Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: November 2013

Starless Night: Prepackaged and pointless

Starless Night by R.A. Salvatore

While reading THE LEGEND OF DRIZZT series, I’ve developed the grim suspicion that every time R.A. Salvatore looks at his characters and thinks “time for some development, lads and lasses,” he immediately starts trying to shoehorn in an adventure to go along with it. Apparently one simply cannot have development through conversation or work or leisure or for that matter anything else that does not involve leaping off the hunched shoulders of your barbarian friend to stab an ogre in the face. Granted,

November 7th, 2013. Tim Scheidler´s rating: 2 | R.A. Salvatore | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Halcyon Drift: Beautiful in places

The Halcyon Drift by Brian Stableford

Grainger, a spaceship pilot, has been shipwrecked on a deserted island in a dangerous star system called the Halcyon Drift. He’s just about to give up hope when he is unexpectedly rescued by a commercial spacecraft. They charge him for the rescue and take him to court, so now he’s deep in debt. When he arrives on Old Earth, he finds it in decline. There’s no hope of getting off or finding lucrative work, so he’s forced to accept a job offer to pilot the prototype of a new hi-tech spaceship,

Off Armageddon Reef: Overlong, but worth it

Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber

Picture this: an incredibly powerful race of aliens known as the Gdaba halted the human exploration in space and all but wiped humanity out. The remainder of the human fleet splits up — one half cloaks and stops moving, the other continues flying to draw the Gdaba away. The half of the fleet that cloaked and escaped colonized an Earth-like planet called Safehold.

Here’s the catch — the Gdaba can detect any technology of the industrial level or higher. Humanity is forced to revert to a medieval society,

November 7th, 2013. Pat Doherty´s rating: 4 | David Weber | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

WWWednesday: November 6, 2013

Here’s a cool Kickstarter: a Joe R. Lansdale novella with illustrations by Santiago Caruso. Lots of nice goodies for supporters, and a gorgeous project. The Kickstarter is in its last few days, and doesn’t have far to go to get over the top, so go see what you can do!

The winners of the World Fantasy Awards have been announced.

The winners of the British Fantasy Awards have been announced.

The winners of the Gemmell Awards for fantasy have been announced.

November 6th, 2013. Terry Weyna | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |

Balfour and Meriwether in the Incident of the Harrowmoor Dogs: A short steampunk adventure

Balfour and Meriwether in the Incident of the Harrowmoor Dogs by Daniel Abraham

“I can’t say we’d have shied away from the devil, if he’d been able to assure the stability and greatness of England. It’s an ugly truth, and we don’t proclaim it from the rooftops, but in governance, expedience often wins over principle.”

Daniel Abraham is best known for his epic fantasy (THE LONG PRICE QUARTET and THE DAGGER AND THE COIN), the urban fantasy he writes under his penname M.L.N.

November 6th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Daniel Abraham | SFF Reviews | no comments |

A Hat Full of Sky: With great power….

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Tiffany is not convinced when her peer Annagramma explains that magic is a power that signals one’s status. In Annagramma’s view, the witches study arcane and obscure subjects in order to set themselves apart from society, and all of the other young witches seem convinced by her reasoning. Tiffany may not admit it, but she is insecure about her status among the young witches. Secretly, she wishes to reveal her power to them. The hiver understands Tiffany, and when it takes over her mind,

Masks: An inventive adventure with a few flaws

Masks by E.C. Blake

Like The Hunger Games, E.C. Blake’s Masks is the beginning of a “young adult friendly” trilogy about a young female protagonist who must overcome an oppressive system and defeat an evil dictator. In the isolated island-world of Aygrima, every adult must wear a magical Mask. Should the Mask-wearer think any disloyal or rebellious thoughts about the Autarch, then the Mask will reveal their crimes to the emperor’s private police force. Our heroine, a fifteen-year-old girl named Mara,

The God Tattoo: For the fans, not the newcomer

The God Tattoo: Untold Tales from the Twilight Reign by Tom Lloyd

Tom Lloyd shares stories from before his TWILIGHT REIGN series in this collection, The God Tattoo: Untold Tales from the Twilight Reign. I read it because I thought you didn’t have to have read any of the TWILIGHT REIGN books in order to understand what was going on. I would say that’s not strictly true. My ignorance of the series definitely hampered my enjoyment of these pieces.

These eleven stories follow various characters in the city and nation of Narkang in a land called The Land.

The Phoenix and the Carpet: Nesbit was an innovative children’s writer

The Phoenix and the Carpet by Edith Nesbit

The Phoenix and the Carpet is Edith Nesbit’s sequel to Five Children and It, a collection of charming children’s stories published in 1902 which told how five siblings discovered a sand fairy which granted them a wish each day and how the children kept bungling what they wished for.

In The Phoenix and the Carpet, the children accidentally set fire to their nursery (while playing with fireworks!) and a new carpet must be brought in.

Magazine Monday: Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issues 131-133

Issue 131 is the fifth anniversary issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and it has five extraordinary tales. The first is “Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls” by Richard Parks. Parks’ tales, usually set in an unnamed Asian country that bears a close resemblance to Japan, often deal with characters who need to find themselves. This tale is no different. Hiroshi, a boy, tends to stare down a dry well in much of his free time, for to him the well is full of music. No one else can hear it,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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