Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: December 2017

Mandelbrot the Magnificent: An almost-mystical origin story

Mandelbrot the Magnificent by Liz Ziemska

Prior to reading this novella, what I knew about the mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot would have fit into an embarrassingly small thimble (with plenty of room to spare). I identified fractal shapes simply as “tessellations on steroids” and my only reference point for a “mandelbrot” was a delicious cookie.

But thanks to Liz Ziemska, I have a much greater appreciation for Mandelbrot’s work in his field, as well as the passion and determination that sustained him through his years in Nazi-occupied France.

Daughter of the Empire: Life on the other side of the rift

Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts

THE EMPIRE CYCLE is the second trilogy set in Raymond E. Feist’s (and in this case Janny Wurts’) Riftwar universe. Readers of the RIFTWAR SAGA (the first trilogy by publication date) will know all about the world of Midkemia and its war with the otherworldly Kelewan. Daughter of the Empire (1987) takes place entirely in Kelewan and so offers a new insight into the Riftwar universe,

December 8th, 2017. Katie Burton and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Janny Wurts, Raymond E. Feist | SFF Reviews | 14 comments |

Stranger Magics: These are Faerie troubling times

Stranger Magics by Ash Fitzsimmons

Colin Leffee (aka Lord Coileán le fae) is an immortal half-human, half-fae being, who’s exiled himself from his mother Titania’s court in Faerie for her various misdeeds. For approximately the last eight hundred years he’s been whiling away his time on Earth, protecting humans from the terrors and mischiefs of less conscientious faeries, running an antique bookstore, and drinking far too much ― easy to do when you’re magical and can make booze, money or anything else appear with a thought.

But one day his past comes back to haunt him: Colin finds a teenage changeling that Titania has tossed out of Faerie,

Null States: Great SF in the old-fashioned way, as technology pushes social change

Null States by Malka Older

Null States (2017) is the sequel to Malka Older’s prescient Infomocracy and the second book in THE CENTENAL series. In Older’s universe, micro-democracies, governments with tracts of 100,000 people each, have taken hold over most of the globe. The mini-governments or centenals are designed so that minorities can participate in a democratic government. Governments are not bound by geographic borders; in this way people who hold a minority view in their physical home-town can join a like-minded government and be represented.

December 7th, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Malka Older | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

WWWednesday: December 6, 2017

This month’s words for Wednesday will all have a Yule or winter theme, and to start us off is the noun hogamadog, which means a big ball of snow made by rolling a smaller ball of snow around and around in the snow.

Prizes:

The James White Prize for non-professional writers is open now through April 27, 2018. The winner will have a story published in Interzone.

Books and Writing:

Why yes, women have always written space opera.

December 6th, 2017. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |

Dark Melody of Madness: The Supernatural Novellas of Cornell Woolrich

Dark Melodies of Madness: The Supernatural Novellas of Cornell Woolrich by Cornell Woolrich

Because New York City-born author Cornell Woolrich so excelled at tales of suspense, crime, murder and noirish mayhem, there might be some who find it hard to believe that he could also excel in the arena of horror. But those who have read Woolrich’s truly frightening novel of 1945, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, which combines the occult, clairvoyance, death and predestination into one tasty chiller, already know how capable he could be in that field.

The Tethered Mage: Fun with pretend politics

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

In The Tethered Mage (2017), The Raverran Empire is as complacent, even “Serene,” as its military is legion, and indeed, magical. Every military empire has its controversies, and so does this one, however enlightened it may pretend to be with gender and marriage equality achievements.

Amalia is the heir to the Cornaro fortune and seat upon the Raverran Empire’s Council of Nine, and is as yawnishly blue blooded as she can be. She has, however, enough spirit to attempt harnessing rogue fire warlock Zaira,

December 5th, 2017. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3.5 | Melissa Caruso | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Persepolis Rising: The Rocinante crew discuss their options

Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey

(Some of these lines are direct quotes from Persepolis Rising (2017), the seventh book in James S.A. Corey’s series THE EXPANSE.)

Holden looked at Naomi over the cloud from his coffee. “I think it may be time for us to do something else. For me to do something else, anyway.”

Naomi stopped eating and looked up at him. “Walk me through it.”

“Pirates. Martians. The Protomolecule.

December 4th, 2017. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | James S.A. Corey | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

The Emerald Circus: An imaginative three-ring show

The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen

Under the big top of The Emerald Circus (2017) is a fantastical assemblage of sixteen short stories and novelettes by Jane Yolen. Historical figures like Emily Dickinson, Benjamin Disraeli, Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allen Poe enter the three rings and shed their normal identities, dancing across the high wires and peering into tigers’ mouths. In this circus’ House of Mirrors we also see unexpectedly twisted reflections of fictional characters like Alice in Wonderland (who makes an appearance here in two very different Yolen tales),

Jade City: Methodical, complex plotting

Jade City by Fonda Lee

Fonda Lee brings her experience with martial arts to Jade City (2017), her first novel for adults and a sprawling tale of family, power, and an intangible but all-too-important element: control. Whether it concerns finances, emotions, or a person’s mobility through the world and their social station, control is at the heart of this novel, and informs every single moment.

Jade City is chiefly concerned with the Kaul clan of No Peak: adult siblings Lan,

December 1st, 2017. Jana Nyman and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Fonda Lee | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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