The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
“sentence (n)1. A grammatical unit comprising a word or a group of words that is separate from any other grammatical construction, and usually consists of at least one subject with its predicate and contains a finite verb or verb phrase; for example, ‘The door is open’ and ‘Go!’ are sentences.”
I didn’t know what to expect from Louise Erdrich’s metafictional ghost story The Sentence (2021) and she still managed to surprise me. Starting with the title,
January 11th, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Louise Erdrich | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Amber Crown by Jacey Bedford
The Amber Crown (2022), by Jacey Bedford, contains several elements that tend to have me leaning away rather than into a book, including rape, implied rape, threatened rape, and some torture/horrid executions. I mention them upfront for the convenience of those who can tell already the book isn’t for them and so will stop reading the review now (I should note they aren’t egregiously gratuitous, mined for trauma [as characterization] rather than titillation; the book is far from torture porn). For those for whom those are not dealbreakers,
January 10th, 2022. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Jacey Bedford | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
This week, I’m reviving a mothballed tradition that helps us out occasionally in lean times – the return of the character update.
Ayesha: Week 149,986. Still waiting eternally in holy Kor for my lost love Kallikrates to be reborn and find his way to me, yadda yadda. One of my priestesses asked me recently why it was that Kallikrates hadn’t been reborn yet, and where his spirit was in the meantime. I was forced to admit that spirits don’t actually wait in penalty boxes and Kallikrates is reborn someplace. He’s just not quite right yet.
January 9th, 2022. Tim Scheidler | Status Update | 3 comments |
Resident Alien (Vol. 1): Welcome to Earth! By Peter Hogan (writer) and Steve Parkhouse (artist)
In Resident Alien, Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle is a ship-wrecked alien in a small town, acting as a general practitioner. He appears as a human to adults — only small children can see his alien appearance. So, he goes undetected. He’s a matter-of-fact, down-to-earth kind of guy, and this first volume (of six volumes so far) by Peter Hogan tells us the story of how he came to be a doctor in the first place.
January 8th, 2022. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Last Dragon Standing by Rachel Aaron
Last Dragon Standing (2018) is the epic finale of Rachel Aaron’s self-published HEARTSTRIKERS series. I’ve been listening to the audio edition of the HEARTSTRIKERS novels and can recommend them without reservation to readers interested in this fun and heart-warming saga. I listened to them with my 19-year-old daughter and we loved the narration by Vikas Adam. If you haven’t read the previous four books, Nice Dragons Finish Last,
January 7th, 2022. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Rachel Aaron | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
It’s the first Thursday of the month. Time to report!
What is the best book you read in December 2021 and why did you love it? It doesn’t have to be a newly published book, or even SFF, or even fiction. 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.
January 6th, 2022. FanLit | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 13 comments |
Tales of the Greatcoats Volume 1 by Sebastian De Castell
“So I’m only in one of these nine Greatcoats stories?” Brasti asked, pausing his work.
“Yes,” De Castell replied. “Though to—”
“But Kest gets two?”
“The man knows talent when he sees it,” Kest said, skimming through the pages of Tales of the Greatcoats. “I especially like how you have me win a duel without actually fighting the duel. And … Hold on, I’m in only two?”
Brasti snorted.
January 6th, 2022. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Sebastien De-Castell | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Hogmanay is the Scottish New Year’s Eve celebration. Here are a few of the enduring traditions.
Tomorrow, January 6, is Epiphany, Three Kings Day or Twelfth Night, and has its own set of traditions. To wrap things up, I tracked down Mary Berry’s King’s Cake recipe on Pinterest. (It’s a super-deluxe fruit cake, but so much more British than ours.)
File770 highlighted the problems some authors are having with Amazon Kindle direct Publishing (KDP). Lexi Ostrow gives a blow-by-blow of her horrendous experience here.
January 5th, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
Not as ambitious in terms of creative storytelling or theme as WandaVision or as wildly fun as Loki or What If?, Hawkeye is equally good in a different way, though it’s not without its flaws and the ending had its own set of issues. Despite those problems, it may be the most consistently enjoyable of the Marvel shows to date. Spoilers to follow.
Hawkeye tells a much smaller, much more grounded story than its counterparts, with no superpowers, time traveling,
January 5th, 2022. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire
I’ve been very hit and miss on Seanan McGuire’s WAYWARD CHILDREN series, with my rating on books ranging from two stars to four. Though the results have been more miss than hit overall, since the books’ novella lengths mean they aren’t a big time investment, I thought I’d give the latest, Where the Drowned Girls Go (2022), a shot in hopes it would be closer to the four than the two. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
January 4th, 2022. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Seanan McGuire | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
This book made no sense to me at all. I was hoping for some explanations at the end but it…
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂
Hammer Studios is... reborn? I only ever read the "Kane" stories, which I found good but dark. It's a little…
Oh...and the men used the name "The Great Northern Expedition" to throw people off as to their actual destination, even…
Oh, it IS, Marion! It is!