Sharp is the second full novel in the MINDSPACE INVESTIGATION series and is a direct follow up to the first book Clean. Adam is still struggling from the after-effects of his over-extension of his abilities at the end of Clean and is having a hard time keeping up with the pace of his work while coping with the never-ending craving of addiction.
A new case comes up, a vicious murder, and Adam is tasked to determine if there is some psychic evidence that he can add to the investigation.
June 18th, 2013. John Hulet´s rating: 4.5 | Alex Hughes | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Black Treacle Magazine is a free bimonthly Canadian horror journal edited by A.P. Matlock, dedicated to horror, dark fantasy and speculative fiction. It gives preference to Canadian writers, but accepts fiction from elsewhere as well. It publishes nonfiction criticism in addition to fiction, which gives it a nice variety for a short publication.
Issue 3 has three pieces. The first, “Getting Shot in the Face Still Stings” by Michelle Ann King, is a short story about Marc, a gangster who is plenty dangerous when he loses his temper,
June 17th, 2013. Terry Weyna | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
Purportedly written for children but with a strong appeal for adults as well, Alan Garner’s first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, is a swashbuckling heroic fantasy set in the present day, and one that conflates elements of Welsh, Nordic and English mythology into one very effective brew. Though now deemed a classic of sorts, I probably would never have heard of this work, had it not been for Scottish author Muriel Gray’s article about it in the excellent overview volume Horror: Another 100 Best Books.
June 17th, 2013. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Alan Garner | Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Extinction is the second novel in B.V. Larson’s STAR FORCE series about professor Kyle Riggs who was picked up by an alien spaceship and now captains a fleet of ships that are protecting earth from other aliens. I called the first book, Swarm, “a silly, but exciting, male wish-fulfillment fantasy.” I wouldn’t have moved on to book two, but the audiobook publisher sent it to me for a review, so here we are.
June 17th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 1 | B.V. Larson | Audio | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Forever Knight by John Marco
The Forever Knight is a follow-up novel that takes place after John Marco’s BOOKS OF THE BRONZE KNIGHT, but Marco does such a good job of filling in the gaps for new readers that it’s meant to be able to be read separately. If you’re interested in a kind of brutal, really tragic fantasy, then this is worth a read.
Lukien is the Forever Knight. He has betrayed his best friend and the love of his life is dead,
June 14th, 2013. John Hulet´s rating: 3 | John Marco | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Citadel is the second in John Ringo’s TROY RISING series. The first book, Live Free or Die, had an interesting plot that was totally derailed by John Ringo’s intrusive and ugly political views which seem closer to neo-Nazism than anything else. So why did I read Citadel? Only because the audiobook publisher sent me a free copy and, out of a sense of completion, I wanted to review it for FanLit. I was prepared to hate it.
June 14th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | John Ringo | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Robert Silverberg was the Master of Ceremonies at the Nebula awards, which Marion and I attended a few weeks ago.
Silverberg told stories about the writers of the Golden Age, like Clifford Simak, Damon Knight, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and even lesser known writers like Silverberg’s own mentor Randall Garrett.
There were clearly three “eras” in the room; the Golden Age (1938-1946 if you trust Wikipedia); the New Wave (1960s-1970s, again, Wikipedia) and the current era which I want to call The New Golden Age,
June 13th, 2013. Terry Weyna | Robert Silverberg | Thoughtful Thursday | 8 comments |
The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig
Mookie Pearl is a big ugly brute who works for the boss of New York City’s criminal underworld. Mostly he’s called on to be a thug — it’s the thing he does best. One of his specific jobs is to manage (i.e., cajole, threaten, beat up) a team of workers who descend into the underground to collect the blue powdery drug that allows its users to see the supernatural creatures who have lived among us ever since some New York City miners accidentally blew open a portal to Hell while tunneling under the streets.
June 13th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Chuck Wendig | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Red Knight by Miles Cameron
The thing about military-esque epic fantasy is that it will always have an audience. Always. There will always be someone out there who sees a blurb about a knight on a horse and buys the book. It’s a sort of subgenre that will have fans no matter how redundant, or unique, the book may be. For me, books that fit into that genre have a greater challenge ahead of them. They need to do something new, or present an old story in a refreshing way because there really are only so many different things that you can say about a guy on a horse on a quest.
June 13th, 2013. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 3 | Miles Cameron | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Live Free or Die by John Ringo
Humans were alarmed when the first aliens that arrived to introduce themselves to Earth set up a hypergate that immediately connected Earth with all the outside universe. We were no longer alone. At least the Glatun were friendly aliens.
Tyler Vernon, a smart hard-working guy who chops wood for a living, decides to take this opportunity to improve his fortune. He finds a product that our new alien friends love and begins a business empire. Soon he’s the richest man on Earth, and that means he’s got a lot of influence on how things get done.
June 12th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 1.5 | John Ringo | Audio | SFF Reviews | 12 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…