Helene Wecker’s debut novel, The Golem and the Jinni (reviewed here), explores the immigrant experience through the eyes of two folkloric creatures. Helene took some time from her schedule to answer some of my questions and to give me a signed copy of The Golem and the Jinni which I’ll pass on to one random commenter.
Marion Deeds: The Golem and the Jinni is primarily an immigrant’s tale, but your title characters, being folkloric creatures, added a new level to the story.
September 24th, 2013. Marion Deeds | Helene Wecker | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 11 comments |
“You’re hitting the big time, Harry!” ~Bob the skull
Small Favor is book ten in the DRESDEN FILES. If you haven’t read this far, go back! You Shall Not Pass!
Harry thought his life was getting a little calmer when Karrin Murphy calls him in to look at a really weird crime scene. Soon they discover that mob boss Gentleman Johnny Marcone has been kidnapped, and this is a problem because it violates the treaty Marcone signed which made him a neutral independent state in the supernatural world.
September 24th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Jim Butcher | Audio | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Halfling’s Gem by R.A. Salvatore
The Halfling’s Gem is the finale to the ICEWIND DALE trilogy, and as such is tasked with tying up the dangling plot threads from parts one and two, by this point no easy feat. The dwarven homeland of Mithral Hall (can’t you just hear Tolkien spluttering indignantly from the hereafter?) has been found but it remains in the hands of the grey dwarves, different from regular dwarves in that they are grey. And evil. Apparently the two coincide. Bruenor has gone toppling to his demise locked in combat with the dragon that’s standing in for the Balrog in this particular spin-off,
September 24th, 2013. Tim Scheidler´s rating: 3 | R.A. Salvatore | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Fall 2013 issue of Subterranean Magazine is a delight to read. The stories are challenging and imaginative, full of discovery, provocation and excellent writing.
The issue opens with “Doctor Helios,” a long novella by Lewis Shiner. It’s a Cold War espionage novel, reminiscent more of Ian Fleming than of John le Carré, set in Egypt in 1963 as the Aswan Dam is being built. Our hero is John York, apparently a member of the CIA, who has been tasked with ensuring that the dam does not succeed. President Kennedy may want to develop a new relationship with President Nasser of Egypt after years of tension following Nasser’s overthrow of the monarchy and nationalization of the Suez Canal Company,
September 23rd, 2013. Terry Weyna | Ian Tregillis, Jay Lake, Seanan McGuire, Ted Chiang | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Galactic Pot-Healer by Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick’s 24th published science fiction novel, the whimsically titled Galactic Pot-Healer, first saw the light of day as a Berkley Medallion paperback in June 1969, with a cover price of 60 cents. It both followed up and preceded two of its author’s finest and most beloved works, 1968’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and 1969’s Ubik, and if not in the same rarefied league as those two, remains a fine yet mystifying addition to the Dickian canon nevertheless.
September 23rd, 2013. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Philip K. Dick | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Foiled by Jane Yolen (writer) and Mike Cavallaro (illustrator)
The past few weeks I’ve been spending time writing reviews that focus on new Monthly Comics I think would make good entry points for new comic book readers who have never had pull lists, and I have several more new comics I want to promote. The end of 2013 is an excellent time to be a new reader of comics. However, I must break this series on Monthly Comics because I just read a graphic novel too good for me not to immediately write a review of it: Foiled,
September 20th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Jane Yolen | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
White Night is the ninth novel in Jim Butcher’s DRESDEN FILES series. If you haven’t read up to this point in the series yet, please stop here and go away…
Well, now I’m sure that I’ve been left talking to myself because nobody who’s read this far is going to care what I have to say about White Night. The previous novel, Proven Guilty, was awesome, so you’d have to be brain-dead to not want to pick up White Night immediately,
September 20th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Jim Butcher | Audio | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Streams of Silver by R.A. Salvatore
Streams of Silver, the sequel to The Crystal Shard, breaks no new ground for THE LEGEND OF DRIZZT, and to be honest I’m finding it difficult to review because there is so very little to say about it (having already reviewed the preceding works). Like The Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver has issues with wooden dialogue and cluttered prose but almost makes up for it on the basis of swift-moving action and a general sense of enthusiastic fun.
September 20th, 2013. Tim Scheidler´s rating: 3 | R.A. Salvatore | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Unnatural Inquirer by Simon R. Green
John Taylor has been hired by The Unnatural Inquirer, the gossip magazine of the Nightside, to find a stolen DVD that allegedly contains a recording of a transmission from the afterlife. His investigation will take him all over the Nightside where we’ll encounter old and new friends (and enemies).
The Unnatural Inquirer is the eighth book in Simon R. Green’s NIGHTSIDE series. If you’ve read all the previous books, you know what to expect here and,
September 19th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Simon R. Green | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Kill City Blues by Richard Kadrey
How about a nice haunted house book? You’ve read dozens, you say? Okay, well how about a haunted hotel? Been there, done that… ? Well, have you read about a haunted luxury mall, one with abandoned levels all the way down to a faux Roman bath that holds a shrine to a god from another universe, and contains, somewhere, a God-killing weapon? No? I thought not.
Kill City Blues is the fifth SANDMAN SLIM book from Richard Kadrey.
September 18th, 2013. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Richard Kadrey | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Ira! Much appreciated!
Fine review
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!