Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Author: Sandy Ferber

Terror by Night: Classic Ghost and Horror Stories by Ambrose Bierce

Terror by Night: Classic Ghost and Horror Stories by Ambrose Bierce

Wordsworth Editions, published in London, has a wonderful thing going with its current series entitled “Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural,” bringing back into print short story collections and full-length novels from such relatively unknown authors as Gertrude Atherton, Edith Nesbit, D.K. Broster, Marjorie Bowen, May Sinclair and Dennis Wheatley. The imprint’s collection of horror tales from Ohio-born Ambrose Bierce is a very satisfying and generous one,

6xH: Six Stories By Robert A. Heinlein

6xH: Six Stories by Robert A. Heinlein by Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein, certainly one of the most influential authors in science fiction history, was also one of the most celebrated. As reported in The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, Heinlein was the guest of honor at three World SF Conventions, received the first Grand Master Nebula Award, and was selected “best all-time author” in many readers’ polls. His four Hugo awards for Best Novel is a record that stands to this day, and in his long and prolific career,

A Scent of New-Mown Hay: Very suspenseful

A Scent of New-Mown Hay by John Blackburn

The old whimsical phrase “there’s fungus among us” might not sound so amusing after a reader finishes John Blackburn‘s first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay. This short (my New English Library paperback edition from 1976 is only 160 pages long) but densely written book originally appeared in 1958, and is a curious combination of sci-fi, horror and spy thriller. I first came to hear of it after reading a very laudatory article on the novel in the excellent overview volume Horror: Another 100 Best Books edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman.

Nine Horrors and a Dream: A horror collection

Nine Horrors and a Dream by Joseph Payne Brennan

Nine Horrors and a Dream is a collection of Joseph Payne Brennan’s best horror tales, and was first published by Arkham House in 1958. The book consists of short stories that, for the most part, first appeared in the classic pulp magazine Weird Tales in the early 1950s; indeed, the book is dedicated to that great magazine, which ended its 31-year run in 1954. Prospective readers of Brennan’s collection should be advised that this is NOT an easy book to acquire.

The Ghost Kings: A very fine novel from Haggard’s middle period

The Ghost Kings by H. Rider Haggard

Free Kindle Version.

The Ghost Kings was H. Rider Haggard’s 32nd novel, out of an eventual 58. Written during the years 1906 and 1907, it first saw book publication in September 1908. This novel was penned immediately before Haggard set to work on another African adventure tale, The Yellow God, but of the two, The Ghost Kings is the superior creation. It is more exciting and more detailed,

The Metal Monster: Exotic setting, great action sequences

The Metal Monster by Abraham Merritt

Abraham Merritt’s second novel, The Metal Monster, first saw the light of day in 1920, in Argosy magazine. It was not until 1946 that this masterful fantasy creation was printed in book form. In a way, this work is a continuation of Merritt’s first novel, The Moon Pool (1919), as it is a narrative of America’s foremost botanist, Dr. Walter T. Goodwin, narrator of that earlier adventure as well. As Goodwin tells us, he initially set out on this second great adventure to forget the terrible incidents of the first;

December 11th, 2012. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Abraham Merritt | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Robots Have No Tails: Unfailingly inventive and often laugh-out-loud funny

Robots Have No Tails by Henry Kuttner

Originally released in 1952 by the early sci-fi/fantasy publisher Gnome Press, the meaninglessly titled Robots Have No Tails collects the five stories that Henry Kuttner wrote featuring the drunken inventor Galloway Gallegher. (As to that title, in the book’s original introduction by Kuttner’s equally celebrated wife, C.L. Moore, she tells us that her husband was at a loss for an appropriate name for this collection, and so told the publisher, “I can’t think of one. Call it anything you like.

Montezuma’s Daughter: Rip-roaring historical adventure

Montezuma’s Daughter by H. Rider Haggard

Free Kindle version.

Written between June 5 and September 3, 1891, H. Rider Haggard’s 16th novel out of an eventual 58, Montezuma’s Daughter, was ultimately published in October 1893. The previous winter, Haggard and his wife Louisa had been in Mexico hunting for treasure and, on February 8th, the author had learned of the death of his 9-year-old son “Jock” back in England. The grieving father wrote Montezuma’s Daughter as what his biographer D.S.

The Wizard: A wonder-filled entertainment

The Wizard by H. Rider Haggard

Free Kindle version.

The Wizard, H. Rider Haggard’s 21st novel out of an eventual 58, was initially released as a serial in a publication called The African Review and then in its complete form in the October 29, 1896 Arrowsmith’s Christmas Annual for Boys. It was the third of four African novels that Haggard wrote from 1895-97, the others being Black Heart and White Heart,

Shadrach in the Furnace: Intriguing, exciting, tense

Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg

It’s the summer of 2012 and the Earth is a disaster. A deadly virus has killed most of the world population and those who remain will eventually succumb to its organ-rotting effects if they are not given an antidote before they start to show symptoms. All of the national governments have collapsed and the world is now ruled by the opportunistic dictator Genghis II Mao IV Khan with the help of the bureaucrats who do his bidding. All of them have been inoculated against the virus and,

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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