Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
It seems like there are many tales around today that strive to explain the ‘after’ in ‘happily ever after’, with varied results. Seanan McGuire’s Every Heart a Doorway is one such story that had me riveted from the first. This novella appears to be the first in a plan for more stories in this world, and as an introduction it does an excellent job.
Every Heart a Doorway concerns the lives of those girls and boys (but mostly girls,
August 1st, 2017. Skye Walker, Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones and Tim Scheidler | Seanan McGuire | Nebula Award, Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 11 comments |
The Suffering Tree by Elle Cosimano
When Tori Burns’ family is contacted shortly after her father’s death about a house and some land that was left to them in Chaptico, Maryland, they are suddenly moving into a century home. So begins the uncovering of the mysterious circumstances that lead to Tori’s family owning a small parcel of land on the historic Slaughter farm. The move kicks off many unexplainable happenings that seem to all come back to a witch’s curse from 300 years ago. Elle Cosimano strives to connect the present of the Slaughter land with a darker past,
July 31st, 2017. Skye Walker´s rating: 1 | Elle Cosimano | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Backstagers Act: 1 by James Tynion IV (author) & Rian Sygh (artist)
Behind the scenes of the drama club, there is a labyrinth of rooms and hallways filled with creepy critters and questionable sofas alike – that is the world of The Backstagers Act: 1 (2107). The inhabitants design and build the sets and props for the actors of the drama club and are all but forgotten in their backstage rooms. The Backstagers not only cater to the needs of the drama club but have their own adventures out of sight and out of mind of the rest of the school.
July 22nd, 2017. Skye Walker´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire’s Every Heart a Doorway (2016) introduces the reader to a reality in which some children get swept away to other worlds. These worlds of whimsy or darkness (and everything in between) become home to the children so much so that they are devastated if they are forced to leave. If they do come back to our world, a fortunate few may find kindred spirits at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, the setting of that first novella.
July 12th, 2017. Skye Walker and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 5 | Seanan McGuire | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
I was a big fan of V.E. Schwab’s 2013 novel Vicious, noting in my review how she had overcome the possible burden of overfamiliar concepts (it’s a folks-with-powers-who-have-some-gray-to-them kind of novel) with supremely polished execution. Well, she’s pretty much done the same with her newest novel, A Darker Shade of Magic, which takes many of the usual fantasy tropes and, again, just handles them all so smoothly that you simply don’t care much that you’ve seen them all before.
June 2nd, 2017. Bill Capossere, Ray McKenzie, Tim Scheidler, Marion Deeds and Skye Walker´s rating: 4 | Victoria (V.E.) Schwab | SFF Reviews | 11 comments |
In Mark Lawrence‘s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, ten SFF review blogs joined forces to read 300 self-published fantasy novels. Each blog read ten books and chose one to advance to the top ten. The book that we advanced was Kaitlyn Davis‘s The Shadow Soul (here’s our review) and we gave it a score of 5 out of 10 on Lawrence’s scale. We reviewed four of the finalists back in March and this post contains our last batch of reviews. Thanks for joining us on this quest,
May 5th, 2017. Kevin Wei, Katie Burton and Skye Walker | SPFBO | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Editor’s note: Carmilla is free in Kindle format because it’s in the public domain.
Giving Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872) a 4-star rating feels a bit like critiquing my cat’s life choices. Sure, she could act more like a cat, and she could definitely make more sense from time to time — but ultimately, I love her and that ought to be enough.
Carmilla truly begins when Carmilla (surprise) arrives somewhat suddenly at the summer home of Laura and her father.
March 28th, 2017. Skye Walker´s rating: 4 | Joseph Sheridan Le_Fanu | Free!, Horror, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
“Report” by Donald Barthelme (1967, originally published in the New Yorker, free at Jessamyn.com (reprinted by permission), also collected in Sixty Stories)
“Our group is against the war. But the war goes on. I was sent to Cleveland to talk to the engineers. The engineers were meeting in Cleveland. I was supposed to persuade them not to do what they were going to do.”
“Report,” by Donald Barthelme,
March 27th, 2017. Marion Deeds, Skye Walker and Tadiana Jones | Amal El-Mohtar, Carrie Vaughn, Catherynne M. Valente, Charlie Jane Anders, Jo Walton, Kameron Hurley, Maria Dahvana Headley, Nisi Shawl, Philip K. Dick, Seanan McGuire | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal
A story set in the future about an ‘authenticities’ dealer, Forest of Memory is set in a culture where everyone is connected by an omnipresent internet. The main character has a personal AI who is always listening and also recording and broadcasting the life of the protagonist. Mary Robinette Kowal then thrusts the main character into a situation where none of her technology works.
The premise of the tale interested me. In few words, Kowal has built a culture that is both rooted in today and wholly futuristic.
March 23rd, 2017. Skye Walker´s rating: 3 | Mary Robinette Kowal | Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Our weekly exploration of free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. We’ve found some excellent stories this week!
“Probably Still the Chosen One” by Kelly Barnhill (Feb. 2017, free at Lightspeed, $3.99 Kindle magazine issue)
Eleven year old Corinna discovered a strange metal door in the cupboard under the sink of her home, which is a portal to the magical land of Nibiru, where she is hailed as their Princess, their Chosen One. After spending a year and a day in war-torn Nibiru,
March 20th, 2017. Tadiana Jones, Skye Walker and Jana Nyman | Caighlan Smith, Theodora Goss | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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…