Kat: I read a novella by a promising new author named Andrew Kelly Stewart. We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep, published by Tor.com (audio by Tantor Audio), debuts on March 9. I’ll tell you about it soon.
Kelly: This weekend I’m “attending” my first virtual SFF convention. I’ve learned that I have much better dance moves in Second Life than I do in … uh, first life. I’m also reading The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston and Hard Light by Elizabeth Hand.
February 28th, 2021. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | no comments |
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
A Desolation Called Peace (2021) is Arkady Martine’s direct sequel to A Memory Called Empire, which was one of my favorite works in 2019. While not quite as strong, the standard being set so high simply means A Desolation Called Peace is an “excellent” rather than “great” read, and thus one that is easy to recommend.
As noted, this is a direct sequel,
February 26th, 2021. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Arkady Martine | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The announcement of a new book by one of our long-standing favorite writers is always cause for excitement and then eager anticipation.
Just as exciting is the discovery of a new talent, though here the joy is not anticipated but comes partway through a reading as the realization dawns that we are indeed reading something outstanding, written by someone who just might be added to that list of favorite authors.
Given this past year we’ve all had, that sort of discovery is all the more treasured.
So what say you readers? What relatively new authors in the past 1-2 years have broken through for you into that rarefied atmosphere?
February 25th, 2021. Bill Capossere | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 18 comments |
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
Cherie Dimaline is a Métis writer and activist from the Georgian Bay Métis Nation in Ontario, Canada. She has received a number of awards for her novels and short stories, none of which I’ve yet had the pleasure of reading — but after reading Empire of Wild (2020), I’m definitely going to track them down. Her use of First Nations themes and folklore is fascinating, and a delightful change from the many fantasies based on European images and tales.
Dimaline has set Empire of Wild in Arcand,
February 25th, 2021. Terry Weyna´s rating: 4.5 | Cherie Dimaline | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Writers, Writing, Reading, Books:
Marvel’s elite artist team created the Fine Arts covers for the final issues of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s run of Black Panther. Click through to see the mouth-watering covers themselves.
Wired provides a collection of interesting quotes from David Gerrold about worldbuilding and life on other planets.
Tonight, SymphonySpace is offering a live online event discussing the works of Octavia Butler. You can register at the site. Panelists include writers, musicians and actors: N.K.
February 24th, 2021. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris
Charlaine Harris’s alternative history/urban fantasy GUNNIE ROSE series shifts to a new setting in this third book in the series, The Russian Cage (2021), one that was foreshadowed by the ending of the prior book, A Longer Fall. Lizbeth Rose, who makes her living as a hired gun or “gunnie,” receives an intentionally cryptic letter from her younger half-sister, Felicia. For the past year, Felicia has been living in what once was California,
February 24th, 2021. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Charlaine Harris | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold
The Year I Flew Away (2021), by Marie Arnold, combines the timelessness of a fairy tale with the timeliness of the immigrant experience, all while being set in the 1980s amidst Whitney Houston and Prince. It’s a charming middle-grade novel full of heart and humor.
Gabrielle is a young girl living in Haiti; though she’s poor, she’s surrounded by family and friends. One day her parents have big news: Gabrielle is going to America to live with her aunt and uncle.
February 23rd, 2021. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Marie Arnold | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Land of the Lost by Roy Norton
A little while back, I had some words to say concerning Roy Norton’s 1919 novel The Glyphs, the Kewanee, Illinois native’s fourth and final novel containing fantastic content, in a career highlighted by numerous Western novels as well. The Glyphs, as I mentioned, was a compact affair, and a pleasing one, dealing with a sextet of adventurers and their explorations of a lost Mayan city in northern Guatemala.
February 22nd, 2021. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Roy Norton | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Jana: This week I read Everina Maxwell’s debut novel Winter’s Orbit, a sweet and fluffy romance that also weaves in some truly interesting space-opera elements. (Review in progress.) I have a few novellas that I need to catch up on so I can add my thoughts to existing reviews, and in non-FanLit reading, I’m making progress on Lucille Ball’s autobiography. What a truly fascinating life she led!
Bill: Yep–lots of school reading as with others. But since my last status, I did read:
Copper Road by our very own Marion,
February 21st, 2021. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 7 comments |
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
Our heroine, Maggie, is reeling from her divorce and drifting rather aimlessly through life — she considers herself a poet but hasn’t written a poem in years.
Then, her mentor dies mysteriously — drowned in a dry creekbed — and inexplicably leaves her his house in the Southwestern desert. She moves there, hoping to research a biography of him. At first, Maggie doesn’t like the desert; it seems sterile, forbidding, devoid of charm. Then one night a pooka cuddles up to her in bed,
February 19th, 2021. Kelly Lasiter and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Terri Windling | Mythopoeic Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.