Wild Seed by Octavia Butler
Wild Seed (1980) was written last in Octavia Butler’s 5-book PATTERNIST series, but comes first in chronology. The next books, by internal chronology, are Mind of My Mind (1977), Clay’s Ark (1984), and Patternmaster (1976). Butler was later unsatisfied with Survivor (1978) and elected to not have it reprinted, so I will focus on the main four volumes. Wild Seed is an origin story set well before later books and can stand on its own.
January 8th, 2019. Stuart Starosta, Marion Deeds and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5, 5 | Octavia Butler | Audio, Edge | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
A Conjuring of Light (2017) brings V.E. Schwab’s multi-world trilogy to a close while leaving plenty of room for future stories in the SHADES OF MAGIC universe. We (Bill and Marion) both read it, and we share their thoughts about the third book below. This review may contain light spoilers for A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows.
A Gathering of Shadows ended on a cliffhanger.
January 3rd, 2019. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5, 4 | Victoria (V.E.) Schwab | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Reposting to include Marion’s review of the new SYFY channel adaptation of Nightflyers. You can find it below our reviews of the novella.
Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin
Nightflyers was first published in 1980, won the Locus Award for best novella, and was nominated for a Hugo Award. It was made into an unsuccessful film in 1987. It’s recently been on people’s radars due to the upcoming SYFY series based on the novella. You can purchase it in several new (2018) formats including an illustrated edition,
December 31st, 2018. Kat Hooper and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | George R.R. Martin | Audio, Film / TV, Horror, Locus Award, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
This will be the final column of 2018. A safe and happy New Year’s Day to everyone who observes it.
Books and Writing:
Academy Award winner Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions is accepting screenplay submissions.
In the solving-the-problem-we-didn’t-know-we-had category, Tor.com offers an essay on how to make beer on a generation ship.
Sarah Gailey writes about seven books that helped her make it through a hard year. What I liked about this essay is that she tells us when and where she read each book.
December 26th, 2018. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |
A Joyous Hanukkah to all those who observe.
Conventions:
In addition to electing new officers Arisia has banned some people and restricted the involvement of others, in the wake of the report of their mishandling of a sexual assault complaint.
Scotland, known already for its Fringe Festival, will hold its first speculative fiction/horror fiction literary festival.
Afua Richardson will be a featured artist at WorldCon in Dublin, Ireland in 2019.
Various Controversies:
I mean,
December 5th, 2018. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland
Marion: We never know the name of our first-person narrator in Alexandra Rowland’s 2018 novel A Conspiracy of Truths. People call him Chant, but that is his vocation, not a name (he abandoned his name when he became a Chant). Chants gather stories and retell them. They go from place to place pursuing their craft, and in the isolated and insular country of Nuryevet, Chants offends the wrong people, and is put on trial for witchcraft.
December 3rd, 2018. Marion Deeds and Terry Weyna´s rating: 4.5 | Alexandra Rowland | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Those of you in the USA, or who observe the holiday, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Everyone else, have a great day tomorrow!
There will be no column next week. I’ll be back on December 5, 2018.
Books and Writing:
Unbound Worlds will no longer be providing original material as a blog, although features may be incorporated into other venues within Penguin Random House.
Last week Jonathan Franzen posted 10 Rules for Writing. They might be useful for emerging writers; they were definitely useful for established writers of all genres (but particularly speculative fiction) who had fun with them –and made fun of them —
November 21st, 2018. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 4 comments |
Obituaries:
I chose Polygon’s obituary of Stan Lee, the creator of what we now call the Marvel universe, over the many articles. Lee passed away on November 12, at the age of 95. Lee’s impact on the American culture will take decades to fully reveal itself, but the ugliness of the past two years, with elder abuse charges and restraining orders, are only a blip in the long life of a man who has given each of us indelible memories and heroes with whom we can identify.
Insider compiled all of Stan Lee’s cameos over the years.
November 14th, 2018. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 4 comments |
“Thirty-Three Percent Joe” by Suzanne Palmer (2018, free online at Clarkesworld, $2.99 Kindle magazine issue)
Science fiction humor is very hard to pull off, and rarely works for me. This Suzanne Palmer story is a radiant exception. Palmer hits a grand-slam with a human soldier who has 33% of his body replaced with smart parts, including a heart,
November 12th, 2018. Marion Deeds, Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones | Daryl Gregory, Suzanne Palmer | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
I always find it a little nerve-wracking when an author returns to a successful series after a long time away. There’s always the fear, for me at least, that one of two things is going to happen: either the author will be nostalgic about the original work to the extent that s/he makes the new book into a fawning tribute without substance, or the author will have changed enough in the time between installments that the magic is just gone. I’m happy to say, though, that Philip Pullman‘s new novel dispels both of those fears.
November 7th, 2018. Tim Scheidler, Ray McKenzie, Katie Burton and Marion Deeds´s rating: 3, 4.5 | Philip Pullman | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
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