Birchfield Close by Jon McNaught
Birchfield Close by Jon McNaught is another wonderful offering from Nobrow Press. It is a quiet work filled with noises, a Mona Lisa on a postage stamp, an epic in sonnet form, and a study in time captured in minutes and seconds. All these contradictions should make it clear how difficult it is to write about a book that’s only about twenty-five pages long, covers a brief period of time at the end of a day, and has no dialogue between characters.
December 15th, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
“You like Christopher Moore,” the bookstore clerk said, pushing a book into my hand. “You’ll like this.” I do like Christopher Moore, and I think S.G. Browne does too, but Fated fell short of the wry Moore-like comedies it tries to emulate.
Fate, who uses the name Fabio, is a world-weary immortal Personification. When the book opens, he is bored with his work and disdainful of the human race. Fabio is only one of many — dozens,
September 18th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 2.5 | S.G. Browne | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Possessions, Book One: Unclean Getaway by Ray Fawkes (author/artist)
If you are looking for a fun, unique, well-written book for your 8-12 year old, you should seek out a copy of Possessions by Ray Fawkes. It’s horror fiction for kids in the same way that Scooby-Doo is technically horror fiction: It’s just so much fun, there’s nothing to be frightened of. Basically, the main character looks like a five- to six-year old girl, but she’s actually a pit demon known as “Gurgazon the Unclean.”
Gurgazon is captured by Mr.
January 3rd, 2014. Brad Hawley´s rating: 4 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Foiled by Jane Yolen (writer) and Mike Cavallaro (illustrator)
The past few weeks I’ve been spending time writing reviews that focus on new Monthly Comics I think would make good entry points for new comic book readers who have never had pull lists, and I have several more new comics I want to promote. The end of 2013 is an excellent time to be a new reader of comics. However, I must break this series on Monthly Comics because I just read a graphic novel too good for me not to immediately write a review of it: Foiled,
September 20th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Jane Yolen | Comics | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero by Dan Abnett
It’s 2010 and Queen Elizabeth XXX is on the throne of a magical alternate England. When the throne is threatened, Sir Rupert Triumff, discoverer of Australia, comes to the rescue.
I’ll make this short. I didn’t get very far with Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero. The story is a comedy of the sort that has no appeal to me. It’s written in a self-consciously long-winded style where extensive detailed descriptions and explanations of every minor person and place keep interrupting the plot in order to provide background trivia and to crack jokes.
May 10th, 2013. Kat Hooper´s rating: 0.1 | Dan Abnett | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”
Ask any writer of horror, fantasy, or weird fiction who their influences were and H.P. Lovecraft’s name is almost sure to come up, especially if they’re over the age of 50. For this reason alone, all true fans of these genres must experience H.P. Lovecraft’s work for themselves. Think of it as “required reading.” Even if you don’t read horror or weird tales, Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos pops up regularly in fantasy literature,
September 17th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | H.P. Lovecraft | Horror | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Identity Theft by Robert J. Sawyer
Alex Lomax, a private detective on Mars, has been hired by Cassandra Wilkins to find her missing husband, Joshua Wilkins. At first the solution to the mystery seems obvious, but Lomax soon discovers that it’s a lot more unusual, complicated, and dangerous, than he originally thought. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins are Transfers — they’ve had their consciousnesses uploaded to artificial bodies. But that’s not the only reason the Wilkins case isn’t routine — it also involves a paleontologist who has discovered a large cache of valuable Martian fossils.
August 4th, 2012. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Robert J. Sawyer | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
CLASSIFICATION: Horns is a murder mystery/love story/revenge thriller with a dark supernatural twist in the vein of Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Peter Straub.
FORMAT/INFO: Horns is 384 pages long divided over 4 titled Parts and 50 numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person, mainly via the protagonist Ignatius “Ig” Perrish, but also includes narratives by the villain and Ig’s older brother Terry. Horns is self-contained.
June 25th, 2012. Marion Deeds and Robert Thompson | Joe Hill | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Ammonite Violin and Others by Caitlín R. Kiernan
A while ago, I bought a number of books in a Subteranean Press clearance sale. Eleven books with a huge discount, but I didn’t know what I would be getting. As it happened, the package contained a lot of short fiction collections, mostly of authors whose work I’m not too familiar with. The Ammonite Violin and Others by Caitlín R. Kiernan was one of these. Kiernan was completely new to me, but The Ammonite Violin and Others turned out to be a beautifully written collection of very dark short stories.
June 22nd, 2012. Rob Weber´s rating: 4 | Caitlín R. Kiernan | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Greg Bear’s Hull Zero Three is a science fiction thriller with a touch of horror thrown in for good measure.
The novel starts quickly with a spaceship arriving at a distant planet. A man wakes suddenly, naked, and tries to figure out where he is. He can remember sleeping and dreaming, and the memories of those dreams remain. He otherwise knows very little about himself, aside from the names of his organs, and how he has come to be where he is.
April 20th, 2012. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 3 | Greg Bear | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…