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Dorohedoro (Volume 1) by Q Hayashida (An Oxford College Student Review!)

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 Mandy Sun:

Mandy Sun is a second-year student at Oxford College and is majoring in Computer Science.

December 28th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |

A Nest of Nightmares: A very fine collection of horrifying ambiguities

A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle

And so, I have just come to the end of another lot of nine volumes from the remarkable publisher known as Valancourt Books. And what an ennead they were! In chronological order: Ernest G. Henham’s The Feast of Bacchus (1907), in which a pair of comedy and tragedy masks influences whoever comes into their orbit; L. P. Hartley’s Facial Justice (1960),

WWwednesday: December 25, 2024

Happy Christmas and Happy Hanukkah if you celebrate. Happy Wednesday if you do not.

The Prometheus Society narrowed the finalists for its 2024 award to four diverse works (and creators) who excellently modeled libertarianism. The short list includes Rudyard Kipling, Poul Anderson, Charles Stross and the musical group Rush.

The Christmas tree is an integral part of the Christmas season for many folks. It has its roots in the Yule celebration, from the Nordic lands.

This article in Reform Judaism discusses the origin of the holy day Hanukkah,

December 25th, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

In a Lonely Place: Tennessee Dread

In a Lonely Place by Karl Edward Wagner

In any number of my book reviews here on FanLit, I have had cause to refer to editor Karl Edward Wagner’s famous Wagner 39 List. This three-part list, which originally appeared in the June and August 1983 issues of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, enumerated the editor’s choices for the 13 Best Supernatural Horror Novels of all time, the 13 Best Nonsupernatural Horror Novels of all time, and the 13 Best Sci-Fi Horror Novels of all time;

The Great White Space: Black mountain side

The Great White Space by Basil Copper

For those of you who have read everything written by the great H. P. Lovecraft but are still hankering for another solid dose of cosmic horror and tentacled monstrosities, hoo boy, have I got a doozy for you! Although written four decades after the so-called “Sage of Providence” dominated the field of weird fiction in the 1930s, this book – Basil Copper’s The Great White Space – is such a convincing pastiche that all fans of the genre should be left happily grinning nevertheless.

WWWednesday: December 18, 2024

The Horror Writers Association has announced its scholarship winners.

Bruce Sterling was, and still is, an influential writer in the field of SF, most notably in the days of futurism and cyberpunk. What’s he doing now? This interview with Worldbuilding Agency gives us an idea.

Gamergate lurches on, this time in a lawsuit reaching the Brooklyn, New York courts last week. A woman who was forced to resign from game-review site Kotaku is suing a self-styled “gamergate” gamer in California. She alleges he led a concerted hate campaign against her and made false statements.

December 18th, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |

The Lost Bookshop: Magic moves into women’s fiction, with enjoyable results

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

In the aftermath of the pandemic, fantasy caught the midtown bus and moved into the suburbs of women’s fiction. There, it’s set up shop and seems to be doing quite well, if paperbacks like The Lost Bookshop, by Evie Woods, are any indication. This pleasant story, following three characters and an elusive, magical bookshop, is enjoyable even if it didn’t fully satisfy this fantasy reader.

Set in modern day Dublin, the story follows Martha, a woman fleeing an abusive relationship,

Tinker: Imaginative setting with some issues

Tinker by Wen Spencer

Wen Spencer’s Tinker (2003), the first book in her ELFHOME series, presents a unique mix of urban fantasy and science fiction. The premise, which is the series’ best feature, is imaginative — due to a glitch with an interdimensional gate, the city of Pittsburgh (but not the rest of the United States) exists in Elfhome, an alternate dimension inhabited by elves. Once a month the gate is powered down and Pittsburgh returns to Earth for one day to get resupplied. Pittsburgh is so weird that it doesn’t really interact with the rest of the U.S.

December 12th, 2024. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Wen Spencer | SFF Reviews | no comments |

WWWednesday: December 11, 2024

Ruthana Amrys and Anne M. Pillsworth review “The Only Writing Advice You’ll Ever Need to Survive Eldritch Horrors.” This article is funny!

These “22 Chilling Winter Reads” are literally chilly, it turns out—books set during winter.

According to File770, Montreal is now the only contender for WorldCon 2027. Tel Aviv withdrew its id due to the situation in Isreal.

Dorothy’s ruby slippers recently sold at auction for $28 million. After all, they are the first known portkey.

The Guardian UK lists its candidates for Best Graphic Novel of 2024.

December 11th, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 4 comments |

Bury Him Darkly: Malice from the chalice

Bury Him Darkly by John Blackburn

Although it’s been almost 18 years since I last read English author John Blackburn’s first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay (1958), I still vividly recall several segments of the book, mainly due to the forcefulness of the writing therein. And really, with its plot conflating a female ex-Nazi scientist, deserted Russian villages, and a fungoid mutation that is slowly spreading across Europe, the book is inherently hard to forget.

Sunburn: Coming-of-age in Greece

Sunburn by Andi Watson (story) and Simon Gane (art)

Sunburn by Andi Watson and Simon Gane is a beautiful graphic novel that tells the coming-age-story of a girl named Rachel Collingwood, who is invited to Greece by acquaintances of the family. The story is unexpected, and the visuals are stunning.

The graphic novel starts off quietly in England as Rachel, complaining about her soggy toast, has breakfast with her family. Their meal is interrupted by a call from Dianne, wife of Peter Warner,

December 7th, 2024. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Pippin’s Journal: A real pip!

Pippin’s Journal by Rohan O’Grady

“A spellbinding Gothic page-tuner,” the folks at Valancourt Books tell us on the back cover of their new edition of Rohan O’Grady’s novel entitled Pippin’s Journal, and happily, this blurb tells it just the way it is. The book was one that I had never even heard of up until a few months ago, and yet it has suddenly and surprisingly become one of my favorite reads of this year. Simply stated, I just loved this one!

WWWednesday: December 4, 2024

Here’s a McSweeney’s column, mocking Amazon and our attempts to order goods that are made sustainably. Enjoy.

Rupert Grint owes over $2 million in back taxes.

Clarion’s 2025 faculty list is stellar. (Thanks to File 770.)

Nerds of a Feather reviews Lavanya Lakshiminarayan’s Interstellar Chef.

The Walt Disney Company announced that Moana 2 broke box office records last weekend.

Over at Reactor, Judith Tarr examines the origins of “Canada’s Nessie,” named Nhaatik by the First Nations,

December 4th, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

Assassin’s Quest: Engrossing but too long

Reposting to include Marion’s new review.

Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb

FitzChivalry Farseer’s life keeps getting worse. He has once again barely — and I mean just barely — survived Uncle Regal’s machinations. As Assassin’s Quest, the third book in Robin Hobb’s FARSEER trilogy, opens, Fitz’s situation seems hopeless. Only a couple of people know he still lives and Molly is not one of them. She’s gone, and it seems safest for Fitz to let her live in ignorance.

The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture

The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture by Barret Klein

In The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture (2024), Barret Klein explores the impact of insects on human society, an impact both broad and deep. The text is almost always fascinating and offers up more than enough representative examples of his points, while the numerous included illustrations and photographs add a wonderful enhancement to the text.

After a preface which offers a personal touch, and an introduction that gives us some foundational sense of context and numbers (sixty percent of identified animal species are insects,

November 29th, 2024. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Cahokia Jazz: Syncretism, symbolism and realpolitik

Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

Cahokia Jazz is a detective novel, set in 1922 in the city and state of Cahokia, USA. Police detective Joe Barrow and his partner Phineas Drummond are called up onto the roof of the Cahokia Land Building in the middle of the night, where they find the mutilated corpse of a takata—a European-American–posed like an Aztec sacrifice, its heart removed. In most cities, this would simply be bizarre, but in Cahokia, this makes the murder a flashpoint for unrest in a city and state governed largely by the takouma,

Fourth Wing: Dragons, death, and damn those tight pants!

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Typically I write a summary in my own words about a book I’m reviewing, but I would like to start this review by sharing the publisher’s description because it plays an important role in how I initially perceived Fourth Wing (2023) by Rebecca Yarros:

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history.

Your Shadow Half Remains: To look is the one forbidden thing

Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine

2024’s Your Shadow Half Remains provides a seductive and disturbing journey of psychological horror, as we visit the mind of an isolated young woman in a post-apocalyptic world, where one look into another human’s eyes can kill both of you.

Your Shadow Half Remains is plainly inspired by Josh Malerman’s Bird Box, only in Moriane’s work, the thing you must not look at is a human face.

The Scarlet Boy: Don’t spare me the details!

The Scarlet Boy by Arthur Calder-Marshall

In the mood for an offbeat haunted-house novel to keep you company during this fall season … or during any season; a beautifully written tale of supernatural horror that you have most likely never heard of before? Well, then, I have a doozy of a suggestion for you … namely The Scarlet Boy, by the British author Arthur Calder-Marshall! The book has been unfortunately neglected for over six decades now, and a quick look at its sporadic publishing history will help explain why it might be an unknown quantity for you and the general reading public today,

WWWednesday: November 20, 2024

Do we Do we need a remake of Forbidden Planet?? Doesn’t matter—we’re getting one.

BBC released a trailer of the Doctor Who Christmas special. Reactor doesn’t have it, but they saw it.

This is a plug for a local southeastern anthology. The proceeds go to families in Appalachia who lost businesses and homes during the recent hurricanes. I may or may not have a story in it. I’m not being coy; I sent in a story but I haven’t seen the complete TOC yet.

In the weeks following the election,

November 20th, 2024. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 4 comments |

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Recent Discussion:

kathy on Reading… David EddingsDecember 30, 2024
Please contact me Scott I know who got us away and contacted social services.
Sandy Ferber on White Lily: Chinese TakeoutDecember 29, 2024
Thanks for the kind words, George! And no, I have only read the nine Taine books that I have reviewed…
George on White Lily: Chinese TakeoutDecember 28, 2024
Great review! I agree this book had some entertaining parts, and the final section with the invading crystals was very…
Kevin S. on The Anubis Gates: A very generous bookDecember 25, 2024
This book made no sense to me at all. I was hoping for some explanations at the end but it…
San on In a Lonely Place: Tennessee DreadDecember 23, 2024
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂