I Was The Cat by Paul Tobin (author) and Benjamin Dewey (art)
I’ve just found a great book for cat lovers: I Was The Cat by Paul Tobin tells the story of Burma, a cat who seems to be on his ninth life and is finally ready to have his memoirs presented to the world. In order to do so, he contacts Allison Breaking to act as a ghost writer for his biography. Allison is an American in London staying with her female friend Reggie, who is very wary of Allison’s new job working for Burma.
August 14th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
On this day in 1913, Otto Witte, an acrobat, was purportedly crowned king of Albania. Read his story here: it’s hilarious.
Writing, Editing, and Publishing:
Jack Heckel wrote a beautiful article for Tor.com about why we keep retelling fairytales, as he promotes his soon-to-be-released book, Once Upon a Rhyme, which follows the exploits of Prince Charming. I’m glad this gap will be filled; we need some more masculinity studies of fairy tales to complement the study of fairy tale’s female gender roles!
Recently Star Trek author David Mack received a letter from a reader claiming that they wouldn’t read him anymore since he wrote about same-sex relationships.
August 13th, 2014. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |
The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov
The Robots of Dawn is the third book in Isaac Asimov’s trilogy about investigator Elijah Bailey and his robot sidekick R Daneel Olivaw. In the first book, The Caves of Steel, the pair met and solved a murder mystery on Earth. In this far-future Earth, a fearful populace lives in domed cities and never ventures outside. In the second book, The Naked Sun, Elijah faces his fears and actually leaves Earth to solve a murder that occurred on a planet that has such low population density that the inhabitants have evolved a disgust for their fellow humans.
August 13th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Isaac Asimov | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Crystal Express by Bruce Sterling
Crystal Express is a 1989 collection of short stories by Bruce Sterling, originally published between 1982 and 1987. Five of the stories are set in his Shaper/Mechanist universe made popular in Schismatrix, three are general science fiction, and four lean toward the fantasy genre. The stories are grouped along these thematic lines, and the following is a brief summary of each story.
Shaper/Mechanist:
August 13th, 2014. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 3 | Bruce Sterling | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Ultra Thin Man by Patrick Swenson
I have to admit that sometimes I hate reviewing first-time novels. Not those first-time novels where you can’t believe this was a first foray into novel writing and not the product of an experienced author using a pen name. And not those first-time novels where you can’t believe no one — an editor, a reading group, a spouse — suggested that perhaps the book wasn’t quite ready for prime time (or late, late night even). And certainly not those first novels that are so painfully,
August 12th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Patrick Swenson | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
Kelly Link’s short story collection, Magic for Beginners, is a great piece of work. In a bit of a departure from her earlier collection Stranger Things Happen, the stories in it don’t follow normative narrative structures; they draw from sources as various as fairy tales, kitchen sink realism, heist stories, TV fandom, and Link’s own surrealist vision. These nine stories don’t share overt connections, but they do provide a window into modern American life, complete with bland marriages,
August 12th, 2014. Kate Lechler´s rating: 4 | Kelly Link | Audio, BSFA Award, Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Cyador’s Heirs by L.E. Modesitt Jr
Cyador’s Heirs, the seventeenth book in the SAGA OF RECLUCE, takes place after the fall of the great nation of Cyador. It tells the story of Lerial, the younger son of the current Duke of Cigoerne, the heir to the Malachite Throne of fallen Cyador. L.E. Modesitt Jr. follows Lerial as he comes of age and is shaped by people and events around him.
Lerial is an intelligent, angry, slightly jealous younger son of the nobility.
August 12th, 2014. John Hulet´s rating: 4 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft by H.P. Lovecraft
There are sacraments of evil as well as of good about us, and we live and move to my belief in an unknown world, a place where there are caves and shadows and dwellers in twilight. It is possible that man may sometimes return on the track of evolution, and it is my belief that an awful lore is not yet dead.
—Arthur Machen (quoted as an introduction to “The Horror at Red Hook”)
Everyone must read a little Lovecraft and Blackstone Audio’s recently published edition of Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P.
August 11th, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | H.P. Lovecraft | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
The August issue of Nightmare Magazine is exceptionally good, and given the generally outstanding nature of this publication, that’s saying something. All four of the stories this month are excellent by any standard.
The magazine opens with “Dear Owner of This 1972 Ford Crew Cab Pickup” by Desirina Boskovich. It’s a letter from a woman with terrible insomnia to a man who wakes her every morning at about 3:00 a.m. by revving — and revving, and revving — the engine of the titular vehicle before heading home from a night at a local tavern,
August 11th, 2014. Terry Weyna | Lucy A. Snyder | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Compleat Werewolf by Anthony Boucher
The Compleat Werewolf and Other Stories of Fantasy and Science Fiction gathers together 10 short stories and novellas from the pen of Anthony Boucher, all of which originally appeared in various pulp magazines (such as Unknown Worlds, Adventure Magazine, Astounding Science Fiction, Weird Tales and Thrilling Wonder Stories) from 1941-’45. Boucher, whose real name was William Anthony Parker White, was a man of many talents, and during his career,
August 11th, 2014. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Anthony Boucher | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
I believe you are missing the point of this book here. I don't believe the purpose is to tell a…
I love it!
Almost as good as my friend: up-and-coming author Amber Merlini!
I don't know what kind of a writer he is, but Simon Raven got the best speculative-fiction-writing name ever!
[…] Its gotten great reviews from Publishers Weekly (starred review!), Kirkus, Locus, Booklist, Lithub, FantasyLiterature, and more. Some of whom…