Reactor reviews Suzan Palumbo’s newest, a space-opera retelling of The County of Monte Cristo. Sign me up.
And enjoy their review of an upcoming Netflix “Sci-fi movie with jokes,” It’s What’s Inside.
In honor of the anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Show (in Canada, where it aired first) Chris Barkley shares his 15 favorite episodes. How do they match up with yours?
Next year’s WorldCon, in Seattle, Washington, USA, will feature a film festival. Thanks to File 770 for this item.
September 11th, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | 4 comments |
File 770 shares the latest AI kerfuffle, as NaNoWriMo’s steering organization made an unpopular statement about use of AI in its Annual November write-a-thon. Their awkwardly worded statement implies seems to imply that disabled people couldn’t complete a book without AI help. You can imagine how well this went over. It’s Item 1.
SFWA had a series of resignations and vacancies that came to a head last month. Jason Sanford covered it here on his Patreon. File 770 provides some updates. It looks like the organization is fundamentally sound and taking the right steps to correct the problems.
September 4th, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
Some fans of Lost consider Season Three its best season. It is a pivotal season, with the growing hints about Jacob and the smoke monster/Man in Black. Two things make the season a fan favorite; the introduction of a character many people loved, Dr. Juliet Burke, and the plotline involving Charlie, which, unlike most plotlines in the show, actually resolves, and with meaning.
Season Three aired from October, 2006 through May, 2007. As always I’m indebted to Lostpedia for the facts and details. This column will include spoilers for this and future seasons.
In this season we see our first true “death as sacrifice.” We meet a super-powered Other,
August 28th, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell
Welcome to Play of Shadows, in which, in the fabled city of Jereste, our Hero, Damelas Chademantaigne, flees a duel and takes refuge with a Theater Troupe. Our young Hero faces many adversaries, among them a Duellist, (the Vixen); An Assassin, (the Black Amaranth), and a dreaded vigilante army (the Iron Orchids), while he Confronts Undesirable Truths from the Past, and is charged by a Duke to perform A Play that will Reveal the Truth and may destroy Jereste in the process.
August 27th, 2024. Marion Deeds and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5 | Sebastien De-Castell | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Weyward, by Emilia Hart, (2023), is women’s fiction with magic. The stories of three different women in three different eras wrestling not only with their connection to nature, but with the restrictions and exploitations of society, are captivating, and it’s all delivered with beautiful descriptions and flowing language.
I’m going to go down a rabbit hole here. I recently had to make a long drive (2 ½ hours each way) and used most of that time to chew over why I categorize this as “women’s fiction with magic” rather than “fantasy.” Here’s what I’ve decided;
August 26th, 2024. Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Emilia Hart | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher’s most recent 2024 novel, is a magical regency-style romance, with lengthy interruptions by the machinations of a cruel, selfish sorceress, attacks by her demonic familiar, and the occasional murder.
I don’t think I’ve read anything by Kingfisher that I didn’t love, and this book is no different, although the questions I had with this one surfaced while I was reading and not afterward. To focus on what worked best,
August 22nd, 2024. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | T. Kingfisher | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Bulwer-Lytton Contest winners were announced—awarded for the best example of the intentionally worst prose. Enjoy!
Nerds of a Feather reviews T. Kingfisher’s latest, A Sorceress Comes to Call.
NPR reports that explorers found the wreck of the British warship Hawke, sunk during WWI by a German submarine.
Moving on to love, EW.com lists 21 famous long-awaited TV kisses (spoiler alert—they are one short!). Is your favorite on here?
The Mary Sue offers streaming information for Alien: Romulus,
August 21st, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
Reposting to include Marion’s new review.
Blade of Dream by Daniel Abraham
Blade of Dream is Daniel Abraham’s second book in his KITHAMAR trilogy, though to call it a “sequel” is a bit of a misnomer as rather than directly following the events of Age of Ash, this new story parallels that first book’s events in time, actually intersecting with a few scenes here and there but mostly, or at least somewhat,
August 16th, 2024. Bill Capossere and Marion Deeds´s rating: 5 | Daniel Abraham | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The 2024 Hugos were announced Saturday night. Best Novel: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh; Best Novella: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher; Best Short Story: “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer.
The 2026 WorldCon will be held in LA.
Item 3 of File770’s pixel scroll relates an incident at Glasgow’s WorldCon, involving disgraced and banned former Hugo Award director Dave McCarty and a woman in a lovely hat who may or may not have been Ursula Vernon.
Nerds of a Feather reviews Road to Ruin by Hana Lee.
August 14th, 2024. Marion Deeds | World Wide Wednesday | no comments |
The Drowning House by Cherie Priest
Cherie Priest should be crowned the queen of cursed houses. First there was Maplecroft, her Lizzie Borden/Lovecraftian suspense novel with the atmospheric house there, then The Family Plot with the old house steeped in family evil. With 2024’s The Drowning House, Priest gives us not one but two cursed houses… and one makes an appearance in a way I’ve never seen before.
In the middle of a wild early-autumn storm,
August 13th, 2024. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Cherie Priest | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…