The Song of Rhiannon by Evangeline Walton
The Song of Rhiannon (1972), the third volume in Evangeline Walton’s MABINOGION TETRALOGY, begins with Manawyddan, son of the sea god, haunted by grief and feeling directionless after the events of The Children of Llyr. (I haven’t read The Children of Llyr, but I have read “Branwen Daughter of Llyr,” the medieval Welsh tale on which it is based. It features a Red Wedding’s worth of deaths.) His friend Pryderi,
August 16th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Evangeline Walton | Mythopoeic Award | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
It’s time for our annual Fantasy Limerick contest!
Your task is to create an original limerick that has something to do with speculative fiction. It could be about a character, a series, an author, or whatever fits the theme. Here are the rules for creating a good limerick (quoting from this source). A limerick:
August 15th, 2019. FanLit | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 7 comments |
This Body’s Not Big Enough for the Both of Us by Edgar Cantero
This Body’s Not Big Enough for the Both of Us (2019), by Edgar Cantero, is a metafictional roller coaster ride in which the safety bar that holds you into your seat occasionally turns into licorice whips else or disappears completely.
One definition of metafiction is a form of fiction that comments on fictional and literary elements by self-consciously departing from literary conventions within the narrative. If you like metafiction,
August 15th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Edgar Cantero | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Strange Toys by Patricia Geary
Strange Toys is an odd, creepy novel. It won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1987, though apparently Patricia Geary hadn’t actually intended it as science fiction at all. I found it while exploring the labyrinthine basement of a local used bookstore, but it was reprinted in electronic form in 2018.
The heroine, nicknamed Pet, is the baby of her family. (We never learn her real name.) She is nine years old as the book begins,
August 15th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Patricia Geary | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Cons:
WorldCon 77 starts Thursday in Dublin, and many of our favorite writers and artists are already there. Two Guests of Honor put together a Dublin eating and drinking guide. (Thanks to File770.)
GenCon was held earlier this month in Indianapolis, Indiana. It’s billed as “more games than you could ever play in your lifetime.” I’m not a game person, but the Parks game grabbed my attention!
Arisia faces another setback, with an arbitration decision going against them due to their cancellation of the Boston-based con.
August 14th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |
Magdala Cled is an unattractive disabled woman living in a world where genetic engineering has ensured that everyone around her is beautiful and healthy. She’s a genetic misfit who has no family, friends, or social support of any type.
When a handsome rich man offers to make her beautiful, she goes along with his plan. What Magda doesn’t know is that her new body is the clone of a scientist/entrepreneur that her benefactor is competing with and for whom he has some evil plans.
I greatly admire Tanith Lee’s style,
August 14th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Tanith Lee | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin
A war is raging, and a young boy is sent to spend the summer with his grandmother in her small country village. His life changes forever when she decides to rescue a downed enemy pilot and nurse him back to health. While helping her tend to the injured man, the boy also meets Mr. Girandole, a faun, who was once his grandmother’s love and is still her dear friend.
She knows just the place to conceal the pilot while he convalesces: a crooked little tower in an overgrown sculpture garden in the woods.
August 14th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Frederic S. Durbin | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The King of the Dead by Frank Aubrey
As I have written elsewhere, Armchair Fiction’s current 24-book Lost World/Lost Race series is a godsend for all readers who enjoy this particular subgenre of fantastic literature, as jump-started and popularized by English author H. Rider Haggard in the mid-1880s. I’ve recently written about two of these 24, David Douglas’ The Silver God of the Orang Hutan and John Taine’s The Purple Sapphire,
August 13th, 2019. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Frank Aubrey | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel José Older
Daniel José Older’s Shadowshaper was one of the best books of 2015 — not “best YA books” but best books of all categories. It featured an engaging, authentic female hero, an original magical system, mundane issues as well as magical ones, and a distinctive voice and sensibility. 2017’s sequel, Shadowhouse Fall, shows no second-book slump in this series.
Sierra Santiago is mastering her skill as a shadowshaper, an ability that melds spirit contact with art,
August 13th, 2019. Marion Deeds and Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 5 | Daniel José Older | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
State Tectonics by Malka Older
State Tectonics (2018) is the third book in Malka Older’s CENTENAL CYCLE trilogy. The series is a Hugo finalist in the Best Series category. It did not end the way I expected it to!
(This review may contain spoilers for the previous books.)
At the end of Null States, the second book, the handful of main characters had uncovered a plot, not just against the micro-democracies,
August 12th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Malka Older | 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.