Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: February 2020

Skin Folk: Fifteen masterful stories

Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson

In Nalo Hopkinson’s Skin Folk, you’ll find 15 diverse Caribbean-inspired fantasy stories that are full of vividly-drawn characters, powerful prose, masterful storytelling, and imagery that is sensuous and haunting.

Skin Folk, Hopkinson’s first story collection, deservedly won the World Fantasy Award for Best Collection.

Some of Hopkinson’s stories are metaphors, many having to do with the theme of “skin” — whether it’s characters who are hiding, changing, or pretending to be something they’re not.

WWWednesday: February 12, 2020

Science:

A scientist at Stanford has turned jellyfish bionic, with plans to turn them into living information-gathering devices.

Awards:

File 770 shares the British Science Fiction Association shortlist.

Books and Writing:

In the New York Times, Brit Marling talks about the Dead Woman, the Strong Female Lead and how speculative fiction helped her find the actual feminine.

For Black History Month, the Mary Sue shares a recommended reading list.

February 12th, 2020. Marion Deeds | SFF Reviews, World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy: A very fine collection

The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy by Francis Stevens

Up until recently, Minneapolis-born author Francis Stevens had been a very solid 3 for 3 with this reader. Her first novel, 1918’s The Citadel of Fear, had proved to be a mindblower, dealing as it did with the lost city of Tlapallan, nightmarish creatures, and battling Aztec gods. Her second novel, 1919’s The Heads of Cerberus,

The Dark Fantastic: A thoughtful addition to race analysis in fantasy

The Dark Fantastic by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

In The Dark Fantastic (2019), Ebony Elizabeth Thomas offers up a thoughtful and important exploration of race in fantasy, looking in particular at four case studies: Rue in The Hunger Games, Gwen in Merlin, Bonnie in The Vampire Diaries, and Harry Potter. As should happen with books like these, reading it forces you to see things in a different light that you’ve long viewed and that have grown familiar.

February 10th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |

Sunday Status Update: February 9, 2020

Marion: At this writing, I’ve almost finished Kira Jane Buxton’s novel Hollow Kingdom, about a tame crow and a bloodhound who try to save humanity after a strange zombie apocalypse sweeps Seattle, Washington. The crow, named S.T, is our narrator. I took a break to read Cocaine Blues, one of Kerry Greenwood’s sprightly 1920s Austrailian murder mysteries featuring Phryne Fisher. Next up, Mazes of Power by Juliete Wade. I’m really eager to start that one!

Sandy: Moi? I am currently still suffering with the after effects of a concussion from around six weeks back,

February 9th, 2020. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 3 comments |

Hellboy (Vol. 9): The Wild Hunt: Hellboy and Arthurian legend

Hellboy (Vol. 9): The Wild Hunt by Mike Mignola (writer) & Duncan Fegredo (artist)

In The Wild Hunt, the main Hellboy plot moves forward in a significant manner. As we get into the comic, which ominously begins with Hellboy spying on a funeral of a king, we find two plot lines running throughout The Wild Hunt. First, Hellboy has been invited to gather with a group of men who hunt giants when two or more start roaming in groups to cause ruin and destruction wherever they go.

A Longer Fall: Weird West collides with Deep South

A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris’s GUNNIE ROSE series has already merged Old West, Russian magicians (called “grigori” in a nod to Rasputin), and alternative history; the setting is mid-twentieth century North America, in which the United States has fractured into multiple nations, including the “Holy Russian Empire,” with Tsar Alexei at its head, taking over what used to be California and Oregon. In A Longer Fall (2020), the second book in the series, the pre-civil rights era deep South gets pulled into the mix.

February 7th, 2020. Tadiana Jones and Jana Nyman´s rating: 3 | Charlaine Harris | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Thoughtful Thursday: What’s the best book you read last month?

It’s the first Thursday of the month. Time to report!

What is the best book you read in January 2020 and why did you love it? It doesn’t have to be a newly published book, or even SFF. We just want to share some great reading material. Feel free to post a full review of the book here, or a link to the review on your blog, or just write a few sentences about why you thought it was awesome.

(And don’t forget that we always have plenty more reading recommendations on our Fanlit Faves page and our 5-Star SFF page.

February 6th, 2020. FanLit | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 21 comments |

The Pursuit of William Abbey: Brilliant but painful

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North

“I do not know whether death is mercy, or love is easy, or vengeance is peace, or if all these things are lies or truth. Or if it is the truest thing of all to say that life is all of these things, all of these truths together in perfect contradiction, blinding us to a greater truth that lies beneath.”

My husband and I are foodies. We love to try new foods, new cuisines, and new restaurants. When we order off the menu,

WWWednesday: February 5, 2020

Inspiration:

Gwen Ifill is now on a first-class postage stamp. Since she was first-class, this is inspiring. PBS New Hours has video of the event.

Giveaway:

One commenter will get a paperback copy of Mark Lawrence’s novella One Word Kill.

Books and Writing:

At Polygon, Andrew Liptak has a list of February books for you.

Public Domain puts up some stunning antique book covers.

February 5th, 2020. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 11 comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8493 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:

Sandy Ferber on Late Star Trek: The Final Frontier in the Franchise EraJune 29, 2025
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
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…