Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: June 2019

Sunday Status Update: June 30, 2019

Another week, more fun books!

Jana: This week I waited for new glasses to arrive; I finally admitted to myself that experiencing constant eyestrain-related headaches and just scooting my monitor closer are not long-term solutions to everything becoming increasingly blurry. So while I can still read books in short spurts if I hold them just so, and I can get reviews written by hand, I’m spending less time at the computer than I would like. It is…frustrating, to say the least. I finished Mira Grant’s In the Shadow of Spindrift House and read Jane Yolen &

June 30th, 2019. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 3 comments |

Hellboy (Vol. 2): Wake the Devil: Hellboy must face his destiny

Hellboy (Vol. 2): Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola (writer and artist) and James Sinclair (artist)

In this second Hellboy volume, Wake the Devil, Mignola goes big by revealing more of Hellboy’s destiny. Hellboy confronts a ghostly but still powerful Rasputin (the key figure in volume one who brought Hellboy to Earth). Rasputin also confronts Abe Sapien, whose life is particularly at risk since he killed Rasputin in volume one. But before Rasputin makes his appearance to Hellboy and crew, they go on a hunt for a vampire thought to be killed by Hitler.

The Grand Dark: A successful experiment for fans of the very strange

The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey

By day, the bleak city of Lower Proszawa exists in shades of gray and black. Smoke from the many factories cloak the sky. Robotic vehicles roll along the streets, and robot devices and genetically-altered chimera share the sidewalks with the residents, including the wounded war veterans called Iron Dandies because many wear masks to hide burned and disfigured faces. By night, decadent theaters, bars, and mansions glow like moons as people party with a desperate glee — trying to hold at bay their fear of the plague,

SAGA Volume 5: SAGA keeps getting bigger

Saga, Volume 5, Issues 25-30 by Brian K. Vaughan

Saga Vol 5 represents a noticeable shift in tone in the ever-evolving series. Until this point the story has managed to wonderfully balance the tribulations of Alana, Marko, Klara and Hazel; The Will, Lying Cat, Gwendolyn and Sophia in pursuit, Prince Robot IV, and the renegade terrorist Dengo. Some of my absolute favorite moments of Vol 4 involved Alana’s acting career and the hardships and temptations faced by Marko as a stay-at-home dad. I also found the story of Dengo incredibly relevant to today’s world in depicting the mentality of a terrorist who believes that murder of innocents is justified in pursuit of a larger goal.

Thoughtful Thursday: 2019 Hugo Awards: Novelettes & Short Stories

The 2019 Hugo Awards will be presented at Worldcon 77 in Dublin, Ireland, on August 18. The Hugo Award finalists are chosen by readers who are voting members of Worldcon. This week we’ll talk about the shortest works, novelettes and short stories. We’ll discuss other categories in future columns.

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 our favorites.

Who do you think will win the Hugo Award in these categories?

June 27th, 2019. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 10 comments |

Take a Thief: The backstory of a popular VALDEMAR character

Take a Thief by Mercedes Lackey

One of Mercedes Lackey’s most popular characters is Herald Skif, the young former thief who we met in the first two VALDEMAR trilogies (HERALDS OF VALDEMAR and MAGE WINDS). In Take a Thief (2001), a stand-alone prequel novel, Lackey gives us his backstory.

It starts as so many of her stories do. Skif is a young orphaned boy who is basically a slave to his cruel uncle.

Poe Dameron Vol. 5: The Spark and the Fire: A rewarding wrap-up to a great series

Star Wars: Poe Dameron Vol. 5: The Spark and the Fire by Charles Soule & Angel Unzueta

They certainly left the best for last, as this final instalment in the POE DAMERON series involves exciting new adventures, several important “gap fillers”, seriously beautiful artwork, and some much-needed development and introspection from our titular character.

Whereas the previous volumes have all taken place before The Force Awakens, this one jumps ahead to the aftermath of the battle of Crait, in which Poe, Finn and Rey (and BB-8 of course) are finally able to catch up on the Millennium Falcon.

WWWednesday: June 26, 2019

Books and Writing:

Mark Lawrence, who manages and hosts the annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) also has a “cover contest.” So far, three covers are up, and they’re pretty good! (Thanks to File 770.)

Dark Matter zine shares late illustrator Ian Gunn’s “silly illos” of fiction clichés. This week is, “The villain, pursued by cops, climbs to the top of the highest building in the city, and then falls off.”

Ian Sales, who neither nominates nor votes for the Hugos although he is eligible to,

June 26th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

SHORTS: Heller, Moore, Hamilton, Bradbury, Asimov

SHORTS: In this week’s column we review several of the Hugo-nominated short fiction works, including four of the Retro Hugo nominees.

“When We Were Starless” by Simone Heller (2018, free at Clarkesworld, $3.99 Kindle magazine issue). 2018 Hugo award nominee (novelette).

In a fallen, future version of our Earth, Mink’s tribe of nomadic, intelligent lizards wanders the land, living at a bare subsistence level and frequently threatened by physical dangers, like giant verminous creatures called rustbreed. One of the tribe’s treasures is their weavers,

Poe Dameron Vol. 4: Legend Found: Who doesn’t like a space heist?

Star Wars: Poe Dameron Vol. 4: Legend Found by Charles Soule & Angel Unzueta

The fourth volume in the POE DAMERON series, which details the early conflict between the (still fledging) Resistance and First Order forces, really starts to line things up with the opening act of The Force Awakens in this issue — specifically, the search to find Lor San Tekka, an intergalactic explorer who may have clues to finding the location of Luke Skywalker.

Played by Max von Sydow in the movie, we’re introduced to him here breaking into a high security vault in order to study an ancient Jedi artefact.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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