It’s time for Round Five of FanLit’s participation in Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) in which 300 self-published fantasy authors contributed their work to be reviewed by 10 fantasy review blogs.
In the last round we took a look at The Heirs of Lydin, Salvation’s Dawn, The Flight, The Fuller’s Apprentice, and Shadowed Strength. Of these, we liked Joe Jackson’s Salvation’s Dawn best and we also thought The Fuller’s Apprentice would appeal to youngsters,
September 8th, 2016. Kat Hooper | SPFBO | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 3 comments |
Summerlong is the latest stand-alone work by Peter S. Beagle, an author widely lauded and respected for his skillful turns of phrase, complicated characters, and his ability to credibly blend the fantastic into the mundane. In Summerlong, Beagle turns his gaze on Puget Sound and a small island off Seattle’s coast, an unremarkable little place which undergoes a transformation over the course of just a few months, changing the lives of its residents in profound and irrevocable ways.
September 8th, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Peter S. Beagle | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Limbreth Gate by Megan Lindholm
Lindholm’s work under this pseudonym is very diverse, but the Ki and Vandien novels are more or less straightforward fantasy. A secondary world with a long, largely unknown history, lots of different sentient races, magic and divine creatures. All the ingredients are present. They are pretty focused on the two protagonists, however. No huge cast of secondary characters and countless side plots. They are very efficiently written. Each book is a complete story, there are no major cliffhangers or unresolved questions; the relationship between Ki and Vandien is what ties these books together.
September 8th, 2016. Rob Weber | Megan Lindholm | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
This week’s word for Wednesday is Agathism, a noun, a belief that all things tend toward good (even if they aren’t good just now). It came into common usage around the 1830s and is based on the Greek word agathos which means “good.”
Awards:
The very first Dragon Awards were announced on Sunday, September 4, 2016. Here are some highlights:
John C Wright won Best Science Fiction novel for Some Wither.
Larry Corriea won Best Fantasy Novel for Son of the Black Sword.
September 7th, 2016. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
The Doomed City by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky, translated by Andrew Bromfield
The Doomed City is a late 1980’s work by, according to my jacket liner, the two “greatest Russian science fiction masters”: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Having never read their other works, or much at all by any other Russian sci-fi authors, I can’t speak to the validity of that statement. But certainly The Doomed City, translated here by Andrew Bromfield, is a fascinating and thoughtful work, one that I thoroughly enjoyed even as I sensed I was probably missing some of the layers/allusions more specific to their homeland.
September 7th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Boris and Arkady Strugatsky | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton
Disclaimer: This audiobook, and the series, is extremely popular and has high ratings at Goodreads and Audible. I will explain why I am not enthusiastic about it, but please take my opinion with the proverbial grain of salt.
The Naked God (1999 print, 2016 audio) is the third and final book in Peter F. Hamilton’s NIGHT’S DAWN trilogy. It begins immediately after the events of the previous book, The Neutronium Alchemist which follows the first book,
September 7th, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Peter F. Hamilton | Audio | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Today Fantasy Literature welcomes Robert Brockway, currently celebrating the recent release of The Empty Ones, the second instalment in his horror-comedy-punk VICIOUS CIRCUIT trilogy. Mr. Brockway made time to chat with Marion Deeds and Jana Nyman about his wide-ranging influences, his reading preferences, and how he makes unlikeable characters interesting.
One random commenter with either a U.S. or Canada mailing address will win one copy each of The Unnoticeables and The Empty Ones.
Marion Deeds: As an editor for Cracked.com,
September 6th, 2016. Marion Deeds and Jana Nyman | Robert Brockway | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 7 comments |
The Vampire’s Coffin directed by Fernando Mendez
In the ordinary course of things, a movie sequel begins production only after the original film has proved itself a success at the box office. This, however, was not the case with the sequel to the 1957 Mexican film El Vampiro. Producer Abel Salazar, apparently, felt so confident that his film would be a hit — and it was; tremendously so — that he began work on that picture’s follow-up even before the first one saw the light of day. That sequel,
September 6th, 2016. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
CLASSIFICATION: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is epic fantasy that mixes together court intrigue, mythology, romantic/family drama, and celestial magics. It brought to mind everything from Jacqueline Carey, Lane Robins‘ Maledicte, and Marie Brennan’s Midnight Never Come to Gregory Frost’s Shadowbridge / Lord Tophet, John Scalzi’s The God Engines,
September 6th, 2016. Robert Thompson, Justin Blazier, Bill Capossere, Marion Deeds and Stuart Starosta | N.K. Jemisin | Audio, Locus Award | SFF Reviews | 15 comments |
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.
“The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu (2011, free at Clarkesworld, $2.99 Kindle magazine issue). 2012 Hugo award nominee and 2011 Nebula award nominee (short story)
The village of Yiwei has an uneasy truce with the many paper wasps that live in and around the village, until one day,
September 5th, 2016. Tadiana Jones and Marion Deeds | Alex Bledsoe, N.K. Jemisin | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…