Six months ago, we tried a new game that didn’t go over very well because it was just too hard. So, we’ll try an easier version of the game today.
Grab a well-known speculative fiction book off the shelf (something you think that many of us will be familiar with), choose a passage and give us 50 words from that passage. Other readers will try to guess your book while you try to guess theirs.
Here are the rules:
July 31st, 2014. Kat Hooper | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 28 comments |
Rogues edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois
Rogues, a short-story anthology by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, is a marvelously diverse collection of stories and genres, tied together by those scoundrels, those tricksters, those rascals, those rogues that you can’t help but love. I listened to it on audiobook and loved the experience, especially because a few of the readers were actors from Game of Thrones.
When I picked this up, I was most excited to hear two stories in particular: “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back,”
July 31st, 2014. Kate Lechler´s rating: 4.5 | Cherie Priest, Gardner Dozois, George R.R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie, Michael Swanwick, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Phyllis Eisenstein, Scott Lynch, Walter Jon Williams | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Buried Life by Carrie Patel
Carrie Patel’s The Buried Life is one of those amiable novels that you keep reading because, well, you picked it up, and if this bit here feels a bit clunky, and that bit there even more so, and sure, that’s a little implausible, and yes, wouldn’t it be nice if the prose were livelier, the world richer, but it’s, you know, nice enough, and maybe it’ll get better than nice — sharper, or edgier, or “grabbier” — but no,
July 31st, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Carrie Patel | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Dinner at Deviant’s Palace by Tim Powers
Tim Powers is an author who seems to forever fly under the radar of popular readership. And there doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason. His stories are well crafted, his prose lean and brisk, and his sense of the fantastic always vivid and invigorating. His fifth novel, Dinner at Deviant’s Palace, has all of these qualities on display. Recently brought back to life by Open Road Media after two decades out of print, the novel has everything a genre fan could love.
July 31st, 2014. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 3 | Tim Powers | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
On this day in 1932, Disney released Flowers and Trees, their first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first animated short to win an Academy Award. It’s about dancing flowers and trees—pretty much what you’d expect. Also, today is author Cherie Priest’s birthday!
Writing, Editing, and Publishing:
On her blog, Terri Windling writes “In Praise of Re-Reading,” a fascinating piece on how, as we change, our perceptions of our favorite books change with us.
Maybe you guys knew about this already.
July 30th, 2014. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
The Naked Sun is the second of Isaac Asimov’s books about police detective Elijah Baley and the humanoid robot R. Daneel Olivaw. Asimov wrote the first book, Caves of Steel (reviewed by Steven), as the answer to John W. Campbell’s challenge to create a science fiction murder mystery. Asimov succeeded, of course, and chose to give us another installment. You don’t absolutely need to read Caves of Steel before reading The Naked Sun,
July 30th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Isaac Asimov | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Robin Hobb’s FARSEER series well earned its current classic status, and any serious reader of fantasy had to be thrilled to hear that Fitz, one of the genre’s most beloved characters, would be returning in a new series. I certainly was. But I was also curious, and, I confess, a bit nervous, about how her evolution in storytelling, especially as displayed in her SOLDIER’S SON and RAIN WILDS series, might play out in a long-delayed return to an old favorite. After all,
July 29th, 2014. Bill Capossere, Tim Scheidler and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4, 5 | Robin Hobb | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
Jack in the Green by Charles de Lint
Maria Martinez works as a maid in an upscale gated community. One day while she’s cleaning an upstairs bedroom, she glances out the window and notices a gang burglarizing the house next door. One of the gang members is a girl who used to be her best friend and another is a cute red-headed green-hoodied boy who catches Maria’s eye. Maria doesn’t call the police. Why should she? It’s not her house, they’re not her neighbors, and therefore it’s not her business. Later, when she runs into the burglars at the skating rink,
July 29th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Charles De_Lint | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Humanoids by Jack Williamson
The late 1940s was a period of remarkable creativity for future sci-fi Grand Master Jack Williamson. July ’47 saw the release of his much-acclaimed short story “With Folded Hands” in the pages of Astounding Science-Fiction, followed by the tale’s two-part serialized sequel, And Searching Mind, in that influential magazine’s March and April 1948 issues. Darker Than You Think, Williamson’s great sci-fi/fantasy/horror hybrid, was released later in 1948, and 1949 saw the publication of And Searching Mind in hardcover form,
July 29th, 2014. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Jack Williamson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Vision in Velvet by Juliet Blackwell
Juliet Blackwell’s WITCHCRAFT MYSTERIES hasn’t let me down. This is a solid series with a fun setting and great characters. Tantor Audio’s versions read by Xe Sands are terrific and I’m certain that her narration adds a lot to my enjoyment. Honestly, I’ve got a bit of a voice crush on her. I wouldn’t think of reading these books any other way.
In A Vision in Velvet, the sixth installment, Lily’s vintage clothing store is thriving,
July 28th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Juliet Blackwell | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Good. The Basilisk Throne definitely left several characters in medias res at the end. I haven't seen any word about…
It wholly works as a self-contained work with a very brief bit at the end that allows for the possibility…
I just read The Saliva Tree yesterday and loved it. A couple notes: In my copy (I read it in…
I have a hold request for this at the library, so I'm glad to hear you liked it. Does this…
It reminded me immediately of LeGuin and also Isabel Allende's "universal matter" (I think) in Eva Luna. It's a concept…