Sandy Ferber | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

Darker Than You Think: A mighty gripping read

Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson’s Darker Than You Think is a one-shot horror-novel excursion for this science fiction Grand Master, but has nonetheless been described as not only the author’s finest work, but also one of the best treatments of the werewolf in modern literature. It has been chosen for inclusion in David Pringle’s overview volume Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels (“a relatively disciplined and thoughtful work,” Pringle writes, in comparing it to the author’s earlier space operas) as well as in Jones &

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: Horror for children

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner

Purportedly written for children but with a strong appeal for adults as well, Alan Garner’s first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, is a swashbuckling heroic fantasy set in the present day, and one that conflates elements of Welsh, Nordic and English mythology into one very effective brew. Though now deemed a classic of sorts, I probably would never have heard of this work, had it not been for Scottish author Muriel Gray’s article about it in the excellent overview volume Horror: Another 100 Best Books.

The Winds of Change… and Other Stories: Another fine collection

The Winds of Change… and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov

The Winds of Change… and Other Stories is a 1983 collection of Isaac Asimov’s latter-day short pieces; just one of the 506 books he came out with during the course of his incredibly prolific career. The 21 stories in this collection were, with two exceptions, written between 1976 and 1982, and all display the clarity of thought, wit and erudition that are the hallmarks of all of Doc Ike’s work. Four of the stories in this collection — “About Nothing,”

Fury: A classic of Golden Age science fiction

Fury by Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore

1946 had been a very good year indeed for Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, with a full dozen stories published plus three fine novels (The Fairy Chessmen, Valley of the Flame and The Dark World), and in 1947, science fiction’s preeminent husband-and-wife writing team continued its prolific ways. Before the year was out, the two had succeeded in placing another 15 stories into the pulp magazines of the day,

Elak of Atlantis: Shows Kuttner in his formative writing years

Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner

When budding author Henry Kuttner wrote a fan letter to the already established Weird Tales favorite C.L. Moore in 1936, little did he know that the object of his admiration was a woman… a woman who, four years later, would become his wife, and with whom a collaboration would begin that was ultimately recognized as one of the sturdiest pillars of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Such a melding of talents was Henry and Catherine Lucille’s, it has been said,

May 9th, 2013. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | Henry Kuttner | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Mahatma and the Hare: A real charmer

The Mahatma and the Hare by H. Rider Haggard

The Mahatma and the Hare was first published in book form in 1911, and is one of H. Rider Haggard‘s rarer titles. The idea for this short novel came to Haggard, he states in the book’s preface, after he had read a newspaper account of a hare that had swum out to sea to avoid being captured by pursuing hounds. In Haggard’s story, the self-called mahatma — a spiritual man who is able, when asleep, to view “The Great White Road”

Nine Tomorrows: You’ll wish there were twenty tomorrows!

Nine Tomorrows: Tales of the Near Future by Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov may very well be the most prolific author in modern history. With over 500 books to his credit (506, to be exact… go to asimovonline.com for the full list, if you don’t believe me!), covering just about every subject in the Dewey Decimal System (except philosophy, I believe), the man was a real marvel. One of these 500 volumes, Nine Tomorrows, is a collection of short stories that Doc Ike first had published in various magazines during the period July 1956 to November 1958.

Mutant: Kuttner & Moore’s final novel

Mutant by Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore

By the early 1950s, the great husband-and-wife writing team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore had moved to the West Coast to acquire degrees at the University of Southern California, and were concentrating more on their scholastic pursuits than their (formerly prodigious) sci-fi/fantasy output. In 1953, the pair released Mutant, which would turn out to be their final, novel-length work of science fiction as a team. Mutant is what is known as a “fix-up novel,” consisting of four short stories originally published in 1945 and a final story released in 1953,

April 15th, 2013. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | C.L. Moore, Henry Kuttner | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors

Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg & Martin Greenberg

Though hardly a runaway success in its day, and a publication that faced financial hardships for much of its existence, the pulp magazine known as Weird Tales is today remembered by fans and collectors alike as one of the most influential and prestigious. Anthologies without number have used stories from its pages, and the roster of authors who got their start therein reads like a “Who’s Who” of 20th century horror and fantasy literature.

The Werewolf of Paris: A terrific piece of writing from Mr. Endore

The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore

I owe a debt of gratitude to writer Marvin Kaye, who selected Guy Endore‘s classic novel of lycanthropy, The Werewolf of Paris, for inclusion in Kim Newman and Stephen Jones‘s excellent overview volume Horror: 100 Best Books. If it hadn’t been for Kaye’s article on this masterful tale, who knows if I would have ever run across it. And that would have been a real shame,

Author: Sandy Ferber

Darker Than You Think: A mighty gripping read

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: Horror for children

The Winds of Change… and Other Stories: Another fine collection

Fury: A classic of Golden Age science fiction

Elak of Atlantis: Shows Kuttner in his formative writing years

The Mahatma and the Hare: A real charmer

Nine Tomorrows: You’ll wish there were twenty tomorrows!

Mutant: Kuttner & Moore’s final novel

Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors

The Werewolf of Paris: A terrific piece of writing from Mr. Endore

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