Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: November 2016

SHORTS: Carroll, Yoachim, Anders, Haldeman, Rusch, Herbert and Anderson

There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week:

“The Loud Table” by Jonathan Carroll (Nov. 2016, free at Tor.com, 99c Kindle version)

A group of retired old men meets every day at a coffee shop to hang out most of the day and shoot the breeze. They live for each other’s company, so they’re bewildered and alarmed when the coffee shop manager announces that the café is closing for two months for renovations.

November 7th, 2016. Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper | Brian Herbert, Charlie Jane Anders, Joe Haldeman, Jonathan Carroll, Kevin J. Anderson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch | Audio, Horror, Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Faller: A well-plotted fast-paced story with a few issues at the close

Faller by Will McIntosh

Fair warning: I’m going to reveal one plot point in my discussion that barely qualifies as a spoiler (really, the reader figures this out pretty immediately), but if you have any concerns don’t read past paragraph four (ending with “bioweapons”).

Will McIntosh’s new techno thriller Faller (2016) is characterized by a unique setting/premise, some early plot twists, and strong characterization, and though I would say the story devolves a bit by the end, for the most part it’s a quick-moving and engaging story that also tackles some thought-provoking questions.

The Land of Laughs: An entertaining and thought-provoking tale

The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll

The Land of Laughs was written back in 1980 and I wonder how many readers know about it now. It’s written by Jonathan Carroll, who has written a number of offbeat modern fantasies, and I only know about it because it was selected by David Pringle for his Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels. Even that is probably not enough to put it on most radars, but Neil Gaiman also chose it for his “Neil Gaiman Presents” series of audiobooks,

Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood

Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas & Tamra Bonvillain

For a literary giant who is approached with a seriousness that borders on reverence, Margaret Atwood is perfectly willing to have fun and write whatever she wants. Sometimes that is clearly genre-tinged; sometimes it is darkly humorous, and sometimes it’s a graphic novel for children about a superhero who is part human, part cat and part owl. And that’s the premise of Angel Catbird, Volume 1.

Atwood’s story and words are illustrated by Johnnie Christmas and colored by Tamra Bonvillain.

The Fade: One of Wooding’s first excursions into the world of adult fantasy

The Fade by Chris Wooding

Nations divided by vast lakes, destinations defined by stalagmites and minerals, a world without a sun: The Fade (2007) takes place in an unfathomable network of caves beneath the surface of an unknown planet. Here the reader finds a cavernous underground in the midst of jealous war. Two distinct races of beings fighting over their shared bubbles of space. It is on the battlefield that we meet the protagonist and learn that she is a highly skilled and thoroughly trained one-woman war machine. Soon, we also learn that she has a loving family and a complicated set of allegiances.

November 4th, 2016. Skye Walker´s rating: 4 | Chris Wooding | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

The Empire of Ice Cream: Dynamic range and dynamic prose

The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford

Emerging in the late morning of an overcast day (one novel in 1988 and a handful of short stories over the decade that followed), there was not much indication Jeffrey Ford would become as prolific as he has. In 1997 he produced THE WELL-BUILT CITY trilogy which did well critically, but was not a commercial success. A deluge of short fiction followed, however, and since 2000 he has produced more than ninety stories amidst a couple of novels.

If the Magic Fits: A castle filled with magical dresses and adventure

If the Magic Fits by Susan Maupin Schmid

In the kingdom of Eliora, eleven year old Darling Dimple is an orphaned servant in Princess Mariposa’s castle, a lowly pot scrubber in the under-cellar of the castle kitchens. She dreams of being a mighty sailor or a great enchantress ― and since she lives in a magic-filled castle built by dragons, surely adventures will come her way! But her daydreams lead to trouble with the castle’s Supreme Scrubstress, who doesn’t take kindly to being splashed with dirty brown dishwater when Darling and her friends are fooling around one day.

Hag-Seed: A mostly magical updating of The Tempest

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

In the Vintage Hogarth Series, contemporary authors put their individual novelistic spin on a Shakespeare play. So far the series has seen the release of Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time (The Winter’s Tale), Howard Jacobson’s Shylock is My Name (The Merchant of Venice), Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl (The Taming of the Shrew), and now Margaret Atwood’s Hag-seed (2016),

The Ice Owl: A Hugo- and Nebula-nominated novella

The Ice Owl by Carolyn Ives Gilman

Carolyn Ives Gilman‘s novella The Ice Owl, originally published in the November/December issue of the magazine Fantasy & Science Fiction, was nominated for (but didn’t win) both the Nebula and Hugo Awards in 2012. The Ice Owl is set in the same universe as Gilman’s earlier novella Arkfall (2008). These stories can be read independently.

Thorn is a teenager living in a future where near instantaneous communication is possible but travel is still limited to the speed of light.

November 3rd, 2016. Rob Weber | Carolyn Ives Gilman | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

WWWednesday: November 2, 2016

Awards:

The World Fantasy Awards were announced on Sunday, October 30, 2016. The Chimes, by Anna Smaill, won for best novel. The long fiction award went to “The Unlicensed Magician” by Kelly Barnhill, and the short fiction award went to “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong.

Books and Writing:

Gemma Files talks with NPR about H.P. Lovecraft. She’s deeply bothered by his racism, but that isn’t the only thing she dislikes. On the other hand,

November 2nd, 2016. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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