Month: July 2021

The Midnight Bargain: A charming frolic of a book

The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

By the bottom of the second full page of text, when the protagonist of The Midnight Bargain (2020) walked into Harriman’s Bookshop, I was hooked. When Beatrice Clayborn entered the second-hand shop and I saw it through her eyes, the book claimed me, not unlike the way a spirit might claim a sorceress in Beatrice’s magical world.

It’s bargaining season, or marriage season in Beatrice’s world, and young women of the upper classes, like Beatrice, jostle and compete for the hand of a suitable husband.

WWWednesday: July 21, 2021

Charlotte Nicole Davis writes about getting her first Harry Potter tattoo at 21—and getting it removed. A moving essay about the things that get us through childhood, and the things we leave behind.

On Kalimac’s Corner, DB thinks about what they loved about Tolkien, and what other writers they found it in. (Thanks to File 770.)

There’s a new Shirley Jackson biography coming out.

Coincidence, or curse? You decide. Just like the original CW show, in the reboot of Charmed,

July 21st, 2021. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |

A Desert Torn Asunder: Jump on in, the series is fine! (and finished)

A Desert Torn Asunder by Bradley P. Beaulieu

If you’re like me, you’re always a bit wary of starting a new series that is obviously going to go on for some time. So much can go wrong: will the next book come out in my lifetime? Will the series go downhill at book three? Will the author actually finish it? So having just read A Desert Torn Asunder (2021), the conclusion to Bradley P. Beaulieu’s THE SONG OF THE SHATTERED SANDS, I’m happily adding it to my list of highly recommended DIRTI (Despite Its Required Time Investment) series.

July 21st, 2021. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Bradley P. Beaulieu | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Victory on Janus: A weak ending

Victory on Janus by Andre Norton

Victory on Janus (1966) is the sequel to Andre Norton’s Judgment on Janus (1963). The two novels make up the JANUS duology (Baen, 2002) which has recently been published by Tantor Media as an audiobook (2021). Gabriel Vaughan, the narrator, gives an excellent performance.

In Judgment on Janus, we met Naill Renfro, who was an indentured servant on the frontier planet of Janus.

Sunday Status Update: July 18, 2021

Marion: I have 8 5000-word pieces to read for next month’s Mendocino Coast Writers Conference (I don’t have to read my own) so that’s taken up quite a bit of time. I’m still browsing John Langan’s mammoth story collection Children of the Fang. The eponymous novella is one of my favorites so far. Last night I delved into the poetic and beautiful prose poem/essay collection Ghostways: Two Journeys in Unquiet Places, by Robert McFarlane and Dan Richards, hauntingly illustrated by Stanley Donwood.

Bill: This week I finished my reread of Steven Erikson’s MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN with Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God,

July 18th, 2021. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 1 comment |

A Broken Darkness: Nick’s in more trouble than ever

A Broken Darkness by Premee Mohamed

At the end of Beneath the Rising, the first book in Premee Mohamed’s cosmic horror trilogy of the same name, I thought narrator Nick Prasad couldn’t be worse off. Yes, he and his prodigy friend Joanna “Johnny” Chambers had closed an interdimensional rift and stopped the Ancient Ones from invading earth, but at the end Nick is left heartbroken, betrayed and disillusioned by what he has learned about Johnny. Like I said, I didn’t think it could get worse for him.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built: Tea and empathy

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Becky Chambers’ first novella in the MONK AND ROBOT series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021), is a lovely and optimistic tale of a tea monk who, while seeking an answer to the question of “What am I looking for?” meets a robot looking for an answer to the question of “What do you need, and how can I help?” More generally, the robot is trying to answer the question of what all people need,

WWWednesday: July 14, 2021

Thanks to Terry Weyna for this link to the Aurealis Award winners.

Congratulation to Natania Barron and other winners of the Manley Wade Wellman Award.

The Ladies of Horror site have unveiled their finalists for 2020. Premee Mohamed, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and T. Kingfisher are among the finalists.

On LitHub, Katie Biberdorf contemplates the chemistry of cocktails (well, booze in general).

Richard Branson went into space with some friends. This article has information about the others on board,

July 14th, 2021. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

Judgment on Janus: A good introduction to classic SF for an MG or YA audience

Judgment on Janus by Andre Norton

Naill Renfro lives in The Dipple, a ghetto on the pleasure planet of Korwar (same setting as in Catseye). He and his mother arrived there years ago as refugees when their home was destroyed by a space war. Now his mother is dying and she’s in a lot of pain and anguish. To purchase a final gift and a peaceful death for his mother, Naill sells himself into indentured servitude on a frontier planet called Janus.

When Naill arrives on Janus,

Sunday Status Update: July 11, 2021

Jana: This week I continued making progress with Helene Wecker’s The Hidden Palace, and was able to immerse myself in Becky Chambers’ novella A Psalm for the Wild-Built, the first volume in her MONK AND ROBOT series. Each book is enjoyable and thought-provoking in completely different ways, and I foresee strong recommendations for both in my future.

Bill: This week I read the basic but interestingly informative Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova,

July 11th, 2021. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 6 comments |

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