Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
Untethered Sky is a mostly enjoyable fantasy novella by Fonda Lee, but one whose brevity I felt prevented it from reaching its full emotive potential. This is, however, something I often feel upon reading novellas (though not always as per my 5-star review of The Lies of the Ajungo), so readers of this review should keep that in mind. Some of us, it appears, are just generally not built for the form, though exceptions can always break through.
April 11th, 2023. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Fonda Lee | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Shores of Another Sea by Chad Oliver
1961 was something of a banner year for Cincinnati-born sci-fi author Chad Oliver. In the first part of that year, having already released four novels of anthropological science fiction, he received his Ph.D. in anthropology at UCLA, a degree that would help him become an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin two years later, and the Chairman of the Dept. of Anthropology there in 1967. And in the latter part of 1961,
April 10th, 2023. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Chad Oliver | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
Malka Older’s 2023 novella, The Mimicking of Known Successes, gives us a Sherlock-Holmes-like mystery-adventure set on Jupiter. The extraterrestrial locale is more than merely a setting; it’s part of the plot of this charming SF mystery romp.
When humans finally rendered Earth uninhabitable, they moved to other planets in the solar system; at least to Jupiter, which is called Giant. The surface of Giant is also uninhabitable, but engineered bands encircle the planet at the point where atmosphere and gravity allow for human life (with obvious adjustments).
April 7th, 2023. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Malka Older | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
It’s the first Thursday of the month. Time to report!
What’s the best book you read in March 2023 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.
April 6th, 2023. FanLit | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 12 comments |
Nominations are open for the Ursula K. LeGuin prize.
The Tolkien Society Awards were announced on April 1, and apparently that isn’t a joke. These awards include visual arts.
Oh, no, I missed a scandal. I have failed you. Apparently, during the tallying of the SFWA Nebula Award nominees, an editor from Baen Books cast doubt on the counts, providing a screenshot of a list with a Baen book near the top. Strangely, the screenshot wasn’t from the nominating list at all, but a completely different SFWA list.
April 5th, 2023. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 5 comments |
Dead Country by Max Gladstone
Dead Country (2023) is Max Gladstone’s seventh title in his highly recommended CRAFT series (OK, technically, it’s the start of a new trilogy entitled CRAFT WARS), which might make some readers who sadly have yet to wade into the series hesitant to pick it up. But in some ways, Dead Country is oddly a perfect place to enter this universe. Let me explain.
No, there is too much.
April 5th, 2023. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Max Gladstone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Crownbreaker by Sebastien de Castell
In 2019’s Crownbreaker, the final book of the SPELLSLINGER series, Kellen Argos, once Ke’Helios of the House of Ke, is expected to kill a god.
This isn’t the weirdest thing the protagonist of Sebastien De Castell’s fantasy saga has been asked to do, but it’s probably in the top two. Strangely, nearly everyone Kellen knows—his father, his Argosi mentor Ferius, even the queen he is pledged to protect, all want him to do it. I don’t think those folks have ever agreed on anything before.
April 3rd, 2023. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Sebastien De-Castell | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Stumptown (Vol. One): Stumptown Vol. 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo by Greg Rucka (writer) & Matthew Southworth (artist)
Stumptown volume one collects the first four issues of Greg Rucka’s excellent comic book series about P.I. Dex Parios. Clearly influenced by Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald, and Parker, Rucka takes the tradition of the hardboiled P.I. and puts a female in the lead. With excellent art by Matthew Southworth, this is a series to seek out.
The comic starts out with Dex’s trying not to get shot by men who have taken her out for disposal by a lake at dusk.
April 1st, 2023. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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!
Sorry if I mislead you in this detail, Paul...the voyage by ship was only the first leg of the quintet's…
The geography is confusing me--how does one get to a village in Tibet by ship? And even the northernmost part…
Oh, this sounds interesting!