The Empty Ones by Robert Brockway
The Empty Ones (2016) is suspenseful, scary, action-packed and occasionally gross. This is the second book in Robert Brockway’s THE VICIOUS CIRCUIT series, following 2015’s The Unnoticeables. The Empty Ones crackles with tension, and I found that several of the questions that plagued me at the end of Book One are answered here. By the end of this one, I am even more worried about young stuntwoman Kaitlyn than I was before.
August 30th, 2016. Marion Deeds and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Robert Brockway | Horror | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
The Obelisk Gate is the second in N.K. Jemisin’s BROKEN EARTH trilogy and the follow-up to her Hugo Award-winning The Fifth Season; expectations were understandably high for this installment, which promises to shed a little more light on The Stillness and the qualities that make its geology and its people so unique. The Obelisk Gate is compulsively readable, filled with characters and circumstances that will transfix the reader’s attention,
August 26th, 2016. Jana Nyman and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | N.K. Jemisin | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan
The premise of Jenni Fagan’s 2016 novel, The Sunlight Pilgrims, is entirely plausible: in the not-so-far-off future of November 2020, winter has descended upon the globe, the Gulf Stream is both slowing and cooling, a gigantic iceberg is making its way from Norway to Scotland, and the Thames is overflowing from the extra water created by melting polar ice caps. Rather than focus on climatologists or environmental and economic protestors, however, Fagan presents three average people and the ways their lives intertwine and change as they try to survive the worst winter on record.
August 22nd, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Jenni Fagan | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Invaders: 22 Tales from the Outer Limits of Literature ed. by Jacob Weisman
As with most collections, whether they be of stories, poems, or essays, I found Invaders: 22 Tales from the Outer Limits of Literature, edited by Jacob Weisman, to be a mixed bag overall, with some weak stories, some solidly good ones, some very good ones, and several absolutely great ones, more in fact than I typically find in an anthology, making this an easy collection to recommend.
The authors collected here are non-genre writers known mostly for “literary fiction,” such as George Saunders,
August 12th, 2016. Bill Capossere, Jana Nyman and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Jonathan Lethem | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda Bond
Gwenda Bond has a real gift for writing believable, interesting teenaged protagonists, and puts that gift to use in Girl in the Shadows (2016), the second installment in her CIRQUE AMERICAN series and a companion to the first novel, Girl on a Wire. Though not a true sequel, many primary characters from Girl on a Wire return as supporting characters in Girl in the Shadows,
August 10th, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Gwenda Bond | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Today, Fantasy Literature welcomes Joseph Nassise, an author and editor whose latest feat is truly impressive: Urban Allies, an urban fantasy anthology which pairs up twenty authors who created ten brand-new stories featuring some very well-known characters. Mr. Nassise was kind enough to chat with Jana and reveal some of the process behind this collaboration, authors he’d love to work with, and his favorite writing incentive. And we’re giving away a copy of Urban Allies to one lucky commenter with a U.S. mailing address!
Jana Nyman: I’m impressed that you managed to wrangle twenty authors into writing ten collaborative stories,
August 9th, 2016. Jana Nyman | Joseph Nassise | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 4 comments |
Today Fantasy Literature welcomes Caighlan Smith, whose short fiction has been featured at Tor.com and whose full-length novel, Children of Icarus (which I reviewed here), is now available! Ms. Smith took some time to chat with me about malleable myths, academia, and ridiculously tasty drinks. And we’ve got a copy of Children of Icarus to give away to one lucky commenter with a U.S.-based mailing address!
Jana Nyman: Congratulations on your recent graduation from university! Was it hard to balance writing an internationally-published novel against your studies,
August 2nd, 2016. Jana Nyman | Caighlan Smith | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 15 comments |
The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough
A novella that packs the emotional punch of a full-length novel, Sarah Pinborough’s The Language of Dying (2009) stealthily moves from an innocuous beginning to a stunning conclusion in the spare space of less than 150 pages. This work was nominated for a 2009 Shirley Jackson award and won a British Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 2010, and it’s obvious why: Pinborough writes beautifully and honestly about the complicated process of saying good-bye to a loved one,
August 2nd, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Sarah Pinborough | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Children of Icarus by Caighlan Smith
With her latest novel, Children of Icarus, Caighlan Smith takes what could have been a rehash of too-familiar YA tropes — a futuristic/dystopian setting, a promised paradise hiding a terrible secret, a band of scrappy teenagers rebelling against a faceless government — and enlivens them with innovative twists and updates on familiar Greek myths like Icarus, Daedalus’ labyrinth, and all manner of monsters.
Children of Icarus’s nameless narrator lives in the walled city of Daedalum;
August 1st, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Caighlan Smith | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Urban Allies edited by Joseph Nassise
I’m always impressed when authors work together, and in Urban Allies, editor Joseph Nassise has managed to pair up twenty authors who not only collaborate, but merge their own characters into ten brand-new and original adventures. Each story shares a similar theme: popular characters from existing series or novels meet up and must join forces in order to defeat a common threat. Since these are urban fantasy authors, every story has a supernatural or paranormal aspect, though the situations and resolutions are completely unique to each tale,
July 28th, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | C.E. Murphy, Caitlin Kittredge, Carrie Vaughn, Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden, David Wellington, Diana Rowland, Jaye Wells, Jonathan Maberry, Joseph Nassise, Kat Richardson, Kelley Armstrong, Larry Correia, Seanan McGuire | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
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…