Month: November 2015

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card

Scenario: If you knew there was a bomb in a building, would you feel obliged to yell as loudly as possible to warn other people? The bomb explodes and the injuries are high and the death toll unimaginable. But let’s then suppose you have an opportunity to go back in time and prevent the bomb from ever being planted in the first place. Take things one step further… let’s say that you stop the bomber before he even places his bomb… what else might change?

Radio Free Albemuth: Divine messages via a pink laser from space

Radio Free Albemuth by Philip K Dick

Radio Free Albemuth was written in 1976 but only published posthumously in 1985. Even for Philip K Dick, this is a bizarre and partly deranged book. It’s a deeply personal autobiographical attempt for him to make sense of a series of bizarre religious experiences he collectively referred to as “2-3-74”. So if you are only a casual fan of PKD’s books or movies, this is probably not for you. However, if you love his novels and know something of his troubled life,

SHORTS: Swirsky, Vernon, Bardugo, Norton

There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.

“If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” by Rachel Swirsky (2013, free at Apex Magazine)

Rachel Swirsky‘s “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” is tiny in size but remarkable in strength, a real pint-sized gem. It is no wonder the story won the 2013 Nebula short story award ― anyone who can pack such a punch into so few words knows what they are doing with them.

Dead Bolt: Inspired by a San Francisco legend

Dead Bolt by Juliet Blackwell

Dead Bolt is the second book in Juliet Blackwell’s HAUNTED HOME RENOVATION MYSTERIES. I liked the first book, If Walls Could Talk, well enough, but felt like it was too similar to Blackwell’s other paranormal cozy mystery series, WITCHCRAFT MYSTERIES. The best thing about both series is that the audiobook versions are read by the amazing Xe Sands and, I swear, I would probably be happy listening to Xe read the tax code.

The Collected Works of Philip K. Dick: 11 Science Fiction Stories

The Collected Works of Philip K. Dick: 11 Science Fiction Stories by Philip K Dick

During his lifetime, Philip K Dick published 44 novels, 121 short stories, and 14 short story collections. If you are interested in getting his short stories, you can find many of his earliest stories available in various combinations on Kindle for $0.99 or $1.99 since they are public domain now. For more dedicated fans, you can get the five-volume series The Collected Short Stories of Philip K Dick, which contains over 100 of his short stories (over 2,000 pages) from throughout his career.

Giveaway! Science of the Magical: From the Holy Grail to Love Potions to Superpowers

Thanks to our friends at Simon & Schuster, we’ve got 10 copies of Matt Kaplan’s Science of the Magical:
From the Holy Grail to Love Potions to Superpowers to give away to 10 lucky winners with a US mailing address! I recently enjoyed Kaplan’s “light look at what truth might lie behind tales of magic.”

Here’s what the publisher says:

From the author of The Science of Monsters, this engaging scientific inquiry provides a definitive look into the elements of mystical places and magical objects—from the philosopher’s stone,

November 7th, 2015. Bill Capossere | Giveaway! | 3 comments |

Ghosts and Girls of Fiction House! Ed. Michael Price

Ghosts and Girls of Fiction House! Ed. Michael Price

In the early history of comic books, Fiction House was well known for its “headlight comics,” so named for the focus on buxom half-dressed females. Though the publisher spanned various genres, including jungle stories, aviator adventure tales, and space opera, as the title implies, Ghosts and Girls of Fiction House!, edited by Michael Price, focuses on their supernatural stories, in particular a long-running series entitled “The Ghost Gallery by Drew Murdoch” (Murdoch is the private eye narrator,

November 7th, 2015. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Time Tunnel: Well worth your… time

The Time Tunnel from Irwin Allen

By the time Irwin Allen’s The Time Tunnel premiered on ABC TV on September 9, 1966, the versatile producer/director/screenwriter had already released two hugely successful television programs. His first, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, itself based on Allen’s 1961 film, ran for four seasons, from 1964 – ’68, and can almost be viewed as Star Trek underwater (actually, since Voyage preceded Trek by two years, it would be more accurate to say that Star Trek was Voyage…

November 7th, 2015. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Solar Express: Not entertaining

Solar Express by L.E. Modesitt Jr

L.E. Modesitt Jr’s newest work is a stand-alone hard science fiction novel that takes place in the 2100’s when the geo-political landscape of Earth has changed dramatically. Climate change and bad economic policies have nearly destroyed the United States, which now belongs to the North American Union. The major world powers have been exploring space, but all have signed a treaty that prevents them from weaponizing their spaceships or militarizing space in other ways. War threatens, however, after the Sinese Federation accuses the North American Union and the Indians of breaking the treaty.

The Damnation Game: Beats with an eloquently bloody heart

The Damnation Game by Clive Barker

Clive Barker’s first full-length novel is magnificent. It’s dark, intense and mostly unrelenting in its steady construction of supernatural horror. While full of gut wrenching visuals – resulting in several nights of me restlessly attempting to fall asleep — under a skin of pure horror, this novel beats with an eloquently bloody heart.

Barker’s skills shone through early in his career as The Damnation Game was a Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Best First Novel (1987),

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8321 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Subscribe to all posts:

Get notified about Giveaways:

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:

You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US UK CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

Morgan on Free Live Free: No rent, but you’ll have to pay in brain cellsJuly 6, 2024
Free Live Free and Castleview are two of my favorite Gene Wolfe books. Even if the only thing Free Live…
Mellie N on The Witches of Eileanan: DisappointingJuly 4, 2024
I don't think that this book (and its many sequels) are that hard to read - and I'm not even…
Paul Connelly on WWWednesday: July 3, 2024July 4, 2024
So, if the WSJ article is accurate, romantasy is just a heavy slather of pornographic, wish-fulfillment fantasy layered onto a…
Sandy Ferber on A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder: Antarctic bizarrosJuly 3, 2024
No, I've never heard of him. Thanks for the hedzup, K.!
K. Harris on A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder: Antarctic bizarrosJuly 3, 2024
De Mille sounds fun. Have you tried Arthur Friel? It was a long time ago, but as I recall he…

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30