Deal With the Devil by Kit Rocha
If I’m told that a new series is titled MERCENARY LIBRARIANS, that sets up certain expectations in my mind — namely, that librarian-ing is going to feature prominently in the introductory novel, or at least be a driving force behind the primary plot. And while the treasure-trove of the Rogue Library of Congress is how the heroine of Deal With the Devil (2020) is enticed into making a deal with the leader of a mercenary squad known as the Silver Devils,
September 14th, 2020. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3 | Kit Rocha | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Jana: This week I read Kit Rocha’s Deal With the Devil, a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy about mercenary librarians and super-soldiers that has some well-written fight scenes. I’m nearly finished with Jonathan Strahan’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 1: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2020, and I started reading Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea, which is lovely and dream-like.
Bill: I’ve been more hit than miss on status reports lately due to school opening.
September 13th, 2020. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | no comments |
Frankenstein Underground by Mike Mignola (author) & Ben Stenbeck (artist)
One of the best books in the wider Hellboy Universe, Frankenstein Underground takes the famous literary monster and places him in a battle for light against darkness. This book is one of my favorite comics I have read recently. Frankenstein’s monster seems to have a patchy memory, and other than recalling random events here and there, he only remembers one name — Frankenstein — which he thinks is his own. In the opening scene, “Frankenstein” is on the run,
September 12th, 2020. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Mike Mignola | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons
I’ve had a mixed reaction to Jenn Lyons’ series since book one, The Ruin of Kings, so it seems only appropriate that I had two different reactions to book three, The Memory of Souls (2020), with a lot of frustration and annoyance to the first half of the book and a greater appreciation and enjoyment in the second half. All of which leaves me still up in the air in terms of recommending what will turn out to be a relatively lengthy series.
September 11th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Jenn Lyons | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
A dead body is an awful thing to find on the floor of a bakery, especially when you’re a fourteen-year-old baker’s assistant with just a minor talent in magic, enough to make gingerbread men dance and biscuit dough turn fluffy on command. It’s worse when the city inquisitor decides to accuse you of the murder, for no particularly good reason. It’s even worse when you realize that there’s a mysterious assassin on the loose, targeting people who have magical powers, no matter how insignificant.
September 11th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | T. Kingfisher | Children | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Time for another “Rename This Horrible Cover” contest!
Actually, this cover isn’t that bad, but we do feel like the book needs a better title — one that fits the cover art better.
Can you suggest one?
The creator of the title we like best wins a book from our stacks.
Got a suggestion for a horrible cover that needs renaming? Please send it to Kat.
September 10th, 2020. FanLit | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 18 comments |
Castle in the Stars: A Frenchman on Mars by Alex Alice
Castle in the Stars: A Frenchman on Mars (2020) is the fourth book in the graphic novel series by Alex Alice that follows a steampunk journey first to the moon and then to Mars. Like the others, it’s a bit of a mixed bag in its art-text balance. I’ll let you read the reviews of the first two here and here rather than recapitulate the plot, focusing here instead on the artwork and the words.
September 10th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews
The violence between Houston’s powerful magical families breaks out again when Felix Morton is mysteriously murdered. Felix was involved in a private contract project involving an alliance between five magical Houses who are attempting to reclaim the Jersey Village suburb of Houston, which has become a pit for wild arcane magical creatures. If the reclamation succeeds, the land is worth a fortune, but Felix’s murder at the site puts a definite damper on the project.
Catalina Baylor — still recuperating from her broken heart when Alessandro Sagredo abruptly left her at the end of Sapphire Flames,
September 10th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4.5 | Ilona Andrews | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Congratulations to John Scalzi (The Last Emperox), Erin Morgenstern (The Starless Sea) T. Kingfisher (The Twisted Ones), and all the other 2020 Dragon Award winners! It was a great ballot this year, with lots of discussion to come, I’m sure. Oh, look! Here are some now.
Like nearly every other convention, this year’s World Fantasy Convention will be online.
Books and Writing:
The Mary Sue hosted a discussion among four Tor authors about characters who define Chaotic Good.
September 9th, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
After eight novels dealing with such venerable science fiction themes as lost races, weapons of superscience, the transmutation of elements, dinosaurs, devolution, crystalline life-forms and the creation of a superman, Scottish-American author John Taine finally tackled one of the most revered sci-fi tropes of them all, namely time travel, in his ninth novel, The Time Stream. Today, this book comes freighted with a double-edged reputation, as it is said to be the author’s strangest novel of the 16 he wrote between 1924 and ’54,
September 9th, 2020. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | John Taine | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Kind of you to say. I certainly like to think so!
BTW, Steve Sterner will be performing at seven films during this upcoming fest: https://filmforum.org/series/clara-bow
As far as I know, Bill, Steve Sterner is the only person who does the live accompaniment to silent movies…
And I'm positive that Kaidan will fondly remember watching these movies with his old man for the rest of his…
You bet, Marion!