Order [book in series=yearoffirstbook.book# (eg 2014.01), stand-alone or one-author collection=3333.pubyear, multi-author anthology=5555.pubyear, SFM/MM=5000, interview=1111]: 1980

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The Artificial Kid: Early cyberpunk

The Artificial Kid by Bruce Sterling Bruce Sterling’s 1980 novel The Artificial Kid wasn’t on my TBR list until Brilliance Audio published an audiobook edition a couple of months ago. I’m so happy to see these older science fiction novels being revived and made even more accessible to a new generation of speculative fiction readers. […]

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Nightflyers: Mystery and horror aboard a haunted spaceship

Reposting to include Marion’s review of the new SYFY channel adaptation of Nightflyers. You can find it below our reviews of the novella. Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin Nightflyers was first published in 1980, won the Locus Award for best novella, and was nominated for a Hugo Award. It was made into an unsuccessful film […]

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Timescape: Intimate but slow-moving story about scientists

Timescape by Gregory Benford Timescape (1980) has been on my TBR list for 35+ years, I’ve long wanted to read physicist Gregory Benford, the book won the Nebula Award, and it deals with time paradoxes, which I find fascinating but invariably unconvincing. First off, most of the book’s considerable length is devoted to a slow-moving and […]

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Mockingbird: A warning against drug use and illiteracy

Mockingbird by Walter Tevis In the 25th century, the human race is quickly dwindling. Robots and computers do all of the work while humans spend their meaningless lives in a drug-haze. From birth they are not educated except to be taught not to question their circumstances (“Don’t ask; relax.” “When in doubt, forget it.”) and […]

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Direct Descent: Frank Herbert’s worst novel

Direct Descent by Frank Herbert Direct Descent (1980) is by a fair margin the weakest novel by Frank Herbert I’ve read. In the far future the whole of Earth’s interior has been taken up by a gigantic library. Ships travel the known universe to collect information about just about everything and bring it back to […]

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The Night Boat: A fine piece of horror fiction

The Night Boat by Robert R. McCammon The Night Boat was Robert R. McCammon’s third published novel, first appearing in 1980. Now Subterranean Press has brought it back as a (sold out) limited edition, and also made it available in e-book format for the first time. It betrays some of the faults of a then-new […]

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Bethany’s Sin: Dated but emotionally compelling

Bethany’s Sin by Robert McCammon Robert McCammon originally published Bethany’s Sin in 1980. Subterranean Press is reissuing it just in time for Halloween. This horror novel covered familiar territory even in 1980, with its “perfect little village with a dark secret,” but McCammon’s good characterization managed to make it fresh, and there are a few […]

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Riddley Walker: On the Edge

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban [At The Edge of the Universe, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.] Language is dependent on the society that uses it. We weave into our idiom words […]

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The Number of the Beast: Great audio, awful story

The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein When I was a kid I loved some of Robert A. Heinlein’s “Juveniles” — science fiction stories for children and teens. Red Planet was one of my favorites and I must have read it at least five times. These novels are part of the reason I […]

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The Vampire Tapestry: A new way of looking at an overexposed monster

The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas After black-leather vampires, dandified vampires, little-girl-lost vampires, CEO vampires and sparkly “vegetarian” vampires, Suzy McKee Charnas’s Edward Wayland is as bracing as a cold ocean wind in your face. Weyland is the main character in The Vampire Tapestry, first published in 1981. For Weyland, there is no curse, […]

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Congo: On the Edge

Congo by Michael Crichton [In our Edge of the Universe column, we review mainstream authors that incorporate elements of speculative fiction into their “literary” work. However you want to label them, we hope you’ll enjoy discussing these books with us.] Michael Crichton’s Congo (1980) is an adventure story that should recall Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost […]

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We have reviewed 8039 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

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