It’s going to be a short column this week.
Awards:
N.K.Jemisin was awarded the Best Novel Hugo for The Stone Sky, while Martha Wells won for best novella with All Systems Red. The full Hugo awards are listed here. There are two other awards I’ve broken out for an item under WorldCon.
WorldCon:
Mike Glyer was awarded the 2018 Big Heart award, while Robert Silverberg received the Hall of Fame Award,
August 22nd, 2018. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 4 comments |
Set in an alternate 1920s world, MEM (2018) is a short novel about a woman who is the physical manifestation of a memory extraction process. If someone has a traumatic memory they want to get rid of, Professor Toutant can remove it. The memory then becomes a physical person who lives in the “vault” below the health center at a university in Montreal. (The vault is very similar to a mental or convalescent care ward.) Most of these “mems,” whose brains carry not much beyond the extracted memory,
August 22nd, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Bethany C. Morrow | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore
Just recently, I had some words to say regarding the stories that Golden Age sci-fi/fantasy author C.L. Moore placed in Weird Tales magazine, during the 1930s, that dealt with the futuristic smuggler/spaceman Northwest Smith. But as most fans of Catherine Lucille Moore will readily tell you, Smith was not the only character from this beloved writer who made semiregular appearances in the legendary pulp that decade. From October ’34 until April ’39, Moore also regaled readers with a wholly different character: Jirel of Joiry.
August 22nd, 2018. Sandy Ferber and Rob Rhodes´s rating: 5 | C.L. Moore | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no 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,
August 21st, 2018. Jana Nyman | Mary Robinette Kowal | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French
So let’s get this out of the way early with regard to Jonathan French’s The Grey Bastards, winner of the 2017 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) contest. (Kevin, who originally reviewed this novel for Fantasy Literature, rated it 7 stars out of 10; Tadiana DNF’d it because of the pervasive offensive content.) It’s foul-mouthed, has a good amount of graphic language (warning: I’m about to give a few examples. Seriously — bad words ahead), sex, and violence,
August 21st, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Jonathan French | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Snail on the Slope by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
Chicago Review Press and Blackstone Audio have been translating and reprinting some of the Strugatsky brothers’ works and they’ve sent me review copies. I read Monday Starts on Saturday several months ago but never managed to write a review, which I feel terrible about because I really liked that book. I will try to review it soon.
Being familiar with their style — which is bizarre, ironic, visually arresting, and funny — I figured I’d like The Snail on the Slope (1968),
August 21st, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Boris and Arkady Strugatsky | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley
Susanna Kearsley is a popular Canadian novelist who writes historical fiction, favoring the dual-timeline model with a current plotline and a historical one that intersect in one way or another. Her novels are generally spiced with a mystery, a romance (or perhaps two, one in each of the timelines) … and a paranormal element, such as time travel, ghostly spirits, or a character with psychic abilities.
Bellewether (2018), Kearsley’s first novel in three years, is of the dual-timeline model. The historical plotline,
August 20th, 2018. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | Susanna Kearsley | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Dead Men Can’t Complain and Other Stories by Peter Clines
I love Peter Clines’ weird ideas and a short story collection seems the perfect way to experience a bunch of them. I found Dead Men Can’t Complain and Other Stories (2017) at Audible. At this moment there is no print version of this collection, but the audio version, with narration by two of my favorite readers (Ray Porter and Ralph Lister) is excellent and well worth picking up. It’s only 5 hours long.
August 20th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Peter Clines | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Mighty Jack (2016) is YA/MG graphic story by Ben Hatke, author of the ZITA THE SPACEGIRL trilogy (highly recommended. btw). Here Hatke has a lot of fun with the Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale, though fair to say you’ve probably not seen a version like this.
Mighty Jack is set in modern times, with Jack the young son of a hard-working single mother. His little sister Maddy doesn’t talk (she’s presented as on the autistic spectrum),
August 18th, 2018. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Dragon Lords: False Idols by Jon Hollins
I rather liked Jon Hollins’ 2016 novel The Dragon Lords: Fool’s Gold. It was fun, it had heart, it was surprisingly insightful, and it was chock-full of wordplay and schemes in addition to epic battles and blood. Its 2017 sequel, The Dragon Lords: False Idols, inherited a lot of those traits but comes up short on the fun that previously enchanted me.
The situation is rather more serious this time around: our merry band of adventurers is scattered across the south and south-eastern reaches of Avarra,
August 17th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | Jon Hollins | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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.),…