The Nebula Awards are in our rearview, and next up are the Locus Awards, leading us into Hugo Season!
The Locus Weekend will be held in Seattle, Washington, on June 22-24, 2018.
The Locus Awards have lots of categories, so I am focused on the short fiction this week and in a couple of weeks we’ll discuss the novels.
Click the title links below to read our reviews and on the author links to visit our page for the author. I’ve included the cover art for some of our favorites.
May 31st, 2018. Marion Deeds | Locus Award | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 18 comments |
Cat Rambo’s Hearts of Tabat (2018) is the second book in the Tabat Quartet. I love the beautiful, strange world Rambo has created here. I understood nearly everything that was going on in this book, so technically it qualifies as a standalone, but I see that reading the first book, Beasts of Tabat, first would probably have answered some questions and added richness to an already lush tapestry of a story.
May 31st, 2018. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Cat Rambo | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews
In Magic Shifts (2015), the eighth book in Ilona Andrews’ KATE DANIELS urban fantasy series, Kate and Curran struggle with both old, ongoing problems ― in the form of Pack politics and Kate’s father Roland ― and new ones. *obligatory spoiler alert here for earlier books in the series*
Kate and her werelion mate Curran, who has resigned as Beast Lord of Atlanta’s huge pack of shapeshifters, are now trying to live a more ordinary,
May 31st, 2018. Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Ilona Andrews | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Haggard Hawks provides this week’s word for Wednesday. It’s the verb intermicate, and it means “to shine between.” It was first recorded in the dictionary Glossographia in 1656. Its roots are Latin, from “inter” (between) and “micare”, to shine or gleam. Paul of HH notes that that the adjective micant, meaning “shining” is criminally neglected in current use.
Obituary:
“To write good SF today…you must push further and harder, reach deeper into your own mind until you break through into the strange and terrible country wherein live your own dreams.”
Gardner Dozois,
May 30th, 2018. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 5 comments |
King of Ashes by Raymond E. Feist
Back in the 1980s, like a lot of people, I was eagerly consuming Raymond E. Feist’s RIFTWAR SAGA, which began with Magician: Apprentice and continued onward through a host of novels. I loved Magician, though I have little memory of it, and read the next few books in the series, though eventually I lost track, whether that was due to lack of interest or not,
May 30th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Raymond E. Feist | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
At Fantasy Literature, we love fearless women!
Women are shining in every genre of speculative fiction, and it is no longer enough to say “Women are here.” Instead, #FearlessWomen everywhere are taking a stand to say “Women will thrive here.”
Highlighting major titles from bestselling authors V.E. Schwab, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jacqueline Carey as well as titles from acclaimed and debut authors such as Mary Robinette Kowal, Tessa Gratton, Sam Hawke, and Robyn Bennis,
May 29th, 2018. Jana Nyman | Victoria (V.E.) Schwab | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Armistice by Lara Elena Donnelly
Lara Elena Donnelly continues THE AMBERLOUGH DOSSIER with Armistice (2018), a worthy sequel to her Nebula- and Lambda-nominated novel Amberlough. Three years have passed since the fascist Ospies took over Amberlough City and its surrounding lands, bringing tremendous change and hardship to the lives of the people who oppose them. If you haven’t yet read Amberlough, I strongly suggest doing so before reading any reviews of Armistice,
May 29th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Lara Elena Donnelly | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Today’s SHORTS column features all of the 2018 Locus Award finalists for short fiction. The Locus Award winners will be announced by Connie Willis during Locus Award weekend, June 22 – June 24, 2018.
NOVELLAS:
In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle (2017)
Claudio, a middle-aged curmudgeonly farmer living in a remote area of the Italian countryside, has been a standoffish loner since his wife left him decades ago. He’s satisfied with his current lifestyle,
May 28th, 2018. Kat Hooper, Skye Walker, Taya Okerlund, Terry Weyna, Bill Capossere, Nathan Okerlund, Tadiana Jones and Katie Burton | Charlie Jane Anders, Elizabeth Hand, JY Yang, Kai Ashante Wilson, Karen Joy Fowler, Ken Liu, Michael Swanwick, Nancy Kress, Peter S. Beagle, Samuel R. Delany | Audio, Horror, Locus Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Some great reads this week!
Bill: In fantasy/sci fi this week, along with some short fiction you’ll see reviewed Monday, I also read Raymond E. Feist’s King of Ashes, a solid if somewhat familiar start to a new series called THE FIREMANE SAGA. Outside the genre, I finished Catherine Nixey’s interesting if too-long condemnation of the Christian “triumph” over the pagans,The Darkening Age; David Sedaris’ newest collection of essays Calypso (a mixed bag but overall I’d recommend it);
May 27th, 2018. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | no comments |
Lady Killer (Vols. 1 & 2) by Jamie S. Rich & Joelle Jones
Lady Killer is a very funny, though dark, story about the troubles a woman faces when she works out of the home, balancing job and family, in the early 1960s. The twist, however, is that Josie Schuller’s work is that of a contract killer in heels. The humor comes in because her family — husband, two daughters, and live-in mother-in-law — are all clueless. Well, except maybe for the mother-in-law who is beginning to suspect something is not quite right with her all-too-perfect looking daughter-in-law.
May 26th, 2018. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
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…
I find if I take every Trek reference out of them (the title, the character names, the ship names, etc.),…