Albert of Adelaide by Howard L. Anderson
“He was beginning to feel that his escape from the zoo and his flight through the desert had been for nothing. Here he was, where Old Australia was supposed to be, a place where he was to have a home, friends, and others of his kind. Now he was finding that the only way he could even get a beer in this country was at gunpoint.”
Albert of Adelaide (2012) is a new entrant into the ranks of talking animal books.
July 18th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Howard L. Anderson | Children | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
“For we are the specters of a madness that surpasses ourselves and hides in mystery. And though we search for sense throughout endless rooms, all we may find is a voice whispering from a mirror in a house that belongs to no one.”
Thomas Ligotti is a master of madness. He writes short stories in the horror vein. Subterranean Press has collected eight of them, along with twenty vignettes or “flash fiction,” not more than 750 words, in the anthology Noctuary (originally published in 1994).
July 16th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Thomas Ligotti | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Blood on the Bayou by Stacey Jay
Blood on the Bayou, by Stacey Jay, starts with a nightmare and ends with a wedding. In between, Annabelle Lee learns more about her growing magical powers, the nature of the toxic fairies who menace humanity, and the secrets of her own heart.
Annabelle Lee… sounds all dreamy and ethereal, doesn’t it? Well, forget the romance, babe. Lee is a hard-drinkin’, hard-lovin’, kick-ass redhead doing a dangerous job in the war zone of Louisiana, where venomous sparrow-sized fairies have driven humans to live behind iron fences and travel in head-to-toe exposure suits.
July 12th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Stacey Jay | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Minority Council by Kate Griffin
The thing that gives Matthew Swift, London’s last urban sorcerer and Midnight Mayor, his extraordinary power is that he loves London. He loves the gritty streets, the posh apartment buildings, glowing graffiti, the blowing trash, the murky river, the pigeons, rats and urban foxes. He loves the underground, the trains, buses and cars. He loves the hole-in-the-wall diners and take-outs, the stink of diesel and petrol fumes, curry and incense. It is this love that gives him his power, and this love that makes Kate Griffin’s The Minority Council the best MATTHEW SWIFT book since A Madness of Angels.
July 4th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Kate Griffin | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
CLASSIFICATION: Horns is a murder mystery/love story/revenge thriller with a dark supernatural twist in the vein of Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Peter Straub.
FORMAT/INFO: Horns is 384 pages long divided over 4 titled Parts and 50 numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person, mainly via the protagonist Ignatius “Ig” Perrish, but also includes narratives by the villain and Ig’s older brother Terry. Horns is self-contained.
June 25th, 2012. Marion Deeds and Robert Thompson | Joe Hill | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
“… (Hasn’t it bothered you, this part of the story, my being there, I mean? What was I doing there? ‘Presume not the ways of God to scan,’ you’re been told in umpteen variations, ‘the proper study of Mankind is Man.’ Maybe so, but, what, excuse me, was the Devil doing in Eden?)”
In Glen Duncan’s bitter, darkly comic novel I, Lucifer, a gifted son struggles to win the attention of his emotionally absent father.
June 15th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Glen Duncan | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Esperanza by Trish J. MacGregor
Esperanza is a supernatural adventure novel set in Ecuador. It has a lot to recommend it, even though I was ultimately disappointed.
Some of the problems have to do with marketing. Esperanza is blurbed as a “supernatural thriller.” The book is tense and suspenseful, but I was never scared by it. Also, it is clearly book one of a series, but the blurb does not make that clear. As it is, Esperanza doesn’t end,
June 11th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Trish J. MacGregor | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Prince of Ayodhya by Ashok K. Banker
I don’t know exactly why Prince of Ayodhya failed to satisfy me. Ashok K. Banker has achieved a modern retelling of the Hindu mythic cycle, the Ramayana. I’m a sucker for mythology. Banker is a competent writer and some of his descriptions are beautiful. He clearly knows his source material and wants to share it with a wider audience.
The Ramayana follows the adventures of Prince Rama Chandra, his wife Sita, brother Lakshman and Hanuman the Monkey King as they battle against the powerful arch-demon Ravana.
June 1st, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | Ashok K. Banker | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The first half of Three A.M. (2012) is dystopian noir, and the second half wants to be a thriller. This is Steven John’s first novel, and even though it has glitches, it’s successful overall. John creates an interesting premise and an eerie, atmospheric setting in the fog-filled city that is the main location for this story.
For fifteen years, Tom Vale hasn’t seen sunlight. He hasn’t seen stars, or green grass, or a tree. On a good day, when the fog lifts slightly,
May 28th, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Steven John | SFF Reviews | no comments |
James Swain is the author of several crime thrillers, featuring series characters like a casino detective and an ex-cop who searches for missing children. Dark Magic is his first attempt at a supernatural thriller. Dark Magic is set in New York City with a main character who is a stage magician and a psychic.
Dark Magic opens with a group of psychics conducting a séance. The leader, Peter Warlock, has a horrifying vision.
May 22nd, 2012. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | James Swain | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…