The professional reputation of Nebraska-born writer L. Ron Hubbard, it seems to me, has taken a double hit since his heyday in the 1940s. Hubbard, of course, was the founder of the cultish sect known as Scientology, and ever since the release of his initial article on Dianetics in the May 1950 issue of John W. Campbell’s Astounding Science-Fiction, and the founding of the group two years later, his name has been unavoidably linked to this oft-maligned pseudoreligion.
December 6th, 2018. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | L. Ron Hubbard | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
“Fear was the superpower they all possessed. And unlike Midsummer’s monsters, there was no limit to the number of people they could control with it.”
Vic James wraps up her hard-hitting DARK GIFTS fantasy trilogy with Bright Ruin (2018), which picks up right where the second book, Tarnished City, left off. This series is set an alternative version of our world where a minority, called the “Equals,” has powerful magical gifts.
December 6th, 2018. Tadiana Jones and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Vic James | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
A Joyous Hanukkah to all those who observe.
Conventions:
In addition to electing new officers Arisia has banned some people and restricted the involvement of others, in the wake of the report of their mishandling of a sexual assault complaint.
Scotland, known already for its Fringe Festival, will hold its first speculative fiction/horror fiction literary festival.
Afua Richardson will be a featured artist at WorldCon in Dublin, Ireland in 2019.
Various Controversies:
I mean,
December 5th, 2018. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
It is Alicia Ostriker, in her wonderful collection of essays Dancing at the Devil’s Party, who writes “the true poet is necessarily the partisan of energy, rebellion, and desire, and is opposed to passivity, obedience, and the authority of reasons, laws and institutions.” Daring to deconstruct one of the most dearly held myths of the Western world, Margaret Atwood’s 2005 The Penelopiad is certainly a tango step or two with the one with the pitchfork tail.
December 5th, 2018. Jesse Hudson and Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Margaret Atwood | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Legendary (2018) is the second novel in the CARAVAL trilogy. The third novel, Finale, is due out in May of 2019. I entered this series midstream, after sisters Donatella (Tella) and Scarlet have escaped their father’s controlling grip and freed themselves from the hold of their first Caraval competition. Now Tella is about to dive back into the stream for the sake of a debt she incurred in Caraval.
December 4th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 0.1 | Stephanie Garber | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland
Marion: We never know the name of our first-person narrator in Alexandra Rowland’s 2018 novel A Conspiracy of Truths. People call him Chant, but that is his vocation, not a name (he abandoned his name when he became a Chant). Chants gather stories and retell them. They go from place to place pursuing their craft, and in the isolated and insular country of Nuryevet, Chants offends the wrong people, and is put on trial for witchcraft.
December 3rd, 2018. Marion Deeds and Terry Weyna´s rating: 4.5 | Alexandra Rowland | SFF Reviews | no comments |
As we start December, it’s time for more reading!
Jana: This week I read Sarah Beth Durst‘s upcoming YA novel Fire & Heist, which is chock-a-block with wyverns, nerdy references, and more than one well-written heist; then I read J. Barton Mitchell’s The Razor, which has some neat ideas and a prison planet that I hope will be further explored in subsequent books. Reviews in progress. I also read Sarah Andersen’s Herding Cats, a collection of her funny and insightful comic strips,
December 2nd, 2018. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 3 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…