Sorcery of a Queen by Brian Naslund
Honestly, I could give Brian Naslund’s Sorcery of a Queen (2020) a four just for the following jail-break exchange:
“Stay exactly two paces behind me at all times … Stop when I stop, move when I move.”
“So, your plan doesn’t involve putting on pants?”
“No.”
“Could we maybe restrategize so that it does?”
I got to that bit of dialogue around three a.m.
November 30th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Brian Naslund | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Kat: Since you heard from me a couple of weeks ago, I’ve re-read Arkady & Boris Strugatsky‘s Monday Starts on Saturday. This time I’ll get it reviewed. Also read Chloe Neill‘s The Bright and Breaking Sea (first book in a new series), K. Eason‘s How the Multiverse Got its Revenge (sequel to How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse), and Andrzej Sapkowski‘s The Tower of Fools (first in a new trilogy that has nothing to do with THE WITCHER).
November 29th, 2020. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | no comments |
Abe Sapien (Vol. 1): The Drowning by Mike Mignola (writer), Jason Shawn Alexander (artist), Dave Stewart (colors), and Clem Robins (letters)
The Abe Sapien series is nine volumes long, and it is an essential part of the Hellboy canon. The series is as good as the Hellboy series and should not be missed by any fans of Mignola’s Hellboy universe. Abe Sapien: The Drowning starts off mysteriously in 1884 as a man boards a ship from a Victorian steampunk-like blimp and begins shooting men with writing on their chests.
November 28th, 2020. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Mike Mignola | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
To our American readers: Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays here at Fanlit. A time we normally set aside for family, close friends, and (of course) good food. A time to consider how grateful we are for those and other aspects of our lives. A chance to reflect on the larger perspective than perhaps our daily lives don’t leave us much time for.
This year, of course, is different. The time we’ll set aside for family will be Facetime. Our close friends haven’t been close enough for far too long. Our food will be less elaborate,
November 26th, 2020. Bill Capossere | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 48 comments |
DisCon, slated for August of 2021, updated its membership counts.
Books and Writing:
A little inspiration for participants in NaNoWriMo: Seven published works that started off as WriMo projects.
George R.R. Martin provides his irregular, semi-annual update on The Winds of Winter, and no, he hasn’t finished it. (Thanks to File770.)
Publishers Weekly reports that the Big Five publishers saw profits rebound last quarter… so, good for them.
Nerds of a Feather interviews a translator who works largely in the speculative fiction field.
November 25th, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
Reposting to include Marion’s new review.
Sleep Donation by Karen Russell
In the near future, an insomnia epidemic has struck the United States. It’s caused by a dysfunction in orexin and those who acquire it can’t sleep. Eventually, they die. But there is a therapy that can help prolong life and, in some cases, even cure people. Donors can contribute sleep to those afflicted with the disorder. Babies make the best donors because their sleep isn’t contaminated by nightmares.
Trish is the top recruiter for a charity organization that finds sleep donors.
November 24th, 2020. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Karen Russell | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Dead Man in a Ditch by Luke Arnold
Dead Man in a Ditch (2020) is the second book in Luke Arnold’s FETCH PHILLIPS ARCHIVES. It follows The Last Smile in Sunder City in which we met “man for hire” Fetch Phillips who, out of guilt for his role in the event that destroyed magic in the world, works only for the magical creatures who are now suffering and feeling threatened.
Fetch has a couple of investigations going on in this installment.
November 23rd, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Luke Arnold | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Marion: It was not a good week for reading because I had writing to accomplish, but on Wednesday I started Hilary Mandel’s The Mirror and the Light, the third book about Thomas Cromwell.
Bill:This was an eclectic week of reading, which included:
November 22nd, 2020. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | no comments |
Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes
If your view of a Neanderthal is a sloped-head, grunting, not-so-bright guy hunched against blowing snow while he tracks a mammoth, unaware of his impending extinction and eventual supplantation by his far-smarter and much smugger cousins (that would be us), it’s time to update that image. And archaeologist Rebecca Wragg Sykes has just the method of doing so: her fascinating, detailed, and vivid recreation of our ancestor: Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art (2020).
For the longest time Neanderthals were seen as a failed species: brutish,
November 20th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 5 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
At this point, I think the teen heartthrob version of King Arthur might be displacing the venerable monarch version. Between that BBC Merlin series, Avalon High, and the seemingly never-ending Mordred in Leather Pants novels that just keep coming and coming like my own personal karmic retribution, people just seem to have a lot of interest in Young Arthur lately. It’s probably a symptom of our youth-obsessed culture or something. I tell you, back in the good old days,
November 20th, 2020. Tim Scheidler´s rating: 3.5 | Kiersten White | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
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…