First of all, let me lay a few cards on the table: Gene Wolfe is my favorite science-fiction author and might be my favorite author, period. I’d give something like fifteen of his books five-star reviews; the only other author who comes close to that is Jack Vance.
Free Live Free (1984) is one of his two books that I just. Don’t. Get. (Castleview is the other.) I’ve read it at least three times,
September 17th, 2018. Nathan Okerlund´s rating: 3 | Gene Wolfe | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson
Icehenge is Kim Stanley Robinson’s second published novel. It was published the same year as his first novel The Wild Shore, the first part in his THREE CALIFORNIAS triptych. The subject of Icehenge is very different from The Wild Shore. It would be selling the book short to say it is a first step towards his popular MARS trilogy because Icehenge is a very good novel in its own right,
May 20th, 2016. Rob Weber | Kim Stanley Robinson | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Perusing bookshops in Poland one finds fiction is categorized along the same genre lines as America or Britain. They have horror, fantastyka, science fiction, kryminalny — all of which are readily recognizable to the English speaker. There is one additional category, however, that I’d never seen before: sensacyjny. Neither ‘sensual’ or ‘sensation,’ the word, in this context, translates to ‘sensational.’ Not in the ‘amazing’ or ‘magnificent’ sense of the word, rather ‘sensationalist’ or ‘suddenness’,
May 12th, 2016. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 3 | Iain M. Banks | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard, the so-called “Father of the Lost Race Novel,” didn’t write such stories featuring only Allan Quatermain and Ayesha, She Who Must Be Obeyed. For example, his 17th novel, The People of the Mist (1894), is a smashing, wonderfully exciting, stand-alone lost-race tale featuring all-new characters. But the first third of the novel is hardly a lost-race story at all, but rather one of hard-bitten African adventure.
In it,
November 27th, 2015. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4 | H. Rider Haggard | Free!, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Ghost Light by Fritz Leiber
Fritz Leiber’s The Ghost Light, recently produced in audio format by Audible Frontiers, is a collection of nine short stories and novelettes and an autobiographical essay by Fritz Leiber. Only the first novelette, “The Ghost Light,” and the essay, “Not so Much Disorder and Not so Early Sex: an Autobiographical Essay,” are original to this collection. Most of the previously printed stories were nominated for, or won, major SFF awards. Here’s what you’ll find in The Ghost Light:
November 27th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Fritz Leiber | Audio, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Death Sentences by Kawamata Chiaki
How to describe the copy of Death Sentences, by Kawamata Chiaki (translated by Thomas Lamarre and Kazuko Y. Hehrens) I recently received? Take a heaping helping of Philip K. Dick, a dollop or two of Ray Bradbury, layer into a pan, then frost liberally with my undergrad survey course in artistic movements — particular the week or so on surrealism. Let sit for a few decades (it was originally published in Japan in 1984) — you can pass the time by watching the Japanese horror movie The Ring,
October 19th, 2012. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Kawamata Chiaki | SFF Reviews | no comments |
In the early 21st century, Earth has become overcrowded and has begun to look toward space as a potential new home. Only one habitable planet has been found — Whale’s Mouth — and it’s said to be a paradise. Rachmael ben Applebaum’s company has developed a spaceship that will take settlers there, but the trip takes 18 years. Just as business is about to begin, it’s undercut by Trails of Hoffman, Inc., a company who has developed a new teleporting technology that will get settlers to Whale’s Mouth in only 15 minutes.
November 21st, 2011. Kat Hooper and Sandy Ferber´s rating: 2.5, 3 | Philip K. Dick | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 31 comments |
…everything you were hiding from was in there with you. That’s the trouble with armor. It won’t protect you from what you are.
Felix is a loner, a broken man with a mysterious past. When he’s dropped with thousands of fellow soldiers on a toxic planet nicknamed “Banshee,” he’s the only survivor of the battle with the 8-foot tall “Ants” that live there. That’s partly because of the special armor he wears — his black nuclear-powered scout suit — and partly because of the emotional armor he wears — what he calls “The Engine” — his lack of fear and compassion in dangerous situations.
August 6th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | John Steakley | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
[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.]
I read Margaret Mahy’s Carnegie-winning novel first as a teenager and again just recently, in my twenties. Despite the passage of time, I found that The Changeover had lost none of its potency. It’s still a striking coming-of-age story,
August 5th, 2011. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Margaret Mahy | Edge, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Seven Towers by Patricia C. Wrede
I was strangely dissatisfied by The Seven Towers but really couldn’t figure out what exactly was the problem until I sat down to write the review. I normally start with a plot summary, and I couldn’t figure out how to summarize the story. A lot of stuff happens, and a lot of characters run around and do a lot of things, but there is a fundamental disjointedness to the story that is exacerbated by the multiple points of view.
The Seven Towers is the story of one world’s attempt to defeat the Matholych,
July 5th, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 2.5 | Patricia C. Wrede | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…