing, allowing you to bend and change them — using your abilities to smear a license plate into a new number, say, or blurring the serial numbers on dollar bills. It gives new meaning to the word “numerate.”
Derryl Murphy’s protagonist in Napier’s Bones is a numerate.
April 25th, 2013. Terry Weyna´s rating: 3 | Derryl Murphy | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 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…