Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Marion Deeds

WWWednesday: September 14, 2022

In honor of my birthday, one commenter will get a copy of T. Kingfisher‘s southern gothic horror novel, The Twisted Ones. In this column I discuss my reaction to a re-read of a classic 1990s fantasy novel.

Published in 1998, Someplace to be Flying is not the first entry in Charles de Lint’s NEWFORD series. It’s the fifth book in publishing order, with several earlier works being story collections. In my opinion, it’s a fine place to start the series and get introduced to de Lint’s fictional midwestern Canadian city (probably modeled on Ottawa) and his blend of folk magic,

September 14th, 2022. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 7 comments |

WWWednesday: September 7, 2022

The Hugo winners were announced on September 4. Arkady Martine took home Best Novel for A Desolation Called Peace, Becky Chambers gathered up the Best Novella award for A Psalm for the Wild-Built, and Sarah Pinsker won Best Short Story for “Where Oaken Hearts do Gather. Best Series went to Seanan McGuire for THE WAYWARD CHILDREN, and Charlie Jane Anders won Best Related Work for Never Say You Can’t Survive.

September 7th, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

The Final Girl Support Group: Good thriller if you are adept at suspending disbelief

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

The title of Grady Hendrix’s 2021 novel might make you think it’s a horror story in the slasher-movie style, and there are plenty of nods to horror here. Actually, the book is a thriller, and as a thriller it works pretty well. Hendrix intersperses the thriller with some dark, zany humor, trauma-fueled angst, and toxic sisterhood rants, but the story’s at its best when our main character, Lynette, is on the run from, well, everybody.

The Final Girl Support Group opens with Lynette preparing to attend that very group.

WWWednesday: August 31, 2022

File 770 posted its Filers locations and meet-ups during ChiCon8, which is this year’s WorldCon.

Casey Fiesler posted a thoughtful article about the internet and privacy. No innovations or new revelations here, just a considered look at fanfiction, emotional support and unintended consequences.

Vanity publishers are still around and still predatory, as this column in LitHub attests.

Thanks to File 770 for this article about Robby, the Security Robot, at a Portland, Oregon, hotel.

Nerds of a Feather’s Joe and Ari discuss some of this year’s Hugo and Hugo-adjacent nominations.

August 31st, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

Age of Ash: The first in yet another must-read series

Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham

I have to say, my timing of reading Daniel Abraham’s newest novel, Age of Ash (2022), couldn’t have been better, coming as it did right after I finished the last EXPANSE novel, the series he co-wrote with Ty Franck (as James S.A. Corey). After all, while THE EXPANSE has been my favorite sci-fi series for the past number of years, Abraham was also responsible for two of my favorite fantasy series: THE LONG PRICE QUARTET and THE COIN AND THE DAGGER,

August 26th, 2022. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4, 5 | Daniel Abraham | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

WWWednesday: August 24, 2022

The image is from Elle Magazine’s Spring Summer 22 fashion roundup.

NASA has created a sonification of the sound emanating from a black hole.

The annual Bulwer-Lytton contest, to celebrate intentionally bad prose, announced its winners this week. Speculative fiction is well represented in the contest, as always… and so is everything else.

S.L. Huang’s article in Tor.com, tracing the history and legacy of the conventional SFF writers workshop, is thoughtful. For me it brought up a lot of bad workshop memories.

Three Thousand Years of Longing?

August 24th, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 6 comments |

Amongst Our Weapons: Delightful and fulfilling

Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch

“She looked at me, her eyes wide.
“‘Am I free?’ she said.
“‘Yes,” I said. ‘And no.’”

Amongst Our Weapons (2022) is my new favorite in Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series, mostly because, at long last, Peter and Beverly’s progeny, the twins, make an appearance. That isn’t the only reason; the plot is good and moves quickly, and the talking foxes recruited by Peter’s young cousin Abigail are in the book just enough to keep it extra entertaining.

August 23rd, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | no comments |

WWWednesday: August 17, 2022

Salman Rushdie was taken off a ventilator on Sunday, and was able to speak. A lone attacker stabbed Rushdie at an event in New York state on Friday. Hadi Matar, the alleged attacker, has pled not guilt to charges of attempted murder. Rushdie is probably best known for The Satanic Verses and Midnight’s Children. Voices worldwide have joined to acknowledge his work and hope for a good recovery.

Over the weekend the Canadian Aurora awards were announced. Fonda Lee won for Best Novel for Jade Legacy,

August 17th, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

Fevered Star: A somewhat slower pace through a richly constructed world

Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

Fevered Star (2022) is the follow-up to Rebecca Roanhorse’s enjoyably original Black Sun, set in a fantastical Mesoamerica (with a few other cultures mixed in as well). As the second book, it does suffer somewhat from that dreaded middle book curse, but Roanhorse offers enough original worldbuilding here to compensate for the book’s weaker aspects, leaving the reader eager to see the trilogy’s conclusion.

As with Black Sun,

August 16th, 2022. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Rebecca Roanhorse | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Liminal War: Why isn’t this series adapted for streaming already?

The Liminal War by Ayize Jama-Everett

The third book in Ayize Jama-Everett’s LIMINAL PEOPLE series, 2015’s The Liminal War returns us to the near future and the world of Liminal healer Taggert, his daughter Tamara and the daughter of his heart, Prentis. Prentis is the orphaned Liminal young woman who communicates with animals. We met her in the Book One; as Book Three opens, Tamara, a powerful telepath and telekinetic, starts a firestorm of fear and anger with her realization that Prentis has been kidnapped and is nowhere on their earth.

August 12th, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Ayize Jama-Everett | SFF Reviews | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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