The Labyrinth’s Archivist by Day Al-Mohamed
Before I review The Labyrinth’s Archivist (2019), some disclosure. The author, Day Al-Mohamed, and I share a small press publisher, Falstaff Books, and we shared an editor. The Labyrinth’s Archivist shares a general theme with my novella and both are part of the press’s BROKEN CITIES line. I haven’t met Al-Mohamed and I get no compensation for reviewing the book. I bought the book on my own. If I hadn’t enjoyed it,
December 20th, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Day Al-Mohamed | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
There is a word for the thing in fiction that I always called “The Twist.” It’s Peripeteia (Peri- peh-TAY-uh,) and it means a sudden change or also, a sudden fall.
Housekeeping:
There will be a brief column next week, December 25, and no column on January 1. The column will return on January 8, 2020.
Books and Writing:
Here is a quiz; match the lesser-known sequel to the famous book. I’m not going to tell you how very badly I did on this. (Spoiler alert: abysmally.)
Like many other small press endeavors,
December 18th, 2019. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
For the holidays:
This 3 ½ minute video showcases the a capella group Straight No Chaser singing “The 12 Days of Christmas” and several other favorites.
Books and Writing:
Vonda McIntyre, who died earlier this year, has left her literary assets and a sizeable bequest to Clarion West.
SFWA named Lois McMaster Bujold as the latest Grandmaster.
Barnes and Noble went scything through their blogosphere, ending contracts with all of their freelance Fantasy and SF blog writers and Teen blog writers (and by “freelance” they mean “all of them.”) The move is purportedly to put the content of the B&N site “back” into the hands of booksellers.
December 11th, 2019. Marion Deeds | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant, our favourite semi-competent detective cum wizard-in-training, returns in Lies Sleeping (2018), the seventh book in Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series. The Faceless Man has been unmasked and is on the run, and it is now up to Peter and the inimitable Detective Chief Inspector Nightingale (slash last officially sanctioned English Melvin the Wizard) to apprehend him.
(Fair warning: some spoilers for preceding books will follow.)
London is once more under threat and there can only be one man behind it.
December 6th, 2019. Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
An interesting word for Wednesday is horologium (hor-oh-LOGE-ee-yum) a noun meaning a time-keeping apparatus like a clock, sundial, etc, or a structure that supports a time-keeping piece.
Giveaway:
One commenter will get a copy of Annalee Newitz’s The Future of Another Timeline.
Conventions:
Last week I spent three days at AtomaCon in Charleston, South Carolina. This was a small convention, which I enjoy. I had a wonderful time! I’m going to plug some people. I tried a VR experience for the first time (undersea images) and I am a convert.
December 4th, 2019. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, World Wide Wednesday | 7 comments |
SHORTS: Our column exploring free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few stories we’ve recently read that we wanted you to know about.
“Head of a Snake, Tail of a Dragon” by Zen Cho (2018, free on the author’s website)
This short story is a delightful sequel to Zen Cho’s Hugo award-winning novelette, “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again.” And both are free online, so win-win!
Jin-Dae is an imugi, a magical serpent that can — if it learns and grows in the right way — turn into a dragon.
December 3rd, 2019. Tadiana Jones, Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper | Arthur Machen, Cat Rambo, Ilona Andrews, John Scalzi, Zen Cho | Audio, Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
I didn’t think I was going to watch Evil until I saw that it starred not only Mike Colter (Luke Cage, The Defenders) but Michael Emerson (Person of Interest, Lost). That casting made me think I’d give it a try. It’s not my favorite kind of story, and it’s on a network that tends to produce mainstream programming that is predictably black-and-white, with a lot of protagonist-centered morality (if our heroes want to do it, then it must be okay). Blue Bloods and all the iterations of NCIS come immediately to mind.
November 27th, 2019. Marion Deeds | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
One of the definitive aspects of Ben Aaronovitch‘s PETER GRANT series is the fact that it’s set in the big smoke (aka London, for all you non-Londoners). So it may come as a surprise to discover that Foxglove Summer (2014), the fifth instalment of the series, is actually set in the countryside. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is story about sleepy village life and the occasional nosy neighbour. Far from it. Peter Grant is back along with a myriad of supernatural problems,
November 27th, 2019. Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant, mediocre policeman and inferior wizard, is back. Broken Homes (2013) is the fourth instalment of Ben Aaronvitch’s PETER GRANT series, and the detective returns with his love of acronyms and Red Stripe. Once more under the supervision of DCI Thomas Nightingale, Peter, Lesley and (the newly initiated) thirteen-year-old Abigail, must police the supernatural elements of London’s crime scene.
The story opens with a series of seemingly unconnected crimes: a car accident,
November 25th, 2019. Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Ben Aaronovitch | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Laugher at the Academy by Seanan McGuire
Laughter at the Academy (2019) is Seanan McGuire’s first short story collection as Seanan McGuire (apparently there is a Mira Grant collection). McGuire is amazingly prolific, and this expensive Subterranean Press anthology showcases that. In her foreword, McGuire tells us that she chose these specific stories because she loves them the most. The contents were published between 2009 – 2017. They all take place outside her “pre-existing universes,” as she calls them, but there are resonances with October Daye,
November 22nd, 2019. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Seanan McGuire | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 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…