No Time to Spare by Ursula K. LeGuin
I’ve said for, well, what seems like forever now, that Ursula K. LeGuin is a national treasure. And so when she comes out with a collection drawn from her blog, I’m all in, even though normally I’d run like crazy from any such compendium. In fact, I’ve used the “sounds like a blog” line as criticism (the negative sort) of other collections of essays. And yes, there are several pieces about cats in No Time to Spare (2017),
January 12th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Ursula K. Le-Guin | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
H. Rider Haggard published She in 1887. 130 years later, She is a memorable, if strange, read. It is a romantic action-adventure seen in a fun-house mirror; almost offensive at times to modern sensibilities, but still intriguing.
The two main characters are Leo Vincey and our narrator, his adoptive father L. Horace Holly. Holly describes himself as ugly — ape-like, with bandy legs, over-long arms and thick black hair that grows low on his forehead. He is a committed misanthrope and misogynist.
January 12th, 2018. Marion Deeds and Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3.5 | H. Rider Haggard | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Altered Starscape by Ian Douglas
Altered Starscape (2016) has its jumping off point (literally) in the year 2162. Humanity has been in contact with other galactic races for thirty-eight years, and still feels itself at a disadvantage in comparison with the many more advanced races. Earth’s government has entered into an alliance with some of those alien civilizations, receiving FTL travel capabilities, fusion power and other advanced technology in return for promised assistance in a vaguely understood alien war. Now the massive colony starship Tellus Ad Astra (“Earth to the stars”),
January 11th, 2018. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | Ian Douglas | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Obituary:
John Young, the country’s oldest astronaut, who walked on the moon, and flew Gemini, Apollo and shuttle missions, died of complications from pneumonia on January 5. He was 87 years old.
Awards:
File 770 published the finalists in 2017’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off competition. Here they are.
Linda Addison is the first poet to win the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement award.
William Shatner was awarded the Officer of the Order of Canada award on January 2,
January 10th, 2018. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
In Beneath the Sugar Sky (2018), the third book in Seanan McGuire’s WAYWARD CHILDREN series, we return to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, that haven for children and teens who once found their way through portals to other, magical worlds but have been involuntarily returned to ours. At Eleanor West’s boarding school, at least they find others who believe them and empathize, and desperately hope with them for a way to return to a magic world where they truly felt they belonged.
January 10th, 2018. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Seanan McGuire | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
In many ways, Sarah Tarkoff’s debut novel Sinless (2018) follows the Dystopian YA rule book: a young woman in the near future discovers that the seemingly-idyllic world she lives in is built upon a foundation of lies, and in the process of deciding how best to fight back, discovers previously untapped depths of pluck (as well as previously-unrequited feelings for a dashing and rebellious young man from her childhood). This specific young woman is Grace Luther, the daughter of a well-connected American cleric,
January 9th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 2 | Sarah Tarkoff | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
“The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging” by Harry Turtledove (2014, free at Tor.com, 99c Kindle)
It has a pedestrian title, but this short story is anything but. As usual for Turtledove, it’s alternative history; as not so usual for him, it’s a subtle, understated tale. The plot of this story is … well, exactly what the title would indicate. A class of thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds visits 84 year old Mrs. Anne Berkowitz in a California old folks home, to hear her tell her story about her experiences in WWII.
January 8th, 2018. Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper | Harry Turtledove, James S.A. Corey, tara | Audio, Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore
Secondhand Souls (2015), by Christopher Moore is a sequel to his 2007 book A Dirty Job. Set in San Francisco, the book contains foul language, cross-dressing nuns, a homunculus of animal parts and luncheon meats with a lizard head and an enormous penis, a woman who works at a suicide-prevention hotline and keeps tracks of Wins and Losses on a whiteboard — she’s at five-and-a-half wins because one guy jumped but he lived,
January 8th, 2018. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Christopher Moore | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Best of Richard Matheson by Richard Matheson
Almost precisely two years ago, I had some words to say about a then-new anthology that had been released by Penguin Classics: Perchance to Dream, a 300+-page collection of short stories by the author Charles Beaumont. Flash forward two years, and I am now here to tell you of a 2017 Penguin release that almost serves as a companion volume to that earlier book: The Best of Richard Matheson,
January 5th, 2018. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Richard Matheson | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
For a long time, I’ve been fascinated the ways in which humans personify the concept of Death — a hooded and black-robed spectral reaper, a suave and irresistible man, a rider on horseback who visited the houses of the soon to be deceased, and many others. In the case of A Dirty Job (2006), Christopher Moore presents a nervous and twitchy Beta Male named Charlie Asher who operates a secondhand-items shop in San Francisco.
Charlie had what he thought was a decent life: he and his wife Rachel just had their first baby,
January 5th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Christopher Moore | Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
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.
I like the way you think, Bill. I found the second one particularly objectionable; the one with Khan. It was…