30 Days of Night by Steve Niles (story) and Ben Templesmith (art)
30 Days of Night is an excellent horror comic by Steve Niles with quite creepy art by Ben Templesmith. After a short introduction by Clive Barker, we are taken to Barrow, Alaska on November 17, 2001, the last day the sun shines before there are thirty days of night, which, if you think about it, would be just about perfect for you if you were a vampire with some serious allergies to the sun!
June 22nd, 2023. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | niles | Comics, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
With Book of a Thousand Days (2007), Shannon Hale offers a delightful retelling of the Grimm fairy tale Maid Maleen.
Dashti is a mucker, a low-born girl who was born on the steppes. When her mother dies, she goes to the city to take a job as a maid to Lady Saren. Right away she is locked into a tower with her lady because, in defiance of her father’s wishes, Saren has refused to marry Lord Khasar.
November 9th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Shannon Hale | Audio, Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It by Steve Wozniak & Gina Smith
What I knew about Steve Wozniak prior to reading iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It (2007) could be summed up like so: he invented the Apple II, and he guest-starred on a video-game-themed cartoon called Code Monkeys, which was a program on the television channel G4 back in 2007.
December 13th, 2019. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez
This silly little tale is about a beautiful witch who doesn’t have a name. When she was young she was taken in by an old ugly witch who educated her in magic spells and other witchiness. Part of her education involved learning how to make herself appear ugly with sloppy clothes, hair coverings, and warts, because nobody trusts a beautiful witch.
After the death of her mentor, the young nameless witch was on her own, though she acquired a few companions: an enchanted broom,
November 8th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | A. Lee Martinez | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
“Here is a small fact. You are going to die.”
It is Death who speaks the novel’s opening lines. And Death himself, for the duration of Markus Zusak’s bestselling novel, will be our narrator. It is 1939 in Nazi Germany and whilst he takes away an increasing amount of souls, Death muses on the unravelling of humanity.
Upon taking the soul of a young boy on a train, Death notices a girl. Her name is Liesel Meminger and she has just watched her brother die.
November 1st, 2018. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 5 | Markus Zusak | Edge, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Robot Titans of Gotham by Norvell Page
In my recent review of the anthology volume Rivals of Weird Tales, I mentioned that one of my favorite stories therein was the novella-length “But Without Horns,” which was written by Norvell Page and first appeared in the June 1940 issue of Unknown magazine. I also expressed a desire to read some of Page’s many tales dealing with his most famous character, the Spider. Well, I am here to tell you: Mission accomplished!
June 26th, 2018. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Norvell W. Page | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon
[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 Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union is (breathe in) an alternate history science fiction noir police procedural that won plaudits from the literary mainstream as well as several top honors from the science fiction community (breathe out).
March 29th, 2017. Ryan Skardal, Marion Deeds and Stuart Starosta | Michael Chabon | Edge, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 13 comments |
Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden
On a cold autumn night, under a black sky leached of starlight and absent the moon, Captain Henry Baltimore clutches his rifle and stares across the dark abyss of the battlefield, and knows in his heart that these are the torture fields of Hell, and damnation awaits mere steps ahead.
Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire (2008) is a darkly poetic story of supernatural horrors unleashed during World War One.
March 23rd, 2017. Jason Golomb´s rating: 3.5 | Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Ursula Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest (1976) is a (novella extended into a) novel that features an alien planet invaded by humanity and exploited for its resources, the natives forced into labor. An open allegory regarding the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, it is a compact novel that remains focused on three main points throughout: corporate/political greed, respect for traditional cultures, and the need to find reconciliation between the two. Elizabeth Bear’s 2007 Undertow is precisely the same story,
March 11th, 2017. Jesse Hudson´s rating: 3 | Elizabeth Bear | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Nations divided by vast lakes, destinations defined by stalagmites and minerals, a world without a sun: The Fade (2007) takes place in an unfathomable network of caves beneath the surface of an unknown planet. Here the reader finds a cavernous underground in the midst of jealous war. Two distinct races of beings fighting over their shared bubbles of space. It is on the battlefield that we meet the protagonist and learn that she is a highly skilled and thoroughly trained one-woman war machine. Soon, we also learn that she has a loving family and a complicated set of allegiances.
November 4th, 2016. Skye Walker´s rating: 4 | Chris Wooding | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
This book made no sense to me at all. I was hoping for some explanations at the end but it…
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂
Hammer Studios is... reborn? I only ever read the "Kane" stories, which I found good but dark. It's a little…
Oh...and the men used the name "The Great Northern Expedition" to throw people off as to their actual destination, even…
Oh, it IS, Marion! It is!