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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: September 2013

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Magazine Monday: Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Issue 29

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet has a distinctive voice and features one type of story, usually of the absurd or gently Weird variety. Usually that works for this occasional publication (roughly twice a year, but you never know; the publishing scheduling is erratic), but this time there is too much sameness in the stories, and they often cross the line from charming and odd into twee.

In the opening story, “Smash,” by Jennifer Linnaea, a girl discovers that she is a sea monster by finding a glass sea monster in the forest — an odd way to discover one’s essential nature.


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September 30th, 2013. | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Magazine Monday: Primeval: A Journal of the Uncanny, Issue One

The first issue of Primeval: A Journal of the Uncanny, wasn’t what I expected. I thought I was getting a magazine featuring horror stories and essays about horror. Primeval’s self-description on its website didn’t lead me to expect anything different, poetically explaining that it is a publication that examines “the convergence of contemporary anxiety and ancient impulse.” Sounds very Lovecraftian, doesn’t it? The website also promises that each issue will feature “fiction and essays exploring horror, the macabre, and that which should not be — yet is.” And yet,


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September 30th, 2013. | , , | , | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Ikigami, Volume 1 OR How to Read Manga, Part 1

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Volume 1 by Motoro Mase

or “How to Read Manga, Pt 1”

Though I haven’t read too much manga — pronounced “mahn-gha,” in case you were wondering — I am starting to acquire a taste for it. I think part of my problem was trying to read it slowly like I do American comics (and like I recommend in my essay here on FanLit, “How To Read Comics“). Watching my daughter devour quickly the entire 20-volume set of Bakuman,


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September 27th, 2013. ´s rating: | , | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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The Sandcats of Rhyl: Possibly the worst novel I’ve ever read

The Sandcats of Rhyl by Robert E. Vardeman

The Sandcats of Rhyl, Robert E. Vardeman’s first novel, is possibly the worst novel I’ve ever read. It is bad in every sense — so bad that I wondered if it might be a parody of bad science fiction. Apparently it’s not a parody; it’s just simply bad.

So how did I end up with this awful book? It was one of those daily ebook deals at Amazon. I think I paid 99¢ and then added the audio narration for 99¢ more.


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September 27th, 2013. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

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We Can Build You: Surprisingly sweet, sad, insightful and amusing

We Can Build You by Philip K. Dick

Although Philip K. Dick’s 28th science fiction novel, We Can Build You, was first published in book form as a 95-cent DAW paperback in July 1972, it had actually been written a good decade before, and first saw the light of day under the title “A. Lincoln, Simulacrum” in the November 1969 and January 1970 issues of Amazing Stories. As revealed by Dick biographer Lawrence Sutin, the book was in part inspired by the centennial of the Civil War and by a simulation of Abraham Lincoln that Phil had recently seen in Disneyland.


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September 27th, 2013. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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History and Fantasy

Michael Pryor is the author of THE LAWS OF MAGIC, a young adult series set in an alternate Edwardian England (called Alibion in the series), which I thought was “charmingly old-fashioned” and happily recommended. Michael graciously took some time off from his new series, THE EXTRAORDINAIRES, to talk to us about the connection between History and Fantasy.

History is the Fantasy writer’s best friend. That’s almost a truism, but it bears repeating. A good understanding of history gives a Fantasy writer a springboard into the whole world creation business.


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September 26th, 2013. | | Thoughtful Thursday | 13 comments |

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How the World Became Quiet: Wish I’d discovered Swirsky sooner

How the World Became Quiet: Myths of the Past, Present, and Future by Rachel Swirsky

I don’t read a lot of short stories, so it isn’t surprising that Rachel Swirsky wasn’t on my radar. Stories and novellas are what she is best known for. Subterranean Press has gathered 18 of her works into this collection, How the World Became Quiet.

Swirsky also writes poetry, which explains both her precise use of prose and her mastery of tone. This collection ranges from masterworks to pieces that are,


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September 26th, 2013. ´s rating: | | , | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

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The Warrior of World’s End: Imaginative pulpy adventure

The Warrior of World’s End by Lin Carter

Lin Carter wrote derivative pulpy adventure stories in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, and others. I think of these as second-rate but I pick them up when I find them cheap at Audible — they’re short fast-moving stories with imaginative scenery and lots of action. In a Lin Carter novel you’re sure to find a sword-wielding man with sweaty “thews,” a scantily-clad girl who needs to be saved, and lots of scary monsters. Usually this takes place in some fascinatingly impossible setting such as on the boughs of gigantic trees,


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September 26th, 2013. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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The Scroll of Years: A lovely gift to give yourself

The Scroll of Years by Chris Willrich

In The Scroll of Years, Chris Willrich’s short story characters, Persimmon Gaunt and Imago Bone make the jump to their first novel. Gaunt, who comes from one of the city of Palmary’s “better” families, is a rebellious poet, and Bone is a thief. They are lovers, and as the book opens they are expecting their first child. In their time together, Bone has taught Gaunt quite a bit about fighting, fleeing and breaking and entering; Gaunt has help Bone develop his gift for language.


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September 25th, 2013. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |

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Book of Iron: A charming story full of wonderful creatures

Book of Iron by Elizabeth Bear

The novella Book of Iron is Elizabeth Bear’s prequel to her novella Bone and Jewel Creatures about Bijou the artificer. Bijou creates beautiful jeweled creatures by animating bones. I haven’t read Bone and Jewel Creatures but Terry and Stefan loved it, and the publisher promises that Book of Iron can stand alone, so there was no way I was passing on my review copy to Terry without reading it first.


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September 25th, 2013. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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