The Rick Riordan Presents imprint’s mission statement is, in part, “to publish great middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage,” leading to the publication of novels like Roshani Chokshi’s Aru Shah and the End of Time and J.C. Cervantes’ The Storm Runner, and most recently joined by Yoon Ha Lee’s Dragon Pearl (2019),
February 21st, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Yoon Ha Lee | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Cons (Shameless Plug):
For any of our readers in northern coastal California, FOGCon is coming up, March 8-10. Guests of honor are Karen Joy Fowler (We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves) and Becky Chambers (A Closed and Common Orbit). Your humble reviewers, Terry Weyna and me, will be on panels. Terry will participate on “Down to Earth; the Future of Green Burial,” and “Discovering Short Fiction.” I will be part of the panel titled “Just What is She Looking For?” and “It’s Never Too Late,” or as I like to call it,
February 20th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
A Voice in the Night by Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt is one of the numerous authors whose work I know because my dad said, “Hey, read this!” In McDevitt’s case, the “this” was The Engines of God. Having thus been introduced to recurring protagonist Priscilla Hutchins, I read several others of McDevitt’s novels and I’ve always enjoyed them. So I was interested to pick up this book of short stories to see how McDevitt does them.
Overall, I think I prefer McDevitt’s work at novel length;
February 20th, 2019. Nathan Okerlund´s rating: 3.5 | Jack McDevitt | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Gates of Stone by Angus Macallan
Angus Macallan turns in a solid if somewhat overly familiar fantasy story in Gates of Stone (2019), the first in a series entitled LORD OF THE ISLANDS. What saves the book from sinking in that familiarity, though, are some interesting characters and a less-familiar setting/mythos.
The novel follows four characters in mostly separated story lines, though they do cross paths now and then before the stories converge. In one, sixteen-year-old Princess Katerina, robbed of what she thinks was her rightful place as heir to the Empire of the Ice-Bear (think ancient Russia) and married off to a Southron prince,
February 19th, 2019. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Angus Macallan | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
“Do Not Look Back, My Lion” by Alix E. Harrow (2019, free in Beyond Ceaseless Skies, Issue #270, Jan. 31, 2019; 99c Kindle magazine issue)
“Do Not Look Back, My Lion,” begins and ends with Eefa leaving home — she cannot bear to see her daughters and wife march to war any longer, is tired of her wife’s promises that this child (and this child and that child) will be the last marked at birth for service in the Emperor’s endless armies, is tired of being the only worshipper in the lonely Temple of Life while the Temple of Death’s “floor is gummed with the blood of hens and calves and the air is heavy with char.” Eefa,
February 18th, 2019. Jana Nyman, Tadiana Jones and Bill Capossere | Alix E. Harrow, Mary Robinette Kowal | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Chronin Vol. 1: The Knife at Your Back by Alison Wilgus
The time: July 1864. The place: a tea shop in Edo; what modern folks would call Tokyo, Japan. After some reluctance on his part, a tea mistress named Hatsu hires a reticent samurai, Yoshida Minoru, to act as her bodyguard while she travels outside the city on a private errand. What Hatsu quickly discovers, and what the reader already knows, is that Yoshida Minoru is no samurai at all — but is actually Mirai Yoshida, a university student from New York City in the year 2042.
February 18th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Looking for something to read? Here’s what we’re looking at…
Marion: I read Robin Sloan’s delightful Sourdough this week. Kat reviewed it here, but I may add a few comments. The book was even more fun for me because I’ve been to some of the locations used, like the Ferry Terminal’s farmers market or the island of Alameda. I loved the “Lois Club,” and it’s pretty clear that one particular character was inspired by Alice Waters of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse fame. I also finished another dark,
February 17th, 2019. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 2 comments |
In Marvel 1985, Mark Millar tells us the story of comics coming to real life. Young Toby Goodman sees the Red Skull one day, and wonders if his eyes might be deceiving him, but after he sees a few more Marvel characters, he realizes that the super-villains from the Marvel Universe are invading our reality. He encounters the Hulk at one point, but mainly it’s the bad guys coming to his small town: Ultron, the Blob, Sandman, and many more villains appear and begin to kill indiscriminately.
February 16th, 2019. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Mark Millar | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
First Lensman by E. E. “Doc” Smith
Although a fairly direct sequel to Triplanetary, which is now almost universally regarded as the opening salvo in E. E. “Doc” Smith’s famed LENSMAN series, Book 2, perhaps misleadingly titled First Lensman, was actually the last of the six books comprising this most famous of all Golden Age space operas to be written. As I mentioned in my review of Book 1, Smith had originally written Books 3 through 6 over the 13-year period 1934 –
February 15th, 2019. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | E.E. "Doc" Smith | SFF Reviews | no comments |
They Shall Have Stars by James Blish
The optimism of Modernism expressed itself in a variety of fashions. Silver Age science fiction perhaps the grandest of them all, the infinite potential of technology was a playground which hundreds of writers rushed to frolic on. Jaunts to Mars, telekinetic communication, robot servants — a universe of ideas was the genre’s oyster. Space flight perhaps the most utilized trope, there was no shortage of schemes and inspiration about how mankind could achieve the stars. Approaching in realist mode (chronologically, that is), James Blish and his CITIES IN FLIGHT sequence posited that discoveries in mathematics and solar system exploration would be the ticket to the galaxy.
February 15th, 2019. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 3.5 | James Blish | SFF Reviews | no comments |
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
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.