Generally, the first time we humans do something, we don’t do it well. My college roommate’s first time doing laundry on his own?
“But my mom put bleach in all the time.”
“No. No, she really didn’t.”
“ I can make that yellow light at the top of the hill.”
“No, you can’t. And it’s good practice to shift on a—”
Acceleration. Horns. Squealing. Maybe a scream.
“See? Told you I could make it.”
First time… well, we’ll stop there.
May 8th, 2014. Bill Capossere | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 10 comments |
Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson
Unwrapped Sky, the debut novel by Rjurik Davidson, has an evocative setting, an intriguing set-up, and an often lyrical and lovely prose style, but an off-putting distance between the reader and its characters/material works against these strengths, leaving more of a sense of “what could have been” than I would have preferred.
A clear denizen of the New Weird or Urban Weird, Unwrapped Sky introduces us to Caeli-Amur, an ancient city rising out of the dark ages brought about from the legendary God War and its ensuing Cataclysm,
May 8th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Rjurik Davidson | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Creature of Moonlight by Rebecca Hahn
Rebecca Hahn caught my interest one paragraph into her debut YA novel A Creature of Moonlight:
All summer long the villagers have been talking of the woods. Even those living many hills away can see it: their crops are disappearing; their land is shrinking by the day. We hear story after story. One evening a well will be standing untouched, a good twenty feet from the shade, and when the farmer’s daughter goes to draw water in the morning,
May 6th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Rebecca Hahn | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Working God’s Mischief by Glen Cook
Working God’s Mischief is Glen Cook’s fourth installment in his THE INSTRUMENTALITIES OF THE NIGHT series. I had a mostly positive response to the opening novel, though it had its issues, but my pleasure waned somewhat through books two and three, leaving me to say at the end of my review of Surrender to the Will of Night that “the ratio between frustration and reward” was nearing the danger zone. Unfortunately,
May 5th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Glen Cook | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
In 2010, I put Kate Milford’s The Boneshaker on my list of favorite books of the year. In 2012, I put her The Broken Lands on my list of favorite books of the year. Well, another two years have passed, Milford is out with another story, and, well, you know the rest . . .
Though maybe not all the rest, as there’s a bit of a twist to her newest work, Bluecrowne.
April 22nd, 2014. Bill Capossere | Kate Milford | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell
Expiration Day, by William Campbell Powell, was a book I almost didn’t bother finishing and only ended up doing so because of that added sense of obligation of having received it for free to review. Had I picked it up on my own, I almost certainly would have dropped it somewhere about halfway in. As usual, in these cases, this will be a relatively short review so as not to belabor the issue.
In 2049, humanity has all but died out and is racing to find a cure to this plague of infertility that has been around for some while now.
April 22nd, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 1.5 | William Campbell Powell | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
We’ve got Jaleigh Johnson with us today. I recently enjoyed her new Middle Grade novel, The Mark of the Dragonfly, which has a wonderful premise and setting. Johnson is best known for her contributions to the FORGOTTEN REALMS shared universe, so Middle Grade is a new realm for her. Curious about how she approached this challenge, I asked her what she does differently when she writes for kids. Her response is below and, at the end, she wants to know what YOU are looking for in a story for children.
April 17th, 2014. Bill Capossere | Jaleigh Johnson | Thoughtful Thursday | 10 comments |
The Revolutions by Felix Gilman
At not quite the halfway point in Felix Gilman’s The Revolutions, the main character — Arthur Shaw — reacts to a particular text he is reading:
It was a hodge-podge of Masonry, Greek myth, Egyptian fantasy, debased Christianity, third-hand Hinduism, and modern and ancient astronomy, promiscuously and nonsensically mixed . . . The Book was riddled throughout with paradox and absurdity and contradiction . . . But after a week or two of study, Arthur began to enjoy it.
April 16th, 2014. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Felix Gilman | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Marie Rutkoski is a good writer. I’ve known that from when I read The Cabinet of Wonders, the first book of her KRONOS CHRONICLES, a Middle Grade trilogy. While the subsequent books weren’t quite as good, I still enthusiastically recommended the series. And I can tell Rutkoski is still a good writer after reading her newest YA entry, The Winner’s Curse, because even though I had some large issues with the novel, issues that normally would have made me not recommend it,
March 31st, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Marie Rutkoski | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sailor Twain: Or the Mermaid in the Hudson by Mark Siegel
So while I keep saying that I appear not to be the person for whom graphic novels are created, as I have hardly ever found one I strongly respond to, I’m also stubborn (or dumb) enough to keep trying now and then. The most recent attempt was Mark Siegel’s Sailor Twain. Alas, I’m still that guy.
Set on a steamer traveling up and down the Hudson during the late 1800s, Sailor Twain is the story of two men — Twain,
March 28th, 2014. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one
These weird westerns are always interesting and have been popping up more in recent times (it seemed like there was…
Looking forward to reading the review.