In this column, I feature comic book reviews written by my students at Oxford College of Emory University. Oxford College is a small liberal arts school just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I challenge students to read and interpret comics because I believe sequential art and visual literacy are essential parts of education at any level (see my Manifesto!). I post the best of my students’ reviews in this column. Today,
February 15th, 2025. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Calling (2022), the final installment in Molly Harper‘s SORCERY AND SOCIETY trilogy, brings Sarah Smith’s journey to a close. You’ll want to read Changeling and Fledgling first (expect spoilers for those installments in this review).
This story continues with Sarah, Alicia, and Ivy hiding out in the English countryside with the changeling children they’ve rescued. They’re trying to protect them from the looming threat of Miss Morton’s zombie army.
February 14th, 2025. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Molly Harper | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Reefs of Space by Frederik Pohl & Jack Williamson
The experience of collaborating on a trilogy must have been a pleasant one for future sci-fi Grand Masters Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson, as just five years later, the pair would embark together on another series of books. THE UNDERSEA TRILOGY – Undersea Quest (1954), Undersea Fleet (1956) and Undersea City (1958) – had been targeted at a younger audience,
February 13th, 2025. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Frederik Pohl, Jack Williamson | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
This American Medical Association site is a good resource for information on avian flu. Currently at least three reports scheduled for publication by the CDC are being stalled by the administration, and the Centers’ most recent weekly report had avian flu data removed from it.
Tongayi Charisa (Crispin) and Alyssa Jirells (Moira) talk about their characters in Mayfair Witches, Season Two, on AMC. Variety has some images from the new season.
Reactor offered a nice column on why we need fantasy forests.
February 12th, 2025. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |
Sanctum of the Soul by Kel Kade
I’ve been up and down on Kel Kade’s SHROUD OF PROPHECY series, with book one, Fate of the Fallen, striking me as enjoyable though with a number of issues. The sequel, Destiny of the Dead, took a small turn downward for me, though it had its strengths. Unfortunately, my experience with book three, Sanctum of the Soul, was closer to Destiny than Fate,
February 11th, 2025. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Kel Kade | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Daughters of Chaos by Jen Fawkes
Daughters of Chaos, by Jen Fawkes, came out in 2024. This literary feminist novel plays with layers, offers interesting characters and exquisite descriptions. The germ of the story is a fascinating real-life situation during the American Civil War. The city of Nashville, Tennessee, was occupied by Union troops. The military governor of the occupation grew concerned for the strength of his army and the security of the occupied city when Union soldiers began to get sick from syphilis.
February 10th, 2025. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Jen Fawkes | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves & China Miéville
You, he thought as it drew back its right left fist, its agglomerated fistmass, on a farrago of an arm, on a stitchwork welter of a shoulder.
2024’s collaboration between acting icon Keanu Reeves and prose icon China Miéville delivers lots of thrills. The Book of Elsewhere, which follows the adventures of a nearly-unkillable warrior, is based on a character created by Reeves in his comic book, BRZRKR.
February 7th, 2025. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | China Mieville | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Undersea City by Frederik Pohl & Jack Williamson
What red-blooded youth – or adult, for that matter – could possibly read Books 1 & 2 of Frederik Pohl & Jack Williamson’s UNDERSEA TRILOGY and not want to immediately proceed on to Book #3? Not I, that’s for sure! In Book #1, Undersea Quest (1954), our narrator, 18-year-old Jim Eden, a cadet at the U.S. Sub-Sea Academy, had gotten into major-league trouble with a gaggle of crooks and goons in the suboceanic domed city of Thetis,
February 6th, 2025. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Frederik Pohl, Jack Williamson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Here are some downloadable datasets from NOAA.
File770 has an article about new Marvel variant covers which features the brand’s heroes in traditional Japanese clothing. I don’t know what I think about all of them, but Venom in a kimono is eye-catching.
Locus’s always-useful Recommended Reading list is out.
I’m getting ready to read Opacity by Sofia Samatar, so this article in Reactor about reading writing about writing was timely and interesting.
More fallout from the sexual abuse allegations against Neil Gaiman,
February 5th, 2025. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital (2023) will, for some people, barely qualify (if that) as a novel, leaving them crying “Where’s the plot? Nothing happens!” And you know, I can’t argue with them. If you define a novel as a series of plot steps from a to b to c such that change occurs, then yes, Orbital probably won’t squeeze in under that definition. Its focus is less on “what is happening” and more on “what am I feeling about what is happening?” or “What am I thinking about while things are happening?” And if you’re looking for conflict or fleshed out and distinctive characters who are different at the end than when we first meet them,
February 4th, 2025. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Samantha Harvey | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
COMMENT Book #3 of this trilogy is very much a heist story, and I quite enjoyed it!
Pirate stories and heist stories... Do we ever get enough of them?
Very interesting, Ulrich! Thanks for clueing me in!
So happy to hear that you enjoyed this article, Spacewaves! It was something of a labor of love for me,…
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