Epic: Legends of Fantasy by John Joseph Adams (editor)
Epic: Legends of Fantasy, edited by John Joseph Adams, is an anthology of stories written by some of the biggest names in epic fantasy. The book clocks in at over 600 pages not just because it’s very difficult to tell short epic stories (though some of these authors do manage to pull it off) but because here the authors are not just telling epic legends, they are legends in and of themselves. George R.R.
December 28th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 4.5 | Aliette De_Bodard, Brandon Sanderson, Carrie Vaughn, George R.R. Martin, Juliet Marillier, Kate Elliott, Mary Robinette Kowal, Melanie Rawn, Michael Moorcock, N.K. Jemisin, Orson Scott Card, Paolo Bacigalupi, Patrick Rothfuss, Robin Hobb, Tad Williams, Trudi Canavan, Ursula K. Le-Guin | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Today we’re featuring a couple of stories that you can find free online.
“Taklamakan” by Bruce Sterling
Many years ago, Bruce Sterling wrote a short story called “Taklamakan” that won a Hugo award. I’ve been trying to read some past award winners, and since this one was handily available, I decided to start there. So, here’s my problem. “Taklamakan” won the Hugo Award for best short story in 1999 when it was published in the Oct/Nov 1998 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.
December 24th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | Bruce Sterling, K.J. Parker | Hugo Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Today we welcome Hugh Howey, author of the WOOL books, recent favorites of mine. If you haven’t read them, you really must! Unless, that is, the world ends tomorrow… And if it doesn’t, we’ll send one commenter the Kindle version of the WOOL omnibus or a book from our stacks.
It starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane — Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
So begins R.E.M.’s classic hit about the end of the world.
December 20th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | Hugh Howey | Thoughtful Thursday | 10 comments |
It’s getting to the end of the year, and assuming that the world does not end on Friday, fans of speculative fiction have a lot to be looking forward to next year. One of the great things about the internet is it has the ability to build a buzz around projects long before they actually hit the bookshelves or movie theaters. Today, I want to highlight trailers for some of the movies you might want to keep an eye out on next year.
Superheroes:
Man of Steel. Yummy
Thor –
December 19th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 7 comments |
The Wild Ways by Tanya Huff is the second book in THE GALE WOMEN series. While I enjoyed the first book, The Enchantment Emporium, even though it had serious flaws, The Wild Ways was not good. I got to about halfway through and didn’t care about the characters. In fact, on a semi-regular basis, I couldn’t keep the characters apart.
I also had serious difficulties with the “too much power/too little consequences” system of magic in this book.
December 19th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 0.1 | Tanya Huff | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
It seems to be the week to talk about sexism in fantasy literature. Here are a couple of discussion:
And here’s some movie news:
December 12th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
One thing I’ve always wanted to do since the first time I read an anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling was to read all the books they recommend in the excellent essays they almost always include on the topic of the volume. I finally decided to do it, using the essay in After as my reading list. The book they listed as having started modern dystopian fiction is The Time Machine by H.G.
December 12th, 2012. Ruth Arnell, Kat Hooper and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | H.G. Wells | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Well of Tears by Roberta Trahan
From the back cover description of The Well of Tears by Roberta Trahan:
More than five centuries after Camelot, a new king heralded by prophecy has appeared. As one of the last sorceresses of a dying order sworn to protect the new ruler at all costs, Alwen must answer a summons she thought she might never receive. Bound by oath, Alwen returns to Fane Gramarye, the ancient bastion of magic standing against the rise of evil.
December 6th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 0.1 | Roberta Trahan | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
It’s like fruit of the month club, but with books.
A wonderful column discussing the role of Christianity in the work of Madeline L’Engle, written by a non-Christian.
Author Malindo Lo responds to the controversy over how to portray gay characters in (particularly YA) fantasy in a brilliant two part column, part one and part two.
The BBC is going to be doing a radio adaptation of my favorite Neil Gaiman novel, Neverwhere, and it’s going to be starring one of my imaginary boyfriends,
December 5th, 2012. Ruth Arnell | World Wide Wednesday | 6 comments |
Kenny & the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi
Kenny & the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi is a charming tribute to Kenneth Grahame’s children’s classic The Reluctant Dragon, which most people are familiar with through the Disney short film adaptation. In this beautifully illustrated volume, DiTerlizzi tells the story of a small, bookish rabbit named Kenny who learns that a dragon has been spotted on his family farm. Armed with a bestiary, he goes to investigate, and instead of a fearsome fire-spouting dragon,
November 30th, 2012. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 3.5 | Tony DiTerlizzi | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is my favorite fantasy series. It's fantastic. I've been holding off on starting The Last King…
I believe you are missing the point of this book here. I don't believe the purpose is to tell a…
I love it!
Almost as good as my friend: up-and-coming author Amber Merlini!
I don't know what kind of a writer he is, but Simon Raven got the best speculative-fiction-writing name ever!