Transgressions of Power by Juliette Wade
With the second book of THE BROKEN TRUST series, Juliette Wade widens her world for the readers, and manages to place her characters in even greater danger than they were at the end of Mazes of Power, the first one. This review of Transgressions of Power (2021) may contain mild spoilers for book one. In any event, you must read Mazes of Power first if you really want to understand what’s happening here.
March 15th, 2021. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Juliette Wade | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Awards:
Nghi Vho’s The Empress and Salt and Forture won the IAFA’s Crawford Award.
C.J. Cherryh won the 2021 Heinlein Award.
Writers, Writing, Reading, Books:
Crime Reads looks at the fine art of dopplegangers and imposters.
In consultation with the publisher, the estate of Dr Seuss decided to let six underselling books of the children’s book author go out of print, prompting a frenzy of anguished screams of “cancel culture.” Two of the books haven’t sold in years,
March 10th, 2021. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
“The knock came an hour after we had put up the stormboards and battened down to wait it out.”
With her opening sentence, C.L. Polk starts the action of Soulstar (2021), book three in her KINGSTON CYCLE. And the action rolls on through the first chapter at a breathless pace, with changes that push Robin Thorpe of the Clan of the Peaceful Waters into the spotlight, as she becomes a leader for societal change,
March 9th, 2021. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | C.L. Polk | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Trouble the Saints (2020), by Alaya Dawn Johnson, follows three people of color — Phyllis (whose friends call her Pea), Tamara and Dev — from the late 1930s into the American involvement in World War II. Not one of them is “ordinary”; Pea and Dev have “saint’s hands” that bestow a gift … or a curse. Tamara has inherited a deck of playing cards, and she’s an oracle. When the story opens, all three are trying to make a living working for the white gangster Victor in New York City.
March 2nd, 2021. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Alaya Dawn Johnson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The People’s Republic of Everything by Nick Mamatas
I don’t know if I simply wasn’t in the right mood for Nick Mamatas’ short-story collection The People’s Republic of Everything (2018), or if I’m not the right audience for his preferred themes and overall style, but this book and I just could not mesh.
There was one story, “Tom Silex, Spirit-Smasher,” which gripped my attention and had everything I look for in short fiction. The story focuses on Rosa Martinez, whose elderly grandmother might — through quirks of legality regarding her first marriage and the question of ownership of her first husband’s pulp publications — own the rights to a series of stories revolving around psychopomp Tom Silex.
March 2nd, 2021. Jana Nyman, Marion Deeds and Skye Walker´s rating: 3 | Nick Mamatas | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Writers, Writing, Reading, Books:
Marvel’s elite artist team created the Fine Arts covers for the final issues of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s run of Black Panther. Click through to see the mouth-watering covers themselves.
Wired provides a collection of interesting quotes from David Gerrold about worldbuilding and life on other planets.
Tonight, SymphonySpace is offering a live online event discussing the works of Octavia Butler. You can register at the site. Panelists include writers, musicians and actors: N.K.
February 24th, 2021. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
The Planetbreaker’s Son by Nick Mamatas
PM Press’s Outspoken Authors imprint published The Planetbreaker’s Son (2021) by Nick Mamatas. The slim book includes the titular novella, the SF story “Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring,” a personal essay called “The Term Paper Artist,” and an interview with Mamatas hosted by Terry Bisson.
Honestly, the quirky interview with these two guys was worth the price of the book for me.
In a brief statement at the beginning of “Ring,
February 18th, 2021. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Nick Mamatas | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
James Herman Banning was a Black American aviator, part of the Bessie Coleman Aero Club in Los Angeles, and the first black pilot to fly across the continental United States.
Contests:
Waukegan Public Library’s Ray Bradbury Writing Contest announced its winner: Orton Ortwein. Waukegan is Bradbury’s birthplace.
Writers, Writing, Reading, Books:
Scott Edelman offers hors-d’oeuvres with Mary Robinette Kowal in this episode of the Eating the Fantastic podcast.
L. Penelope Guest wrote this essay for Locus back in August,
February 17th, 2021. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
Because I got an ARC of Hearts of Tabat, the second book in Cat Rambo’s TABAT QUARTET, in 2018, I read it before the first book. I thought that would have a negative impact on my reaction to Book One, Beasts of Tabat, but as I was reading, my brain reset itself, and when I got to the end I was almost as shocked as if I hadn’t had some inkling what was coming.
February 15th, 2021. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Cat Rambo | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Matiline Berryman had degrees in mathematics, law and maritime affairs with a concentration in oceanography and sonar engineering. She taught courses on oceanic dynamics and underwater sound at the New Naval Oceanographic Office. Later, she taught at the University of District of Columbia and later served as Chair of the university’s Department of Environmental Services.
Writers, Writing, Reading, Books:
Is this article on POV helpful?
I like this take on world-building, but of course I would because it’s how I introduce world-building into my stories.
February 10th, 2021. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
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!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…