Month: July 2014

Neverwas: An addictive Gothic tale

Neverwas by Kelly Moore, Tucker & Larkin Reed

OK, first things first. What a beautiful cover!

The book graced by this lovely cover is Neverwas, the sequel to Amber House by mother-and-daughters team Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, and Larkin Reed. In the previous book, teenaged Sarah Parsons altered the past to save the lives of her younger brother and her aunt.

As Neverwas begins, it becomes clear that Sarah changed more than just that. The entire United States is different from the one we live in — in fact,

Between the Gears by Natalie Nourigat

Between the Gears by Natalie Nourigat

I feel like I lucked out finding Between the Gears by Natalie Nourigat: I generally don’t find myself looking for non-fiction sequential art, though I’ve certainly read enough to have favorites. What piqued my interest was a description of the book that let me know it’s a year-long autobiographical comic of her senior year at the University of Oregon in 2010. Since I earned my PhD in English Literature from the U of O in 2000, I was extremely interested in seeing Eugene,

July 27th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

A Plunder of Souls: Plot issues are overcome by good characters

A Plunder of Souls by D.B. Jackson

Just last week while on vacation out west, my son and I were discussing what were the greater obstacles to our enjoyment of books and what elements allowed for those obstacles to be overcome. One of my observations was that while a strong plot will rarely overcome poor characters for me, if you give me good characters, I can overlook more than a few plot flaws. Who knew how prophetic that conversation would be? For upon my return home, I found waiting for me a copy of D.B.

July 26th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | D.B. Jackson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Sepulchre: Different opinions

Sepulchre by Kate Mosse

Kate Mosse‘s Sepulchre is a historical fantasy — historical fiction with fantastic elements. I enjoy both genres, and this novel features a female graduate student (somebody I can relate to) as one of the main characters, and it’s available for download at Audible, so I thought it would be good entertainment on my commute. I got about ten chapters in before quitting.

The book seems well-researched, is competently written, the tone switches easily from past to present and back,

Letter 44: Escape Velocity by Charles Soule & Alberto J. Alburquesque

Letter 44 (vol one): Escape Velocity by Charles Soule and Alberto J. Alburquesque

I’ve just found a real gem in my stack of books to review: Letter 44: Escape Velocity by Charles Soule is a must-read for science-fiction fans. Saga by Vaughan is the first current comic title I usually recommend to fans of SF. Luckily, I now have another current title to recommend right along with Saga. Letter 44: Escape Velocity has equally compelling character development and perhaps even better suspense.

Batman and Robin: Requiem for Damian by Peter J. Tomasi

Batman and Robin (vol 4): Requiem for Damian (New 52) by Peter J. Tomasi

DC did a soft reboot of their universe almost three years ago. It’s called the New 52, and Batman and Robin by Peter J. Tomasi is one of my favorite books, particularly volume one, which I liked so much I taught it in my college English class. Overall, the entire series has been incredibly consistent. Even if you didn’t know that Batman has a son named Damian who is the most recent Robin,

July 25th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

In Winter’s Shadow: Tragic and painful

In Winter’s Shadow by Gillian Bradshaw

In Winter’s Shadow is the final book in Gillian Bradshaw’s DOWN THE LONG WIND trilogy, an elegantly written historical fantasy about King Arthur that’s inspired by the Welsh legends. While the first two books, Hawk of May and Kingdom of Summer, have focused on Gwalchmai (Sir Gawain), this last novel is written from Gwynhwyfar’s perspective. You certainly don’t need to read the previous books to fully appreciate In Winter’s Shadow,

Creatures of Light and Darkness: Not Zelazny’s best

Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny

In the early part of his career, and in an indirect sense throughout it, Roger Zelazny combed Earth’s cultures, religions, and legends for story material. His brilliant Lord of Light and This Immortal riffing off Hindu/Buddhist and Greek mythology respectively, he established himself as a writer who combined the classic themes of myth and legend with more modern, imaginative tropes of science fiction and fantasy. His 1969 Creatures of Light and Darkness is no exception.

July 25th, 2014. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 2.5 | Roger Zelazny | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Third Annual Speculative Fiction Limerick Contest

It’s time for our annual Fantasy Limerick contest!

Your task is to create a limerick that has something to do with speculative fiction. It could be about a character, a series, an author, or whatever fits the theme. Here are the rules for creating a good limerick (I have quoted from this source). A limerick:

is five lines long
is based on the rhythm “da-da-DAH” (anapest meter)
has two different rhymes
Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three of those da-da-DAH “feet,”

July 24th, 2014. Kat Hooper | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 8 comments |

Thorn Jack: Don’t drink the blackberry wine!

Thorn Jack by Katherine Harbour

For us readers of a certain age, “Tam Lin” and “college” in the same sentence are going to remind us of Pamela Dean’s quirky retelling. But other than profuse quoting of poetry, Dean’s Tam Lin and Katherine Harbour’s Thorn Jack are not much alike and don’t really invite comparisons. You might also think of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight a time or two, as a few of the story’s bones are similar,

July 24th, 2014. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Katherine Harbour | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

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