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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: December 2015

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WWWednesday: December 2, 2015

This week’s word for Wednesday is Splendiferous, an adjective meaning wonderful, splendid or magnificent. It comes from the Old English word splendorifer, which means “bright-bearing.”

Awards

Orycon, held in Portland Oregon on November 20, 2015, gave the Endeavor Award to Jay Lake, who passed away in June, 2014. The endeavor Award is given to Pacific Northwest writers for a collection of work; Lake’s Last Plane to Heaven was honored with the award.

Books and Writing

Rarer than a unicorn is the fantasy standalone;


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December 2nd, 2015. | World Wide Wednesday | 7 comments |

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A Lovely Way to Burn: Lukewarm post-apocalyptic lit

A Lovely Way to Burn by Louise Welsh

Post-apocalyptic literature is having a bit of a moment. This is probably because you can’t call anything dystopia anymore without someone rolling their eyes, but still. Louise Welsh’s contribution to the genre is A Lovely Way to Burn, in which a flu pandemic (kind of grossly nicknamed “the sweats”) is wreaking havoc on the human race. Welsh’s tale is set in contemporary London and it’s all her heroine, Stevie Flint, can do to try and survive the descent into chaos.


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December 2nd, 2015. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

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The Chaplain’s War: Interesting ideas, likeable hero keep this story moving

The Chaplain’s War by Brad R. Torgersen

Harrison Barlow was a chaplain’s assistant in the first of humanity’s wars against a technologically advanced conqueror race. Harrison and thousands of other soldiers were rounded up by the insect-like enemy, who humans call the mantis race (mantes is the plural) and held in a prison camp on a planet called Purgatory. Harrison, carrying out a promise to the chaplain who died, built a chapel that was open to everyone. That action intrigued the scholar class of the mantes and led to a cease-fire. As The Chaplain’s War,


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December 2nd, 2015. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

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Roadside Picnic: A Russian SF classic

Roadside Picnic by Boris & Arkady Strugatsky

Roadside Picnic (1972) is a Russian SF novel written by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. This was back when authors and publishers were subject to government review and censorship. Since it didn’t follow the Communist Party line, it didn’t get published in uncensored book form in Russia until the 1990s despite first appearing in a Russian literary magazine in 1972. So its first book publication was in the US in 1977.

Since then Roadside Picnic has been published in dozens of editions and languages over the years,


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December 2nd, 2015. and ´s rating: | | , | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |

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Supreme Power: High Command by J. Michael Straczynski

Supreme Power (Vol. 3): High Command by J. Michael Straczynski

In this volume, the government ups its game against Hyperion, attempting to discredit him in the eyes of the public and attack him where they feel he is weak. They also seem not to have learned anything from the fiasco that has been their involvement in metahuman affairs up to this point, and still think they can play god with inhumanly powerful pawns. Not too bright, but I’m afraid the estimate may not be too off the mark for how governments would respond to the possibility of controlling the ‘easy’ power that superheroes (and villains) present.


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December 1st, 2015. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | no comments |

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Greg Van Eekhout talks about OSTEOMANCY

Greg Van Eekhout has written middle grade novels like Kid vs Squid, adult SF (The Norse Code) and his well-known OSTEOMANCY trilogy, set in a magical California, where sorcerers absorb the magic of mythical creatures by eating their bones. Against this backdrop, Daniel Blackland struggles to survive, and maintain his created family. The final book in the trilogy, Dragon Coast, is out now. Greg chatted with me about magic, families, tacos and the awesome power of the avocado. One commenter with a USA or Canadian address will win a copy of Dragon Coast.


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December 1st, 2015. | | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 11 comments |

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Give Up the Ghost: A welcome little twist at the end

Give Up the Ghost by Juliet Blackwell

Fans of Juliet Blackwell’s HAUNTED HOME RENOVATION MYSTERIES will be happy to hear that Give Up the Ghost, the new sixth book in the series (released today) again delivers exactly what’s expected: a low-stress cozy paranormal murder mystery with a cute premise, a marvelous setting, and a great cast of characters.

For most of the novel there’s nothing unique or unexpected with Blackwell’s formula which, I assume, will please readers who’ve made it this far in the series.


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December 1st, 2015. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

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Dragon Heart: Needed to be longer or shorter

Dragon Heart by Cecelia Holland

Cecelia Holland’s Dragon Heart had so much potential, with its gothic, Mervyn Peake-like setting and darkly surreal family dynamics. Unfortunately, Dragon Heart never fulfilled its promise, marred especially by a frustrating lack of fluidity or cohesion.

The relatively slim novel (about 270 pages) is set mostly in Castle Ocean, home to the ruling family of a small coastal land threatened (and really mostly-conquered) by an aggressive large empire to the east.


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December 1st, 2015. ´s rating: | | | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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