Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King by William Joyce & Laura Geringer
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King (2011) is an early installment in THE GUARDIANS OF CHILDHOOD, a planned series of books incorporating and re-tooling (or re-mythologizing) those familiar icons of childhood: Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, etc. A long picture book, The Man in the Moon, begins the series and is the story of Tsar Lunar,
December 13th, 2011. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Black Light by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan & Stephen Romano
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan wrote the screenplays for Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, Saw 3D, and The Collector, which Dunstan also directed. Currently, they are filming The Collection — a sequel to The Collector — and have written Piranha 3DD, which came out this Thanksgiving from Dimension Films. Black Light is their debut novel.
December 5th, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4 | Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
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.
In his introduction to Micro, Michael Crichton explains that children today are “cut off from the experience of nature, and from play in the natural world.” Crichton’s purpose, it would seem, is to take the seemingly mundane world and reveal the wonderful details that don’t make it onto Wikipedia and computer models.
December 2nd, 2011. Ryan Skardal´s rating: 3 | Michael Crichton | Edge, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper by Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch is justly famous for writing the scariest shower scene in history, even if it was Alfred Hitchcock’s movie that introduced it to a broader audience. Bloch is the author of Psycho, which introduced us to the cross-dressing, multiple personality-mass murder Norman Bates.
Over several decades Bloch wrote crime fiction, thrillers and horror. One recurring theme was that of the unsolved murders in Whitechapel, London in 1888, and the unknown killer with the nickname “Jack the Ripper.”
Subterranean Press has gathered together a collection of Bloch’s Ripper-themed work called Yours Truly,
November 28th, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Robert Bloch | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Twins are separated at birth, neither one knowing about the other. They are pursued by a villain who seems almost supernatural. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The Midnight Palace, written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, who wrote The Angel’s Game, embraces the twins-in-danger story and still delivers surprises.
The Midnight Palace is marketed as young adult. Zafón respects his audience, addressing serious issues in an authentic way. Real world problems are not solved at the end with a homily about everyone getting along.
November 7th, 2011. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Carlos Ruiz Zafón | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Paul Donner, a New York police officer who was murdered in the early 21st century, finds himself brought back to life several decades later, in the wake of a viral attack that caused the “Shift.” Donner becomes part of the new underclass known as the “reborn”: reanimated corpses who gradually grow younger and who aren’t exactly appreciated by the living segment of New York’s population, trapped under the geodesic Blister that protects the rest of the world from the Shift virus. Lost in an unfamiliar future, Donner begins a quest for vengeance,
November 5th, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Michael Dempsey | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz
FORMAT/INFO: The House of Silk is 304 pages long divided over a Preface, twenty numbered/titled chapters, and an Afterword. Narration is in the first person, exclusively via Dr. Watson. The House of Silk is self-contained. November 1, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The House of Silk via Mulholland Books. The UK edition (see below) will be published on the same day via Orion Books.
November 2nd, 2011. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Anthony Horowitz | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham
Fair warning: This review of Bill Willingham’s Down the Mysterly River will contain a bit of a spoiler. I usually try to avoid them, but in my mind the “spoiler” is telegraphed so clearly and so early (so much so, I’m not even sure it’s meant to be a surprise) that revealing it doesn’t do much harm. So don’t read past the second paragraph if you would prefer to avoid the spoiler. Down the Mysterly River opens with a young boy scout,
October 28th, 2011. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Bill Willingham | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Steel and Other Stories by Richard Matheson
Steel and Other Stories is a collection of stories written by Richard Matheson who is probably best known for his novels I am Legend and The Incredible Shrinking Man. Most were originally published in pulp magazines in the 1950s, though two are recent and have never been collected before. Each is quite short:
October 26th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Richard Matheson | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski
It’s been about a decade since Brain Plague, Joan Slonczewski’s last novel, came out, but I’d bet good money that more people instead remember the author for a novel that’s by now, unbelievably, already 25 years old — the wonderful and memorable A Door into Ocean, which won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Now, ten years after her last novel, Joan Slonczewski presents The Highest Frontier,
October 22nd, 2011. Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Joan Slonczewski | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
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…