Housekeeping: Next week, July 12, 2023, there will be no column because I will be flying to Quincey, Massachusetts for ReaderCon.
One commenter chosen at random will get a copy of E. Catherine Tobler‘s The Necessity of Stars.
This week’s column is about a single topic: Jirel of Joiry.
Jirel of Joiry is arguably the first pulp-fiction sword-and-sorcery female protagonist. The creation of C.L. (Catherine Lucille) Moore,
July 5th, 2023. Marion Deeds | C.L. Moore | Giveaway!, SFF Reviews, World Wide Wednesday | 6 comments |
The Warrior of World’s End by Lin Carter
Lin Carter wrote derivative pulpy adventure stories in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, and others. I think of these as second-rate but I pick them up when I find them cheap at Audible — they’re short fast-moving stories with imaginative scenery and lots of action. In a Lin Carter novel you’re sure to find a sword-wielding man with sweaty “thews,” a scantily-clad girl who needs to be saved, and lots of scary monsters. Usually this takes place in some fascinatingly impossible setting such as on the boughs of gigantic trees,
September 26th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Lin Carter | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Warlock in Spite of Himself by Christopher Stasheff
Rodney Gallowglass is a spy whose job is to discover unknown planets that need to be brought into the fold of the enlightened democratic intergalactic system. When he lands on the backward planet of Gramayre in his spaceship disguised as an asteroid, Rod and his epileptic computer Fess discover a world of fantasy creatures — witches, ghosts, werewolves, dwarves and elves. Gramayre was originally settled by a group of humans who wanted to revert back to a feudal society. Now it’s a benevolent monarchy that’s threatened by anarchists,
May 21st, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | Christopher Stasheff | Audio | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey
It’s been my longstanding theory on multi-book series (by multi-book I mean ones that go well beyond the standard trilogy) that the books tend to fall into four categories: great ones (usually early on), good ones that don’t match the passion or excitement of the top ones but still sweep you along, adequate ones that serviceably move the grand story along but aren’t particularly original or well-written, and the bad ones that were just spit out because the series’ fans would buy them even if the covers were made of poison ivy leaves.
June 15th, 2007. Bill Capossere and Skye Walker´s rating: 3.5 | Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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…