A Feast of Sorrows by Angela Slatter
Angela Slatter was one of those authors I’d always been meaning to read. I have one of her earlier collections, The Girl with No Hands, on my Kindle and hadn’t gotten around to it yet. And then this year, her collection A Feast of Sorrows hit the US shelves. I was intrigued by Alyx Dellamonica’s review at Tor.com, not to mention seduced by the cover, and the rest was history.
A Feast of Sorrows is a collection of dark fairy tales.
December 23rd, 2016. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Angela Slatter | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews
Note: This review contains some spoilers for the two earlier books in the INNKEEPER CHRONICLES series.
As One Fell Sweep (2016) begins, Dina DeMille, the Innkeeper of the Gertrude Hunt Inn, a secret way-stop on Earth for galactic visitors, is recuperating from the life-and-death peace summit that her inn hosted in Sweep in Peace. She’s also just beginning to pick up her relationship with Sean, the werewolf warrior, when a reptilian visitor brings her a message: Dina’s widowed sister Maud is stuck on the planet Karhari and needs rescuing.
December 22nd, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | Ilona Andrews | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
Ficciones is a classic collection of seventeen short stories by acclaimed Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges, originally published in the 1940s in Spanish, and winner of the 1961 International Publishers Prize. These stories and mock essays are a challenging mixture of philosophy, magical realism, fantasy, ruminations on the nature of life, perception and more. There are layers of meaning and frequent allusions to historic figures, other literary works, and philosophical ideas, not readily discernable at first read. Reading Ficciones,
December 22nd, 2016. Tadiana Jones and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 4.5 | Jorge Luis Borges | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Today’s word for Wednesday is myriagon, a noun, meaning a shape with 10,000 sides.
Holiday Break:
I hope your winter holidays are filled with love, joy and magic for you and your families. The column will take a two-week break after today and be back on January 11, 2017.
Books and Writing:
Penguin Random House has terminated its collective bargaining agreement with two unions in the UK, fueling fears of layoff (the British term is “redundancy”). Penguin Random House is severing its relationship with these unions after a year where it saw 23% growth in profits.
December 21st, 2016. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 4 comments |
Note: This review has been updated after a re-read, but we’re keeping the old comments on the post.
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
Tad Williams’ MEMORY, SORROW, & THORN was one of the first epic fantasy trilogies I ever read and, two and a half decades ago, I absolutely loved everything about it. It’s one of the two series I recommend to new fantasy readers who ask me where to start (the other is Robin Hobb’s FARSEER saga).
December 21st, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Tad Williams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 13 comments |
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
After his post-WWII convalescence in France, Steven Huxley is returning to his family’s home on the edge of Ryhope Wood, a patch of ancient forest, in Britain. For as long as Steven remembers, his father, who recently died, had been so obsessed with the forest that it destroyed their family.
Upon returning home, Steven finds that his brother Christian is quickly following in their father’s footsteps — both figuratively and literally — for he has also discovered that this is no ordinary forest! It resists intrusion from Outsiders,
December 21st, 2016. Kat Hooper, Kelly Lasiter, Tim Scheidler and Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Robert Holdstock | BSFA Award, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 19 comments |
Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis
Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (1999) is a collection of eight short science fiction and fantasies by Connie Willis, plus an introduction and an afterword. It was on sale for $1.99 in early December 2016 ― a great value. It combines Willis’ heartfelt love for Christmas with a clear-eyed but sympathetic view of humanity and its foibles. In the introduction, Willis talks about how she has tried to walk the fine line between cynicism and “mawkish sappiness.” I think she’s done a fine job of it.
December 20th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Connie Willis | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Liberation by Ian Tregillis
The Liberation (2016)is the concluding novel to Ian Tregillis’ fantastic ALCHEMY WARS trilogy, and he wraps it all up with a book as strong in action and deep in thought as its predecessors, making this series one of my favorites of recent years and one I highly recommend. If you haven’t read the first two (and you absolutely should fix that error), you’ll probably want to stop here as there will be a few unavoidable spoilers for both The Mechanical and The Rising.
December 19th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Ian Tregillis | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard
I try to avoid excessive praise unless it is truly deserved, but I can say this without hesitation — Lucius Shepard was one of the best SF short story writers of the 1980s. His prose, imagery, themes, and style are so powerful, dynamic, and vivid that it’s a real crime that he didn’t gain a wider readership when he was alive, though he did win many awards.
He burst on the scene with his short story collection The Jaguar Hunter,
December 19th, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Lucius Shepard | Locus Award, Short Fiction, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges’s The Book of Imaginary Beings (1969) introduces readers to the origins and characteristics of creatures like the Chimera, the Chinese Dragon, the Jinn, and the Western Dragon. Although I am hardly a scholar when it comes to monsters and imaginary beings, I was still impressed by how many of 155 creatures included here were entirely new to me.
This book might seem limited to some twenty-first century readers, so let’s acknowledge these concerns (if only to get them out of the way).
December 16th, 2016. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Jorge Luis Borges | SFF Reviews | no comments |
so you're saying I should read it? :)
As a native New Yorker, I love the idea of the city being filled with canals and no skyscrapers! And…
How did I miss this? Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
I guess that is true, Marion. And when it comes to "You Only Live Twice," I saw the movie TWICE…
You managed to work in your two loves; vintage fiction and films!