Last Plane to Heaven: The Final Collection by Jay Lake
Jay Lake died in June of 2014. It was a tragic loss but not a surprise, since Lake had made his experiences with cancer public. Last Plane to Heaven, edited by Lake himself, is a reminder of just how much the speculative fiction world lost.
I have always loved Lake’s prose, but I had trouble with his novels. This collection of thirty-two stories shows him, mostly, at his best and strongest. As with his novels,
October 20th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Jay Lake | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
I’ve avoided some of Stephen King’s more recent works, like Cell and Under the Dome, because they didn’t look like they would be my thing. Doctor Sleep was a different matter. I didn’t think it was perfect, but it had a lot of the things I look for in a King novel.
In 1977, King published The Shining, a book about an evil hotel in Colorado,
October 6th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Stephen King | Horror | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Locke and Key (Vol. 2): Head Games by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
A solid and scary second section to this first-class horror story.
Warning; may contain spoilers of Volume One; Welcome to Lovecraft
After everything the Locke family went through in Volume One, Welcome to Lovecraft, they need a break. Unfortunately, in Volume Two of this powerful graphic horror novel, they aren’t going to get one.
Head Games starts with an elderly teacher at Lovecraft Academy.
October 3rd, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Joe Hill | Comics | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The novella Unlocked is John Scalzi’s prequel to his innovative novel of ideas Lock In. I read the beautiful Subterranean Press hard copy, and Kat will add comments about the audio version of the story. With both Lock In and Unlocked, the publishers have made some interesting choices in audio presentation.
The subtitle of Unlocked is “An Oral History of Haden Syndrome.” Further down on the title page,
October 3rd, 2014. Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | John Scalzi | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L Powell
“Let me get this straight. You’re a World War II fighter pilot,” I say to Ack-Ack, the one-eyed, cigar-chomping macaque as he leads me through the corridor of the airship.
“Right.”
“But it’s 2059.”
“What’s your question?” He glares, a daiquiri glass clenched in his left paw.
“How do you fit in, exactly?”
He spins to face me. “I’m the main character, aren’t I? Ack-Ack Macaque, that’s the book’s name. See?
September 30th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Gareth L. Powell | BSFA Award | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The New Gothic edited by Beth K. Lewis
The New Gothic, an anthology of twelve stories, is edited by Beth K. Lewis and published by Stone Skin Press. It’s a good collection, worth reading.
Gothic horror usually counts on a mounting sense of dread and/or disgust to carry the reader, rather than shock or terror. The fear comes on more slowly, with that faint tickle at the back of your neck, and at its best, a gothic tale creates a sense of otherworldliness,
September 29th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Jesse Bullington | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
South African writer Lauren Beukes had a hit with last year’s The Shining Girls, the story of a serial killer who could travel through time. Readers of both time travel novels and serial killer thrillers loved the way Beukes melded the two genres. Beukes has again given us a genre-bender with Broken Monsters. Both a horror novel and a police procedural, Broken Monsters is even better than The Shining Girls.
Broken Monsters is set in Detroit — today’s Detroit,
September 22nd, 2014. Terry Weyna and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Lauren Beukes | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
“You like Christopher Moore,” the bookstore clerk said, pushing a book into my hand. “You’ll like this.” I do like Christopher Moore, and I think S.G. Browne does too, but Fated fell short of the wry Moore-like comedies it tries to emulate.
Fate, who uses the name Fabio, is a world-weary immortal Personification. When the book opens, he is bored with his work and disdainful of the human race. Fabio is only one of many — dozens,
September 18th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | S.G. Browne | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Jeff VanderMeer’s first two books in his SOUTHERN REACH series, Annihilation and Authority, end up on my top ten list for the year, so it was with great excitement and high expectations that I opened up Acceptance, the third and final book of the trilogy. Having finished, I can’t honestly say those expectations were wholly met, though my lack of satisfaction has less to do with any real complaints about the novel itself and more about the question I had at the end,
September 9th, 2014. Bill Capossere, Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Jeff VanderMeer | Audio | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
There is a special joy when a dedicated reader finds a book, written by a gifted writer at the peak of her powers, who journeys into slightly different territory and completely masters it. That joy is what I felt as I finished Maplecroft by Cherie Priest.
Priest has written a lot and she has never tied herself to a single sub-genre. She’s crafted dark fantasy, steampunk, steampunk zombie books and vampire fiction. Now she has essayed Lovecraftian Gothic with Maplecroft,
September 8th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Cherie Priest | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.