Month: March 2016

Arkwright: A solid tale of a persistent science fiction trope

Arkwright by Allen Steele

The concept of a generation ship has circulated in science and science fiction probably since the late 1920s and certainly since the 40’s. The idea is based on an assumption that light speed is a space travel barrier that won’t be overcome and so travel to even the nearest stars will be a journey of multiple generations. The ships that make such a journey will need to be large and need to solve problems of self-sustenance.

Allen Steele delves into this space travel theme with his aptly titled Arkwright,

Sin City (Volume One): The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller

Sin City (Volume One): The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller

Frank Miller’s SIN CITY hit the comic scene back in the early 1990s like multiple shots to the head and body. Readers were blown away with this hard-boiled story and its stark, iconic black-and-white artwork. In fact, Miller does all the writing, artwork and lettering for SIN CITY, which is pretty damn impressive. The stories tapped into that rich vein of crime noir pioneered by writers like Dashiell Hamett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain,

GIVEAWAY! 20 copies of Red Rising by Pierce Brown

We love Pierce Brown’s RED RISING trilogy, a grand-scale space opera with class warfare, rebellion and a main character struggling with his own destiny. You can read our reviews here.

We are partnering with the publisher, Del Rey, on a way to introduce more of you to this great story.

We are giving away 20 (yes, you read that right, 20) copies of Book One, Red Rising, to 20 readers with a USA or Canadian address.

March 11th, 2016. Kevin Wei and Bill Capossere | Pierce Brown | Giveaway! | 6 comments |

Jeweled Fire: Court intrigue and a murder mystery mark a return to form for this series

Jeweled Fire by Sharon Shinn

Jeweled Fire is the third book in Sharon Shinn’s ELEMENTAL BLESSINGS fantasy series, each one of which focuses on a different young woman. Corene, a secondary character in the previous books, is a strong-willed and fiery young woman (purely sweela, or fire, for those readers who recall the elemental influences that are presumed to govern personalities in Welce), one of four princesses of Welce who were in contention for the throne. Due to events that occurred in the second book,

March 11th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Sharon Shinn | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Coming of the Terrans: A wonderful collection from the “Queen of Space Opera”

The Coming of the Terrans by Leigh Brackett

Just recently, I reviewed The Best of Leigh Brackett, a big, 400+-page affair from Ballantine Books that was first released in 1977. But this collection was not the first to gather the older works of Leigh Brackett, the so-called “Queen of Space Opera” into a nice, compact collection. That honor, it seems, goes to the volume entitled The Coming of the Terrans, which was released by Ace in 1967.

Morning Star: An emotional rollercoaster

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

WARNING: Contains spoilers for book two, Golden Son.
Editor’s note: This series continues with Iron Gold.

I was very excited to finally lay hands (or eyes) on Pierce Brown’s Morning Star. Picking up where book two, Golden Son, left off, Morning Star opens roughly a year after the Jackal storms into the celebration at Darrow’s Triumph,

March 11th, 2016. Kevin Wei and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Pierce Brown | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Thoughtful Thursday: Fantastic Quotes!

It’s been nearly 5 years since we last shared some of our favorite quotes from speculative fiction, though I think at the time we were considering collecting quotes and making this a regular column. Let’s try it again. Share some of your favorite quotes from the books you’ve read, or from interviews or blog posts from the authors who write those books. Give us the quote and the source (book title, link to interview or blog, etc).
Here are a few quotes that readers mentioned last time we did this:

Consistency is the defense of a small mind.

March 10th, 2016. Kelly Lasiter | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 4 comments |

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians: Funny middle-grade fantasy

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Alcatraz Smedry is a troubled boy. He has no parents and, because he breaks nearly everything he touches, he is regularly being kicked out of his foster homes and transferred to new ones. The only constant adult in his life is his case worker. The bag of sand that Alcatraz receives on his 13th birthday as an inheritance from his dead parents further highlights the fact that nobody ever loved him.

But then a strange man shows up, claims to be his grandfather,

1632: The tale is dated but I loved its exuberance

1632 by Eric Flint

There’s something to be said for sheer audacity. 1632, the first book in Eric Flint’s RING OF FIRE series, published in February, 2000, has got audacity in container-ship-sized loads.

In the year 2000, a section of West Virginia disappears from our world during an event called the Ring of Fire. It reappears in Thuringia (northern Germany), in the year 1631. The residents of Grantsville, the biggest town in the affected area, led by the steely-eyed protagonist Mike Stearns,

March 10th, 2016. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Eric Flint | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: Studio Ghibli at its ambitious best

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind directed by Hayao Miyazaki

After an event alluded to as the Seven Days of Fire, civilization as we know has been destroyed and humanity’s remaining population scattered into isolated communities. Most of the globe is overrun by toxic jungles that produce spores deadly to human beings, and explorers must use gas-masks to protect themselves whenever they venture out into the wilderness.

Added danger comes from the insect life that now dominates the earth, particularly those known as the Ohmu. They look rather like giant pill-bugs with bulbous eyes that change colour depending on their moods,

March 10th, 2016. Rebecca Fisher | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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