Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: February 2017

The Raven’s Table: Viking fans, horror fans and gamers will find plenty to like

The Raven’s Table: Viking Stories by Christine Morgan

Christine Morgan’s work has appeared in various anthologies, such as History is Dead, a Zombie Anthology, and Uncommon Assassins. Her work is closely related to role-playing games and she is a dedicated gamer according to her website. The Raven’s Table: Viking Stories is a story collection of her Norse or Viking-themed works. The collection includes poetry, adventure, fantasy and horror in a couple of flavors. Five of the eighteen pieces are original to this collection.

Nightborn: Kids will love this fun warm-hearted fantasy quest

Nightborn by Lou Anders

Nightborn is the second novel in Lou Anders’ THRONES & BONES series for middle graders. I enjoyed the first novel, Frostborn, for its likeable protagonists, sense of adventure, touch of humor, and warm-heartedness. It’d be best to read it before beginning Nightborn.

The beginning of Nightborn finds Karn, our young gaming hero, back on the family farm. But not for long.

SHORTS: Larson, Barnhill, Jones, Levine, Marzioli, Lee

Our weekly sampling of free short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few stories that caught our attention this week.

“Masked” by Rich Larson (July 2016, free at Apex, $2.99 Kindle magazine issue. Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction)

It’s been a whole month since anyone’s seen Vera, and the circumstances of us finally seeing her this weekend are going to be ultra grody-odd, so I deliberate forever doing my Face. In the end I decide to go subtle: an airbrushed conglom of three of my most flattering private snaps,

Forbidden Area: As chilling now as when it was first published

Forbidden Area by Pat Frank

Foreign espionage and sabotage undermining the credibility of American armed forces. A counter-intelligence group mocked and silenced for its theories. Shadowy plans, decades in the making. The fate of the world caught in the balance between devastation and salvation. Pat Frank describes all of these in Forbidden Area, which was first published in 1956 and is still terrifying sixty-one years later.

Harper Perennial’s 2016 re-issue of Forbidden Area only clocks in at just over 200 pages and contains four interlocking plotlines,

Smash: Highly effective meshing of text + illustration to teach a difficult-to-grasp concept

Smash by Sara Latta & Jeff Weigel

Smash, written by Sara Latta and illustrated by Jeff Weigel, is a clear and concise explanation for young people of the standard model of physics (including the newly discovered Higgs Boson) and in particular of how the giant CERN supercollider contributes to furthering the model’s accuracy/completeness. Saying the book is aimed at the young, however, does it a bit of a disservice, as it works just as well for adults looking for that same clarity and concision.

In tried and true format,

February 25th, 2017. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Comics, Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |

A Day in the Life of Researching Irish Mythology and Celts

Today Erika Lewis stops by Fantasy Literature to discuss the research process for her Celtic mythology-inspired debut YA novel, Game of Shadows, which, in my review, I called “action-packed” and “perfect for YA readers … who enjoy high fantasy.” And we’ve got one copy of Game of Shadows to give away to a randomly chosen commenter!

I didn’t set out on writing a book steeped in Irish Celtic mythology. Game of Shadows was about Ethan Makkai, a Los Angeles high school kid cursed (his word,

February 24th, 2017. Jana Nyman | Erika Lewis | Expanded Universe, Giveaway! | 13 comments |

Wolverine: Old Man Logan by Mark Millar & Steve McNiven

Wolverine: Old Man Logan by Mark Millar (writer) & Steve McNiven (illustrator)

Logan, a grizzled west coast farmer whose only joy is his wife and two children, knows that the rent is due. He doesn’t have the dough, and when the cannibalistic Hulk Gang arrives, he will suffer a beating – if he’s lucky.

What if… all of the villains teamed up to defeat the heroes and then took over the country? Written in 2009, Mark Millar’s Old Man Logan was not released as a “What If…?” adventure,

Dracula vs. Hitler: Lively war story pits the undead vs. the inhumane

Dracula vs. Hitler by Patrick Sheane Duncan

Dracula vs. Hitler?! Yes, yes, I know — the title is beyond hokey and there’s no way that this could be a good book. A graphic novel? Maybe. But not a full-sized, 500-page novel. I love horror and I love Dracula, the Dracula as he was originally … gothically evil, not gothically high school. And World War II lit is cool. But the combination? It sounds like a comic book, or maybe the next generation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s classic-lit/horror mash-ups.

Ninefox Gambit: Geeky, hard sci-fi for Stephenson fans

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

In an advanced, multi-planetary empire replete with advanced technology and magical mysticism, Captain Kel Cheris finds herself resorting to heretical tactics to save her troops when she puts down a sacrilegious rebellion. Unfortunately, her superiors in Ninefox Gambit (2016) aren’t quite sympathetic to her play, choosing to use her as a tool to revive and serve as a bodily host to the immortal spirit form of General Shuos Jedao to save the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a religious stronghold that’s critical to the civilization’s magics.

Thoughtful Thursday: SFF Oscar Winners

With Oscars Night nearly upon us, we thought it might be fun to imagine not only a few of the categories/nominees that didn’t make the cut this year, but some of the possible speeches the winners might give as well.

We’ve started it off with the winner of Best Supporting Role by a Piece of Clothing — The Cloak of Levitation (Doctor Strange). We’d like to hear some of your potential categories and/or winning speeches from 2016’s best (or worst) science fiction/fantasy films.

As always, we’ll select a random commentator to receive a giveaway book from our stacks.

February 23rd, 2017. Bill Capossere | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 6 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8492 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Subscribe to all posts:

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:

You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US UK CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

Paul Connelly on WWWednesday: June 25, 2025June 27, 2025
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
Marion Deeds on The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses: An award-winning series that’s not for meJune 26, 2025
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…
Becky Ashwell on Late Star Trek: The Final Frontier in the Franchise EraJune 26, 2025
Gentlemen, I concur! (Forgive me for jumping into your convo)
Marion Deeds on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A graphic novel adaptation by Manu Larcenet (An Oxford College Student Review!)June 25, 2025
The cover is amazing. I love how the graphic novel (and the review!) hewed close to the theme of "good…
Gregory S Hersom on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A graphic novel adaptation by Manu Larcenet (An Oxford College Student Review!)June 24, 2025
I've thought about picking that one up. The artwork looks perfect.