Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: April 2019

The Girl Who Was Plugged In: James Tiptree, Jr.’s 19th Century Monster in 20th Century Science Fiction

Terry Weyna, a FanLit staffer since December 2010, has often wished she had pursued a Ph.D. in English rather than a J.D., but recognizes that she’d have the same feeling, but in reverse, had she done so. As a hobby, she occasionally commits literary criticism, as the following close textual analysis of The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree, Jr. demonstrates. You can read The Girl Who Was Plugged In here. We’d love to hear your thoughts on Tiptree’s work.

The Girl Who Was Plugged In: James Tiptree,

April 12th, 2019. Terry Weyna | Expanded Universe | 4 comments |

The Deepest Blue: Love conquers all

The Deepest Blue by Sarah Beth Durst

Readers who have been anxiously awaiting more tales set within the lands of Renthia (and I am loudly, proudly one of them) are sure to be pleased by The Deepest Blue (2019), the latest from Sarah Beth Durst, which is billed as a stand-alone TALES OF RENTHIA novel and is set after the events of The Queen of Sorrow. The only true indicator of timeline is the appearance of one of my favorite people in all of Renthia,

April 12th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Beth Durst | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Thornbound: A Regency magic school for women

Thornbound by Stephanie Burgis

“For over seventeen hundred and fifty years, ever since the great Boudicca herself had sent the Romans fleeing Angland with the help of her second husband’s magery, a clearly defined line had been drawn in the public arena, never to be broken. The hard-headed ladies of Angland saw to the practicalities of rule whilst the more mystical and emotional gentlemen dealt with magic.”

In this magical, alternative-history version of England, called Angland, traditional roles are genderbent: the women handle politics and rule the country,

April 12th, 2019. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Stephanie Burgis | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Joust: Quite entertaining despite the problems

Joust by Mercedes Lackey

Vetch’s family used to own land in Alta, but when they were invaded and occupied by Tia, Vetch’s father was killed and the rest of his family became serfs. Vetch, who was taken away from his mother and sisters, is now the servant of a horrible fat and lazy man who’s pretty much the worst master you can imagine. (All of Mercedes Lackey’s bad guys are really really bad!)

When a Tian dragon jouster named Ari notices Vetch’s plight, he rescues him and takes him as his own servant.

Alice Payne Arrives: The problems with time travel

Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield

Alice Payne arrives on the scene in this 2018 Nebula-nominated novella, and it looks like she’s setting up for a longer but welcome stay. Alice Payne is a half-black, thirty-two-year-old woman living in 1788 England in a mansion called Fleance Hall, with her father and a handful of servants; she’s also a closeted queer woman in a secret relationship with her companion, an inventor named Jane Hodgson. Alice and her father have fallen into financial straits, and her father, who is suffering from severe PTSD as a result of fighting in the American Revolution,

The Face in the Frost: A short, charming, classic fantasy

The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs

Thanks to Tantor Media for giving us a wonderful audio edition of The Face in the Frost, John Bellairs’ short classic fantasy novel which was first published in 1969. It’s performed by Eric Michael Summerer and is 5 hours long.

Prospero is a small-time wizard who lives in a small kingdom. Lately he’s been noticing some odd occurrences around his house and starts to suspect that something sinister is going on.

When his studious and adventurous friend Roger Bacon (also a wizard) arrives for a visit,

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach: Ecological remediation + time travel

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach (2018), one of several exceptional novellas nominated for the 2018 Nebula award, combines some intelligent and subtle world-building in the aftermath of worldwide disasters, the future version of project financing and lobbying (with lamentable similarities to our current world), and time travel to ancient Mesopotamia as research for an environmental remediation project.

In the 23rd century, humanity is beginning to rebuild on the surface of the Earth after living underground for many years in “hives and hells.” Life on the surface is limited to specific habitats,

The Hidden World: The plot really thickens

The Hidden World by Melinda Snodgrass

Stop right there and don’t read past this paragraph if you haven’t yet read The High Ground and In Evil Times, the first two books in Melinda Snodgrass’s IMPERIALS saga. The Hidden World (2018) is book three (of five total, I think) and my review can’t help but contain spoilers for the previous books.

Fourteen years have passed since we left Tracy and Mercedes at the end of In Evil Times.

Tiamat’s Wrath: Choose your poison — heartbreaking or heart-stopping

Tiamat’s Wrath by James S. Corey

8 Reasons You Should Read Book Eight of THE EXPANSE — Tiamat’s Wrath

1. It comes after the seven others you’ve already read. Let’s not overthink it.

2. Space battles! Magnestar battleships, plasma torpedoes, rail guns, body armor, antimatter weapons, overwhelming odds, strategery, space sieges, tricky orbital mechanics, ambushes and armadas, Bobbie doing crazy marine stuff, Alex doing crazy pilot stuff, things going boom (though silently ‘cause you know, space)!

3. Moving reunions of people who have been separated far too long,

April 8th, 2019. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | James S.A. Corey | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Second Stage Lensman: Book 5 of one of the greatest space operas

Second Stage Lensman by E.E. “Doc” Smith

As I mentioned in my review of Gray Lensman, Book 4 of E.E. “Doc” Smith’s famed six-part LENSMAN series, that installment, although it followed its predecessor, Galactic Patrol, by mere seconds storywise, was actually released over 1½ years later; 20 months later, to be exact. Book 5 of the series, Second Stage Lensman, would follow the same scheme. Although the events therein transpire just moments after the culmination of Book 4,

April 8th, 2019. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | E.E. "Doc" Smith | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8492 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Subscribe to all posts:

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:

You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US UK CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

Paul Connelly on WWWednesday: June 25, 2025June 27, 2025
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
Marion Deeds on The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses: An award-winning series that’s not for meJune 26, 2025
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…
Becky Ashwell on Late Star Trek: The Final Frontier in the Franchise EraJune 26, 2025
Gentlemen, I concur! (Forgive me for jumping into your convo)
Marion Deeds on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A graphic novel adaptation by Manu Larcenet (An Oxford College Student Review!)June 25, 2025
The cover is amazing. I love how the graphic novel (and the review!) hewed close to the theme of "good…
Gregory S Hersom on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A graphic novel adaptation by Manu Larcenet (An Oxford College Student Review!)June 24, 2025
I've thought about picking that one up. The artwork looks perfect.