The Living Death and Drome by John Martin Leahy
The double-decker volume entitled The Living Death and Drome, from the Seattle-based imprint Sarnath Press, gathers together two novels from the weird-fiction author John Martin Leahy; the second of two volumes that Sarnath has recently issued focusing on this relatively unknown pulp writer. The entirety of Leahy’s fictive career was limited to just three novels and four short stories; that initial collection, Draconda and Others,
June 19th, 2025. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | John Martin Leahy | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Valley of Eyes Unseen by Gilbert Collins
In 1933, English author James Hilton, at age 33, released his 13th novel, entitled Lost Horizon, in which a British diplomat named Conway, along with a few others, crash-lands in Tibet and discovers the lost people of Shangri-La. In the lamasery there, the process of aging had slowed down considerably, and indeed, the High Lama was ultimately revealed to be well over 200 years old! Hilton’s book was a tremendous success, was famously brought to the screen in 1937 with Ronald Colman starring as Conway,
March 30th, 2022. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Gilbert Collins | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
The Sea Demons by Victor Rousseau
In his 1896 short story entitled “The Sea Raiders,” British author H. G. Wells wrote of a newly discovered race of giant cephalopods, Haploteuthis ferox, that suddenly takes to terrorizing and devouring some unfortunate residents on the Devonshire coast. It is a wonderful tale, really, expertly written by the legendary author in an almost documentary manner. But this, of course, was hardly the first time that an English writer would give us a tale of oceanic monstrosities rising up from the deep.
February 15th, 2022. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Victor Rousseau | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Once again, I find myself indebted to the fine folks at the publisher Armchair Fiction, for alerting me about a book whose existence I probably would never have learned of without their assistance; hardly the first time that this has happened. The novel in question in this instance bears the curious title Thus Far, which was initially released in 1925 by both the British publisher Hodder & Stoughton and the American publisher D. Appleton & Co., and then sank into virtual oblivion for a full 96 years,
August 4th, 2021. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | J.C. Snaith | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
After reading about Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter I went in search of it and found it at my university library. Reading it was quite a different experience for me, but people who aren’t prepared for the style of writing like I was might be disappointed, confused or scorning of the slow, dream-like pace, archetype characters and poetical language. This might be especially true of fans of typical fantasy genre books (authors such as David Eddings or Terry Brooks) where a fantasy universe is deemed to be good only if it has a solid backing and an exhaustive array of facts and figures to add realism to the stories.
January 23rd, 2020. Rebecca Fisher and Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Lord Dunsany | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Uncanny Stories by May Sinclair
This is not the first time that I am going to say some nice things about London-based publisher Wordsworth Editions, and, more particularly, its Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural division, which, over the years, has brought forth dozens of reasonably priced books by many well-known writers, as well as many lesser-knowns. Previously, I have written here of two Wordsworth volumes by some (to me) known authors, Ambrose Bierce (Terror By Night – Classic Ghost & Horror Stories) and Robert E.
December 10th, 2019. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | May Sinclair | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Purple Sapphire by John Taine
In the Rare Book Room in NYC bookstore extraordinaire The Strand there has resided, for quite some time now, a volume that I have greatly wanted to acquire. The book in question is Scottish author John Taine’s very first novel, The Purple Sapphire, which was first released by E. P. Dutton & Co. as a hardcover in 1924 … the same year that Dutton released Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin’s now-classic dystopian book We.
July 12th, 2019. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | John Taine | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Heu-Heu, or The Monster by H. Rider Haggard
Heu-Heu, or The Monster is one of the 14 novels that the great H. Rider Haggard wrote that deals with the life of Allan Quatermain, an English hunter in South Africa. This is a stand-alone novel. Unlike the first two novels in the series, King Solomon’s Mines and its sequel, Allan Quatermain; the so-called Zulu trilogy (Marie,
December 26th, 2016. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | H. Rider Haggard | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We is widely recognized as a direct influence on George Orwell when composing his dystopian masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four, and there are certainly strong signs of influence in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World as well. Zamyatin edited Russian translations of works of Jack London and H.G. Wells, and We can be viewed as a reaction against the optimistic scientific socialist utopias promoted by Wells.
March 16th, 2015. Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Yevgeny Zamyatin | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…