Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Order [book in series=yearoffirstbook.book# (eg 2014.01), stand-alone or one-author collection=3333.pubyear, multi-author anthology=5555.pubyear, SFM/MM=5000, interview=1111]: 2012

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall: Hard SF done right

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress

In recent years, I’ve hesitated to pick up a hard science fiction novel. The quantum physics one must be familiar with to enjoy the novel is so far beyond me that I feel I need a physics course or two as a prerequisite. It’s hard to appreciate a novel when you haven’t the faintest idea what’s going on.

Trust Nancy Kress to write a hard science fiction novella that is so clear, so precise and so well-written that the reader is never left behind.

The Broken Ones: Dark fantasy / police procedural mash-up

The Broken Ones by Stephen M. Irwin

It is difficult to write a mash-up between dark fantasy and a police procedural. There must always be a temptation to bring in a deus-ex-machina to solve difficult plot points, as well as to keep the mystery fair, so that a reader can make a good, educated guess as to how the mystery will be resolved. Irwin accomplishes the blending of the genres to excellent effect in The Broken Ones by Stephen M.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Collection: The Big Trip Up Yonder, 2BR02B

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Collection: The Big Trip Up Yonder, 2BR02B

Brilliance Audio is now producing some science fiction story collections on audio, and recently they sent me a few of them to review. The first one that caught my eye was this one by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. It contains two related stories: “The Big Trip Up Yonder” narrated by Emmett Casey and “2BR02B” narrated by Kevin Killavey. I recognized both as stories that were produced on audio by Jincin Recordings and have been available at Audible.com for a couple of years. In case you didn’t know (and in case you’re interested),

Communion Town: A City in Ten Chapters

Communion Town by Sam Thompson

I really wanted to like Communion Town, the collection of linked stories by Sam Thompson. For one, I’m a fan of “city stories,” such as Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities or the cities of China Miéville and the like. I’m also generally a big fan of the structure — a series of stories linked by theme or setting or some other threading material. And while there was a good amount to like in the collection,

Daredevil by Mark Waid

Daredevil (Volume One) by Mark Waid (writer) and various artists: Paolo Rivera, Joe Rivera, Marcos Martin, Javier Rodriguez, and Muntsa Vicente.

Mark Waid’s Daredevil is one of the best comic book titles of 2012, and I’m comparing his work with some of my favorite authors of all time who have written top-notch runs on Daredevil: Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, and Ed Brubaker. Waid’s work, though different, is equally good, and even though I’d recommend as excellent starting points both the runs by Bendis and Brubaker,

February 8th, 2013. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Comics | SFF Reviews | no comments |

vN: The First Machine Dynasty

vN: The First Machine Dynasty by Madeline Ashby

Amy’s kindergarten graduation ceremony was going pretty well until Amy ate her grandmother on stage. Now Amy is on the run and there are lots of people who want to get their hands on her for different reasons. But Amy is only five years old and she doesn’t know where she should go or who she can trust. She’s even more freaked out when she realizes that Granny hasn’t died — she’s sharing the hardware in Amy’s head.

Amy is a self-replicating machine based on the thought experiments proposed in 1948 by John von Neumann (hence the title: “vN”).

The Woodcutter: You might like it

The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

The Woodcutter lives in an enchanted wood. His job, which he inherited from his ancestors, is to maintain peace and the delicate balance of good and evil in the neighboring realms of humans and fairies. One day when he discovers Cinderella lying dead on the forest floor, he knows that something has gone wrong. Further investigation shows other fairytale characters are in danger, one of Odin’s hellhounds has escaped, and someone is murdering pixies so they can sell pixie dust on the black market. The Woodcutter must figure out who is behind these evil events and set things right again.

The Elementals: Belongs up there with my favorites

The Elementals by Francesca Lia Block

“Add in the way college isolated you, left you feeling as if the rest of the world, including your past and your family, was just a dream compared to what you read in your books and on the faces of the other students, and anything could happen.”

I’ve long had a thing for college stories. I loved being in college and I always enjoy getting to vicariously revisit it in the pages of a novel. And it’s such a liminal time, which makes it a great setting for a story.

Understories: Tim Horvath has an amazing imagination!

Understories by Tim Horvath

Tim Horvath has an amazing imagination. He can take his work in academe (as a writing teacher) and turn it into a story about a dying department of umbrology, the study of shadows, complete with all the political scheming for promotion and infighting about ancient scholars (Galileo or Socrates?) you might expect in such a story. But then he can also imbue it with poetry when describing a lunar eclipse, or with whimsy, as in relating his experiences watching shadows on a ski slope, or even the nature of love (“she told me once she preferred rainy days because on them I looked at her more directly”).

Starry River of the Sky: A quiet gem of a novel

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

Starry River of the Sky, by Grace Lin, is a thoughtful, delightful tale, a quiet little story of awakening and forgiveness that would not only be a great on-its-own book for middle-grade and YA, but would also make a wonderful read-aloud thanks to the folktales at its core. And while it’s definitely aimed at that younger group, don’t assume that means a lack of maturity, for Lin displays a sophisticated sense of both style and structure here.

Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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