2022’s Locus Awards winners include A Desolation Called Peace (Arkady Martine) for Best Science Fiction Novel, My Heart is a Chainsaw (Stephen Graham Jones) for Best Horror Novel; Jade Legacy (Fonda Lee) for best fantasy novel; Victories Greater Than Death (Charlie Jane Anders) for best YA novel. While I was posting this link, I looked over the list and remembered what a great year 2021 was for speculative fiction.
June 29th, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
Spear by Nicola Griffith
Nicola Griffith’s Spear glides effortlessly and confidently into the Arthurian cycle, while giving us a completely new character and an outsider’s perspective of Arthur, his court, Merlin, and the Holy Grail.
Published in 2022, this novella starts with the account of a young girl who lives in a cave in the woods with her mother. Their one item of value is a large cauldron in which the mother cooks their food and heats water. The girl roams the woods,
June 29th, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Nicola Griffith | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Nerds of a Feather review K.J. Parker’s How to Rule An Empire and Get Away With It.
Over at Tor.com, they introduce us to the possibility of Count Dracula Daily, as a Substack blogger is emailing out Dracula in serial format every day.
Fantasy writer Faith Hunter has publicly apologized for harassing behavior, and withdrawn from conventions for the rest of the year, after several incidents at JordanCon this year. File 770 has two long articles on this for those who want the details.
June 22nd, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper
In 2021’s effervescent Payback’s a Witch, the stakes are low, hearts are worn on people’s sleeves, and love is the answer. (Note: No hearts are literally outside the body in this book.) Lana Harper, who writes YA fantasy as Lana Popovic, enters the world of adult paranormal romantic comedy with a story of two modern witches who plot to win a magical tournament while navigating the rocky path of their increasing mutual attraction.
A few hundred years ago,
June 21st, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Lana Harper, Lana Popović | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Reposting to include Marion’s new review.
Last Exit by Max Gladstone
Here is Max Gladstone’s recipe for a Last Exit (2022) cocktail:
Gladstone’s newest is a darkly compelling and intense work,
June 16th, 2022. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Max Gladstone | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
A Google engineer in an AI project states that they have created a sentient AI. The engineer is currently on administrative leave from Google. The article uses the word sentient, which basically means having emotions, or consciousness, but the text from the article makes it sounds like we’re discussing sapience, which is self-awareness.
Charlie Jane Anders writes about the balance to grimdark, which she has dubbed sweetweird.
Sugar the Horse has become more than an internet celebrity; she is an icon of those who spent the pandemic evaluating their lives and deciding working most of your waking life was not what they wanted to do.
June 15th, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
Samit Basu discusses the journey he took to imagine his newest book, The City Inside.
Tor.com spotlights new June releases.
Mary Robinette Kowal highlights the upcoming anthology The Reinvented Heart.
A Witcher school in Poland—yes, that’s what I said, a Witcher school—had to close its doors due to politics.
Publishers Weekly profiles Words Without Borders.
Early reactions to Jurassic World: Dominion are mixed.
June 8th, 2022. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
As a rule, I don’t like grimdark, and I don’t read grimdark. R.F. Kuang’s debut novel The Poppy War was an exception. It impressed me, mostly for the way she wove the historical wars between China and Japan into her fully fleshed-out fantasy world. Based on my liking of the first book, I read 2019’s The Dragon Republic, Book Two in THE POPPY WAR series. Sadly, with the second book I was reminded of why I don’t like grimdark.
June 8th, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | R.F. Kuang | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Razzmatazz by Christopher Moore
Razzmatazz, Christopher Moore’s fantasy/action/comedy follow-up to Noir, came out in 2022. While I recommend Noir, you don’t need to read it first to enjoy this outing.
It’s 1947, in San Francisco, and Sammy “Two-Toes” Tiffin, bartender and sometime detective, and his group of regulars are still just trying to get by, when Sammy’s friend Eddie “Moo Shoes” Shu brings Sammy to a meeting with Eddie’s Uncle Ho.
June 6th, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Christopher Moore | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
Kingfisher’s Nettle and Bone (2022) was exactly the book I needed to read when I read it, so I am grateful to it and the writer for that. Kingfisher’s original fairy tale is a satisfying read at any time, with characters who engaged my imagination and find original ways to solve their problems.
Marra is a princess, the third daughter of a small kingdom with a deep-water harbor, nestled between two powerful warlike nations,
June 2nd, 2022. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | T. Kingfisher | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Thanks for the kind words, Ira! Much appreciated!
Fine review
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
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!