Bury Him Darkly by John Blackburn
Although it’s been almost 18 years since I last read English author John Blackburn’s first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay (1958), I still vividly recall several segments of the book, mainly due to the forcefulness of the writing therein. And really, with its plot conflating a female ex-Nazi scientist, deserted Russian villages, and a fungoid mutation that is slowly spreading across Europe, the book is inherently hard to forget.
December 10th, 2024. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | John Blackburn | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Across a Billion Years by Robert Silverberg
In Across a Billion Years (1969), Robert Silverberg introduces us to Tom Rice, a young archaeologist in training, who is writing to his twin sister on their 22nd birthday in 2375. While Tom feels some guilt that he is on the most exciting field trip in the history of Earth while his paralyzed sister is confined to a hospital bed, he is still eager to tell her about his work and he knows that she is just as eager to hear about it.
July 13th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Robert Silverberg | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs
Thanks to Tantor Media for giving us a wonderful audio edition of The Face in the Frost, John Bellairs’ short classic fantasy novel which was first published in 1969. It’s performed by Eric Michael Summerer and is 5 hours long.
Prospero is a small-time wizard who lives in a small kingdom. Lately he’s been noticing some odd occurrences around his house and starts to suspect that something sinister is going on.
When his studious and adventurous friend Roger Bacon (also a wizard) arrives for a visit,
April 10th, 2019. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | John Bellairs | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore
Just recently, I had some words to say regarding the stories that Golden Age sci-fi/fantasy author C.L. Moore placed in Weird Tales magazine, during the 1930s, that dealt with the futuristic smuggler/spaceman Northwest Smith. But as most fans of Catherine Lucille Moore will readily tell you, Smith was not the only character from this beloved writer who made semiregular appearances in the legendary pulp that decade. From October ’34 until April ’39, Moore also regaled readers with a wholly different character: Jirel of Joiry.
August 22nd, 2018. Sandy Ferber and Rob Rhodes´s rating: 5 | C.L. Moore | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges’s The Book of Imaginary Beings (1969) introduces readers to the origins and characteristics of creatures like the Chimera, the Chinese Dragon, the Jinn, and the Western Dragon. Although I am hardly a scholar when it comes to monsters and imaginary beings, I was still impressed by how many of 155 creatures included here were entirely new to me.
This book might seem limited to some twenty-first century readers, so let’s acknowledge these concerns (if only to get them out of the way).
December 16th, 2016. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 4 | Jorge Luis Borges | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Jagged Orbit by John Brunner
The 1950s and 60s was a time in the US rife with social tension and conflict. With unpopular wars being fought on foreign soil, blood was also being shed on American streets as ethnic, gender, and counter-culture concerns often turned to violence. Partially a reaction to these social issues, the New Wave science fiction movement, spearheaded by such writers as Ursula Le Guin, Samuel Delany, Robert Silverberg, Barry Malzberg, Joanna Russ, and others shifted the genre’s gears,
September 2nd, 2016. Jesse Hudson | John Brunner | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Warning: Use only as directed. And with caution.
Written in 1969, Ubik is one of Philip K. Dick’s most popular science fiction novels. It’s set in a future 1992 where some humans have develop psi and anti-psi powers which they are willing to hire out to individuals or companies who want to spy (or block spying) on others. Also in this alternate 1992, if you’ve got the money, you can put your beloved recently-deceased relatives into “coldpac” where they can be stored in half-life and you can visit with them for years after their death.
November 20th, 2015. Kat Hooper, Bill Capossere and Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5, 4, 5 | Philip K. Dick | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 16 comments |
Up the Line by Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg was clearly a big fan of sex back in the late 1960s, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one. But in Up the Line, he absolutely revels in it. He doesn’t miss a chance for his (all male) characters to fornicate with women at every possible opportunity both in the future and the past, in dozens of exotic time periods in Byzantium, Constantinople, Rome, etc. The act may be as old as time, but that doesn’t stop Time Courier Judd Elliot from trying to bed his great-great-great grandmother Pulcharia with a lusty enthusiasm and complete disregard for all social taboos that have existed for millennia.
September 23rd, 2015. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 1 | Robert Silverberg | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 16 comments |
Fourth Mansions by R.A. Lafferty
Despite it having been given pride of place in Scottish critic David Pringle’s Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels, and despite the fact that it has been sitting on my bookshelf for many years, it was only last week that I finally got around to reading R.A. Lafferty’s 1969 cult item Fourth Mansions. The author’s reputation for eccentricity, both in terms of subject matter as well as writing style, had long intimidated me,
September 2nd, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | R.A. Lafferty | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Philosopher’s Stone by Colin Wilson
In her article on Colin Wilson in the May 30, 2004 Observer, reporter Lynn Barber mentioned that the author, then 73, had seemingly read “every book ever written.” She also noted that Wilson claimed never to have thrown a book away, and that his home library in Cornwall contained approximately 30,000 volumes. Well, any reader who delves into the author’s 1969 offering, The Philosopher’s Stone, is not likely to dispute those statements. Though chosen for inclusion in Cawthorn &
April 15th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 5 | Colin Wilson | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
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.