Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Marion Deeds

Thoughtful Thursday: Favorite SFF Adaptations

Speculative fiction is a gold mine for content providers and streaming services. In the past ten years we’ve seen an explosion of adaptations of written-word works to the small screen in particular, and most particularly in the form of series.

The series almost never follows the book(s) exactly (movies don’t either) but the best of them capture the sensibility of the written story, and the characters.

Game of Thrones is probably the Monster King of this subgenre, but series like The Expanse and Outlander have done pretty well too.

January 23rd, 2020. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 14 comments |

WWWednesday: January 22, 2020

Cons:

Arisia 2020 went forward and File 770 provides some fun photos here.

Books and Writing:

Via File 770, the Heinlein Scholarships program is open until April 1, 2020.

LitHub shares genuine pulp covers of classic literary works—at least they say they are genuine and, like Fox Mulder, I want to believe. I nearly fell over when I saw the Wuthering Heights cover, and then I got to Heart of Darkness.

January 22nd, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |

WWWednesday: January 15, 2020

Passing:

Mike Resnick passed away at the age of 77. His best-known book was probably Kirinyaga, but Wikipedia lists 69 books for him, including tie-ins and some mysteries. He won the Hugo and the Nebula in 1995 for his story “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge” and a Hugo in 1991 for his novelette “The Monamouki.” Recently he edited Galaxy’s Edge. On Twitter, Tobias Buckell acknowledged Resnick as one of his Clarion teachers, a mentor and an inspiration.

File770 has an obituary.

January 15th, 2020. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

An Unkindness of Magicians: Dark and brisk with lots of good visuals

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard

Wizard tournaments and wizard duels are standard fare in fantasy now, and Kat Howard puts the concept to good use in her fast-paced An Unkindness of Magicians. Published in 2017, the story follows a group of families based in Manhattan, who call themselves the Unseen World. They use magic to enrich themselves, gain power and ensure their comforts. Periodically, they engage in a magical struggle for control called the Turning, in which each family or House appoints a champion who duels other champions,

Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water: We are interested in what Kaftan does next

Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water by Vylar Kaftan

Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water is a 2019 novella by Vylar Kaftan. The story opens with two characters, Bee, our narrator, and Chela, in jeopardy in a very unusual setting, and takes us places we did not expect.

Bee is trapped in a unique and horrifying prison: a cave complex on a planet far from Earth. She has one companion, Chela, and they have banded together to brave the dangers of the caves: the risk of drowning,

An interesting word for Wednesday is the noun hibernaculum (hi-ber-nak-yoo-lum), meaning winter quarters or the den of a hibernating animal. I think I’ve used this word before, and probably right around this time of year.

Cons:

SWFA has put out a sampler of its programming examples for its Nebula Weekend, scheduled for May 28-31, 2020, in Los Angeles.

Books and Writing:

Right around Christmas, the Romance Writers Association (RWA) had a kerfuffle that escalated into a full meltdown. They tried to sanction a member,

January 8th, 2020. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 11 comments |

Empress of Forever: Thrilling space opera, but it is science fiction?

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone

Max Gladstone’s Empress of Forever (2019) is definitely space opera. In a far distant future, tech genius, entrepreneur and loner Vivian Liao travels from planet to planet and system to system trying to find an advantage in a losing war against an all-powerful space empress. Viv, who is plucked by that same empress out of her our-present-day life (and planned rebellion), draws to herself the usual strange pack of uneasy allies in this battle. The book is complicated,

The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London

The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London by Christopher Skaife

“If you want to know history, read a book. If you want a story, take a tour.” — Christopher Skaife

The Ravenmaster was published in 2018. It’s nonfiction and it isn’t particularly about science, even the science of ravens. It’s got some history, some memoir, and some ghosts, but it isn’t about those things. I’m reviewing it here for one reason only: ravens.

Christopher Skaife,

January 7th, 2020. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

Fortress Frontier: A captivating adventure

Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier by Myke Cole

It’s amazing how a main character can spoil a book. Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier is the second book in the SHADOW OPS series by Myke Cole. I didn’t like the first book, Control Point, very well because I loathed Oscar Britton, the main character. He offended my pride as a soldier. Yet I decided to try the second book and this time I have to give Myke Cole some real credit for giving me a reason not to hate his SHADOW OPS series….

January 3rd, 2020. John Hulet and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Myke Cole | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |

WWWednesday: December 25, 2019

A joyous Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas to those who observe.

To those of you who don’t, have a very good week!

I’m posting a handful of videos. Four are musical and one is of fluffy arctic foxes.

The column will be on hiatus next week (January 1) but I will be back on January 8.

Happy New Year!

First up: Alison Krauss and Yo Yo Ma play The Wexford Carol.

Julie Geller performs a contemporary version of the classic Hanukkah hymn Al Hanisim.

December 25th, 2019. Marion Deeds | SFF Reviews, World Wide Wednesday | no comments |

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

We have reviewed 8468 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Subscribe to all posts:

Get notified about Giveaways:

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:

You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US UK CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!

SFF Deals

Recent Discussion:

bounty lottery on The Giallo Films of Edwige FenechMay 10, 2025
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Steven on The Saint of Bright Doors: The good parts are so goodMay 8, 2025
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Sandy on Quest for the White Witch: The exciting conclusion to an epic trilogyMay 5, 2025
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Marion Deeds on Quest for the White Witch: The exciting conclusion to an epic trilogyMay 5, 2025
Wonderful review, Sandy.
Marion Deeds on Red Rabbit: Perfect blend of western adventure and wild magicApril 27, 2025
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…