In Unquiet Land, Sharon Shinn’s fourth book in her ELEMENTAL BLESSINGS fantasy series, the story returns to the country of Welce, the setting for the first two books in this series. Leah, who was introduced to readers in the third book, Jeweled Fire, lived in the country of Malinqua for five years, helping Darien Serlast, the ruler of Welce, by acting as a spy and, for the last few months of her stay,
December 1st, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Sharon Shinn | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay
A new Guy Gavriel Kay novel is cause for great celebration and anticipation in our household, as he has authored some of our most beloved novels over the decades (by “our” I mean my wife, my fifteen-year-old son, and myself). A consummate storyteller and stylist (the two don’t always go hand in hand), his long-term consistency is remarkable, and his newest work, Children of Earth and Sky, finds him still at the top of his form.
One way to describe a Guy Gavriel Kay novel is that it’s a bit like peering at history as it unfolds at the bottom of a pool of water (think of the water as Kay’s artistic imagination) — you mostly recognize what you’re looking at,
December 1st, 2016. Bill Capossere and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 5 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
“The Uncarved Heart” by Evan Dicken (Nov. 2016, free at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 99c Kindle magazine issue, 0.99£ UK magazine issue)
It’s hard to tell what someone is really made of, at least until you crack them open. Some have hearts fragile as spun glass, quick to break and impossible to put back together; others have iron in their chests heavy enough to weight the whole of their being.
November 28th, 2016. Katie Burton, Kat Hooper, Tadiana Jones and Marion Deeds | Clifford D. Simak, George R.R. Martin, Kurt Vonnegut, Theodore Sturgeon | Audio, Free!, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation edited and translated by Ken Liu
Invisible Planets is an interesting and varied anthology of thirteen speculative short fiction stories and three essays by seven contemporary Chinese authors, translated into English by Ken Liu. As Liu mentions in the Introduction, several of these stories have won U.S. awards (most notably the 2016 Hugo Award for best novelette, given to Hao Jingfang’s Folding Beijing) and have been included in “Year’s Best” anthologies.
November 28th, 2016. Tadiana Jones and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Cixin Liu, Hao Jingfang, Ken Liu | Hugo Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer changes it up fairly dramatically in The Chemist (2016), her second adult novel, where there is nary a vampire, werewolf or space alien to be found. It’s a rather pulpy but absorbing thriller in the vein of a Jason Bourne novel (to whom she’s dedicated this novel, among others). There’s no real speculative element here, other than perhaps some new developments in chemical-based torture and some startlingly smart dogs.
The narrator, a bright, rather repressed molecular biologist,
November 28th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Stephenie Meyer | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Sharing our finds in free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet.
“The Likely Lad” by Kage Baker (2002, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Starship Sofa podcast #23)
Kage Baker is one of my favorite authors. I love her sense of humor and sardonic voice. She’s at it again in “The Likely Lad,” a funny novelette that you can find in print in Asimov’s Volume 26(9) or free in audio format from Starship Sofa’s podcast #23 (which I listened to and recommend).
November 21st, 2016. Kat Hooper, Tadiana Jones and Marion Deeds | Kage Baker, Ken Liu, Peter Watts | Audio, Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Whizbang Machine by Danielle A. Vann
Fifteen year old Elizabeth Yale has been living alone with her mother for eight years, since her father suffered an untimely death and her beloved grandfather Jack, unable to cope with the tragedy, left town to travel around the world. Elizabeth has missed Jack terribly, so she’s delighted when she gets a letter from Jack announcing that he’s coming home, and even more excited when her mother agrees to let her take a trip to Morocco with Jack in a few days.
November 18th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2 | Danielle A. Vann | Children | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few recent stories that caught our attention.
“The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight” by E. Lily Yu (Sept. 2016, free at Uncanny, $3.99 Kindle magazine issue)
In this fairy tale with a bit of a modern twist to it, the old witch of Orion Waste decides it is time for her to go off to new adventures, so she offers her job and hut to the chandler’s clerk,
November 14th, 2016. Tadiana Jones | Kelly Robson | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Shadow Soul by Kaitlyn Davis
The Shadow Soul came in first place of the 30 books that our Fantasy Literature team of reviewers read for Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO), in which 300 self-published science fiction and fantasy novels have been read and evaluated by ten blogs. The winner of the very first round, it managed to survive and prevail over all of the rest of the novels in our later rounds. A round of virtual but heartfelt applause to The Shadow Soul and its author,
November 11th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Kaitlyn Davis | SPFBO, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
“The Loud Table” by Jonathan Carroll (Nov. 2016, free at Tor.com, 99c Kindle version)
A group of retired old men meets every day at a coffee shop to hang out most of the day and shoot the breeze. They live for each other’s company, so they’re bewildered and alarmed when the coffee shop manager announces that the café is closing for two months for renovations.
November 7th, 2016. Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper | Brian Herbert, Charlie Jane Anders, Joe Haldeman, Jonathan Carroll, Kevin J. Anderson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch | Audio, Horror, Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.