How did Joe Haldeman’s Camouflage beat Susanna Clarke’s monumental work Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell for the Nebula Award in 2005? Granted, I haven’t read that book, but I have read many glowing reviews from my fellow FanLit reviewers and Goodreads friends. It was also made into a major BBC miniseries and received many accolades. Clarke’s book is incredibly long and filled with dense footnotes that show the depth of research and creative energy,
May 23rd, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 2 | Joe Haldeman | Audio, Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Sandman (Vol 2): The Doll’s House by Neil Gaiman (author), Illustrated by Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, & Steve Parkhouse, Todd Klein (letterer)
“If you leaf through the series, you’ll find either an image of a heart or the word HEART in virtually every issue. Hearts are a major part of what Sandman is about.” ~Neil Gaiman (interview with Hy Bender)
Gaiman’s words should be kept in mind as one continues to read what is essentially a horror comic. As we peer into the abyss,
May 21st, 2016. Brad Hawley and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Neil Gaiman | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Jack Finney’s Time and Again (1970) has been a long-time favorite among time-travel tales, and has remained in print since its first publication. It was also selected by David Pringle for his Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels. Since I’ve been on a time-travel trip lately, this was a must-listen. It’s narrated well by Paul Hecht, and is a long, leisurely, and loving tribute to the long-gone New York of the 1880s.
May 17th, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 4 | Jack Finney | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Timescape (1980) has been on my TBR list for 35+ years, I’ve long wanted to read physicist Gregory Benford, the book won the Nebula Award, and it deals with time paradoxes, which I find fascinating but invariably unconvincing. First off, most of the book’s considerable length is devoted to a slow-moving and detailed portrait of scientists (mostly physicists, but also some biologists and astronomers) at work in the lab as well as their personal relationships with colleagues and wives/girlfriends. So to describe this as a “techno-thriller” would be inaccurate.
May 16th, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3 | Gregory Benford | Audio, BSFA Award, Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Sandman (Vol. 1): Preludes and Nocturnes (Issues 1-8): Neil Gaiman (author), Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III (artists), Todd Klein (letterer), Karen Berger (editor)
[This essay is the second in an ongoing series on THE SANDMAN: This lengthy essay-review is for those who want a more thorough introduction than is offered in our shorter overview of the entire series. I recommend reading that one first, particularly since it contains no spoilers and it gives a good sense of what THE SANDMAN is for those who don’t know what it’s about.
May 14th, 2016. Brad Hawley and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 5 | Neil Gaiman | Comics | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |
What would you give in exchange for immortality? Greg Egan‘s unabashed answer to that question in Permutation City is simple: Your humanity. Its sounds cliché, but Permutation City is a book that is able to do what only the best science fiction books can: make you think of questions you never knew you had, and imagine futures that seem ever more possible as time passes.
Around the mid-21st century, mind-uploading technology has been perfected,
May 13th, 2016. João Eira and Stuart Starosta | Greg Egan | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Greg Egan is an Australian writer of hard science fiction who specializes in mathematics, epistemology, quantum theory, posthumanism, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, etc. When you pick up one of his books, you know you will be getting a fairly dense crash course in some pretty outlandish scientific and mathematical ideas, with the plot and characters coming second.
The cover blurb advertises Quarantine as “A Novel of Quantum Catastrophe,” and the back describes “an impenetrable gray shield that slid into place around the solar system on the night of November 15,
May 10th, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3.5 | Greg Egan | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Replay is a story that every reader can empathize with. Who wouldn’t want to relive their best years over again, with all their memories intact? Fixing all the mistakes, seizing all the missed opportunities. It’s an irresistible thought, a fantasy of “what ifs.” Ken Grimwood’s Replay (1986) predates Groundhog Day (1993) by 7 years, and explores the concept in far more depth, taking it to the extreme to examine what gives our lives meaning. It’s a very appealing story,
May 5th, 2016. Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Ken Grimwood | Audio, Stand-Alone, World Fantasy Award | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
I was extremely impressed by Peter Watts’ Blindsight (2006), a diamond-hard sci-fi novel about first contact, AIs, evolutionary biology, genetically-engineered vampires, sentience vs intelligence, and virtual reality. It is an intense experience, relentless in its demands on the reader, but makes you think very hard about whether humanity’s sentience (as we understand it) is really as great as we generally think it is.
The short answer, according to Watts, is no. It’s an evolutionary fluke, was never necessary for survival,
May 3rd, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 0.1 | Peter Watts | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Sin City (Vol. 7): Hell and Back by Frank Miller
Hell and Back is the seventh and final volume in Frank Miller’s SIN CITY series. The artwork is still dramatic, and the story and characters are hard-boiled, dark, and intense. The bad guys are nasty, and the femme fatales have curves that kill (literally, almost). Of course we have the loner anti-hero tough guy, a lethal weapon who isn’t looking for trouble, but trouble seeks him out.
April 30th, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3.5 | Frank Miller | Comics | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Thanks! These are the "easy" ones, ha!
can't wait to get to these after the usual post-end-of-term review backlog gets a little cleared up--your review and David's…
Agreed! I have loved both of these books. I wasn't as perceptive as you at guessing the true target, though,…
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the Giallo genre! I love how you highlighted her unique blend…
Ever since Tor.com became Reactor they seem to have been focusing increasingly less on books and more on visual media…