Baby’s First Mythos by C.J. Henderson
Do you, or a loved one, like your humor squamous and tentacled? Are you the proud owner of a pair of plush Cthulhu bedroom slippers? Do all those cute Little Golden Books about religion make you wish there were a Little Golden Book of Cthulhu? If so, Baby’s First Mythos is the book for you!
Baby’s First Mythos is written in the style of children’s alphabet and counting books. You’ll learn your ABCs from Azathoth to Zarnak.
August 5th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | C.J. Henderson | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Mansfield Park and Mummies by Vera Nazarian
I had always heard great things about Vera Nazarian’s books, both from friends and publications, but I never quite got around to reading any of her work until recently when I picked up her short story collection Salt of the Air, published by Prime Books. The introduction was by Gene Wolfe, a man I have an enormous amount of respect for as a writer. After reading the wonderful things that Gene had to say about her,
July 2nd, 2010. Guest´s rating: 4 | Vera Nazarian | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, the “new” book by J.R.R. Tolkien put together by his son Christopher, is a translation-slash-“unifying” of the great Norse story of Sigurd the dragon-slayer and what happens to his wife and his murderers after his death. The story is told in verse form, two “lays” surrounded by commentary that Christopher Tolkien has taken from his father’s notes and lectures dealing with the Norse legend. Christopher also adds some of his own commentary,
June 21st, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | J.R.R. Tolkien | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
Let’s just admit it at the outset. As someone who tries to write, I hate David Mitchell. Hate him with the white-hot intensity of a thousand blazing suns. It’d be bad enough if he were just a great, you know, writer. Plain old everyday writer of some kind of novel: literary fiction, sci-fi, adventure, pastiche, historical. But no. He can’t just pick one. He has to be brilliant at them all. In one novel, no less (Cloud Atlas,
June 17th, 2010. Bill Capossere and Ray McKenzie´s rating: 5 | David Mitchell | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Fall of Light by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
(Note: Fall of Light is a “sideways sequel” to A Fistful of Sky. It refers back to some of the things that happened in A Fistful of Sky, but you could read Fall of Light on its own without any problem.)
Opal LaZelle (sister to Gypsum LaZelle of A Fistful of Sky) is a Hollywood makeup artist who specializes in making monsters for horror movies.
April 30th, 2010. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 2.5 | Nina Kiriki Hoffman | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City has lots to admire: great lines, witty jokes and good insights. Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to admire here than to enjoy. The sum ended up being less than its parts, to me. This may have been part of the point, and certainly the sense of disconnectedness is as well, but one of the dangers of a novel about disconnectedness is that it can feel, well, disconnected. The trick is to avoid this somehow,
March 13th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Jonathan Lethem | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Story of Cirrus Flux by Matthew Skelton
Matthew Skelton’s The Story of Cirrus Flux is an uneven YA novel that solidly entertains, though one wishes for stronger characters and a greater sense of place.
The Story of Cirrus Flux is set in London, 1783. The title character is an orphan whose father was a famed Antarctic explorer years ago, though Cirrus doesn’t discover this for some time. The book opens in 1756 during one of Cirrus’ father’s journeys,
March 6th, 2010. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Matthew Skelton | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder
In Except the Queen, two faerie sisters, Serana and Meteora, accidentally learn a scandalous secret about the faerie queen and let it slip. For their transgression, the two women are separated and banished to mortal Earth to live among humans. They are completely adrift in this new world, and if that weren’t bad enough, their new human bodies are old and overweight.
I think Except the Queen is meant — at least in part — as an exploration of aging.
March 5th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 0.1 | Jane Yolen, Midori Snyder | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Major Keir Roget, an agent for the Chinese-dominated Federation government, is sent to investigate a mysterious world — mysterious because it is entirely enveloped by a “haze” of shielding particles. When he arrives on Haze, he finds a friendly and seemingly very advanced civilization of humans who give him such complete access to their society that it almost seems as if his perceptions or thoughts are somehow being controlled.
Roget’s story is told in alternating chapters, going back and forth from the Haze mission to the events leading up to it,
February 6th, 2010. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | L.E. Modesitt_Jr | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Seven Rays by Jessica Bendinger
Beth Ray is beginning to realize she’s not just your average teenage girl. She’s seeing strange visions, and then there are the letters: shiny gold envelopes containing hints of a great destiny. Her mother tries to keep them from her, but the envelopes manage to find Beth wherever she goes.
And then a big hairy bloke shows up on a flying motorbike and takes her to a wizard school in Scotland… wait, wrong book.
What happens to Beth, instead, is that she undergoes laser eye surgery to try to correct her sight,
January 15th, 2010. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 1.5 | Jessica Bendinger | Young Adult | 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…