The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky
Jordanna Max Brodsky switches gears ever-so-slightly in her novel The Wolf in the Whale (2019), continuing her examination of old-gods-in-diaspora from her OLYMOUS BOUND series while taking a step back in time — a little over a thousand years from present day — and exploring the story of an Inuit shaman who finds herself at the nexus point between her people and the first band of Vikings to set foot on North American soil.
April 18th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3.5 | Jordanna Max Brodsky | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Our weekly exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few excellent stories, including two of the recently announced Hugo nominees, that we wanted you to know about.
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho (2018, free to read online or download at Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog). 2019 Hugo award winner (novelette).
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again, by Zen Cho, is a Hugo-nominated novelette about an imugi,
April 15th, 2019. Jana Nyman, Marion Deeds and Tadiana Jones | Suzanne Palmer, T. Kingfisher, Zen Cho | Hugo Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Deepest Blue by Sarah Beth Durst
Readers who have been anxiously awaiting more tales set within the lands of Renthia (and I am loudly, proudly one of them) are sure to be pleased by The Deepest Blue (2019), the latest from Sarah Beth Durst, which is billed as a stand-alone TALES OF RENTHIA novel and is set after the events of The Queen of Sorrow. The only true indicator of timeline is the appearance of one of my favorite people in all of Renthia,
April 12th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Beth Durst | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark
In an alternative history, magical steampunk version of New Orleans, in 1884 the city is still influenced by the aftermath of the Civil War, which ended in a division of the Union and Confederate states. New Orleans is a pocket of neutrality, one of the few territories not aligned with either the North or South. The city is run by a council made up of ex-slaves, mulattoes and white businesspeople; British, French and Haitian airships patrol the skies to keep the peace.
Thirteen-year old-Jacqueline is a bright,
April 5th, 2019. Tadiana Jones, Jana Nyman and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | P. Djèlí Clark | Audio, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Chaos Function by Jack Skillingstead
Jack Skillingstead’s latest novel, The Chaos Function (2019), has a fairly straightforward premise: a young journalist accidentally receives the ability to shift reality from one possible timeline to another, though not without disastrous consequences. The first time she performs this shift, it’s purely by accident, though that doesn’t make the new future any less grave. Each time she shifts to another possible timeline without returning to the original, the consequences become more and more dire, until she is left with a terrible choice: return reality to its intended course or watch the entire world destroy itself.
April 5th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3 | Jack Skillingstead | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Smoke & Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg
Charlie N. Holmberg’s latest novel is Smoke & Summons (2019) volume one of the NUMINA TRILOGY, in which a mysterious girl flees from magical slavery, girl meets boy, boy turns out to be a skilled thief with a troubled past and a heart of gold, boy helps girl avoid capture, feelings grow between them, and so on.
The girl in question is Sandis, and the boy (well, mid-twenties adult man) is Rone.
April 2nd, 2019. Jana Nyman and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | Charlie N. Holmberg | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Our weekly exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here we review a couple of Nebula-nominated stories (one older; one newer), with a wide array of opinions from our group of reviewers on the newer story (actually, three identical ratings and one outlier). Read on!
With Unclean Hands by Adam-Troy Castro (2011, originally published in Analog magazine, $2.99 Kindle version). 2011 Nebula award nominee (novella).
Andrea Cort is a cold, damaged human being. One would think this would make her wholly unsuitable for a career in the diplomatic corps that represents humans in a universe filled with sentient species.
April 1st, 2019. Terry Weyna, Jana Nyman, Tadiana Jones and Bill Capossere | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto
If you like Anne McCaffrey’s DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN series and are looking for more of the same — elite society of beast-riders with a telepathic/empathic link between human and animal — then Nicki Pau Preto’s YA debut novel Crown of Feathers (2019), the first in a series of the same name, might be worth your time. If you’ve read enough of this type of book to pick out key plot points and character developments from seven leagues away,
March 14th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 2.5 | Nicki Pau Preto | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Today Fantasy Literature welcomes Rati Mehrotra, whose ASIANA duology explores multiple themes and genres; she joins me to discuss those aspects of her YA novels, her current work-in-progress, and a delicious-sounding cuppa. One commenter will win one copy each of Markswoman and Mahimata!
Jana: The ASIANA duology features a blend of science fiction, fantasy, and post-apocalyptia. What challenges did you face in combining elements of these genres,
March 12th, 2019. Jana Nyman | Rati Mehrotra | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 9 comments |
Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik
Jessie Mihalik’s debut novel, Polaris Rising (2019), is a bit like if Leia Organa and Han Solo didn’t have that wet blanket Luke Skywalker moping about, bringing everyone down with his whinging about moisture farming and power converters. It’s a story about a runaway princess and an outlaw soldier causing all kind of space-shenanigans, evading capture by the princess’ intended fiancé and her overbearing father, and the best part is that the princess is the one driving all the action and risking everything to protect her life and the lives of her companions.
March 12th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Jessie Mihalik | SFF Reviews | no comments |
No, Paul, sorry, I don't believe I've read any books by Aickman; perhaps the odd story. I'm generally not a…
I like the ambiguities when the story leading up to them has inserted various dreadful possibilities in the back of…
COMMENT Marion, I expect that my half-hearted praise here (at best) will not exactly endear me to all of Ramsey…
Ramsay Campbell was all the rage in my circle of horror-reading/writing friends in the 1980s, and they extolled the ambiguity.…
Oh boy, I wish I could escape that Neil Gaiman article, too. I knew already he’d done reprehensible things but…