The interesting thing about Pamela Sargent’s EARTHSEED series is that it doesn’t really seem to matter overly much what order you read the books in. There is a sizeable gap between each book, and Farseed, just like Seed Seeker, does a good job at recapping what has happened in the previous book so people new to the series might not find themselves unfamiliar with what is happening.
That being said, the blurb on the cover says that this series might be the next HUNGER GAMES,
September 4th, 2014. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 2 | Pamela Sargent | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
On this day in 301, San Marino, the longest continuously existing republic, was founded by St. Marinus. The demonym is Sammarinese.
Writing, Editing, and Publishing:
Io9 has a list of books coming out in September that you can’t miss. I’m particularly excited for Maplecroft, Cherie Priest’s new book about Lizzie Borden. For more upcoming books, check out our new releases page.
Jack Heckel writes about fairy tale portrayals of female power for Tor.com. I especially like his analysis of the tale of the Fisherman and his Wife,
September 3rd, 2014. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
A Wonderlandiful World by Shannon Hale
In A Wonderlandiful World, Shannon Hale’s story about the teenage children of famous fairytale characters shifts focus from the conflict between the Royals and the Rebels about their “happily ever after” destiny to the problems caused by one of the students’ previous misadventures. They had accidentally let the Jabberwock (from Wonderland) loose into their world. The Jabberwock is not happy about not being in Wonderland anymore, so he’s making life miserable for the students and faculty of Ever After High by making all the magic go wrong.
September 3rd, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Shannon Hale | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
The latest entry in Terry Pratchett’s sprawling DISCWORLD series, Raising Steam, is an example of what I call the “innovation” series-within-the-series. Just like there are sets of books that focus on specific characters and areas of the Discworld, there’s an increasingly large set of books that take on specific technological innovations entering the fabric of Discworld society.
We’ve seen this as far back as 1990’s Moving Pictures (in which the movie industry hit the Discworld) and 1994’s Soul Music (rock and roll,
September 3rd, 2014. Stefan Raets´s rating: 2 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The first panel on my Sunday list was “Modern-Day Magic,” with Jim Butcher and Lev Grossman at 10 am. I was pretty excited for this; on Saturday, I had a chance to see Lev in the Delphic Oracle panel but had thought “it’s fine, I’ll see him tomorrow,” and decided to go to the Writing Track panel instead. If only I had the powers of the Delphic oracle to see into the future . . .
I left for downtown at 9:15, and made it to the con with plenty of time to spare.
September 2nd, 2014. Kate Lechler | Lev Grossman | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit by Graham Joyce
It’s the end of August, a time when each day seems noticeably shorter than the one before, when kids are getting haircuts and school supplies and heading back to school, when Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to be just around the corner. It’s a time for taking stock; for many of us, for those who loved the return to the classroom each fall with new resolutions to get good grades and excel at our extracurricular activities, it is more a time for such reevaluation of one’s life,
September 2nd, 2014. Terry Weyna´s rating: 4 | Graham Joyce | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
My favorite part of Blood and Iron is when Mulcibar tells shipwreck-survivor-turned-slave-turned-super-wizard-turned-Queen’s-Protector Horace, in all sincerity, that Queen Byleth is a strict mistress, but not cruel. Sorry, dude, you’re just wrong. Turning the brother who betrayed you over to your crazy mad scientist to be tortured as part of his experiment might qualify as “strict.” Sashaying down to the torture chamber/secret lab in your tissue-thin designer gown and gloating over said brother during torture is cruel. That’s okay, though, because tall,
September 2nd, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Jon Sprunk | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Stealing Magic by Marianne Malone
Stealing Magic is the second book in Marianne Malone’s SIXTY-EIGHT ROOMS adventure series for middle grade readers. The series has a fascinating premise — two 6th grade kids find a way to explore the Thorne Rooms in the Art Institute of Chicago and discover that they can use the rooms to get into the world of the time period the rooms depict. But Bill, Kelly, and I were disappointed because there was too little time spent actually exploring the fantasy worlds (which would be the fun part).
September 2nd, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Marianne Malone | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014 edited by Rich Horton
I’ve been reading a lot of anthologies lately, including another of the several “Year’s Best” collections (the Jonathan Strahan one). I was pleased to find that, unlike some of the others, this one matched my tastes fairly well for the most part.
I enjoy stories in which capable, likeable or sympathetic characters, confronted by challenges, confront them right back and bring the situation to some sort of meaningful conclusion. I was worried when I read the editor’s introduction and saw him praising Lightspeed and Clarkesworld magazines,
September 2nd, 2014. Mike Reeves-McMillan´s rating: 4 | Angélica Gorodischer, Carrie Vaughn, Christopher Barzak, Harry Turtledove, Ian R. MacLeod, James Patrick Kelly, K.J. Parker, Karin Tidbeck, Ken Liu, Lavie Tidhar, Linda Nagata, Madeline Ashby, Maria Dahvana Headley, Maureen McHugh, Peter Watts, Theodora Goss, Yoon Ha Lee | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I began my first day at Dragon*Con 2014 on Atlanta’s metro system, MARTA, where I met Sre and Lena, a lovely couple headed downtown for the festivities. Sre was dressed as Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy and protagonist from Wes Anderson’s recent film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Lena was dressed as herself, as was I. We made our way downtown to watch the Dragon*Con parade together. (Sre and Lena even shared their water with me! What class acts . . . )
If you’ve never been to Dragon*Con, the Saturday parade has become a local event.
September 1st, 2014. Kate Lechler | Naomi Novik | SFF Reviews | 3 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…