Rider of the Crown by Melissa McShane
Rider of the Crown (2015), the second book in Melissa McShane’s CROWN OF TREMONTANE fantasy series, is set a generation after the events in Servant of the Crown. The story initially shifts to a neighboring country to Tremontane, where the Kirkellan live, a fierce people who live a rustic life on the grassy plains and are known for their magnificent horses. Imogen is a young warrior of the Kirkellan,
April 10th, 2017. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Melissa McShane | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In this new column, I’ll be featuring comic book reviews written by my students at Oxford College of Emory University. Oxford College is a small liberal arts school just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I challenge students to read and interpret comics because I believe sequential art and visual literacy are essential parts of education at any level (see my Manifesto!). I’ll be posting the best of my students’ reviews in this column.
Today, I am proud to present a review by Victoria Gu, the very first Oxford Student featured on our site!
April 8th, 2017. Brad Hawley´s rating: 3.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Today we welcome back Dr. Kate Lechler who retired from FanLit so she could focus on her writing career.
I’m a writer and a teacher. By day, I teach English literature at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS, and at night, I write about genetically engineered dragons and unicorns. My work has appeared in Podcastle, Metaphorosis, and Arsenika, and is forthcoming from Superstition Review. From 2014-2016, I reviewed SFF for FanLit but in December I retired so I could concentrate on my fiction.
April 7th, 2017. Kate Lechler, Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds | Expanded Universe, Giveaway! | 26 comments |
Ashley Poston’s debut novel Geekerella (2017) is definitely not just another Cinderella revision. Classic elements of the familiar story are all present in one shape or another, but Poston brings a distinctly nerd-friendly flair to her tale, and modernizes the characters in ways that turn impossible archetypes into accessible, complicated people.
Danielle “Elle” Wittimer lives with her stepmother and twin stepsisters in a crumbling old Charleston, SC house. Sadly, her mother died when Elle was just four years old,
April 7th, 2017. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Ashley Poston | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
DCI Peter Grant returns in both literal and proverbial car crash style in The Hanging Tree, the latest addition to Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series. We left Peter and the gang still reeling from their adventures in Herefordshire in Foxglove Summer (adventures that included a magical rampaging unicorn), but we see a return to the concrete jungle that is London for Peter’s latest escapades.
April 7th, 2017. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Gather Her Round by Alex Bledsoe
Gather Her Round (2017) is Alex Bledsoe’s fifth stand-alone TUFA novel. Though each of these stories has mostly the same setting and some of the same characters, and though they tend to have some of the same major plot elements (e.g., the appearance of ghosts, a musical performance, a murder mystery, an outsider who stumbles upon their tiny strange community), they are surprisingly different in tone. They can be read in any order and you don’t need any previous TUFA knowledge to enjoy Gather Her Round though it may help to know that the Tufa are a race of close-knit secretive folk who descended from the Tuatha Dé Danann and,
April 6th, 2017. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Alex Bledsoe | Audio, Horror | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell
In his 1955 collection entitled Men, Martians and Machines, English sci-fi author Eric Frank Russell told, via one short story and three novellas, some of the adventures of a starship crew that strongly suggested nothing less than a proto-Star Trek ensemble. The collection featured visits to three very different sorts of planets, in which the men, Martians, and robot of the starship Marathon came up against a world of mechanical devices;
April 6th, 2017. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Eric Frank Russell | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
This week’s word for Wednesday is the noun blether-head, which means a noisy fool. I think you can make it a modifier too, as in “blether-headed nonsense,” which might be redundant.
Awards:
The 2017 Hugo Awards shortlist is out. I am disappointed by one terrible oversight; City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett is not on the short list for novel. That is a crime. Otherwise, I think it’s a good list.
Here are the finalists for Best Novel:
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor) Our review,
April 5th, 2017. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 12 comments |
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
In the late 20th century the ruins of the city of Paris are populated by a mix of humans and fallen angels. The angels may have lost God’s grace, but they still have power. Their bodies contain magic that can be used by humans and angels alike. A central government, if ever there was one, has disappeared and the upper layers of society is organized into houses. These houses continually vie for influence in a Machiavellian political game. Silverspire, the oldest of these houses,
April 5th, 2017. Rob Weber | Aliette De_Bodard | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sylvain Neuvel burst onto the science fiction scene last year with his debut hit, Sleeping Giants, a 2016 Fantasy Literature favorite. The sequel, Waking Gods, is available on April 4, 2017. Tadiana and Jason were able to borrow a little time from the French Canadian author to learn about his passion for science fiction, backwards-bending knees, and the second novel in his THEMIS series, Waking Gods. After reading the interview, check out our reviews of of the new novel.
April 4th, 2017. Jason Golomb and Tadiana Jones | Sylvain Neuvel | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 17 comments |
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…
Gentlemen, I concur! (Forgive me for jumping into your convo)
The cover is amazing. I love how the graphic novel (and the review!) hewed close to the theme of "good…
I've thought about picking that one up. The artwork looks perfect.