Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Marion Deeds

Going Postal: Learning how to hope

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

When searching for a strong conflict to anchor a story, most fantasy authors rely on dragons, invading hordes of orcs, and universe-ending supernatural beings and phenomena. In Going Postal, Terry Pratchett tries to save Ankh-Morpork’s post office.

Oddly, by aiming lower – just saving the post office? – I felt that Pratchett had taken more of a gamble than his more bombastic peers. Then again, Going Postal is the thirty-third novel in Pratchett’s spectacularly successful DISCWORLD series,

August 25th, 2012. Ryan Skardal and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4, 5 | Terry Pratchett | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

The Unnaturalists: Hoping for more adventures of Lumin and Nyx

The Unnaturalists by Tiffany Trent

At first it seems like The Unnaturalists, Tiffany Trent’s young adult fantasy, is a relatively light-weight paranormal romance. In the opening chapter, Vespa Nyx, the rebellious daughter of the curator of the New London Museum of Unnatural History, meets an annoying new Pedant named Hal Lumin. In fact, he rescues her when something goes wrong with a containment field holding a live Sphynx. It seems that Vespa’s biggest problems will be learning to be “ladylike” and facing an arranged marriage.

Marion Chats with Stacey Jay

Stacey Jay, author of the ANNABELLE LEE urban fantasy series, a YA high school zombie series, and the YA fantasy books Juliet Immortal and Romeo Redeemed, a paranormal take on the English-speaking world’s most famous couple, is a busy woman. Before turning to writing, Jay worked as an actress and playwright. Currently, in addition to working on her various series, she is raising her two boys and participating in several writers’ conferences this summer. I exchanged e-mails with Stacey, and caught up with her at the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference in Fort Bragg,

August 21st, 2012. Marion Deeds | Stacey Jay | Author Interviews, Giveaway! | 4 comments |

Out of the Silent Planet: Subtle allegory

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

You probably know that C.S. Lewis was a Christian apologist who wrote many popular books — both fiction and nonfiction — which explain or defend the Christian faith. His most famous work, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, some of the most-loved stories in all of fantasy fiction and children’s literature, is clearly Christian allegory. Likewise, his science fiction SPACE TRILOGY can be read as allegory, though it’s subtle enough to be enjoyed by those who don’t appreciate allegorical stories and just want to read a thoughtful science fiction adventure with an intelligent hero.

Libriomancer: There are lots of reasons to like this

Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines

My experience with Jim Hines’s work has been limited to his PRINCESS series, which I thoroughly enjoyed. That series works in the “lighter” side of fantasy, but does so with a sharp intelligence and very strong characterization. Hines is now out with a new series, MAGIC EX LIBRIS, and judging by its introductory novel Libriomancer, this is going to be another winner.

If this were a Hollywood pitch, one might call Libriomancer a cross between Cornelia Funke’s INKWORLD trilogy.

August 16th, 2012. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5, 4 | Jim C. Hines | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Constantine Affliction: A witty gender-bending romp

The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton

T. Aaron Payton’s The Constantine Affliction (2012) is a witty gender-bending romp through Victorian London as it never was. Most of us will call this “steampunk.” Payton prefers “gonzo-history.” I say, “whatever works.”

Ellie Skyler, who is assumed to be male, makes her living as a journalist using the pen name “E. Skye.” She plans to go in male attire into one of the city’s clockwork brothels, where the prostitutes are nearly perfect simulacra of human women, to write an expose.

August 8th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | T. Aaron Payton | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |

Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart: 25 works by an accomplished stylist

Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Caitlín R. Kiernan is a powerful writer, with a prodigious vocabulary, a mastery of prose and the ability to ground a sentence with a perfectly chosen detail. Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart, published by Subterranean Press, contains 25 works by this accomplished stylist. Many of the works have graphic sexual imagery and intense sexual violence. In many cases that is the sole intent of the piece.

I have no complaints at all with the line-by-line prose, but the anthology is a mixed bag.

AMULET: The Stonekeeper & The Stonekeeper’s Curse by Kazu Kibuishi

The Stonekeeper & The Stonekeeper’s Curse by Kazu Kibuishi

Kazu Kibuishi is the author of the AMULET series, a set of young adult graphic novels published by Scholastic. Book One, The Stonekeeper, and Book Two, The Stonekeeper’s Curse, are fast, accessible stories with likeable characters who face difficult challenges.

In The Stonekeeper, Emily and Navin’s impoverished mother moves them away from everything they know after their father is killed in a car accident on an icy road.

Tin Swift: All three of me loved it

Tin Swift by Devon Monk

Tin Swift is the second book in Devon Monk’s AGE OF STEAM series. The first, Dead Iron, introduced the characters we follow in this book: Cedar Hunt, honorable bounty hunter and werewolf; Wil Hunt, Cedar’s wolf brother; Mae Lindson, a widowed witch; Rose Small, a young orphaned woman with a magical ability to work metal; and the enigmatic Madder brothers. The three brothers have pressed Hunt into service on their quest to find and bind a magical artifact from another realm,

July 19th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Devon Monk | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi

This is the part where you run and scream a lot.

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Intrepid, a spaceship that has the reputation of killing off most of its non-essential crew. The captain and senior officers and one or two especially good-looking guys always come back from planetary “away” missions alive (though often mangled up a bit), but always, always, at least one, and often many more,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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We’re in total agreement David!
David C Walton on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Marion Deeds on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: Ambitious, atmospheric, and ultimately unevenJuly 3, 2025
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
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