The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons
The Name of All Things (2019) follows up Jenn Lyons’ debut novel The Ruin of Kings, though “follows” is a bit of a misnomer since the vast majority of the book actually takes place concurrent with its predecessor’s action. I had some issues with book one, mostly with the structure, and while some of that carries over, albeit in different fashion, I found The Name of All Things to be an improvement overall.
November 18th, 2019. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Jenn Lyons | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Snow & Rose by Emily Winfield Martin
Snow & Rose (2017) is a charming middle grade level retelling of the Snow-White and Rose-Red fairy tale with illustrations by the author, Emily Winfield Martin. Rose and Snow are the beloved eleven and nine year old daughters of a nobleman and his commoner wife, a sculptor. Rose has black hair and rosy cheeks, and is patient and gentle; Snow has white-blonde hair and icy blue eyes, and has a wilder and more adventurous personality. They have a fat grey tabby cat called Earl Grey (I adore that name!
November 18th, 2019. Tadiana Jones and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Emily Winfield Martin | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Jana: This week Ray and I have been working on a collaborative review of Philip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth; we agree on some things, cheerfully disagree on others, and overall I feel confident in saying that we both have strong feelings that we’re looking forward to sharing with everyone. (Yes, I am being vague.) I’m also still enjoying Keith Ammann’s The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, which is definitely a reference manual rather than a book meant to be read cover-to-cover in one sitting,
November 17th, 2019. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | no comments |
Star Wars: Kanan Vol. 2: First Blood by Greg Weisman
Star Wars: Kanan Vol. 2: First Blood is the second collection of comics in an ongoing series that details the mysterious past of Kanan Jarrus, a main character of the animated television show Star Wars Rebels who — as a teenage Jedi Padawan — managed to escape the purge that wiped the rest of the Order out. Having joined the Rebellion as part of the crew of the Ghost, Kanan now finds himself increasingly haunted by his past as he and his team-mates start visiting planets he inhabited while still known as Caleb Dume.
November 15th, 2019. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Time for our sixth annual SPECULATIVE FICTION HAIKU CONTEST! Anyone can do this!
As a reminder, here are the rules:
For haiku, the typical subject matter is nature, but if you decide to be traditional, you must give it a fantasy, science fiction, or horror twist. We expect to be told that the peaceful wind you describe is blowing across a landscape of an unfamiliar, distant planet. And if your poem is about a flower, we hope that elegant little touch of beauty is about to be trampled by an Orc. We welcome the sublime as well as the humorous,
November 14th, 2019. Brad Hawley | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 13 comments |
Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw
Dreadful Company (2018) is the second book in Vivian Shaw’s warm-hearted DR GRETA HELSING series. It follows Strange Practice which, for best results, I’d recommend reading first. The stories are self-contained, but the characters’ relationships with each other evolve a bit throughout the series.
Greta has been asked to present a paper at a medical conference in Paris. She travels to the City of Lights with her vampire friend Lord Ruthven and,
November 14th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Vivian Shaw | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Aylmer Vance: Ghost-Seer by Alice & Claude Askew
As I have said elsewhere, this reader has long been a sucker for the Victorian/Edwardian ghost hunter. Previously, I had enjoyed the exploits of Algernon Blackwood’s John Silence — who had tackled, in the author’s five-story collection of 1908, a haunted house, a French town peopled by shape shifters, an Egyptian fire elemental, devil worship, and a nontraditional werewolf — and William Hope Hodgson’s Thomas Carnacki, who had gone up against, in the six-story collection of 1913 that was expanded to nine stories 35 years later,
November 14th, 2019. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Alice & Claude Askew | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Cool word for a Wednesday: gallimaufry (gall-uh-MAW-free); a noun meaning a jumble, a medley or a hodgepodge, or a spicy meat hash. (Isn’t that the planet Doctor Who came from?)
Housekeeping:
There will be no links columns on November 20 or November 27 because I will be out of town both weeks, but I will post a single-subject column on those dates.
Awards:
File 770 reported that the Sunburst Society, a Canadian society for the appreciation of science fiction, has suspended its Copper Cylinder award in 2019.
November 13th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
I don’t always agree with Nick Mamatas or his views on humanity, but I think he is one of the most interesting writers working right now, and Sabbath (2019), while it’s strange, is definitely interesting. The story behind the story is interesting and a little strange too. Sabbath (2019) is a novelization of a graphic novel called Sabbath: All Your Sins Reborn, by Matthew Tomao, which does not seem to be well known or much admired on the internet.
November 13th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Nick Mamatas | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
Greta Helsing, a 34 year old doctor, has a discreet medical practice in modern London. Her life’s mission is to study, help, and heal all of the supernatural creatures that most of the world is unaware of and would view as monsters if they did learn about them. As you might expect, this gets her into all sorts of weird situations that have been documented in Vivian Shaw’s DR GRETA HELSING series.
In this opening volume, we meet a couple of Greta’s best friends: Lord Ruthven,
November 13th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Vivian Shaw | Audio | 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.