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.
“Variations on an Apple” by Yoon Ha Lee (2016, free at Tor.com or $0.99 at Amazon)
I want to thank Tadiana for bringing this story to my attention. I probably wouldn’t have found it on my own, and it’s a stunner.
This is a retelling of the siege of Troy,
January 25th, 2016. Marion Deeds, Jana Nyman, Kate Lechler, Tadiana Jones and Bill Capossere | Brandon Sanderson, Yoon Ha Lee | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
A Necklace of Raindrops by Joan Aiken
Joan Aiken’s sweet collection of eight short children’s bedtime stories, originally published in 1968, has just been released in audio format by Listening Library. The audiobook is just over 1.5 hours long and is excellently and lovingly narrated by the author’s daughter, Lizza Aiken. It contains these stories:
“A Necklace of Raindrops” ̶ Every year on her birthday, the North Wind gives Laura Jones a new raindrop for her necklace. Each raindrop gives Laura a special power. When a jealous schoolmate steals the necklace,
January 25th, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Joan Aiken | Audio, Children, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
What if superheroes were real? I mean really “real”: what if they grew old and got fat, had spouses and families, carried emotional baggage (sometimes a serious psychosis), and just generally had to deal with everyday life? These super-heroes aren’t inherently all good, either. Just like public servants — police, politicians, doctors, etc. — many begin with the best intentions, but some become jaded and others are only motivated by self-interest from the start. In other words, if superheroes were real, they would be just like us,
January 23rd, 2016. Greg Hersom and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Alan Moore | Comics, Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Welcome to another Expanded Universe column where I feature essays from authors and editors of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, as well as from established readers and reviewers. My guest today is Sarah Gailey. Gailey is a Bay Area native and an unabashed bibliophile, living and working in beautiful Oakland, California. She enjoys painting, baking, vulgar embroidery, and writing stories about murder and monsters. She livetweeted Star Wars and the internet got very excited about it, but mostly she writes short SFF and horror. Her fiction has appeared in Mothership Zeta and The Colored Lens,
January 22nd, 2016. Kate Lechler | Sarah Gailey | Expanded Universe, Giveaway! | 7 comments |
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
The Bands of Mourning (2016) is the third book in Brandon Sanderson’s second MISTBORN series, following closely (well under a year) on the heels of the last installment, Shadows of Self. Set several centuries after the original trilogy, this second one shows us a world still dealing with the ramifications of those events, but one that also, unlike a lot of fantasy worlds, has continued to progress technologically as guns,
January 22nd, 2016. Bill Capossere and Kevin Wei´s rating: 3.5 | Brandon Sanderson | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Star Beast by Robert A. Heinlein
The Star Beast (1954) is one of Robert A. Heinlein’s “juveniles.” When I was a kid in the late ‘70s / early ’80s, I loved these and can still remember where they were located in the library of my elementary school. My dad had some at home, too, and probably still does since I’ve never known him to throw out a book. I can’t say that I love all of Heinlein’s work — in fact, I absolutely loathe some of his novels for adults — but I can give him credit for inspiring my life-long love of science fiction,
January 22nd, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Robert A. Heinlein | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Secret of Sinharat & People of the Talisman by Leigh Brackett
Leigh Brackett, the so-called “Queen of Space Opera,” would have turned 100 years old on 12/7/2015, and to celebrate her recent centennial in my own way, I have resolved to read five novels featuring her most well-known character: Eric John Stark. Brackett, of course, was already something of a well-known commodity before her first Stark story appeared in 1949; she had already placed no fewer than 32 short stories and novelettes,
January 22nd, 2016. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Leigh Brackett | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Another year, another round of amazing novels! I can feel myself almost salivating at the delicious, delicious sequels and debuts set to be published this year! Right now I’m envisioning curling up in a comfy chair with a 2016 release and a big plate of cookies… and it’s really distracting…
Anyway, here are the two releases I’m most excited about this year:
1. Daniel Abraham’s The Spider’s War, out March 8, is the conclusion to his acclaimed THE DAGGER AND THE COIN series. I’ve been waiting for this one for two years!
January 21st, 2016. Kevin Wei | Thoughtful Thursday | 33 comments |
Here’s a charming young adult novel that you could file under both “Regency Romance” and “Fantasy.” In this fun story, Lady Truthful is celebrating her nineteenth birthday with her cousins when her slightly dotty father, a retired British admiral, brings out the family heirloom that Truthful will inherit in a few years. It’s an emerald that has magical power over the weather. As the admiral is displaying it, a fierce storm suddenly blows in and, in the hubbub, the emerald is stolen and the admiral is injured.
January 21st, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Garth Nix | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian is a book that almost everyone has heard of, read, or intends to read at some point. It’s been called one of the Great American Novels (and Cormac McCarthy one the Great American Writers), and the greatest Western or most ruthless debunking of the Western myth of Manifest Destiny ever written. Many who have read it are probably at a loss to say whether it is a work of genius or depravity, and it is mind-numbingly violent, lyrical, and profound at the same time.
January 21st, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3 | Cormac McCarthy | Audio, Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
BTW, Steve Sterner will be performing at seven films during this upcoming fest: https://filmforum.org/series/clara-bow
As far as I know, Bill, Steve Sterner is the only person who does the live accompaniment to silent movies…
And I'm positive that Kaidan will fondly remember watching these movies with his old man for the rest of his…
You bet, Marion!
Black Scorpion was one of the movie I watched with my son Kaidan as I introduced him to a AT-Home-Film-Festival…