A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston
When the dust rises over the desert, the villagers know that Lo-Melkhiin is coming with his guards to choose another wife. He always takes one wife from each village, or each district within a city. And she always dies.
E.K. Johnston’s A Thousand Nights is a young adult fantasy retelling of the Scheherazade framing story for One Thousand and One Nights, the famous collection of Persian, Arabic and Middle Eastern folk tales.
December 8th, 2015. Tadiana Jones and Bill Capossere | E.K. Johnston | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.
The Case of the Little Bloody Slipper by Carlie St. George (2015, free at The Book Smugglers)
Jimmy Prince is a private investigator in Spindle City, a rough town with a thin veneer of civility and populated by spins on familiar fairy-tale tropes. If you’re looking for a fancy dress or some rented companionship,
November 30th, 2015. Jana Nyman, Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper | H.P. Lovecraft, Vivian Vande-Velde | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
I may have to give up my long-held identity as someone who doesn’t enjoy reading horror, because I have really enjoyed some horror novels lately. David Mitchell’s latest, Slade House, is a sort of haunted house-slash-mystery story told over several decades, in several different voices, and it was delightful.
The book begins with a young boy, Nathan, who visits a house down narrow, twisting Slade Alley with his mother. The gate is set in the wall of the alley,
November 30th, 2015. Kate Lechler, Bill Capossere, Tadiana Jones and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4, 4.5 | David Mitchell | Horror | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Grudging, a newly published young adult fantasy and the first in a new series called BIRTH OF SAINTS from Michelle Hauck, is set in a country reminiscent of medieval Spain, where noble warhorses are a soldier’s right arm and religious faith is a significant part of most people’s lives, giving this fantasy an somewhat unusual cultural flavor.
Seventeen year old Ramiro wants nothing more than to be a respected soldier in his pelotón like his older brother Salvador: to fight in hand-to-hand combat with his sword and earn the right to grow a beard,
November 25th, 2015. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Michelle Hauck | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.
“Given Advantage of the Blade” by Genevieve Valentine (August 2015, free at Lightspeed Magazine)If you’ve ever wanted to have a cagematch between Snow White’s stepmother and the evil queen in Sleeping Beauty, this is the story for you. It’s also the story for you if you find the never-ending woman-on-woman violence inherent to many of our most beloved fairy tales getting a little old.
November 16th, 2015. Kate Lechler, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper | Genevieve Valentine, Ray Bradbury, Suzanne Palmer, Tanith Lee | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
Fans of Jim Butcher (including myself) were thrilled to see that he’s started a new series called THE CINDER SPIRES. This one is quite different than his previous works. THE DRESDEN FILES, for which Butcher is best known, is a modern-day urban fantasy with a first-person narrator and a hardboiled feel. THE CODEX ALERA is an epic fantasy with a typical medieval setting and plot.
THE CINDER SPIRES is set in a more imaginative world.
November 13th, 2015. Kat Hooper, Kevin Wei and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | Jim Butcher | Audio | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.
“If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” by Rachel Swirsky (2013, free at Apex Magazine)
Rachel Swirsky‘s “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” is tiny in size but remarkable in strength, a real pint-sized gem. It is no wonder the story won the 2013 Nebula short story award ― anyone who can pack such a punch into so few words knows what they are doing with them.
November 9th, 2015. Katie Burton, Jana Nyman, Kate Lechler, Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper | Andre Norton, Rachel Swirsky | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster by Scott Wilbanks
In May 1895, Elsbeth Grundy, a crotchety widow living in a cabin on the Kansas plains, sees a purple and gold-painted Victorian home that has unexpectedly appeared in her wheat fields. Elsbeth determinedly stalks over to the home to demand an explanation of this irksome addition to her back forty, but every time she goes to knock on the door, she’s immediately displaced back to the gate around the home. Incensed, she leaves a letter in the mailbox, threatening to use her shotgun to deal with this unwanted trespass.
November 5th, 2015. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3 | Scott Wilbanks | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about.
The Sea of Ash by Scott Thomas (2014)
The Sea of Ash is a wonderful little novella. It’s creative, creepy and oh so very ‘Lovercraft.’ My only complaint is that it’s too short. So much of the Lovecraftian world is in short stories and novellas; I’m not quite sure why there isn’t more in a longer form.
November 2nd, 2015. Jason Golomb and Tadiana Jones | Catherynne M. Valente, Harry Turtledove | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Girl Who Could Not Dream by Sarah Beth Durst
Monsters, glittery flying ponies, ninja bunnies and other fantastical creatures inhabit the pages of The Girl Who Could Not Dream, Sarah Beth Durst’s enchanting new middle grade fantasy adventure novel. Sophie’s parents own a secretive dream shop, where you can buy bottled dreams or ― if you prefer more frightening adventures ― nightmares. (It’s like reading a Stephen King novel, only more immersive.) Her family uses woven dreamcatchers to capture other peoples’
November 2nd, 2015. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 5 | Sarah Beth Durst | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
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