Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: March 2025

Sound of Magic: Annarasumanara by Ha Il-Kwon (An Oxford College Student Review!)

Sound of Magic: Annarasumanara by Ha Il-Kwon

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, I am proud to present a review by Victoria Cheng:

Victoria Cheng is a second-year student at Oxford College and is considering majoring in Biology.

March 15th, 2025. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Airborne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe

Airborne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe by Carl Zimmer

Carl Zimmer’s book Airborne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe is an always informative, often fascinating, and at times worrying look at humanity’s long speculation and exploration of what is in the air around us and what we breathe besides the life-giving oxygen we need.

Zimmer covers a lot of ground here, going back to ancient civilizations and the idea of “miasma” or “bad air,” an explanation of sickness that held sway for centuries until being rivaled in the 14th century by the opposing idea that “diseases such as plague were caused by contagion — a poison that grew inside the sick and then spread to the healthy.” A speculative theory strengthened by the invention of the microscope in the 17th century,

March 14th, 2025. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Amazing Adventures: Marvel Super Stories #2

Amazing Adventures (Marvel Super Stories Book #2)

Last November, Abrams Fanfare published their second volume of middle-grade comics stories, based on some slightly less-exposed Marvel heroes. Some, like Spider Man, are immediately recognizable, and some have had their own series recently and we know them from that. Each story is no longer than six pages, and various award-winning comic book artists and writers were invited to the anthology. The result, Amazing Adventures (Marvel Super Stories Book #2), is a pleasant sampler, and maybe an introduction to some new and interesting cape-and-mask heroes.

March 13th, 2025. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Children, Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Into the West: Watching the formation of Valdemar

Into the West by Mercedes Lackey

Into the West (2022) is the second book in Mercedes Lackey’s THE FOUNDING OF VALDEMAR trilogy. Readers can absolutely start with this trilogy before diving into any other VALDEMAR books, but you’ll want to read Beyond, the first (and most exciting) book in this trilogy, before picking up this one. Only mild spoilers for Beyond are in this review.

The journey continues with Duke Kordas Valdemar and his people as they seek a new home.

The Tomb of Dragons

The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison

2025’s The Tomb of Dragons is the fourth book in Kate Addison’s CHRONICLES OF OSRETH. The Goblin Emperor has retroactively been designated Book One. The Tomb of Dragons, like the two books before it, features Thera Celehar, a Witness for the Dead, as he tries to bring justice to his world in large and small ways.

In The Goblin Emperor,

March 10th, 2025. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4, 5 | Katherine Addison | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Weapon From Beyond: Chane gang

The Weapon From Beyond by Edmond Hamilton

It would seem that I owe a very sincere apology to all my FanLit readers here. In my June 2017 review of Edmond Hamilton’s 1966 novel Doomstar, I mentioned that this was the final work given to us by the Golden Age sci-fi master, and as it turns out, that statement was far from being correct. One of the folks who saw that review, Dennis Burdette, was good enough to point out, 10 months later in that review’s Comments section,

March 7th, 2025. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Edmond Hamilton | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Carnivale of Curiosities: A complex carnival story with an antihero protagonist

The Carnivale of Curiosities by Amiee Gibbs

This carnival book completely satisfied. 2023’s The Carnivale of Curiosities, by Amiee Gibbs, is set in 1880’s London. It’s a slow-burn, late-Victorian-styled literary novel, filled with magic, lies, secrets, and revenge plots, all centered around Ashe and Pretorius’s Carnivale of Curiosities, and its leader, Aurelius Ashe, who can grant anyone nearly any wish… for a price.

Unlike other circuses and carnivals of the day, Ashe uses real magic and many of his “freaks” have magical powers. Some are simply unusual-looking people,

WWWednesday: March 5, 2025

Since the CDC cannot release information about the avian flu and other contagious diseases, the American Medical Association is providing updates. Here is their Youtube channel.

Reactor is offering new fiction by Elizabeth Bear.

Nerds of a Feather reviews Gareth Powell’s latest.

Here’s an interesting article about one of the things NOAA does.

The U.K. Guardian shares fantastical sketches by Victor Hugo.

File770 provides the Australian Romance Award short list.

March 5th, 2025. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

Beyond: A good place to start with VALDEMAR

Beyond by Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey’s Beyond (2021) is the first book in her THE FOUNDING OF VALDEMAR trilogy which is set in her wider VALDEMAR universe. As the name of the trilogy suggests, it’s a prequel, so Beyond is a fine entry point in the VALDEMAR series and, in fact, I’d recommend it as a great starting point because it’s well-written and entertaining all the way through. Lackey’s books are often hit or miss for me and Beyond,

The First Bright Thing: I wish I liked this book more

The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson

Published in 2023, J.R. Dawson’s The First Bright Thing is a solid entry in the subgenre of magical carnivals, joining The Night Circus, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Bacchanal, and Mechanique, among others. Once again, good versus evil plays out in the center ring, against the backdrop of big tops and midways. Dawson adds one new ingredient to the mix,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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